Class 66 in OO Gauge - New Announcement

[KDG]

On 16/02/2021 at 11:06, KDG said:

Another one bought this morning. Been lucky so far, they've all been perfect!

This one too!

[gary_lner]

9 hours ago, YesTor said:

 

Hi Gary

 

Yes, 66731 would be suitable in relation to the front-end and headlight detail.  The only detail that needs changing are the UK-style bufferbeam steps for the EU-style ones - as shown below painted in white - which should be quite easy: 

 

 

 

As you correctly highlight, 66747-749 all have the larger fuel tanks, so you'll need to swap the tank for an earlier pre-low-emission fuel tank.  As the three ex-Dutch locos are quite unique in this respect sadly there are no other suitable alternatives available: 

 

 

 

Of course, if you are feeling more adventurous you could always attempt recreating one as per how they arrived in the UK, whereby the front end detail was quite different - elliptical headlight assembly, more-pronounced horn grill, different steps arrangement on bufferbeam and front end, extra/different lamp-bracket(s), extra pair of air pipes, rectangular buffers, plus the patch on the cab roof where presumably the external air-conditioning unit was removed.  I quite like them like this actually:

 

 

 

 

Best 

Al

 

Hi Al thanks for that great info and the pictures are also a great help. 

Yeah it's a shame 749 didn't retain the lighting configuration and extra steps and extended horn grills.

I was just looking for a suitable Gbrf 66 to go with the upcoming accurascale biomass wagons and saw the 66 in Dutch grey and thought that would look great replicated on a suitable hattons 66 so thank you for confirming that.

I May have to live with the smaller fuel tank on the model but hopefully I can get the buffer beam steps sorted out. 

 

Thanks once again.

 

Regards Gary 

[newbryford]

14 hours ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

66957 has one popped back into stock

 

Not any more.....  

 

It will probably become 66956

 

Less than one week off the boat in 2008, bright and shiny with a nice rusty exhaust

 

[Matt]

11 hours ago, JohnC said:

Well done to Hattons for their best locomotive award, absolutely delighted for them.

I have read so many negative comments on this forum that it surprised me that Hattons sold any of their class 66 locos!!!

However, it did not deter me from purchasing 14 of them and I am delighted with every one of them. Yes, I had to do a bit of work on the axles to prevent rotating axle end losses and get rid of any slight wobble but it certainly did not stretch my capabilities.

There is not another model of the class 66 comparable with the Hattons model and, as said before, it hauls a 16 wagon HTA rake up my Helix as if on the flat.

It would be great if another run was done with different liveries but, if not, very happy with the selection I have.

John are you sure you’re not me? I have 14 H66s and I’m hauling 16 wagon rakes of HTAs up a helix. I also couldn’t agree more with your comments above. Yes a little work to get them running just right but less fiddly and time consuming than fitting detail parts to many other diesel offerings

matt

[adb968008]

52 minutes ago, Matt said:

John are you sure you’re not me? I have 14 H66s and I’m hauling 16 wagon rakes of HTAs up a helix. I also couldn’t agree more with your comments above. Yes a little work to get them running just right but less fiddly and time consuming than fitting detail parts to many other diesel offerings

matt

Ive a few more than 14.. i’m finding them fantastic models for their price.

 

They not aren't all bad either, The majority go fine straight from the box no problems at all.

 

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

John are you sure you’re not me? I have 14 H66s and I’m hauling 16 wagon rakes of HTAs up a helix. I also couldn’t agree more with your comments above. Yes a little work to get them running just right but less fiddly and time consuming than fitting detail parts to many other diesel offerings

matt

Could be as only 42 miles from you in Aberdeenshire!

John

[The Black Hat]

On 17/02/2021 at 02:50, YesTor said:

 

Hi Gary

 

Yes, 66731 would be suitable in relation to the front-end and headlight detail.  The only detail that needs changing are the UK-style bufferbeam steps for the EU-style ones - as shown below painted in white - which should be quite easy: 

 

 

 

 

Best 

Al

 

 

I would think given its model of the year that hattons are bound to do a second run given its has obviously been popular. Fixing some faults would help, but I wonder what other liveries people would want. I would also be in line for a grey GBRf 66 as pictured above, with an EWS 66 with different font or bold for the EWS and number - maybe 66044!! As it was mentioned months ago. 

What other ones would others want?

 

[YesTor]

2 hours ago, The Black Hat said:

What other ones would others want?

 

 

Okay, well, seeing as you ask... 

 

66779 'Evening Star'

66718 & 66721 London Transport twins

66623 Bardon Aggregates

66623 De-branded Bardon blue with large Freightliner logo

66747 Newell & Wright Transport

66747/748/749 GBRf Grey

66747/748/749 Plain Grey

66411 & 66414 Stobart twins

66720 GBRf 'Rainbow'

667xx GBRf revised Europort
667xx GBRf Europort (additional numbers)

66773 GBRf Pride livery

663xx  Fastline

66xxx  DB Red w/ large logo

66109 PD Ports

66727 GBRf Maritime

66xxx DB Maritime

66522 Freightliner/Shanks

66711 Aggregate Industries

 

And yes...  a few bog-standard original EWS with correct logos/fonts, for sure.

More Freightliner variants with the revised light clusters would be good.

Freightliner - Low-emission variant with 'bug-eye' lights.

DRS - Low-emission variant with 'bug-eye' lights.

 

Just those few for now...? 

 

ps...  Although to be honest, not another 37 variants in one hit - my bank balance can't stand it any more! 

 

 

Al  

Edited February 20, 2021 by YesTor

[NIRCLASS80]

Evening Star and Captain Tom would be must buys for me. 

[Graham108]

7 hours ago, The Black Hat said:

What other ones would others want?

 

This one 

[TomScrut]

5 hours ago, YesTor said:

66779 'Evening Star'

66718 & 66721 London Transport twins

66720 GBRf 'Rainbow'

66773 GBRf Pride livery

 

Ripped off YesTor's list to save me writing my own, these are the ones I'd probably jump on, although ones in bold I already have from Bachmann so I'd have to sell them!

 

66731 would be a maybe for me. I already have the Hornby one and in the next few months will have a Bachmann one.

[AchimK]

On 16/02/2021 at 12:40, The Black Hat said:

Massive Kudos to Hatton's for getting model of the year. Fantastic achievement. Despite the inperfections of some, I would think that there must be many more with no faults or happy modellers regardless. 

An excellent step forwards and I hope it leads to other projects. 

 

IMHO the Hattons 66 is the Alfa Romeo of the year. Highly desirable but oh boy/girl, probably a nightmare to actually own. I sent back two out of two for out of box failure to run. To make model of the year with such a range of quality issues and the acknowledgement from the modelling community (us) that one needs to 'do some work' i.e. do some major surgery before they will perform as expected is ridiculous. Similar to the Hornby Rocket really (which also got model of the year).

 

We ought to see it for what it is: An excellent promise with major issues so fanfare is uncalled for.

 

You can disagree strongly but keep comments civil please.

[Pete the Elaner]

13 minutes ago, AchimK said:

 

IMHO the Hattons 66 is the Alfa Romeo of the year. Highly desirable but oh boy/girl, probably a nightmare to actually own. I sent back two out of two for out of box failure to run. To make model of the year with such a range of quality issues and the acknowledgement from the modelling community (us) that one needs to 'do some work' i.e. do some major surgery before they will perform as expected is ridiculous. Similar to the Hornby Rocket really (which also got model of the year).

 

We ought to see it for what it is: An excellent promise with major issues so fanfare is uncalled for.

 

You can disagree strongly but keep comments civil please.

 

Some teething issues but once sorted (either through self repair or with Hatton's customer service), a nice model.

I felt the model was ambitious & I have not changed my opinion.

[TomScrut]

27 minutes ago, AchimK said:

probably a nightmare to actually own

 

Not so much that, more that you have to do the PDI yourself before you drive it.

[Roy L S]

I am not a OO modeller but having a general interest in UK model railways of all scales I have followed this thread quite closely. I have to admit that given the reported issues with this model I was more than a little surprised that this loco won the best locomotive category. I can't recall another model with so many reported issues ever doing this. 

 

However I am left wondering, does it more reflect what it is up against in the category? Is it the overall sheer volume of sales that has led to a lot of happy customers notwithstanding problems reported or does it reflect the audience Model Rail attracts?

 

Possibly it is all three plus others too, and while I personally find it hard to reconcile a loco with the range of faults and defects as reported on this thread winning the category, the fact remains that it did.

 

In some ways I am pleased for Hattons, as they are an old name in the model railway business and have had their share of knocks and setbacks not always of their own making, so this is a nice positive story. 

 

As an N gauge modeller it would appear they have no plans to do anything more following suspension of the Garratt, but having reflected, on balance if they did and partnered with a credible factory/manufacturer I wouldn't be put off - there has been a lot of call for the LMS Twins - they commissioned these in OO, I'll just end with that thought ....

 

Roy 

[AchimK]

17 minutes ago, Roy L S said:

 I have to admit that given the reported issues with this model I was more than a little surprised that this loco won the best locomotive category. I can't recall another model with so many reported issues ever doing this. 

 

Bit like politics these days. Maybe it's just a sign of our times.

[rob D2]

1 hour ago, AchimK said:

 

IMHO the Hattons 66 is the Alfa Romeo of the year. Highly desirable but oh boy/girl, probably a nightmare to actually own. I sent back two out of two for out of box failure to run. To make model of the year with such a range of quality issues and the acknowledgement from the modelling community (us) that one needs to 'do some work' i.e. do some major surgery before they will perform as expected is ridiculous. Similar to the Hornby Rocket really (which also got model of the year).

 

We ought to see it for what it is: An excellent promise with major issues so fanfare is uncalled for.

 

You can disagree strongly but keep comments civil please.

Of course it indicates that they sold a lot , to people who were happy enough with them to vote 

[Matt]

2 hours ago, AchimK said:

 

IMHO the Hattons 66 is the Alfa Romeo of the year. Highly desirable but oh boy/girl, probably a nightmare to actually own. I sent back two out of two for out of box failure to run. To make model of the year with such a range of quality issues and the acknowledgement from the modelling community (us) that one needs to 'do some work' i.e. do some major surgery before they will perform as expected is ridiculous. Similar to the Hornby Rocket really (which also got model of the year).

 

We ought to see it for what it is: An excellent promise with major issues so fanfare is uncalled for.

 

You can disagree strongly but keep comments civil please.

As a former 3 times Alfa owner i have to disagree - Alfas of old were problematic but my more recent 147 and 159 were pretty good and i owned each for 6 years.  I've had far more problems since i "upgraded" to Jags but that's another story...

[truffy]

2 hours ago, Roy L S said:

I can't recall another model with so many reported issues ever doing this. 

 

2 hours ago, Roy L S said:

I personally find it hard to reconcile a loco with the range of faults and defects as reported on this thread winning the category

 

TBH, H-66 didn't so much have "many reported issues" or a "range of faults" so much as a few repeated incessantly (and some of those, such as big light and EWS font, didn't pertain to all models). Given the wide range of variants produced, it's not surprising that there were some problems. IIRC only the axles and wobbly bottom (ooer matron!) were consistently reported across variants, and even then it seems to not have affected all.

 

Glass half full, or half empty?

[TomScrut]

13 minutes ago, truffy said:

consistently reported across variants

 

Dodgy logic level light functions is across the board, but anybody not using a 10 function decoder will never be the wiser if theirs is affected or not.

[Pete the Elaner]

6 minutes ago, TomScrut said:

 

Dodgy logic level light functions is across the board, but anybody not using a 10 function decoder will never be the wiser if theirs is affected or not.

 

Absolutely.

This model provided more lighting functions than previous models with the possible exclusion of Dapol's 68 & Bachmann's 90, which were not new models for 2020.

Which is better, a model with many new features & detail, some of which have been problematic, or one with no issues with basic features & detail? It really depends on your point of view.

[No Decorum]

There’s a lot of good stuff coming out these days. In choosing what to vote for, I begin by eliminating flawed models. I eliminated the Hatton’s 66 straight away.

[TomScrut]

2 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Absolutely.

This model provided more lighting functions than previous models with the possible exclusion of Dapol's 68 & Bachmann's 90, which were not new models for 2020.

Which is better, a model with many new features & detail, some of which have been problematic, or one with no issues with basic features & detail? It really depends on your point of view.

 

Yes, it's just annoying when you have to handle 9 to get 4 with working night headlights!

 

The 68 and 90 are the only ones I have that come close. Heljan look like they are heading the right direction with theirs though, as are Accurascale who look to be starting on the right foot.

[john new]

43 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Absolutely.

This model provided more lighting functions than previous models with the possible exclusion of Dapol's 68 & Bachmann's 90, which were not new models for 2020.

Which is better, a model with many new features & detail, some of which have been problematic, or one with no issues with basic features & detail? It really depends on your point of view.

The latter for me, although probably a minority view.

[Roy L S]

Not voting in the Model Rail Survey I am curious to know, what was this loco competing against to win the category or was it an open vote for any new model people wanted to include?

 

Roy