Received my long awaited PIKO BR 24 (37222) loco last Friday, June 7. It arrived via UPS in its original shipping carton, which looked unscatched. Unfortunately, I heard something rattling inside while lifting it onto my staging area, the bed. Upon opening, alas, I found the engineer figure loose, with his seat and mounting post attached, but no broken parts. There were also some obvious small boiler detail parts afloat as well. There was also what I initially thought was a metal support bracket under the movable deck plate. This metal part turned out to be the drawbar bracket that attached to the tender multi-pin interface, upon which it swiveled to latch onto the corresponding loco interface, after they were connected. An extremely CRUCIAL part that was NOT mentioned in the English instructions, and was only shown in a small drawing in the back of the manual! Very disconcerting, as it initially appeared that the multi-pin interface was the ONLY drawbar, which of course was absurd. IF the instructions were clearer, it would have been less frustrating! Another perhaps more minor issue was the multiple detail parts that had to be attached by the owner, including two rather cantankerous smoke deflectors that had multiple attachment points, that all had to be inserted simultaneously! I still have two valve handles that have not yet been attached, and it was a bit of a puzzle to find the location of the previously mentioned loose detail parts. Finally, NO mention of tbe location of the smoke unit on/off switch was made in the instructions, and I only found it in a drawing in the back of the manual, which showed it under the removable tender water hatch! The GOOD NEWS about this unpacking debacle is that this engine is quite attractive, runs and smokes well, and pulls three LGB OBB 3062 passenger cars with ease! I have a call in to PIKO in San Diego to discuss these issues, in the hope of other customers avoiding my frustrations!
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