Well, seeing no one's posted photo's of the new run of cylindrical hoppers, I guess that awesome responsibility falls on me 
.
I bought the Great Northern and the Frisco versions. Paint is nicely applied and the lettering is crisp. Even though I think both roads had six discharge chutes, they're good stand-ins for those of us that follow the "good enough" philosophy.
Nothing new detail-wise. However, while it doesn't show up in the photos, both cars do exhibit some minor chafing of the paint on both sides from the packing camshell.
And of course, they sit too high for us scale guys. I hope to get around to scalifying these in the next few days, AM trucks and Kadee's are at the ready.
As indicated by others, these cars have the new hirail wheels, which probably what Lionel should have done in the first place, then half of the controversy about these cars wouldn't have existed.
And no, they don't like code 100 track. Bumps along on the ties real nice.
But, they're not designed for that...
The couplers appear to operate much easier than the previous ones, also good for the Flyer folks.
The holes are still present for mounting Kadee's, but gone are the spacers. Guess Lionel figured out they're vestigial for us few scale guys who will buy these and wouldn't be needing them anyway once the trucks are replaced.
As a minor aside, thankfully Lionel puts the "Blt by ACG" on the underside of the car.
Overall, I still think the car is a winner and worth getting, even with having to spend a few more bucks more for the scalification process. As long as there's roadnames available I'm interested in, I'll pick them up. It's too bad the mechanical reefer was snubbed by the S public apparently in part by the truck controversy, forcing they're cancellation.
Rusty
