Class 66 in OO Gauge - New Announcement

[BigDee]

Thank you for the replies guys.
 

I’m running the latest firmware and it’s been fine till this weekend.

Think I may have altered something within the settings mid week, not sure what!

 

I’ll ask on the ECoS thread and the ESU forum too. If no joy a system reset!

 

 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

Finally getting time to work on putting longer axles ito some of the bogies on the many Hattons 66 models i have, not the easiest of tasks but it is possible with patience.

[Lowlander]

I'm hoping to see a lot of these for sale over the weekend at Modelrail Scotland...

Edited February 22, 2023 by Lowlander

[newbryford]

37 minutes ago, Lowlander said:

I'm hoping to see a lot of these for sale over the weekend at Modelrail Scotland...

I think you'll do well if you see any for sale

[Bearwood West Yard]

23 hours ago, newbryford said:

I think you'll do well if you see any for sale

And on that bombshell, it’s time for run number 2... I can dream 😅

[SouthernMafia]

Time to stop dreaming!

Nice tease @Lowlander

I won't be moving on my Hattons ones as hinted in the Accurascale launch vid, they are superb models still with a bit of tinkering. The AS range will complement them nicely. Good to see the tooling back.

[adb968008]

On 22/02/2023 at 22:41, Lowlander said:

I'm hoping to see a lot of these for sale over the weekend at Modelrail Scotland...

 

your wish may now come true

On 22/02/2023 at 23:21, newbryford said:

I think you'll do well if you see any for sale

that may not age well going forwards.

 

Anyone want a Bulk deal on Hattons 66’s anyone ?

😁

 

 

Seriously, with Accurascale, I dont think it will change that much, the two are the same tooling so will sit well together.
The celeb 66’s already done probably wont be done again anytime soon.

Theres a shortage of core liveries anyway, so this announcement will feed them.

Then there is a world of others waiting to be done.

 

The big question is if Bachmann make a new one, which has to be a high probability.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by adb968008

[Colin_McLeod]

On 03/02/2023 at 11:54, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Finally getting time to work on putting longer axles ito some of the bogies on the many Hattons 66 models i have, not the easiest of tasks but it is possible with patience.

 

Nice work Eric.  I bet you just love Accurascale's announcement timing!

[toby_tl10]

On 03/05/2022 at 21:37, 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.

Hmm, where have we landed ourselves in? Throwback to May 2022 (that's 9 months ago)...

 

More opinions from fellow modellers on page 210.

Edited February 26, 2023 by toby_tl10

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

On 24/02/2023 at 16:40, Colin_McLeod said:

Nice work Eric.  I bet you just love Accurascale's announcement timing!

I have luck it seems Colin,its just mainly bad ha ha,worse things happen at sea do they not,just hope the neighbours like ying ying ying.

5 minutes ago, toby_tl10 said:

Hmm, where have we landed ourselves in?

I have the long white hair so im turning into a prophet it seems.

[TomScrut]

On 24/02/2023 at 11:03, adb968008 said:

Seriously, with Accurascale, I dont think it will change that much, the two are the same tooling so will sit well together.
The celeb 66’s already done probably wont be done again anytime soon.

 

I agree. And 3 of my 4 Hattons ones are celebs so reasonably convinced their values won't plummet (not that I plan on getting rid anyway)

[Pete the Elaner]

On 24/02/2023 at 10:54, SouthernMafia said:

Time to stop dreaming!

Nice tease @Lowlander

I won't be moving on my Hattons ones as hinted in the Accurascale launch vid, they are superb models still with a bit of tinkering. The AS range will complement them nicely. Good to see the tooling back.

 

I stated several times on here that I felt the tooling was too good to not use again & we would see a second batch with the issues resolved. I did not expect Accurascale to pick it up though, but having chatted to them at the show in Glasgow, it seems like a good move for all parties:

We get a new batch & Accuascale have stated they will fix the production issues which the Hattons batch suffered from.

Hattons have sold their tooling, so have recovered some money from it. In return, Accurascale have a model with well documented issues, so they know what they need to fix.

Accurascale have announced some upgrades, like a removable roof section to make DCC fitment easier & features like a flange squeal sensor.

Accurascale are setting themselves a standard of continual announcements & releases for all of their models, so what won't be in the next batch may well appear in the one after that.

Now that Hattons are a retailer & not a retailer/manufacturer again, will this have gone some way to healing their relationship with Bachmann?

[Roy Langridge]

14 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Now that Hattons are a retailer & not a retailer/manufacturer again, will this have gone some way to healing their relationship with Bachmann?

I don’t think we can say Hattons are just a retailer again, simply that they have moved on the class 66 tooling. They still have, as far as we know, the tooling for several other models. 
 

As I posted above, the 66 was the one direct competitor for Bachmann and maybe this action is enough to see a business relationship return. 
 

Roy

[No Decorum]

1 hour ago, Roy Langridge said:

I don’t think we can say Hattons are just a retailer again, simply that they have moved on the class 66 tooling. They still have, as far as we know, the tooling for several other models. 
 

As I posted above, the 66 was the one direct competitor for Bachmann and maybe this action is enough to see a business relationship return. 
 

Roy

I dare say that there was some quiet satisfaction at Bachmann when the problems with the Hatton’s 66 emerged but Bachmann is probably not happy that a new rival is emerging.

[adb968008]

2 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

I dare say that there was some quiet satisfaction at Bachmann when the problems with the Hatton’s 66 emerged but Bachmann is probably not happy that a new rival is emerging.

I’m 100% convinced Bachmann is not out of this fight.

 

Accurascale are all over the Hattons 66 and have done quite a bit too it, I had a good feel over this weekend in Scotland and can see some of the work done / in progress.

 

Later this autumn will be quite interesting.

 

 

[No Decorum]

3 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

I’m 100% convinced Bachmann is not out of this fight.

 

Accurascale are all over the Hattons 66 and have done quite a bit too it, I had a good feel over this weekend in Scotland and can see some of the work done / in progress.

 

Later this autumn will be quite interesting.

 

 

Quite likely you’re right. Nowadays, Bachmann may not announce items until they are ready or nearly ready but it probably still takes a long time to develop a model. However, for all we know, Bachmann might have found another £1m somewhere and has been quietly beavering away at the 66s for some time. Perhaps Steve Purves was on the job. Perhaps someone senior thanked him for all his excellent work, wished him well for the future and went back into his office, closed the door and muttered, “D@mn, d@mn, d@mn!”

[The Black Hat]

6 hours ago, No Decorum said:

I dare say that there was some quiet satisfaction at Bachmann when the problems with the Hatton’s 66 emerged but Bachmann is probably not happy that a new rival is emerging.

I think its more a case of Bachmann were quite happy with the way that several people and groups rounded on Hatton's for doing the class 66. There was an awful lot of parroting and some cases of intense scrutiny over the model for some faults that were because the model was very adventurous in terms of scope. Yes a model for that amount should work but for not much less you had a Bachmann model with a litany of faults, compromises and issues that while good for the time spent in production was no match for the Hatton's counterpart. 

Like others, I can not see Bachmann not doing a new class 66. They have defended the 25, 37 and 47 in the range. Given the choice of others done I think 66 is much better to defend against than something like class 55. 66 has much in terms of scope and options, as well as with current delays in production building demand I think both can quite happily serve the market given how numerous and crucial class 66 is... 

[Legend]

6 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

I think its more a case of Bachmann were quite happy with the way that several people and groups rounded on Hatton's for doing the class 66. There was an awful lot of parroting and some cases of intense scrutiny over the model for some faults that were because the model was very adventurous in terms of scope. Yes a model for that amount should work but for not much less you had a Bachmann model with a litany of faults, compromises and issues that while good for the time spent in production was no match for the Hatton's counterpart. 

Like others, I can not see Bachmann not doing a new class 66. They have defended the 25, 37 and 47 in the range. Given the choice of others done I think 66 is much better to defend against than something like class 55. 66 has much in terms of scope and options, as well as with current delays in production building demand I think both can quite happily serve the market given how numerous and crucial class 66 is... 

 

And of course the critical point is price . Bachmanns latest 37 and 47s are all £200 + . Accurascale 66  £169.   Are we saying that Bachmann will introduce a better model than Accurascale at a comparable price ?  I dont think so . Perhaps better at looking at another subject .

 

It is an interesting development at Hattons though .  Might this be a reason why they appear to have Hornby on Pre Order again (either they've moved up the Tiers or the Tier system is no more). What about their other models ?  14xx , Genesis range . Could the tooling for that have been sold too ?   Might we see them stocking Bachmann again , if it is their intention to revert to retailer . 

[toby_tl10]

3 minutes ago, Legend said:

It is an interesting development at Hattons though .  Might this be a reason why they appear to have Hornby on Pre Order again (either they've moved up the Tiers or the Tier system is no more). What about their other models ?  14xx , Genesis range . Could the tooling for that have been sold too ?   Might we see them stocking Bachmann again , if it is their intention to revert to retailer .

Hattons is currently taking pre-orders for their Genesis Coaches Batch 2, with at least 10 liveries on offer.

[The Black Hat]

1 hour ago, Legend said:

 

And of course the critical point is price . Bachmanns latest 37 and 47s are all £200 + . Accurascale 66  £169.   Are we saying that Bachmann will introduce a better model than Accurascale at a comparable price ?  I dont think so . Perhaps better at looking at another subject .

 

It is an interesting development at Hattons though .  Might this be a reason why they appear to have Hornby on Pre Order again (either they've moved up the Tiers or the Tier system is no more). What about their other models ?  14xx , Genesis range . Could the tooling for that have been sold too ?   Might we see them stocking Bachmann again , if it is their intention to revert to retailer . 

If I'm honest I cant see any forthcoming 66 being near what Accurascale are wanting, but then in the long run Accurascale's price is likely to rise something to where Bachmann might start from  - thats IF they are doing a 66 after all. A big IF but their last 66 was about that point after all to undercut Hatton's - so even if they don't do a new one a Bachmann 66 will return at Accurascales price at a minimum.

With regards Hattons, I can still see them making their own things. The Sandite wagon, container flats, some steam engines all have been well received.  Things such as this I can see being repeated again in the future. It might have made business sense for the 66 tooling to move from one outfit to another in this case, but I can still see Hattons continuing as they have been for now. 

 

 

[Roy Langridge]

6 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

If I'm honest I cant see any forthcoming 66 being near what Accurascale are wanting, but then in the long run Accurascale's price is likely to rise something to where Bachmann might start from  - thats IF they are doing a 66 after all.

 

 

Not sure why you say that. Accurascale seem to have controlled costs well and kept a fair price. If their prices rise (as no doubt they will over time) that is probably as a result of inflationary pressures, which other manufacturers will also suffer, maintaining the price differential.

 

Roy

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

On 26/02/2023 at 16:23, Pete the Elaner said:

so have recovered some money from it

Hattons will have made money out of this model and the tooling sale,the sheer volume and the fact that once folk realised it was fixable and it pulled like a randy blond they all went and few are for sale of them.Im glad i bought a SHED load of them as they sold out on pre order with sound and it was not long before the others went once the price dropped. The price of the bits now is daft with bogies,motors or sound removed ones in a good box.Its just nice to have Accurascales qc on the future batches and if its a dud its not just heres your money back as we dont fix things.

[Ncarter2]

Some interesting prices being asked on eBay. 

[big jim]

9 minutes ago, Ncarter2 said:

Some interesting prices being asked on eBay. 

Noticed a few appear since Saturday!

 

there was an EWS one earlier that just had missing axle boxes for £109, tempted but not quick enough! 

[SouthernMafia]

I suppose the big moment will be if (when?) Bachmann announce their Version 2 of the 66, will it arrive before Accurascale can get theirs to market in 11/12 months time? As we saw from the 47 and 37, announcement to delivery was very very quick from what we've been used to, so they could well be sitting on one almost ready to go. It surely would be priced at least the same as the 37 I'd have thought, which I note had a £5 price rise on batch 2 this year (£250 RRP).