Heljan Class 14s for Hattons

[bubbles2]

Thanks guys, still much work to be done but looking better.

 

[Pennine MC]

Either there is something wrong with the colour reproduction of that picture or it's an example of the colour that has been copied incorrectly because it bears no resemblance at all to the original colour on the cabs!

... And checking in a recently published colour album my recollection of the colour tallies exactly with what appears on theese locos between its covers and I will be able to quickly judge if Heljan have got it right (or wrong).

 

 

Coming back to this, I didnt really follow which one was supposed to be right anyway...

 

Two models are now resident at Chez Pennine (second one for a mate, unfortunately ), and if anything I'd say that it's the Brunswick green that's slightly out rather than the cab green, though it's nowhere near being an issue. As already mentioned, rainstrips look as if they'll bear some research before getting out the carving knife; the bonnet/bufferbeam cockup is admittedly disappointing (puts it in the same bracket as the Western cab peak I suppose), but I can learn to live with it and overall I'm happy enough so far

[Pete Piszczek]

Two models are now resident at Chez Pennine (second one for a mate, unfortunately )

 

I bet I know who'll get the best runner of the two!

[pete55]

Having examined mine, all the bits are present and correct. I can't say what the running is like as I haven't access to any powered track in any gauge. As a mechanical observation, there is more play in it that any RTR model I've seen. OK so it has a very long wheelbase and will need a bit to get round corners, but what is there seems excessive, although I can't tell until we run it. This isn't much of a problem for me as mine will be regauged to EM (which the wheels look good for without alteration and pulling out on their axles) and the amount of said play drastically reduced. Aesthetically, I'm very impressed. Who's got some spare number transfers?

 

Adam

 

 

Hi Adam, quite agree about the wheels being more than suitable for EM, and also about the alarming side play! Any thoughts on how to take that up? My initial idea was to remove completly the wheels and jackshaft crank and gear from one side to slip some spacing bushes on the axles, then reassemble and quarter.........unless anyone has an easier solution!

Someone asked earlier about axle diameter, its 2mm.

[bubbles2]

Hi Adam, quite agree about the wheels being more than suitable for EM, and also about the alarming side play! Any thoughts on how to take that up? My initial idea was to remove completly the wheels and jackshaft crank and gear from one side to slip some spacing bushes on the axles, then reassemble and quarter.........unless anyone has an easier solution!

Someone asked earlier about axle diameter, its 2mm.

 

The brake shoes once fitted stop a lot of the wheel side play and seem to improve the slow running, but they do need glueing in the slightly too large holes.

[The Stationmaster]

Looking at my model, this looks to be part #49 which is already fitted to mine.

 

Trevor

 

 

 

Ah, that's what they are!

 

Mine arrived yesterday and is an interesting curate's egg of a loco. In terms of overall looks and 'capturing' the prototype I reckon it is pretty good and I'm definitely satisfied although there are the 'picky' issues of the cab rainstrip being slightly too low (not a spoiler for me), the nose ends looking very slightly set back (again acceptable for me because they are otherwise excellent), the snap-head rivets on the cab window frames (they do look very obviously wrong, and in a prominent place) and the strange colour of the cab with that weird BR emblem and running number (not welcome but fixable - anyone know who does the correct paint please?).

 

What was alarming was the standard of assembly, or was it Heljan's packing? One bottom foostep lying in the bottom of the polythene along with two unidentifiable objects and the step is an absolute b*gger to refit as it doesn't (if you see what I mean - I presume that's why it came adrift in the first place?); one cab footstep flapping about and hanging on more by luck than adhesive, and one lamp iron in a near horizontal state. Now with all the packing I can but think it was put into its various enclosures by some ham-fisted soul who grabbed it in the wrong places - not an encouraging start.

 

Put it on a length of track and wary of previous comments here delivered some power to it - and it ran like a dream, quiet and smooth, absolutely superb but me rather concerned about what might drop off next (nothing as it happene ). The only odd thing was the peculiar way in which the lights worked - but they do work so that might be a fixable niggle.

 

Rang Hattons about the problem areas - 'we'll take a note, we're keeping a list and will see what happens'. Hmm, definitely not what I'd expect from a retailer so this is one first-time customer who might not shop again, but then maybe they don't apologise as a matter of principle?

 

Now does anybody know what cement/adhesive/whatever works on Heljan plastic please?

['CHARD]

Just run mine for the first time since delivery yesterday. After a little excusable initial hesitancy, she runs admirably quietly and smoothly across the speed range, albeit demonstrating slightly less controllability than we've come to expect, which may be down to the motor design.

 

One lamp iron was damaged, other than that no obvious signs of handling/ transit mishap. Not had chance to check the bag of add-ons yet. As reported by others, there seems to be a moulding void adjacent to the exhaust port.

 

Moving about on the layout the loco looks well, certainly near enough what my mind's eye imagines as a recollection of the prototype. A jackshaft drive loco is a first for me, as I daresay it is many other modellers, so watching the motion is a delight to be savoured; its boxy teutonic utilitarian stance looks awesome, and with what appear to be heavy machined metal finishes, Heljan has captured the elusive character very well IMHO.

 

The numbers will have to be corrected, that does stand out as a key decorative feature to me. Apart from that, I'm delighted. Well done to H&H for bringing this to market, if I could afford another I'd have an NCB version tomorrow!

[Jamie]

Now does anybody know what cement/adhesive/whatever works on Heljan plastic please?

Mekpak has been working a treat on Heljan plastic BRCW undergubbins in recent evenings.

[The Stationmaster]

Mekpak has been working a treat on Heljan plastic BRCW undergubbins in recent evenings.

 

 

Thanks Jamie - always best to ask before driving 50 miles (that is round trip tho' ) to stock up with whatever folk suggest.

[Adam]

Pete - Have you had a wheel off the axle to look? Are the axle ends plain or splined?

 

Peco 2mm fibre washers with a quarter quadrant cut out

 

With this amount of lateral play, that's a heck of a lot of washers. I was thinking an inverted 'U' of black 60 thou' - which also represents the outside of the hornblock (these are mounted outside the frames on the real thing), and then washers. If the axles are plain then it's probably easiest to replace them and do the job of making spacers properly with 1/8" reducing bushes or 2mm inside diameter tube (disposable biro innards...).

 

Adam

[cctransuk]

Only just noticed that mine is missing one of the nose door catches, doh! Anyone know which part number this is? (i tried in vain to identify it from the other small bits of plastic in the list!) Also anybody know why they have modelled the catch in the open position??

 

Thanks for drawing that to my attention - mine has one missing, too !!

 

I can't see anything on the parts list that resembles the door catch - I think that I shall admit defeat on that one and bend up a bit of fine wire.

 

It has to be said - the quality control on this one is abysmal !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[clarkea1]

Mines just dropped through the front door at home.... whilst I'm 150 miles away at my Uni digs. Sad face.

 

If someone gets a moment could they run the calipers over the axle diameter? Hopefully they're 2mm and a get of Gibsons should just drop in for the finer scales.

 

Pix

 

Pixie,

 

I've had a quick measure an the axles appear to be 2mm diameter. I say appear as I've just slid a pair of calipers down between the chassis and the wheels, I'll have a proper look at the weekend.

 

Overall, I'm not massively impressed with the model - mine took a couple of attempts to start running, and still has a pronounced limp. Not having any 00 facilities, I'm not entirely sure what to do - others have reported that it runs in so I'm tempted to take a chance that it will improve once I've converted it to EM and can actually run it for more than 300mm in either direction! The chassis appears very narrow, with massive amounts of sideplay in the wheelsets. I'd guess for EM and definitely for P4 some plasticard overlays would be in order (and would probably help to hide those hideous pickups. Something doesn't look quite right about the bodywork either, but I can't quite lay my finger on it at the moment.

 

Quite impressed with the little screw coupling, but would at least have expected some replacement buffer beams or plug in blanking plates to fill in the huge holes.

 

Alastair

[Captain Kernow]

It has to be said - the quality control on this one is abysmal !!

Given that the various issues around the rain strip and the relationship of the bonnet to the buffer beam seem to be liveable-with, the overwhelming message in this thread to me, seems to be one concerning the quality (or apparent lack of it) of packing for shipment - both from a point of view of missing/wrong bits and bits coming off in transit.

 

I don't recall seeing this number of adverse comments and grumbles about this kind of issue with any other model.

 

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I won't get one unless I decide to go to Hattons in person and choose a good one over the counter....

[Gilbert]

I have to confess I spent a very frustrating hour last night doing decoder and headcode things during which steps, brake rodding and sand boxes made constant bids for freedom. I have now rounded them all up and hope they are firmly attached.

Chris

[pete55]

Pete - Have you had a wheel off the axle to look? Are the axle ends plain or splined?

 

 

 

With this amount of lateral play, that's a heck of a lot of washers. I was thinking an inverted 'U' of black 60 thou' - which also represents the outside of the hornblock (these are mounted outside the frames on the real thing), and then washers. If the axles are plain then it's probably easiest to replace them and do the job of making spacers properly with 1/8" reducing bushes or 2mm inside diameter tube (disposable biro innards...).

 

Adam

 

 

Hi Adam,

drifted one wheelset out to EM back to back, and can just see the splines on the axle ends!! So thats that answer for you!

Had thought of u shaped plasticard.....if they can be successfuly glued to the chassis plastic. Think thats a better option than warehouses of Peco washers, thanks PMP, but its something approaching 2.5 to 3mm play each side to take up!

Am still tempted to go for wheels off and brass or biro tube spacers!

 

By the way, very impressive buffer beams Bubbles, nice work.

[Adam]

Hi Adam,

drifted one wheelset out to EM back to back, and can just see the splines on the axle ends!! So thats that answer for you!

Had thought of u shaped plasticard.....if they can be successfuly glued to the chassis plastic. Think thats a better option than warehouses of Peco washers, thanks PMP, but its something approaching 2.5 to 3mm play each side to take up!

Am still tempted to go for wheels off and brass or biro tube spacers!

 

By the way, very impressive buffer beams Bubbles, nice work.

 

Thanks Pete, that suggests that simply pulling the wheels out and filling the resultant void is the easiest option - assuming the quartering is ok when I get to run the thing. Having found the Post-it with the dimensions on it again, it seems that the width over frame overlays in a touch over 11mm, giving lateral play of about 2.5mm(!). Looking at it, perhaps the plastic frame overlays can be spaced out with plastic sheet which will take up some of the slack and bring that distance closer to scale (I've seen a prototype width over frames measurement somewhere, but couldn't find it last night). I reckon that the inverted 'U' would still be necessary to get you in washer range however.

 

Adam

[Trevellan]

In terms of running qualities I suppose we've been spoiled to some extent by Heljan's earlier efforts. My 33s and 47s are all superb, smooth runners. Then along came the Clayton. My 14 had another 20 minutes on the Bachrus rollers last night and it still seems a bit jerky at low speeds. All lamp irons and footsteps appear to be present and correct, although I haven't plucked up the courage to check the bag of bits yet...

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Thought concerning limiting the lateral movement of the axles. On the old Mainline models which had a similar set up, cementing plasticard strips to the sides of the keeper plate behind the wheels proved the easiest method, and enabled modelling of the hornblock sides into the bargain. (If you wanted the top of the hornblock, infill pieces had to be glued onto the chassis block.)

[The Stationmaster]

Given that the various issues around the rain strip and the relationship of the bonnet to the buffer beam seem to be liveable-with, the overwhelming message in this thread to me, seems to be one concerning the quality (or apparent lack of it) of packing for shipment - both from a point of view of missing/wrong bits and bits coming off in transit.

 

I don't recall seeing this number of adverse comments and grumbles about this kind of issue with any other model.

 

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I won't get one unless I decide to go to Hattons in person and choose a good one over the counter....

 

Sensible approach I reckon Cap'n.

 

Interesting comparison in that while testing facilities were close to hand I also unboxed my recently acquired Bachmann 3MT. I reckon the quantity of separately attached detail is roughly comparable but the quality of attachment and overall impression of manufacturing/packaging quality control is in a different world - no scrabbling around for the bits that have fallen off is a great starting point in my book and it also delivers the confidence that nothing else is going to fall off.

[pete55]

Mines just dropped through the front door at home.... whilst I'm 150 miles away at my Uni digs. Sad face.

 

If someone gets a moment could they run the calipers over the axle diameter? Hopefully they're 2mm and a get of Gibsons should just drop in for the finer scales.

 

Pix

 

 

Hope you are right, because I have a horrid feeling the Gibson wheel is on eighth inch (3.3mm) axles, Heljans are 2mm. Wouldnt be 100% on that though!

[Adam]

Hope you are right, because I have a horrid feeling the Gibson wheel is on eighth inch (3.3mm) axles, Heljans are 2mm. Wouldnt be 100% on that though!

 

Reducing bush and Loctite? I suspect that if you give Gibson a week or two, you may be able o get what you seek off the shelf.

 

Adam

[pete55]

Reducing bush and Loctite? I suspect that if you give Gibson a week or two, you may be able o get what you seek off the shelf.

 

Adam

 

 

Quite right Adam, fine for those of us who can, but if people were looking for a "drop in" or wheel swap solution, I'm not sure thats the answer, thats all. And, does the Gibson wheel include the Class 14 jackshaft?

[Pixie]

Thanks for the replies about axle diameter - I'll drop Gibson an email to get the information straight from the horse's mouth.

 

Boomshanka,

 

Pix

[Adam]

Quite right Adam, fine for those of us who can, but if people were looking for a "drop in" or wheel swap solution, I'm not sure thats the answer, thats all. And, does the Gibson wheel include the Class 14 jackshaft?

 

Sorry, I meant a Gibson wheel moulded to suit a 2mm diameter axle. If they sold them as a conversion set , I suspect that they'd do the flycrank as well (they already to the moulding for that, but again, on a 1/8" axle). This is something they've done several times before to suit RTR locos. Besides, their turn-round time is usually much better than a fortnight for a product ex-stock!

 

Obviously, this would be a self-assembly job and so not to everyone's taste. If Ultrascale were to do one (unlikely, but who knows?), you'd be unlikely to see a set before Whitsun/Midsummer, which might be a consideration.

 

Adam

[Tractor37516]

Well mine arrived all fine and good yesterday. All detail is there as well, which was handy. Cab was very tight on the body though, ended up taking some of the glazing out in the process but it just came off in the end. The screws to keep the bonnet on were done up wey too tight though, still havent got no.2 end off yet. Ride is still quite rough at low speed so i shall run it more tonight once i have fitted the headcode panes. Im sure other would agree with me that the headcode light is wey too bright. Overall a very attractive model that is sadly let down by a poor motor package.