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Heljan 00 poor quality


Moley48
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9 hours ago, blueeighties said:

Interesting, I presume you have visited the manufacturing departments of Heljan to qualify that statement?

 

What I mean by that is small individual and intricate parts put together by hand and as models get more and more detail the more likely we are to see issues. 

 

Bottom line is I can live with it despite being disappointed and wanted to see if this was a common thing.

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

For me Gaugemaster have been excellent providing spares, the only issue being that they can only provide what they have been given by Heljan.

 

Roy

Their Web interface to the parts could do with work to say the least, it takes an age to locate the parts to price and order. 

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1 minute ago, RedgateModels said:

Their Web interface to the parts could do with work to say the least, it takes an age to locate the parts to price and order. 

 

It certainly takes a bit of effort but once you have done it a couple of times it isn't too bad. Anyhow, stops other people buying up the limited stock of spares ;)

Roy

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21 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

For me Gaugemaster have been excellent providing spares, the only issue being that they can only provide what they have been given by Heljan.

 

Roy

 

Wasn't the parts supplier Howes until recently that was poor with pages of OOS items?

 

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/Heljan-appoints-gaugemaster-as-uk-after-sales-agent/

 

 

 

Jason

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On 03/11/2021 at 13:43, 47606odin said:

Can’t complain about build quality, I had over 12 OO 47’s and all worked lovely, also 3 class 33’s.

 

I now have 6 33’s, 2 60’s, 2 50s, 2 20’s a 45 and a 37, in O gauge, and no issues. Yes occasionally some damage has occurred in transit, but handling is not down to Heljan, and all replaced or replacement parts sent without quibble. The only issue I have with Heljan is their parts supplier, awful


Transit? 
 

Not bad to Australia! 

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On 04/11/2021 at 06:59, Moley48 said:

What I mean by that is small individual and intricate parts put together by hand and as models get more and more detail the more likely we are to see issues. 

 

Bottom line is I can live with it despite being disappointed and wanted to see if this was a common thing.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure then that I see the point of this thread. 

 

You raise damage to a loco as an issue, many others say its not the norm and advice is given to return it/them to the retailer for replacement. 

This is discounted  without trying it on the basis that the replacement will probably have similar issues and now you can live with it ? 

 

In addition, there is a bit of a grump about having too many additional detailing parts added to the model  by hand..............

 

I know it's a chore to return a model but is it not  better to do so and get the product you rightly expect ? 

 

My Class 15 is lovely by the way. 

 

Rob. 

 

 

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On 04/11/2021 at 13:36, Steamport Southport said:

 

Wasn't the parts supplier Howes until recently that was poor with pages of OOS items?

 

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/Heljan-appoints-gaugemaster-as-uk-after-sales-agent/

 

 

 

Jason

To be fair to Howes and indeed currently Gaugemaster, most Heljan spares are produced at the time the respective model is made and the spares are what is left over from the batch being produced. Therefore anything going out of stock has to wait until another run of the same model is being produced and that spare sprues are available. There will always be an OOS issue with spare parts for non current models. Wheel sets  are produced as a separate but there again a large order has to be made by Heljan to their Chinese vendor to justify the expense of a one off part.

When the spare sprues arrive with the shipment from China they then have to be sorted and identified then photographed and catalogued with sometimes the same part being on two similar sprues depending on how the moulding process is divided up. There are far more Heljan spares available then most other manufacturers supply these days and to be fair there is not much profit in it for the spares agent at the end of the day considering the space that has to be provided to administer and provide such a service!

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On 03/11/2021 at 10:47, 'CHARD said:

I've probably one of the largest fleets of Danish eight-wheelers here, 55 at the last count, and no problems except the original Clayton teething troubles, long since sorted.  This is one for the retailer, nothing too complicated, I would expect.    

Totally agree 'Chard. 

You wouldn't come on here complaining about a manky cabbage from your local greengrocer would you. You would go back and give the  establishment chance to sort it out.

 

My count is 3 x 27 1 x 33 2 x 35 1 x 52 1 x Lion and 1 x 128.  I am really looking forward to 1 or 2 x 11 and 2 x 104

 

No complaints 

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I've one 33, 35, 52 and 58.

 

All are very powerful, smooth performers, capable of hauling very decent loads where required and if necessary with a decent turn of speed.

 

Detailing can be a little fiddly to attach, but that aside, all are very impressive.

 

Al.

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11 hours ago, BrushVeteran said:

To be fair to Howes and indeed currently Gaugemaster, most Heljan spares are produced at the time the respective model is made and the spares are what is left over from the batch being produced. Therefore anything going out of stock has to wait until another run of the same model is being produced and that spare sprues are available. There will always be an OOS issue with spare parts for non current models. Wheel sets  are produced as a separate but there again a large order has to be made by Heljan to their Chinese vendor to justify the expense of a one off part.

When the spare sprues arrive with the shipment from China they then have to be sorted and identified then photographed and catalogued with sometimes the same part being on two similar sprues depending on how the moulding process is divided up. There are far more Heljan spares available then most other manufacturers supply these days and to be fair there is not much profit in it for the spares agent at the end of the day considering the space that has to be provided to administer and provide such a service!

 

However at the time they were advertising it as if every part was available as a spare. 

 

If that is not the case then it's false advertising.

 

 

 

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Another post from me in defence of Heljan. I have a number of diesels and the 86s, and manufacturing/quality-wise they are great. The are right up there with other modern locos. Sounds like you’ve picked up the odd dud one, but as Ben’s said on here, just return them and get a replacement sorted. 

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8 hours ago, Flittersnoop said:

Are the Lynton & Barnstaple 2-6-2Ts not by Heljan? They've had no end of problems, haven't they?

 

Yes there were but the later ones appear to be fine. 

Most manufacturers do have issues, unfortunately. 

I had a Bachmann 1P which ran appallingly. I returned it to the retailer. They didn't have a replacement so quickly  provided a full refund and I purchased a decent one elsewhere. 

 

Therein lies the point. If you buy something and you're not happy with it, send it back and give the retailer the opportunity to provide a replacement. If you're really unhappy,  ask for a refund and move on. 

 

Rob. 

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11 hours ago, Covkid said:

 

You wouldn't come on here complaining about a manky cabbage from your local greengrocer would you?

 


Hey, start a thread on that and I’ll follow it.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

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