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Heljan Class 16


Sulzer
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If I may add a little information which I hope is helpful.

 

The three pole motors used these days are skew-wound so they are a lot smoother in operation. Unless you get a faulty one, they are far more reliable and more suited to slow running. To get a five pole motor that was small enough to fit in the space available would have pushed the cost up unproportionally.

 

The drawings and CAD were taken from official BR/NBL drawings and have been checked dimensionally. The cabs are correctly moulded with the angles correctly portrayed. I would add that some of the drawings which have been carried over from some of the published material in the railway press are not accurate and cannot be relied upon when checking the dimensions of a model. All that can usually be confirmed are the major measurements and this is why it sometimes takes a considerable time to embark on a project because of lack of suitable drawings.

 

I'm afraid I can't really see an issue with the sandboxes but again they were drawn from the official works drawings apart from the fact that the bolster flitch plates were beefed up on the bogies as part of a modification in 1962/3 and this has been incorporated in to the model.

 

I posted some images on 27th November 2012, which are still on this thread, where I tried to portray the bogies and cab unit for comments. There were no comments regarding these issues, I have included them again for interest. The only issue that came to light was the size of the cab side windows, and yes some were enlarged near to the end of their lives.attachicon.gifIMG_3282.JPG

Hi Graeme, do you have any drawings you could provide us? :)

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Hi Tom

 

Stratford steam shed was a collection of buildings of vary ages. Parts were slowly knocked down and new diesel buildings built in their place as the traction changed from steam to diesel.

Hi Clive, im guessing the DRM(or whatever the correct acronym was for the works) was the only thing left into diesel days? I read that the changeover was very quick, from the first diesel appearing at stratford in 1959 and the last steam locomotive leaving by 1963, or something along those lines

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Without wanting to offend anyone can I just say how disappointed I am that people are so keen to find fault with the class 16

When the day dawns that a new RTR loco isn't greeted by someone with reservations about this or that detail, watch out for pigs flying past your ear! It seems to be par for the course, however hard the manufacturer's development team have worked. It shouldn't stop you buying or enjoying the model if their carps don't matter much - and for most of us, the RTR version these days will be much better presented than we could expect from building a kit or from scratch.

Edited by Oldddudders
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When the day dawns that a new RTR loco isn't greeted by someone with reservations about this or that detail, watch out for pigs flying past your ear! It seems to be par for the course, however hard the manufacturer's development team have worked. It shouldn't stop you buying or enjoying the model if their carps don't matter much - and for most of us, the RTR version these days will be much better presented than we could expect from building a kit or from scratch.

Hi Ian

 

Whoops, I shouldn't have commented on what I and fellow club members were concerned about when we had a good look at my two Heljan models. Having spent my money on what is a good model compared to others I have purchased from the same manufacturer and reading the BRM review of the model I thought I would point out my findings.

 

I did post a photo with the two RTR ones and my very old hand made one together and you are right "the RTR version these days will be much better presented than we could expect from building a kit or from scratch."

 

 

Clive

Who still recons the Tri-ang Brush Type 2 is a good model.

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Hi Ian

 

Whoops, I shouldn't have commented on what I and fellow club members were concerned about when we had a good look at my two Heljan models. Having spent my money on what is a good model compared to others I have purchased from the same manufacturer and reading the BRM review of the model I thought I would point out my findings.

 

I did post a photo with the two RTR ones and my very old hand made one together and you are right "the RTR version these days will be much better presented than we could expect from building a kit or from scratch."

 

 

Clive

Who still recons the Tri-ang Brush Type 2 is a good model.

Clive - I did not intend to condemn those who find fault, because in most cases they present factual evidence of why the model is not 100%, and in that respect they are simply behaving as we all aspire to do - being faithful to the original. Having read their findings we are at liberty to say "No way Jose!" or to decide the blemishes may be lived with. As long as the criticisms are couched in civil and measurable terms, we should really be grateful for their input. So, yes, Stock_2007 may be disappointed at the comments, but in this case, the Heljan 16 still seems to be a stonking model. "Buy, buy, buy!" would seem a reasonable action for those who might be dithering!

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I think many people are finding faults with the Heljan 16 because an immaculately perfect loco could be boring to own, some people will be annoyed you cant fit an etched fan grille to improve it, or extra underfloor detail, handrails and that. Fitting larger sandboxes might be the only thing some people can do other than weathering :(

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our experience? Lovely lovely model, really nicely finished and detailed. Running in session at club? One ran perfectly for 30 mins each way, the other expired after about 4 mins, smoking and smelling very bad....... shame, a bit like stories of Claytons from a few years ago? Still a Heljan lover and never had a problem with the big 26/27/47 motors etc.

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Arriving home from holiday one was waiting for me.

First thoughts.

Wow.

Impressive.

It took a moment to take in the spoked wheels and the openness of a low level view.

The works and shed plates must be the best yet on an RTR model.

Again it took a while to realize that the works plates are actually raised proud of the surface.

Toy couplings in the bag and scale ones fitted is a nod towards fine scale modellers.

On the track it crawled along with hardly a murmur.

All in all a perfect companion to the class 15.

They did get as far as the Maldon branch didn't they?

As my project Bradwell is pure fiction it does not bother me that much.

Now to the comments re size of the sand boxes.

Checking with a ruler rather than bothering to get out a vernier calliper I make 'em spot on to a widely available drawing.

Any body care to quote just how great they reckon any error to be?

Bernard

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I can only repeat what I said earlier, to me it looks the part and I really like it. I'm sorry if other people have had running problem I dare say you'll always get the odd duff one. I don't have a layout that it will look right on yet ( just seems odd next to a class 66) but I'm really starting to think I'll restart my small London layout just for the class 16 and 15 :sungum:

Edited by stock_2007
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Arriving home from holiday one was waiting for me.

First thoughts.

Wow.

Impressive.

It took a moment to take in the spoked wheels and the openness of a low level view.

The works and shed plates must be the best yet on an RTR model.

Again it took a while to realize that the works plates are actually raised proud of the surface.

Toy couplings in the bag and scale ones fitted is a nod towards fine scale modellers.

On the track it crawled along with hardly a murmur.

All in all a perfect companion to the class 15.

They did get as far as the Maldon branch didn't they?

As my project Bradwell is pure fiction it does not bother me that much.

Now to the comments re size of the sand boxes.

Checking with a ruler rather than bothering to get out a vernier calliper I make 'em spot on to a widely available drawing.

Any body care to quote just how great they reckon any error to be?

Bernard

 

Not sure they would carry a shedplate on each side of the cab?

 

Stewart

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Bernard just meant the works plate I think.

I'm not in the toyroom garage at the moment, but I'm certain mine has a 30A shedplate on each side.

 

Stewart

 

Edit: Just been to check, definitely 2x 30A shedplates, one under each worksplate (which is readable!) on each cabside.

Edited by stewartingram
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Not sure they would carry a shedplate on each side of the cab?

 

Stewart

A minefield.

In the early days many diesels were decked out thus.

Early class 24s around East London certainly had this treatment.

By the time class 31 came on the scene plates had moved to the ends.

In general that is but I am sure an exception or two may well be found.

Gary of 247 fame said at one exhibition that he had sold out of Stratford plates to diesel modellers who bought far more of them than the steam followers. 

History of yellow on the axle boxes any one?

Bernard

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 the other expired after about 4 mins, smoking and smelling very bad....... shame

Just been running-in mine (1603 D8407) on a rolling road- OK in the forward direction but after about 5 mins at 50% in the reverse direction, the same occurrence, lots of smoke and failure - what a pity

 

(call to Hattons' required now)

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Just been running-in mine (1603 D8407) on a rolling road- OK in the forward direction but after about 5 mins at 50% in the reverse direction, the same occurrence, lots of smoke and failure - what a pity

 

(call to Hattons' required now)

So what do you think? Is it the motor going pop or maybe the wiring. It seems both yours and Gridwatcher's went within minute's of starting to run.

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The motor started to surge just before the smoke and it then went dead short whilst cooking. Later it would draw a current of 0.1 amp but was completely dead - so it could have been the PCB and not the motor but it's all boxed up now waiting return to Hattons' tomorrow and replacement. This was on DC using a Gaugemaster LT rolling road.

 

Debating whether to get them to put a Lion and Class 28 in the parcel too  :nono:

Edited by Southernman46
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