Dapol updates

[ParkeNd]

Let's face it, if all the Dapol and Farish pre-orders happened when they were supposed to some people would be bankrupted.

I suspect that, using the Dapol Class 33 as an example, that New Products are not getting much priority at Dapol. Unless you have dedicated people who only work on New Products and nothing else then evaluating EP submissions and forecasting sales volumes, and even attending New Product meetings, can become a poorly supported irritation that gets in the way of the predictable and comfy daily routine of selling what you already have. Don't know if Dapol UK employs 1000 people or 25 people, but I bet it's closer to the latter.

[Ben A]

If Dapol and Grafar want to engage the modelling contingent with RTR models they MUST produce what they state in their literature.

Otherwise we are back in NEVER NEVER LAND.

No, where we are is in the real world where sometimes things don't quite go according to plan.  Staff changes, supply problems, human errors in design or manufacture, etc etc will happen and usually cause delays.

For example, Bachmann recently sent the trade a note stating that almost all their December deliveries would be delayed until January due to stormy conditions at sea delaying the ships carrying their containers.

As far as I can see, when models are announced and then cancelled (Farish 9F, Meridien Voyager) plausible and reasonable explanations are offered.  Luckily we're only talking about model trains here.

cheers

Ben A.

[EtchedPixels]

If Dapol and Grafar want to engage the modelling contingent with RTR models they MUST produce what they state in their literature.

I'm sure they aspire to do that. There are two things at work here though that are important to remember

- Bachmann and Dapol cannot sit in a dark (now smokefree) room and plot together and divide up releases. They can publically announce models and so mostly not stomp on each others toes. Some of the diesel era stuff at least was most certainly 'produce lots, fast, claim this class' type goings on.

- It doesn't take a lot to make a product slide when you have long turn around times. I'm actually amazed Bachmann do as well as they do on this. Dapol seem to have their own special set of problems though. Pacer anyone

From my own experience in the kit making world it only takes a couple of design problems to slide a kit by three or four months. That's with a typical three-four week turnaround, all in the EU and with everyone involved speaking English fluently.

Even then a major design issue can derail you for a long time. My oldest outstanding model is from 2009 because it has taken until now for 3D print to solve the unfixable problem at the time. Still it'll be out "shortly" 

Alan

[Vanders]

It's not the delays that bother me, it's the return to the bad old days of lack of engagement with the community. Dave is a very community & internet savy guy, and that showed when he was at Dapol and shows now he's struck off on his own with DJ Models. Management at Dapol & Bachman don't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that Daves constant contact and feedback between him & the community during the development of new models is what made Dapol special. That's even after the work that went into the design of the Western, widely regarded as one of the most accurate modern models to have been produced to date. Why not make an effort to maintain that level of engagement & communication?

[Roy L S]

It's not the delays that bother me, it's the return to the bad old days of lack of engagement with the community. Dave is a very community & internet savy guy, and that showed when he was at Dapol and shows now he's struck off on his own with DJ Models. Management at Dapol & Bachman don't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that Daves constant contact and feedback between him & the community during the development of new models is what made Dapol special. That's even after the work that went into the design of the Western, widely regarded as one of the most accurate modern models to have been produced to date. Why not make an effort to maintain that level of engagement & communication?

I think there is an issue of visibility too. Currently Dapol's profile is very low, to me their Website is very uninspiring and from what little I have seen of their "Facebook" pages that is little better. The Forums give an opportunity to keep in people's "Faces" in a positive way, something Dave J seems only too aware of with his own DJM threads.

However it takes a particular kind of person to engage in the way Dave does, and also someone prepared to do a lot of the interaction on various Forums in their own time and brave enough to deal with the inevitable criticism. Before him, George Smith (although by his own admission not a railway enthusiast) was a good communicator and highly visible.

Also as well as the attributes you mention above (and a good number more) Dave is an enthusiast and I suspect his enthusiasm means he is content to let the "day job" overlap into his personal time I suspect most would probably not want to however much of a business advantage it could be.

Regards

Roy

[BobB]

The criticism of Dapol's web page may be justified but compared to what it used to be, the current page is informative and responsive. As to their performance bringing promises to market, well they are as good as Farish at the moment proportionally (in my opinion). Having said that, I see very few complaints as regards Union Mills. Do they make promises of new models and fail to deliver ? I don't know because I model diesels not steam, and anyway they seem to have adopted a run well/less detail approach which seems to please all (most of ?) those who buy their products. (There may be a lesson there for the others.)

What I do find frustrating is that of them all, Dapol almost insists that we pre-order because if we don't we are liable to not get the one we want and the next run can be years away. From a business point of view this is good for Dapol and the retailer but I wonder if it is instrumental in some of the ferocious criticism on forums in general and this one in particular - a long wait followed by a problem does tend to magnify that problem rather quickly ! 

[Greybeema]

I agree with BobB about the pre-ordering.  In fact looking at the major box shifters at the moment (and I have only really looked at Diesels & Electrics) I would guess that almost half of the offerings shown are "Pre-order" and that includes changes/updates to livery as well as new models..  So you would wonder when the last batch of models were actually manufactured..

[Bigric]

Just on a different tack slightly , last month when I realised/remembered that Dapol were going to release an A4 (William Whitelaw) in early BR Blue soon , I pre-ordered one from Hattons . I had an email on Friday to say that they were expecting this item later in the month . We'll see !! Cheers , Ric

[daveg]

Got the same email for Sir Nigel Gresley.

That'll push the budget as I've just bought that bargain WD! 

Dave G

[Bigric]

Yeah , me too ! OOPS !!! Ric

[Jameswgm]

Got the same email for Sir Nigel Gresley.

Yeah me too, I'm expecting that easily into 2nd quarter of the year going on Dapol's punctuality with releases.

[ParkeNd]

Not much excitement promised in the short term in Dapol's newsletter yesterday. Just a couple of cosmetic livery variations on the Westerns. OK. If you can afford more £90s to own five different Westerns I suppose.

[nobby]

 Anybody know when the mk3 buffets for hst in blue grey are coming also what happen to the class 56 liverys from last year ie large logo blue  it really is a choose a production slot by dartboard at moment i see so little coming into my local shop i an surprised dapol havent gone bust     and the other thing that really gets my goat is the bloodly adverts in the model press telling me whats not coming this month or next
Rant over
Nobby

[NeilMac]

Tell me about it, Nobby.

I pre-ordered Britannia 'Firth of Clyde' in November 2011, which was due for release early in 2012.

Still waiting...

[ScottyStitch]

In terms of budget management (for me, not the manufacturers), it sometimes turns out to be not such a bad thing that some models are late. It suits me that the Mark 1 sleepers and Coronation Pacifics that I pre-ordered haven't all come out at the same time (as was supposedly going to be the case originally.) Likewise it's fine that the different versions of the A4 have gaps between them. if everything that i had wanted up to now had been released when they said they would, i wouldn't have been able to afford them all before they sold out!

By contrast, I found the time between announcement and delivery of the Fairburn tank very short in comparison to other models.

Perhaps Dapol and Bachman should just announce what they are definitely going to produce, without a timescale to prevent our frustration. That way we know what's coming eventually and we can plan for it. Announce a date only when it's been loaded on the boat?



My major frustration is in the short production runs, most notably with the New Tool Farish Class 101. This contrasts with seemingly plentiful (at the moment) of Dapol's Class 26 and Farish Class 24 in Green.