[Ben Manicom]

I was browsing through my Bachmann Catalouge today and glanced at the Lilliput Advertisment affixed within and thought there was soemthing wrong, on closer inspection the rear wheelset of the top Locomotives tender isnt there!. This along with other errors such as numerous derailed stock in pictures and some illustrations of the Wagons with the wrong couplings also caught my eye, I couldnt believe I had failed to notice some until now.
How does Bachmann allow these stupidly simple things to pass there gaze it is only minor but makes the Catalouge seem like a half hearted attempt and for £4.50 i would expect a resonable attempt to present quality pictures any one else noticed these errors?

 

[Bradley.McMullan]

haha yes i have-also have noticed the apparent lack of quality control at bachmann branchline...wobbly wagons and off centre axles indeed!

 

[pedromorgan]

at least the brittish get a catalouge evry year. i think the chinese range is still using the 2003 copy! and even on their web site there are no pictures of any of the things that they are producing this year.

peter

 

[Dennis David]

Pete,

Besides going to China where is a good place to pick one of the Chinese Steam Locomotives?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 25 Jun 2006, 01:00) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Pete,

Besides going to China where is a good place to pick one of the Chinese Steam Locomotives?

Sorry I'm not Pete but Hattons have three types of them at the bottom of this page in the link.

Hattons

 

[Dennis David]

Thanks but I was looking for another model one with chinese flags in the front I think

 

[pedromorgan]

hello dennis. sorry i didnt see your message for a few days but i have been off work.

finding bachmann china loco's is a bit of an art form in its self. do you know exactly which chinese steam loco it is you are after?

was it this one?
http://www.mgsharp.com/images/Bachmann_CR/qj6800_1.jpg

the trouble is that many of us chinese modellers find that apart from the bachmann diesels, finding even the steamers at a decent price is quite rare. and when we do we tend to buy them all and then tell other people about the place!. i recently found a small supply of brass loco's, i bought them all then told other people where i found them!

if you know which one you want i can keep a look out. but prices vary wildly. my QJ was purchased for the equivalent of about £100. modelzone has one at the moment for about £200!

i am still waiting for an RM and a JS!

Peter

 

[Dennis David]

That looks like the one. It's important that it looks Chinese from afar. I'll need to wait a couple of months but I would like to eventually get one but it would have to be closer to £100 than £200. What kills me is that I could have gotten one for $129 had I not waited too long.

 

[pedromorgan]

that loco was a limited edition and i seriously doubt you will find it anywhere now. its the one i got and it was bought buy my freind in beijing. i have seen a couple in the uk but they have long since gone.

i think the last one i saw was going for £210

The decorations are great though. its decorated like a concubine!!
i would actually quite like a plain one. iron bull is great but its not a good representation of a typical QJ.

Peter

 

[Jeorge]

has anybody noticed on Their "Hornby Trainset owners Manual" That one peice of track under the Girder bridge isnt connected properly?

 

[Ozzie21]

I know where you can get one but the price is A$650. They are a well detailed model. Very impressive with all the little bits and pieces you get to add to them. It's a pity that they are such terrible runners. The usual crap Bachmann mech from the old plus range I think.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 25 Jun 2006, 12:04) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks but I was looking for another model one with chinese flags in the front I think

 

[pedromorgan]

ozzie thats nonsence. they are fantastic runners. it was a new mech for a totally new loco.

Peter

 

[Ozzie21]

Well I guess my cousin bought a dodgey bros loco. The one he bought came in a presentation box with all the nice chinese characters all over it. I installed a decoder in it and we gave it a run. Terrible noise, all squeaks and grinds. I pulled the loco to bits to give it a lube job and found the same old split chassis with the same old krader motor driving the same old gear train as can be found in any old Plus loco ansd some Spectrum models. On the outside it's an excellent model of a Chinese QJ and the detail is well above that which they apply to any of their other models apart from the SJ 2-8-2 which has the same level of detail. At the price they are asking I would expect a brass quality mechanism with a Sagami motor driving an individual gearbox and all wheels sprung. It's a nice shelf model.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 24 Jul 2006, 20:10) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>ozzie thats nonsence. they are fantastic runners. it was a new mech for a totally new loco.

Peter

 

[pedromorgan]

For goodness sakes. if it has a "Terrible noise, all squeaks and grinds" TAKE IT BACK. on another part of the forum the brittish are accused of making do with poorly running models!!

mine is silky smooth and is on a par with either of my BLI loco's.
the loco is a plesure to own. i have never had the body off and i dont intend to. parts of the chassis may well be common with other models but it was a new design for the QJ. my only criticism of it is that it is a tad weak. but then so are the real things! (and it wont go under the bridge on my mates layout!)

Peter

 

[Ozzie21]

Why take it back and wait for weeks maybe months to get a loco repaired that's not available anymore when for an hour's work I fixed it so that it know runs like a the poverbial swiss watch. I've only ever returned one loco in 30 yrs and it took 7months to get returned from Bachmann. I have ones that were non events in shop, always get then to test run a Bachmann or any model made in China, that were replaced on the spot. All the others I've repaired myself. When you have direct access to the place where you bought the model it makes it easy. For me it could be up to 7hrs or 850klms drive to take it back so I tend to be self sufficient and just fix the odd factory stuff up.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 25 Jul 2006, 15:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>For goodness sakes. if it has a "Terrible noise, all squeaks and grinds" TAKE IT BACK. on another part of the forum the brittish are accused of making do with poorly running models!!

mine is silky smooth and is on a par with either of my BLI loco's.
the loco is a plesure to own. i have never had the body off and i dont intend to. parts of the chassis may well be common with other models but it was a new design for the QJ. my only criticism of it is that it is a tad weak. but then so are the real things! (and it wont go under the bridge on my mates layout!)

Peter

 

[60134]

I agree with Ozzie - I am constantly astounded by the simple repairs people return their models for, often these amount to no more than a good clean and replacement brushes. Sure, sometimes a deal of work is required and in that case sending the item to an approved repair agent is justified but for folk like Ozzie there are now online stores that list complete inventories of, say, Hornby or Fleischmann spares which can be ordered by the customer (reference to the online database of Hornby repair sheets will reveal the part numbers). Any dealer worth his salt should be happy to source and supply spares for the ranges they list - obviously older locos are a challenge but firms such as Modelspares can often help there.

60134

 

[John Webb]

In my early teens I used to service Triang locos for my local model shop in return for a bit of pocket money. It was amazing what people bought locos back with. Over-oiling was top of the list, followed by dirty wheels followed by hair/carpet fluff mixed up in the mechanisms - or all three! At 2/6 (12.5p) per loco it was easy, if not regular money in hand.
Regards,
John Webb

 

[Ozzie21]

Ahh those were days! two bob for pocket money and 3quid for a Jinty. It took a lot of saving to get that Jinty and even longer to get a Princess and that was CKD " completely knocked down" was the ad. I learnt eary on after oiling my brand new "BLue Pullman" xmas present that over oiling did no good. I think I tipped a near whole bottle of Singer oil into the mech. Dad was not amused.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (John Webb @ 26 Jul 2006, 19:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In my early teens I used to service Triang locos for my local model shop in return for a bit of pocket money. It was amazing what people bought locos back with. Over-oiling was top of the list, followed by dirty wheels followed by hair/carpet fluff mixed up in the mechanisms - or all three! At 2/6 (12.5p) per loco it was easy, if not regular money in hand.
Regards,
John Webb