Heljan Clayton

[Zunnan]

I've had a look at the motor of one of these now. For the size of the chassis and motor magnets, the armature windings look quite under-gauged (too thin conductor with too thin resin insulation), especially considering the tendancy of Heljan locos to be a bit power hungry. The brushes don't look too clever either, but would be fine if they didn't have to cope with an out of balance motor as the windings fail. No wonder some have been burning out, that armature is little more than a heater element when turned on due to the high resistance of the under-gauge wire used, especially when a load is applied. Right now I'd say hold off buying one until Heljan realise the problem and source a suitable replacement motor or find a way of limiting the voltage through the motor, much like Dapol has done with the N Gauge Terrier.

[Calander & oban]

Just got my order from Modelfair. Clayton 1701 the Small Yellow Panel version. Very nice, but on full throttle ( DC) it creeps. Tight gears in the bogie towers? After running in, loco now manages 1m in about 10 seconds. Have been advised Heljan know about the problems. The metal clip on the gear tower apparently squeezes too much and clamps the gears so they are difficult to turn. This stresses the motor with possible overheat/ burn out. So beware when running in. Has anybody out there had similar problems?

[caley bogie]

Clayton arrived Friday and was run in as per instructions and a bit more.Seemed to take an awful lot of power to get initial movement but I thought that it would ease with time.

On Saturday I coupled six Bachmann Mk1's to it and after half an hour it suddenly got slower and slower until crawling along on almost full power.The loco body near the motor was quite warm.

I have taken the motor out and without a load it runs OK but turning the driveshaft by hand and it feels "lumpy".The shaft drive into the gear towers seems very tight and on the track they were very VERY noisy.It is the noisiest model loco I have ever heard.I agree with the others on this thread who say that the gearing is probably too tight and the motor is not powerful enough.I am going to re-motor it with the biggest Mashima can that will fit.

I wonder what Heljan are going to do.

[Calander & oban]

Additional to my earlier thread. The saddle which holds the motor in place was also a bit tight and I have slackened the screws a touch. The plastic cap on top of the gearbox tower if you unclip one side this also helps.
Fitting of the NRMA tension lock coupling. No instructions with loco. Do you have to remove the factory fitted buffer beam accessories prior to fitting ? as I have tried to pull some wagons but they cause the trailing bogie to derail.

[Bigmet]

.. I wonder what Heljan are going to do.

The omens have to be good. When their first batch of 'Falcon' had a problem with the push fit bufferbeams, they supplied complete replacement chassis.

Heljan have announced that they are researching what the problems actually are. Once they are sure of the problem set they will then no doubt seek to understand why the working chassis they specified fails to meet the required standard, and determine just where the responsibility lies, then make the responsible party bear the cost of the corrective action (most likely to be as before, ship a complete replacement batch of working chassis). That's SOP from the corrective action handbook, and it is most unlikely that they are not covered contractually to exercise this process.

[Pedanticmongrel]

i got mine today and yes it's slow, as slow as the real thing, makes a real racket when at a scale 45/50. Just annoyed all the buffer beams come fitted with fittings, been a devil painting around them!

[caley bogie]

Re-motored my Clayton on Saturday with a Mashima 1430 flat can.I have also filed down the bearing faces of the worm drive.The gear train inside the bogies consists of nylon gears on plastic axles,not sure about the lifespan of this combination.I also had to enlarge the holes in the flywheels to 2mm.Loco now runs well no overheating and has an acceptable top speed.Gears are still a wee bit noisy but not as bad as they were.

[Bigmet]

.. I wonder what Heljan are going to do.

The omens have to be good. When their first batch of 'Falcon' had a problem with the push fit bufferbeams, they supplied complete replacement chassis.
..

And Heljan have announced ... Chassis replacement for anyone registering a running problem with their retailer. If in possession of a duff 17, get your name in quick!

[Campaigner]

With this info in mind, I thought I might be a good idea to get my Clayton out of it's box and test run it. I can honestly say it runs perfectly, smooth and quiet, not sure how much it would pull and for how long.
At the same time I thought I may as well test my class 58 as well, no signs of life whatsoever

[oo_forever]

I know this thread has run it's course, but I need you help!
My first Heljan purchase happened to be one of these models back in mid April, before I read about all the problems with them. I work overseas, and only last week was back home in Aust and able to test run the loco.
Yep, another dud. It lasted 5 minutes before showing all the problem signs.
I've contacted the supplier and have the option of getting a replacement chassis or full refund.
This leads me to ask the forum if anyone has taken delivery of a replacement chassis and are they any better? Or am I better served getting a refund?
Thanks,
John

[gdaysydney]

I know this thread has run it's course, but I need you help!
My first Heljan purchase happened to be one of these models back in mid April, before I read about all the problems with them. I work overseas, and only last week was back home in Aust and able to test run the loco.
Yep, another dud. It lasted 5 minutes before showing all the problem signs.
I've contacted the supplier and have the option of getting a replacement chassis or full refund.
This leads me to ask the forum if anyone has taken delivery of a replacement chassis and are they any better? Or am I better served getting a refund?
Thanks,
John

Hi John,
I'm in the same situation and as far as I am aware the replacement chassis have not been delivered from Heljan as yet.

Dave

[oo_forever]

Cheers Dave, sounds like it's a case of refund.

John

[Flashbang]

Found the following statement on another web site....

Unfortunately there has been a further delay to the delivery of the replacement chassis's for the faulty examples of the class 17. We are keen to ensure that the replacement units are satisfactory and sourcing a suitable motor has proved more difficult than we originally thought. Indications are that we should be able to ship new chassis's to retailers who have requested replacements for their customers by November 1st, please accept our apologies for this further delay.

To avoid further inconvenience there will be no need to return the faulty chassis units upon exchange.

[Flashbang]

Found the following statement on another web site....


Heljan Announcement

The following release has appeared on the Heljan website
Unfortunately there has been a further delay to the delivery of the replacement chassis's for the faulty examples of the class 17. We are keen to ensure that the replacement units are satisfactory and sourcing a suitable motor has proved more difficult than we originally thought. Indications are that we should be able to ship new chassis's to retailers who have requested replacements for their customers by November 1st, please accept our apologies for this further delay.

To avoid further inconvenience there will be no need to return the faulty chassis units upon exchange.

[Flashbang]

Found the following statement on another web site....


Heljan Announcement

The following release has appeared on the Heljan website
Unfortunately there has been a further delay to the delivery of the replacement chassis's for the faulty examples of the class 17. We are keen to ensure that the replacement units are satisfactory and sourcing a suitable motor has proved more difficult than we originally thought. Indications are that we should be able to ship new chassis's to retailers who have requested replacements for their customers by November 1st, please accept our apologies for this further delay.

To avoid further inconvenience there will be no need to return the faulty chassis units upon exchange.

http://www.mremag.com/