Could someone explain what the difference is between K Line Cars and Locomotives marked Diecast vs those just marked K Line?
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The diecast ones have metal bodies and the others have plastic bodies.
The "Die Cast" cars are, well, die cast - made completely of metal. Heavy, good trackers, very robust construction, "real feeling", to me.
Those not marked as such are a combination of plastic (mostly) and some metal construction; even the plastic cars - which can be very good models - typically have die-cast trucks and couplers, though there have been low-end pieces with plastic trucks, too.
Die casting is a manufacturing method wherein a molten metal (usually a zinc alloy in the model business) is poured (cast) into a die (mold) under pressure; when cool enough the solid piece is removed from the die, itself usually made in two or more pieces.
(Not to be confused with lost-wax brass casting, also a very common technique in model building. Most metal details on a zinc die-cast loco are lost-wax brass pieces.)
Thank You Roy Boy and D500 for the explanation.
I've always found that the die-cast cars are really good right behind a locomotive, especially steam or some larger electrics. Reason: some of the couplers on these engines tend to swing out quite far on curves and may derail a lighter weight car. The extra w eight of die cast can help reduce the tendency to derail. But having a long train of all die cast cars is generally impossible because of the weight a full train would present. Then, again, on my layout I do have a series of grades and some pretty tight (66") curves, so I stay away from real heavy cars on longer trains.
Paul Fischer
fisch330 posted:I've always found that the die-cast cars are really good right behind a locomotive, especially steam or some larger electrics. Reason: some of the couplers on these engines tend to swing out quite far on curves and may derail a lighter weight car. The extra w eight of die cast can help reduce the tendency to derail. But having a long train of all die cast cars is generally impossible because of the weight a full train would present. Then, again, on my layout I do have a series of grades and some pretty tight (66") curves, so I stay away from real heavy cars on longer trains.
Paul Fischer
Well said. The K-Line die cast cars are excellent behind newer Legacy diesels with the (not sure of the proper term ) limited fixed pilot. It has quite a bit of tension on it on lower than 072 and can pop the front truck of a very light car off the rails from time to time. These heavier die cast cars always do the trick.
