Review of Accucraft ‘Mona’
By Philip Brockbank
I purchased my Mona from Martin’s Models in December.
<formulas>
Made mainly of brass, this is a very detailed model, note the brake gear,
sandpipes etc. The paint finish too is excellent, with the complex lining very
well done. It has nothing in the way of electronic gadgetry, no sound, no
lights, no smoke unit, but looks very graceful on the move with those large
driving wheels gliding round.
As the real thing runs on 3 foot gauge track Accucraft have modelled Mona
at 15mm/ft giving the correct scale/gauge combination on 45mm track. This means
that Mona looks slightly large alongside some LGB stock, but not enough to be a
problem in the average garden setting.
Here is Mona pulling a LGB Zillertal coach for size comparison. I am
told that matching IoM coaches should be coming, so it will be possible to form
a complete train to scale.
So far so good. Unfortunately running Mona on my line has not been
without problems. There is a slight jolt as Mona negotiates the frogs of LGB
radius 5 points. I guess this is due to different flange measurements on
Accucraft wheels. It is less noticeable on radius 3 pointwork. The next
problem was that the leading pony truck was very prone to derailment,
particularly on a radius 3 reverse curve that it refused to negotiate at any
speed. I greatly improved this by adjusting the spring steel support plate to
increase downward pressure of the truck on the track. The next problem was that
Mona would only stutter along one section of my return loop. On investigation I
found that this section of track is out of true and needs levelling laterally.
All my LGB engines run over the same section without complaint. It just goes to
show that not all makes are so forgiving of dodgy track laying! The final
problem I had is that the coupling loops are set a couple of mm too high, so
keeping Mona coupled to her train is a problem. I have spoken to Martin at
Martin’s Models about this who had already taken this issue up with the
manufacturers. Adjusting the coupling height is tricky so in the meantime the
solution may be to fit a more prototypical coupling design and only use Mona
with certain stock similarly fitted. Also worth noting is that Mona is not
suitable for radius 1 or 2 curves. I tried running her on my loft layout which
has sharp curves and on radius 2 she slows almost to a
halt.
I use MTS control but Martin’s Models do not offer a chip fitting
service, and Matthew at GRS was unsure about fitting a LGB chip to the Pittman
motor that Accucraft use. So I run Mona in analogue mode, which is ok as I doubt
she will ever be an ‘everyday’ engine. Too much fine detail to get damaged for
that!
In summary Mona is a real beauty, but not as easy to live with as your
forgiving and bullet proof LGB stuff. Even at £775 she looks good value
compared to say those LGB/Aster jobs that sell for much more. And of course
she’s UK outline to true scale/ gauge, and they don’t come along very often do
they?
