Valleysniper

Hi All Does anybody else's new retooled Class 47 have cracks in the femail connector bogie side frames to main bogie pin connector? Please see picture, in this case both bogies have the cracks as do another locomotive received, one loco the female connector on one bogie the top has sheared off. The matter currently under enquiry with supplier who is trying to find from their stock a class 47 that does not have issues as between 2 suppliers have had 3 Class 47's 1 of which sent back already with numerous issues and 2 that are going back to supplier. All locomotives have had bent or crushed cab front upper handrails, some that look to have been previously poorly repaired, springs and parts of bogie fallen off. Buffers fallen off and other parts damaged and some have too much dust nibs in paintwork, almost as if Chinese sprayer has fag in one hand and spray gun in other. It would seem Heljans quality control is non existant and the supliers are not checking the items before despatch.

Can somebody post a link to some detailed pictures of the example factory supposed to copy to see what's not correct on mine. This was the 2nd weathered 33 I received after the 1st was replaced because of drive problems when tested. Ben if this model finish is not what it is supposed to be and is a one off, will you arrange to replace it with one it that is correct, if there is one?

Picked up my 33 yesterday, nice.

Been spending couple hours T cutting the Blue paintwork, got nice shine to it now, hope this shows in picture. Plan is for it to be 50 035 Ark Royal.

Well the replacement Falcon from Tower arrived today and they took the other one back. It managed to survive 'White Van Delivery Man' with only one buffer block and one bogie angle bracket found loose in the box. I took super care again in removing Loco from box placing a soft pillow over the loco then inverting it carefully. This is far superior example and the bits will be easily glued back on. So cannot fault Towers customer service. Heljan should in my opinion leave off all the 'vunerable' detail parts and let customer fit, particulary all the buffer beam pipework.

Further to my earlier post after e-mailing and talking to Tower and the spare parts agent Howes of Oxford, Tower are arranging to replace my BR Blue Falcon this Friday due to the number of issues. Therefore I cannot fault them for customer service, hope replacement is defect free.

I'm new here, been lurking for a while now. Have about 5 Heljan RTR O gauge locos now. My BR Blue Falcon arrived from Tower Friday but only yesterday did I manage to get it out of the box to examine. Disappointed to find that part of front pipework one side sheared off and loose in box, 4 sand box tubes missing, 1 bogie end angle bracket missing and one looks like been re-glued back on badly at wrong angle. There are also glue 'string marks' on front buffer beam apron. One head code box glass looks 'frosted' on one side. There also looks like a lot of dust and crud inside cab windows. All the body to frame screws were loose and as soon as I gently tightened them the paint flakes off around the screw hole area. Finally half of the bogie bottom gear cover screws were loose. These are things you do not expect for a model that costs £550.00. I think it was a bad idea to pre fit all the buffer beam pipework and vunerable bogie bits, they should in my opinion been left for owner to fit. There is though thoughtfully provided in box a packet containing some of affected parts. I will contact Tower Monday re issues. Apart from all above negatives model looks impressive and it crossed my mind whether to also get a Two Tone Green one as well, however I don't think 'Err indoors' would be to happy. Besides have the Class 42 Heljan Warship on order and I also want to get the JLTRT NBL Warship kit as I remember climbing all over D601 Ark Royal as a kid at Barry scrapyard.