Anything you can do I can do better.

Well, not me, but Trainworx sure is on fire with some new releases. I just got back from the National N Scale Enthusiast Convention in Sacramento, California, where I got to meet up with the Silicon Valley FreemoN group (great bunch of guys, more on them in my next post), as well as a host of other people I have been in communication with for a while, among the notable mentions: Rick and Marshall from Modutrak, Kirk Reddie and Sandy Smith from N Scale Railroading, Mike Fifer of Fifer Hobby and Matt G. from FVM. I could go on and on, the people made the event worthwhile.

I did make sure to stop and visit Pat Sanders from Trainworx at the show. Pat makes some of my favorite detail parts and I had to get one of his new semis before he sold out. I also picked up some more parts. Pat is raising the bar. When I got home I actually tore a plow off of a GP40 I am working on, just so I could replace it with the new Trainworx 179-1 weed cutter. Here is why:

You can see the Sunrise weedcutter I had on there. It is huge compared to the more accurate Trainwork version. Score one for Trainworx!
Now my semi comparison: There hasn't been a whole lot as far as modern trucks go in N Scale. Trainworx is changing that in a hurry. I picked up the most generic of the first run trucks. I wanted to use it as a wheat hauler on my layout. I'm glad I did. I'm going to compare it to a couple of trucks I had already. Here it is with a Shapeways semi:

You can see the Trainworx is far superior in every way. First off, it comes finished. The grey truck I picked up finished, and it was ok, you can see the details on the new truck make it look like a toy. The Trainworx truck even has lenses on the front lights and a steering wheel.

The paint on the Trainworx semi is crisp and sharp, even the mudflaps came decorated.

This was a detail I was not expecting, the TW Kenworth W900 has a detailed engine compartment. This makes it useful for a variety of scene options: maintenance at the shop, broken down on the side of the road, or just getting checked over by the driver pre-trip.

Here you see the W900 next to my Kato semi, which I upgraded with some decals. The Swift truck seems lacking now, I'll have to go back and upgrade it.

I posted on Facebook some of the trucks that are coming out soon. The next truck is a Peterbilt 379 with a livestock trailer: http://www.train-worx.com/15-7bullhauler.pdf. I am looking forward to it. These trucks will add to the scene and really help set the location for the Skally in farm country.