[madon37s]

Hi everyone
I have just received my new Falcon by Heljan this week and thought you would like to know what i thought of it! Please note i am not a seasoned reveiwer and these points are of my own personal opinion only and if anyone would like to reply to my comments with there own veiw you are very welcome to do so.

Firstly i like to say that straight from the box it felt it had a good weight and feel to it. I ran it in for an hour each way on a slow to moderate speed to allow it to bed in properly.
It seemed quite smooth to me straight out of the box anyway. It now runs very smoothly and queitly as all Heljan diesels seem to.
The colour looks quite good also although i never saw the real one to decide wether the colour is exact or not but as i am NOT a rivet counter if it looks right to me then it is right.
Here are a couple more pictures of it.

The bufferbeams actually came in a packet which you have to decide which ones you wanted on, One is for having no coupling on and the other (yes you guessed it) is if you do have a coupling on. I have to say that one side i couldn't get on very easily and i had to open up the holes on the body for the pips to go through. Another issue i thought that when you pay £110.00 for a Locomotive you would think you would get a driver for it but alas Heljan didn't include one with this loco!!.

It came with etched Falcon crests that you can put on if you desire. Theres no working fan (this is not a critisisim just an observation).
A nice touch is the working headcode light which works only in the direction of travel which is a good thing and there are a few different headcodes in the box to cut out and place into the aperture yourself.

These pictures are taken on my new layout that i have started a few weeks ago in my shed.

I havn't done any pulling tests on this loco but i should think it would be quite powerful enough to haul normal layout loads with ease.

I do hope you have enjoyed my little reveiw and please dont be shy do leave any comments that you feel relevant.

Kind regards

Paul

 

[Doug]

Thanks for posting the info.

For £110 I'd expect it to make tea. Seriously, it does look OK, except that its lurching in the second photo. Perhaps a symptom of the track.

Is the whole bufferbeam interchangeable? Do couplers and hoses differ then depending on what you select? Does it use standard NEM coupling boxes?

 

[madon37s]

QUOTE (Doug @ 7 Nov 2008, 16:02) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks for posting the info.

For £110 I'd expect it to make tea. Seriously, it does look OK, except that its lurching in the second photo. Perhaps a symptom of the track.

Is the whole bufferbeam interchangeable? Do couplers and hoses differ then depending on what you select? Does it use standard NEM coupling boxes?

Hi Doug the lurching is im afraid my camera angle as in fact the track is on a flat baseboard.

Yes the whole bufferbeam is.
Have a look at the picture below it looks like there is one bufferbeam that is shallower then the other one so i would think that one is to be used with the coupling as it would allow the coupling to swing in the nem pocket which is part of the bogie.
It looks like you can still put hoses on the shallow one but you would have to be mindful of the coupling.
The one on the left is the shallower one. Yes i'm pretty sure they are the standard NEM boxes

Hope this answers your queries Doug.

Kind regards
Paul

 

[SRman]

Confirming that, the coupling boxes are to NEM standards. As in an item I posted in another thread, I always swap the Heljan tension lock couplings for Bachmann or Hornby NEM types as the Heljan ones have a dropped section that makes them hang a little too low. You could just as easily plug Kadee NEM types straight in (nos. 17 - 20 but I don't know which would work best for clearances).

I should add that my own Falcon is the earlier issue Lime Green one. As Paul has said, all Heljan diesels seem to run smoothly, incredibly quietly and powerfully straight from the box. Falcon also benefits from the fitting of the later plated (nickel-silver??) wheels which don't tarnish or collect dirt as readily as the earlier brass wheels on their older models.

The longest trains I normally run (well, in the Pullman's case, occasionally run!) go to 9 Pullman coaches or 10 container wagons and Falcon easily pulled these - so easily that the running characteristics were almost identical to running light engine.

Edit: Oh yes! And for those interested in DCC, Heljan bodies just clip off easily on all of their British diesel models to date. the circuit boards have an 8-pin socket with blanking plug and a clearly marked patch where you can put some double-sided tape and stick the decoder down. Because all Heljan diesels seem to have a fairly high current draw I recommend decoders such as ESU LokPilot or TCS M1P-UK as giving ideal running qualities (there are other possibilities too).

 

[34C]

QUOTE (SRman @ 8 Nov 2008, 00:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>..The longest trains I normally run (well, in the Pullman's case, occasionally run!) go to 9 Pullman coaches or 10 container wagons and Falcon easily pulled these - so easily that the running characteristics were almost identical to running light engine.
..
Regarding traction, Heljan's product exceeds anything really required for UK modelling, I had my scale half mile test circuit full of Bachmann coaches (36 or 37) and off it went. (Most of the current crop of models of larger types with centre motor will do likewise, it's just a matter of weight on driven wheels.) Where Heljan score is in the use of a very sweet running Buhler motor. It does have a higher current draw than is now typical: somewhere around 2A stalled, 1.0 - 1.2A when starting, and if run under maximum load; 0.4A with a typical UK size trainload at full speed. It definitely needs a 1.5A continuous output rated decoder.

 

[gdaysydney]

I ordered the weathered blue version and it arrived today.

In my opinion the weathering is appalling - you could describe it as amateurish - and has ruined what would have otherwise been a very good model.

Dave

 

[madon37s]

[quote name='gdaysydney' date='12 Nov 2008, 09:23' post='67046']
I ordered the weathered blue version and it arrived today.

In my opinion the weathering is appalling - you could describe it as amateurish - and has ruined what would have otherwise been a very good model.

Dave

Hi Dave i'm sorry to hear about your model it's abit bad when you pay all that money for something and it doesn't come up to scratch. Maybe you should complain about it and tell who you bought it off that your not happy with the finish of the loco.

I must admit i don't buy weathered loco's as i like to do it myself but i know some people don't like to do it for fear of ruining it and that is perfectly acceptable.

Hope you get it sorted Dave.
Last thought perhaps you know someone who might be able to weather the loco a bit more realisticly for you

Kind regards

Paul