Have I been unlucky?

[Mike 84C]

Murphy Models 121, handrails missing and broken, sent back to Hattons for exchange. 2nd one runs superbly on DC , lights etc; all work. Put in DCC and the speaker is defective and does not run. Pay for repair myself, not expensive but not the point. Considering how long modelers waited for the 121 and many paid up front, myself included, is the quality control as dire as my experience suggests?

 Just a question I thought worth asking.

[Robert Shrives]

Mike, 

Sad to read that mine run pefectly on DC and arrived from Hattons  in good order  in a bomb proof box with loads of packing before getting to Paddy`s box and the loco.  

The handrails do seem to have suffered but at the packing stage - despite the sleeve we lift out some poor soul had to slide it in first and I guess 10,000 models later there will be statistical fallout  1% would mean 100 rogue models.  So irritating yes but some soul is bound to get it - It shows that even with selective sampling by Paddy or Hattons did not find , I have had N stock still with the tissue tightly around the box as collectors want pristine boxes but mortals like us and the pickers have to take it the model is as labeled and in good order!

 

The speaker I think on the IRM forum some mention of swapping speakers due personal choice but not read of fleet failures - unlike the IEP 800s!   What had failed - dry joint? or worse?   

 

I think lots of good noises about the model and  little froth otherwise suggest you have been very unlucky , I wonder If Hattons will do a NQP deal ! - which model was it ? 

W.         

[kirley]

On 10/06/2021 at 11:29, Mike 84C said:

Murphy Models 121, handrails missing and broken, sent back to Hattons for exchange. 2nd one runs superbly on DC , lights etc; all work. Put in DCC and the speaker is defective and does not run. Pay for repair myself, not expensive but not the point. Considering how long modelers waited for the 121 and many paid up front, myself included, is the quality control as dire as my experience suggests?

 Just a question I thought worth asking.

Unlucky Mike, I got a few and the only issue I had was my DCC controller NCE Momentum button and sound decoders

[Glen Arriff]

You were unlucky. 

My experience must be the "froth" mentioned above.

I ordered 4 also from Hattons. All four had faults. One had no axle bearings on one bogie. Hattons said to return it, and then refunded my money as they had sold all their stock. They said it was a limited edition and they had no chance of getting replacment parts. That was a blow as it was one of a pair and nobody else I could think of had one. Eventually found it in Kernow but it cost a lot more there.

The other three had various faults - two had broken vacuum pipes and horns and one broken hand rails. I contacted Hattons and said that I was reluctant to send them back if all they were going to do was refund and those ones were sold out everywhere. They said that I could glue them back together and they would graciously agree that this would not invalidate the guarantee if anything else went wrong. One of them needed three joints and later fell apart with the bits lost in my ballast somewhere.

The fourth one had broken handrails with Hattons again suggesting that I could bodge it up. Faced with that or sending it back for a refund I had to do it.

When the one arrived from Kernow, number 5, it was the only one with no faults.

So much for the great packaging for the broken bits, but the missing rotating bearings were an assembly fault. The axles were sticking out of the bogies, so that one had to go back. Luckily I now have all four, even if one has only the vertical bit of the vacuum pipe left. I waited ten years for a 121 model so perhaps I should be grateful.

The pair I run in multiple have very different speed profiles and I had to do a lot of trial and error re-programming of the DCC chips to stop one pulling the other at low speed and the reverse effect at high speed. The other two are different too, but I do not used them in multiple as they represent the pre-1975 state and were not yet fitted to run in multiple then.

Apart from that, they are perfect.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Glen Arriff
Typo

[Robert Shrives]

Glen,

2 of came from Hattons and no issues third the RPSI special from IRM with no hassles.  Sadly at work I offered the RPSI to a fellow modeller and lifting out of the foam tray the horn was knocked off the cab end.

I have marked  the packaging for which  end to undo first - plus triming the end lugs a bit. Lifting using the plastic sleeve is essential - I like the Murhpy models method of semi rigid filler between body and handrails to assist protection when grasped in the Mk1 human hand on the 071/141/181 models.   

 

Having had US HO models in hand for resin 121 and 071 kits I had seen how fragile these parts are going to be if near scale.  At least being clipped in getting dislodged does offer the chance of refitting over having glue splodges and broken parts - I think they are a form of nylon so also do not like paint adhering.   

 

As a DC operator I have seen as this was the "froth" based comment has been the faff with chips and speakers -even seemingly with Paddy`s specified chips and built in speaker  but so many variables in operational conditions are out of the control of the manufacture I guess they expect reports when models turned out into the wild world.  Did the speed profile match in DC mode as my three seem quite happy after 30 minutes tail chasing but the RPSI is just a tad freer?        

 

Lucky you got one from Kernow to at least fill the fleet, last week IRM were offering some found in a dark corner of their stores - might be unfullfilled order stock as happened with wagons a while back and I saw Rails of Sheffield had a "fire sale" on a couple last week.   Looking forward to the A and inevitable C  class.

Robert   

Edited June 15, 2021 by Robert Shrives
missed a word

[Glen Arriff]

The broken bits were lying in the boxes before I lifted the locos out. I couldn't work out what they were at first and I thought they might be spare air pipes until I found those in the bag. Strange that it happened twice and both at the cab end where it can be noticed, especially on the Supertrain livery after it came apart again and got lost. Not so noticable on the black loco and it has stayed intact anyway as it only broke in one place. Only later did I notice that the broken bits in the other two boxes were in fact the vacuum pipes.

If I had been quick enough, or devious enough, I would have taken the pipe off the one sent back to Hattons, but I did not understand where the broken bits came from until too late.

The missing axle ends were not in the box and must never have been fitted.

The actual handrail on the fourth one was OK but the plastic pin moulded on the end was missing. Gluing that to the body at the cab end was easy and it stayed glued.

I can switch part of the layout to DC which I usually do for a first test and the difference in speed was apparent from the start. That isn't so unusual as runing in usually helps plus some lubrication, but I never had it so bad. Then again, if I was not running them as a pair I might never have noticed.

In the end I used two of Murphy chips and two others which I programmed up myself. They are all from the same original manufacturer and all come with the same straight line non-logarithic default speed table. It is a footery business customising them, but it works. So far running in hasn't changed anything. I have done similar things with the Bachmann Mogul and the OO Works GNR 0-6-0 but those were mild tinkering jobs. The Hornby skew motor under my MetroVicks and Birmingham Sulzers need taming too but  mostly all these are about sticky starting. The 121s were first Murphy product I have had which needed reprofiling. All my other central motor and flywheel types are very progressive in relation to increasing voltage and current levels.

Fine detail is great, but things like vacuum pipes and the under chassis pipes on the cement wagons are very easy to break.

Well, if only one in a hundred are faulty then somewhere there are 399 which are fine. That thought is a comfort to me.