O and K JHA hoppers from Dapol

[Skyline2uk]

Cheers

Added to my watch list in case they are needed when my order turns up.

Skyline2uk

[Adam1701D]

Just to assure everyone that Dapol are aware of the wheel-rubbing issues and we are working on a solution. As soon as I have something concrete to post, I will let you know.

[Trainfish]

Thanks @captainelectra I think if they read posts either on here or elsewhere they will already know what the solution is and I have suggested somewhere (either here or on the Fakebook site, I can't remember) this is what they will do, ie supply shims of some description. I'm sure that will be acceptable to most but probably not all. It really is a simple task to add the shims (or in my case metal washers from Screwfix) and they do rectify the issue. I have to say though that the couplers are still a concern if people frequently couple and uncouple them as they appear to be very fragile. I have already sent 3 back to the supplier and now I have another to go back with this issue.

Anyway, I received 4 more of these wagons yesterday. 2 are ok but 2 will be going back again. 1 with the broken coupler as noted above and 1 with a missing railing at 1 end. What annoys me most with these is that I can see both of these issues without even removing the wagon from its packaging. You would think a quick visual check (no need to remove the wagon) by the supplier would be a good idea as it would save them around £4 postage each way for every return.

I can now run a rake of 15 of these as shown below. This rake is being hauled by a Dapol class 58 running at around 30% power from a Vortrak controller. I'm more than happy with the preformance in this video.

Hopefully it won't be long before I can run my full rake of 20 of these and even better behind a Revolution class 59 in the early Yeoman livery 

[Adam1701D]

To quote Raiders of the Lost Ark, "We have our top men working on it."

Seriously though, we are committed to getting this right. Once we have a plan in place, I'll make sure you know..

[Pete @ EGLM]

Perhaps the top men should have been on it in the first place, then the issues could have been sorted before the model was released......Just saying

[JBQFC]

Thanks @captainelectra I think if they read posts either on here or elsewhere they will already know what the solution is and I have suggested somewhere (either here or on the Fakebook site, I can't remember) this is what they will do, ie supply shims of some description. I'm sure that will be acceptable to most but probably not all. It really is a simple task to add the shims (or in my case metal washers from Screwfix) and they do rectify the issue. I have to say though that the couplers are still a concern if people frequently couple and uncouple them as they appear to be very fragile. I have already sent 3 back to the supplier and now I have another to go back with this issue.

Anyway, I received 4 more of these wagons yesterday. 2 are ok but 2 will be going back again. 1 with the broken coupler as noted above and 1 with a missing railing at 1 end. What annoys me most with these is that I can see both of these issues without even removing the wagon from its packaging. You would think a quick visual check (no need to remove the wagon) by the supplier would be a good idea as it would save them around £4 postage each way for every return.

I can now run a rake of 15 of these as shown below. This rake is being hauled by a Dapol class 58 running at around 30% power from a Vortrak controller. I'm more than happy with the preformance in this video.

Hopefully it won't be long before I can run my full rake of 20 of these and even better behind a Revolution class 59 in the early Yeoman livery 

Great video what type of cholate did you use for the cutting side 

I have manged to find some brass washers in the spares box that are the right size

John 

[Western Exile]

I have a rake of twenty of these sitting in a trunk in Widnes and have been pondering what to do about them since the multiple issues came to light. Based on what @Trainfish , @captainelectra and others have posted, I think I'll have them sent, albeit requesting a check for broken couplings before they're packed, and apply the washer solution to circumvent the dragging wheel problem.

[SGregory]

I have a rake of twenty of these sitting in a trunk in Widnes and have been pondering what to do about them since the multiple issues came to light. Based on what @Trainfish , @captainelectra and others have posted, I think I'll have them sent, albeit requesting a check for broken couplings before they're packed, and apply the washer solution to circumvent the dragging wheel problem.

Mine were from Hattons and unfortunately, despite asking twice for the replacements to be checked for broken fittings/couplings etc - some of my most recent set turned up damaged.  I have 3 more replacements coming to me in the next 1-2 days, again i've asked they're checked before despatch but i'm not optimistic.  At this stage it would be easier for me to drive the 120 miles to Widnes to pick them up and check myself!

[Western Exile]

I have a rake of twenty of these sitting in a trunk in Widnes and have been pondering what to do about them since the multiple issues came to light. Based on what @Trainfish , @captainelectra and others have posted, I think I'll have them sent, albeit requesting a check for broken couplings before they're packed, and apply the washer solution to circumvent the dragging wheel problem.

Mine were from Hattons and unfortunately, despite asking twice for the replacements to be checked for broken fittings/couplings etc - some of my most recent set turned up damaged.  I have 3 more replacements coming to me in the next 1-2 days, again i've asked they're checked before despatch but i'm not optimistic.  At this stage it would be easier for me to drive the 120 miles to Widnes to pick them up and check myself!

Thanks for that. I'm going to contact them and ask that they're checked before they send them to me. Obviously living in Germany a drive to Widnes isn't an option.

[bluedepot]

i actually like the close couplings, but like others am a bit concerned they won't survive too much coupling and uncoupling...

so if anyone does get magnetic couplings that still offer fairly close coupling please post on here so i can buy some!

i have 13 jha's now. they sound dreadful despite adding the washers! some flange squeel or something going on! they are reasonably free running though. some have lost steps or tie down hooks from the handling involved in adding the washers and initially when i was testing them a lot.


cheers


tim

[SGregory]

i have 13 jha's now. they sound dreadful despite adding the washers! some flange squeel or something going on! they are reasonably free running though. some have lost steps or tie down hooks from the handling involved in adding the washers and initially when i was testing them a lot.

Mine originally sounded like that, but I went through every wheel set and checked for free running.  A good proportion of the wheel sets were either tight and in one case, one was seized altogether.  For any wheels that didn't rotate freely, I removed them and reamed the mounting point out slightly - which seemed to do the trick.  I'm now in two minds whether or not to add the shims, as i'm pretty sure mine are only catching on the wheels if I put my finger on top when manually moving them round the track.

[portsmouth06]

If it helps six of my original 10 were rubbing and making a racket when running on the layout, so I added shims to all of them with a lot better running results. The extras on order will all get the same treatment. I think its a shame you have to keep tuning models to get them to run out of the box, as I said previously this is not just a Dapol thing and must put new people off starting in N gauge.

JW 

[SGregory]

If it helps six of my original 10 were rubbing and making a racket when running on the layout, so I added shims to all of them with a lot better running results. The extras on order will all get the same treatment. I think its a shame you have to keep tuning models to get them to run out of the box, as I said previously this is not just a Dapol thing and must put new people off starting in N gauge.

JW

I've been back into modelling since 2003 and I can't say I have ever had to effect immediate repairs on any new wagon or coach made my Farish, Revolution or Peco.  To my untrained eye, this very much looks like a lack of oversight and quality control at multiple steps in the design, pre-production and production phases. 

There really is no excuse for it, other manufacturers manage it with far fewer instances of design faults/poor build quality etc

For some reason, many N gauge modellers seem to think its 'par for the course' and take it on the chin, despite the sums of money involved, which I always find astonishing.

[msr]

My retailer has just sent me replacements for the half of the original batch I bought from them which had the faults already mentioned (broken couplings and broken/missing tie hooks or handrails). They paid for the retun postage too. All the replacements had been checked before returning to me, which is a relief. Only one of the returns turned out to still have a broken coupling but luckily the shaft was just within the NEM socket, not the arm, and easily replaced since most wagons seem to have twice as many double couplings as needed.
One wagon had the dreaded squeak and wouldn't freewheel. Swapping over the bogies seems to cure it. I noticed that some of the wagons needed to have their bogies gently pushed home, as though they had not been properly assembled in the first place. There's seems to be just enough play for free running, at least on my layout which doesn't have any sharp gradients.

[bluedepot]

i have been informed that magnetic couplings are in development from a well known brand of coupling maker...

i have added washers, eased out the break shoes slightly, pushed in the axle points, oiled the axle points, but still some wagons sound horrendous!

anyway i had 11 running ok yesterday.  just got a few more to fix up.

i had to paint the underside of some wagons to stop short circuits as well!

these truly are troublesome trucks!

i may need to upgrade my revolution class 59 order to sound fitted just to cover up the wagon squeel noise...

cheers


tim