Farish or dapol

[portland-docks]

Well i thought its about time for a vote...

I have this dis ussion with sooo many people and it generates some very interesting answers.

We have seen new models from both this year, and some models have been made by both manufactures.

Now i feel personally bachmann are waaay out in front of dapol, some of dapols look better but the overall running quality is left behind compared to bachmann. Espe ially when it comes to noise!

Dapols diesels however seem to be much better than their own steamers. But dapol offer the better warranty!

So over to you, which do you prefer?

no arguements please just general discussion and opinions

[guest311]

my vote is for Farish 

[red_death]

No option for - not much between them...

But, do we really need to do this again? It seems like a sure fire way of starting arguments!

[portland-docks]

Again?

No intention of arguements, im just interested in peoples opinions, general discussion! No arguements

[EtchedPixels]

From a diesel perspective certainly Dapol for the bodyshells. There are a few minor glitches and compromises (eg the 27 battery box) but on the whole they are more accurate than the Farish ones.

Mechanism wise Farish seem to have the edge except for the lousy gears they use.

It depends so much per model. There are good and bad in either, and even cases where neither is the winner (eg the TPM Class 60 with Lifelike chassis blows the doors off the Farish offering).

[GWR-Kris]

personally I prefer the Dapol coaches espically mk3s GWR and teaks as they look really smart and have the ability to easily fit a light inside. a lot of farish coaches still need retooling

[ParkeNd]

Forgive me but there is no right answer. It's like Nikon vs Canon.

IMHO there is no mileage in it. Both do the job, both are different. But unlike Nikon and Canon both are interchangeable - you don't have to commit yourself to a Dapol system or a Farish system.

[Croxy]

With limited experience in both I would have to say so far I prefer Graham Farish. I only have one Dapol which looks great but doesn't run as well as my Graham Farish locos.....having said that though there are a couple of Dapol models I have my eye on....I find some of the reports a bit concerning though...

[Sprintex]

No option for - not much between them...

Good point, have edited the poll for a third option as otherwise many will not feel able to vote at all

But, do we really need to do this again? It seems like a sure fire way of starting arguments!

I totally agree, needless to say the Mod Team will be watching very closely and any hint of hostilities and it will be locked.

As to the question itself unless invoking Rule 1 I would've thought most people would buy the stock they need for their era/location so there's not a choice most of the time, unless both manufacturers make the same model such as the Voyager or A4. I know I've bought whatever is available regardless of who makes it


Paul

[Pengi]

Forgive me but there is no right answer. It's like Nikon vs Canon.

IMHO there is no mileage in it. Both do the job, both are different. But unlike Nikon and Canon both are interchangeable - you don't have to commit yourself to a Dapol system or a Farish system.

Nikon and Canon are virtually bulletproof  but a good analogy nevertheless.

I've introduced a fourth option, neither, because both have caused major issues for me in the past and I'm unlikely to buy either again - a reason why 1:160 is now my preference.

[Roy L S]

my vote is for Farish 

Although I have some very nice Dapol locos my vote is for Farish too.

My reasoning is that the Farish locos I feel better made/engineered overall and are better finished. The new generation of Farish steam (especially those with the coreless motors) are simply streets ahead.

That said neither are perfect, I have one Farish Ivatt that still runs a little "lumpy" even after a few hours of running.

Roy

[Greybeema]

I think this has all been covered before on this forum but here is my two penny worth.

I have both the old non DCC ready Dapol Class 66 and a pair of Farish Class 66's.  All have been converted to DCC.  The two Farish locos are fitted with Digitrax decoders, the Dapol with a Lenz Silver mini decoder. 

The performance difference is quite stunning.  The Farish locos run nice and smoothly accelerating smoothly, decellerating slowly but this is controlled by the decoder settings.  All locomotives having a 60MPH max speed set.  The Dapol 66 is similarly configured, the big difference in performance being its slow running.

The slow running characteristics of the Dapol 66 mean that it gets used for the run into the Cement works on Northfleet.  Exchange siding speeds are limited to 15mph.  This loco happily crawls at this speed and will crawl at a scale 1mph around a 10 inch curve with 16 PCAs in tow.  The Farish locos will easily manage 15mph but are not so smooth and will stall below 5mph.

So horses for courses…

[RST]

I'm diesel era and while Dapol seem to offer a few of interest it's their paint finishes which makes me say no every time.  To be fair I haven't seen lots of Dapols in the flesh -but all I have seen have terrible paint jobs: blurred lining, overspray and fuzzy edges round different colours.  Their mouldings look really crisp but even on the ones with a decent paint job the final finish just looks a bit lacklustre.  Not really worth the premium they always seem to be at for me so pretty much everything I have is Farish (so far).

[ParkeNd]

Is there really even a price difference between them?  Both Dapol and Farish seem to be around £82 per diesel and £95 per steamer with a few small locos costing less and a few big locos costing more.

Still think you buy the loco you need and whether the brand is Dapol or Farish is not relevant IMHO.

[BobB]

All my locomotives and rolling stock have been released in the past couple of years, are DCC ready and are modern outline (so no steam outline). In my experience there is no difference in running quality, paint finishes differ between the two but the Dapol stuff looks older before weathering so no problem there.

If the mechanism that Dapol have used on their 121 / 122 bubble can become a standard for dmu / emu models then they will be well ahead of Farish - look how much of the interior is messed up on the 108's and 101 dmu's.

The real advantage where I think Dapol have Farish licked is the use of NEM sockets and their uncoupling mechanism. Farish promised it and has not delivered. Also, Farish are still releasing locomotives which are neither DCC ready nor have NEM sockets and their split gear problem persists with no reasonable explanation forthcoming.

On the other hand, if you limit purchase of wagons to those with NEMs then you will probably end up running with coaching stock only regardless of either of the manufactures.

So  if it's not a drw, then Dapol wins bu a coupling.