Heljan announce re-tooled Class 86 in OO

[cravensdmufan]

28 minutes ago, 97406 said:

A little context. Need to take up knitting as some point!

 

Nice photo. And D200 too, like icing on the cake!

[aureol40012]

For once didn’t pre-order one of these but decided today that I needed to on the strength of this thread.  BE WARNED, they are starting to sell out (kernow have no banger blue TOPS ones left and I bought one of the last two weathered ones). Don’t hang about!

[97406]

17 minutes ago, aureol40012 said:

For once didn’t pre-order one of these but decided today that I needed to on the strength of this thread.  BE WARNED, they are starting to sell out (kernow have no banger blue TOPS ones left and I bought one of the last two weathered ones). Don’t hang about!

My original blue one with no yellow panels was an impulse buy a couple of days ago!

[cravensdmufan]

19 minutes ago, aureol40012 said:

For once didn’t pre-order one of these but decided today that I needed to on the strength of this thread.  BE WARNED, they are starting to sell out (kernow have no banger blue TOPS ones left and I bought one of the last two weathered ones). Don’t hang about!

Well, now that is strange....we've been told for years that electric locos don't sell! 

[paulbb]

8 hours ago, 97406 said:

Here's my Hornby/Heljan comparison shot. The Heljan has the edge, definitely

In one respect the Hornby one looks better to me, in that the distance between the top of the front windows and the edge of the roof looks more convincing than on the Heljan one. Hornby did a fine job on the 86 back in the day.

[aureol40012]

On a separate note, as I had no plans for one of these on my layout I’m going to use it as a Sunday “drags” loco.  I know I could consist it with the dragging loco but that’s a bit of a faff (speed matching, etc). 
 

Can anyone tell me if it looks easy to temporarily disconnect the motor from the drivetrain so it can genuinely be dragged?

[cravensdmufan]

9 minutes ago, paulbb said:

Hornby did a fine job on the 86 back in the day.

Totally agree. 

 

I reckon if they'd have done an upgrade on it to include a centre motor driving all wheels and a decent pantograph it would still have sold well.   It would certainly have satisfied me! 

 

 

[97406]

26 minutes ago, paulbb said:

In one respect the Hornby one looks better to me, in that the distance between the top of the front windows and the edge of the roof looks more convincing than on the Heljan one. Hornby did a fine job on the 86 back in the day.

It's just a subtle something lacking with the shape of the windscreens on the Hornby one that the Heljan one captures so much better. The Heljan one's window frames are a touch overscale when viewed very closely, but the window frames were also a touch too subtle on the Hornby one. Don't get me started on the lack of grommets on the most recent Bachmann 40,  even though the windows are pretty much the right shape for the first time ever from any manufacturer!

[aureol40012]

7 minutes ago, 97406 said:

It's just a subtle something lacking with the shape of the windscreens on the Hornby one that the Heljan one captures so much better. The Heljan one's window frames are a touch overscale when viewed very closely, but the window frames were also a touch too subtle on the Hornby one. Don't get me started on the lack of grommets on the most recent Bachmann 40,  even though the windows are pretty much the right shape for the first time ever from any manufacturer!

Grommets?

[97406]

4 minutes ago, aureol40012 said:

Grommets?

Yes, Accurascale has done them around their split box 37 windscreens. Have one on order on the strength of the sample pics. Looks great.

[97406]

42 minutes ago, cravensdmufan said:

Totally agree. 

 

I reckon if they'd have done an upgrade on it to include a centre motor driving all wheels and a decent pantograph it would still have sold well.   It would certainly have satisfied me! 

 

 

It surprises me that they didn’t do an upgraded one off the back of the 87 as the underpinnings are the same. Just different underframe bits and bogies. Still Heljan looks to be filling that gap to expand the fleet. It’s getting difficult to get spares for the oldest Hornby 86s these days too.

Edited April 23, 2021 by 97406

[Carl BR]

With the loco sat on rails could someone possibly please measure the height of the pan in the down position from the top of the rail head please.  The lowest point of the wires on my layout is 57mm from the top of the rail. I would like to think it would be around 53-54mm clipped down.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Carl BR

[wombatofludham]

2 hours ago, aureol40012 said:

For once didn’t pre-order one of these but decided today that I needed to on the strength of this thread.  BE WARNED, they are starting to sell out (kernow have no banger blue TOPS ones left and I bought one of the last two weathered ones). Don’t hang about!

Given the speed at which Heljan announced a second run of the Rats, if these are selling fast we might see a second run sooner than we think.  

There again, electrics don't sell so it's all a collective hallucination.

[aureol40012]

Hattons sold out of banger blue TOPS too....

[cravensdmufan]

2 minutes ago, aureol40012 said:

Hattons sold out of banger blue TOPS too....

Now I'm getting worried. I've heard absolutely nothing about my pre-order from a smaller shop. I hope they get their allocation and are able to supply me. If everywhere else sells out I shall be very cross!

[97406]

8 hours ago, Carl BR said:

With the loco sat on rails could someone possibly please measure the height of the pan in the down position from the top of the rail head please.  The lowest point of the wires on my layout is 57mm from the top of the rail. I would like to think it would be around 53-54mm clipped down.

Hi Carl, Measuring off the top of the rail, it looks about 55mm with the pan down as the brace on the bike frame part looks a little higher than the pan head, so it'll just squeeze in there by the look of it. I intend to make my catenary the same height so the crossarm panto on one of my Hornby models can run at a fixed height with the one Peco mast being the master.

 

[97406]

I've just preordered the mid 80s 86/4s and noticed that Hattons is showing stock of the weathered banger blue ones if anybody fancies one.

[97406]

Basking in the sunshine (well an LED light bulb until I sort out some better lighting)

[Legend]

Most people seem to have gone with the TOPS versions , so I thought I’d show my latest acquisition . Rarely do I pre order anything , but when I saw the pictures in the Hornby magazine I was won over and went ahead and ordered . Thanks Rails, your normal great service .  I was originally going to go for the small yellow warning panel version but on seeing the full yellow end version , that was the one for me . 
 

Delighted  with it . She has just done some light running but I couldn’t resist attaching her to some maroon mk1s . Beautifully quiet and smooth through speed ranges . I have limited her to about 50-60% power for most running in , but I did take her up to a very fast top speed just to see what she would do .  5 or 6 coaches is the most I usually run and she took the load with ease . I’ve no doubt she could do full length trains if required .  Seems very assured . I did fit the coupling to one end . I thought I would have to trim some of the front hoses , couplings etc but seemed to get away with it , although there is some clicking as it going round my curves . Suspect I will have to trim some of the fittings back .

 

I use DC and she ran brilliantly on my H&M Clipper, Hornby R910 both dating from the 70s and my main controller a Gaugemaster DS which I still call the new controller , but which must be 25 years old now!  Similarly I run on Code 100 Peco Setrack, Streamline and Hornby track and points . No issues at all .

 

Well done Heljan . A really great model . 

[The Ghost of IKB II]

No one seems to have mentioned the fact that the tail lights are the wrong design.

[cravensdmufan]

2 hours ago, Legend said:

Most people seem to have gone with the TOPS versions , so I thought I’d show my latest acquisition . Rarely do I pre order anything , but when I saw the pictures in the Hornby magazine I was won over and went ahead and ordered . Thanks Rails, your normal great service .  I was originally going to go for the small yellow warning panel version but on seeing the full yellow end version , that was the one for me . 
 

Delighted  with it . She has just done some light running but I couldn’t resist attaching her to some maroon mk1s . Beautifully quiet and smooth through speed ranges . I have limited her to about 50-60% power for most running in , but I did take her up to a very fast top speed just to see what she would do .  5 or 6 coaches is the most I usually run and she took the load with ease . I’ve no doubt she could do full length trains if required .  Seems very assured . I did fit the coupling to one end . I thought I would have to trim some of the front hoses , couplings etc but seemed to get away with it , although there is some clicking as it going round my curves . Suspect I will have to trim some of the fittings back .

 

I use DC and she ran brilliantly on my H&M Clipper, Hornby R910 both dating from the 70s and my main controller a Gaugemaster DS which I still call the new controller , but which must be 25 years old now!  Similarly I run on Code 100 Peco Setrack, Streamline and Hornby track and points . No issues at all .

 

Well done Heljan . A really great model . 

Very useful review and great photos, thanks for posting. Still waiting for mine, and heard nothing grrrrr.... Mine is pre-ordered from a smaller shop. Seems like the box shifters get things in and out very fast. Seeing all these great photos from you guys I'd making me even more impatient! Only been waiting 20 odd years for a really good 86 so I suppose a few more days is okay! 

[D6975]

Here's a phot of a real 86/0 marker light, is this what the model looks like?

 

ps looks like the model has 86/2 lights to me.

pps Hornby's lights look to be reasonably correct.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by D6975
wrong pic

[97406]

14 minutes ago, D6975 said:

Here's a phot of a real 86/0 marker light, is this what the model looks like?

 

ps looks like the model has 86/2 lights to me.

pps Hornby's lights look to be reasonably correct.

 

 

They look the same from a distance, but they are different close up. Hardly a dealbreaker though. I did think of modelling N gauge for a while, but one’s ‘maturing’ eyesight is the reason why I don’t and O gauge is a little too costly. The Hornby model is an 86/2.

[47164]

Here are some comparisons between the two Heljan runs,  and credit to Ben for the subtle changes on the new version makes a much better model, particularly the pantograph which although does sit a little high on the insulators looks better,  but as Ben explained was a compromise that had to be made. 

[Legend]

7 hours ago, The Ghost of IKB II said:

No one seems to have mentioned the fact that the tail lights are the wrong design.

Blissfully  unaware , but it looks like an 86 to me . Given that it’s running without catenary  I think I can accept any small deviation