should Dapol be pronounced C**pol!

[rodders]

well viewers I's pretty cheesed off! About 6 months ago,  I bought the last, NEW G/F 57xx (from Hatton's) and a Dapol  195 Autocoach (from Bideford). They live on a shelf and neither have been out of the box. Imagine, yesterday, when i had another fond look at my lovely, lovely Autocoach, and noticed the bogey was  loose in the box!  When i took it from the packaging, and found that a crappy, rivetty, thing, that obviously allowed the aforementioned bogey to swivel, has fallen out!  Who designs this!!   will this Bideford bloke take this thing back and give me a complete and working model?  £16. worth of rubbish.  I have cancelled my Dapol order with Hattons for a 57xx.  No more Dapol stuff for me!!     who else makes an Autocoach model please?   regards, Raving  Rodders

[zwilnik]

Osbornes are pretty good at returns. I just had to return my 3850 to them when it arrived in its usual Dapol state of not being able to go around corners.

I had exactly the same problem with my first Dapol autocoach that I got as part of their 14xx + autocoach pack (the two I got in Osborne's special edition pack were ok). I got the 14xx pack from Townfoot models up in Hexham who requested a new pin from Dapol. Took about 5 months I think. The 14xx was also one of the 50% or so of them with a bent chassis too.

I had to heavily modify my Dapol Hall to make it run vaguely reliably (didn't help that it had a bent axle) and after that my Dapol policy is very simple. If it doesn't run out of the box it goes back for a full refund and I don't plan to buy any more Dapol steam engines.

[OwL]

Hi Rodders,

Sorry to hear you have had a bad experience. I am not biased to either manufacturer, but i had a similar experience with Farish.
I bought a brand new Farish class 57 diesel, it also sat on my shelf for months but the day i went to run it, it stuttered and limped!!!! Split Gear!

My point is, whatever the manufacturer, these models are made in China, by people who quite frankly dont give a Toss about the UK N Gauge model market (Right or wrong who can blame them for that wage?!)

Unfortunately Quality control is an issue here and im sorry you have been stung, however if all Dapol or Farish models were always this bad, both would have ceased trading many moons ago.
It looks like you have been unlucky enough to get a 'duff' model. My advice would be to give them a second chance, as some of their stuff is first rate.

By the way, i have had duff Dapol models as well in the past, contact them direct, report it and they will sort. If not, then let us know!

All the best
OwL

[kiwi1941]

I don't plan to buy any more Dapol steam engines

Nor me. I've now had four diesel locos, two new [bought in the UK] and two almost new secondhand [bought in New Zealand] which have either had to be returned or be sent to my tame local repairer - all at my expense. The problem can usually be traced to poor soldering on any PCB included, and I only run DC!

I keep getting tempted by Dapol's new models then I factor in the extra cost and inconvenience and resist.

[K-N-Gauge]

Never had a problem with any dapol truck, coach or loco I have 15 locos by dapol all steamers and all run ace 

[H]

I am not biased to either manufacturer, but i had a similar experience with Farish.

And that's the nub of the matter - a 'rouge' model can strike at anytime and is not just confined to any particular model or manufcaturer. It's really a matter of how the retailer deals with any problems.

H.

[Adam1701D]

Is that one wearing lipstick? 

[Caz]

I bought 4 of Dapol's panniers from the first batch and all 4 are perfect runners straight out of the box and am very pleased with them.   I also have 2 of the Dapol autocoaches, again both perfectly fine out of the box although they have now been modded to take internal lights and a tail lamp.

Even if I'm not going to immediately use a new purchase I always go through the run it in routine to make sure all is ok before I pack it away.

[EtchedPixels]

I've had a few Dapol duds - more than there should have been, but never had a problem getting them replaced if faulty.

The bogie pins work well - but if the postie played football with it, or it went to the shop in a parcel some courier dropped or threw around I can see it coming out - better that than breaking the bogie itself though.

You've got a two year warranty for most faults present at the time of sale so just return any problem items. If you've got the missing peg however it should just clip back into place. Osborn's is the kind of place where they'll just send you the missing peg if you ask nicely.

Alan

[Tank]

To help balance the thread, I have a good fleet of Dapol 73's, 58's and 86's.  They've all been great runners, and not one problem over the years.

[Paddy]

I've had a few Dapol duds - more than there should have been, but never had a problem getting them replaced if faulty.

The bogie pins work well - but if the postie played football with it, or it went to the shop in a parcel some courier dropped or threw around I can see it coming out - better that than breaking the bogie itself though.

You've got a two year warranty for most faults present at the time of sale so just return any problem items. If you've got the missing peg however it should just clip back into place. Osborn's is the kind of place where they'll just send you the missing peg if you ask nicely.

Alan

I agree with Alan - if you purchased a duff model (loco or anything else) then return it.  It is  by monitoring returns that the manufacturers can gauge reliability etc. and make incremental improvements.  I have had problems with both Dapol and Farish locos although in my experience Farish are more consistent.

Paddy

[Mustermark]

Is that one wearing lipstick? 

Sorry to hear about the problems with your Dapols.  I don't think I can add much to what has been said.  It is rotten luck to get a duff one, whcih happens more than it should.  But the nub is getting them fixed and running.  It can be a pain, but once it's done you have the stock you want, and with ever increasing quality of detail.  I agree with H, dealing with a good retailer is important.

I have Dapol diesels and all are very good so far, really good runners on creep.  No problems with my GF diesels either except for a shorted and burnt out (brand new) 37 that is now a dummy in a double header.

I have two Dapol A4s (the Modelbahn Union Mallard and the Dapol special Silver Fox) but both so far have been static models (not even run in yet) as my layout is too full of diesels.

[zwilnik]

From what I've heard, Dapol's diesels are generally better designed and more reliable (got my Class 22 on pre-order).

So far my non engine Dapol rolling stock has been ok apart from the one duff autocoach but I'd not put the issues with the steamers down to bad luck. 3 out of 3 (4 if you count the Ixion Manor that has no traction) is purely down to awful engineering design where model weight, dimensions and components are chosen to look good on a shelf rather than practicality for running on a normal N gauge layout (or just shrunk down from OO where there's more wiggle room in the tolerances). The designs also don't consider practicality for construction or quality control

Dapol's designers appear to be very skilled at modelling detail but don't have enough knowledge in the actual engineering design at least for the tolerances required for N gauge.

I suspect they've not been called on it because probably 50% of Dapol's stock ends up permanently looping around on eBay as collectibles with their low production runs.

[1whitemoor]

I think Dapol went through a slightly poor period arround the time of the Ivatt and early 9f runs, but I'd buy a steamer or diesel from them now.

Some of the Ivatt/14xx/9f models inparticularly can be very poor runners, which I believe is due to their chassis design more than anything (quartering issues, pickups, front bogie of the 9f, Ultra delicate valve gear Ivatt etc)

The 67, 58, terrier and most recent incarnation of the 66 (I can't speak for anything else) are superb if properly maintained, and the 28xx has raised the benchmark for N steam yet again, along with the A4.

Paul A.

[Dock Shunter]

I have three 26s,a 27,two 121s,a 122, a 57xx pannier,one 58 and 2 auto coaches and not had a single problem with any of them,so it's not all doom and gloom with Dapol products.....