Dapol Black Label Range

[Darius43]

I have had the same problem with my Black Label "Golden Eagle" - it ran OK and then just stopped and made a noise like the drive train had failed. It's gone back to DCC Supplies for repair under the guarantee.

Darius

Update - DCC Supplies were unable to repair the locomotive and so a replacement has been sent out by Dapol, which I received today. It works fine on the short test track I have in the flat. Will see how it works on long runs in my friend's shed at the weekend.

 

I would like to say that I have received excellent service from DCC Supplies and Dapol.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Darius43]

Update - DCC Supplies were unable to repair the locomotive and so a replacement has been sent out by Dapol, which I received today. It works fine on the short test track I have in the flat. Will see how it works on long runs in my friend's shed at the weekend.

I would like to say that I have received excellent service from DCC Supplies and Dapol.

Cheers

Darius

Ran Golden Eagle on the large layout in my friend's shed today. Sound seems to be on all the time irrespective of whether F1 is selected and the smoke comes out of the whistle but not the chimney. It ran ok for a few minutes but then started stopping for no reason.

 

Dreading the prospect of another return, the problem was traced to dirty track, after track cleaning it ran fine but still with permanent sound and wonky smoke. I will set the relevant cv to default" smoke off" next time I am in the shed - had F7 selected to turn smoke off for now. Big relief that it runs ok (so far).

 

I am wondering if the dc mode setting (I run dcc) is the cause of the sound being on all the time rather than being controllable using F1. Does anyone know the cv setting(s) to disable the dc operation mode?

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[PhilH]

It's usually part of the CV29 calculation

[NickC]

If smoke is only coming out of the whistle then you've got some oil blocking the chimney. Blow down the chimney to clear it.

[Darius43]

If smoke is only coming out of the whistle then you've got some oil blocking the chimney. Blow down the chimney to clear it.

Thanks Nick - I'll give this a try.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Darius43]

It's usually part of the CV29 calculation

Thanks Phil, I think it needs to be set to 2 to disable DC - will give it a try.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[SteveCole]

The Dapol Gresley A4 Quicksilver is reviewed by Tony Wright in this month's BRM (Spring '17). This issue is on-sale now in UK shops, and available as a Digital Edition. 

 

[Hilux5972]

So what would people like to see as the next Black Label loco? Personally my wish would be for a GWR King.

[Clearwater]

So what would people like to see as the next Black Label loco? Personally my wish would be for a GWR King.

Given DJM's comments that they are not proceeding with their model whilst Hornby have covered the market, I doubt Dapol could make a case to do it... unless they brought Dave's research to date and somehow I can't see that.

 

If I were Dapol, I'd look at the original state Bulleid light Pacifics. Popular; old H tooling, air smoothed case makes it easy to hide the electronic gubbins, smoke reserves etc. Also an iconic design.

 

Edit: having pondered, I'm not wholly convinced there will be another Black Label release. Lot of Dapol's plate at the moment.

David

Edited April 8, 2017 by Clearwater

[Ian J.]

So what would people like to see as the next Black Label loco? Personally my wish would be for a GWR King.

 

A high quality 4mm Terrier...

[davy crockett]

Ran Golden Eagle on the large layout in my friend's shed today. Sound seems to be on all the time irrespective of whether F1 is selected and the smoke comes out of the whistle but not the chimney. It ran ok for a few minutes but then started stopping for no reason.

 

Dreading the prospect of another return, the problem was traced to dirty track, after track cleaning it ran fine but still with permanent sound and wonky smoke. I will set the relevant cv to default" smoke off" next time I am in the shed - had F7 selected to turn smoke off for now. Big relief that it runs ok (so far).

 

I am wondering if the dc mode setting (I run dcc) is the cause of the sound being on all the time rather than being controllable using F1. Does anyone know the cv setting(s) to disable the dc operation mode?

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Hello Darius, Did you get the smoke problem sorted ?

[Hilux5972]

Given DJM's comments that they are not proceeding with their model whilst Hornby have covered the market, I doubt Dapol could make a case to do it... unless they brought Dave's research to date and somehow I can't see that.

 

If I were Dapol, I'd look at the original state Bulleid light Pacifics. Popular; old H tooling, air smoothed case makes it easy to hide the electronic gubbins, smoke reserves etc. Also an iconic design.

 

Edit: having pondered, I'm not wholly convinced there will be another Black Label release. Lot of Dapol's plate at the moment.

David

Don't forget though that this is a completely different class of model. RTR with smoke, sound, lights, and much metal construction. There was already 3 A4 locos available on the market, with Hornbys fantastic one leading the sales, and Dapols really seems to have sold well.

[Ian Hargrave]

Given DJM's comments that they are not proceeding with their model whilst Hornby have covered the market, I doubt Dapol could make a case to do it... unless they brought Dave's research to date and somehow I can't see that.

 

If I were Dapol, I'd look at the original state Bulleid light Pacifics. Popular; old H tooling, air smoothed case makes it easy to hide the electronic gubbins, smoke reserves etc. Also an iconic design.

 

Edit: having pondered, I'm not wholly convinced there will be another Black Label release. Lot of Dapol's plate at the moment.

David

If the problems encountered with the A4 in a number of posts are relatively minor and if it has indeed sold well then I can see no reason why they should not plan production of another "high end" model.A personal choice for me would be the Princess Royal LMS/LMR 8P which is long overdue a newly tooled model IMHO..It would be nice if a model could be produced in cooperation with the PMR Trust .That might be a fruitful fund raising project ? Then,that's 100% speculation and pipe dreaming on my part although it is a nice thought.

 

I thought long and hard about the A4 but eventually decided against it because it seemed to me to have no decided advantage over Hornby's excellent well proven model of which I have more than a few.Smoke,sound and lights do not concern me anyway as I am "strictly dc analogue". 6203/46203 would have me reaching for the plastic.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Ian Hargrave

[adb968008]

If the problems encountered with the A4 in a number of posts are relatively minor and if it has indeed sold well then I can see no reason why they should not plan production of another "high end" model.A personal choice for me would be the Princess Royal LMS/LMR 8P which is long overdue a newly tooled model IMHO..It would be nice if a model could be produced in cooperation with the PMR Trust .That might be a fruitful fund raising project ? Then,that's 100% speculation and pipe dreaming on my part although it is a nice thought.

 

I thought long and hard about the A4 but eventually decided against it because it seemed to me to have no decided advantage over Hornby's excellent well proven model of which I have more than a few.Smoke,sound and lights do not concern me anyway as I am "strictly dc analogue". 6203/46203 would have me reaching for the plastic.

Agree, but the back of my mind taunts me that Hornby may have a new princess in their sights, I wouldn't be surprised if they turbo'd that Princess too. A rebuilt WC from Dapol could be a winner or something smaller /affordable like a Pannier or Jinty.

The ultimate Class 55 Deltic might be a popular choice too, they were well known for "exhausting" their gasses.

Edited April 9, 2017 by adb968008

[Hilux5972]

Perhaps an option could be the top Express engines from each of the Big Four?

[Clearwater]

Don't forget though that this is a completely different class of model. RTR with smoke, sound, lights, and much metal construction. There was already 3 A4 locos available on the market, with Hornbys fantastic one leading the sales, and Dapols really seems to have sold well.

I hadn't... as wasDJM's (the ultimate oo king iirc). I agree that wasn't going to have lights, flickering firebox smoke etc but was pitching itself as a quality step above the Hornby offering.

 

I'd wager the market for A4s is the largest of any steam outline loco hence the choice. I've taken a good long look at one, at ally pally, and like Ian,I've come down against buying one. The best of the gimmicks is the smoke and I don't think smoke scales well. I'd rather spend a similar sum on a secondhand Hornby live steam that produces real steam (and also has fantastic haulage capability). Incidentally live steams second choice was thea1/a3. If there were a second black label loco, that might be a shrewd bet.

 

David

[micklner]

I wonder how many Dapol have actually sold, has it been a success, the very few that have appeared on here does make me wonder. After their recent cut backs on other items, will any other "Black label" items ever appear in the near future.

[jjb1970]

This is pure conjecture on my part based on nothing at all but I suspect most of these will have gone to collectors so the fact they haven't stimulated more discussion on a board like this may not be especially significant for Dapol. I guess the answer will be given if they go ahead with more Black Range models, certainly it's a bold move and I hope they did well with the A4. There is a space for models of this kind (whether it's big enough to make financial sense in OO I don't know), the Black Range is essentially pretty much the same concept as what ESU have been doing in HO for a while and not that far removed in some ways from the Broadway Limited brass-hybrid concept. Actually, I'd like it if Dapol or another took the next step and did a brass-hybrid model.

[JSpencer]

Agree, but the back of my mind taunts me that Hornby may have a new princess in their sights, I wouldn't be surprised if they turbo'd that Princess too. A rebuilt WC from Dapol could be a winner or something smaller /affordable like a Pannier or Jinty.

The ultimate Class 55 Deltic might be a popular choice too, they were well known for "exhausting" their gasses.

I think a rebuilt Merchant Navy would be a great choice given the age Hornby's model now. However could they improve the smoke to match what the Germans are doing, with smoke coming out from under the front of the loco. Or go one better with smoke coming from the whistle and safe valves as well....

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

So what would people like to see as the next Black Label loco? Personally my wish would be for a GWR King.

 What would be informative is if anyone knows the smallest RTR HO loco that has a matching feature set.

 

Very simply fitting the extra kit inside is made easier if the body shell is as capacious as possible, and the A4 offers that. The other internally very roomy prototype that shares the exact same driving wheelbase is the streamlined Princess Coronation. That would probably be the lowest cost option for exploiting the existing mechanism to produce a different  model, since it should fit as it stands.

[GreenGiraffe22]

So what would people like to see as the next Black Label loco? Personally my wish would be for a GWR King.

I'd love something Southern, preferably ex LBSC or SECR but I imagine for now they'll stick to record breakers and famous locos?

 

The only 'famous' loco of Southern region pre-grouping era I can think of is Stepney :') certainly wouldn't be opposed to a Terrier mind.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

What! The Stirling class F 4-4-0 and Stroudley 'Gladstone' 0-4-2's surely? The former the clear ancestor of Wainwright and Maunsell's very successful 4-4-0 development for the SECR and SR, and the Gladstone type as improbable as it was successful.

[Dominion]

I found a CV setting this morning that improves the running of my Black Label A4. 

 

The loco always ran well on 128 speed steps, but I usually use 28 speed steps on my NCE system and in that mode there was a noticeable step change as the loco accelerated or decelerated through multiple speed steps and each speed step change. The manual refers to a CV120 which is Speed Step Smoothing. It turns out LOWER values increase the smoothing effect, not higher. So I dropped the value of CV120 to 8, then 6, then 4 with steadily improving results.

Now the loco is as smooth through speed step transitions on the 28 speed step setting as it was on 128.

 

I hope this is of help to any others who were experiencing the same thing.  Dapol technical service were helpful in finding this solution.

Tom

[Mel_H]

Although this topics appears to be dormant, I'll try a post anyway...

 

I've got a secondhand Black Label A4, but it doesn't have any instructions. I contacted Dapol for a spare, or even just a PDF and they responded: "Sorry but there were only 1 booklet per model produced and, as we are now out of the Black Label Models we do not have any

Booklets left, sorry."

 

Does anyone have an instruction book, if so, would they be prepared to scan/photograph it for me please? My model doesn't have smoke (it's been binned by the previous owner).

And no, the seller didn't have the instructions either...!

[Dominion]

I can look for mine tomorrow for you