cheap Tangos

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jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 4208
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:46 am

Re: cheap Tangos

Post by jwealleans »

We've seen a few recent entrants into the 4mm market proclaim loudly how they're going to set new standards and achieve new levels of detail/excellence/fidelity (delete as applicable).

None of them have achieved it as far as I can see.

The ones who have done least blowing of their own trumpet on that score have been Rapido and they have produced by far the best end result up to now.
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Atlantic 3279
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 6527
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:51 am
Location: 2850, 245

Re: cheap Tangos

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

I believe I managed to "correct" the motion bracket, and hence the splay of the slidebars, on my model simply by some determined bending of the parts of the stretcher that lie hidden below the running plate.
I was spared the problem of the overly deep cab windows since I converted mine into a pseudo O2/1 by fitting new cab, new tender (which did away with the unequally tall handrails problem), taller chimney (solving another problem) and various other changes to details. A tidy and so far reliable model has resulted, although it isn't quite a proper O2/1 as it has the longer expansion links and higher running plate of the O2/3. The main thing is that I have a passable O2/1, just in case the version to which Heljan aspire never actually reaches the market.
As I've said elsewhere, before this, I was also slightly disappointed by Heljan's decision to drive the second coupled wheelset, when drive onto the third set looked like the obvious choice to me, as I'd had my eye on the possibility of converting a second loco to Gresley O1 class. The drive layout makes it unreasonably difficult to do such a conversion if correct wheelbase figures are required as part of the result. The O1 will have to come about by other means, as and when my time allows.
Most subjects, models and techniques covered in this thread are now listed in various categories on page1

Dec. 2018: Almost all images that disappeared from my own thread following loss of free remote hosting are now restored.
Hatfield Shed
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:34 pm

Re: cheap Tangos

Post by Hatfield Shed »

jwealleans wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:34 pm ...The ones who have done least blowing of their own trumpet on that score have been Rapido and they have produced by far the best end result up to now.
And if there was a scoring system like that in gymnastics where the difficulty of the attempt sets the limit on the score, they would run in easy winners. The Single isn't perfect, but clever solutions to circumvent the many difficulties it presents have been well executed. Icing the cake a 'simple and best' method of implementing tender pick up, by doing so off the axle ends for no incremental drag. All other RTR manufacturers, repent of your friction inducing wipers on unpowered wheels, and imitate.
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