BigAndy Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hello all, Having, in recent years, dealt a lot with Howes Of Oxford, for a long list of Heljan spares, It now seems, to my cynical mind anyway, that Heljan are deliberately witholding some of their spare parts. Originally, a few years ago, the majority of spares were available in a bountiful supply, however as modellers became aware of the usefuleness of certain spares (in particular HJN 30 snowploughs and sprues containing battery boxes), Heljan withdrew them. I do not wish to start a witchunt or start a nasty a conspiracy theory, but it would now appear, that the majority of spare sprues are available, apart from the ones that are really very popular or useful to the modeller.( As far as I am aware, Heljan are the only maufacturer to produce all variants of 47 tanks ) Why produce the sprues with spares for things like gear casings, that lets face it, most people will never need, but withold the sprues with the ploughs on, that potentially could break and therefore would be in demand? Other than the obvious, and that is they are deliberately not making these sprues available as they don't want to be seen as providing parts for the modeller. I noticed that they have re-released the ploughs HJN 62, very recently, ( which are the southern region version), but have steadfastly kept the, arguably, more popular and more widely used HJN 30 plough out of public reach. Has anyone else noticed this and has anyone else had any dealings with Heljan or Howes ( who are just briiliant by the way)? Thanks in advance Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I was recently able to buy a full set of spares from Howes for Heljan's Hymek in order to help detail my very old Hornby version, and put it on a Heljan chassis kindly provided by "Pixie". When I discovered some of the bits were missing from one of the sprues (possibly those bits had been stripped to supply other customers or repair damaged / faulty engines), Howes immediately sent out a replacement full sprue FOC. There wasn't any problem getting hold of what I wanted. Service was right up there with Mainly Trains, i.e. "next day". B) I haven't had cause to use any other Heljan loco, so obviously can't say whether I've noticed any shortage of spares for those. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldrick25 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Think you will find the 'blockage, in supply of spares originates in China, as well as costs here almost doubling recently. Coach and wagon wheelsets etc , all by Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann have typically gone from £4 per pack of 10 to £8 in the last 12 months- IF you can get them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzyo Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hello BigAndy, could it just be demand has outstripped supply? And that Heljan are at this moment in time pumping the plastic. An email to Howes may be able to sort it out? OzzyO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 ....Coach and wagon wheelsets etc , all by Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann have typically gone from £4 per pack of 10 to £8 in the last 12 months- IF you can get them. Coo.....this is almost like watching stock market movements. Do you think there'll be spread betting on futures of RTR wheels? Or even Ultrascales, for that matter? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor H Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I feel the lack of the popular spares, has just sold out due to demand and I can't imagine China or Heljan having new spares done until they do a production run of that particular loco. Trevor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Maybe if you could encourage Apple to make them, we might have mass hysteria and salivation at the prospect of the "i-Spare"? And they'd be way overrated for the price, obviously Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Fisher Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I would go with less conspiracy, and more with the fact of economy of scale. The 47 has been around a while now and whilst a nice extra earner wont provide in spares a full run of other bits, who knows what else has to be produced with other sprues just to get 47 snowploughs.... Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Are the ploughs unpainted plastic yellow? Goodness knows what is attached to them that also needs to be produced as Ian said. The spares situation improves every time a run of a type of loco is done and winds down until the tool is fitted to the machine for another batch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianuk46 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have been trying to improve the running of my Hattons class 14 loco, and need a few spare parts. On ringing Hatton's they informed me they do not carry any spares for 'their' locomotives and told me I had to get in touch with the manufacturer. I just wondered if any member has tried obtaining any spares from Heljan direct, and if they had any luck. Brian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wirey33 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have been trying to improve the running of my Hattons class 14 loco, and need a few spare parts. On ringing Hatton's they informed me they do not carry any spares for 'their' locomotives and told me I had to get in touch with the manufacturer. I just wondered if any member has tried obtaining any spares from Heljan direct, and if they had any luck. Brian Are you confusing Hattons with Howes? Howe's are the UK distributor for Heljan, Hattons just sell the stuff. Howe's do hold spares e.g. I've picked up Baby Deltic bogies and a class 26 bodyshell in the last 12 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Are you confusing Hattons with Howes? Howe's are the UK distributor for Heljan, Hattons just sell the stuff. Howe's do hold spares e.g. I've picked up Baby Deltic bogies and a class 26 bodyshell in the last 12 months. Yes, but in this case Hattons were the exclusive retailer, having commissioned the model, so it wasn't an unreasonable question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 And when I accidently removed the hood handles, mistaking them for painting glitches , Hattons were the ones to send me the bits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted June 14, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2014 Yes, but in this case Hattons were the exclusive retailer, having commissioned the model, so it wasn't an unreasonable question. Had the same problem - have lost brake rigging off my 14, need replacements, drawn a blank at both Hattons and Howes Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian daniels Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Howe's are the UK distributor for Heljan, Hattons just sell the stuff. Howes are just the UK agent dealing with spares and any general enquiry. They are not a distributor for Heljan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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