How well does the Heljan class 26/1 represent a scale model of the prototype?

[Western Star]

Interested in a HJ Cl.26 as a basis for representing one of those engines allocated to Eastfield in the late 1980s.  How good is the model as a starting point?  What needs to be added / changed / altered to provide an accurate model?

 

thank you, Graham Beare

[84B Oxley]

Graham

 

Personally, I think it is a good representation and at Tower's current £350 'Clearance Price' represents pretty good value. I acquired one when they first came out and have 'forward-dated' it  to the 1980s period. This is easily done by pushing out the windowed cab doors and replacing them with new plain ones made from plastikard, although, bizarrely, correct doors are available on a spare sprue from Howes-they just don't mention that fact! The token catching apparatus also needs to be removed and the recesses for them filled and smoothed. That's about all that I think needs to be done to get a pretty decent 26. I went a little further and replaced the main fan grille in the roof with an etched one from Pete Harvey and new etched bogie steps from the same source. And 26029 then needed a complete repaint! Four photos attached so you can judge for yourself, including one showing a new door in the process of being fitted and the filled in tablet catcher recess before final smoothing off. In this photo the original cab steps are still in place, in the others the replacement etched parts have been fitted, apart, obviously, from the 'out-of-the-box shot'

 

Hope this helps, I haven't run a ruler over the model but it looks right to me.

 

Jeff