Can Tangent Do It Again? - Unboxing and Product Review of Tangent's HO Rock Island UP Caboose!

[@PhilBender612]

Great looking caboose, and I like the lights with the wand. Dan, so you took points for coupler height and commended Tangent for putting washers on for adjustment. I would be willing to let this one go because they give you the option to easily adjust. I would almost say the same for the car body wobble, an easy fix.

[@robingagnon9659]

yes I think the same :) lol

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the model. I run all the models I review through the same process, and it's important to me to be as consistent as I can. I do commend Tangent for using washers. They did it in a freight car that I reviewed a while ago, too, and it makes it super easy to lower the couplers. Thanks for watching!

[@yardhog]

We have its sister RI 17174/UP 24592 at the Portola Railroad Museum in Portola CA. I worked on it when I was a brakeman in the mid 1980's, so it was worn out to the extent it wobbled as it went down the track. The marker lights being dim during daylight hours isn't a real issue since the caboose lights weren't all that bright on the prototype. Where you want to see them is in dim light and at night to protect from trains following it. Tangent did a good job on the caboose since it looks like a carbon copy to our caboose. Enjoyed your review.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. I didn't remember that there was one like this in Portola. Next time I visit I'll have to look for it. Thanks for watching!

[@traindad77]

Kind of think you should give back the points for coupler height since the washer removal corrected it.

[@DanielCortopassi]

Well, that's not how the scoring system works, but I do appreciate Tangent's use of washers on many of its models, which make it easy to adjust the coupler height. Thanks for watching!

[@lucgagnon5241]

Hey Dan. Glad you're back to car reviews. Thanks for sharing. I'm personally giving that caboose an 85 or 90 score. Out of the too high coupler, I got nothing to say at all on it. I also saw a bit of too much liquid glue on one side step. Pretty easy to hide with a bit of weathering. From my point of view, that car is near to perfect. Tangent rarely miss the target. Keep on your good work.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. This is a nice model overall. I agree that it would look great with a little weathering, and with the bay window screens installed. Thanks for watching!

[@brianbenson1973]

Are those insulated washers for electrical ground as well?

[@DanielCortopassi]

No. The trucks are plastic and there is no electrical path through the bolsters. There are contact strips behind the sideframes, but those are connected to the electronics inside the caboose with wires. Thanks for watching!

[@4everdc302]

Although Tangent is pricey, the stuff is always on point.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I agree. I really like their models. Thanks for watching!

[@riogrande5761]

I wish Rio Grande fans would get some caboose loving from Tangent. As for the shimmy, almost all RTR freight cars I have bought require me to do the 3 pt tuning I've been doing for the past 4 decades. Speaking of coupler height, I pulled out my ExactRail Vert-a-pac car and the couplers were quite high. So high that filing the bolster on the truck will probably not do the job. I may have to go with Kadee overset couplers. As far as the brightness of the caboose marker lights go - I've been running my Athearn Genesis EV UP Kaiser caboose - those lights are blazing super bright.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'd like to see some Rio Grande cabooses, too. Athearn is supposedly doing one. I do like the red markers on the Athearn cabooses. Thanks for watching!

[@nyemt601]

Is there interior detail as well? For that price point I hope there is and what I mean by hope is up to cab interior standards. I have to mention since I been watching your videos for a while I know the coupler height always seems to fail. I’m curious if you did a batch of caboose or cars of the same make and model if they all have it, or is the coupler and truck issue a result of someone just in a hurry to get home at 5pm on a Friday

[@DanielCortopassi]

There is interior detail. I didn't open the car but you can see some of it through the windows. Coupler height is probably the most common fault with most of the models I review. I only have one of these cars. The Tangent BN caboose I reviewed recently had no issues with coupler height. I haven't done many multi-model reviews lately but when I do, the results tend to be similar between the different models. I can't really say why coupler height is so often an issue. It could be slop during the assembly process. It could also be not accounting for paint thickness between parts, but I can only speculate. I assume that the cars are engineered to be correct, so something else must be happening. Thanks for watching!

[@Mildcat743]

I hope these ICC bay windows are popular enough for Tangent to do the CNW patterns. The only other proper looking CNW bay windows on the market are the Walthers ones that are quite old and uncommon.

[@DanielCortopassi]

That would be great. If Tangent did a CNW version I'd probably get one. I'm not primarily a CNW modeler, but I do have a few CNW locomotives and a caboose would be a good match for them. Thanks for watching!

[@thomasaustin316]

I thought the car rode high; at first glance. Did the washers lower it .030”?

[@DanielCortopassi]

I didn't measure the washers. Maybe I should invest in a caliper. That's one tool I don't have. They felt like they were maybe .010 each, or maybe .015. So I think .030 is close but I can't say for sure. Thanks for watching!

[@michaelsmith441]

Looks nice but personally for the price I would go with the genesis Dcc cabooses which come with sound ( unnecessary but nice to have)

[@DanielCortopassi]

This one is priced kind of in between the Athearn lighted and sound cabooses. I reviewed one of the sound equipped Athearn cars recently, and it was also nice. Thanks for watching!

[@trapdriver7006]

Excellent review 👍😃😃😃🚂🇬🇧

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. Thanks for watching!

[@LourdesReynoso-x7p]

I have a issue with my old scale trains C44-9W locomotive, it's not running or making any sound, whtfck should I do with it??

[@DanielCortopassi]

Since you mentioned sound, I'm assuming you have the DCC and sound version. Do the lights work? Once in a very great while one of my LokSound decoders will go "brain dead", and won't run the engine though some of the other functions will still work. Resetting the decoder usually fixes it. If the lights don't come on and it's completely dead I'd maybe check the connections. You could also contact Scale Trains. I think they're pretty good about product support. Thanks for watching!

[@epacm50]

I found another reviewer on another rolling stock product from Rapido that resulted in an assessment failure. It was so bad that he had to end the review earlier than usual. The person said, "Don't waste your time on this product; run for this hills!"

[@DanielCortopassi]

Well, so far a Rapido bulkhead flat car has been my only "fail" as far as reviews go. I haven't seen the review you mentioned. Rapido has had enough quality control issues that I can understand. Thanks for watching!

[@paulkirkmanMYTRAINS]

Very nice caboose. That price is pretty high. Nice review !!!!!

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. It is a little pricey, though it's in line with other similarly detailed and accurate cars from Athearn and others. Just where we are in the hobby right now for the really detailed stuff. Thanks for watching!

[@ethanandrews1230]

Can Tangent do it again? Let’s watch the Standards and Operation category and find out

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks for watching!

[@Jabond07]

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩👍

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks for watching!

[@rickdee67]

$125! Nice caboose but that’s asking a lot of money. I support the deductions except for 🎉washers on the trucks. Extra parts are always nice.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm hope you found the review helpful. The price is a little high, though other detailed and lighted cars from Athearn and others are in a similar range. I didn't deduct for the washers. I deducted for coupler height. The washers are a good thing! Thanks for watching!

[@rickdee67]

@@DanielCortopassii enjoy all your videos!

[@donaldkormos5529]

The Tangent interior video lighting is pretty poor on their cabooses ... I did buy one ... with no plans to buy another. They say it's prototypical ... but is so dim it's useless.

[@DanielCortopassi]

It is a little dim. To my eye it shows up better in person than on video. Thanks for watching!

[@epacm50]

This product would have failed my product assessment. We tested the same model, and we gave it an "F". Body wobble with less resistance and non-conformance coupler height results in an automatic failure. I would avoid this model at all cost. Tangent could do better than that!

[@DanielCortopassi]

Well, I hope you found the review helpful in any case. So many models have coupler height issues. Thanks for watching!