Heljan announce Class 104 DMU in OO gauge

[ColinK]

Having lived on the Buxton line I’ve been waiting for a good 104 for a very long time.  Looks like its going to be an excellent model so I’ll be buying one.

[Wolf27]

Are Heljan getting the price and scale matrix mixed up? This is more like the price of a 7mm model. 

[turbos]

If you save £20 a month until it’s released you should have most of the balance saved up for at least a two car and depending on how delayed it ends up a three car. If you want one enough that is what you’ll do, if £20 a month is too much for you, then buying brand new model railway trains won’t be part of your hobby. 
I plan to get one 3 car set, I never seen a 6 car 104 in Scotland in the 80s. I may never run all three vehicles together, but all three vehicles will be run at the same time!

 

Brian.

[montyburns56]

9 hours ago, adb968008 said:

For me It just moved from a must have for at least 4 /5 units, down to “lets a wait and see”.

 

 

Well Heljan locos do often end up being heavily discounted, so that may be the best thing to do, although I guess it will depend upon which livery versions you are after.

[Covkid]

12 hours ago, adb968008 said:

For me It just moved from a must have for at least 4 /5 units, down to “lets a wait and see”.

 

Disappointed but we move on, its the first one I really want but cant justify, i’d already pre-ordered 4 of these back on announcement, but will now roll back.

 

Inclined to agree. I want a green three car and a green two car, but decided to wait and see how the final EP turned out. The BRCW is an essential DMU for me but it might initially be just the two car at those prices. I am not however blind to the enormous increases in container prices, shipping costs etc etc, but as a consumer i do have a choice between buying and not buying.  

 

EDIT

Having digested the Hattons publicity I note that there is only one driving trailer car listed. I know there were relatively few built but did none of them survive into NSE days ?

Also note that car 53434 appears twice. That suggests to me that the  "Mexican Bean" unit was ex "Buxton".   

   

Edited December 8, 2021 by Covkid
Additional

[Michael Hodgson]

8 minutes ago, Covkid said:

 

Inclined to agree. I want a green three car and a green two car, but decided to wait and see how the final EP turned out. The BRCW is an essential DMU for me but it might initially be just the two car at those prices. I am not however blind to the enormous increases in container prices, shipping costs etc etc, but as a consumer i do have a choice between buying and not buying.  

Spot on.  Sadly this one looks very much like thanks but no thanks. 

There's a lot of other new products that I also want, so my money will be going elsewhere.

[Zunnan]

The CAD looks great, it should be a cracking model when it arrives. Its a shame, but thats the market we're in unfortunately where the cost is much more of a consequence to the choices made. If I'd have needed a full unit I would have most likely stuck with my pre-order, but not when I only wanted half a unit for an occasional runner.

[Covkid]

5 minutes ago, Zunnan said:

 If I'd have needed a full unit I would have most likely stuck with my pre-order, but not when I only wanted half a unit for an occasional runner.

 

Perhaps there is a trade then with someone. 

I thought you might need the blue centre trailer to be wrapped between a Bachmann 105 and a yet to be built class 100 to represent one of the pair of Tyseley "museum" sets !!!

[Kieranthetrain]

CAD looking good so far but I have noticed it missing the door stoppers on the door and bodyside of the secondmans side same with the centre car.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Kieranthetrain

[mdvle]

Regarding price, I think the safest thing to do at this point is wait and see.

 

The current turmoil both in China and in the logistics/shipping of goods is playing havoc with a lot of things and impacting the inflation rate in countries around the world.

 

Things could settle, and perhaps Heljan drops the price (or doesn't).

 

But that Piko DMU price mentioned above can potentially also increase dramatically before that product ships given that it is still estimated to be a year away if prices continue to increase at the rate they have lately.

[Zunnan]

2 minutes ago, Covkid said:

 

Perhaps there is a trade then with someone. 

 

 

I had considered this, the 104 is not at a price I've shied away from for the right unit. If it were a 3 car 116, possibly a 119 for set T596, 304 or 310 at the price level the 3 car 104 is at, I'd still be jumping in with both feet. For the area and era I aim at when I switch to diesel, a Derby based 150 comes closer to the mark than any part of a 104 ever does unfortunately (common at the '88/'89 end of the period I run to). Now that the price is a bit more official, its an easier decision to make; I'll go down the 150 road for something different as that fits the theme better. I may revisit the idea if the right offer ever arises, so the 104 becomes a wait and see model.

[Michael Hodgson]

11 hours ago, mdvle said:

Things could settle, and perhaps Heljan drops the price (or doesn't).

 

After what I've been reading about the Hornby Hush-hush, I hope it's the price that they drop, not the model.

[EddieK]

On 08/12/2021 at 21:08, Covkid said:

 

Having digested the Hattons publicity I note that there is only one driving trailer car listed. I know there were relatively few built but did none of them survive into NSE days ?

Also note that car 53434 appears twice. That suggests to me that the  "Mexican Bean" unit was ex "Buxton".   

   

In Autumn 1981, Buxton based Class 104 triple 50434-59132-50424 emerged from Swindon Works in Blue Grey livery. Subsequently, 59132 was withdrawn and 59207 became the centre car. 59207 was also Blue Grey but with a different depth of grey panel.

Then 50424-50434 were transferred to Scotland to become the "Mexican Bean" unit

[Kieranthetrain]

On 08/12/2021 at 21:08, Covkid said:

 

Inclined to agree. I want a green three car and a green two car, but decided to wait and see how the final EP turned out. The BRCW is an essential DMU for me but it might initially be just the two car at those prices. I am not however blind to the enormous increases in container prices, shipping costs etc etc, but as a consumer i do have a choice between buying and not buying.  

 

EDIT

Having digested the Hattons publicity I note that there is only one driving trailer car listed. I know there were relatively few built but did none of them survive into NSE days ?

Also note that car 53434 appears twice. That suggests to me that the  "Mexican Bean" unit was ex "Buxton".   

   

They only built 15 DTCL driving trailers (10 midland and 5 eastern) with the last on be withdrawn in November 1989 from old oak common. With 2 more DTCL until December 1992 in departmental use. The ones that got network south east was 8 DMBS and 2 TCL. Strange still that class 104 got network southeast even the person in charge of network south east didn't know when asked a couple of years ago why they did them and not other units like class 101/8 which were better.

[Craig1989]

Any more news on these?

 

cheers Craig 

[97406]

This looks very promising https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/versiondetails/article?id=927

[markw]

Let's hope they can correct the positioning of the handrails on the DMBS

[Hal Nail]

First thing that strikes me is how much better the glazing looks than many models - no sign of the thick prismatic edges in those pics.

 

Would be marvelous if someone had cracked this area which I think is the case of a lot of "shape" issues, particularly with diesel cabs.

[Kieranthetrain]

22 hours ago, markw said:

Let's hope they can correct the positioning of the handrails on the DMBS

It is correct on the other side so looks like they just copied it from one side to another. The 2 car ones had the inward opening door on the corridor end on both side not just the second man's. But either way the doors are wrong or the grap handles are wrong.

[dj_crisp]

It looks like the door grab handles have been mirrored which to my knowledge isn't right as they're on the left side facing doors from the outside.

 

Hopefully an easy fix at this stage?

[Rich Papper]

Had a nose at this at the DEMU show today. Electrical connection between cars seems to be a multi pin connector that fits sideways inside the corridor connector. Looks like enough slack in the cable to plug one to the other with a magnet coupling then holding cars together below. Only the engineering sample, but looks less obvious than the big box coupling on the Bachmann 117.

[GordonC]

On 24/07/2022 at 22:25, Rich Papper said:

Had a nose at this at the DEMU show today. Electrical connection between cars seems to be a multi pin connector that fits sideways inside the corridor connector. Looks like enough slack in the cable to plug one to the other with a magnet coupling then holding cars together below. Only the engineering sample, but looks less obvious than the big box coupling on the Bachmann 117.

 

Knowing how prototype DMUs mixed and matched at times, it would be nice if the models could be fairly compatible between each other too

[Covkid]

On 24/07/2022 at 22:25, Rich Papper said:

Had a nose at this at the DEMU show today. Electrical connection between cars seems to be a multi pin connector that fits sideways inside the corridor connector. Looks like enough slack in the cable to plug one to the other with a magnet coupling then holding cars together below. Only the engineering sample, but looks less obvious than the big box coupling on the Bachmann 117.

 

1 hour ago, GordonC said:

 

Knowing how prototype DMUs mixed and matched at times, it would be nice if the models could be fairly compatible between each other too

 

Well yes Gordon but it would be more the case of the Bachmann Cravens and the Heljan BRCW and for someone to do the GRCW "class 100" for the ultimate mix N match  DMUs.

Perhaps Heljan can supply their multiple coupling as a spare when they are released to retail.   

[GordonC]

4 hours ago, Covkid said:

 

 

Well yes Gordon but it would be more the case of the Bachmann Cravens and the Heljan BRCW and for someone to do the GRCW "class 100" for the ultimate mix N match  DMUs.

Perhaps Heljan can supply their multiple coupling as a spare when they are released to retail.   

 

I wasn't being specific about what should interwork and what shouldn't, there were plenty of hybrids all around the country. But I just hope we dont see different methods of couplings from each of the manufacturers. At the moment, the Bachmann 117 with its big box connector wouldn't have been seen operating too often with the shorter Class 101, 105, 108, 110s we have models of but the 104 definitely would have.

[dj_crisp]

14 hours ago, GordonC said:

 

I wasn't being specific about what should interwork and what shouldn't, there were plenty of hybrids all around the country. But I just hope we dont see different methods of couplings from each of the manufacturers. At the moment, the Bachmann 117 with its big box connector wouldn't have been seen operating too often with the shorter Class 101, 105, 108, 110s we have models of but the 104 definitely would have.

 

I totally agree with this and I'm giving up on the Bachmann connector. I need to be able to change stock and the connector is well fiddly... and it looks awful.

I'm looking forward to seeing Heljans effort here. I'm using Hunts magnetic couplings as my current standard for DMUs so I can do a bit of mix n matching.