mm.

I have two thoughts about Dapol. one, brilliant stuff, great assortment and if they run , normally perfect runners. other thought. there's always something, class 43 with light issues, class 66 who are wobbly after a while and can have light issues. class 158 easy to get shorts. I did't bother in the beginning as there was a good service offered by DCC supplies..

there's only a but gents and girls. don't send loco's back more then 2 times , then you get the nasty e-mails saying that they don;t have problems and that everything is down to a poor layout you have built. not with so many words but if you read between the lines ??.

Imho they are absolutely right. I have a poor build layout, I am an amateur, and I don't know what I am doing. But this amateur has looked today over 5 hours to lets day 35 trains constantly running without any situation. must say that I am getting more and more graham Farish so my problems are getting less and they only problems on my layout are .... indeed dapol class 43 with light issues. But yes I believe DCC supplies I have a poor build layout.

So Back on the question, Dapol fine if you have a perfectly build layout. Graham Farish suits poorer build layouts better but both are not the European build quality, but on the other hand also half the price so you get what you're paying for.

IMO the best example of a manufacturer's approach is that of Kato USA - their models spend a long time in gestation but when they are launched they are "right".  Every component in their models - from unpainted bodyshells to sets of axles, bogie assemblies and coupler mounts - can be ordered separately.

However, the price of this is that Kato USA seem only to launch one locomotive every couple of years, and maybe one new freight car or coach per annum.  Whereas in Britain there seems to be an expectation of far more frequent new releases.   Having said that, the new Farish Deltic was their first new diesel, IIRC, since the Class 70 this time last year, so maybe things are slowing down now...

cheers

Ben A.

Quote from: Ben A on June 20, 2014, 11:26:48 PM
Having said that, the new Farish Deltic was their first new diesel, IIRC, since the Class 70 this time last year, so maybe things are slowing down now...

For diesel/electric there must see a slowing down I'd have thought as most of the major classes have now been retooled or are promised.

Cheers,
Alan

Quote from: Dr Al on June 20, 2014, 11:32:46 PM

Quote from: Ben A on June 20, 2014, 11:26:48 PM
Having said that, the new Farish Deltic was their first new diesel, IIRC, since the Class 70 this time last year, so maybe things are slowing down now...

For diesel/electric there must see a slowing down I'd have thought as most of the major classes have now been retooled or are promised.

Cheers,
Alan

One glaring gap for me (unless someone knows different) are the 8 axle diesels
I have a weathered Peak on pre-order but as far as I know it is still the old tooling

Newport nobby just read my mine.... I am hoping bachfar with bring out DCC ready class 45 and 46 variants..would definitely add to the must buy list

Quote from: newportnobby on June 21, 2014, 12:34:57 PM
I have a weathered Peak on pre-order but as far as I know it is still the old tooling

That's a 2005 or so tooled model, so I wouldn't classify it as old tooling (or see that any changes in tooling are likely to be made any time soon). It was, however, the last that used the split chassis style of mechanism.

Cheers,
Alan

Quote from: austinbob on June 20, 2014, 08:13:21 PM

Quote from: Michael Shillabeer on June 20, 2014, 12:05:02 PM

The Fleischmann factory in Arad is ISO9001 certified.

Best regards
Michael

Now that's a good point. ISO9001 requires that the manufacturer has all the Quality insurance systems in place that I have been talking about - including control of subcontractors. Again it costs money to get registered but if the system that has been registered is effective then the Company will save money in the long term and improve quality of product to the customer.

Bob Austin

ISO 9001 does not automatically mean a quality product.

It means a company has processes and monitoring in place to comply with the criteria which protects them as well as people that buy from them

....BUT you could have ISO9901 compliance to produce the most basic product in the fastest and cheapest way.   Lots of cheap plastic children's toy manufacturers are fully ISO9001 and other compliant but you wouldn't grade their output as quality

The Kader factory is ISO9001 accredited...

Have to agree with Zakalwe - IS09001 means nought to me. Perhaps if it was a European or Japanese factory that was accredited, then I might take notice, but Chinese ... ?

Most of the products where I live come from China (I know we think most of the products in the UK come from China, but here they REALLY do). Wouldn't touch most of them with a barge pole. Cheap tosh and they put all sorts of accreditations on them, ISO, BSO with the kite mark (I think it is), "MADE IN ENGLAND", "MADE IN GERMANY" ... they just blantantly lie on their products. It would be funny if it wasn't so serious in that these products could, in some instances, kill or injure people.

I even know someone who has got a "Samsung" phone, yet it isn't really a Samsung at all.

Okay, I'm not going to say this is the case with Chinese trains (far from it), but I'm just saying that the attitude to production and reputability is different, say, in China, than it is in Europe.

Dan

Speaking of which, I've just had part of a chassis top (the black plastic curved top) of a British India Line "Made in China" snap. Hasn't happened on any of my Poole built Duchesses or Merchant Navy's and the plastic does look / feel inferior on this British India Line. It could be a complete coincidence and a one off ... but, just saying 

Quote from: DesertHound on June 22, 2014, 12:49:41 PM
Speaking of which, I've just had part of a chassis top (the black plastic curved top) of a British India Line "Made in China" snap. Hasn't happened on any of my Poole built Duchesses or Merchant Navy's and the plastic does look / feel inferior on this British India Line. It could be a complete coincidence and a one off ... but, just saying 

re-cycled biodegradable plastic no dout, it makes you wonder what will happen to our purchases in a coule of years time, brass is another, i've recently had rusty brass plumming fittings and brass padlocks, are our overseas manufacture's mixing materials and keeping the best for 'home' use ?


alan

Quote from: DesertHound on June 22, 2014, 12:46:10 PM
Have to agree with Zakalwe - IS09001 means nought to me. Perhaps if it was a European or Japanese factory that was accredited, then I might take notice, but Chinese ... ?

doesn't matter geographically to be honest.

ISO9001 is a measure of how well a company audits it's process , materials, suppliers etc.    not the quality of their product.   There are good and bad in Europe, it is not a measure of quality.   There are company's all over the world  with no ISO9001 accreditation that make wonderful products and those with it that make throw away tat but audit-able throw away tat

Quote from: mr bachmann on June 22, 2014, 03:36:42 PM

re-cycled biodegradable plastic no dout, it makes you wonder what will happen to our purchases in a coule of years time, brass is another, i've recently had rusty brass plumming fittings and brass padlocks, are our overseas manufacture's mixing materials and keeping the best for 'home' use ?


alan

Alan

Why do you say biodegradable plastic "no doubt" It is surely but speculation on your part?

If you are truly in "no doubt" I am intrigued to know the basis of the information you have to back this up? I would think it highly unlikely that the plastic is biodegradable although very possibly it could be recyclable.

Roy

Quote from: mr bachmann on June 22, 2014, 03:36:42 PM

re-cycled biodegradable plastic no dout, it makes you wonder what will happen to our purchases in a coule of years time, brass is another, i've recently had rusty brass plumming fittings and brass padlocks, are our overseas manufacture's mixing materials and keeping the best for 'home' use ?


alan

pure conjecture and speculation with no basis in fact...you have no idea what the plastic is , it's storage conditions etc.  your post is a pure guess

I have locos that were made in China by 30 years ago (Mainline 00) and the plastic is still fine, so I'm not expecting my N gauge models to fall apart any time soon.

In fact I can't really think of any plastic bits that have broken apart from gears or fine detail parts that got accidentally broken off.