Large Scale Central

PIKO false advertising?

Modeling Rolling stock
#1

I put this PIKO Model #38835 hopper up for sale on the eBay with these 2 pictures and I got a message from a potential buyer asking me if the “black walking platform on top” was included in the box? It seems the picture on the side of the box shows a separate roof walk whereas the model has it molded as part of the roof. I see RLD Hobbies, Reindeer Pass, onlytrains.com and Amazon all show the picture with the separate roof walk but the photo at piko-america of the same part number has a molded roof walk.

Looking closer at the roof line in the “false” pic, It looks to be a more “true” covered hopper whereas the model is a hopper with a cover!

Does anyone have one that matches the 2nd picture?

-Dan

#2

Odd.

The box picture does appear to be a silver boxcar roof sitting atop the hopper, lacking hatches along its length. Early production weirdness seems likely, however I am fairly certain that Piko has the tooling of Model Die Casting, which made those 2-bay hoppers and slapped roofs onto them to create easy covered hoppers for a number of years beforehand… So why the boxcar roof on the image put onto official MFG packaging?

#3

Just a thought - Possibly a pre-production prototype/mock-up picture used for publicity/launch shots because of print deadlines, if there isn’t an earlier release that conforms to that build. The picture then found its way in that form to all the company’s catalogue and packaging decoration for that product. In other words - bad house keeping. Quite common for retailers and some, naughty, Ebay sellers to lift shots off manufacturers sites rather than going to the trouble of shooting their own for their web-sites/listings. If the source material is corrupt…

#4

Kudos to you Dan for bringing up this inconsistency.

#5

Cliff Jennings said:

Kudos to you Dan for bringing up this inconsistency.

Thank’s Cliff but I hadn’t noticed. It was someone who saw my eBay listing. I just find it very odd that this has gone unnoticed for this amount of time. I think it’s been 3-4 years now since Piko released this model.

#6

These cars are from the old MDC series. Could it be that Piko has updated the cars?

Here is MDC car.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MDC-G4262-D-RGW-COVERED-HOPPER/123865147103?hash=item1cd6f026df:g:KmkAAOSwR5ldSISw

#7

I am not familiar with the details of molds and such, but if you closely examim both of the pictures Dan posted, they are two different cars from two different mold sets. Look closely at the mate between the car end/sides and you can see that the car Dan put on eBay has thick top flanges on the sides and end that the cover sits on. The picture from the box has very little top flange. Dan’s car clearly has hatches on the roof, the picture on the box does not appear to.

Is it mis-representation? Could be, but then again it could just be that someone took the artwork for the label and never compared it to the product going in the box. I would simply add a disclaimer to the eBay ad that the picture and the product do not necessarily match.

#8

Piko also grabbed the MDC ore car moulds.

Too bad they didn’t try to purchase the moulds that Aristo had “Kader” make for their version of an ore car. It might have been a real winner.

I was never impressed with any of the MDC products. First they were in 1:32 scale, then their trucks were garbage, and the cars themselves had little real detail. The prices were never “Inexpensive”, for what you got.

I suppose some are easily satisfied, and are thankful that Piko is at least producing some (NA) product, no-mater what it is like.

USTrains also purchased some moulds, namely from Lionel. They produced the old Lionel ore car, which was no hell to begin with, but at least could be worked on; first by replacing the Lionel trucks, and a few other “Corrections”… I understand they only made one production run of them.

I dwell for this moment on “Ore Cars”, because some major ore carriers in North America used them, and pulled them with LARGE steam locomotives and Diesels, which many seem to purchase, and need long trains behind. Ore cars are just as impressive in long trains as 3 bay hopper cars…

#9

I like my MDC hoppers just fine! They squeak just like the real thing! And I agree with you on the ore cars needing big engines to pull a string of 'em. Maybe MTH will pull a Yellowstone out when they waffle back into large scale.

Fred Mills. said:

Piko also grabbed the MDC ore car moulds.

Too bad they didn’t try to purchase the moulds that Aristo had “Kader” make for their version of an ore car. It might have been a real winner.

I was never impressed with any of the MDC products. First they were in 1:32 scale, then their trucks were garbage, and the cars themselves had little real detail. The prices were never “Inexpensive”, for what you got.

I suppose some are easily satisfied, and are thankful that Piko is at least producing some (NA) product, no-mater what it is like.

USTrains also purchased some moulds, namely from Lionel. They produced the old Lionel ore car, which was no hell to begin with, but at least could be worked on; first by replacing the Lionel trucks, and a few other “Corrections”… I understand they only made one production run of them.

I dwell for this moment on “Ore Cars”, because some major ore carriers in North America used them, and pulled them with LARGE steam locomotives and Diesels, which many seem to purchase, and need long trains behind. Ore cars are just as impressive in long trains as 3 bay hopper cars…

#10

Poking around a bit more and I found it’s only the Santa Fe covered hopper with the discrepancy. I’ve contacted Piko cause now I gotta know!