Hello all.

I see that there is a photo of the new Dapol 56 (as shown at the n gauge AGM) in the latest issue of Model Rail. I am far from an authority on these things so was wondering what others on here think of the look of it? Looking at getting a coal sector one myself.

Also see the blue pullman is progressing.....

An improvement on the Farish offering.

To my mind still not quite right.

Picked up a S/H CJM example last year, so I'm in no hurry to get one myself

Paul A.

It's a massive improvement over the Farish version and IMO better than the CJM one which looks a little hamsterish with puffy cheeks. The Dapol one certainly looks like a class 56, although I know of some who have a little concern over the roof area over the cab; they say the side and front roof profile is spot on but the downward view is somehow not quite right. But it's very subjective when it comes to such subtle compound curves. It looks pretty good to me.

H.

I certainly like the look of the Dapol 56 and have the EWS one on my waiting list.

The Dapol 56 looks like a 56, the Farish 56 doesn't and CJMs are over £400 - simples!

Agreed with all above, and after having a close inspection of 1 at the DEMU show, i am unsure on the cab fronts.

Basically a major improvment on the Farish model
Unsure on the cab front /windows
Livery wise - EWS font is wrong
Also number font used on the coal sector, EWS and RF livery is wrong....But these were the ones in the glass display case. But i have noticed on most dapol recent releases that the number fonts used are wrong e.g some 26's and class 58's

Am i being a little bit OTT with those small details?? This is just my opinion...

Cheers all, Anthony

Dapol do seem to have some issues with their liveries and fonts, particularly with sectorisation-era models. The BR fonts are pretty much universally available to download, EWS just used Gill Sans Bold so it shouldn't be difficult.

Finding the correct font for some liveries can be a nightmare - I've had to make a few educated guesses or resort to some hasty bitmap editing in the past!

Quote from: captainelectra on June 17, 2012, 07:42:00 PM
Dapol do seem to have some issues with their liveries and fonts, particularly with sectorisation-era models. The BR fonts are pretty much universally available to download, EWS just used Gill Sans Bold so it shouldn't be difficult.

Their Halls had a similar issue with a very odd font used for the smokebox numberplates. I think in that case they used the same font on the smokebox as on the cabside numbers (when they should have been sans serif). But there were a number of detail issues on the Halls.

I wonder if some of it is down to sub-contracting out to a 3rd party factory with stuff becoming lost in translation. Dapol had to delay the BR liveried A3s after the factory put the tender lining in the wrong place.

You see this all puts me in an awkward situation.

I would never go looking for problems with a model. In fact, when I got my original Farish 56 (with my first trainset at the tender age of 11), it was called a class 56. So it was a class 56.

However, when problems are pointed out to me, its all I see!!

So, are these livery issues likely to be solved in later runs from the factory?

Skyline2uk

They had no trouble fixing the blatently wrong 58's, I hope they have no trouble fixing the 56's as well!

Quote from: kaiwhara on June 18, 2012, 07:16:09 AM

They had no trouble fixing the blatently wrong 58's, I hope they have no trouble fixing the 56's as well!

They corrected the BR 'arrows' logo when I pointed out to them that it wasn't quite right. But I don't recall them 'fixing' anything else on the class 58 and the error was hardly 'blatent'; no-one else mentioned it or bothered to let them know. Fortunatelly logos and fonts are not a major issue and are correctable.

Has anybody politely mentioned to Dapol about the fonts on the class 56?

H.

Quote from: H on June 18, 2012, 08:06:26 AM
Has anybody politely mentioned to Dapol about the fonts on the class 56?

Not to my knowledge.

Dapol are usually quite open to input from modellers so contacting them either on RMWeb, FaceBook or by email would seem like a good idea.

I have done this in the past and found them quite friendly. Just remember to be polite and also to be constructive. If you find an error, explain exactly what the correct answer should be. Making it as easy as possible for them to fix the problem makes it more likely that they will.

hmmm... They look just like 56's to me..
I've got 3 of them on order.. yes SWMBO knows... god help me when the bill comes! 
They look really good to me and a major improvement over the farish 56, specially the cab roof area.

Cheers

Mark

We were kindly offered by Dave Jones the only working, Class 56 in Blue for the DEMU show on Kinlet Wharf. It was either on the Merry-go-round or the oil tankers. The haulage power was very good on this one and I am hoping that this will be the same on the production ones. There was lots of good comments about it. 1 person also commented that someone has done a lot of work to get a farish 56 looking that good!!!

I have got an EWS one on order and after playing for the weekend with that one will not be disapointed.

Alistair