Accurascale's First Steam Locomotive; GWR Collett 78xx Manor Class!

[gwrrob]

Who said Manors never reached the West Country in the late '40s.😁

 

[exmoordave]

Many thanks CK for your thoughts above (30/10) concerning your Manor. I have since decided to stick with it and conduct some further running-in sessions in the hope that it will bed-in and give slow, smooth starts & stops. It is a lovely loco and I'm very impressed with the appearance - at least I was - until the chimney came off! Now before anyone jumps down my throat and accuses me of being ham-fisted, I must say that only the merest touch by the edge of my finger brought it onto the baseboard! Obviously, no problem to refix, but the lack of adhesive between the joint was obvious. So, a warning to everyone - don't sneeze too hard, as you may find something similar happening to one of your models!!!

[Cofga]

15 hours ago, exmoordave said:

Many thanks CK for your thoughts above (30/10) concerning your Manor. I have since decided to stick with it and conduct some further running-in sessions in the hope that it will bed-in and give slow, smooth starts & stops. It is a lovely loco and I'm very impressed with the appearance - at least I was - until the chimney came off! Now before anyone jumps down my throat and accuses me of being ham-fisted, I must say that only the merest touch by the edge of my finger brought it onto the baseboard! Obviously, no problem to refix, but the lack of adhesive between the joint was obvious. So, a warning to everyone - don't sneeze too hard, as you may find something similar happening to one of your models!!!

You’re not alone, the chimney on my Anthony Manor fell off too when I removed it from the box. That was a good thing as it allowed me to see that the copper top is actually a turned metal insert and not an appliqué. A few dabs of gel CA and the chimney was back in place in no time. The water fill hatch also almost came off but another dab of CA took care of it too.

[No Decorum]

22 hours ago, exmoordave said:

Many thanks CK for your thoughts above (30/10) concerning your Manor. I have since decided to stick with it and conduct some further running-in sessions in the hope that it will bed-in and give slow, smooth starts & stops. It is a lovely loco and I'm very impressed with the appearance - at least I was - until the chimney came off! Now before anyone jumps down my throat and accuses me of being ham-fisted, I must say that only the merest touch by the edge of my finger brought it onto the baseboard! Obviously, no problem to refix, but the lack of adhesive between the joint was obvious. So, a warning to everyone - don't sneeze too hard, as you may find something similar happening to one of your models!!!

Indeed you’re not alone.

7 hours ago, Cofga said:

You’re not alone, the chimney on my Anthony Manor fell off too when I removed it from the box. That was a good thing as it allowed me to see that the copper top is actually a turned metal insert and not an appliqué. A few dabs of gel CA and the chimney was back in place in no time. The water fill hatch also almost came off but another dab of CA took care of it too.

In my case, the chimney was loose in the box. A simple job to fix but there was other damage no so easily fixed. Praise to Accurascale for the metal copper top, though. Nothing looks like metal as much as metal itself does!

[IOW O2]

The tender fall plate came off mine during running in, gel glued back but came off, couldn't find it, so used some insulation tape over thin plastic instead. Handrail on loco fell off, still missing.

[Suzy Sulzer]

2 hours ago, IOW O2 said:

The tender fall plate came off mine during running in, gel glued back but came off, couldn't find it, so used some insulation tape over thin plastic instead. Handrail on loco fell off, still missing.

Chimney fell off my 7812 amongst other niggles so your not alone.

[PeterH]

All the bits were attach on my two of 7819 and 7820. The former did have a glue spot on the paintwork around the safety valve bonnet but should be fixable with a bit of weathering. Both run very well, Hinton probably slightly better; that’s running on DC whereas Dinmore was DCC sound.
 

Were the headboards only for an exclusive version of the model?

Edited November 5, 2023 by PeterH

[SteamingWales]

Might be useful for anyone wanting to fit headboards with a neater solution that just a blob of bluetack

 

Started by gluing 2x 2mm Evergreen channel pieces to form a rectangular box. Once dry I cut one of the channel side to square up one edge then affix this in the correct position in line with the RH base of the crest on the back. It should then slot on like a traditional headboard IRL. On mine it needs light pressure with a screwdriver

 

I filled attempt one with super glue so once dry it didn't fit 🙄 but cut the back of so it pushes on from the front. It holds well ATM so a coat or two of black paint on the rear for general aesthetics should make it that bit more secure again. 

 

 

 

Accidentally broke 7802s painted dart 😬luckily A/S supply alternatives/spares in the bags 😁

[No Decorum]

17 hours ago, PeterH said:

All the bits were attach on my two of 7819 and 7820. The former did have a glue spot on the paintwork around the safety valve bonnet but should be fixable with a bit of weathering. Both run very well, Hinton probably slightly better; that’s running on DC whereas Dinmore was DCC sound.
 

Were the headboards only for an exclusive version of the model?

I was a little disappointed not to get headboards. I think they only came with the BR models.  It seems BR HQ allowed Western Region to repaint coaches into chocolate and cream but only on named trains. The r;esult was an explosion in the number of named trains on WR!

[Penson Halt]

Received notification that Dinmore Manor is on the way, hopefully delivered this week sometime!

[GreatWesternFan220]

Draycott Manor made it across the pond yesterday. Pleased to see the quality on this one a massive improvement over my 7812 and 7800 (the better of the three tbh). Was very concerned to see no bubble wrap but after seeing all is well inside and out, I can say that I am relieved. The outer box sleeve makes a return which was a pleasant thing to see. One thing that surprised me was seeing the fender lined out despite not being present on the decorated samples and artwork. I believe this was discussed on here some time ago. Looks like 7812 gets to keep it's flush sided tender until the next run of Manors is released Lol (would love to see the tenders be available on their own for this very reason but we can't have everything). The coal load is in the detail bag (good! 🤪) but no headboards unfortunately. Apologies for the shoddy lighting in the photos, was more concerned with looking it over for imperfections than taking decent pictures.

[John Isherwood]

3 hours ago, GreatWesternFan220 said:

..... no headboards unfortunately.

 

 

 

To all those purchasers bemoaning the lack of headboards - look again in the slot in which the 'bits' bag was found - you should find a second 'bits bag' containing the headboards, etc.

 

My 7812 had them.

 

CJI.

[rprodgers]

My Draycott Manor had the headboards included in the poly bag that also contained the coal, other detail fittings.

The BR headboards should be included with Draycott Manor.

[John Isherwood]

Just now, rprodgers said:

My Draycott Manor had the headboards included in the poly bag that also contained the coal, other detail fittings.

The BR headboards should be included with Draycott Manor.

 

They were in a separate bag in mine.

 

CJI.

[St Enodoc]

On 03/11/2023 at 21:42, St Enodoc said:

It has indeed reached Kernow and is now in transit to the Southern Hemisphere.

It has now arrived but since I'm in the Northern Hemisphere until just before Christmas I won't get to play with it for a few weeks yet...

[TimOrTom]

My 7820 arrived thursday from Hattons and I got around to fitting the details today, no headboards but not sure if this variant is meant to have them anyway. Only slight issue was that there were two right hand cylinder ends so I had to cut the back part of one slightly to fit the left cylinder. All said it is a beautiful model and worth the wait, the matt smokebox really does add something to the overall look.

 

---

Edited November 11, 2023 by TimOrTom

[ed 66 plant]

Finally I received my  ACS 7810 with sound and I am delighted with its looks and performance.

It is indeed an exquisitely designed and assembled model.It crawls well, it smoothly accelerates and decelerates. The model was received with NO loose bits and all extras were present.

Well done ACS and I am sure you will have learned from the experience--Thank you.

I would also like to comment on my chosen retailer,s input on this purchase--the QC check card signed by the proprietor--the thank you provided for customer patience--voucher against future purchase and maybe more important two small biscuit packs.To me this graphically shows Derails view of the customer .Well done Derails for this and your want to keep customers informed.

I look forward to doing more business with  you both.

Ed Plant

[Mick38]

Granville Manor has finally arrived! What a pleasure. It came in a box twice as large as necessary, extremely well protected - it would have survived even if it was made of glass. Runs beautifully. Also pleased to see that the cab handrails extend up to the roof, unlike earlier models. So congratulations Accurascale, from one very pleased customer (in Australia).

[johnhutnick]

My Draycott has Pembroke and Cambrian in the parts bag.

[ed 66 plant]

Having time on my hands I decided to really check out the crawl ability of my DCC sound fitted 7810.

Using my normal Prodigy advance 2 set up I checked the loco performance over a 21.5 feet siding (incorporating 7 electrofrog points).I am still on factory settings for the decoder and operating on 14 speed steps on throttle setting 1.

The loco took 24 minutes and 40 seconds to complete the course minus any stuttering or stalling.

I do not have any other loco to compete with that. 

I believe that translates to a 1: 76.2 speed of 0.75 mph.

I am what you might call a very happy and satisfied customer.

I hope my arithmetic is correct!!

[Rising Standards]

I'm currently setting up an ESU LokSound V5 which I've fitted to my Erlestoke Manor, but it's my first ESU sound decoder in a steam loco and I'm having trouble getting the decoder set to control the motor smoothly. The guide I was following for setting up the decoder and eventually sorting out the chuff rate recommended the automatic calibration process that ESU list in their manual, but it actually ran more smoothly at low speed before I tried that!

 

As the sound fitted models use the same decoder, would anyone with a factory fitted model be kind enough to read and post the values used for the following CVs please for me to try as a starting point?

 

Motor:

9

51-56

116-119

 

Chuff rate:

57-58

 

The model itself is excellent - with the non-sound Zimo decoder I originally fitted it performs very smoothly, and it captures the look of the class superbly. I hadn't originally planned to fit a sound decoder though, as I was of the view that any decoder and speaker setup would struggle to do justice to a real manor's thunderous soundtrack, especially with nothing more than a pair of sugar cube speakers supplied. However, when I saw that Locoman had a manor project listed and Digitrains were selling a speaker upgrade kit, I came round to the idea.

 

For anyone interested in the speaker change, the types used are sized at 22x13x6mm for the boiler and 30x17x4mm for the tender - Roads and Rails sell the same ones. Disassembly of the loco wasn't easy as the boiler has to come off the running plate, and there are various bits glued on down the right hand side of the boiler, but once the boiler is off the original speaker and circuit board are easily replaced in the same location (before you painstakingly rebuild the reverser assembly you knocked off). By contrast, all the tender needs is the original speaker tray removing, some tape applying to the bottom of the circuit board, and the speaker soldering to the same solder pads as are used for the connection socket; it then just rests on top of the decoder.

 

I wouldn't say the completed speaker setup is especially loud, but it's good enough to give pleasing results with the sharp bark of the Locoman sound project. I especially like the hollow roar of the ejector function, and the slight squeal as the loco moves off - both very characteristic of the real thing.

[ed 66 plant]

The data I have is--

CV1---003

2------ 003

3------035

4------031

5------255

6------088

 

Not sure about chuff values

3------

 

[Tallpaul69]

Afternoon All,

My sound fitted 7810 arrived a few days ago but I delayed opening it until I had a decent period of time available to do it carefully and do some running.

 

The loo looks great and the matt black smokebox is first class!

The only glue spot i have found so far is hidden on the underside.

I am happy with the sound, although I agree it is a little on the quiet side. Fiddling with the CVs may improve the volume.

 

Initially the running seemed odd. I put it on my test track and it didn't move although chuffing heartily! I then realised that the driving wheels were whizzing round, it was slipping mightily.

I put it on the test track in order to change the code. While doing so I realised it had a 4 digit code set in as well as the usual 003 code. So I decided to run it on the layout under the 4 digit code. 

On  the 4 digit code it surprisingly , given the slipping on the test track, seemed very stiff, running best in reverse! It also stalled at places no other 4-6-0 has.

 

After some running it has started to run better, although still has some way to go, so I am persevering with it. 

 

Should I lubricate it, I wonder?

Others experience in this area would be appreciated?

 

Cheers for now,

Paul

[Silver Sidelines]

1 hour ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Others experience in this area would be appreciated?

 

 

It sounds as if the engine is propped up either by the bogie or by the tender - meaning that perhaps only one of the driving wheels is in contact with the rails.  Cheers Ray

[Tallpaul69]

16 minutes ago, Silver Sidelines said:

It sounds as if the engine is propped up either by the bogie or by the tender - meaning that perhaps only one of the driving wheels is in contact with the rails.  Cheers Ray

And the cure is???