letterspider

We've all made this mistake at least once, I am sure.

Hattons must have done some research before starting this project. Cranes are a regular favourite in the RMWeb wishlist so they would have known what profit and demand to expect. It may well be that there was too much uncertainty in projected costs and delivery times to make this viable. However fingers crossed someone else will see the potential and may even produce a model which doesn't have the jibs fixed in place

You can still order them on their website Time to put your money where your mouth is and get them to change their mind with a flurry of orders?

On Gaugemaster website HN-OO-CL128-105(S) Part 105 PCB 21 Pin w/Connectors5056397828340 £1.00 Currently Unavailable Well - at £1 it would be worth buying as a spare. Perhaps they can get one for you on back order?

When you contacted Heljan, did they advise any way in which to trouble shoot the problem? If I was in your position I would immediately suspect the PCB and replace it. See if Gaugemaster have any in stock - surely cheaper than a decoder Coincidentally I am having problems with a Heljan 47 which runs on DC but refuses to run on DCC, so you are not alone...

There is somthing about these locos which looks a bit surreal

Lift up the PCB, look underneath. Are the DCC pins insulated, or can they touch the metal of the chassis? Looking at the pin assigments it would be bad news if pin 1 and 22 shorted out, I think pin 1 is a sensor input and my guess is it doesn't take 18V AC On DC 21 and 22 basically go to 19 and 18 and pin 1 should not be connected - so you would be running okay Put some insulation tape if the underside of the PCB is naked - it usually is on Heljan, from my experience. At the same time see if you can spot whether there are any solder bridges between the 21pins - send in a photo why not? If I bought that model brand new and it was proven to be defective in normal use - and caused damage to my equipment as a result, I would be asking Heljan to take it back for inspection and I would expect compensation for the damage. In the meantime I would not be installing any more chips

So no one had actually seen it yet and how fine it is? And currently the concern is the height of the pantograph even if it is very finely made? Guess we wait until the first batch arrives for reviews....

I'm sorry of I'm being a bit stupid but what does that mean? This is the old pantograph in the photo?

Considering Heljan have to prove that this retool is a winner - maybe it would have been better not to have shown the latest sample with the older pantograph on top. If they are going to be manufacturing a wide range of variants they will need to get the pantograph spot on to convince modellers to buy more than one. Fingers crossed that they have got this right.

Yes they are good and I have one or two to sell if anyone is interested, the big problem is being HO they will not fir intot the mounting holes for OO

I think I'd agree, lower all the insulators 1mm would be the better compromise so the pantograph has a better profile when it is lowered..and hopefully Heljan rebuilt everything from the base up more to scale. finishing with a note of irony, Heljan previously said the original pantograph was a compromise to make it more robust for handling, however on the original model I found the biggest problems were roof aerial snapping off due to the foam insert in the box as well as undercarriage falling off! I think they will succeed this time around, because I really need a good Class 86 - I think it's great to have a super detailed 85,86 and 87 all from different manufacturers

The problem must be all the insulators as the pantograph is in line with them both in the model and in the prototype (taken from the eHattons website) (taken from wikipedia) I know this is dealt with on page 6 of this thread. Seems to be the base being made in plastic which is the problem, it looks about 1.5mm to 2mm thick for strength. I don't see how this would look right without some compromise, the base would have to be very tough metal, thin above the insulators and then attached to pegs which would go down through them to hold the whole assemby into the roof. I guess the production of such a part was simply too expensive to justify. So then the other option is to lower all the insulators which may also draw complaints or make the whole thing from plastic, like Hornby, again complaints I know the Bachmann 85 'looks right' - but the insulators are all lower than the 86. Apart from the cross supports on the upper arm, are they the same pantograph? If so I think I have one in my spares box...

Thanks to everyone

It does say a completely new pantograph; I think they will get it right this time

If KMS Railtech wanted a 73/9, I would have thought they would have approached Dapol first. Whether they did and whatever happened next, I am not going to speculate, as it appears to be a taboo topic on this forum, aside from causing the Moderator a headache. Perhaps Accurascale just have a very spare manufacturing slot they can fill and Dapol didn't?

If the pantograph is done badly then it is really frustrating because Bachmann and Hornby have both shown it can be done at a reasonable price point, Accurascale promising even more with their 92. And the biggest frustration of all is that there is no hope of replacing these with something finer in anything but HO scale. Those samples may just be the body shells with the chassis and pantos from the older 86 and the production model may have true to scale parts, not long before we find out, I guess Christmas?

Perhaps they DID fly off the shelves and that is why so many bogies have broken

I don't mind saving £5 on moulded handrails to have a good pantograph

Thanks! What a great time to model AC electrics are they doing sound versions?

Do we have a confirmed delivery time for the first batch?

just trying to save you extra trouble on that shell..!

If you damage it up a lot more and add faded numbers I would be interested to buy the shell as is

Time flies I should have finished this off during the lockdown but spent my time building an elevated section to my loft circuit Tottenham East. Traintech AL3 is the constant light set. It does look a bit bulky on the underframe but is barely visible at normal viewing distance. Of course I could also put is within the model... but I intend to permanently glue the top on I intended to use pre-wired SMD LEd but they are the devil's work. After destroying 4 in a row (the wires fell off very easily on mine) I decided to play around with these tower LED's I had lying around I may just reduce it all to one LED...

Oh okay