Coldgunner Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I'm posting out of curiosity to find out what people's experiences have been with the wagon. I recently bought the Railfreight OAA wagon, and had previously bought the VAA van too. Don't get me wrong, the detail is great and they run well, but the glue holding some of the detail parts on is just terrible. Both wagons had detail parts fall off the moment I removed it from the ice block packaging. Re-attaching the detail parts has not been a big issue, but I'm a little concerned that this happens out the box. Has anyone else experienced the same problems or am I just twice unlucky? I'll buy Heljan again mind, but its an awful state of affairs to spend nearly £70 on a wagon for it to need fixing out the box. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishmail Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 No experience of Heljan wagons, however I have some of their MK1 coaches and on one coach, (the FO) I have had some of the windows pop out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted January 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2017 Plenty of bits fell off their Class 128. I found one on the track when cleaning up after a running session yesterday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2017 I don't think it's unique to Heljan, most manufacturers have quality control, (and volume), issues with super glue, either gallons of the blessed stuff meaning that the said items can't be removed in one piece, or so little they fall off in the box as noted. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltic17 Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 My experience too is that various bits (especially brake gear) on the VAA's/OAA's regularly fall off when taking them out of the box - it should not happen for the prices being charged. I don't seem to have had any problems with the Dogfish/Catfish ballast wagons so hopefully their glue/QualityControl? has improved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Seems to be a feature of Heljan models. My 4mm class 15 had bogies fall to bits. It all goes back together and you can then use some proper glue. Also had bits continually fall off a Class 28 that I was weathering for friend. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Sometimes if the bits fall off easily, it can be a blessing, especially if you wanted to remove them for weathering purposes ..... Ying & Yang and all that. Best regards Craig. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Sorry to hear you've had problems - (I had a problem with a Dapol O Guards Van.. The cover holding the compensated bearing fell off and as I have yet, after 67 years of trying, to master the art of gluing anything to anything.. Stopped its compensating after regluing..) So far with Heljan I've never had an issue with their glue - If I thought it would help I'd do some stress testing on my vans - But being a prudent sort I'll just count my blessings, and let you know what transpires, on its own account, further down the road.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 My class 05 has glue issues- the bufferbeam under the cab and both cab footsteps came adrift- the bufferbeam before I started to undo screws to chip the loco. The problem with the steps is that the glue residue in the shaped recesses for the steps themselves doesn't come out lightly which makes reattaching the steps so that they stay reattached very difficult. Why does glue that fails to adhere to one surface stick extra solidly to the other? Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted January 26, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2017 I'm posting out of curiosity to find out what people's experiences have been with the wagon. I recently bought the Railfreight OAA wagon, and had previously bought the VAA van too. Don't get me wrong, the detail is great and they run well, but the glue holding some of the detail parts on is just terrible. Both wagons had detail parts fall off the moment I removed it from the ice block packaging. Re-attaching the detail parts has not been a big issue, but I'm a little concerned that this happens out the box. Has anyone else experienced the same problems or am I just twice unlucky? I'll buy Heljan again mind, but its an awful state of affairs to spend nearly £70 on a wagon for it to need fixing out the box. I wish Heljan would use the same stuff to attach the buffer beam details to their OO locos. The factory fitted bits are a total pain for those of us who want to fit alternative couplings - I can't remember the last one where I didn't break something. I wouldn't mind the stuff being in the way if they provided a separate sprue in addition to the fitted parts so I could replace anything that got broken when I'm done with the couplings. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted January 26, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2017 My class 05 has glue issues- the bufferbeam under the cab and both cab footsteps came adrift- the bufferbeam before I started to undo screws to chip the loco. The problem with the steps is that the glue residue in the shaped recesses for the steps themselves doesn't come out lightly which makes reattaching the steps so that they stay reattached very difficult. Why does glue that fails to adhere to one surface stick extra solidly to the other? Les The universal law of superglue states that its efficacy is inversely proportional to what you want it to be for any given application. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 The universal law of superglue states that its efficacy is inversely proportional to what you want it to be for any given application. The prime law of superglue is that it does best what it was originally developed for- sticking skin together..... Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 The universal law of superglue states that its efficacy is inversely proportional to what you want it to be for any given application. This applies to all glues Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 30, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 30, 2017 This applies to all glues But obviously it superapplies to superglue. Cos iit's super., innit. I find pound shop superglue very handy for sticking together anything that I don't want to fall to bits in my hand but might want to remove later, such as carriage roofs so that I can put passengers in or detail the interiors. Just give it a bit of a pull or some leverage with a screwdriver blade or something and the glue cracks apart. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Huxley Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I had the same problem with the O gauge VAA wagon. The hand brake fell off as soon as I lifted the model from the packaging. This is poor production and should not happen for the price you pay for a model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I had the same problem with the O gauge VAA wagon. The hand brake fell off as soon as I lifted the model from the packaging. This is poor production and should not happen for the price you pay for a model. Ditto, on both counts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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