RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 6, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2012 My only, fairly minor, criticism is that the width of the white band (and the black chevron) doesn't look right and appears to be too narrow but that is something readily corrected. The black chevron on the distant should also be the same angle as the fishtail, but as you say it is easily corrected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Does the signal revert to danger as soon as you release the switch? No, it stays in position until the switch circuit is 'made' again. The cost is relative; we've all spent time fiddling with Ratio signals (£9.30) and a remote control kit (£3.00) that has less sophistication and they need to be made up too. I'd say it'd be a doddle to trim the base down to the 14mm hole and make good around it. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 For what you get in the box the cost is fantastic (in a good way) I'm just on quite a tight budget and will need to see how many I'd need and where they should be positioned before going ahead with them, although will need to do so soon otherwise i'll be making more work for myself. so push once to pull off, push again to revert to danger? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Yup; that's it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 6, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2012 Super little model! I particularly liked the Kerfingerpoken test I think this should become a standard! I guess the motor noise will be muffled well by the baseboard and certainly at a show. If they sell the mech separately it would allow all sorts of model signals and other gadgets to be animated beyond their core range, or do Dapol have more ideas up their sleeve? Tipping wagons Dave? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DapolDave Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Hi chaps, i can confirm 2 things, 1) That the GWR and LMS posts will be for sale fom Dapol stockists who have orderd them a few days before Ally Pally show in 2 weeks time. 2) That we are finalising the design for round post signals as well. Cheers Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Very impressive in 2mm scale. No doubt there'll be a way of increasing the size of the red glass in the GW spectacle? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Reality check................for the price, the saving in time alone makes it worth it! Look forward to the LMS/Southern and ...................brackets! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed-farms Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 We do not have a cat to bench test I'm afraid Brian, I may go and prod one of the neighbours cats with it and let you know if it (the signal) survives. I hope the box for these does not include the immortal words "no animals were harmed in the making/testing of this product" if you prod the cat Andy those words may have to go Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 7013 Posted March 7, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 7, 2012 Superb and inovative from Dapol, they are going from strength to strength, I will certainly be incorporating some of these on my layout, hopefully they are working on gantry signals too. Cannot praise Dapol highly enough, they certainly appear to be tuned into what the modeller wants. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Budgie Posted March 7, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 7, 2012 Addenda - re Buffalo's comment in respect of the back blinder, Nick is correct - the bback blinder should only obscure the back light when the signal is 'off' (and not all signals had back blinders although better with than none at all. As I understand it, the back blinder was only installed when the back of the signal was visible from the signalbox, and was used as a visual indication at nighttime that the signal was on or off. There was no point in installing one if the signalman could not see the back of the signal. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redditch 34 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I am liking them to now big decision how many do i need Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted March 7, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'd echo the positive comments from other posters, but a couple of negatives do strike me: - as Andy remarked, the lamp is very bright: actually far too bright and too blue-white in colour for an oil lamp. Would one of the warmer coloured versions be a possible replacement in later models? Presumably electronics could be used to dim it rather than the buyer trying to paint in such an inaccessible spot. The "green" glass could be the proper bluish colour too. - I wonder why the arms have been moulded rather than etched. Granted Andy's photos are the usual cruel enlargements, but the thickness of the arm is quite evident, especially given the commendable fineness of the ladder. The pre-coloured PE available to aero-modellers shows that it can be printed with great accuracy. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I can see pros and cons with the price. For one signal, yes, it's very nice and good value for the price and if I only needed one signal for a layout I'd seriously consider getting one (indeed, I've just glanced up at one of the boards for my 009 layout and spotted a good place for one!). But for more than one the cost mounts up pretty quickly (as it does with all these nice wagons and coaches that are coming out these days). For example the branch terminus on my father's layout has two platforms with starter signals and a bracket home signal (i.e. 4 arms in total). Assuming a bracket signal follows at around the £50 mark, that's £100 to fit out a very simple station. Even that's possibly not too bad, but the other end of the line has 10 signal arms, and my own 00 terminus layout has around 20! So for me, personally I'll stick with my collection of slightly overscale Crescent cast metal signals. Pretty easy to motorise either using relays or servos, though I need to resume my experiments with spectacle plates. Whilst detail-wise the Dapol signal is light years ahead (especially when comparing the motion to a relay-powered signal), there's just no way I could afford to upgrade. (Still, maybe Hattons will do a bargain multipack!). None of which is to take away from what appears to be a magnificent product. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 But for more than one the cost mounts up pretty quickly (as it does with all these nice wagons and coaches that are coming out these days). For example the branch terminus on my father's layout has two platforms with starter signals and a bracket home signal (i.e. 4 arms in total). Assuming a bracket signal follows at around the £50 mark, that's £100 to fit out a very simple station. Even that's possibly not too bad, but the other end of the line has 10 signal arms, and my own 00 terminus layout has around 20! Accurate signalling isn't necessarily cheap; ready assembled colour light signals of 2 or 3 aspects are showing up between £10 and £15 each; add direction feathers, call on etc and your'e at the same or past the cost. Admittedly you can buy kits and do it cheaper but these are "ready to plonk" of course. You probably will find discounts off of the price Dave quoted, but even at full price it's pretty impressive as a ready assembled product, when you look at the alternative home made option that usually involves a slow action point motor. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted March 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2012 Agreed, from memory the MSE signal kit on Summat Colliery cost £8, the servo drive unit was approx £18. Admittedly the final result was a little finer than Dapol's commercial offering, but doing the signal cost me my eyesight and quite a lot of sanity Wagons have always been expensive when trying to put together a rake. As a nipper I longed for a long line of MGR hoppers, only ever managed to raise the funds for one! Modelling is always a trade off of time vs money - I bought all the trees for Summat, a time saving decision. I think Dapol have pitched these about bang on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Enormously impressive demonstration. That little signal was incredibly robust for something so small and sophisticated! I'm thoroughly impressed with the way you are pushing the envelope here, Dave. Fingers crossed you'll be doing the Stevens and company lattice posts. These were used by a large selection of companies across the country from the L&SWR to the G&SWR. With standard upper quadrant arms you'd have a truly universal lattice post signal for the BR era. Dave. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Right from seeing the first working prototype at the N Gauge Show last year, I though this was a bold but very welcome step by Dapol. This final version look to have adressed all the refinements suggested since then. Pleased to hear that (assuming these sell as well as they deserve to) Dapol intend to look at other post types and more complex designs such as brackets. The other quick-easy development would be a short post version for platform mounting as I'm not sure these could be easily adapted by the end user... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted March 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) Personally I think these Dapol signals are priced very reasonably as I have always had problems trying to get a semaphore signal to work correctly. I suppose thati f you have little funds but time and patience to make you own then thats a fine alternative but when Dapol to the appropriate posts for my locations then I will be buying these. I do hope that Dapol do bracket signals aswell as these are the hardest for me to get working. Ian Edited March 8, 2012 by roundhouse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted March 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2012 Will the 4mm version have the same 14mm hole requirements, and how deep is the motor mechanism from the underside of the base plate ? Ta Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Will the 4mm version have the same 14mm hole requirements, and how deep is the motor mechanism from the underside of the base plate ? Yes; the 4mm signals will have the same motor and housing which means the information in the review is relevant to the 4mm versions too. the depth of the threaded base and motor housing is 52mm from the baseboard top surface so provision needs to be made for this. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Will the 4mm version have the same 14mm hole requirements, and how deep is the motor mechanism from the underside of the base plate ? Ta Stu My understanding is that the 'below ground' bit is the same for 2 and 4 mm versions 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
newport_rod Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I very interesting development and in my view far more important and deserving of mass attention here than the release of any particular loco. Price is very reasonable too. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted March 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks both, sorry missed the under baseboard bit (and I read it twice). Maybe a diagram with the relevant dimensions might help ? Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr b Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 hi, will the signal include a 'bag' of parts to super detail, like those that come with loco's ? thank you mr b Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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