NEW Accurascale Class 66 at Dean Park Model Railway | Episode 349

Absolutely spot-on review Dave. I pre-ordered mine with some trepidation having ‘experienced’ the Hatton’s 66 and issues with the Accurascale Class 55. This 66 is now the definitive 66 in my opinion. Nothing loose in the box! Runs very smoothly. I was so impressed I bought a few other models. I’ve retained my Bachmann ‘Capt. Tom’ but have now moved on my other Bachmann 66s to fund new purchases. The one downside I’ve experienced with the Accurascale 66 is the removable roof panel. If there is any movement in the roof panel sounds become distorted. A finger judiciously applied with a little pressure to the roof panel helps. It’s also worth checking the speaker retention clips… two of my models had loose clips.

Absolutely gorgeous model and I can understand the love for the new model, but my budget means I have to make do with a couple of detailed Lima models- not up to modern standards but I like them. I have a soft spot for the old 'red death' even if they were the beginning of the end for many of my favourite classes of traction.

Finally a model worthy of it's real life counterpart. The Class 66 is basically a UK spec body on an EMD/GMD SD40-2 - one of the most successful diesel locos ever built.

What a gorgeous model! Interestingly, the Class 66 is the only british loco I have ever seen in person. I grew up along the CN Kingston Subdivision, where the 66s were transported on their way from GMD's plant in London, Ontario, Canada. I occasionally would see the 66s being transported on freight trains going by as a kid, as I was 10 when they stopped building the inital run in 2008. I also once saw one in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ready for loading on a UK bound ship, while there visiting family.

Hi Dave. I've got 3 .They are superb. When on a heavy train have you started with F7 on (Lock Hold ) you can give it full power just like a real one and then turn F7 on and off intermittently and it pulls away just like the real thing. The accessible 37s are also superb when you use F7. The locos being produced by Accurascale and the Cavelex 56 have left the other manufacturers way behind. They have the looks and also the running performance

Another excellent balanced review, great footage and images! looks great at Dean Park, looking forward to more content!

Hi Dave, excellent channel big sub from me, i also love the now definitive class 66, and for me the best sound as it comes, i found the Hattons sound too bass for my liking good though it is. I picked 66763 up earlier, my dear friend Jim at the Locoshed in Manchester, kindly kept them all for me, so collect whenever I want, with some swaps of coarse. Cannot wait for an update on the second batch of liveries and i think they will be doing Br large Logo 66789, as Hattons also did. As i know its a very popular livery. A great review and really enjoyed, cheers Nick.

That’s a great Loco. Great video too.

Great review of a great model 👍👍 I only have one problem with it and that is I wasn't expecting Accurascale to deliver them all at the same time, 4 of these turned up on the same day and I have been getting a lot of evil eye from the wife since.😒😒

Agree fully with your review as.have the same model as well as several 37s Thoughly enjoy watching your channel every time Am using some of you ideas now rebuilding my new layout Keep up the adventure

A very great review and video Dave!!! Well made! Thanks for sharing! Cheers Onno.

Great video overall on this 66 here Dave, for me personally it’s not a model I’m going to be picking up right now simply because I already have the predecessor Hattons version in GBRF intermodal livery and for me the minor upgrades that have been made to the Accurascale one are not really enough for me to pick one up right now, saying that though I always open to one of a livery is done that I really like so it’s not a model I have completely crossed off it’s just right now I’m not up for one, talking of my Hattons one yes I have had a couple of issues like the odd axlebox falling off, paint chipping off on the door handrails but in recent years it’s been a very reliable model for me, I mainly use it on my rake of 8 GBRF IIA biomass wagons from Accurascale. Good that you bring the Bachmann one up, I do have one myself and amazingly it’s in a livery that Hattons didn’t do in their original batch,my bachmann one is in DRS Stobart Rail livery, quite surprising that hattons didn’t do that one considering that they did pretty much every other livery on their 66, talking of the bachmann I still like mine, it’s not as detailed as the hattons or accurascale but it is reliable, mine has been a stalwart of my collection for years now, it was the first 66 I got. Overall Accurascale model is good, I don’t deny that but as I say with my hattons one being good the minor upgrades that Accurascale have made are not really enough for me to buy right now, if a livery becomes available that I really do like it may be added to my fleet, I’m now looking at getting my Hattons one sound fitted and maybe doing my bachmann one as well, an overall good video on this loco here Dave.

Excellent comparison between the Hattons model and the Accurascale upgrade, few reviewers so far have made such direct links. I only ordered mine, a DRS one, but a few hours ago. Must admit I chuckled at seeing your example suffered the plague of your average Hattons 66: A missing axle box!

Lovely 66 but can’t justify the prices, only for the serious modelling folks with deep pockets, great review as always 👍

I have to admit. Although Class 66's are relatively benign to me and I am neutral with them in terms of the real things. I really like the Accurascale model and they have done a fantastic job. Have you seen their Class 60 models yet Dave? I am sure a few triple grey ones would be right at home on Dean Park. Here is a like from me buddy.

An excellent model but the wrong era for me. Having a music background ,I have to say that this is the first diesel loco I have heard that actually sounds something like the real thing with the tones being near right.. Many others in my view fail and the analogy I will use here is like comparing music from an old transistor radio to that coming from a digital DB radio .A great review Dave and another excellent model from Accurascale and keeping the prices reasonable. A nice touch by Accurascale is the charities they support from producing models like these. A BIG well done to them .

66793 and 66794 have to be somewhere down Accurascale's pipeline

Hi Been a subscriber from the early days of your channel and like your reviews so keep them coming. Reference to Accurascale 66 l was initially disappointed with the sound compared with Hattons Biffo Sound!? However adjusting cv 196 bass and cv 197 treble levels the Accurascale sound and Hattons sound are both to a equal standard despite different speaker installations.

May I congratulate you first on your channel. It’s superb, as is your layout! It’s not in my nature to be negative concerning fellow railway modellers or the hobby in general, but but am I right in thinking that releases for modern image locomotives are restricted to basically 4 classes? Is that not a trifle dull with 57s, 56s, 60s 66s?

Few comments Dave, 66769 has a seven point handrail - the Hattons/Acc model only has floating details to represent that. The running number font on the cab is too large. The moulding around the light clusters is a bit suspect too, it shouldn’t have that lip, and it should have rivets between the LEDs. In general the nose end shape isn’t quite right - it wasn’t on the hattons tooling and Accurascale haven’t made any changes to rectify this. The same can be said for the exhaust on the roof, compared to the Bachmann example it is a lot wider leading me to think it’s the wrong shape. These are all things pointed out when the Hattons tooling came out, so it’s strange to see the Accurascale model get praised so highly when so little has been done to rectify the tooling discrepancies.