DAPOL - YOUR THOUGHTS ?

[Sprintex]

The only Dapol products I have are four Class 156 sets and an HST, all of which have never given any trouble so far

The trouble I have had with any stock is with Bachmann-Farish split chassis (HST and class 37), and the usual pickups problem with the 04


Paul

[Skyline2uk]

After reading of Woolleysh33p's experience today they only gripe I have with Dapol is that I haven't ever got a Freebie!

But seriously, I will add to the trend so far and say that I have had no problems with my Diesel fleet (56, 58, 67, 73 and 153).

The 73 is a bit touchy, but that is old now as has already been said.  Oh, and I have a dummy 67 which derails for fun but that is cos I have 1st radius curves.

However, I must say the general trend of problems with Kettles puts my off my longer-term plan of getting something like a Hall to run as a rail-tour.

I prefer Castle's anyway, but I was thinking if I saw a reasonably priced one I could get it to hold me until the new tooling Farish Castle comes out. Has anybody had all-good experience with their Dapol steam fleet?

Skyline2uk

[OwL]

If I remember correctly the Class 73 was Dapols first Locomotive in N Gauge and this came out in 2004 so it is nearly ten years old!

[Agrafarfan]

I've haven't brought any Dapol yet but it is nice to hear Dapol being praised by their customers lets hope they get encouraged to do well.

[Mr Sprue]

If I remember correctly the Class 73 was Dapols first Locomotive in N Gauge and this came out in 2004 so it is nearly ten years old!

I have a few of them and they are still running sweet! Excellent little runners.

[Rowlie]

Hi Skyline2UK,
Well my experience with the Dapol steam fleet has been quite good, no failures or returns to date. I have nine Dapol steam locomotives, three panniers, 45xx, Hall, 2-8-0, A4, two B1s.  The improvement in performance over the last few years is most noticeable when running the 45xx (stop or very fast) along side one of the panniers.
Hope that helps

[Chetcombe]

Other than a few issues with my first couple of Hymeks from the first batch (poor haulage capacity, noisy and poor running), I have since been trouble free. No problems with my Class 121 DMU, HST, Hall or Class 22. As far as returns, I have only had to return one Dapol loco which compares to one Farish return.

So add me to the satisfied customer column

[martyn]

I've had two failures out of four 'Britannias'; one with pick-up problems, the second a motor fault, IIRC.

Both fixed under warranty by DCC Supplies.

The screws holding the bodies on all four locos were very stiff, which made the initial oiling required very difficult to do.

Both fixed under warranty by DCC Supplies.

Martyn

[4x2]

Right then.... Their early stuff runs poorly, looks great though. Things are getting much better lately, but there are still too many failures considering that these models are now exceeding the £100 mark... I'm still happy to buy the small steamers (except the M7) and the diesels/electrics.

[martyn]

I forgot to add in my previous post that one of our Group members had an Ivatt tank which dropped its valve gear after about 15' running in. I don't think he was able to get it repaired or replaced by Dapol for some reason, so he got a refund instead.

Martyn

[Chatty]

Good Morning

I have been following this thread with interest.

My experience with the the two Dapol loco's I have purchased is not good.

The the Class 26 blew two decoders and eventually I had to remove all the wiring and replace it with a hard wire decoder.

The Class 22, which I ordered with the decoder installed, when removed from the box was found to be covered in grease.  The chassis had so much grease in it I was able to scoop out with a small screwdriver blade.  In the end I had enough on the workbench to lubricate a family car from 1970's. 

If that wasn't enough the pick-ups, which were covered in grease, one had completely popped from both spigots the others had come loose from the spigots on the ends.  Easily fixed by very slightly reaming the holes and gluing back into position.

But it still wouldn't run. 

After spending the better part of an hour the problem it was found that one of the wires going to the brushes had not been soldered to the tag.  The end had been shoved in between the tag and the brush and the tag pushed back to hold it into place against the brush and some electrical tape put over the top to hold it in place and then some more electrical tape put over the top of that.  As the wire tried to resume its straight alignment it came out of contact with the brush.

Now that each has been repaired they are sweet runners and very enjoyable to watch.

On the whole Dapol produce a good product but it is their quality control that lets them down.

The Chinese can produce good products but its their obsession, for the most part, with output that find quality control being given short shrift.

Other manufacturers have products produced in China but don't seem to nearly the same problems as Dapol and I think that is because they have stricter quality control measures when the products arrive on shore.

It seems that Dapol has opted for the lower quality control and expects a certain number of returns which they will either attempt fix or bin.  The problem with this approach apart from customers loosing faith in the product is that those costs, which I suspect are higher that good quality control, has to be built into the end price.  Or the alternative is were there is a competitive market place it is a hit to profit.

The only other thing is that a step appears to be missing of the Class 22.  Not sure what happened there.  It isn't on the work bench anywhere.

That crashing noise; just me falling off the soapbox.

Kind regards

Geoff

[Norfolkrover]

It does appear diesel customers are more satisfied than steam. Unfortunatley im in the latter category with several returns .

[StufromEGDL]

Hi Guys;

I have bought a considerable number of Dapol diesels & DMUs over the years.  Some of the early 66s (Freightliner) have died and are a source of spares now.  Generally though, I think I have been fairly lucky...I have a 58 that is still rough after repeated attempts at rects,a 27 that loses its lights after prolonged running (heat stress??) and my latest purchase on Sunday (a 66709 Sorrento) has at least one wobbly wheelset and a BROKEN GEAR!!!  Not impressed with that one as I thought the 66 had matured over the years.  The other 66 bought (66720 in childrens livery) is OK but noisy on cornering...

Overall, I'm only just satisfied enough to keep my faith in them, but not terrible impressed with either the longevity or robustness of them in the longer term.

Later;
STU from EGDL

[moogle]

I think you have opened Pandoras Box 

Now where did I leave my Tin Hat anyone?

You'll need it!
This box is full of explosive worms and they're not of the arcy sparky multi-coloured variety...   

[Pete Mc]

Think I may have spoken too soon.Yesterday whilst running my new Dapol 156 Sprinter dmu,Farish Warship and Farish class 66,I inadvertantly forgot to remove my Dapol NMT HST dummy power car.Because I was running the others in on dc power,it meant that for around 5 hours,the dummy power cars lights were on,not much,but on they were.The dc controller was set for running in at around 40-45% power.As I was jist finishing running in the Warship,I noticed a smell which I thought was the Warship as it seemed a bit tight to start with but upon touching the bodyshell to check for a hot motor,it wasn't the Warship.

At this time,a feeling of dread overcame me so with the Warship off the rolling road,I did a quick check on the dummy power car.It was the source of the smell.So I took it off the track and removed the body.Nothing looked amiss so I put it back on the track and applied power.

Then I discovered that the red tail lights would only light.So,now I'm a bit annoyed with myself because I shouldn't have left it on but then I had a thought.

I am at a later date,going to fit it with a sound decoder along with the powered end so it has sound at each end which means the pcb will be removed anyway.So,with that in mind,I cut out the pcb and had a look at the board and lo and behold,discovered that one of the components had a look that told me it had expired.The pcb on this model is slightly different to the earlier hst by Dapol,but nevertheless,it had blown a component anyway.The component that was blown was a diode,identified by a letter D next to it.It has a burn mark at the top and the soldering to the pcb is slightly discoloured.

I'm just wondering now whether the headlight led has blown or due to the diode failing,now has no power getting to it.As its a later project to complete,along with converting 5 or 6 Dapol mk3's using PH Design etches to NMT coaches,I'm not too concerned about it but may need to get a new lightboard/cab interior assembly depending on if it has blown the bulb as well.

My understanding is that a diode only allows current to flow in one direction,so if that current can't pass then the bulb on the other side can't receive power.Only problem with this theory though,is why does the redlight still work?

Thoughts please.

Pete