classy52

Yes I practise that as well but not getting Caroline saved me from getting the Bachmann 418 but even if I needed it there was no way I was going to pay the set asking price for the sound versions which are still shockingly high. Agree, the Bachmann isn't a bad model and my Colas one is good but just find the AS 37 better quality overall especially the weight and how certain detail areas are done and the far superior sound quality for the money due to a more refined chassis design that allows a proper speaker to be installed as well as not having to deal with screws to take the body off. Anyway, it will be very interesting to see if Bachmann re-tool their Class 66???...no doubt they will at some point.

No they didn't come with a speaker. If you're getting an ESU Loksound v5 with the Legomanbiffo Hattons 66 sound file you will also need to purchase the EM2 Speaker which is the perfect match for the decoder and the loco.

As have I, not only Hattons 66's but sold off a few other loco's as well and now just keeping current day diesel loco purchases from Accurascale & Cavalex as they do everything I want with the top quality and basically from personal choice more or less avoid the other manufacturers apart from my 2 Bachmann loco's which I only got thru sheer luck of bidding and getting them very cheap, for example got the Bachmann SFX Colas 37175 for £215 which was my first ever purchase of their new Class 37 but in a lot of areas doesn't stand up to the Accurascale 37 but worth it for the price, the other is the Bachmann 47 47712 with its dreadful sound output but again got it cheap. So yes, the costs have narrowed down my purchases and very selective on what I get and from whom, the AS 66's will probably do me for a while but I am a sucker for Sheds, especially top quality Sheds.

Yes know what you mean. Since its release I probably handled up to 40 Hattons 66's over the years with a lot of them exhibiting the PCB/Lighting issues, dead on arrival for whatever reason as well as motor/driveshaft problems where the loco squealed when starting off and/or right thru the speed step range at varying audible levels accompanied by jerky running thus found the Hattons 66's motors/driveshafts also problematic, as if the Hattons 66 was cursed when you bring in the other issues i.e. axle boxes, bug-eye variants lighting not working properly and the nightmarish task in taking the body off and putting back on again without breaking or losing bits. I'm down to 1 now, kept GBRf 66783 Biffa as a souvenir and sold off the other 22 to better homes and now have 6 Accurascale 66's coming my way for the dawn of a new Class 66 era...lol never again with what I had to do with the Hattons 66 but yes the upside I did learn a few things when fixing them.

For Accurascale, are there any plans to include today's running (excluding the already included WCRC variants) Mark2b's, Mark2c's etc. in heritage liveries with cantrails and whatever other modifications for up to date charter workings?

No worries, I suspected you were sent the wrong chip and I did look at their Bachmann 66 ESU sound file and didn't see the 'Bell' on F16 but didn't realize or scroll further down their page to see the Bachmann sound file which does have it so yes the culprit is right there. Anyway, glad that you got it sorted and fingers crossed the PCB doesn't have any hidden issues that may affect the lighting as I mentioned and everything will work fine with the correct sound chip/file.

Just to clarify, the ESU v5 MKL Loksound sound chip was purchased from DC Kits and obviously pre-configured with the Hattons Class 66 sound project? If this is the case, via my own experience of previously having 23 Hattons 66's, a lot of them had unseen PCB/lighting faults which plagued this model where if you were running DC only you would never know you had an issue but as soon as you fitted a DCC chip such as an ESU v5 Loksound or Lokpilot then if you're unlucky the lighting issues would be noticeable straight away and its very random of what works or doesn't work. With my own experience lighting issues would encompass night headlight not working, cab lights not working, marker lights not working or they could be working at one end but not the other and was literally like a pick'n'mix which out of my 23 Hattons 66's it occurred on about 6 of them which is a pretty large failure rate. Not sure about your sound issues unfortunately and whether it's related to unforeseen PCB issues or if the actual sound decoder is faulty which may be causing all the issues you are experiencing???...or did they send you a sound decoder for the new Accurascale Class 66? Also, I think Illuminated Models provide a service where they can repair the PCB issues on Hattons 66's where the lighting doesn't work properly using DCC but you will have to check with them if it comes to that. Hope this helps.

Thanks Fran & Stephen For me personally I'm hoping the axle boxes, sand pipes and bogie step handrails will be able to be retro-fitted to the Hattons model as these are three main areas where they need to be replaced, especially the sand pipes and bogie step handrails as these are the main culprits when removing or putting back the Hattons 66 body they ping off and get eaten by the carpet monster. Fantastic you will have a spares website and parts for the 66 going forward, as usual top job!

Hi Accurascale, Just wanted to ask if you will have Class 66 parts available for purchase in the future for those who, like myself, have the previous Hattons 66's where retro-fitting is a possibility? I'm primarily referring to parts such as sand pipes, cab/cab front hand rails, grills, bogie steps/step handrails but more importantly the axle boxes as they look even more refined than the previous Hattons offering and would assume they can be used on the Hattons 66 as replacements or if some go missing. If you could advise that would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Steve

No worries, I'm not bothered as well but just something I was aware of owning Hattons 66's and I suppose made me look for it again on the AS 66 and noticed it was carried over thus it may have escaped everyone's attention at Accurascale...just one of those things. I have six on order and really very jealous to see the EWS variant in your good hands, all mine are current day.

It doesn't, both sides of the box don't have the stripe but it is at the front and either side of the headlight box but doesn't connect with the front of the box via the sides...see photo's above from Goodnight Sweetheart. Just had a look at the models on the AS website and you can see clearly the cantrail stripe does not flow from one side of the headlight box to the other, quite noticeable on the Freightliner green & DRS variants and this was the case on all Hattons 66's. Edit: Basically there is a break in the cantrail stripe on both sides of the headlight box.

Just a minor thing, it appears Accurascale have inherited Hattons inability to wrap the Cantrail stripe around the top headlight box which is a shame whereas Bachmann has got this right on their Class 66 models. Was hoping AS would correct this but unfortunately not the case.

Will the LokSound chip be compatible with the Hatton's 66 when accompanied with either an EM2 or an Accurathrash?

I had a look at Bachmann's website and there is no difference in colour between their BR Maroon & WCRC Maroon coaches (colour type as stated in their product descriptions) and their forthcoming MK1's will be the same colour as their WCRC MK2's and basically resembles the WCRC locomotives. I know there are prototypical colour variations with the WCRC coaches but I've yet to see one that has the same colour as the WCRC loco or in BR Maroon thus as per post from WCML100 I have to agree that Accurascale have got it spot on and look more like the real thing and will allow you more scope when weathering and create those prototypical variations whereas the Bachmann versions are simply too dark and incorrect IMO. This is a shame because I was hoping the Bachmann versions would closely match the Accurascale ones but if you don't weather them, then to me they are chalk & cheese when it comes to the colour and yes in the end it is all down to individual tastes.

Yes agree, the roof colour shade difference isn't as bad but the body colours for me are quite stark and gets worse the more I look at it. Only got the Accurascale coaches today and only have that 1 Bachmann WCRC coach but when you look at them together in person not only the colour difference is prominent but also the 'West Coast Railways' lettering difference as in size is quite obvious which isn't picked out that well in the photo I posted above, hopefully this photo is better for comparison...Accurascale Coach is on the bottom. Top photo under natural light and the bottom photo within a photo booth.

I would like to show the contrast/differences between the Accurascale WCRC Mark 2B coaches and the Bachmann 39-354 MK2 coach, I was hoping both brands would go together in a rake but as you can see from the photo's the colour and the font branding applied are pretty different and basically don't match especially the colour for both body and roofs, in regards to the WCRC lettering the Accurascale font is visibly larger with more depth. I had a browse on Flickr for photo's of the WCRC coaches and IMO Accurascale have captured the livery colour better where the Bachmann one appears to be a much darker chocolatey maroon if that's the best way to describe it. I shall leave this here for everyone to discuss/debate but unfortunately I'm looking at selling on my Bachmann coach & cancel my pre-orders for the other Bachmann WCRC coaches due this year because of the glaring differences and when it comes to detail & lighting I will stick with Accurascale MK2's as they have gone up a couple of levels with these beauties. Anyway, these are just my observations and if these differences are prototypically normal then yeah I'll stick with the Bachmann one and my pre-orders but atm I'm not convinced.

All my wagons are Dapol & Accurascale with a little bit coming from RevolutioN and Cavalex which will eventually get bigger I would think, have nothing from the others and yes it down to detail/relevance/multiple running numbers and price. For me Dapol are the quiet achievers in regards to wagons, they do wagons which are quite common hauled by various freight operators (the yellow stufff) thus always generating interest and sales and their prices are quite good and yes Accurascale go up a level in detail but again offered in multiples and good on price. Edit: Went over my JSA's yesterday and absolutely perfect, such a nice wagon with the coils and tempted to get a couple more packs even with the same running numbers unless AS do more in the future with different numbers?

Once again top customer service today in getting a call from Leigh to say my 3 packs of Accurascale JSA's are in ready for payment and dispatch, love the personal service and just having a general chat with Leigh while the business of finalizing the order is done.

Apologies Fran I thought Murphy Models came under the same umbrella as I had seen Irish Railway Models in there somewhere when the product was advertised...I'm so confused

That settles it then with an ! Can imagine their boardroom meeting discussing the detail and Fran pounding the desk with his fist saying no no no no no!!!!!...someone else pipes up with, but Fran we did it on the Class 121 without any problems...then Fran's death stare whilst uttering the words, you get out!

Well they actually pulled it off with their Class 121 loco under Irish Model Railways/Murphy Models thus can't see why AS can't do this with a wagon, was just asking the question considering the lengths they go to with detail on their products which are outstanding but if not in this case then that is also ok.

Please don't crucify me for asking but will these have rotating axle boxes as per prototype?

Some very good points which I also feel Hattons need to adopt as follows; 1. Implement your own Warranty Repair Service or contract out to an authorized repairer for warranty jobs as sending back for a refund on a lot of these 66's is simply not an option due to being sold out (as I mentioned in one of my posts above). 2. Re-design the Axle Box feature which includes the bogie frames , axle box covers & axle stub lengths, I and many others have literally eliminated the wobble by drilling out the bogie frame holes using a 3.2mm drill bit, removing the excess spring moulding's off the back of 2 bogie frames per loco and re-gluing the AB's back onto the axle stub which is also too short (credits to adb968008 & Peter Dixon on YT). 3. Re-design the lighting board connections for the large bug-eyed light variants, maybe under warranty this repair or correction should have been contracted out to someone like Illuminated Models who have a fix in place but whether something like that is feasible or not is different matter entirely. 4. Perhaps take another look on how you attach the fine detail which is currently glued to the body which isn't ideal and problematic when removing the body, as with adb968008 I have resorted to start gluing the step handrails to the body thus reversing what Hattons have implemented which seems to work ok atm when taking the body off. 6. Pay more attention to livery colour (Freightliner G&W, use correct orange shade), livery positioning (Colas) and livery fonts (EWS) and get them right, also there was an issue with another Freightliner variant where above the air dams the yellow application wasn't correct? 5. Perhaps take a look at the quality control or quality of the motor/driveshafts assembly, I've had 3 fail on me already which seems to be related to this area of the model or perhaps I was just unlucky and not really an issue? If Hattons are considering run No.2 with the above re-developed/re-designed and implemented then IMO they'll have a license to print money on making further Class 66's because with this batch practically sold out barring a few liveries they must have made a healthy return on their tooling investment, obviously there are other factors to consider such as their return rate and parts issuance but pretty confident they would be pleased with this project.

...and just like that it's gone, Hattons literally sold 7 of 66593 in just a few hours.

Freightliner 66593, yep one of those was me today and my sentiments exactly in regards to this one disappearing by Monday.