Heljan announce re-tooled Class 86 in OO

[adb968008]

On 22/09/2022 at 22:21, roythebus1 said:

Are they going to do an AL6 version without all the clutter on the front and with original bogies without those big coil springs?

 

Memories of working them as a secondman at Rugby in 1975, drinking a cup of tea at any speed on those was almost impossible, they were a bit shall we say, lively.

Theres a bunch of 86/0 listed here, available now..

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/versiondetails/article?id=613

 

[dmu 156]

For anyone going to the Great Electric Train Show this weekend , I'll be there with 'Making Tracks 2' making sure the OLE is working correctly, so feel free to come and say hello and I'll answer any questions regarding the OLE or any other aspects of the layout.

[Pete the Elaner]

On 23/09/2022 at 04:53, Johnson Street IEMD said:

I am not a current Heljan Class 86 owner but i've owned several of the predecessors and a few tailored Hornby EWS 86s as well - I plan to have the Cally Sleeper liveried one in WCRC operation and maybe at a push the LSL 86 (86101). One might say I am too busy presently with my Bachmann DB90s:

 

 

 

 

 

Heljan have stated that the 86/1s are not in their plans. They feel the sub-class has too many differences to make it worthwhile.

It doesn't sound like you want one enough to do your own conversion?

[adb968008]

54 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Heljan have stated that the 86/1s are not in their plans. They feel the sub-class has too many differences to make it worthwhile.

It doesn't sound like you want one enough to do your own conversion?

Looking at it, an 86/1 isnt that hard… but to get the detailed parts, you need to sacrifice a Hornby or Lima 87 chassis & bogies to do it.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by adb968008

[cairnsroadworks]

4 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Looking at it, an 86/1 isnt that hard… but to get the detailed parts, you need to sacrifice a Hornby or Lima 87 chassis & bogies to do it.

 

 

Is the bit between the bogies the same on an 86/1 as an 87?

[97406]

25 minutes ago, cairnsroadworks said:

Is the bit between the bogies the same on an 86/1 as an 87?

The compressor side is unique to the sub class, the corridor side is standard Class 86.

 

[cairnsroadworks]

16 hours ago, 97406 said:

The compressor side is unique to the sub class, the corridor side is standard Class 86.

 

Looks great. Bit of scratchbuilding required then! I’ve got a set of 90 bogie frames but that’s as far as it’s gone so far 😬

[97406]

13 minutes ago, cairnsroadworks said:

Looks great. Bit of scratchbuilding required then! I’ve got a set of 90 bogie frames but that’s as far as it’s gone so far 😬

 

I used Hornby 90 bogie frames on mine. The Heljan ones just pull off, so I cut the outer faces off the class 90 frames and made some little blocks out of square section styrene with holes drilled in to attach them to the 86 bogies. If I was being very nit picky, the wheels don’t quite align with the axleboxes, but it saves butchering a Hornby class 87. There are also tiny air pipes, which differ between the classes, but they’d be a nightmare to apply, and it looks good enough. One little project I would like to do is add LEDs behind the high intensity headlight. I tried making a light guide out of some square section acrylic, but it’s not brilliant (quite literally). I did get some tiny warm white LEDs but they ended up illuminating 2 portakabins, so I will have to get some more. This loco has also got sound fitted, which is nice!

[dmu 156]

Below are a couple of pictures of some of the catenary brackets I've made for the 'Making Tracks 3' layout, which again will be at Chester Cathedral and the Great Electric Train Show. The gantries are again laser cut but this time from plywood rather than MDF.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by dmu 156
Replace pictures

[Johnson Street IEMD]

They're the business !!!

 

Imagine if someone made them for the RT-attach market 😳 

[97406]

Yes, that really is rather splendid,

[Wagonmaster]

On 14/01/2023 at 14:32, dmu 156 said:

Below are a couple of pictures of some of the catenary brackets I've made for the 'Making Tracks 3' layout, which again will be at Chester Cathedral and the Great Electric Train Show. The gantries are again laser cut but this time from plywood rather than MDF.

 

 

They look really good! A question, if I may. How robust are they? I was wondering if they can stand the locomotives pantograph rubbing along the contact wire?

[dmu 156]

Yes they can, as with the previous 2 Making Tracks layouts I always install fully working tensioning masts as per prototype. However good working pantographs are required, some factory fitted ones like the Hornby 86 Stone Faiverley or Brecknell Willis fitted to 86s, 90s, 91s or 92s as well as any plastic ones are not good enough and neither is the Heljan Stone Faiverley type. However the Brecknell Willis fitted to Heljan's newer 86, Bachmann's 90 and Accurascale's 92 will work fine. I've modified the pans on some Hornby and Heljan locos using Sommerfeldt pans and a Judith Edge kit for an 87 crossarm pan {see earlier posts in this thread}, have a look at various videos on YouTube of Making Tracks 1 and 2 and you will see locos running with pans on the wire as well as those running with their pan down because they're not good enough. Let me know if you want anymore info.

[Patriot87003]

I managed to fit in a jolly to Model Rail Scotland today and visited the Heljan stand. Livery samples of 86401 in NSE and 86417 in IC Mainline were available … lovely looking models.

 

I had a brief chat with Ben and he’s feeding back to the factory that the white numbers and lettering are a bit darker as the NSE blue is showing through, so hopefully will be improved before production (maybe due this summer, with the 86/2’s still targeting the end of the year).

 

 

 

 

[cairnsroadworks]

On 24/02/2023 at 17:09, Patriot87003 said:

I managed to fit in a jolly to Model Rail Scotland today and visited the Heljan stand. Livery samples of 86401 in NSE and 86417 in IC Mainline were available … lovely looking models.

 

I had a brief chat with Ben and he’s feeding back to the factory that the white numbers and lettering are a bit darker as the NSE blue is showing through, so hopefully will be improved before production (maybe due this summer, with the 86/2’s still targeting the end of the year).

 

 

 

 

Hope they’re sorting the stripes on 417 and the shade of grey on 401, and the printing around the raised decals too 😃

[97406]

On 25/01/2023 at 12:23, Wagonmaster said:

They look really good! A question, if I may. How robust are they? I was wondering if they can stand the locomotives pantograph rubbing along the contact wire?

They'll be fine - you can apply a little tension to the wires and weaken the springs on pantographs so they don't exert too much upward force. Plus the gantries in this example are plywood rather than the laserboard Scale Model Scenery kits that I use. The detail is excellent on @dmu 156's example, isn't it!

[dmu 156]

Some more pictures of OLE equipment for 'Making tracks 3' , the 25kv booster structure will have a 3D printed power supply box fitted to the framework near the bottom of the structure. the structure is laser cut plywood the same as the others we've made,  all the other parts are brass with insulators from Sommerfeldt. The tensioner assembly is all scratch built from brass and will be providing tension to the wire when its all installed.

[ThaneofFife]

That tensioner mast is a work of art.  I thought the making tracks OHLE was made up up fixed length PECO contact wires so how does the tensioner work with those???

[dmu 156]

I customise lengths of the Peco/Sommerfeldt wire, this year I've extended some lengths to over 600mm by using a 380mm cut in half and soldering it to a 500mm length after shortening the droppers at one end of the 500mm length so the contact wire and catenary wire aligns with the corresponding wires on the cut down 380mm length . The tensioner assembly in the picture has single 0.5mm brass wire connected to the catenary system in the same way the prototype does at the end of the bay platform at Milton Keynes. All the other tensioners ( another 12) will be installed in the same way as the prototype and operate as per prototype keeping the the contact wire fully tensioned at all times.

Edited March 25, 2023 by dmu 156
Missing text.

[dmu 156]

Some pics showing a couple of the previous OLE equipment I shown on here now installed on the 'Making Tracks 3' layout. the contact wire is not fully tensioned yet as you can see in the picture with the loco, the pantograph is pushing up the contact wire slightly.  The '87' is Hornby's but with a modified Judith Edge crossarm pantograph.

[atom3624]

Just dug out my latest-tooling 86 034 for a little run on the tracks.

Reminded just what a superb runner she is - with a decent haulage and turn of speed!

Resolved most of the only problem by removing the 3-link and the heavier pipe - obstructing the coupling on curves.

A big WELL DONE to Heljan for this model!!

Al.

[dmu 156]

I acquired one of Hornby's latest 87s, 87006 City of Glasgow which is now fitted with the 21 pin DCC socket. However as per their 2017 releases you can't fit a standard sized decoder in it. The new decoder position is under the circuit board above the drive shaft which is too narrow for a standard sized decoder. I had to put the chassis block through my milling machine to remove about 1mm from each side to depth of 3mm to fit a decoder. The pantograph is as the 2017 version which is still not good enough but on the whole it's still a pretty good model of a class 87. The positive to take from the 21 pin version is that you can now turn off the lighting at each end individually so you won't have tail lights on when pulling a train. I've enquired with Hornby's technical dept. to see if I can retro fit the 21 pin board to the earlier 8 pin models as according to the service sheet they share the same lighting circuit boards but the same service sheet says they have the same main DCC board, which they obviously don't. I'll post their reply as soon as I get one.

Edited May 3, 2023 by dmu 156
spelling error

[Pete the Elaner]

34 minutes ago, dmu 156 said:

I acquired one of Hornby's latest 87s, 87006 City of Glasgow which is now fitted with the 21 pin DCC socket. However as per their 2017 releases you can't fit a standard sized decoder in it. The new decoder position is under the circuit board above the drive shaft which is too narrow for a standard sized decoder. I had to put the chassis block through my milling machine to remove about 1mm from each side to depth of 3mm to fit a decoder. The pantograph is as the 2017 version which is still not good enough but on the whole it's still a pretty good model of a class 87. The positive to take from the 21 pin version is that you can now turn off the lighting at each end individually so you won't have tail lights on when pulling a train. I've enquired with Hornby's technical dept. to see if I can retro fit the 21 pin board to the earlier 8 pin models as according to the service sheet they share the same lighting circuit boards but the same service sheet says they have the same main DCC board, which they obviously don't. I'll post their reply as soon as I get one.

 

I hope you don't mind but I've copied this to the Hornby 87 thread...because I won't look for a class 87 comment here in a week's time. 😉

[ThaneofFife]

On 03/05/2023 at 12:08, dmu 156 said:

I acquired one of Hornby's latest 87s, 87006 City of Glasgow which is now fitted with the 21 pin DCC socket. However as per their 2017 releases you can't fit a standard sized decoder in it. The new decoder position is under the circuit board above the drive shaft which is too narrow for a standard sized decoder. I had to put the chassis block through my milling machine to remove about 1mm from each side to depth of 3mm to fit a decoder. The pantograph is as the 2017 version which is still not good enough but on the whole it's still a pretty good model of a class 87. The positive to take from the 21 pin version is that you can now turn off the lighting at each end individually so you won't have tail lights on when pulling a train. I've enquired with Hornby's technical dept. to see if I can retro fit the 21 pin board to the earlier 8 pin models as according to the service sheet they share the same lighting circuit boards but the same service sheet says they have the same main DCC board, which they obviously don't. I'll post their reply as soon as I get one.

Any news from Hornby?

Incidentally i saw some blue n grey stock on msking tracks 3 so will you be doing any br blue era running sessions???

[dmu 156]

I'm not sure what stock is going to be run at Chester but its usually a mix of eras and regions so I'm hoping for the blue/ grey stock especially 86s and 87s so the pans are on the wire, as for Hornby, I got an initial response which didn't answer what I was asking so I emailed more clarity as to what I was asking but I'm still waiting for a response to my second email. When I've got time, I might just swap the pcb boards over and see what happens. Charlie from DC KIts has given me an ESU V5 decoder plus the sound file for the Class 87 8pin version to test and see what needs to be changed on Legoman's sound file to suit the new 21 pin board to be able to operate the head and tail lights individually. Once the changes have been done there should be 21pin version sound file available which will have improved lighting control. I've put a sugar cube speaker under the board at the speaker end of the chassis for now before I look at other options.