mr_hobbles

On 25/05/2024 at 03:25, Krok182 said:

 

Arrived today. The livery is very well applied, with the overall blue on the outside being fully painted and quite dense. (Without disassembling it is hard to be certain but the bodyshells are probably moulded in a similar colour blue or even light grey.)  My pic doesn't really do it justice!

 

By any chance do you own the Pirata Arosa blue EW I’s? I’m wondering how they compare side by side, ie. whether the blue is an exact match etc.

8 hours ago, Krok182 said:

Thanks for posting. Very smart! I'm eagerly awaiting the version in Arosa livery (couldn't afford both).

Did you import it from Europe?

 

I've found they run much quieter without the body - which seems to amplify the sound - though of course not nearly so pretty!

I did! I'm in California, I preordered from modellbahnshop-lippe. It was pricey but worked out cheaper than other avenues.

The Arosa livery one is very nice too. I was tempted to buy it, but I already own the Pirata Arosa coaches, and I thought it might be a bit too much Arosa blue for my collection. :)

I had a nice delivery this morning, containing my preordered Kato ABB Allegra. I'm glad these managed to come out roughly on time! Here are some pictures.

Packaging is standard Kato packaging for the Allegra (non-book), but this one has clear Noch branding all over it, and they want you to know this is a Limited Edition "EXCLUSIVE for NOCH". My guess is that Noch ponied up the cash to order some custom Allegra's from Kato, as there probably wouldn't have been enough sold for Kato to take the risk by themselves.

The ABB livery application is very good. It's not fully crisp but I would still class it as "very good". An interesting observation is that the main bodyshell is fully molded in white plastic, unlike the normal Allegra which is molded in red plastic. It appears that the red cab ends are fully painted onto the white plastic. These are superb and you can't tell the difference between the normal Allegra molded in red, color matching appears pretty much spot on.

Running qualities are typical for the Kato Allegra. It is very smooth at slow speeds, and acceleration is also smooth, however just like my other Allegras, it sounds like a portable vacuum cleaner. Here's a small video of it running, along with a couple of EW I's and Bernina Express panorama cars.

As the split body chassis hasn't changed, DCC fitting will be as much of a pain as usual.

Kato/Noch RhB ABB ABe 8/12 Allegra - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PomZUZwFBWE

It's awesome to see this prototype in Nm9 model form, the livery is a particular favorite of mine. And Kato have done a lovely job as usual. Although I admit I seem to have a thing for white RhB rolling stock, ie. the Holcim Ge 4/4 III is another favorite...

 

Has anyone successfully coupled two of these units together? I have both Scotrail running numbers; no matter how hard I try, I cannot get the two couplers to engage. They just bend instead.

15 hours ago, Stu from EGDL said:

Hi there,

 

I echo the request that you should contact Revolution Support to get the official recommendations and spare parts to try and get your Highland Sleeper coaches running in a better way. 
They are dedicated to getting the best help to you to make you happier with your purchase.

 

Regards,

Stu from NRSW

I will do just that. I've followed most of their guidance about reseating the wheels etc, to little effect.

EDIT:

Theyre sending replacement wheels, woo! Thanks Ben and Stu.

On 25/02/2024 at 04:08, Stu from EGDL said:

I have replaced all the wheelsets in the CS Mk5s now and most are now very free-running on the test incline. A couple were hesitant at first but a quick 'reseat' of the axles to ensure the bush sits smoothly outside of the 'pip' on the pickups and all seem to be fine. I have also found that repeated handling of these coaches and fiddling repetitively with the bogies has caused some fat finger damage to a few of the yaw dampers , so a little bit of superglue was needed in a couple of instances.

Can I ask what you replaced the wheelsets with? I invested in the full highland set and rolling performance is terrible, neither the Revolution CS 92 or the Dapol CS 67 can pull more than 3-4 coaches without ginormous wheelslip.

I've also damaged my yaw dampeners, but mostly through taking the coaches out of the boxes and putting them back in. The plastic covering and the white plastic seating presses down on them and bends them easilly.

1 hour ago, Krok182 said:

 

Now, what would be really exciting is an Allegra 3-car set in the recreated Bernina Historic Livery!

Given the introduction of this ABB Allegra, and the fact that they seem to like doing limited runs of Ge 4/4 II's and III's in one off liveries, I do believe it'll come! Though it might be one or two years...

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

MDS seem to have disappeared, real shame that as the 4/4ii liveries were great and the HAIK’s very useful. 
 

Pirata still advertising last years announcements 

Yes, I have a handful of MDS's HAIK's and am/was really looking forward to some of the other variants. But they've been a long time coming.

Pirata at least haven't disappeared; I spoke with them a few months back (Sept?) and was reassured their Arosa driving car trailer would arrive this year. So I still have my fingers crossed. Hopefully that also makes it into general RhB red at some point too.

Some exciting announcements from Noch/Kato on some reruns and new models for the RhB in their Nm9 (N 1/150) range.

Link to brochure: https://media.noch.de/filestore/2/3/1/6/9_af14160fc3ccecd/23169_05d915e471ea219.pdf?v=1705661742

Re-runs:

* Re-Run of the yellow open panorama wagon with new running number
* Re-run of the Bernina Express car sets with new running numbers
* Re-run of baggage car (with pantograph) with new running number

* Re-run of EW I's with new running numbers

* Re-run of Gourmino restaurant car with SAME running number
* Re-run of ABe 8/12 Allegra with new running number ("Anna von Planta")

New Allegra liveries:

* ABe 8/12 Allegra in Arosa blue

* ABe 8/12 Allegra in ABB white/red

New Ge 4/4 livery:

* Ge 4/4 II in "RhB Club" livery

And most excitingly, a new goods wagon - flat car with stakes:

* 4 wagon set with containers (green/white Railcare livery containers)
* 4 wagon set with logs
* Individual wagon with no load
* Log set (3 logs)

Personally I cant wait for the new flat car wagons, along with the ABB Allegra and RhB Club Ge 4/4.