As promised in the recent thread about Rollwagen models here:
https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/rollwagon-thats-nice-ill-have-two.308290/#post-465391
this is the review of the pair of Rollwagens with standard-gauge wagon loads that I recently received from Modellbau Uwe in Germany (Bad Schlema).
Ordering them by email was simple, Uwe is a really nice guy to deal with, answered all my questions promptly and accepted Paypal payment without any hassle or surcharges. I don't know what his English is like, as I send all my emails to German suppliers both in English and German (via Google Translate, which while far from perfect is generally good enough) and his replies were all in German - but running them quickly through the translator made them easy enough to follow.
My order comprised two Rollwagens (of Sachsen prototypes) with different numbers, two standard-gauge wagons (one open with coal load, and one box van) to be carried on the rollwagens, and three coupling shafts (one short to connect the two rollwagens together, two longer ones to link either end of the rollwagen rake with LGB type couplers on a loco and/or leading or trailing cars). Four metal coupling pins were supplied to connect the shafts to the coupler pockets on the rollwagens.
To cover the rollwagens themselves first: they are all hand-built in mixed materials to what i would consider a very high standard. Some parts are heavy gauge CNC-cut plastic (such as the main long girder frames on which the loaded wagon sits), others are metal castings (most of the cross-frames and braces, the wheel chocks for the load and all the fine detail work). I asked for two different wagon numbers, and got not only that but actually two slightly different models (which was fine by me because I like the variety, but others might choose to specify which type(s) they wanted); the two differ in the placement of the air brake tanks within the rollwagen frame, with one having the tanks sideways across the frame and the other mounting them longitudinally. The cast metal wheel chocks "work", in that you can swing them outward and slide them along the metal rod to the desired position, then swing them up to lock them in position.
Both rollwagens came with very nice free-running metal wheelsets, which I had specified as an extra - the basic default is plastic wheels, but I would say that the extra cost for metal ones is well justified. Do be aware that you CAN'T easily swap the wheelsets around, as they are built into the bogie frames - so if you think you might want metal wheels then order them at the time, don't expect to be able to swap them over later!
The wheels are quite small - around 20mm tyre diameter, even smaller than LGB Feldbahn sets - but with LGB-style deep flanges so they should run happily on most Code 332 track (or anything that standard LGB wheels are happy on).
One thing I tried while taking the photos, was to check if there was enough swing in the bogies to handle Radius 1 curves (the degree of swing is limited because the bogies are fully enclosed by the main frame rails) - the answer is yes, easily - as shown in this photo. Rolling them (by hand) through an R3 point in both directions indicated no obvious potential problems with point frogs or flangeways, but do be aware that the rigidity of the bogie mountings (there is a LITTLE bit of play in them, but not much) means that they will most likely be happiest on level, well-laid trackwork..... I suspect this may well be a conscious design descision to avoid other problems such as the very top-heavy loaded wagons being somewhat unstable if the bogie mounts allowed too much movement. In any case, to have a train of these moving at anything over a very low scale speed would be asking for trouble, as well as horribly unprotoypical!
Finally, the paintwork and markings: both very good, though the slightly glossy black paint seems a bit prone to chipping off the metal cast parts if not handled carefully - I can see a bit of touching up being required during their life (oo-er Missus....). All the markings are proper decals, very finely printed and well applied with no visible "backing" to them.
So, that's it for the rollwagens themselves - next post will be a review of the Standard Gauge wagons supplied as loads, then some pics of the whole rake set up and ready to go!
Jon.
https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/rollwagon-thats-nice-ill-have-two.308290/#post-465391
this is the review of the pair of Rollwagens with standard-gauge wagon loads that I recently received from Modellbau Uwe in Germany (Bad Schlema).
Ordering them by email was simple, Uwe is a really nice guy to deal with, answered all my questions promptly and accepted Paypal payment without any hassle or surcharges. I don't know what his English is like, as I send all my emails to German suppliers both in English and German (via Google Translate, which while far from perfect is generally good enough) and his replies were all in German - but running them quickly through the translator made them easy enough to follow.
My order comprised two Rollwagens (of Sachsen prototypes) with different numbers, two standard-gauge wagons (one open with coal load, and one box van) to be carried on the rollwagens, and three coupling shafts (one short to connect the two rollwagens together, two longer ones to link either end of the rollwagen rake with LGB type couplers on a loco and/or leading or trailing cars). Four metal coupling pins were supplied to connect the shafts to the coupler pockets on the rollwagens.
To cover the rollwagens themselves first: they are all hand-built in mixed materials to what i would consider a very high standard. Some parts are heavy gauge CNC-cut plastic (such as the main long girder frames on which the loaded wagon sits), others are metal castings (most of the cross-frames and braces, the wheel chocks for the load and all the fine detail work). I asked for two different wagon numbers, and got not only that but actually two slightly different models (which was fine by me because I like the variety, but others might choose to specify which type(s) they wanted); the two differ in the placement of the air brake tanks within the rollwagen frame, with one having the tanks sideways across the frame and the other mounting them longitudinally. The cast metal wheel chocks "work", in that you can swing them outward and slide them along the metal rod to the desired position, then swing them up to lock them in position.
Both rollwagens came with very nice free-running metal wheelsets, which I had specified as an extra - the basic default is plastic wheels, but I would say that the extra cost for metal ones is well justified. Do be aware that you CAN'T easily swap the wheelsets around, as they are built into the bogie frames - so if you think you might want metal wheels then order them at the time, don't expect to be able to swap them over later!
The wheels are quite small - around 20mm tyre diameter, even smaller than LGB Feldbahn sets - but with LGB-style deep flanges so they should run happily on most Code 332 track (or anything that standard LGB wheels are happy on).
One thing I tried while taking the photos, was to check if there was enough swing in the bogies to handle Radius 1 curves (the degree of swing is limited because the bogies are fully enclosed by the main frame rails) - the answer is yes, easily - as shown in this photo. Rolling them (by hand) through an R3 point in both directions indicated no obvious potential problems with point frogs or flangeways, but do be aware that the rigidity of the bogie mountings (there is a LITTLE bit of play in them, but not much) means that they will most likely be happiest on level, well-laid trackwork..... I suspect this may well be a conscious design descision to avoid other problems such as the very top-heavy loaded wagons being somewhat unstable if the bogie mounts allowed too much movement. In any case, to have a train of these moving at anything over a very low scale speed would be asking for trouble, as well as horribly unprotoypical!
Finally, the paintwork and markings: both very good, though the slightly glossy black paint seems a bit prone to chipping off the metal cast parts if not handled carefully - I can see a bit of touching up being required during their life (oo-er Missus....). All the markings are proper decals, very finely printed and well applied with no visible "backing" to them.
So, that's it for the rollwagens themselves - next post will be a review of the Standard Gauge wagons supplied as loads, then some pics of the whole rake set up and ready to go!
Jon.
