Piko Rio Grande caboose......

[beavercreek]

Hi Kim
I bought one of the Piko cabooses, also from Jeremy.
It seems Piko are using an old molding that was produced by MDC and Roundhouse some years ago. It is not a bad depiction of the Rio Grande shortie caboosse but the Piko version is very glossy and not quite as solid plastic as the original. I have a couple of the original ones and the bogies were a bit better and came with metal wheels as well.
The MDC version:

The piko one

MDC version on my layout

 

[beavercreek]

Hi kim
My MDC version sits out all year round weathering nicely. As you can see in the black and white photo, some of the lettering is beginning to come off!

 

[Tim Brien]

I have never seen any MDC cars come stock with metal wheels. I had around six Rio Grande cabeese and used them for kitbashing. Plastic used was ABS and not solvent glue friendly. I raised the height of the roof moulding and rebuilt the tiny end rails to better suit my other rolling stock.

MDC trucks (both archbar and Bettendorf) were always regarded as suspect. First mod that I carry out is to fill each inside end of the bolster with Araldite resin to reinforce the join. The little screw mounted sideframes should be treated very, very carefully.

 

[beavercreek]

The yellow/black MDC Rio Grande version that I have, has lasted the years and trundles around on metal wheels and original bogies but I will look closely to make sure that it is sound underneath at the join. The boxcar red version that stays out all year still looks oka and the plastic has not gone brittle. Perhaps they uped their game towards the end. Both of mine came with metal wheels and were new 'used' from a seller in USA. Maybe he had swapped the wheels before selling them.
The texture finish on the MDC ones is way superior to the Piko rebrand which is very glossy and 'toy' like. A good coating of Dulcote and a dusting of weathering will put paid to that... oh... and metal wheels of course.