Heljan announce Class 45 in OO

[Roy Langridge]

On 14/10/2022 at 10:35, GordonC said:

The 45106 model looks good, but I'm struggling with those massive dinnerplate axleboxes

 

 

The cantrail stripe was unusually wide on 106 as well, and that is not replicated.
 

The other thing I find is that the silver framed grills really show the lack of space between the long body side grill and the grill below below it. 
 

Roy

[Alan Oliver]

Think Heljan have done the grill and frame in silver when in reality the frame was green with only the grill in silver.

['CHARD]

10 minutes ago, Alan Oliver said:

Think Heljan have done the grill and frame in silver when in reality the frame was green with only the grill in silver.

 

Judging by the photo above, the real thing appears to have the frame in silver, or are my eyes playing-up again? 😉  

[Alan Oliver]

There is a frame the slats sit in that is silver but there is another frame round that that should be green

[dj_crisp]

1 hour ago, Alan Oliver said:

There is a frame the slats sit in that is silver but there is another frame round that that should be green

Yes I think you're right. 

The good or bad thing about this livery is I shows up all the curves and frames of the model ;)

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, Alan Oliver said:

There is a frame the slats sit in that is silver but there is another frame round that that should be green

Ive tried to do a close up on a picture of mine of the real 45106, and the model. Its not a bad scan, so I can go in a bit closer if it helps.

 

There was no silver on either…

 

 

i might rub a black marker around the axle box though, until I drum up courage to cut off the side frames and swap for Bachmann.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by adb968008

['CHARD]

I can't see any difference, now I don't think I'm looking at the right thing even!

[cctransuk]

14 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Ive tried to do a close up on a picture of mine of the real 45106, and the model. Its not a bad scan, so I can go in a bit closer if it helps.

 

There was no silver on either…

 

 

i might rub a black marker around the axle box though, until I drum up courage to cut off the side frames and swap for Bachmann.

 

 

If the axleboxes offend thy eye - and they certainly are the wrong ones for 45106 as depicted in your photo - it would be the work of moments to file them flat and glue on some slices of styrene rod, or punched circles of styrene sheet.

 

CJI.

[97406]

40 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

If the axleboxes offend thy eye - and they certainly are the wrong ones for 45106 as depicted in your photo - it would be the work of moments to file them flat and glue on some slices of styrene rod, or punched circles of styrene sheet.

 

CJI.

 

I reckon you could just epoxy on some little discs of styrene onto the axlebox covers looking at some of the pictures on here.

[richard w]

I was a bit disappointed when I got mine out of the box.  The blue ones all look rather dark and dull in the various shop photos and nearly had me purchase a Bachmann 45/0 instead.  I'd say the dark colour makes the shape issue more pronounced too.  I'd hoped to purchase Medusa from Kernow but the dark colour and dusty weathering put me off.  They also want £39 extra for it over the standard model.  I went for a pristine example instead hoping the colour was better in the flesh.

 

Once I'd run it for a bit I decided to repaint it.  The blue would only get darker if I was to any weathering.  Here it is next to an old Bachmann 47 and difference is rather obvious.

 

 

The numbers are easy to remove with IPA and some cotton buds.  The blue is easily rubbed off too so be careful if you just want to renumber it.  The glazing is very firmly glued, I decided not to risk it and used Humbrol Maskol instead.

 

 

 A few light coats of Railmatch BR Blue yielded a massive difference.  I added a blob of white to the mix on the last coat to give a faded look as I'm modelling 88/89.

 

 

Weathered the underframe, fitted a crew, applied transfers and a few coats of satin varnish.  The transfers are from Railtec with the unofficial name coming from Precision Labels.

 

 

 

Some weathering applied using washes, dry brushing and the airbrush.  I'm much happier with the model now, got there in the end!

 

 

 

 

A bit of black card behind the fan stops you from seeing straight through to the wires and circuit board.

 

 

Overall I'm quite happy but it took over 10 hours to get there.  Looking back the Bachmann version doesn't need a repaint and it's cheaper.  While I like the Heljan model I certainly won't be rushing out and buying another.

[railtec-models]

Lovely looking work. Not sure if I had the 45128 Centaur unofficial names available in time for you getting these, but this is available now as well as a bunch more that have very recently been released (45046/113/115/141 and more to follow). All spot printed so none of that superfluous carrier film to have to cut around, full vibrant colours and most of them £3.90 a pack. If it helps, the full list of available class 45 items (incl unofficial names) can be found here, and you can never have too many peaks!

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/railway-fleet-list2.php?veh_class=45

(It's a new way to search that is being developed).

 

 

[lincolnshiremodeller]

1 hour ago, richard w said:

I was a bit disappointed when I got mine out of the box.  The blue ones all look rather dark and dull in the various shop photos and nearly had me purchase a Bachmann 45/0 instead.  I'd say the dark colour makes the shape issue more pronounced too.  I'd hoped to purchase Medusa from Kernow but the dark colour and dusty weathering put me off.  They also want £39 extra for it over the standard model.  I went for a pristine example instead hoping the colour was better in the flesh.

 

Once I'd run it for a bit I decided to repaint it.  The blue would only get darker if I was to any weathering.  Here it is next to an old Bachmann 47 and difference is rather obvious.

 

 

The numbers are easy to remove with IPA and some cotton buds.  The blue is easily rubbed off too so be careful if you just want to renumber it.  The glazing is very firmly glued, I decided not to risk it and used Humbrol Maskol instead.

 

 

 A few light coats of Railmatch BR Blue yielded a massive difference.  I added a blob of white to the mix on the last coat to give a faded look as I'm modelling 88/89.

 

 

Weathered the underframe, fitted a crew, applied transfers and a few coats of satin varnish.  The transfers are from Railtec with the unofficial name coming from Precision Labels.

 

 

 

Some weathering applied using washes, dry brushing and the airbrush.  I'm much happier with the model now, got there in the end!

 

 

 

 

A bit of black card behind the fan stops you from seeing straight through to the wires and circuit board.

 

 

Overall I'm quite happy but it took over 10 hours to get there.  Looking back the Bachmann version doesn't need a repaint and it's cheaper.  While I like the Heljan model I certainly won't be rushing out and buying another.

 

Nice work there. For me the correct shade of BR Blue is very subjective not helped by the prototypes often being filthy or bleached. By contrast I have a Bachmann 45 which I think has a shade of blue which in my opinion is far too turquoise. It's certainly far lighter than the shade of blue on my Bachmann 47 or mk2 coaching stock.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by lincolnshiremodeller

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, richard w said:

 

Is there a ridge moulded round the edge of the glazing? 

[richard w]

24 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Is there a ridge moulded round the edge of the glazing?

 

I think it's to represent the rubber seals although I'm no expert so might be wrong.  The ridge is so tiny I've not attempted to paint them. 

[YesTor]

On 15/10/2022 at 21:36, adb968008 said:

 

 

 

Those silver-highlighted windscreens really emphasise the incorrect body shape. 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by YesTor

[pheaton]

On 16/10/2022 at 20:30, richard w said:

 

I think it's to represent the rubber seals although I'm no expert so might be wrong.  The ridge is so tiny I've not attempted to paint them. 

Peak windscreens sit within an aluminium frame, with a very small seal, the ridge should be representing the frame of the window which is itself through-bolted to the cab.

Edited October 18, 2022 by pheaton

[Hal Nail]

32 minutes ago, pheaton said:

Peak windscreens sit within an aluminium frame, with a very small seal, the ridge should be representing the frame of the window which is itself through-bolted to the cab.

 

Whatever the intentions, it doesn't look like the original and certainly doesn't help the appearance as having that ridge inside the unavoidable gap between body and glazing, just makes the windows look smaller than they really are.

 

For me, given the constraints of moulding glazing in 4mm, getting it as thin and clear as possible is the best bet rather than attempting overscale details. In fact I'd happily pay for laser cut glazing ahead of working fans personally.

[rob D2]

I don’t want to add to any woes, but are those roof hatches on the model rather thick and over pronounced ?

 

 

[pheaton]

is that part actually the bodyshell moulding ? in that i wonder if its a separate part that has worked loose? because i note that model is on incorrect bogies...it has the boiler footsteps and it models 128 which was a refurbished peak...so i wonder if someone has grafted that section on?

[Phil Bullock]

They look Like the blanking plates that come in the accessory pack. 

[Holmesfeldian]

23 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

I don’t want to add to any woes, but are those roof hatches on the model rather thick and over pronounced ?

 

 

Well if you want to score points about relief features, how do Bachmann footstep blanking plates compare with the original?

[rob D2]

Gosh, yes that’s a bit chunky 

[RBAGE]

On 05/10/2022 at 14:21, Modelu Chris said:

With thanks to Heljan for letting us borrow an EP of their class 45 we have been able to make a custom crew for it. 

 

These will be available on our website soon. 

 

 

Confusion.

I have just received and unboxed Coldstream Guardsman and a quick inspection revealed what I thought was an unpainted spot on the nose, just to the right of the left hand lower grab handle. Identical at both ends, so obviously intentional.

Looking at the engineering sample, the first photograph, above, shows that there is a hole in that position. I can't find any evidence of it from a very brief review of photographs of class 45s.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,

Bob 

[Holmesfeldian]

17 minutes ago, RBAGE said:

Confusion.

I have just received and unboxed Coldstream Guardsman and a quick inspection revealed what I thought was an unpainted spot on the nose, just to the right of the left hand lower grab handle. Identical at both ends, so obviously intentional.

Looking at the engineering sample, the first photograph, above, shows that there is a hole in that position. I can't find any evidence of it from a very brief review of photographs of class 45s.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,

Bob 

 

 

Some class 25s and 40s had a circular blanking plate on the nose ends from royal train duty to facilitate a radio communication wire from the train to the cab. See link below

 

Royal Trains

 

I don't recall a class 45 being used on Royal duty, however.

 

[RBAGE]

35 minutes ago, Holmesfeldian said:

 

 

Some class 25s and 40s had a circular blanking plate on the nose ends from royal train duty to facilitate a radio communication wire from the train to the cab. See link below

 

Royal Trains

 

I don't recall a class 45 being used on Royal duty, however.

 

Thanks. IT's in the right sort of place.

Bob