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I have a 201 and I am temped to put this Hornby sound decoder in, but my understanding is that the onboard speaker is 4 ohm and these decoders should only be used with 8 ohm speakers as if you use lower ones the chips overheat on the decoder, what are your thoughts?
I’d agree with your findings. Only the sound slightly lets it down. The best value locomotives for the money. i even prefer to my cavalex 56. Lovely runners the weight gives it a lovely ride and an improvement over the Deltic, 92 and probably even their 37.
good to see your Video on the P2 return my one to Hornby as Derail on Curve and will not pull only 3 Carriges it was Run in for over 1 hour hope they sort it out Rons Garden Railway
Thanks for that Eugene. I liken Hornby to Aeroplane manufacturer Boeing, in that they never quite give the full M.O. of how the thing really works... even to the Pilots!
Hi, great honest review of some very nice wagons, I missed out on getting a rake of these wagons in yellow livery years ago, apparently Accurascale own the moulds now as I’ve been informed, hopefully they will do a run of them soon, are these the wagon frames they use for the Rail Head Treatment Train wagons? Revolution Trains do a similar wagon which also look very nice and are full of intricate detailing, thanks for sharing.
Hi Eugine. That has GOT to be the BEST RTR steam effect ever, and looks great on your layout. The P2s were mighty beasts. Can't wait to see PoW in real life. PS: glad you kept the "dip" in the long straight...
I couldn't get rid of the "dip". It's a nice test for any sub par design. I don't have any prior steam effect experience so no benchmark but the effect here is pretty good I believe and the "chuffing" works thanks to the sensor on the wheels.
I got one of these models a couple of weeks ago but will wait until your review to tell you what I think of mine but just a hint it’s one I’m very pleased with. Nice running session here, I have been able to run mine but only on a short section of track or on my rolling road so it’s nice to see one running on a layout.
Yeah, I was keen to do a full running session with this and check it out performance wise. Will cover in detail in the review. It's been an enjoyable model to work with.
It is very clever the way Hornby have made the loco emit steam together with the sound effect! But I think the technology has not quite got there. The loco sounds as if it is going at 100 MPH. Maybe it is possible to adjust the CVs to make the chuffing slower and more correct in relation to the speed? Thanks for uploading.
I believe the chuff rate is synchronised with the wheel rotation. It's the sound file and the rate of which the steam is emitted is the problem. Yes, sound and steam are the same strength irrespective of the work needed or coasting.
@@davew2452 I don't see how the chuff rate can be synchronized to the wheel rotation. I think it can only be proportional to the voltage applied to the motor.
Thanks for that. Nothing in the documentation on the steam function at all from what I can see. Even at a function level, it linked to turning the sound on and off rather than being a separate control. It's the fall off in steam when coasting that was my biggest gripe and you need to keep the water topped up to keep getting the best effect.
Not very often we see a steam review from you Eugene. Appears to be a nice runner with decent sound. It'll be expensive though, looking forward to your take on this later. Great running video though 😊
Thanks for this. Rather impressive steam until the slow down / coasting. There seems to be just as much chuff and steam but slower rate which I guess is down to the control via TTS decoder.
Thanks Dave. Yes, the level of steam is tied to the throttle so it drops off significantly when coasting. I'm not aware of any CV tweaking that might alter this as the steam function isn't covered in the TXS documentation.
Hi, just bumped into this video, Accurascale’s sister company producing some amazing models, sold out now unfortunately but great looking wagons especially the yellow ballast plough vans, I will watch out for further models now, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that. And what's cool about these particular wagons is that we still have the real ones that IRM actually modeled: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xqhUf3iY3F4.html
Great video and review, what brought me here, my wife found this set in an antique dealer and bought it for me, sadly it’s not in the great condition yours is in but the bones of it are there, I’ve no outer sleeve, and the part of the styrene packaging that held the track is gone alone with the track, one coach is missing its trucks and the engines buffers are awol, but there is lots of bonus dust, Transformer seems different than yours, mine had a model date of 1973, So my task for the future is to track and track the missing bits, helped greatly by your knowledge gained from this video, Whatever happened Lima? I got a nice set back in the mid 80’s for Xmas, a Lima SNCF electric loco with two coaches and a car transporter, 4 red cars and a car loading ramp thing, that was back when I was 7-8yrs old About 15 yrs ago I got back into the hobby kind of, I’d been collecting 1/50 diecast construction equipment and heavy haulage trucks and seen some American 1/48 O scale trains, figuring these would add to little dioramas and layouts etc I made the jump, I need to find or creat an Irish O scale engine now
Thanks for sharing. You'll still find spare coaches for these on ebay and other auction sites, and at reasonable prices. Given the age, it must a H0 scale set. The coaches are based on UK MK2 coaches so the bogies will be interchangeable. Replacement track will be challenging but standard Hornby 00 gauge track will work just fine. Hornby acquired LIMA after they got into trouble. Hornby are still using LIMA 00 scale moulds for many of their Railroad models.
Well spotted. I've since been able to pick up the unbranded coaches for £20 but they were £40 a pop at the time of filming so I was sweating my assets here.
Nice model from Accurascale and the quality is better than the Hattons model was. So well done to them for improving on the tooling they bought from Hattons for the Class 66. I am very much looking forward to getting some of the Accurascale Class 60 models in 2025 as well after cancelling my pre-order of the Cavalex Models examples. I am so glad that Accurascale are doing a Class 60 as I was let down by the Class 56 by Cavalex Models back in January and I even got muted on their section on RMWeb because I called out the quality issues because my model had a jammed gear tower. I won't buy anymore of their models if that is how I am going to be treated on RMWeb and I have a right to call out a bad model and I can handle the backlash too. The silver lining for me is that I have learned my lessons as I now do O Gauge and I have a couple of Class 60's and they are fantastic models. I have a micro O Gauge layout that is Hermes Road that I started this month when I became 44 earlier in the month. As for OO Gauge, Accurascale has always respected me as their customer and I will always support them as a loyal customer. 2025 is going to be another great year for model trains and will likely be when I make a new OO Gauge modern era layout too, so I will like bag a couple of these Class 66's as well once I have relocated to the US.
After reviewing this model, I did the same in cancelling my Cavalex order and replacing it with an Accurascale one. That was bad form on RMWeb - the whole purpose is to share experiences for the betterment of the hobby overall.
Great video , I did see one model shop offering to swap out the none driven bogie car with a driven bogie set , to allow a greater train length to be pulled , could be a good alternative , you may need to change the coupling type on the original replacement boogie , I thought that was a good idea , but spare parts seem difficult to obtain, even traction tyres are out of stock at present.
Remember camping out at Maam Cross in the 80s with my (then) girl friend - lovely place but quite desolate then. Be very interested at how much more there is to be developed at the site
For some reason, if i download this sound profile to my decoder, power cycle it and everything, i cant control it and nothing works and it says ‘no sound profile loaded’ anyone know what i should do?
Attempt a normal decoder reset by writing 8 to CV8. If you have a power pack fitted, you also need to take 60-90 secs when resetting during the programming process to reset properly. Failing that you need to reset the decoder from a Bluetooth perspective - remember that email you got with the reset code? This will unlink the decoder so you will have to find it and link to it again. If after all this the decoder doesn't work I'd get on to Hornby for help and potentially a warranty replacement.
Many thanks for a great review Eugene, i have the Bachmann arriva trains wales version, it appears that bachmann are fitting the driver figures again but not sure 😊
Thanks for that. This model is from the older generation hence the driver. Not sure if they changed their mind re drivers in the retooled models. It was one less thing to think about.
Hi Eugene I have the Prostate Uk livery and straight out of the box it ran perfectly. Even on my less than perfect track there were no issues . I had the sound version and I am very impressed with the quality . Also the body is very easy to take off to fit crew and the new air dam . I didn’t buy a Hattons version due to the issues and glad Accurascale rectified those . Cheers Kev
Hi, I’m looking to possibly buy a Bachmann class 90 in the coming months, I’m very happy that you’ve done a review that will help me, it’s strange how this locomotive doesn’t have any windshield wipers fitted, I’m a big DB Schenker fan so a model in that livery would look great with my other DB Schenker models in my collection, it looks like a great model in all departments, thanks for sharing.
Fully agree with your review. I have 6 of them with sound and yes they run beautifully out of the box and the livery application across each one is deep & expertly applied and the detail is something else. Only downsides so far is the sound vibration thru the body but mainly on the plastic exhaust on the removal roof panel as I think it is slightly loose causing the buzzing sound, the other one is the cab end handrails haven't been glued on properly by the factory which is evident on all 6 loco's of mine and on nearly every Class 66 I've seen on social media thus that needs to be nipped in the bud by Accurascale. Refine it a bit more in regards to cab ends handrail fitment and get rid of the sound vibration/buzzing thru the roof panel then Accurascale will have a license to print money on these models and I will continually buy them as they get released. 9.5/10 for me.
Thanks for sharing. I'm definitely seeing greater consistency in the feedback which is a good sign. With some relatively minor tweaks as you say these are as close to perfection as you'll find in 00 gauge.
I suspect they've had issues with customers not reading the docs, running into issues and then contacting support. It's an overkill for sure but they probably feel it's justified.
So, chimney then eh? you'll be calling an exhaust port a funnel next....! ( I've got that bloody Dick Van Dyke song in my head now, chim, chim-e-ney chim chim-e-ney...)
Bought the same sound fitted green "Fred" and so far it's very good. I never had the Hattons version so have nothing to compare it to. Also thought the sound volume was quite low and don't know why they fit couplings to both ends at the factory as I would have thought most would only want to pull. Bought both driver packs so will fit one of those and change the buffer beam. I also have a Bachmann Red DB 66 fitted with a Hornby TTS (pcb is 21 pin) and uprated speaker and stay alive, but there is no comparison - lights are much brighter, no markers, cannot control rear lights, both cabs on together and bogie mounted NEM pockets, so no rear air deflector available. Maybe it needs a rewire then fit a 21 pin TXS decoder.
I have got three of them. I think they are the best loco on the market at the moment. They sound fab. Put a heavy train on them and use F7 (Lock Hold ) and rev them up taking F7 on and off to give it a slow start with all the revs and no model sounds as good as them. I have had no problems with any of them and I would score them 10/10
They're running with 3ft for now in order to run some trains and get things going while building up the full gauge stock and moving to that in the medium to longer term.
Thanks for this review. Your reviews are one of the best on RU-vid. I was put off the Hattons model by all the negative points but loved the detailing. This Accurascale model does look to have finally made this to be a 5 star model with performance to match. Let's hope that there will be no motor issues.
A great review of an outstanding model, I have 13 of the Hattons 66's. Well done Accurascale for rectifying the axle box, underbody detail and lighting issues. Got 1 of these but as it's now sold out I'll wait patiently for run 2
Superb models and a great review Eugene, thank you. Let's just hope that those failing motors of their previous classes that caused so much hassle and anxiety are now a thing of the past. Hopefully these will prove to run robustly for many years to come and rescue Accurascale from its poor motor reliability reputation. Regards Julian
@@mccarronfamily You're either in denial and deluding yourself, misinformed to the nth degree or totally disingenuous. Did you vote for Brexit by any chance?
Thanks Julian. During my testing I didn't see the current variations I saw on some previous models which were negative indicators. Current draw tracked speed consistently (no spiking, no erratic changes) on both models and they got some intensive treatment over a relatively short time period. For these two models at least I can say I didn't see anything that would concern me.
@mccarronfamily being one of the owners of Accurascale - Steve McCarron (just to give clarity to those who didn't know). There are a fair few people who have had motor issues and shared them (and a fair few that were put on RMWeb and removed at Accurascale's request by their friendly moderator). They will blame anyone and everyone else to deny the issues - it's clear the lifetime warranty wasn't just a step introduced to be nice, but something they introduced when the reports became widespread and could no longer be hidden. The reputation exists whether they accept it or not!
Great review as always, one thing to note the green freightliner is not the powerhaul version of the livery but the original freightliner green yellow livery. the Powerhaul version has a grey sweeping line under each cab.
I like your choice of the Green Freightliner and the red Deutsch Bahn. These would be the two I would have bought, if I was prepared to part with the cash! Thanks for uploading.
I have the DRS Livery Accurascale 66, and I don't have the sound distortion issue, that being said my roof section is very tight so maybe that is helping with the resonance issue.
The Cav 56s do have their odd downside. Very easily fixed, but out of the box I've had issues. Both of mine had problems with the bogie geartowers where the retaining clip was loose causing loss of drive to the entire bogie. One also had the bogie sideframes not seated correctly, a design feature to make converting to P4 easy. This caused the axles in that bogie to twist, which alongside the unclipped bogie mount meant the model arrived totally dead in the water. One quick chat with Cav and 5 minutes stripping the model down and tightening everything up and it was perfect, but out of the box on arrival it was dead. Even so, I would argue the Cav 56 is the second best model on the market, only just behind the SLW class 25...that thing is a work of art.
@@Simon-DavisAh have 🎉heard that they are the bees knees Simon, ok fair enough, yes i did hear something about the bogies. Luckily for me not hsd ant issues wth my Colas 55049, time will tell. Never had a problem with my two Colas Hornby 56's and have run them since new in 2015 Think Hornby products were better in those days!
@@sapphirejunction8993 The sound on the 56 is easily the best out there. Nothing has yet come close. Model of the year? Very probably, I agree. I do think the SLW class 25 is a better model, but the Cav class 56 wins by being a better buying experience and having better instructions provided.
Your hard work doesn't go unnoticed in compiling these reviews Eugene and we thank you. If you do decide to part ex what would it be, Hattons or Bachmann 66's?
Thanks for that. I returned my original Hattons 66 as I didn't fancy a project at the time. My Bachmann Freightliner will probably be heading for the door. It has given very good problem free service but is second tier to the Accurascale.
I totally agree with all your individual ratings Eugene, outstanding? Absolutely! Your reviews are a joy to view, As always fair and honest. I haven't encountered any vibrations as yet with 66415 Tangoed Freightliner and the EWS 66001 exclusive, fingers crossed. As for the overall sound very happy, it sounds right, i know as i see and hear them almost every day, i found the Hattons sound too bass for my liking. Admit im a rivet counter when it comes to liveries and logos as I'm not happy with 66415's! The overall orange is far too pale, and the irony is the excellence box art is exactly the right tone that it should be. Accurascale didnt research it properly as they went off Hattons 66623 Tango livery which was also too pale. As always enjoyed and i feel a couple more should be ordered, only dont tell the wife!
Thanks for sharing. I suspected there may be some issues with specific liveries and it looks like they needed to doublecheck on the colour. Some weathering perhaps? My lips are sealed.
Funny you should say that Nick about 66415. I've been pondering whether the orange livery colour is too light and the more I look at it I think you are correct,. it is the same pale orange as the Hattons 66623.
@@sapphirejunction8993Exactly Steve, the laugh is the correct colouring is for all to see, on the box! Hattons and Hornby weren't to blame for 66623 that was the second proposed loco in same lighter orange as 66413 but Freightliner then decide to brighten the orange by which time H and H had made a start on the production, so none or little research was done, they Accurascale just went off the lighter tone of Hattons 66623. Funnily enough soon after, Bachmann popped up with 66418 exactly the right livery. Just Google 66415 and you will see a vast difference!
@@RedShedNick Yes was just looking at 66415 on Flickr and yes the Accurascale orange is too light, lightning strikes twice with this model from Hattons to Accurascale lol.
Many thanks for the review but can I just put this out there. Are the EWS ones the wrong colour?. Are they too red and the gold stripe is yellow!. Also I have the Freightliner orange version. Is this too pale because mine is very, very pale?.
Yes and Yes sadly! Sorry to jump in Eugene but i have both examples. The first G and W livery applied was to 66413 and it was in the lighter shade of Orange. The second 66623 went into a deeper shade of Orange and there on. Hornby and Hattons had already produced 66623 when Freightliner decided to amend the colour Orange by which time it was too late for them to change the livery so Accurascale didnt research this properly and obviously went off the Hattons example in the far lighter shade. The thing is the fantastic box art is the perfect tone of deeper orange, so when you remove the lid, it just stands out like a soar thumb. And agreed the EWS livery is too light and the Gold is more like a yellow.
I had vibration issues on two of the new 66s. This was not the DCC access lid, as the vibration continued with that taken off. I found it was more the fixing of the speaker to the PCB. This was fixed by removing the clips and using two pieces of black tack to hold the speaker down gently (not hard pressed down). The sound is also improved greatly by increasing the bass CV 196 and treble CV 197 settings (which allows slightly lower volume).
Exactly what I did, have sound vibration issues on 4 66's I purchased and removed the plastic speaker clips and used black tack instead to hold down the speaker but slightly raised off the PCB and on 1 66 it has improved the sound, haven't done the other 3 yet. I also added black tack to the end of the decoder chip between the PCB and the decoder and this has also removed some vibration. I use my Cavalex Class 56's as a sound benchmark but the Accurascale 66's fall short of that when it comes to sound.
