Heljan Gresley O2 2-8-0 'Tango'

[mick b]

I have now obtained a slightly damaged O2/3 main damage being a rivet ripped out of the con rod at the small end. Hopefully a easy fix. Can say I am too impressed with quality.

It will need need handrails/knobs all round , number of mould lines rubdown and the huge clearance on the front axle reduced as I am not surprised the rods and collided the valve gear, causing the damage !! , gaps on the footplate coal plate filled and then total respray .

The cab windows look huge, has anyone got a spare GN cab , as Howes are sold out please ?

[Atlantic 3279]

Hi Mick,

Quickly during my lunch break.....by way of reply, in part, to your PM, but sharing info on here for the benefit of others:

Original pick-up wiring:

At the rear the wires pass through that little slot and DO cross over left to right as I have arranged things without the connection to the tender. Don't be fooled by that glimpse of red wire just in front of the drawbar hook that I've fitted, on the same side as the red pick up wire. That glimpse of red is the MOTOR wire, connected to the black pick up wire crossed over from the other side.

On top, with the upper chassis block unscrewed and taken out of the way:

Depending on the condition of the rubber rings round the motor, I imagine you could just flip the motor over instead of crossing the wires. You'd still be connecting Heljan's original black pick up wire to the red motor wire and vice versa - IF the original wires were still in place and IF Heljan's factory fitted all of the motors the same way up!

Expansion link pivot arrangement - yes, it takes some believing doesn't it - not much to provide location for the pivot pin within the link!

I'll look tomorrow at what bits I have spare and let you know. I'm busy with other things this evening.

[mick b]

Many thanks for the information Graeme, very helpful. On removing the body of mine there were was no wiring whatsoever inside, hence Graeme's been kind enough to show the wiring runs inside the body in the above photos.

For potential buyers information.
This a real dogs dinner of a Loco , the most bizarre design I have ever seen. Everything is very very fragile and fall to bits if you look at it too long .!! The valve gear is very soft brass and a very poor riveted design , due to the huge amount of sideplay on the front drivers the coupling rod has ripped the con rod off the back of the piston rod. The rivet was so undersize that it simply pulled out through the con rod.

Detail is a real mish mash, some parts basic with gaps e.g Tender Coal plates and then excellent detail in other parts. I am convinced the body is just plain plastic and not painted , other than the Bufferbeams.

[Hatfield Shed]

... has anyone got a spare GN cab , as Howes are sold out please ?

Ah, is the implication there that Howes at one time actually had the GN parts in stock? I tried to obtain some, but the person I spoke to wasn't prepared to commit on whether such parts existed and might be available for purchase. Not very impressed.

...For potential buyers information.
This a real dogs dinner of a Loco , the most bizarre design I have ever seen. Everything is very very fragile and fall to bits if you look at it too long .!! The valve gear is very soft brass and a very poor riveted design , due to the huge amount of sideplay on the front drivers the coupling rod has ripped the con rod off the back of the piston rod. The rivet was so undersize that it simply pulled out through the con rod.

Detail is a real mish mash, some parts basic with gaps e.g Tender Coal plates and then excellent detail in other parts. I am convinced the body is just plain plastic and not painted , other than the Bufferbeams.

Indeed, I should have very much preferred Bach or Hornby's constructional style.

Following advice here from Graeme King and others I have taken the unusual step (for me) of not dismantling the mechanism. While it is a smooth and reliable runner - and it is - it will not be fiddled with. Tractively its bob on, near match to Hornby's 9F.

The external appearance is indisputably that of a Doncaster product, but yes, somewhat adrift of what others have achieved in fidelity and robustness. I remain grateful to have this subject available RTR, but it could have been better.

Compared to the examples of four Heljan diesel models I own, a pretty large backward step in my opinion. If the 47xx is similar to the O2 there's going to be whining on an unprecedented scale, (reason deleted to avoid offence)

[S.A.C. Martin]

I have now obtained a slightly damaged O2/3 main damage being a rivet ripped out of the con rod at the small end. Hopefully a easy fix. Can say I am too impressed with quality.

It will need need handrails/knobs all round , number of mould lines rubdown and the huge clearance on the front axle reduced as I am not surprised the rods and collided the valve gear, causing the damage !! , gaps on the footplate coal plate filled and then total respray .

The cab windows look huge, has anyone got a spare GN cab , as Howes are sold out please ?

That's interesting Mick, I have also obtained a damaged one (£70) and guess what? Eccentric on left hand side has had a rivet pulled out and needs refitting.

All of the handrail knobs, as per yours will need replacing. The chimney was damaged on mine so as per others, a B1 chimney is going to be fitted.

I remain staggered by the cost vs quality argument. Had my Bachmann WD, Hornby O1, Stanier 8F, Bachmann O4 alongside it and there's no comparison. I know I said this before - but Heljan really dropped the ball with this one. Such a shame.

[mick b]

... has anyone got a spare GN cab , as Howes are sold out please ?

Ah, is the implication there that Howes at one time actually had the GN parts in stock? I tried to obtain some, but the person I spoke to wasn't prepared to commit on whether such parts existed and might be available for purchase. Not very impressed.







Howes still list some detail sprues for the O2 . I have ordered one of them, so hopefully it will turn up. I will update when received.

[Woodcock29]

I managed to get a full set of the spares from Howes including both cabs. They'll be used on a couple of projects I have in mind. Note in my view the cab windows in the LNER cab are about 1mm too deep in height - this becomes noticeable when renumbering and comparing the position to photos.

Andrew

[mick b]

O2 Detail part arrived today from Howes , so good service. On the other hand I have had no reply to a email, asking if they will ever get the other detail parts shown as out of stock again !.

[mick b]

Best replacement Chimney for the O2/3 please?. A B1 has been suggested so far.

[Woodcock29]

A B1 chimney is definitely what you need. I used a Crownline B1 chimney on mine - from what I had in stock. See photo below.

The photo shows how badly the lower section of the boiler is lined up with the plastic boiler top when I reassembled it. I'm loathe to pull it apart again - as others have indicated it is a 'cow' to put back together. Its not really noticeable on the layout fortunately. A real pity that this was not up to the standard of other RTR LNER 2-8-0s.

Andrew

[mick b]

Excellent result with the redone model, looks much better without the Brown window surround.

As suspected from previous comments, the O2 isn't not very good.

Mine has had the broken valve gear rebuilt , I do however wonder how long it will hold together.

Body has had new handrails , mould lines rubbed down, a number of parts reglued back as a number fell off as soon as it was out of the box, it has been painted, bar the Boiler pending a new Chimney, and then it will be put it back together !!


Thanks for the Chimney info .

[Woodcock29]

Mick did you lengthen the tender handrails on the side with short handrails? This was another error and would have been listed earlier in this thread.

As far as I know, I think I'm the only one to modify the valve gear to remove the silly 90 degree bend at the front of the eccentric rods. This required the fitting of new expansion links, a pair of which I luckily had in the spares box - not sure where they came from though.

Good luck with yours. I was almost tempted to buy a very cheap one from Howes when I visited there in April last year but didn't fall for that in the end - too much work to do on it when I have so many other projects awaiting my time, including the building of a Gresley O1 - some of the spare Heljan parts will be used to build this which will be based around an unbuilt Nucast O2.

Andrew

[mick b]

Yes handrails have been redone to the longer length, gaps in the sides of both Coal plates filled in as well on the Tender. It will also get a fall plate and new drawbar to the Loco as it was a broken mounting/missing drawbar on receipt.

I have asked Heljan today via email if its possible to buy a new set of valve gear . Expansion Link is dire ,they have used a rivet in the centre of it without a locating hole to fit it to the Motion bracket ! a right bodge.

[RayS]

Was ever a loco launched to such a sea of goodwill and hope to fall so short of our hopes? Have Heljan commented at all?

[mick b]

Well my "repairs" to the Valve Gear on mine appears to be working ok , this was once the Loco was rewired, a direct wire soldered between the Loco pick ups and the motor. Luckily DCC isn't needed. In fairness to Heljan, it is running nicely and is very quiet on a rolling road set up .

As to Heljan replying comments .

Message asking if possible to buy replacement Valve Gear, was posted on the Heljan Facebook page. I had no response from their Denmark email,asking the same question.
Response yesterday on the Heljan Facebook page was, you are in UK please contact them on a Heljan UK email link, which was sent yesterday afternoon, no reply so far !!.