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Class A3 4-6-2 in O Gauge from Hatton's


Hattons Dave
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On 10/11/2019 at 08:53, two tone green said:

Just updating the sound project 

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TTG, please could you say what the "bits" are in your pic?

 

I'm intrigued by what appears to be some sort of circuit board with a small speaker and a motor and flywheel.

 

Be kind....I know very little about dcc.

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Hi. It’s the ESU decoder tester which if you like setting up decoders before fitting them into a loco then this provides a multi interface board that will accept all the decoders made at the moment. 
 

8 pin, 21 pin etc

 

The motor and speaker allows full testing after programming. 
 

http://www.esu.eu/en/products/decoder-tester/

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2 hours ago, two tone green said:

A bit surprised there have not been more posts from people who have bought one. 

Often the case: typically most 7mm threads dry up once the product is released.

Our 4mm friends usually run up pages complaining though :) 

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Hi! I collected my A3 Scotsman as preserved last Friday and saw it run on Hattons test track. 
For the price it looks very, very good.

Gripes so far:-

No front steps.

The tender rear window does not line up with the corridor. 
The valve gear could be better. 

DCC is not totally catered for

The firebox is modelled closed. Not very helpful if you want an LED fire effect. 
The chimneys are not drilled through which apart from being unrealistic doesn’t help the sound get out. 
The decoder provision is in the tender with 6 wires going to the loco. If you want the LED fire box and a synchro cam you will need to take another 4/5 wires forward. 

I will investigate putting the decoder chip in the boiler but have not had it apart yet. The reason for this being that I decided to get my ESU 5L from South West Digital and they asked me to hold on while they perfected the chip CV’s specially for the Hattons A3. 
I am still waiting to hear from them but hopefully not too long. 
The A3 is a bargain and a credit to Hattons’s. Far better value than another brass RTR I purchased recently at over 3 times the price. Which by the way I have spent hours on fitting DCC and getting to run decently. 

Rgds BrianW

 

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This model is very good if you want it as present day preservation but it would have been a nice touch if thay had included front steps and air breaks and brass cab side works plates I'll b upgrading mine and will post sum pick of how to improve this wonderfull loco

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This model is very good if you want it as present day preservation but it would have been a nice touch if thay had included front steps and air breaks and brass cab side works plates I'll b upgrading mine and will post sum pick of how to improve this wonderfull loco

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I got mine this week, The White Knight, late BR version with smoke deflectors.

 

Its a really good looking model, but I don’t count rivets.

 

A few issues though:

 

It is fragile, getting it out of and putting back in box, both smoke deflectors came off. Bith windscreens came off and one has gone walkabout. Two of the handrails popped off. All glued back on except the missing windscreen.

 

It has an issue running through Peco crossing and double slips. The trailing arm jumps off the track. Runs fantastic as a 4-6-0. 

 

Cheers

 

Brian

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Here are some photos of the inside of the A3. Odd set up to say the least. 
Simple things that would have helped and why did they do what they did. 
 

Fir me being heavily into DCC and sound I look at a model from that perspective as well as the overall appearance. 
 

Starting with the tender, why no holes in the base to let the sound out. I drilled some and it sounds ok but if course all the noise comes from the front end. 
 

That then takes me to the working part of the loco. Why oh why design the motor gearbox interface like they did. Terrible. It would have made sense to have a more conventional fit with the motor fixed to the rest of the drive mechanism with the body and any weights removable. 
 

Taking the top off is relatively easy, putting it back is a right faff due to you trying to hold the motor and ballast weight in place against the drive in the chassis with everything upside down and you cannot hold the motor and weight as it’s inside the boiler as well as keeping the front speaker wires out of the way and of course it’s all out of sight under everything 
 

And why oh why feed the speaker wires through two holes in the ballast weight restricting the ability to jiggle things around without snapping the wires. 
 

It was nice oh Heljan to include the wires for the front speaker but they are curled up inside the firebox requiring the user to remove the boiler motor and ballast weight. If they had been fed forward to the speaker area under the chimney and made the smoke box door removable it would be so much easier for us want to add a second speaker or just gave one speaker at the front where the noise comes from. Loads of room in the area under the chimney just no holes in the chimney for the sound to escape. 
 

Talking of speaker wires, odd really that the easiest place to fit a speaker in this model is in the tender but there are no wires to connect one to so you have to locate the solder pads on the decoder interface board and solder two on. But the front speaker wires that are difficult to get at in the front have been nicely installed and wired through the loco tender interface which is a right pin connector similar to that found on an eight pin decoder. 
 

If the brain behind the insides of the A3 had used even a small amount if his thinking power and looked at what it was in front of him then he would have realised it was a dogs dinner. They really should start talking to people who get involved with the DCC sound stuff for advise as much as they seem to talk to experts about the amount of rivets on the drivers tea mug. 
 

Then there is the water scoop on the tender. Hits peco points quite nicely. Oh dear 

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Edited by two tone green
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