your thought on heljan turntable 93' kit 804

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Found one at a hobby shop this week at a good price. What is your opinion on how good of a kit this is. Does it hold up well and can a motor be hooked up to it to spin it?

Thanks

mike

2

Mike,

I looked it up in the Walthers catalog(322-804). I assumed it was the old Heljan 100’+ plastic turntable kit(POS). If it is 93’ long, them maybe it is a Heljan copy of the old Walthers 90’ ‘kit’ turntable(933-3171). I think Heljan made that too. The Walthers kit is another POS - Warped pit casting, plastic bearings, etc. I got one of the Walthers 90’ kits and rebuilt it with a good set of bearings(local Ace Hardware), and powered it with an Atlas 65’ turntable ‘under’ it. I paid $22 for the Walthers kit(on sale), $3 for the bearing, and $6 for a ‘handy’ panel of 1/2" plywood to mount it in. Another $30 for a combination Atlas TT/Drive, about $5 of mounting screws/nipple to attach the two together. About $70, plus a Saturday afternoon & gas to gather the parts and assemble it. Runs great, but still is noisey.

The club as a Walthers 130’ automatic turntable - Sweet. Right after Christmas I saw the 90’ automatic one($300 MSRP) on sale for $200, including shipping on eBay - Sold! After at least 3 homemade or rebuilt turntables on 3 layouts, I finally have a good one that works out of the box. A turntable is a very exacting thing to make and to have it run with reliability takes some precision craftsmanship. Three attempts to get a good running(but noisy) turntable is just an exercise in futility…

Jim

3

Thanks for the info sir. I saw it for $23.00 at the shop and thought I would ask before I bought it. I think I will save up the money for the better one you described.

Mike

4

Mike,

I’ve used a couple of the Heljan 14" tablaes on different layouts I’ve built. One was a a fairly stock HO 14" that I added wood ties and code 70 rail on top. I also used the Heljan/Walthers motor that was made for it. They both worked reliably and for the cost were the best thing available at the time.

I also used one of the Heljan N scale versions on an HO branch by adding the HO ties and rails. I kept it as a manual version and it worked great too.

I went in to S scale later and bought another 14" HO table and motor and used it there with no problems.

Good buy! Enjoy!!

Roger

5

Walthers claims they’ve fixed the warped pit problem on their 90’ kits. You might want to check into those. You can get one of those and the motor for around $50 on sale.

6

Thanks for the input everyone. I might just buy one i men heck it is only $23.00 right.

mike