Farish or dapol

[pape_timmo]

  I haven't voted yet, I'm in both courts. I've got locos wagons and coaches from both teams, and they all have their good points and their bad points.

Look at the detail on the 66, the Farish one is quite fine whereas the Dapol one has telegraph poles for handrails. The Dapol Mk3s are great in my mind, the Farish ones a bit outdated.

Dapol have innovated with NEMs, whereas Farish are playing catchup.

I buy the models I like whoever produces them.

Cheers, Timmo

[Bealman]

This is a very interesting discussion. I can understand comments by EP about saving for a Hymek back then, and also young modellers such as Beestie operating on a tight budget.

Addressing this thread, personally I have no preference between the two firms. The models these days are such an improvement over those I cut my N gauge teeth on, I am humming and haaaring about bundling all my old stuff onto eBay and buying new stock.

[Chetcombe]

This is a very interesting discussion. I can understand comments by EP about saving for a Hymek back then, and also young modellers such as Beestie operating on a tight budget.

Addressing this thread, personally I have no preference between the two firms. The models these days are such an improvement over those I cut my N gauge teeth on, I am humming and haaaring about bundling all my old stuff onto eBay and buying new stock.

I concur George - a very interesting discussion and I agree with almost all the observations expressed throughout the thread. The difference in quality of current RTR models compared to my previous experience in the late 70’s / early 80’s is stunning.

I think we are very lucky to have two manufacturers competing for our hard earned pounds (or dollars in my case). Competition has clearly raised the bar in terms of quality, detail, reliability or indeed any other parameter.

So as long as the models keep getting better, whether it be the Farish WD 2-8-0 or the Dapol Class 22 or 52, I for one will remain happy whether a new model is from Farish or Dapol.

[Vanders]

Coming back into model railways after so many years away it did surprise me the duplication of effort on the 9f's in N and 10000's in OO. I am all for secrecy and competition between companies, but those two examples won no points for either company.

I don't know, I wish we'd have more direct competition, not less. Competition drives up standards and produces innovation; look at how stagnant the N gauge market was in the late 80's & early 90's when Graham Farish had it all to themselves. Perhaps if Dapol or another manufacturer was also producing 12 ton ventilated vans (for example), Bachmann might be more keen to include things like NEM coupling pockets on theirs?

In reality the market is too small to support that sort of competition for very long, but it does seem to work a bit better in the OO market, it being larger.

[Newportnobby]

I agree about the competition driving standards up, and have often wished that Heljan would use the shrink ray on some of their stuff

[d-a-n]

Peco aren't exactly stiff competition but if they were, I wonder if that'd encourage Dapol or Graham Farish to up their game further?
Regardless, both of the big two are currently both making amazingly detailed models at a fair price.

[mk1gtstu]

This is a very interesting discussion. I can understand comments by EP about saving for a Hymek back then, and also young modellers such as Beestie operating on a tight budget.

Addressing this thread, personally I have no preference between the two firms. The models these days are such an improvement over those I cut my N gauge teeth on, I am humming and haaaring about bundling all my old stuff onto eBay and buying new stock.

I concur George - a very interesting discussion and I agree with almost all the observations expressed throughout the thread. The difference in quality of current RTR models compared to my previous experience in the late 70’s / early 80’s is stunning.

I think we are very lucky to have two manufacturers competing for our hard earned pounds (or dollars in my case). Competition has clearly raised the bar in terms of quality, detail, reliability or indeed any other parameter.

So as long as the models keep getting better, whether it be the Farish WD 2-8-0 or the Dapol Class 22 or 52, I for one will remain happy whether a new model is from Farish or Dapol.

I have to agree with the above comments, although both Farish & Dapol have their faults they have superb detail on the latest stuff & we have a huge variety of locos & rolling stock compared to what we had available 20-25 years ago 
cheers, Stu.

[Bealman]

Thanks, Mike and Stu! You survived Colorado, then Mike. 

George

[ParkeNd]

I agree about the competition driving standards up, and have often wished that Heljan would use the shrink ray on some of their stuff

Minitrix returning with British outline but with proper British chassis might raise the bar on the quality front - but probably the price front too. German built consistency rather than outsourced to China along with Christmas decorations and plastic novelties. Something up to VW or Audi quality standards.   

Locos bristling with detail are fine for those with magnifying glasses - but consistent 100% right first time running quality could do with coming to Toytown but in a wider regional spread than Union Mills.

[shandy]

Interesting thread, I hadn't voted until this morning - decided to vote after my Dapol Panniers started to hiccup their way around my layout yesterday afternoon - details in separate thread…

I was considering my experiences of the products from the two main manufacturers…

I have predominantly Dapol locos as I tend towards GWR 30's period and Dapol have produced quite a few that suit my preferred era here's a summary of my experience.

Dapol Hall - both run nicely out of the box although still need to paint/weather nasty silver wheels on Leighton Hall (why did they do that?)

Dapol 2-8-0 both run very well indeed out of the box

Dapol 45xx/55xx needed a lot of tweaking to get consistent running, slow running is not very good, probably down to early mechanism/motor combo.

Dapol Pannier - needed lots on running in and now developing surging problem - one stalled last night on medium power - probably on its last legs…

Dapol terriers - despite much tweaking of pickup and wipers still stall over points (electrofrog, switching polarity) I know lots of you like em- but my two are irritating

Dapol 14xx run nicely but only ever pull an auto coach, 1472 better than 1425, both need a warm up after they've stood for a while but good slow runners and negotiate points well.

Dapol A4 - arrived needing much fettling to Cartassi and front pony to get it around my layout, runs well now but still noisy and I worry about its longevity

Dapol b17 - runs very nicely but a little noisy

Dapol M7 runs OK but useless haulage power and needed a lot of fiddling

Ixion Manor - motor replaced due to high current draw - runs nicely but still a little noisy even at five years old.

Farish GWR railcar - just back from a service from Bob Russell - running on DCC very nice indeed, seems good for another 20 years

Farish Jubillee - not a strong puller but good consistent running out of the box

Farish panniers - dodgy running over points - never converted to DCC but included for balance (now sold and replaced by the new Dapol pups)

Farish 108 DMU super runner now fitted with Zimo 648 sound chip -
Farish DP1 - absolutely superb (although looks a little odd on the branch line with a rake of 8-coaches)
Farish j39 - (1856) great straight out of box - virtually silent
Farish 2mt - (LMS 6404) great (as J39)

Peco Collett - really great loco - no wonder they cost a bomb new and still expensive - if you can find one ….

Finally - Dapol Class 22 diesel - superb now its run in. - wants to be for the price mind!!!

I know its a eclectic collection (rule 1 applies). On reflection it looks like the Bachmann/Farish products run better out of the box, I got rid of my old Farish stuff which to be fair probably was of similar dodgy quality as the early Dapol steamers.

I do think Dapol need to tighten up on their QC issues, although it looks like some members have had problems with the BachFar stuff maybe I've been lucky. I like the looks of the Dapol models but often they are let down by their running, I was prepared to deal with this by working on the locos to get the best of them however my two Dapol panniers have developed problems and I worry about the noisy running from some of the other locos described above.

Maybe I should go diesel - they seem to run much better, although the latest BF steamers don't seem to have any issues.

Sorry if the post is a bit long

[ParkeNd]

^^^^ Modern short diesels on good track run like a dream - Farish Class 24 are the top of the pile in my short experience though Dapol Class 22 comes close  - and there's Dapol Class 26 and the bargain £49 Farish Class 25/3. All great RUNNERS. Oh do stop me!!

[Wingman mothergoose]

My experience with Dapol locos is limited to just 2 of their B1's, amazingly detailed, aside from the positive screws holding the motion onto the driving wheels. I still think the card an shaft drive through the cab is a tad crude compared to the latest Farish kettles. They run well but the motors are noisy, and the bogies don't like small radius points/curves one bit! Nice touch that the bogie axles are so easy to remove though, as I had to swap them around on both of my B1's to stop them derailing at the drop of a hat...

On the flip side, I've had almost no problems with my Farish locos, as they've all been a doddle to maintain and run, aside from some of the older locos not liking insulfrog points. The main downers with the Farish stuff is drooping sprung couplings and the slightly crappy detailing on the older models, way under scale bogie wheels, pizza cutter flanges and lack of cab glazing...

Chris

[Sprintex]

Something up to VW or Audi quality standards.

I wouldn't go using VW as a quality benchmark May have been a few years ago but hearing some of the horror stories from a professional mechanic friend of mine they seem to have gone WAY down, same with Mercedes.

Haven't heard too many bad quality comments about Audi yet though


Paul

[Bealman]

^^^^ Modern short diesels on good track run like a dream - Farish Class 24 are the top of the pile in my short experience though Dapol Class 22 comes close  - and there's Dapol Class 26 and the bargain £49 Farish Class 25/3. All great RUNNERS. Oh do stop me!!

One of the first 'new' Farish locos I acquired was a Class 24, and it grinds gears something horrible at speed. I think that quality control is still a bit haphazard with both companies.

But, I stick by my original premise that ALL the new offerings, steam, diesel or electric, are STREETS ahead of anything British N gaugers had to put up with in years gone by.

[Dr Al]

Dapol Pannier - needed lots on running in and now developing surging problem - one stalled last night on medium power - probably on its last legs…

This may be pickups. I've had real problems with the pickups on mine, factory lubricant ingress into the areas between the bearings and the chassis frames. I've stripped 2 down now and cleaned out, refitted the bearings tightly in the chassis and re-run in and this has improved their performance a lot.

Cheers,
Alan