Class 31, by Accurascale - It's time 2 Brush Up!

[Pendle Forest]

2 hours ago, McC said:

 

Hi Dave

If you have been impacted by anything on your list there are many simple fixes we can undertake for you under the lifetime warranty. Simply get in touch with support and we will genuinely do all we can to satisfy you. On the subject of rooves no one from

accurascale has said ‘yes, no or change numbers’ just get in touch and we can better understand peoples needs. 

Fran said on page 90... 'However, our locos are quite simple to renumber should the error be of a major irritant to the end user.' 

[Accurascale Fran]

28 minutes ago, Pendle Forest said:

Fran said on page 90... 'However, our locos are quite simple to renumber should the error be of a major irritant to the end user.' 

 

Hi @Pendle Forest,

 

With the greatest of respect I outlined it as a possible option someone may wish to take, not the ultimate solution. Many people on here are modellers who are happy to perform this, and we make our locos simple to renumber to cater for this. 

 

If you are not comfortable taking that on, you could always contact us if supplied direct or your retailer to swap for another blue 31. We have talked to our employees who worked for Bachmann, Hornby and Rapido in previous lives and all state that when replacement bodies were provided the take up was minimal, so they just sat in a warehouse for years gathering dust at great expense. We have asked the factory for a possible timeline too, but with orders in production slots already we are looking at least 12 months for supply.

 

As I said, we made a mistake. It's not ideal but we have held our hands up on it. We will try to do better in the future.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[Geep7]

Well, my 5544 has turned up, and thought i'd take a quick break from work, and give it a quick test.

 

 

Wow, what a model, and the sound is fantastic, although will have to turn it down to keep the household authority (and the neighbours) happy. I'm sure it's been asked before, but what is the general volume CV on these? Is it just the normal CV for all Loksound V5's?

 

Also, and one for @McC, one of the bogie axle guards was loose in the box. No worries and no complaint here, it just pushed back on. I was just wondering, if I secured it with a bit of glue to stop it falling off again, would that invalidate my warranty (not that i'm expecting anything to go wrong)?

 

Also, does anyone know how long it takes for the stay-alive capacitor to charge up on DCC with an NCE PowerCab? I'm sure I have the required 15V to the track, but I may have to check.

[McC]

1 minute ago, Geep7 said:

Well, my 5544 has turned up, and thought i'd take a quick break from work, and give it a quick test.

 

 

Wow, what a model, and the sound is fantastic, although will have to turn it down to keep the household authority (and the neighbours) happy. I'm sure it's been asked before, but what is the general volume CV on these? Is it just the normal CV for all Loksound V5's?

 

Also, and one for @McC, one of the bogie axle guards was loose in the box. No worries and no complaint here, it just pushed back on. I was just wondering, if I secured it with a bit of glue to stop it falling off again, would that invalidate my warranty (not that i'm expecting anything to go wrong)?

 

Also, does anyone know how long it takes for the stay-alive capacitor to charge up on DCC with an NCE PowerCab? I'm sure I have the required 15V to the track, but I may have to check.

 

The warranty is treated in the way it's intended - that of goodwill and happy modellers. Nothing you can do in the 'normal' use of the model, such as renumbering, weathering, gluing on detail parts, etc, will invalidate. Hope that helps!

Once there is 14V to the track (or more) the stay alive super caps should be fully charged within about 10-15 seconds of being on the track.

[Geep7]

40 minutes ago, McC said:

 

The warranty is treated in the way it's intended - that of goodwill and happy modellers. Nothing you can do in the 'normal' use of the model, such as renumbering, weathering, gluing on detail parts, etc, will invalidate. Hope that helps!

Ah, that was my thinking, but thank you so much for confirming. Best to ask before than ask later after the deed is done.

 

Again, well done on such a fantastic model. I can't wait for my green one to join it.

 

42 minutes ago, McC said:

Once there is 14V to the track (or more) the stay alive super caps should be fully charged within about 10-15 seconds of being on the track.

I've checked my PSU, and the resistor on it states 14V, but it's probably getting to the track at slightly less than this, so looks like I may have to look for a 15V power supply. Thank you again.

[stovepipe]

10 hours ago, Holls67 said:

The AS 31248 appears to be in a configuration that had only a very small time stamp. TOPS numbered in BR Blue (OK so far), Trip Cock fitted, Alphanumeric headcode, non-plated bodyside steps and roof water filler. From what photos and gen I can find, "Dominos" and plating were in place by 1976. Can anybody shed further light on this for me please?

 

I think this example was chosen to run with the blue Mk1 Suburban stock, as well as covering the small batch fitted with tablet catcher recesses. The time span for the loco in this condition appears to be approximately April 1974 to April 1976.

 

I for one am pleased Accurascale cover this era, Bachmann usually skip it for endless varieties of domino fitted examples.

[adb968008]

2 hours ago, Pendle Forest said:

Fran said on page 90... 'However, our locos are quite simple to renumber should the error be of a major irritant to the end user.' 

Its more likely those irritated by an extra panel are those with abilities to renumber it.

They could well own both and swap the bodies/chassis to solve the trip cock issue too.

 

Its definitely a first world problem.

 

I started renumbering my 31147 by Hornby from 2020…it was supposed to become its dance partner 31146. Ive still only done one side as I realised it turned up as an ETH 31/4 body finish and never quite decieded what it should become !.., Ive still a short list of 5 candidates on a faded postit note… the other ‘31147’ I bought with it has never been out of its box either, for the same reason.

 

Why I never returned either was due to that age old 1980’s communist shop reason.. buy now as you never know when it will be available again.

 

The reason we have a new 31 at all is modellers pressure, the incumbent 31 manufacturer just never seemed to understand the amount of demand that was swelling around them, and kept serving up 31’s with issues,  so just laissez faired the need until not one but two others stole their dinner.

Edited Thursday at 12:20 by adb968008

[Michael Hodgson]

17 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Mine arrived, i’m like a kid, i’m having more fun with cradles than the contents…

 

 

does this look like the front of a steam train ?

 

 

Our cats are complaining.  They aren't big enough to sit in!

[No Decorum]

13 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Renumbering…

 

Ive just used a cocktail stick and a pencil eraser to remove the number off my 31432 in under 3 minutes..

 

 

No chemicals required, just a cocktails stick, rubber and a clean brush to blow away the dirt.

 

A 3 minute realtime video of scratching (and a bit of grunting as I didnt realise I was over the mic ) here.. note the 20 second pause as I couldnt find anything in my newly rearranged toolbox..

 

 

 

New numbers go on tomorrow… if I can make my mind up what to put on.

The fate of a character in a television drama has never had me so tense as the possible fate of that data panel. I’m so relieved that it ended happily. 🤣

[MikeParkin65]

43 minutes ago, Geep7 said:

've checked my PSU, and the resistor on it states 14V, but it's probably getting to the track at slightly less than this, so looks like I may have to look for a 15V power supply. Thank you again.

I found the same issue with the Deltic, Manor and 37 using the starter set Powercab. I have subsequently added an SB5 booster  the power supply for which has a slider switch to go from 12V to 13.8V. With the latter selected all Accurascale stay alives power up. Appreciate it isnt definitive but my multimeter indicates 17.5v at the rails.

[adb968008]

35 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

The fate of a character in a television drama has never had me so tense as the possible fate of that data panel. I’m so relieved that it ended happily. 🤣

The new number is coming..

 

in between work calls.

Edited Thursday at 13:04 by adb968008

[47423]

What exactly is wrong with 31409's roof. Looks correct to me.

[meatloaf]

My 5544 arrived at 7.30am this morning.

 

Only got round to giving it a brief run but i think its the best accurascale loco to date. Zero loose bit, runs and sounds fab. 

 

Well done accurascale!!

[zr2498]

Ditto on 5544 - will be testing later when the 6 coaches are unpacked. Beautiful stuff - thanks Accurascale 🙂

 

[Steadfast]

26 minutes ago, 47423 said:

What exactly is wrong with 31409's roof. Looks correct to me.

No. 1 end, between the roof fan grill and the side grills (driver's side) there is a panel missing on one loco and present when it shouldn't be on the other. 409 should have the panel but doesn't. 402 has it but shouldn't.  Visible in this Flickr link directly above the radiator aperture.

 

 

Jo

[locoholic]

I can't help thinking that a nice gesture would be for Accurascale to print sheets of replacement numbers for those brave enough to attempt it.

[47423]

12 minutes ago, Steadfast said:

No. 1 end, between the roof fan grill and the side grills (driver's side) there is a panel missing on one loco and present when it shouldn't be on the other. 409 should have the panel but doesn't. 402 has it but shouldn't.  Visible in this Flickr link directly above the radiator aperture.

 

 

Jo

Very minor issue then, not something that will bother me. Thank you 😊 

[brushman47544]

On the subject of 31/4, does anyone have a list or know where I can find one, of the original 31/4s (401-424) that had the ETH moved to the corner position and when, please?

[farren]

Well I got fed up! Waiting for 31-420 to turn up, especially when all these lovely models being shown on here, I went and ordered 31-402 which turned up today, ok I’ll have to order some transfers to correct the mistake but no real problem. Should it have happed no but the guys are only human after all. It sets nicely with the two Bachmann ones, and the old Hornby one still looks decent from 2-3ft away. Has for the 31-402 (+7) runs lovely and will sound great I’m sure once I ordered a sound decoder from the guys. So lovely in fact 31-248 has now been ordered. If a white stripe becomes available I might just have to get one. 

[Dagworth]

16 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

On the subject of 31/4, does anyone have a list or know where I can find one, of the original 31/4s (401-424) that had the ETH moved to the corner position and when, please?

All that got refurbished 

 

Andi 

[The Meerkat]

14 hours ago, bmb5dnp1 said:

Hello,
    It looks as though the answer to the question of replacement bodies is "no" although to be fair Accurascale have not answered directly. Firstly, I just like to point out that I'm not a habitual complainer and do feel for manufacturers when things like this happen. However, as other companies have made alternative bodies available I think that when the response to a manufacturers own QC error is to say "they are easy to renumber" it's a little poor. I could renumber it but apparently there are also issues with the tripcock detail ? If, eg Hornby, was to make a similar response I think you'd hear the complaining from outer-space ! I have lots of Accurascale wagons/coaches and find them universally excellent, however I am a little sensitised to Accurascale locos as I have spent a considerable amount on Deltics with vibrating/buzzing speakers, derailing class 37s with sound cutting out (I know this is fixable by turning down the volume) and Manors with sound that appears to my ears to be inferior to the competition. Sadly, I think I'll cancel my existing pre-orders and invest in Bachmann 31s and Cavalex class 60s when they appear.                                                                                        

Dave
 

 

Hi Dave 

regard's your 37,  i had same issue,  AS Support said to put the 8ohm speaker in and you can put it back to cv190, i had no issues since  touch wood

 

sorry all back to the class 31

[97406]

On the subject of incorrect details, has anybody mentioned the gauge yet? 🤪😜

[Roy Langridge]

1 minute ago, 97406 said:

On the subject of incorrect details, has anybody mentioned the gauge yet? 🤪😜

Shhh, don’t start 😉

 

Roy

[rorz101uk]

8 minutes ago, 97406 said:

On the subject of incorrect details, has anybody mentioned the gauge yet? 🤪😜

Oh doesn’t it no come with a miniature English Electric 12SVT Engine? 😂

[Islesy]

1 hour ago, zr2498 said:

Ditto on 5544 - will be testing later when the 6 coaches are unpacked. Beautiful stuff - thanks Accurascale 🙂

 

I do like that bridge section @zr2498 - puts me in mind of the High Level Bridge...

 

Best wishes,

Paul.