I picked up my Flyer aquarium car last night.
Yeah, I know: "What's a scale guy buying an aquarium car for?"
Call it a momentary lapse of reason.
Anyhow, here 'tis:
Frankly, the car illustration looked a little cheesy in the catalog, but it looks better in real life. I was hoping for the wavy windows like the postwar O gauge car, but nope. The graphics on the windows was a surprise, but I guess they help hide the ends of the conveyor belt. Cuts down on the "viewing" though. All of the graphics appear to be some kind of adhesive decal application except for the lettering under the windows. Sorry purists: It does say "Built by Lionel" in one of the bubbles.
The fish belt looks like 16mm film stock and the fish "swim" slowly along the center of the windows. The background does not move. Sort of looks like a fish parade. I would have liked to have seen 35mm film stock so fish could be swimming at different depths, but I guess that wouldn't fit in the car.
I shot a short video with my phone, but my computer is refusing to play it. I'll have to dig out my video camera later.
There is no instruction sheet, note or warning about what type of power the aquarium will run on included. There is a switch on the bottom to turn the car on and off.
We tested the car at my LHS on conventional AC with an MTH Z4000. The fish "swim" at a constant speed regardless of voltage. There is a little bit of motor noise. LED's provide illumination. Two wheels on each side pick up track power. This morning I tested the car with my TMCC/DCS system, conventional DC and DCC. The car worked fine on all systems.
I ran the car on my "Christmas Loop." The fish swimming is noticeable while in motion in a train. I didn't see any flickering while the train ran on my S-Trax.
Over all, this is kind of a fun car. The jury's out on the yellow roof, I may repaint it silver or blue to match the rest of the car, but that's so far down on the ol' "Round Tuit" it will probably stay this way for the foreseeable future.
Rusty
