Heljan 2004 plans.

Thanks for the information John. are there any ideas on prices or any news of Heljan UK steam??

"piemanlarger" wrote

There is no steam mentioned in the catalogue.

John.

Fantastic!!! I can't wait, especially for that 57/3...

Cheers James

Hi John,

Thanks for posting this. Any details yet on which loco's will be modelled and which liveries?

Thanks.

For liveries, the 57/3 will be just Virgin, and I imagine the 66 will be available in EWS/DRS/Freightliner/GBRf liveries and maybe the Medite and WH Malcolm advertising liveries, and I'd expect the 52 in blue and maroon, and probably golden ochre as well.

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In message , Daniel Pearson writes

Does the catalogue specify anything about the liveries of the HO scale ones as well? I'd guess that these would include various European railways that the 66 has been sold to?

But you don't know for certain! Perhaps JT could enlighten us?

John.

It was a reasonable guess...

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Hello all. I am mainly into steam, although I have a Bachman Warship (great) and a Lima Western (so-so), I have never owned or seen a Heljan.I am interested in the class 52. Can you comment on a) reliability and running, and b) looks? in comparison to Bachman and Chinese Hornby Thanks Rob

It is on Heljan's plans to do a Western, they don't do it yet. But if you want to see the quality of Heljan products so you can compare with other manufacturers, look at their current Class 47, and their just released (though still getting out to the shops) Class 35 Hymek.

Ian J.

I'll hold you to that...! ;o)

John.

"John Lancaster" wrote

Four different class 52s are listed, but no livery details are given. As for OO-scale class 66s there are two versions each of EWS, Freightliner & GBRf listed, but no further details given. Thre versions of the HO-scale

John.

Thanks John.

The 47 was a good first attempt, the drive was better than previous, though it has to be said there are at least two things I find unsatisfactory with them. The body for some reason was created approx 2mm too wide (don't know why), and the chassis (though smooth and reliable) only drives the outer axles of each bogie, rather than all axles. I haven't seen the Hymek in the flesh, so to speak, so can't speak of whether Heljan have managed to correct such 'mistakes', though being a Bo-Bo, I think it is all axles driven.

Regards,

Ian J.

"Ian J." wrote

The bodywith dimension on the Heljan 47 is debateable. Traditionally it is regarded as 2mm over wide, but it has been widely reported in the model press that some careful removal of casting flash from the chassis block allows the body to fit more snugly to the chassis and reduces the width by over 1mm.

Sure the 47 drive is only on four axles, but this is a significant improvement on class 47 models by both Hornby and Lima where the drive is only on 2 axles. Furthermore the more recent Bachmann class 37 also only dives on four axles, and yet both Heljan 47 and Bachmann 37 have more than adequate tractive effort.

I've not had time to examine the Heljan Hymek in much detail but it certainly looks the part, and has had some pretty favourable comments from those who have seen the model at this weekend's exhibition at Wakefield. It is smooth, powerful & heavy and perhaps more responsive to the controller than the 47. Certainly it's four axle drive.

John.

Here's hoping for one of them being the Swedish T66 :-)

I wasn't complaining about the mechanisms from a running and general quality point of view in my response, just making a comparison for someone living in the USA where pretty much all diesel models are all axle drive, and that we haven't quite reached that stage yet. It is entirely possible to have a two axle drive locomotive that performs admirably (as long as the basic motor and mech, together with weight distribution, are effected properly).

As for the body of the Heljan 47, I feel that there would be problems trying to make the roof narrower (which is where I measured the discrepancy), I don't think removing any amount of flash from the chassis could correct that. That said, it is still a nice model, just looks a bit overweight...

Ian J.

Well the 47 is an OK model, the width is really obvious to myself, but the bufferbeam is the area I don't like on them - the parts are far to brittle.

If comparing the body to a bus one - it would be a crappy Plaxton President body ;-)

Alan