Class 66 in OO Gauge - New Announcement

[TomScrut]

58 minutes ago, shanks522 said:

I've been having a play with mine and am very impressed to find it'll haul a dead loco with relative ease.

 

heres a very crude video filmed from my phone, the sound on the 66 actually makes the camera shake!

 

cheers

 

Graham. 

 

 

On a similar note I discovered by accident the other night a Dapol 68 will not move a stationary Hattons 66 with 6 Revolution TEAs behind it 

[adb968008]

I finally got round to testing my first three yesterday.

 

All three are perfect...

 

nothing missing, nothing loose, nothing wrong with the finish.

 
my Freightliner, DBS and L/L Blue all passed my testing, including on a 1st radius curve (i only have 1), set track point, angled gradient without issue, first time.

 

if it runs on my shabby track it will run anywhere.

 

just want to add a bit of balance to the negativity, now Ive a bit of spare time I intend to order a few more. Beats the pants off Bachmanns for detail, thats for sure, and I used to think Bachmann’s were’nt  bad.

Edited April 19, 2020 by adb968008

[TomScrut]

35 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Peco i guess is closed

 

Yes they are. Nationwide shortage of points and connectors it seems!

[Sir TophamHatt]

Hmm.

No go on my 66. 

 

Choose another model or refund (although this wasn't offered).

 

I really only want older EWS as I've invested in 10 EWS HTAs for it to pull and for me that's what I see when I see a 66.

I may have been swayed by Freightliner but then I'll still be stuck with the HTAs and I know some Freightliner ones had a problem that can't be fixed with the lights.

 

Disappointing.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Sir TophamHatt

[The Black Hat]

16 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Hmm.

No go on my 66. 

 

Choose another model or refund (although this wasn't offered).

 

I really only want older EWS as I've invested in 10 EWS HTAs for it to pull and for me that's what I see when I see a 66.

I may have been swayed by Freightliner but then I'll still be stuck with the HTAs. 

 

Disappointing.

 

Is this because you had a sound fitted version? I think Hatton's have been taken aback by how popular the sound versions are.

[Sir TophamHatt]

26 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

 

Is this because you had a sound fitted version? I think Hatton's have been taken aback by how popular the sound versions are.

 

Possibly.

 

But it's just a shame they'd rather refund me than take the sound out and put it in a non-sound model (unless they've completely run out of all non-sound EWS models?).

 

No qualified staff to do it.

Have said I'm happy to leave it with them. If it means I get a chance of owning one, happy to wait.

[7013]

I believe all Hattons staff are working from home now ( except perhaps distribution) so anything technical would probably not be able to be done.

9 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

 

Possibly.

 

But it's just a shame they'd rather refund me than take the sound out and put it in a non-sound model (unless they've completely run out of all non-sound EWS models?).

 

No qualified staff to do it.

Have said I'm happy to leave it with them. If it means I get a chance of owning one, happy to wait.

 

[7013]

On the plus side, today I received my replacement Axle Box covers (they are tiny aren't they!) I would like to hear from those who have replaced theirs what adhesive they used? I am going to smear a tiny amount of vaseline on the spline to improve movement before I glue them back in. Also on the plus side I received two megabass speakers for my Deltic DP1. So my 66 and Deltic are going to have a 'see who is loudest' competition.

Edited April 20, 2020 by 7013

[Damo666]

Thought I'd add my comments, to help even out the reviews a little.

 

I got 2 Hatton's 66 locos. The Colas 66847 (digital fitted) and Freightliner 66504 (With sound).

 

Colas 66847

All axel boxes on the model.

Having read other's experiences here I checked for smudges, fingerprints and glue marks (even though there are no name plates on this model). All the bodywork looks clean.

No loose grills.

 

Placed it on the rolling road. No wobble, .... I think. (I'll see how to upload a video later, never done that before). There is a slight movement in the end of the bodies but the body remains stationary on the rolling road. I don't have a long enough track set-up to check if the wobble only manifests itself when actually moving. Can the wobble be easily seen on a rolling road?

 

The only Issue I've had is a squealing when at about 1/4 - 1/3 throttle. This greatly reduces at higher speeds. After an hour running-in in both directions this has greatly reduced.

 

Freightliner 66504

All axel boxes on the model.

All the bodywork looks clean.

No loose grill.

Ran with no squeaks on the rolling road.

 

8/10 for the Colas 66847

9/10 for the Freightliner 66504 (can you ever give 10/10?)

 

Here goes with the video upload:

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Damo666
Uploaded my 1st ever YouTube video

[newbryford]

5 hours ago, 7013 said:

On the plus side, today I received my replacement Axle Box covers (they are tiny aren't they!) I would like to hear from those who have replaced theirs what adhesive they used? I am going to smear a tiny amount of vaseline on the spline to improve movement before I glue them back in. Also on the plus side I received two megabass speakers for my Deltic DP1. So my 66 and Deltic are going to have a 'see who is loudest' competition.

 

Is vaseline on the spline a good idea? That's where you want the glue to be or near to.

 

As mentioned a couple or more (!) pages back a flexible glue will be a better bet than superglue. Such as UHU or even Evostik Impact (but not used in contact form), or PVA

 

I pushed an axlebox back on and then used a cocktail stick to add a dab of PVA glue to the wheel/axlebox shoulder joint.  A gentle run whilst the glue is just drying off then "centres" the axlebox moulding.

 

By using PVA - it also means that should you ever want to strip the chassis in the future for maintenance/cleaning, the axlebox mouldings can be removed easily by peeling off the glue. They have to be removed before unclipping the keeper plate to remove the axles and access the geartrain.

[big jim]

5 minutes ago, newbryford said:

Is vaseline on the spline a good idea?

 

[7013]

I mean Vaseline on the shaft (oh god it sounds even worse!). The bit that potentially rub against the hole that the shaft...........right that’s it Im digging this bloody deep hole. Anyway  I will try a glue that is easily removed.

[big jim]

1 hour ago, 7013 said:

I mean Vaseline on the shaft (oh god it sounds even worse!). The bit that potentially rub against the hole that the shaft...........

 

[TomScrut]

8 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Get them to send you a DC non sound one of 66005 try it on DC to see it runs smooth and get DC kits to sound fit it.

They have loads of all the straight DC ones of all versions.Get the difference refunded.

 

Or if you're willing to do it yourself see if Hattons will send you a DC one out (charging your card), swap the stuff over and send the ex sound one back. I mean with their permission of course.

[TomScrut]

2 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

It might be the decoder at fault causing the problem.

 

Good point, although I don't know what the problem is they can and do sometimes have problems.

[159220]

On 20/04/2020 at 15:07, Damo666 said:

Placed it on the rolling road. No wobble, .... I think....

Here goes with the video upload:

 

 

 

We got another wobbler! Even on a rolling road. Look at those axels/wheels, all over the place! 

It is very telling this 'Hatton's Dave' has not said a word since people started receiving their *main batch* 66s...

Edited April 21, 2020 by 159220

[Phil Parker]

28 minutes ago, 159220 said:

It is very telling this 'Hatton's Dave' has not said a word since people started receiving their 66s...

 

Despite current events, Dave's posted several times on this and other related threads. If you are going to throw accusations around, please keep them accurate.

[Pete the Elaner]

37 minutes ago, 159220 said:

We got another wobbler! Even on a rolling road. Look at those axels/wheels, all over the place! 

It is very telling this 'Hatton's Dave' has not said a word since people started receiving their 66s...

 

I agree with Phil. Dave has been on here, so your statement is inaccurate & unfair on Hattons.

Keeping up with social media is a small part of his job, especially when they are trying to keep their warehouse business going while maintaining social distancing.

 

That is irrelevant anyway. The first action anybody should take with a faulty item is to contact the retailer & give them a chance to repair, replace or refund it.

I have had the occasional faulty model railway item & in each case I have contacted the retailers concerned, who have dealt with the issue in a helpful & timely manner.

 

Raising awareness is 1 thing, but whinging further about it on a public forum does is not useful.

[TomScrut]

5 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I agree with Phil. Dave has been on here, so your statement is inaccurate & unfair on Hattons.

Keeping up with social media is a small part of his job, especially when they are trying to keep their warehouse business going while maintaining social distancing.

 

That is irrelevant anyway. The first action anybody should take with a faulty item is to contact the retailer & give them a chance to repair, replace or refund it.

I have had the occasional faulty model railway item & in each case I have contacted the retailers concerned, who have dealt with the issue in a helpful & timely manner.

 

Raising awareness is 1 thing, but whinging further about it on a public forum does is not useful.

 

And when all's said and done, what can he say on here that would make a difference to anything anyway? Apologies will surely be handled by the support people and at the moment I don't think there is much else can be done

[TomScrut]

11 hours ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

He had a clip on of it surging so i guess they will have checked the motor and back emf settings,its just dissapointing him so getting another and a DC kits kit in it he has the one he wants.

 

Yes and even if BEMF is set up correctly mechanical faults can send BEMF crackers too if the load on the motor is irregular. I once had a Bachmann 66 being a pain, working fine without BEMF and lurching with it on and it was because I had not put the bogie cover back on properly so the gears and axles were just moving about a bit more than they should. Wasn't audible but could be felt when I found the issue.

[spamcan61]

17 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

it needs the axle box re engineered to fix it for good,not hard,and the factory game turned up so it is the one to have.

 

Having spent a good chunk of the last 20 or so years designing / specifying products in Europe for volume manufacture in the Far East  (thankfully nowt to do with toy trains) then I can assure you that course of action would be both hard and expensive!!

 

Like I always say in these debates it's a business decision for the manufacturer, what's the cost of tweaking the product (time and people as well as money) versus how much extra profit is likely to be generated from a tweaked version. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by spamcan61

[spamcan61]

So how much of those 50 years have been spent trying to micro manage somebody else's production line on the other side of the planet, when your business probably represents 0.1% of their annual turnover? Been there, done that.

 

I fully appreciate that the CAD isn't the be all and end all of the design process - I say the same thing myself regularly at work; but the chances of getting a batch of units run to destruction, good luck with that. they'd probably be assembled by the 'A' team anyway and not representative of the volume production assembly process / team so a largely pointless exercise.

 

[TomScrut]

1 hour ago, spamcan61 said:

assembled by the 'A' team anyway

 

I bet!

[TomScrut]

The thing is, like all things engineering, there is the timing and commercial side to it and it's all a compromise. Not trying to defend Hattons here but there are plenty of limiting factors beyond the wants of engineers. I have first hand experience of that! Some stuff I design goes from CAD to production as anything in-between isn't practical.

Edited April 21, 2020 by TomScrut

[TomScrut]

I sent my 66 back via Royal Mail on Saturday, had notification it was there this morning and just had notification of refund including my postage so 10/10 to Hattons in that respect. I now have 2 class 66s I am very happy with and a refund for the original one I got so all in all I am pleased despite the slight issues.