Accurascale Fran

Hi @Adi, We’re currently awaiting decorated samples which the factory are currently working on. Once we have them in hand we will provide a full update as we will have a full picture then. Cheers! Fran

Hi Al, The preproduction locos pulled the heaviest train on making tracks and I believe that it was the only loco that could pull it single handed and not double headed. It did mile after mile on it without any mechanical issues. Hi @47423, Yes, we should have some once the rest of them arrive with the main shipment in a few weeks. The stock that arrived last week only covered pre-orders. Cheers! Fran

Hi @WCML100, That's correct. It's a massive project but we should have something to show later this year. Cheers! Fran

Hi Phil, The first step is from our warehouse to customer, though we're actively looking at other parts of the journey, with the trip from the far east obviously being the worst offender in the delivery chain. Yes, the plan is to go carbon neutral and we are looking at how this can be achieved. To be frank about it, we are just trying to get ourselves ahead of the curve here, as (and not to go down a political road here) it's obvious that there will be a significant push for all companies to achieve this through legislation in the medium to long term as a business compliance and requirement. It is going to take some working out, but better to be prepared for such things! Cheers! Fran

Hi Steve, As our Stephen says above, yes we will have spares. However, as some of the areas of the 66 are completely redesigned (bogie area around axleboxes and caps etc) as well as body to chassis arrangement, not all parts will be compatible with the Hattons model I'm afraid. Cheers! Fran

Accurascale launches an industry first initiative to go green and offer FREE carbon-neutral shipping on ALL orders. Hi everyone, In line with Earth Month in April 2024, when environmental issues take centre stage, we looked at how we can further improve ourselves and our processes, to grow as a company, while also thinking about our environment. We already offer 100% recyclable boxes and packaging, but we wanted to do more. Therefore, we’ve joined forces with a global effort of businesses to offset the carbon footprint of commerce. What does that mean? It means that every order placed with Accurascale direct will contribute (at no extra cost to the customer!) to groundbreaking carbon removal projects along with offering carbon-neutral shipping on all orders. How does it work? For every order we receive, a formula is used to calculate the estimated shipping emissions, based on those estimates a portion of our revenue goes to carbon removal companies – at no extra cost to you! We’ve taken the decision to absorb this cost ourselves as we know how important our environment is to us and our customers. That’s not all! Along with our own climate commitment, you, (our customer) can choose to ‘top up’ our support for ground-breaking carbon removal technologies with every order placed. You can do this at the checkout, where you will have the option of adding a further 20p to your order should you wish. This is completely optional. One of the many ways Accurascale are continually pushing the boundaries in the model railway industry. Learn More About How It All Works Here: https://www.accurascale.com/pages/climate-commitment Cheers! Fran

Hi everyone, We've been asked to provide a quick guide on replacing the front valance, so here you go! https://www.accurascale.com/blogs/lets-get-involved/fitting-your-class-66-front-valance-bufferbeam Cheers! Fran

Hi @ERIC ALLTORQUE, Absolutely, and very well said. I think it's always important to recgonise their skills and contributions. These are essentially hand made, with very little in the way of automation or even mechanisation. As I've said many times in the past; they're simply the best model makers in the world. The level of consistency they achieve in the fit and finish of the models is just mind blowing. Cheers! Fran

Hi @Cheekyharry, Many thanks for your kind words and thanks, but the stars of this show are @Steve Purves, @Pixie and of course the staff from Hattons on the original design. I just get the brilliant job to tell you all the story with it. I'm delighted that everyone is enjoying their locos though! Cheers! Fran

Hi @P.C.M, Some photos to highlight the shade of our blue and demonstrate black roof colour. Both photos credit and copyright of Tim Rogers. Cheers! Fran

Hi Mick, Look forward to seeing it weathered up in person at Showcase! Cheers! Fran

Hi @50025, We will be announcing batch two at the end of this year. Cheers! Fran

Hi everyone, Im sure pulling power will be up to scratch as the heaviest trains on Making Tracks were trusted to our preproduction samples, no other locos could cope with the loads day in day out. The 66 features our all new Accurathrash speaker rated at 8 ohms, along with a sugar cube speaker in line with the set up with the rest of our sound fitted models. The first 66001 models should start arriving with modellers from today! Cheers! Fran

Hi Nick, I can confirm that it includes 37714 as the whole batch is made at the same time. Cheers! Fran

Hi @Bryn_Bach_Railway, That is correct re your order mixed with other 66s, but if you (or anyone else reading this) email us at sales@accurascale.com with your order number we can split it out for you and send 66001 separately. We have the decoders being programmed at the moment. I will have an update on them later this week. Cheers! Fran

Hi @Bryn_Bach_Railway, Well spotted! As reported elsewhere, production of our Class 66 run 1 is now complete and the majority are on the high seas and due with us in approx. 7 weeks time. So, if that's the majority, then what about the rest of the stock? Well, we can confirm that a limited supply of Accurascale Exclusive 66001 arrived at our warehouse last week! We have enough to cover the pre-orders of this loco, and we shall begin distributing them later this week after our usual checks and packing is complete! Cheers! Fran

Hi Tom, We may have been having a most epic internal argument about the viability of doing it. Some are for, some are not sure. We'll see where we end up with it! If more people lend a voice to the "for" cause here then it might help win the argument.... Cheers! Fran

Hi @Melton Works, Our second production run is your friend. Watch this space... Cheers! Fran

Hi @JN, Doh! Many thanks for that. Fat fingers on my part. Now amended! Cheers! Fran

Hi @DIRTY DIESEL, Please feel free to drop our tech support team a message at support@accurascale.com and they might be able to offer some helpful info into curing the issue for you too. Cheers! Fran

Hi folks, Another interesting aside with coreless motors. We recently had a meeting with ESU and one of the topics discussed was our coreless motors for the Buckjumper and beyond. ESUs main man spoke of coreless in very glowing terms, and explained how all his HO locomotives (high end, high premium!) now all have coreless motors. This includes their smallest Deutz shunter, through his stunning 4-6-4 tank loco all the way up to their latest large diesel and electric locos. They no longer use can motors at all. Of course, their locos are all DCC sound fitted, but shows the confidence in the coreless design among the premium continental manufacturers. As @Islesy said, don’t pin your opinion on what was a fundamentally flawed model to begin with, but look at the excellent models on the market which utilised the design successfully, both domestically and abroad. As for the buckjumper, I’m awaiting some details and I will then have an update, likely in mid-late April, all going well. Cheers! Fran

Hi @Krieghoff, We don’t have full details yet but hope to launch the decoder next 1/2 weeks with a Late May delivery date being advised. As stressed previously if operating on DC please contact support and we will do our very best to assist as much as we can. As ever, when I have full details on this (or anything else!) I will be sure to post them on here and let everyone know. Cheers! Fran

Hi Richard, The issue I had with your comment was that you suggested that were doing it deliberately on retailers. I addressed why it has taken as long as it has to get them all out there in my answer, which is a legitimate question. As I explained, we are always happy to discuss these things, just without people adding baseless narratives to our responses. Cheers! Fran

We always like being pestered about good ideas. Who knows, once the NIR Mark 2s sell out our test case will be complete! Cheers! Fran

Hi @wombatofludham, We’re always happy to answer queries and explain just how big this process is as it can be hard to visualise. It’s literally containers full of products that all need to wrapped up either in small packets or pallets, depending on the customer who has bought one coach direct, or a retailer who has purchased a large amount to sell to their customers. It’s literally thousands of parcels and coaches (for instance we have 150 retailers, who all order different quantities) When you factor in that we do large amounts of different running numbers and liveries (as demand has dictated) it takes a lot of time to also ensure everyone gets the correct order. The Mark 2s also covered IRM too, which was an extra container which arrived first here in Dublin as they were the first to be finished over a month before the BR models and this will be the same for the forthcoming Mark 2c coaches. It’s unfortunate when a poster adds a narrative into the mix which just is not true, such as “retailers take months to get theirs, but maybe that’s on purpose”. If we didn’t want to support retailers then we would’ve just stayed direct only, we wouldn’t run our open days in their stores, and we wouldn’t ensure they get an excellent margin on an already reasonably priced models which always sell well for them. We also have further retail supports for the B2B side of our business which retailers will learn about very soon. (Long overdue, but that’s an issue with the rapid growth of our business). We can always do better for retailers for sure, but every business could say that. I’m sure the speculation is innocent and human nature, but it’s unfortunate and not correct and ultimately doesn’t help the retailer as it could cost them sales. Our goal is to keep prices keen, and support the modeller and retailer. I think we do that well on both counts, with good prices and excellent full margins for retailers with models that are in demand and keenly priced RRP in a difficult economic situation. As I said, we are always happy to provide insight, but it would be most helpful if posters didn’t inject their own speculative narrative into the mix that is utterly baseless in facts. I think that’s a reasonable request? Finally, none of the above is directed at @wombatofludham, just a reply to his comment as he seems to understand our position and sees that there are no “conspiracy theories”. Cheers! Fran