Class 66 in OO Gauge - New Announcement

[Torbay Express]

9 hours ago, curlypaws said:

It certainly made me very happy getting 66789 thanks to @ERIC ALLTORQUE. I had been looking on eBay, but didn't fancy paying the prices being asked for a locomotive that has a lot of fragile detail and possibly may have had some attempt at fixing the wobble/axle box issues. I'm still hoping that Hattons do another run of them at some point.

Hope it turns up in good form!

 

They are wonderful when you get them to work properly!

 

Fortunately, I don't need anymore.

[curlypaws]

Thanks very much @Torbay Express - we've two already and had to fix their wobble. It would be nice to get one that ran smoothly out of the box, but we're prepared either way!

[Torbay Express]

45 minutes ago, curlypaws said:

Thanks very much @Torbay Express - we've two already and had to fix their wobble. It would be nice to get one that ran smoothly out of the box, but we're prepared either way!

Unfortunately, it's a pretty rare occurrence!  I even produced myself a little checklist to ensure mine are complete - nothing broken or missing!  But they are one model loco that every time I look at one (even now) , that really does amaze me and has a wow factor.  

 

In my view, perseverance definitely pays off with them.  I wouldn't like to be without any of mine.  Really good at pulling HYA/IIAs by the way!

 

Got 2 factory sound fitted models too - they are really impressive!  

[Torbay Express]

Curlypaws - here is one for you...... enjoy!

 

 

 

[curlypaws]

Oh no, I can feel the pull of the IIAs... 😉

 

I completely agree on the Hattons Class 66. We've added Legomanbiffo sound and Earthmover 2 speakers to our 2 and they really are impressive beasts.

[Torbay Express]

13 hours ago, curlypaws said:

Oh no, I can feel the pull of the IIAs... 😉

 

I completely agree on the Hattons Class 66. We've added Legomanbiffo sound and Earthmover 2 speakers to our 2 and they really are impressive beasts.

Up my ramp and curves only thing so far to pull 12 (including a standing start where another loco failed  and slipped to a stand on 8......

 

Maybe I should do a wall of shame......

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

In my opinion if they are even thinking of making more give the moulds to Accurascale and team up with them controlling production,a lot of its right but whats wrong is its down fall and if it needs the axle ends rotating as per a lot of the real world now with quite a few wagons turning up like that,it needs the bodge of glueing the end onto a rotating axle sorted,time will tell,plenty to go at and they change more than some do there pants.That said i bough about 20 so i have more 66,s than pants it seems.

Edited May 3, 2022 by ERIC ALLTORQUE

[Roy Langridge]

21 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

In my opinion if they are even thinking of making more give the moulds to Accurascale and team up with them controlling production,a lot of its right but whats wrong is its down fall and if it needs the axle ends rotating as per a lot of the real world now with quite a few wagons turning up like that,it needs the bodge of glueing the end onto a rotating axle sorted,time will tell,plenty to go at and they change more than some do there pants.That said i bough about 20 so i have more 66,s than pants it seems.

 

I still argue there is not a lot wrong and there is no need for Hattons to team up - they just need to redesign those God-awful axle boxes, sort out the lighting and get a grip of quality. None of which are likely to be very costly.

 

Roy

[Torbay Express]

1 hour ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

In my opinion if they are even thinking of making more give the moulds to Accurascale and team up with them controlling production,a lot of its right but whats wrong is its down fall and if it needs the axle ends rotating as per a lot of the real world now with quite a few wagons turning up like that,it needs the bodge of glueing the end onto a rotating axle sorted,time will tell,plenty to go at and they change more than some do there pants.That said i bough about 20 so i have more 66,s than pants it seems.

To be honest, if A/S were to do a Class 66, then I expect it would be as easy to start from scratch and iron out the problems that way.  Plus more recent alterations could be tooled too.

 

Personally I love the Hattons 66, but why would A/S want to risk their reputation on it, and with a factory which has some Q/A issues?  

 

If I were A/S then yes I would want a Class 66 in my portfolio - it runs with a good many wagons produced so far, has a good few years left in traffic, has a host of liveries in pretty much every conceivable colour.  Indeed you could do a batch every year just to cover the latest editions, nevermind the bread and butter EWS, Freightliner, GBRf and the odd DRS one.

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

2 hours ago, Torbay Express said:

Personally I love the Hattons 66, but why would A/S want to risk their reputation on it, and with a factory which has some Q/A issues?  

Why would Accurascale use this factory?? the moulds are all thats needed and i guess Hattons own them,a lot of the hard work is done.........the modellers model company is needed to sort the issues,like you say,get it right and the skys the limit for new modern locos what are going to be around for the forseable future.

Edited May 3, 2022 by ERIC ALLTORQUE

[Torbay Express]

31 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Why would Accurascale use this factory?? the moulds are all thats needed and i guess Hattons own them,a lot of the hard work is done.........the modellers model company is needed to sort the issues,like you say,get it right and the skys the limit for new modern locos what are going to around for the forseable future.

Precisely, get it done right, first time.

 

The Hattons Class 66 is superb, but whenever you work from someone else's platform, you are comprised by what has been done before.  I think by the time anyone had bought the tools and had them modified/refined/altered you would be as well off to start from scratch and design something you know will work, than risk messing with something else that might nearly get there.  Do you think the A/S gang would be happy with that?

 

 

You are assuming that the 66 is not already tooled by A/S......there are 5 more diesels we do not know about.  Maybe they wanted an excuse for a working holiday in Egypt and measured one up off the radar......

[adb968008]

Why would AS want to take on the 66 ?

I mean its been made, oversold, discounted and took a year to sell out… Great for us, buyers, not ideal for a business looking to make money.

 

Compare that to almost everything AS has ever made.. most sold out in months (Cemflos seemed a challenge), but in general has made, sold out and in the case of HUOs and PFAs re-produced in extra runs… class 37’s have fully sold out several months in advance.

 

Yes they could fix the 66’s issues, but in my mind those who have bought them, are not selling them, which means they must be ok, or they fixed themselves.so ask yourself who will dump and repurchase ? … especially when £119 is 3 years ago’s price… Bachmanns up coming DBSO costs the same as the Hattons class 66.. both rrp and with discount,

 

To me the excitement in 66’s is the newer liveries and Euro imports, which means not just fixing the issues but new tooling mods, which creeps up the price again.  Re-runs arnt as big a market as the original 32 model release, which by the discounting and 16 months to clear was too big to begin with.

 

imo, let the tooling rest a few years, then bring some limited editions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by adb968008

[Torbay Express]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

Why would AS want to take on the 66 ?

I mean its been made, oversold, discounted and took a year to sell out… Great for us, buyers, not ideal for a business looking to make money.

 

Compare that to almost everything AS has ever made.. most sold out in months (Cemflos seemed a challenge), but in general has made, sold out and in the case of HUOs and PFAs re-produced in extra runs… class 37’s have fully sold out several months in advance.

 

Yes they could fix the 66’s issues, but in my mind those who have bought them, are not selling them, which means they must be ok, or they fixed themselves.so ask yourself who will dump and repurchase ? … especially when £119 is 3 years ago’s price… Bachmanns up coming DBSO costs the same as the Hattons class 66.. both rrp and with discount,

 

To me the excitement in 66’s is the newer liveries and Euro imports, which means not just fixing the issues but new tooling mods, which creeps up the price again.  Re-runs arnt as big a market as the original 32 model release, which by the discounting and 16 months to clear was too big to begin with.

 

imo, let the tooling rest a few years, then bring some limited editions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, but in the meantime that permits Bachmann and Hornby to have free reign.  Look at the Class 31 - same price as the Class 37.  

 

I just think that for a model railway business then a Class 66 is pretty much the cash cow product, and pretty much essential.

 

[Chris56057]

5 hours ago, Torbay Express said:

Precisely, get it done right, first time.

 

The Hattons Class 66 is superb, but whenever you work from someone else's platform, you are comprised by what has been done before.  I think by the time anyone had bought the tools and had them modified/refined/altered you would be as well off to start from scratch and design something you know will work, than risk messing with something else that might nearly get there.  Do you think the A/S gang would be happy with that?

 

 

You are assuming that the 66 is not already tooled by A/S......there are 5 more diesels we do not know about.  Maybe they wanted an excuse for a working holiday in Egypt and measured one up off the radar......

Where have you got that number for 5 more diesels that we don't know about? 

[YesTor]

2 hours ago, Chris56057 said:

Where have you got that number for 5 more diesels that we don't know about? 

 

I seem to recall it being mentioned by one of the Accurascale crew in one of their topics on here, although don't ask me which topic as I can't remember... 

[TomScrut]

9 hours ago, Torbay Express said:

Yes, but in the meantime that permits Bachmann and Hornby to have free reign.  Look at the Class 31 - same price as the Class 37.  

 

I just think that for a model railway business then a Class 66 is pretty much the cash cow product, and pretty much essential.

 

 

I think the point is that whilst you're right on one hand with it being a fundamental item on any layout from the last 20-25 years, how many people are queuing up to buy them?

 

I don't think making them is a bad idea, as long as the maker/dealer is happy to have them sit on the shelf. I aren't sure though that would be desirable with a tooling overhead, but if you already have the tooling then its a bit different IMO.

Edited May 4, 2022 by TomScrut

[adb968008]

8 hours ago, Torbay Express said:

Yes, but in the meantime that permits Bachmann and Hornby to have free reign.  Look at the Class 31 - same price as the Class 37.  

 

I just think that for a model railway business then a Class 66 is pretty much the cash cow product, and pretty much essential.

 

Yes, but if youve got a Hornby 66, your more likely to dump it and buy a Hattons 66 in the same livery, I doubt many will dump a Hattons 66 and buy a Hornby one.

I think Hornby have been squeezed in a place that hurts on the 31.. and a bulk run was the only way to do it. That said Hornby has had 20 years to make the popular liveries, 25 years if you inc the ex-Lima tooling, and elected to drip feed the market instead. Its unthinkable a Blue 1990’s era 31/4 was never made, and the only way to get a 90’s Dutch 31/5 was a factory error.
 

However as a tooling its cumbersome to assemble.. opening doors, separate louvres, grill, fan etc, and lived in the class 50’s shadow, and in 2022 were dealing with much higher costs and long delivery pipelines which means challenging it will be hard. I suspect they have no choice but carry on as they have done drip feeding here and there, tbh I doubt Hornby even realise what their best potential class 31 liveries are anyway.. their modern image choices and quality seems so anarachaic… I wouldnt be surprised if their response was to revive the old class 25 tooling.

 

Bachmann are much more reliable / discerning fortunately and there 66 isnt bad, but isnt as good as the Hattons 66. If Hattons were selling the tooling, I could see it in Bachmann's range as they too produce in a more measured approach, but I suspect that bridge is burnt. I cant see Bachmann retreating from their current 66 tooling either, but if they gave it a chassis upgrade it would be welcome.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by adb968008

[TomScrut]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

but if they gave it a chassis upgrade it would be welcome

 

Improving the lighting and air dam would make a huge difference to the Bachmann one IMO. Obviously their tooling doesn't have the same flexibility as the Hattons tooling either but those are normally minor things, putting the two together on a layout the lighting and air dams are the most obvious differences in my opinion.

[Torbay Express]

11 hours ago, Chris56057 said:

Where have you got that number for 5 more diesels that we don't know about? 

A/S Thread - keep up dear boy!  When one company allegedly spent £1m with their parent company on a loco, these boys mentioned they had spent £2m on tooling 5 kettles and 6 diesels (well one is a Class 31) making 5.

 

If one company happened to spend £1m on one and the other £2m on eleven, then someone has got a very good deal and someone has fared less well!

[SouthernMafia]

I wonder if we'll see the Hattons 66 released under the EFE Rail brand one day.

Depending on who owns the tooling (factory or Hattons) then it might be an option.

[TomScrut]

30 minutes ago, Torbay Express said:

A/S Thread - keep up dear boy!  When one company allegedly spent £1m with their parent company on a loco, these boys mentioned they had spent £2m on tooling 5 kettles and 6 diesels (well one is a Class 31) making 5.

 

If one company happened to spend £1m on one and the other £2m on eleven, then someone has got a very good deal and someone has fared less well!

 

I think a lot of it depends on what the figures represent. £1m could be the entire cost of development, £2m could be the tooling.

 

We don't know for sure what they represent or whether they are accurate/rounded.

 

I don't think it's fair to say one company got a good deal and the other got a bad deal, we don't know enough about any of it.

[Chris56057]

57 minutes ago, Torbay Express said:

A/S Thread - keep up dear boy!  When one company allegedly spent £1m with their parent company on a loco, these boys mentioned they had spent £2m on tooling 5 kettles and 6 diesels (well one is a Class 31) making 5.

 

If one company happened to spend £1m on one and the other £2m on eleven, then someone has got a very good deal and someone has fared less well!

Thanks for the update and just to say in relation to keeping up, I don't spend all my day reading RMWeb - hence the original comment/question. 

[YesTor]

17 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I cant see Bachmann retreating from their current 66 tooling either, but if they gave it a chassis upgrade it would be welcome.

 

16 hours ago, TomScrut said:

Improving the lighting and air dam would make a huge difference to the Bachmann one IMO.

 

Agree on both the above.  Also, the bodyshell itself isn't the most precise/sharpest of mouldings by today's standards, with some quite poor definition with regard to many of the details.

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by YesTor

[No Decorum]

22 hours ago, Torbay Express said:

A/S Thread - keep up dear boy!  When one company allegedly spent £1m with their parent company on a loco, these boys mentioned they had spent £2m on tooling 5 kettles and 6 diesels (well one is a Class 31) making 5.

 

If one company happened to spend £1m on one and the other £2m on eleven, then someone has got a very good deal and someone has fared less well!

Another one here failing to keep up. 5 + 6 - 1 = 5. 🤔

[Torbay Express]

29 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

Another one here failing to keep up. 5 + 6 - 1 = 5. 🤔

I will stick with simple maths......

 

5 apples and 6 oranges = 5 apples and 6 oranges.  Unless you start combining by saying fruit or something.