Dapol announce new appointments

[EtchedPixels]

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

[OwL]

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.

[Skyline2uk]

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....

I wish them both all the best of luck with their new jobs 

Skyline2uk

[Pete Mc]

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

[MikeDunn]

Pete,

The answer to (most of) your questions is a single word - money.

[Mr Sprue]

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.

[Dr Al]

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.

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

[EtchedPixels]

The newer bachmann do to meet current rules. Really handy for soldering the decoder wires

[Pete Mc]

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

[Dr Al]

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

[EtchedPixels]

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

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

[Dr Al]

motor. Remove the ones on a terrier and it goes phut sometime later  !

Sounds like a man speaking from experience there....   

Cheers,
Alan

[Chatty]

Good Morning Everyone

See here regarding the "resistors" on Dapol models.

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=15848.msg157247#msg157247

Kind regards

Geoff

[EtchedPixels]

motor. Remove the ones on a terrier and it goes phut sometime later  !

Sounds like a man speaking from experience there....   

Cheers,
Alan

Yep although fortunately not direct experience. On the Terrier at least they are resistors and they do matter.