Heljan Class 33 Croaky Motor

[Twitsky]

Hi everyone,

Last month I purchased one of the 2020 Heljan Class 33s '33063'. I ran it in for about half an hour in each direction and noticed that at slower speeds and round some corners (3rd radius) the motor appeared to 'croak' a bit. This caused the locomotive to stutter a bit at slower speeds but I didn't think much of it at the time. I then took a break from the hobby for a month and came back to discover the problem again which annoyed me this time round. I've added etched nameplates and shedplates meaning I'm not entirely sure I could send it back (I got it from Hattons). 

 

I'm wondering if anyone else has had any similar problems or if anyone has any ideas on what could be causing the problem? I've tried running it in different directions and different speeds and it occurs randomly with no set speed or area where it occurs. 

 

Thank you in advance, 

Thomas

[Twitsky]

Hi everyone, I’ve managed to try some things out and fixed this myself. It turned out to be the gearboxes (?) rubbing against the cab interiors. I recommend you carefully take off the bodyshell and have a look around to see where it’s rubbing and if appropriate, file down.

Thomas

[Halvarras]

I'm not that surprised to hear this, Heljan's clearances can be so tight it doesn't take much for things to snag. I recall the first Hymek releases had wiring which could interfere with bogie articulation under the cabs (although mine was OK), and more recently my Class 28 Co-Bo had enough vertical slack at the Co end to allow the brake rigging on top on the bogie frames to catch on the pipework attached to the underside of the chassis - I managed to insert a small washer under the bogie pivot to lift that end and resolve the issue but dismantling the entire Co end of the chassis to do it was a major PITA - I would probably have sent the thing back if I hadn't bought the retailer's last one......but it's fine now anyway!