Hattons Class 14 by Heljan
 

Has anybody got their class 14 yet? Mine arrived on Friday, but I only found it today. :eek: The wife hid it and said as my birthday is in April, that's when I can have it. :mad: I told her that I need to check it to make sure it is all OK. 'She who must be obeyed' said that she had called Hattons and some spoilt sport there told her that I have a whole years guarantee on the model, but as it is a birthday gift, they will start the years guarantee on my birthday. :( You just can't trust some shop workers anymore, especially the female type.:cool:

I am so sorry about that Syd, My birthdaday is on the 13 of April two days after yours so i think you should send it down to me to have a look at.

Thanks for that
ccmmick.

ccmmick I am still waiting for my Class 15 from Modelfair. I was contacted and told I needed to give my C/Card details as delivery to them would be soon. I spoke to them again on Friday and was told the ship from China had not yet arrived. I also have the Well Tank on order from Kernow down your way.

That seems a bit funny Syd i am down that way if you want i will look into it for you.
They are a very good retail shop so dont worry about it i am sure everything will be ok.

ccmmick.

Give me your details Syd via pm and i will look into it for you.

ccmmick.

You mean we've got to wait two whole months for your assessment of the Class 14 Syd!?

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Don't blame me John H-T, I never even got to see it. Since 'She who must be obeyed' has paid for it, you'll just have to wait. On the other hand you could get one of your own and then give us your assessment on it. Sort of gives me something to look forward to, seeing if I agree with your assessment. The only negative in the Hornby Magazine was a little side movement in the rear axle. They pulled a 6 coach train without any problem and had 40 goods wagons on before it started to slip. Their overall view was "The class 14 looks superb, features a high level of detail and performs near perfectly. As such it gets our full recommendation".

Unfortunately Syd I decided, that at the price, it would have to stay at Hattons as there is quite a long list of other, for me more desirable, locos ahead of it. I am at present waiting for the 00 works Midland 2F 0-6-0 which is sadly even more expensive! As you say there is also the Kernow Beattie Well Tank and of course we do not yet know what will be in the Bachmann Catalogue, steam wise, when it lands on the mat about 9th March!

I am sure the Class 14 will be worth the wait judging from the review in Hornby Magazine. I may indulge later but at the moment it is way down the list.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

ccmmick, the Well Tank has been sorted thanks. It is not due until September this year. The one I am waiting for is the Class 15 from Modelfair.
I have used and visited Kernow many times and always found them to be very helpful and they deliver when they say they will. I know they have not been in the present shop all that long but it already seems to small for the number of people that have been in it when I have visited it.
Thank you for the offer all the same. One of the good things about this site is the help offered by members.

A Heljan Class 14 turned up at our Model Railway Club tonight. Fortunately it was a running night so it got a good try out on our 00 gauge layout. Very smooth, quiet and good slow running. The detail is exquisite, the coupling rods are so fine! It looks right so what more could you want?

A few quibbles: The couplings are very droopy and will need some work to get them to the right hieght. The light on the head code box is far too bright, like a search light on the front! The pick ups are too obvious, need to be darkened. Otherwise a fine model.

Seeing it has weaken my resolve not to buy one although I think it is a tad over priced and now that Bachmann are to produce one in N gauge I am not sure that they would not also have done it 00 and produced an equally good model for less.

So will I order one? Well not yet. I have several locos on pre-order at present so may be later. Could depend on what appears in the new Bachmann Catalogue next month.

Anyway Syd I am sure you will not be disappointed on your Birthday. Look forward to your review.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

I am glad you are all sorted Syd.

ccmmick.

Thanks for the review John H-T. I did manage to get a short look at one that was being shown off in a model shop. The guy said that the light was one of those bright LEDs but that he would tone it down with a bit of paint around the head code box. He must have done something to the pick up as well as they looked OK to me, come to think of it, they were black apart from the ends behind the wheels. Must say I only saw it for a few Min's before he left the shop, but I liked what I saw.

Looking to add one to my layout ASAP, but although i don't mind paying for a quality product, I think a £90 price tag would have been more realistic, just my opinion of course...

I have to say I agree with you ACE. I am still holding out inspite of a very favourable review in Model Rail this week. Interestingly they pick up two of my niggles: the bright metal pick ups and the droopy couplings.

There also seems to be some difficulty in getting inside to fit a DCC chip, according to various postings on RMWEB.

I might gamble on Bachmann producing a 00 version in a few years time as they will have done all the development work on the N scale version. I understand that the total production for the Hatton's 14 is 2,600, although they may do a second batch. I suppose it depends how robust the tooling is.

Best wishes,

John H-T.