Accurascale Announce 4mm Scale HUO and Buffer Detailing Kits

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

I'm delighted to report that we have now received the first production samples of our HUO from the factory in China. Here are some pics, but before you have a good look, please remember the following caveats:

1. I'm terrible, I mean truly terrible at photography!

2. There are revisions that are needed to tooling. Now, despite previous reports you may have seen elsewhere, this does not cost the earth at this stage, and is easily done. The brake gear does indeed need amending, with the shoes slightly too small and the assembly itself being slightly too large. This revision has already been sent to our factory to sort out. The self-contained buffers are receiving further refinement too.

3. The bling wheels will of course, be toned down for production

4. It is a hastily hand assembled, made on a Friday afternoon before Chinese New Year, so the fit and finish is not A1, but it will be on the finished model.

5. The slight warping of the chassis parts are down to haste too, these will be rectified on the finished model.

6. The NEM Pockets are well off and are being dropped to correct NEM height for production. 

Cheers!

Fran

[popeye]

That looks great, well done.

It is important to get all the corrections sorted out before release or you will hear a lot of criticism from across the water. 

[Warbonnet]

1 hour ago, popeye said:

That looks great, well done.

It is important to get all the corrections sorted out before release or you will hear a lot of criticism from across the water. 

Absolutely! Thankfully the issues are minor!

[Railer]

Just wanted to comment on the range of HUOs that's now built up under the Accurscale brand. While I'm not really into. UK outline anymore they look great. The black and gold box art typefont is simple but effective and really stands out. With D day incoming it will be interesting to see how well received they will be by the UK market and their feedback. Hopefully the production Taras will not be too far behind once the HUOs start shipping to their new owners.

[Noel]

20 minutes ago, Railer said:

Just wanted to comment on the range of HUOs that's now built up under the Accurscale brand. While I'm not really into. UK outline anymore they look great. The black and gold box art typefont is simple but effective and really stands out. With D day incoming it will be interesting to see how well received they will be by the UK market and their feedback. Hopefully the production Taras will not be too far behind once the HUOs start shipping to their new owners.

Yes wishing IRM/AS well with their first UK product delivery and hope it gets a great reception.  When are the HUOs due to arrive with customers?  The UK market is in for a pleasant surprise.  

[GNRi1959]

Congratulations, a beautiful piece of work

[Railer]

9 minutes ago, Noel said:

  When are the HUOs due to arrive with customers?  The UK market is in for a pleasant surprise.  

I believe the pre TOPS units are due end of this month. With the TOPS and pack L due September. All must be very busy at IRM towers.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Railer

[Warbonnet]

33 minutes ago, Railer said:

I believe the pre TOPS units are due end of this month. With the TOPS and pack L due September. All must be very busy at IRM towers.

Correct Graham,  we are delighted to announce that our first batch of pre-TOPS HOP 24 / HUO hoppers are due to leave the factory next week! As you know they're being air-freighted in so we will have them for dispatch before the end of the month. The buffers and the special pack for Railway Museum / Rails of Sheffield are part of this shipment too. Exciting times for all of us here at IRM / Accura Towers. 

As the landing and release date draw ever closer, we have seen a big surge in orders over the past week or so for these wagons, which is heartening for us, but also shows that the demand for them is high.  Some packs are well over half way to sold out already, so it's a bit like IRM in that sense!

We have in the past week put the TOPS variants and the private owner pack on sale too and they have both seen strong orders as well. 

Focus now turns to next Accura models. Tara production and pushing on with the plough tooling. Not enough hours in the day currently. 

[popeye]

Well done lads, it's all going good. 

[Railer]

Congrats lads. Amazing service from DPD too. If you shipped stock here on Friday to an an Irish customer they would get it today at the earliest yet customers in the UK had them Saturday and Sunday morning. The UK really do have great delivery services compared to here.

[Railer]

Any info about the different buffers and when they were fitted. I notice the Oleo only seem to be on the post 1965 examples and 2 wagons in the pack J even have different type buffers on each end. Also noticed alot of spindle type buffers surviving till later years. 

[Garfield]

46 minutes ago, Railer said:

Any info about the different buffers and when they were fitted. I notice the Oleo only seem to be on the post 1965 examples and 2 wagons in the pack J even have different type buffers on each end. Also noticed alot of spindle type buffers surviving till later years. 

Batches were fitted with either spindles or self-contained buffers when first built - depending on which type the works had in stock at the time. Some were retro-fitted with Oleos later, mostly at one end only, possibly due to having the original buffers damaged during a rough shunt. 

[Railer]

Just discovered this this morning. Gives a nice look at the wagons and detail. Love the part at 12:45, he's actually laughing in amazement at the level of detail that's in this.

Edited June 7, 2018 by Railer

[Noel]

Thanks for posting Railer.  A very positive review if a bit lengthy. Wagons look superb. IRM/AS may have us all using glass baseboards so we can see the incredible detail underneath passing trains.

Edited June 7, 2018 by Noel
OP youtube link corrected :)

[Georgeconna]

Lengthy!! Try ICK92 Review on utube of the Rails Dynamometer Coach. 19 Minutes before the coach even gets out of the box....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNm_8BgDn1I

[Warbonnet]

 

I know a few of you dont like Facebook, but for those of you that do, we're running a competition!

 

We're getting closer to the 1,000 'likes' mark on our page. We really want to get past that figure, so we are going to give away a pack of our HUOs to one lucky person. All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is simply like our page. We will then pick the winner at random from everyone who 'likes' our page, so if you have already liked it, then you are in with a chance of winning too!

 

The sooner we get there, the sooner you can win, so make sure you tell all your buddies in your local club, in your local shop, share in relevant groups and on forums or even tell the spotters at the platform end of your nearest station.

 

https://www.facebook.../AccurascaleUK/

 

Good luck! 

[irishmail]

Liked & shared the page. 

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

Our first Accurascale model, the HUO hopper, is up for the award of Hornby Magazine's 'best OO wagon / coach' of 2018. It would be great to give us a vote should you think we're worthy! The closing date is Oct 1st and there are some excellent prizes on offer to everyone who places a vote! https://hornbymagazine.keypublishing.com/2018/09/13/hornby-magazine-model-railway-awards-2018/

Cheers!

Fran

[mmie353]

Voted best of luck!!!

[Broithe]

Done.

[John-r]

Voted  very best of luck you deserve it lads.

[Irishswissernie]

voted!

 

Ernie

[Warbonnet]

Thanks lads, means a lot!

[steventrain]

Voted to HUO.

[Northman]

Done.

[RedRich]

Gave my vote and I am confident you  boys will win. So confident I'll even bet your house on it Fran.

Rich,

[Tarabuses]

Voted number one.