DAPOL - YOUR THOUGHTS ?

[Skyline2uk]

Ok I am going to put my head above the para-pit here and possibly say something stupid out of ignorance, for which I apologies in advance!

I have already commented on my experience of the quality of Dapol Models (positive). Now, with the recent talks of delays in new products, I am back for another 2 pence...

....On balance I am on the side of "don't tell me about it if I can't have it for more than a year" school of thought.

I know its nice to have something to look forward to, but broken promises (no matter who or what causes them) are worse than ignorance of what's coming surely?

Ok, hard hat on and back in the trench....

Skyline2uk

[Leo1961]

Announcing models that are likely to be unavailable for an extended period of time is an easy and cheap way to avoid doing any proper market research.

By counting up the advance orders they can establish whether it will be profitable to manufacture an item or not.  So the popular ones get designed and manufactured, and the unpopular ones join the end of a queue that may never get past the concept / CAD stage.

Cynical, moi? 

[EtchedPixels]

Announcing models that are likely to be unavailable for an extended period of time is an easy and cheap way to avoid doing any proper market research.

Its also something the manufacturers do to avoid colliding with one another. They can't go around sitting in dark and smoky rooms (*) agreeing who will produce what without competition people getting grumpy, but they can flag their intentions in public (and of course use it as a cynical way to mark out territory).

Alan
(*) to start with they are not allowed to smoke indoors in meetings now

[moogle]

On reading some peoples views and experiences I'm sometimes glad I model Irish outline.
If I want it I have to make it. Which is fine until I need a suitable chassis.
Then of course I may need a Dapol one so I'm then in the same boat as everyone else!

author=EtchedPixels link=topic=16213.msg163167#msg163167 date=13792713
(*) to start with they are not allowed to smoke indoors in meetings now

That got me thinking, how do jazz clubs manage now? 

[PLD]

On long lead times, all manufacturers are equally guilty...

I have no objection to new products being anounced well in advance - as well as giving other manufacturers notice and potentially avoiding wasteful duplication, it gives buyers time to save up.

What I would like to see though is more realistic timescales given at the time of anouncement (and preferably an indication of what stage of the design process it is actually at) and then progress reports and if the timescales do slip (which is entirely forgivable in many cases due to unforseen or third party issues), open & honest communication of reasons for delay and revised timescales...

[Elvinley]

I really wish Farish hadn't abandoned their 9F. It would no doubt have been a stunning model.

[Pengi]

In my experience (which is limited to HSTs/EMUs/DMUs and one diesel loco) . . .

If I buy a train from Kato, either new or second hand, I have almost 100% confidence that it will work straight away with no further tinkering required

If I buy a train from Farish, I have slightly less confidence because of any split gear issues with second hand but my experience of new stuff has been good My experience of Arnold and Fleischmann is more limited but no issues so far.

If I buy a train from Dapol, then I am not nearly as confident that it will work straight out of the box without any sort of  'tinkering'  The instructions also say some trains must be oiled before they are run and I therefore think that a small tube of oil should be included. All of my Dapol HSTs and a Voyager decouple themselves when running which means the couplings require adjustment, a minor issue that can be fixed relatively easily but should customers be expected to do this and the front lights packed up on the driving car of one of my HSTs. On the plus side, I am very happy with the performance of the motors The Voyager runs at 125mph scale speed where as Farish's can only manage 85 mph but the light clusters on the Farish are more detailed.

[H]

If I buy a train from Dapol,. . . . The instructions also say some trains must be oiled before they are run and I therefore think that a small tube of oil should be included.

By that reasoning all locos for all manufacturers should include a tube of oil as at some time (as part of their regular servicing) they all need to be oiled. But IMO probably not a good idea - imagine the mess if a tube should leak en route. Besides Farish locos are often supplied over oiled and have a surfeit that needs cleaning up, so they have enough to share around for a whole MPD 

Quite honestly all manufacturers have specific issues and could do with improving mechanical quality and reliability. The big issue is are people prepared to pay for it?

H.

[Roy L S]

I really wish Farish hadn't abandoned their 9F. It would no doubt have been a stunning model.

Yes, I totally agree, it was a disappointment that they dropped it from their plans.

Assuming it had followed the route of the current generation of coreless motor loco-drive models it would have been really something - I'd order (at least) one like a shot.

I have two Dapol ones from the first batch, I hardly run them. On one especially loco pickup is poor and slow running barely adequate. By the standards of the current crop of Farish offerings they are (in my opinion) somewhat "flaky" and cheap and nasty, never really living up to the declared "Platinum" status or £105 price tag. Admittedly later batches were improved a little and the weathered one looks fabulous, but still, in my view there is plastic where there should have been metal in a number of areas, and it is a model that cannot be easily dismantled for maintenance.

Dapol have slowed the pace of releases of this model and I suspect the tooling will not last forever. The question is would Bachmann ever consider there adequate market for this model given the Dapol one? Sadly I fear not which is a shame.

Regards

Roy

[bigbob]

I was after some spares from them. Spoke to Joel who took my details and said he would send them in the post FOC so we`ll see...........

Turned up as promised so fair play to them

[Maurits71]

Some oil in the fire.

That Dapol isn't a company where you can buy with 100 % confidence I do agree. I am at a point now that if I want something Dapol at least I buy it in a store so I can see it running.

on the other hand Dapol has got an excellent repair service with DCC, I have under repair 3 x a class 43 with light issues, dummy and or power or both and a class 66, in total 6 pieces. all fixed within a week and posted back to me for arrival Monday. all under warranty with at least three of them based on my honesty that i didn't had the receipts anymore.

( pengie if your class 43 is out of warranty buy a replacement light pcb board cost you £ 14,-- and is very easy to do yourselves. )

My thoughts, you pay for what you get, if you want top quality buy Fleischman, Roco of something similar and pay three times the price. or accept that Dapol and in a less way GF are offering a more value for money product.

( I am back under my stone now as I expect some grief turning up  )

[silly moo]

Maurits, I think you will find that a lot of us agree with you.

My replacement Terrier has been run in this week, it didn't have the wobble that the first one did but sounded like a demented wasp. As I'm thousands of miles away and couldn't return it, I gave it a thorough running in for about two hours on and off and it has quietened down considerably. Not everyone would have my patience.

However, all my other Terriers have been good from the word go and I have an excellent pannier tank purchased recently.

It seems to come down to luck caused by lack of quality control. Dapol are not alone though,  my next loco to fix up is a Farish 4mt with dodgy pick ups.

[PaulCheffus]

on the other hand Dapol has got an excellent repair service with DCC, I have under repair 3 x a class 43 with light issues, dummy and or power or both and a class 66, in total 6 pieces. all fixed within a week and posted back to me for arrival Monday. all under warranty with at least three of them based on my honesty that i didn't had the receipts anymore.

( pengie if your class 43 is out of warranty buy a replacement light pcb board cost you £ 14,-- and is very easy to do yourselves. )

Hi

Out of interest does anyone know which lights should work on the power cars of the NMT yellow HST as mine only shows a white light on the left side viewed from the nose on the power car with the buffers.

Cheers

Paul

[johnlambert]

Contacted Dapol over the weekend regarding a faulty loco purchased from its stand at TINGS.  Used the 'contact us' form on the web site.  Had a reply today with a freepost address to return the loco for replacement.  Can't fault that for a response.

[silly moo]

My thoughts are mixed at the moment as are the performances of my two new locos. A terrier that was very noisy but has now quietened down and runs very well, touch wood    and a pannier which ran superbly to start off with but now has a surging motor when running backwards.  :'(  Good thing it will run mainly forwards as I'm not able to send it back.

One of my new Farish locos needs attention too.

I do wish we were able to buy British outline steam locos with complete confidence and not have to do our own quality control.