Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but Dapol have announced two new appointments.
http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=information/news&news_id=57#.Ujx2R9pwbIU (http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=information/news&news_id=57#.Ujx2R9pwbIU) refers.
Interesting.
And good news. I think !!
Great news, especially Andy from DCC Supplies being onboard, thanks for posting
Good for Dapol, not so sure it is good for DCC Supplies.
David
Yes, yes, yes; all very well.
Now Dapol, where are the N-gauge 'Westerns'?
NeMo
Not so sure this is going to be good news for us as the appointment of Richard Webster suggests a concentration on the larger scales. I guess time will tell but with Dave Jones we had an N gauge enthusiast at the helm now we have an 0 gauge one.
Quote from: Sea Mills on September 20, 2013, 05:55:33 PM
Good for Dapol, not so sure it is good for DCC Supplies.
It's not as if Fiona isn't there !!!
It's probably a good thing - someone who has had to repair all the crap that has spewed out of their suppliers should be in a good position to help resolve some of that. It's an odd conflict of interest though - make the stuff more reliable and deprive your other business of work ;)
Alan
If they can make them more reliable though DCC Supplies might flog more ;)
Paul
It's probably me but how adventurous have Dapol been, I'm thinking after the Ivatt tank and the Q1.
Quote from: Truffles on September 20, 2013, 06:19:21 PM
Not so sure this is going to be good news for us as the appointment of Richard Webster suggests a concentration on the larger scales. I guess time will tell but with Dave Jones we had an N gauge enthusiast at the helm now we have an 0 gauge one.
Cheers john.
I think that it could have been a whole lot worse.They could've employed someone outside of the hobby which may have taken time for he/she to settle in.At least they are both fully conversant with the hobby and the needs of the customer.
My only question is how or who is going to be the face of Dapol at exhibitions?
Dave Jones had a prescence about him that I'm not sure the new chaps will welcome,but time will tell won't it?
I'm just wondering what new innovations the DCC Supplies bloke can bring and seeing as both will continue to work for their respective businesses as well,how will they split their time and where will their loyalties lie.
I also wonder how long this will last as I'm sure that if they take their eyes off the proverbial ball,what will happen to DCC Supplies,Lionheart or even Dapol.
My personal opinion is that Dapol may've been forced to accept that both have other businesses in order to get a replacement for Dave Jones lined up and this may leave them exposed to trouble ahead.
It may also explain why they have hired two people,as opposed to one Dave.
Still,I'll reserve judgement on this appointment and see how things pan out and hopefully,we'll get to speak with either chap at future exhibitions.
Pete
:Class31: :Class37: :NGaugersRule:
Interesting. Both appointments have a very clear business development element as much as they are filling internal vacancies. It is significant that both new appointees maintain their business interests in their existing companies.
- I don't know anything about Lionheart, but Richard Webster's appointment clearly brings this company into the Dapol 'fold'. Richard's job title is also interesting, 'Head of product development' is clearly a bigger title than Dave Jones' prior role as 'Product Development Manager'. Certainly not a like for like backfill appointment. It will be interesting to see what evolves from this.
- Equally, Andy Forty's appointment brings DCC supplies much closer into the Dapol family. An increased focus on reliability is appreciated given the tone of recent posts on the forum - there do seem to be a lot of regular NGF posters who have had to return Dapol locos due to faults (including myself).
So good luck to Dapol, they have clearly taken advantage of Dave Jones' departure to look critically at their business issues and then do something different.
It will be interesting to see who (if anyone) becomes the new public face of Dapol. I would not be surprised if they do not replace 'Dapol Dave' in this regard - it could be a better strategy to let their high(er?) quality, innovative new releases speak for themselves rather than have a maverick single point of contact.
Quote from: Pete Mc on September 21, 2013, 02:45:07 AM
I'm just wondering what new innovations the DCC Supplies bloke can bring and seeing as both will continue to work for their respective businesses as well,how will they split their time and where will their loyalties lie.
I also wonder how long this will last as I'm sure that if they take their eyes off the proverbial ball,what will happen to DCC Supplies
Well, Andy's been in trains a long time, and has a lot of skills etc to bring through. Being the main Dapol repair agent has undoubtedly given him a lot of ammunition to use when it comes to QC !!! Hopefully, over time we will see his suggestions etc getting incorporated (but bear in mind the length of time it takes to get a loco to market - this ain't gonna happen quickly).
As to what happens with DCCS - that's not a one-man band. Fiona is a strong presence "front of house", remember. And they have other "back-room staff" too. I'm not going to lose any sleep on wondering if they're gonna suffer - as I don't think they will ::)
Mike
Good luck to them both in their new jobs. :thumbsup:
QuoteAn increased focus on reliability is appreciated given the tone of recent posts on the forum - there do seem to be a lot of regular NGF posters who have had to return Dapol locos due to faults (including myself).
They do say "bad news travels fastest"! People are quick to report faults but rarely report on the good ones, have you ever seen " WOW another perfect loco from XYZ" posts? It's the same with any product, from cars to coffepots.
Admittedly any faults are deplorable and adequate QC could possibly eliminate some.
Items may get well packed to guard against damage but postal/courier services don't seem to have time to read fragile labels and once things are in mail bags can't be seen anyway, so are liable to be handled roughly.
We've all probably seen the "It was working OK yesterday, but today it just won't start" situation. Most items are fine whilst static, it's the transition from rest to motion, or for electrical things from off to on when most faults occur so post production test can never be capable of eliminating all faults leaving the shop.
It would be interesting to see an honest statement of the percentage of returned faulty items issued to refute some of the accusations, maybe the lack of publication of such figures is significant?
I've taken Dapol locos apart and the soldering in some of them would have been a fail in any entry level electronics course. So they certainly have quality problems in some places.
Hopefully with their new hires we will see some of those faults designed out entirely - which is what is needed. If you have to test every model then in most quality mindsets you already failed.
I do wonder what is going to happen on the emphasis scalewise. Lionheart is very much from the "big" scale end of things. I wonder how much N will cease to be the big focus.
I'm hoping the fact DCC supplies do DCC sound stuff means that we'll see some better provision for sound.
Alan
I think it is a very good decision by Dapol and congratulations to both people concerned.
Why did Dapol hire two people? My own personal thoughts are that Dapol don't want to just rely on one person in such a key position from now on.
I think more emphasis will be given to OO Gauge models due to the bigger Market and they will undoubtedly concentrate on their O Gauge business to get this off to a good start.
With N Gauge they enough to work on. From their proposals in the last catalog we are still waiting for schools class steamer, Class 50, Class 59 and numerous wagons and coaches plus many new liveries of current models.
I hope the new guys are able to get these models released quickly with no issues with quality control that we are sometimes plagued with by Dapol loco's.
I really hope the new guys are a success as with strong management at key positions with both of their excellent knowledge of the industry can only be of great benefit to the hobby in my opinion.
All the best and let's see what these appointments bring us.
All I can say is I am slightly jealous of them both as I would love a job in the Industry...but then they do say you should never make a living from your hobby.... :hmmm:
I wish them both all the best of luck with their new jobs :thumbsup:
Skyline2uk
I agree with what you are saying Etchedpixels,about the standard of soldering.I took apart a Dapol hst powercar and was astonished at how badly the soldering was and how it worked without a problem.
A monkey could've soldered the admittedly small components better.And who thought it'd be a good idea to have the power connections and motor output connections so close together?
They are a fault waiting to happen if you ask me and another one,why do they glue the motor in place on one half of the chassis?
Farish use little gromits and plastic type plates to secure the motors in place so why can't Dapol do this?
And finally one more question.
Dapol have an innovation called 'super creep'.I have had a look and its nothing to do with gearing.They have used a large resistor on each motor terminal and two capacitors for what I assume is for noise suppression.These protrude into the open fuel tank area of the chassis underframe quite a bit so for fitment of a speaker in the tanks,they need to be removed.It seems a bit unnecessary to me so the question is,why?
Pete
:Class31: :Class37: :NGaugersRule:
Pete,
The answer to (most of) your questions is a single word - money.
Yes it's good that Dapol have filled the vacant position of DJ so soon, also now with two rather than one which no doubt will broaden scope. But I think where the emphasis lies here, they are a business and if producing OO will create more profit for them that will be the route they will most certainly take.
By employing Richard Webster I suppose I can see why most N-Gauge modelers will have some concern, regarding Dapol and their plans for future productions. Myself I would sooner sit on the fence and watch that space before wishing Mr Webster well for the future, instead I would prefer to congratulate him for his contribution to N if and when that happens.
Quote from: Pete Mc on September 23, 2013, 02:48:51 AM
They are a fault waiting to happen if you ask me and another one,why do they glue the motor in place on one half of the chassis?
To be honest, having had one HST apart, it doesn't look actually necessary, and may not have been in the design - I suspect the factory have done this to ease assembly.
Quote from: Pete Mc on September 23, 2013, 02:48:51 AM
Dapol have an innovation called 'super creep'.I have had a look and its nothing to do with gearing.
It's not really an innovation - it's branding after they fitted very sticky (and therefore poor slow running) motors to the first 9Fs. The motor now is a 5 pole skew wound unit - there is nothing groundbreaking in that - Bachmann US locos and Farish split frame diesels have been using them for years.
In terms of the added electrical components, they are mostly for TV suppression - not sure why they have so many compared to older models who silmply have a capacitor across the motor terminals.
Bachmann Farish locos with split chassis had no such suppression for many years, so if it's a problem you could likely remove it all with no ill effects.
Cheers,
Alan
The newer bachmann do to meet current rules. Really handy for soldering the decoder wires
The caps and resistors are going Dr Al,trust me on this.They protrude into the fuel tank area too far for me to get a sugarcube speaker in so seeing as the decoder is supposed to have on board suppression and having read up that they can cause running problems,ie runaways etc,they are definately coming out.Even an electronics engineer friend of mine can't work out why there are two resistors and two capacitors on the nitor either.
My theory of the resistors being used to slow down the motor seems to be the only explanation because these motors are also fitted to both 121 bubblecars and 156 Sprinter dmu's,but seem to have no resistors because these two go like stabbed rats.I had the bubblecar timed at a scale top speed of 160ish mph,so its going to be turned down by way of cv changes to the Loksound v4 micro that is fitted to it.
Pete
:Class31: :Class37: :NGaugersRule:
Quote from: Pete Mc on September 23, 2013, 04:39:05 PM
My theory of the resistors being used to slow down the motor seems to be the only explanation because these motors are also fitted to both 121 bubblecars and 156 Sprinter dmu's,but seem to have no resistors because these two go like stabbed rats.I had the bubblecar timed at a scale top speed of 160ish mph,so its going to be turned down by way of cv changes to the Loksound v4 micro that is fitted to it.
The 121 has the small Dapol can motor, not the 5 pole open frame skew wound unit. This is much higher revving.
The 156 does have the skew wound unit, but is likely to have different gearing as the bogies are not very tall (by necessity due to the small diameter wheels and the worm drives being low down in the block). I've seen 1 156 apart and I'm sure it did have some gubbins in terms of electronics though - don't recall what.
Cheers,
Alan
Quote from: Pete Mc on September 23, 2013, 04:39:05 PM
out.Even an electronics engineer friend of mine can't work out why there are two resistors and two capacitors on the nitor either.
So ask Dapol 8)
Iif its like the small motor in the terrier they are also there to deal with the fact its a 9v motor not a 12v motor. Remove the ones on a terrier and it goes phut sometime later !
Might be worth tracing them carefully see if the caps are acting as suppression or are there to reduce light flicker.
Alan
Quote from: EtchedPixels on September 23, 2013, 04:59:22 PM
motor. Remove the ones on a terrier and it goes phut sometime later !
Sounds like a man speaking from experience there.... :angel:
Cheers,
Alan
Good Morning Everyone
See here regarding the "resistors" on Dapol models.
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=15848.msg157247#msg157247 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=15848.msg157247#msg157247)
Kind regards
Geoff
Quote from: Dr Al on September 23, 2013, 05:08:11 PM
Quote from: EtchedPixels on September 23, 2013, 04:59:22 PM
motor. Remove the ones on a terrier and it goes phut sometime later !
Sounds like a man speaking from experience there.... :angel:
Cheers,
Alan
Yep although fortunately not direct experience. On the Terrier at least they are resistors and they do matter.