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Heljan GWR 47xx Night Owl


Hilux5972
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  • RMweb Gold

I’m assuming he means the cracked footplate, the loose steam pipe, and the BR Numberplate that shouldn’t be there.

Confess I had to look hard but yes the base for the BR plate is evident. More worrying is the cast adrift footplate which I suspect is a manufacturing/ design fault which has caused grief in some .....but not all ......cases.Mashed front ends out of the packaging seem to have bedevilled at least a couple of examples.

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I missed something there, how come one has a smokebox number plate, but one doesn’t on the same production number ?

 

It's the same loco: 4707 in G-Crest-W livery, but mine has a manufacturing error; they've clearly used a BR tooled bodyshell but put it into the wrong livery. I seem to recall the same thing happening to a very few Hornby Tintagel Castles when they were released back around 2011 or so. 

 

I know some may find it a somewhat trivial error but I am not prepared to attack a model of this price with a rat tailed file. A) because I don't have the skill do that and make it look good and B) even if I did, out of principle why should I have to?

 

Rails have been excellent with me so far and this model is now en route to Sheffield. 

 

CoY

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  • RMweb Gold

It's the same loco: 4707 in G-Crest-W livery, but mine has a manufacturing error; they've clearly used a BR tooled bodyshell but put it into the wrong livery. I seem to recall the same thing happening to a very few Hornby Tintagel Castles when they were released back around 2011 or so. 

 

I know some may find it a somewhat trivial error but I am not prepared to attack a model of this price with a rat tailed file. A) because I don't have the skill do that and make it look good and B) even if I did, out of principle why should I have to?

 

Rails have been excellent with me so far and this model is now en route to Sheffield. 

 

CoY

 

Nightmare Owl, me thinks Heljan's 47xx should be called in some cases..

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Returning 47XXs is an ever-present likelihood.   I fixed both mine, (front end transit damage, not the wrong smokebox front),  one I nearly sent back but I ended up fixing both myself, it's no fun fronting up with £15+ for airmail back to the UK plus the inconvenience of packing and paperwork for export back. And long delays.

 

Of course the manufacturers and retailers don't know how many are faulty and are repaired by buyers. Presumably Ben Jones is aware of issues.

 

I'll still buy a BR lined green one unless they are truly awful, may even still buy a post-war GW one since they feature in some of my O S Nock articles and books, and are actually very fine models all said and done.

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  • RMweb Gold

Returning 47XXs is an ever-present likelihood.   I fixed both mine, (front end transit damage, not the wrong smokebox front),  one I nearly sent back but I ended up fixing both myself, it's no fun fronting up with £15+ for airmail back to the UK plus the inconvenience of packing and paperwork for export back. And long delays.

 

Of course the manufacturers and retailers don't know how many are faulty and are repaired by buyers. Presumably Ben Jones is aware of issues.

 

I'll still buy a BR lined green one unless they are truly awful, may even still buy a post-war GW one since they feature in some of my O S Nock articles and books, and are actually very fine models all said and done.

He certainly is aware. I too have the same dilemma and on the evidence I have seen to date,I am not optimistic over the prospects of the BR green lined versions.....which seem incidentally to be tardy on delivery.

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  • 1 month later...

Is it just me, or does it look like they've adjusted the front stays slightly? They don't seem to go vertically up from the running board anymore.

 

 

....well maybe, though that isn't necessarily an entirely good thing....

 

post-33660-0-71452500-1533315458.png       post-33660-0-01328700-1533315479_thumb.png

 

Did someone on here say that metal struts are 'purely cosmetic' and couldn't possibly be the cause of the running plate distortion on this model and the Hornby Eight-Coupled tanks....?  :scratchhead:

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  • RMweb Gold

Well this took its time in making its debut and not an auspicious one either..A ski slope to rival Hornby's A3 and more front footplate problems.Assembly failings or design flaw ? Not exactly reassuring is it ? The lining is crucial to a rendition of this loco in late BR green and is someway short of the best of current standards.Larry is entirely correct.

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  • RMweb Gold

Well this took its time in making its debut and not an auspicious one either..A ski slope to rival Hornby's A3 and more front footplate problems.Assembly failings or design flaw ? Not exactly reassuring is it ? The lining is crucial to a rendition of this loco in late BR green and is someway short of the best of current standards.Larry is entirely correct.

 

It makes the ski-ramp on the A3 look like a nursery one - it's more akin to the ski-ramp on HMS Queen Elizabeth, you can picture the F-35B's using it! 

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  • RMweb Gold

Must only be some because the first set of pics, I’m assuming from Hattons as they look like theirs, don’t have a ski jump.

Don't hold your breath.If one example shows it,there are inevitably others.The front end design on this model is suspect,I'm afraid.

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  • RMweb Gold

Must only be some because the first set of pics, I’m assuming from Hattons as they look like theirs, don’t have a ski jump.

 

Here's the Hatton's photo blown up.

 

post-126-0-67476200-1533320953_thumb.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold

I'm told by Paul at Alton Models a bent front end on these models is drop damage.

 

If that is the case,you have to ask where it occurred and why such damaged goods are on sale ......and maybe why have they not been returned whence they came ?

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  • RMweb Gold

If that is the case,you have to ask where it occurred and why such damaged goods are on sale ......and maybe why have they not been returned whence they came ?

 

I know Paul at Alton Models checked the Shirt Button one's he had in stock out as I had most of them on the counter to find a good one which was

collected the day after the delivery there, I would imagine he would have check every single one after that event.

 

I do wonder where 7007 GW got his from and was it checked before shipping, most stores have been made aware of the issues there's no excuse

unless the courier has played football with it.

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  • RMweb Gold

I know Paul at Alton Models checked the Shirt Button one's he had in stock out as I had most of them on the counter to find a good one which was

collected the day after the delivery there, I would imagine he would have check every single one after that event.

 

I do wonder where 7007 GW got his from and was it checked before shipping, most stores have been made aware of the issues there's no excuse

unless the courier has played football with it.

That tells it's own story doesn't it ? Checking through stock to find a good 'un...heard that before a few times (not just with Heljan,to be fair). Rails should have known what might happen because I believe they 've been there before with first batches of the O2 IIRC.

 

The lining though is an entirely different issue and unless you have the skills (I do not) an expensive fix,together with a set of etched plates , in addition to the £152 minimum spend..

 

Looks like the Royal Duchy will stay with King haulage until Kernow 's NBLWarship

D601 arrives..

Edited by Ian Hargrave
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