61661

On 20/11/2021 at 15:25, Steamport Southport said:

 

They said the same about APT-E and Deltic.

 

Besides it's made by Heljan, they always re-run things. "Can't sell LNER O2s and railbuses? Okay we'll make more"....

 

It's not a case of if there's another run but when.

 

 

Jason

I take your point but 18000 is a Rails product. Any decision to rerun it will be theirs, not Heljan's. 

On 16/11/2021 at 15:09, Northern Electric said:

 

Marvellous!    I will definitely be in the market for a RES example    I was just wondering which type of pantograph the RES example will come with?

From what I remember, the 86/4s seemed to be about half AMBR type as built and half Brecknell Willis type. Ditto the 86/6s. Hard to recall which locos carried which without referring to old photos taken at the time.

Pantograph is the Faiveley type, as shown on the sample with the incorrect roof colour. Don't recall seeing any photos of Parcels/Res 86/4s with the BW high-speed type, but I haven't done an exhaustive survey. In this batch of 86/4s only IC Exec 86404 and Caley Sleeper 86401 have the BW type. All the others are Faiveley. 

On 13/11/2021 at 22:01, Northern Electric said:

Personally RES would be my first choice, but the decorated sample I've seen so far shows the roof section in the wrong colour...hopefully that will be corrected before they hit the shops! (?) I hate having to repaint new models to correct silly livery errors!

 

One thing I'd love to see Heljan offer is 86401 in its NSE livery. 

The roof of the Res 86/4 has been corrected in response to the feedback received after we showed the first deco sample. 

Assuming there's demand for a second run of 86/4s, NSE 86401 is top of the list. Lots of liveries on these locos and we couldn't cover them all in one batch. Also, we wanted to include 86401 in Caley Sleeper livery and doing the same loco twice in the same batch might have caused a few comments. 

On 12/11/2021 at 23:31, Craig1989 said:

Can’t wait for these as I have 5 on order 4 freightliner and one sleeper one hopefully if another run  is done hopefully they do the lsl one

 

Cheers Craig 

Thanks for your support. Glad you are pleased with the 86s. Unless I'm mistaken, LSL only has one Class 86 and it's an 86/1, which we can't do because it has Class 87 bogies. 

On 14/10/2021 at 04:30, thohurst said:

I can't believe there's still no update! Here's hoping for some news soon, I'm excited to see the final samples!

We're really sorry about the lack of updates. It's hugely frustrating for us too. However, I received a photo from the factory of some painted bodies earlier this week, so something *is* happening at last. We are promised new samples soon, so will update via the website as soon as we have them. The factory producing the Peaks has been flat out getting 18000 and the NER Autocars ready for Rails, and the Peaks are next in the queue. 

On 05/10/2021 at 00:30, 47606odin said:

I don’t like the little notch above the route indicator.

Good morning,

It's worth saying before this becomes 'a thing', we don't know why that little notch is there either. It's not on the CAD and we didn't ask for it. It has been raised in our report and will be corrected on future samples. 

Hope this helps

Ben

23 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Why has it got a red light at the back i wonder?  Presumably down to lack of research or somebody just thought it would be fun to do it?

Somewhat disappointed to see that your first assumption is a lack of research on our part or that we've just added this feature 'for a laugh'. The real railcars have a red electric light in the position modelled - a quick look in the cab of No.22 at Didcot will confirm that the driver has the option of using it. However, it appears that GWR/WR drivers didn't trust electricity so usually ran with an oil tail lamp at the back - a practice that continued well into BR days with the first generation DMUs. 

On 14/08/2021 at 00:19, lincolnshiremodeller said:

So there is no update then? All quiet on the Eastern front? 

I've been promised an update from the factory 'shortly'. Unfortunately I can't quantify the exact timescale of that, but as soon as I have any new information or new samples we'll update everyone via www.Heljan.co.uk and our Facebook page. 

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

With Heljan having done all the research and design work for the first-generation Class 120 DMU in 7mm scale, and given it's long-standing presence at or near the top of wish-list polls, I'd think doing it in 4mm ought to be something of a no-brainer.

We haven't. The O gauge Class 120 DMU project was shelved several years ago. It's before my time with the company but original source material was in very short supply and without any extant vehicles to measure and photograph (apart from one unrestored intermediate trailer) it was decided to focus on other projects, such as the BRCW Class 104 in OO. 

7 minutes ago, 97406 said:

Ooh, that’s better! One request I have is if the cables themselves could be separate fittings rather than moulded, though I will replace mine if not. 

Not at this stage unfortunately. Tooling is fixed and we’re moving through the deco stage. So far I’ve received messages asking for them to be printed cables(!), separate cables and saying they’re OK as they are, so it’s obviously a subjective thing. We can’t please everyone! 
However, given the feedback we’ll investigate whether it’s possible/practical to have separate cables on future releases.

Ben

23 hours ago, Markwj said:

Are those printed on jumper cables on the front?

 The MW jumper plates and TDM parts are raised moulded details, not printed, complete with bolt head detail. Please see the photo below (the orange deco is a mistake and will be corrected before production starts).

Emphatically not. They were on some of the first run of Heljan 86s but we’ve moved beyond that now. 
Unfortunately the raised details are not obvious in the heavily compressed photos on Facebook. 
We’ve tooled two different bodies to cater for MW/TDM and TDM only locos, which covers most requirements except the very early conversions with MW cables and no headlights. 
 

As always, happy to clarify such things as they arise. 
 

Hope this helps. 
 

Ben

On 24/07/2021 at 09:48, Neal Ball said:

It’s a question of choice.

 

I choose not to use ESU and decided a while ago to stick with Zimo unless something better comes along.

 

By using Zimo, I need to unsolder the current PCB and solder a new one in. I shouldn’t have to do that to get all the functions. 
 

Clearly that is a decision Heljan made to specify only ESU, it’s not life shattering, just inconvenient. I also understand the right ESU decoder is in short supply in the UK.

 

Maybe Ben Jones @61661 would like to share Heljan thinking on this.

Thanks for the query. I should admit from the outset that I'm far from being a DCC expert - I rely on Heljan's Danish expert for technical advice and specifications. Here's what I know. 

Because they have more than the usual number of lighting functions, the GWR Railcars were designed to take an ESU decoder and the lighting functions are configured on that basis. Of course it is possible to use other brands of 21-pin decoders but the functions need to be remapped. In an ideal world we would have included instructions for that procedure but as each brand and control system is different, there are potentially 100s of combinations of instructions.  

With so many lighting functions it was impossible to devise a solution that worked with all decoders, so we chose the most commonly used brand (certainly for DCC sound) and matched the function to theirs. It's not ideal for everyone, but it is probably the most practical solution in the circumstances. The O gauge Railcars released earlier this year have exactly the same lighting functions, 21-pin interface and electronics, but we haven't received any queries about those so far! Make of that what you will.  

We recommend that anyone who chooses to fit a non-ESU decoder and does not know how to remap the functions themselves should contact a professional DCC fitting provider.

At the time the models were designed, there were no supply issues on ESU decoders. However, getting into the reasons behind that would start a very different argument and I think we've all had enough of that already!  

Hope this helps

Ben

21 hours ago, Helmdon said:

I see the Railway Modeller this month is back to 'available now'

 

I wait with bated breath

Apologies for this. Unfortunately advert copy for Railway Modeller has to be submitted two months before the mag is published, and a lot can happen in that time. Perhaps naively given the current circumstances, when the copy went in we expected Lyn to have arrived by now. We are assured that the production models are now on their way, but it will be around 6-8 weeks before they land in the UK.  

15 hours ago, lincolnshiremodeller said:

Hi Ben

 

Any further updates on the 45 schedule?

 

Thanks

Simon

We are promised new samples soon. Unfortunately the factory handling this project has been badly affected by Coronavirus, not just with lockdowns but also with subsequent staff shortages. Apologies for the delay - we are extremely frustrated by the situation but there's very little we can do at the moment. Once we have the next set of samples we'll have a better idea of the timescales. 

Morning All,

I might be able to add some clarity here. 18000 was delivered with whistles, but lost them during a works visit in favour of horns tucked under the bufferbeams. One of the differences between the black and green locos on our new model for Rails is that the black loco has the whistles fitted on the cab roof and the green locos just have a short stub, as per the real loco. 

Heljan wasn't involved in developing the sound files, that was done by Rails and its sound specialist, but we did advise that a whistle sound function should be included, given that the black loco has them. 

Even now, locos/units in Switzerland (where 18000 was built) and across mainland Europe have whistles rather than (or as well as) horns, operated by compressed air. 

Hope this helps

Ben

Hello All,

The OO railcar motor is set low in the chassis between the bogies, driving all four axles. The luggage van area contains the 21-pin decoder interface and open space where a speaker can be fitted. 

Hope this helps

Ben

2 hours ago, No Decorum said:

It’s tremendous to have news of these. Expected June!

 

A question for Oliver, if I may: will the tail lights be switchable?

 

Just in case Oliver is busy, I can assist with this. The tail, cab and engine room lights are all separately switchable, both in DC mode using the microswitches under the body and in DCC mode using a six-function decoder. 

Hope this helps

Ben

On 24/04/2021 at 17:43, younGGuns7 said:

Any updates Ben?

Apologies for the radio silence on the Peaks. It's simply because we haven't had any updates from the factory, so there's been nothing new to say. A combination of Covid, Christmas, Chinese New Year and a backlog at the factory due to many production line staff not returning after lockdown has slowed everything down (and not just for Heljan). However, I have been assured that the next batch of Class 45 samples is expected to arrive for review next month, so hopefully we'll have something new to say then. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Ben

1 hour ago, stovepipe said:

 

As I 'watched' the item on ebay, I have now been sent a 5% discount offer - £147.25 +p&p

Me too. I've contacted eBay and reported it. 

On 05/04/2021 at 08:18, Carl BR said:

Yes I do agree with you that the pantograph in the down position is still higher than the cab roof it's not much higher. Definitely not as high as portrayed on the model.  

Unfortunately the height is part of the compromise required to make it functional and robust. We've pushed it down as far as we can, but any lower and the sprung parts foul against the roof. We asked around before retooling the pan and the consensus was that modellers would prefer it to be functional and sprung to allow operation on OLE, rather than a super-fine and delicate 'poseable' pan. However, if you want to see how much finer, smaller and lower this new pan actually is, take a look at the original Heljan Class 86s.

Hope this helps

Ben

12 minutes ago, letterspider said:

Can we see some pictures please Ben...?

They are packed in cartons in the warehouse awaiting shipment. I don't have any production models to photograph - at least not until my samples arrive next week. 

On 27/03/2021 at 16:07, cambo74 said:

So bit the bullet and bought a Heljan 97250 ETHEL 1 from Kernow - turned up today, good looking model - sadly it will have to go back for an exchange as the head code glazing was missing ....... not the best QC and shouldn't have to do it for a new model ....... hey ho.....

Apologies for this. Hopefully KMRC will be able to swap it promptly for you. As mentioned earlier in this thread, we've sent all the evidence regarding inadequate QC to the factory and they have agreed to 'up their game' on future batches of Class 25s. We have also agreed an action plan to improve certain parts, notably the headcode glazing, to eliminate problems such as this. 

With regard to the presence of bufferbeam details on the ETHELs, we felt that there was a lower chance of confusion/problems if we instructed the factory to make them as per the powered Class 25s. We are certain that customers buying these somewhat niche models are more than capable of removing the pipes if required to enable them to be coupled between loco and train. Leaving them off would have made a negligible difference to the overall production cost and end price. 
Same applies to the ploughs - they are included in all Class 25 detail packs as standard and if you don't need them for this loco they might come in handy for something else. I don't know about anyone else, but I have a bits box full of unused parts from various RTR locos! 

Ben