50044 stands at Exeter St Davids at the head of the 10.45 Glasgow - Penzance on the 2nd of January 1986. Image courtesy of Alan Tait.
Heljan Class 50
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Due in the shops around Christmas (2019) is Heljan's eagerly anticipated English Electric Class 50 in its refurbished form. Coming in a wide range of liveries this will enable the modeller to chose from a model that spans the entirety of the Class during its 50+ year life span.
When the model was initially announced, Heljan had the CAD designs drawn up. These images were then shared on their various social media outlets and due to much feedback from the community about the concern for the shape of the cab front windows being out of shape, Heljan took this information on board and went away and made the necessary changes to give a better representation of the class. Over all the finished shape in the Pre-production models and in fact the production models has now been refined to the point where the model looks authentic and right in its refurbished state. Giving you a fantastic representation of the Class in Model form. 
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Opening the box, the 50 comes on the new style of packaging which has been rolled out across the recent releases from Heljan, thus being secured by 3 screws to a wooden board, and packed in with a foam surround. Alongside the Model, you are supplied with a detail pack, This contains two sets of snow ploughs, (one for each end), spare ETH(Electric Train Heating)sockets with leads and NRN radio pods that can be applied to the later variants of the model |
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The class 50 packs the usual Heljan weight so should be ample to pull a decent length train behind it. Underneath the chassis there are two switches to enable the red tail lights and the center head light to be switched on or off as desired. The model has a wealth of detail, the cast bogies particularly stand out with all the expected separate detailing parts including the hand brake chains on each bogie as per the 37/4 and 55 models.
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The ploughs fit to the front and underneath on this model, they are held in securely without the need of screws or glue being a good push fit. That cab interiors have the usual standard of detail Heljan provide in all of their 7mm models.
Over all the pictures speak for themselves. I personally feel shape wise the class 50 is up there with Heljans top 7mm models and will be a great edition to any fleet. |
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The following models should be available from Heljan stockists from mid December (2019):
HJ4020 - BR BLue (un-numbered) HJ4021 - Large Logo Blue (un-numbered) HJ4022 - Original Network South East (un-numbered) HJ4023 - Revised Network South East HJ4024 - 50007 GWR Green 'Sir Edward Elgar' (fully finished)* HJ4025 - 50149 Railfreight General 'Defiance' (fully finished) HJ4026 - 50008 Laira Blue 'Thunderer' - Hattons Exclusive HJ4027 - 50015 Dutch 'Valiant' - Hattons Exclusive HJ4028 - 50049 GB Railfreight 'Defiance (fully finished)* *According to Heljans facebook post of 29/11/19 5007 in GWR150 Green and 50049 in GBRF are sold out on pre-orders. |
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