61661

The new Class 73/1 model is superb, it looks great, and it runs beautifully (I have only used DC) but there are two issues that perhaps need to be mentioned. Firstly, the buckeye couplings are situated at a different height from those attached to Lionheart coaches, so the locomotive cannot be securely coupled to them (the draw-hooks are virtually impossible to access for practical purposes with a three-link coupling). Now I don't know which couplings are at the correct height, but there perhaps ought to be some standardisation agreed between manufacturers, particularly as modellers are likely to have invested quite a lot of money when buying their rolling stock from more than one source. The other issue is the (lack of) clarity of the instructions for attaching a decoder and sound system. The colour images of the decoder and the inside of the body-shell on the inserted leaflet in particular have been printed at such a small scale that it is impossible to see any details properly (remember the ages of most potential owners!), so it would be very helpful if on-line assistance could be provided in the form of larger (and better lit) illustrations so that the pins may be seen clearly, and with sequential, clear, instructions about how and exactly where to connect the ESU LokSound VS XL decoder to the EM2 speaker wires. Not all purchasers will be experts in DCC, or indeed be experienced in performing fiddly soldering tasks, and I for one, do not wish to destroy my new decoder. A better option still would be for Heljan to sell sound-equipped models at a higher price - given the ready availability of sound-equipped models elsewhere, I think that you might have missed a trick here. This model has undeniably set a new benchmark for Heljan to live up to!