paulbb

The Bachmann Warships colour and the finish is far superior to the Dapol in the above images. I do hope that Dapol dont use this 22 blue on their forthcoming diesel classes 52, 41, 29's. I guess that some people can live with it tho, but given the price being asked by Dapol my reaction was to put off purchase of a blue 22 until Dapol maybe rethink for future releases.

Promises to be a little smasher , but can we 1) Have a better arrangement for headcode alpha numerics than supplied for the class 22 2) Better, slightly more richer, satin finishes to the paint-like the one Bachmann uses on its brunswick green steamers 3) A more realistic shade of BR blue 4) Body lower by 1mm or 2mm as per Andys comments.

Does anyone know which ones are next in the queue for overhaul? There are about 12 or so that DBS have identified as candidates, including 60010 which has just been added according to The End of the Line site.

As locos go it is a fine product that has excellent running qualities and simple robust packaging. The only faults would be that in the instructions showing the disposition of the various train brakes etc on the buffer beams is far from clear in the picture. Also the stick-on headcode box transfers look very unconvincing; they are too small and do not stand out sufficently. When these are replaced by Heljan ones the loco really 'comes to life' and you realise what a good job the manufacturer has done. Overall tho it looks like a winner! Roll on the disc version! Oh yes an O gauge would be mmmmmmm.

Although it is excellent news, and the UK rail network -at last- seems to getting a rolling pramme of electrification, there will remain the operational problems of serving the 'branches' ie Hull, Scarborough, and maybe Lincoln too. On the West coast there remains Holyhead and Windermere as 'diesel islands'. Now the PM is a fellow spotter, according to the Press, maybe there will be plan C which will address this problem. Oh yes , can we have some trains too- maybe from Hitachi 395's?

Great news about the disc version! Sincere best wishes for success in them both as its a class that has been anxiously waited for a long time, not unlike the Clayton class 17, although I am sure the similarities will end there. never mind the N gauge- what about an O gauge version that would complement all the Hymeks and (soon) Westerns out there.

Yes but there is the question of how you get the curved glazing -Shawplan laser job maybe.....

looking very nice indeed Dapol Dave- the wheels in the top picture look smaller in diameter than in the 2nd picture though. Are they going to be slightly underscale to get the loco around train set curves then? Maybe give modellers the options with 2 wheelsets?

I sent an email to Hattons asking them if they intended to do an earlier class 28 with wrap around windows, given that the current batches sell OK elicited the following response "Heljan were originally intending to produce the model with the wrap around windows but have since decided against this. Therefore, it is unfortunately unlikely that they will decide to produce the model with the original windows in the future." that would seem to be it for now..???

According to Hattons the cost of doing the wrap around windows version as well as the later one was prohibitive, meaning that Heljan did not want to be saddled with 2 moldings? Shame really

I am using a class 25 as cover anyway. When that packs up I will use a class 31.

If 60007 makes the grade it looks like 60054 will follow in a month. If UK Economy continues to flatline then perhaps more 60's will be refurbed than the initial 21 and then more 66's will go to Euroland if things pick up there.... trouble is 60's have a low top speed and are not popular on ECML/WCML etc..

It is sad that it takes a risky venture like the rail exclusive to sort out out Heljans poor design. Good luck to them.It will take the same investment and risk to make Heljan change their 52, 86 models in 00 gauge presumably. In O gauge like wise their class 47. Did not Bachmann revise their classes 37,45, 47 without such risky intervention? Seems a bad precedent to pay manufacturers to rework their errors.

Had to return my class 14 (D9521) after a host of running and quality issues. Second one arrived to-day and all seems well. Full marks to Hattons for replacing so quickly and without fuss

Bought the BR pristine one and it LOOKS very nice; it seems to stall a lot and when I looked at the pickups it seems that they are not touching the wheel at all times when you move the wheel from side to side - tho the motor seems smooth enough. Also may need to remove alittle of the paint on the pickups too.Anyone else had this problem?

Just been looking at the new releases D6580 and D6582 both Green SYP; the headcode panels and tail lights do not light up. Is this Heljan quality control gone AWOL or are they all like this?

There were two class 22's that aquired celeb status; they hauled the trains in the filming of two Beatles films 'Magical Mystery Tour' and 'Hard Days Night'. I have a vague memory that D6336 was on of them. Anyone else know anything about this? Only ever seen one image of this tho.

Note that in the first image of D5377/90 there is also a glimpse of what looks like 2 stored West Country/BB pacifics. Presumably on their way to Barry Docks (Woodhams?)?

Splendid news. i will have 2 at least! Which class 21 variants are being made exactly- Green/Blue?/yellow end/noyellow end? 2-3 variants of 29 too!

The class 28 like the class 14 also done for Hattons are exclusive to them, and will not be released as a general model; you can expect them to increase in value 'after the fuss has died down'. So either you can pay the going rate now or the inflated collector price later. I don t say that this is right but the collectibility factor seems to loom large in our hobby now.

Looks super- but I have a nagging feeling that Heljan should have made the nose ends a little, well flatter. Anyone checked against the drawings?

The class 60's are clearly on their way out; DBS does not want to spend money on them, and they are probably too old now for a refurb that would increase their reliability. EWS costed this out some years ago and baulked at the expense. For the heavier duties they will possibly double head 66's now with some of the Euro (WBEN) fleet coming back slowly- 9 and counting. Expect to see another 20-30 class 60's for sale early next year.

The lights - one 'marker' light and one red tail light on are correct for Wesern Region hydraulics , certainly the Hymeks and Warships have this feature. Whilst the rest of the world uses twin or triple marker lights , BR's western were almost stubbornly different- even the lamp irons on class 37's diesel had to be modified to 'conform'. Ghost of the GWR.

The version with wrap-around windows is surely a first in 4mm as the others mainly kits (incl the old Dublo model) had the later windows-well done Heljan! Its great that they are in the market place really despite the odd goof (like the class 52) -all we need now is a NB class 21 and maybe even their small D2700 shunters. Then when we have really run out of diesels......Scottish steam at last?

Having bought a class 15 and quite happy with it too- it would be nice if anyone HAS done the mods to the sandboxes to share their wisdom with us. It would be nice to know exactly how much (and where) plastic to shave off so that the loco can go through small radius poits.