Airport2010

Hi After nearly 7 years of inactivity, I have a question ref the Olive Green BG (which has now incidentally been released in O gauge by Ellis Clark). Did this vehicle run between Derby loco and OO HST depot as part of a Speedlink service or would it have run as a special working by itself behind, say, a Class 31/47?

Thanks for that HN. I hadn’t looked at Howes yet but good to know they’re available. Like many folk, I’ve got a second 20 which is also waiting for this treatment, so if the windscreens differ slightly from driver’s to secondman’s side, I’ll make sure I break into the other loco from the drivers side in case Howes only sell them as pairs!

Ha ha thanks for sharing your experience. I was about to respond to EE’s kind advice above with a ‘match report’ from earlier today. As you said about your 20, my windscreens were also well glued in and there was no way I could prise them out of the frame from the outside. My Plan B was then to superglue a piece of matchstick diagonally across one of the windscreens and then try to use a pair of pliers to grip the matchstick and pull the window out of the frame. That didn’t work either as the superglue wasn’t man enough to overcome the Heljan windscreen adhesive. So in the end I destroyed one of the windscreens by drilling right through the centre of it, and then using the drill bit to lever out the windscreen. While this was successful there was still a reasonable amount of force required to get it out of the frame. So if anyone has a spare windscreen panel (secondman’s side) looking for a home, please get in touch!. I managed to get my little finger into the cab and then pushed out the other windscreen from inside, so that was easy. Even after releasing the two little screws that hold the cab to the body, it still took some effort to get to the cab interior before a crew can be fitted. The rest of this message is directed to Ben Jones -61661- who I hope sees this as he’s on here. I’m not sure if it can be forwarded/directed to him as I’m not fully conversant with the website, so if anyone can advise me?... Ben, this process described above is beyond insane. Can I kindly request that you give consideration to facilitating the installation of appropriate locomotive crews into driving cabs during the assembly process in China going forward. I appreciate there is a cost implication in this as figures would need to be painted in relevant uniform to match the loco livery in question, but you must surely agree that fitting a driver/crew at the assembly stage is a very small modification to make your customers lives easier? Having to undertake significant dismantling of a model just to stick a driver in is bonkers. No doubt there are individuals on here who would be dissatisfied with the quality of the factory offering and would want to install their Omen Miniatures etc example, which would require them to do what I’ve just had to do anyway, but I would suggest about 90% of modellers would be satisfied just with a person ‘up front’. We all have our various issues with different Heljan locos, some of which can be improved using modelling skills and experience and that’s part of the fun of the hobby, but IMHO leaving customers to fit (with some difficulty) what is a cheap basic component of the product is something I’d expect of the ‘old’ Heljan and not the bright shiny customer focused organisation that you’re now part of? I hope the picture below says it all! Regards

Hi EE Thanks for that! I expect Heljan intended to include those fitting instructions in their data sheet but just, err, forgot! I’ll take a deep breath and get stuck in tomorrow! Best regards

Evening all. This thread has been quiet for some time so I thought I’d reawaken it! Has anyone attempted to fit a driver to their 20? If so, how on earth are you supposed to gain entry to the cab area? I’m currently sat looking at the inside of the bodyshell and the whole cab assembly seems to be glued solid into it. Too much hassle and not worth the effort maybe? Another Heljan ‘special’ so it seems. Thanks Phil

Class 26 & 33 also affected I’m afraid.

Excellent news Ellis. You’ve just shifted 2 BG’s with that response!

Darstaed are going to be issuing shorter springs to all customers of the Mk1’s in order to lower them to the correct height so I’ve been told. I’ll believe it when I see it unfortunately. i have 7 of the Mk1’s and would like to acquire at least the same amount again, but until I see actions and not just words, I’ll not buy anything else from Darstaed which is a shame for Ellis as he’s a top bloke.

Sorted this problem now gents. Having obtained some off-line advice, I shone a torch into the dark depths of the upturned body shell and found -hidden behind wiring- some ‘flash’ that hadn’t been removed after the body shell was moulded in China, that was catching on the end of the soundchip. Careful use of the Dremel has restored harmony to proceedings.

Hi Roy. Already checked that one...should have mentioned in the OP. To be honest I’m not sure it would make any difference as the Zimo chip is symmetrical, so whatever is catching will still catch! Thanks anyway

Hi all Of those who have successfully fitted a Zimo sound-chip & speaker to the Heljan 25, did you have a problem with the Zimo MX699KS? I can’t seem to figure out why the loco body won’t fully locate in place with the decoder installed in the same central position where the DC board was originally located. The loco body slips easily over the chassis to about 95% of where it should go, but is being prevented from fully closing by what I assume is the new decoder fouling on something inside the middle of the body shell. It’s not the Boom Box speaker that’s the issue as that is stuck nicely out of the way to the inside of the bulkhead at the fan end, and all wires are also out of the way. Digitrains indicated they’ve sold a good few of these, so I assume this has been encountered by someone already? Cheers

Thought I’d just stick up a pic of 08155. This started off as the unnumbered version of 08173, with the BR logo on the side boxes not on the bonnet doors as it is now. I removed the vertical bonnet handles off each side as the loco never carried them. They just pull straight out of the body.

Interesting! I’ve had a browse on the Heritage Shunters Trust website which does feature 08091, but unfortunately the shot is of its left hand side, so it doesn’t stand out amongst its peers. Well discovered!

As Hal Nail correctly says...if you look closely at the studio shot of 08173 on Antics website, on its right hand side (looking forward) you can just see that the bonnet doors above the body side exhauster boxes (they have 5 square lids on their tops) are nicely moulded to ‘finish’ above the boxes as per the prototype. If you then visit, say, Hattons website and look at the studio shot of 08202 on the same side, you’ll see the bonnet doors are much longer and come right down to the running plate as there’s no additional set of boxes on that side of the loco. That’s the difference in Dapol mouldings that we’re referring to. Very nicely executed, but by doing that to 08173, they should have removed the 10 vertical bonnet handles first, as the handles never co-existed (to the best of my knowledge) with the exhauster boxes on the right hand side. Keeping up??

Just started having a poke about with the magnifier to see what's what, and noticed that Dapol have been very thorough with their cock-up in loco selection! If I remove the RHS cabinets it'll then expose bare undetailed plastic, as they've gone to the trouble of moulding the correct; shorter bonnet doors for this particular loco, to match the additional RHS cabinets. So they've made the decision for me...vertical bonnet handles now removed. Cheers

Hi all just wanted to check something to make sure I’m not losing the plot! I’ve just picked up a BR blue unnumbered 08 (Dapol Code 7D-008-011U) for a bargain £150 at a show, as it had a missing buffer. (The buffer was actually in the box much to the sellers annoyance but that’s life and he should have checked!) The loco is the unnumbered version of 08173 with the BR arrow of indecision on the side boxes not the bonnet doors. But once I started the research to decide what to number it (and having been through this entire thread over a few days) it seems that Dapol have made an error with this one....as far as I can figure out, no 08 ever had long hinges, vertical bonnet handles, and a full set of exhauster cabinets on both sides running plates at the same time while as a vacuum fitted loco. Certainly, photos of 08173 show it without the vertical handles, so Dapol ‘dropped the ball’ with their choice of loco IMHO. So in order to move forward I’m wondering if it’s easier to pop off all the vertical bonnet handles with a tiny screwdriver as some folk have done on here to pull it into the 08001 - 08176 range (with full cabinets retained on both sides) or try to prise off the extra set of cabinets on the RHS running plate (while retaining the vertical bonnet handles) to pull it into the 08177 onwards number range? Has anyone tried to remove the extra RHS cabinets, and if so how much of a disaster was left behind? Thanks in advance folks! Phil

I’ll try not to mention it again!..Tee Hee Hee!

Slightly off-topic Ben, but a sealed-beam 46 in O gauge to double head with my 45 would be very nice!

I just think English Electric failed to build the locos to Heljan’s exacting standards. Simple really.

Looking very closely I think he means the bottom edge of the yellow stripe on the model is a tad lower down the body side than the real thing. The two engine room windows have a miniscule amount of extra yellow paint beneath their bottom edge on the model. Wouldn’t bother me TBH if I liked Dutch. Which I don’t!

I believe it was known as Dove Grey. Phoenix Paints don’t offer a precise match (as I asked them last week) so I’d be looking at Railfreight Grey with a touch of white to lighten it to get the shade that looks right to you.

Hi all After the initial replies suggesting paint stripper, I had a quick look in the garage and found some B&Q product that I’d previously used (but forgotten about) to strip back an old O scale Hillman Imp, to be ‘dumped’ in my BR driver’s car park. Happy to report the paint stripper did a sterling job in removing the weathering/decals etc but did nothing to the resin body, so it lives to fight another day! Thanks to all for the recommendations and suggestions! Brgds

Thanks to sharris and yourself Pete. Not too familiar with qualities of resin, but I feel much more confident now!

Hi All I’ve acquired some second hand Skytrex O gauge TTA tanks, two of which have crap painting & weathering, so I’d like to remove it all back to Dove Grey and go again. I’ve already tried painting on enamel thinners then white spirit, but nothing has been taken off, so I’m now looking at the nuclear option of MEK. As the tank bodies are resin I’m not certain what the MEK will do, so can anyone advise one way or another? Cheers and regards