Dapol Mark 1 coaches?

[Hal Nail]

7 hours ago, brossard said:

I quite like the carmine and cream livery.  Were any of these left in the early 60s?

 

John

First book I picked up had one behind a king in August '62.

[brossard]

Ha!  I'm thinking of getting one in C&C and one in maroon.  Sounds like the plan is feasible.

 

Thanks

 

John

[Airport2010]

17 hours ago, deltic17 said:

Yes a nice effort but too high in my eyes.

 

I am prepared to wait as Dapol are probably going to clean up with these latest Mk1's. I'm in no rush and in particular, I need the ones with the later window surrounds. 

Yes I agree they’re a tad on the lofty side, so I try to look at them only from above!

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, brossard said:

Ha!  I'm thinking of getting one in C&C and one in maroon.  Sounds like the plan is feasible.

 

Thanks

 

John

I think rule 1 applies here but an overall observation from my books  is mk1s tended to be in rakes on mainline (c1958 more than half c &c, c 1960 clearly much more maroon) whereas absolutely all sorts other than mk1s on secondary routes.

[brossard]

Righto.  My layout is (or will be) a secondary route.

 

John

[TheSignalEngineer]

21 hours ago, brossard said:

I quite like the carmine and cream livery.  Were any of these left in the early 60s?

 

John

The mk1s built in 1956 and turned out in that livery wouldn't have been due a full repaint until about 1962/3, so up to then you would be quite safe to have them around. It's just a matter of selecting the correct types from that time. 

[Marshall5]

18 hours ago, brossard said:

Righto.  My layout is (or will be) a secondary route.

 

John

In the early 60's (say up to 1963) most secondary routes would still be served by carriages designed by the Big 4 companies.

Ray.

[brossard]

Yes, but then I would have to build them, since there are no RTR LNER coaches that I am aware of.  I do have two Gresleys to finish but easier to buy these.

 

John

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi John, next year should see the Teak Gresley coaches from Hattons. I know there are issues with the drop lights on these. Darstead have got some Thompson's in the design stage. 

Cheers, Ade.

[brossard]

Thanks Adrian.  I did see the announcement about the Thompsons.  They look really fine, a pair of those would be nice once the arrive.  Forgot about the Gresleys, these are by Heljan and will be in C&C and maroon looks like.  Mk 1 coaches are available now from Ellis Clark but I'll wait a bit longer for the Dapols.

 

Oh dear, we are about to be inundated by RTR coaches.  The problem now is kit builds I have in the pipeline may never get finished.

 

John

Edited December 1, 2019 by brossard

[Bulleidnutter]

My issue with the mark 1s from what I saw at Warley was the square cornered of the later aluminium window frames. Darstaed have managed to get it close to right. The other little detail is the lack of capping strip that seems to be missing on any Mark 1 offering. Its an easy fix with either some brass or plasticard but for the price something quite prominent as the capping strip either side of the doors should be there from the outset. 

 

The interiors of the Darstaed ones do seem more refined with little things like brass luggage racks. 

 

 

[deltic17]

On 01/12/2019 at 21:23, Bulleidnutter said:

My issue with the mark 1s from what I saw at Warley was the square cornered of the later aluminium window frames. Darstaed have managed to get it close to right. The other little detail is the lack of capping strip that seems to be missing on any Mark 1 offering. Its an easy fix with either some brass or plasticard but for the price something quite prominent as the capping strip either side of the doors should be there from the outset. 

 

The interiors of the Darstaed ones do seem more refined with little things like brass luggage racks. 

 

 

So they had samples of the aluminium framed versions at Warley did they? I must have missed that.

it would be interesting to see a photo if anyone has one.

Lets hope the frames are modelled correctly in production otherwise a missed opportunity. Hopefully any errors have been pointed out to them and if so Dapol seem pretty good at going back and correcting etc.

[Captain Cuttle]

On 30/11/2019 at 16:23, Airport2010 said:

Yes I agree they’re a tad on the lofty side, so I try to look at them only from above!

The bogies are riding too high or the sides are to high?

Alan

[Hal Nail]

42 minutes ago, Captain Cuttle said:

The bogies are riding too high or the sides are to high?

Alan

Covered at length on the Darstead thread 

[Captain Cuttle]

Just the springs on the bogies then.

[uk_pm]

4 hours ago, Captain Cuttle said:

Just the springs on the bogies then.

... and, sadly, the shape of the roof.  

[Captain Cuttle]

Is it  very noticeable?

[Hal Nail]

25 minutes ago, Captain Cuttle said:

Is it  very noticeable?

I risk being shot down by Darsteads many fans here but something about them just doesnt look quite right to me. I haven't bothered to analyse exactly what as I prefer what I've seen of Dapols. Far more variants available from Darstead if you want a whole rake though.

 

Without meaning to be facetious, if you like the look of something, why worry what anyone else thinks? No model is perfect; surely what matters (aside from price) is whether it captures the key attributes that you remember in something?

Edited December 4, 2019 by Hal Nail

[Captain Cuttle]

I am not concerned what other people say it was just the mention of them riding too high which as i found out is the springs on the cw bogies but do the B1 bogies also ride too high  i wonder? Then someone mentioned roof shape! For me having built a lot of coach kits for many years i dont want to do that any more and have a couple of the Heljan mk 1s which are okay, couple of issues so wondered how the Darstaed would look next to them. I dont go to shows much these days so other than reviews havent seen them in the flesh, hence the questions.

 

Alan

[Airport2010]

1 hour ago, Captain Cuttle said:

I am not concerned what other people say it was just the mention of them riding too high which as i found out is the springs on the cw bogies but do the B1 bogies also ride too high  i wonder? Then someone mentioned roof shape! For me having built a lot of coach kits for many years i dont want to do that any more and have a couple of the Heljan mk 1s which are okay, couple of issues so wondered how the Darstaed would look next to them. I dont go to shows much these days so other than reviews havent seen them in the flesh, hence the questions.

 

Alan

Hi Alan

i have a total of 10 Darstaed Mk1 vehicles and here’s my overview...

 

The original issue: TSO; CK etc were (and still are) absolutely sublime runners due to their brass sides, position adjustable Kadee couplers and overall weight. I had a rake of 7 vehicles and ironically the only loco that can’t pull them is my JLTRT Class 50 as it has insufficient weight to avoid wheel spin.
 

Since buying them Ellis Clark has organised the issuing of shorter springs which has lowered the entire rake by about 2mm. Ideally they’d be a tad lower still, so as to be noticeably lower than the diesel loco pulling them, but I can live with that as they’re delightful in all other respects.

 

The more recent BG’s with the B1 bogie have a different issue. There are no removable springs, and so with prototypical diameter wheels fitted they certainly are too high. I’ve chosen to overcome this by swapping the larger wheels for smaller but incorrect ones which have removed the height issue.

 

Not everyone could live with the above situation, but I enjoy watching a running rake from a distance and not through a magnifying glass, so I’m very happy with mine.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Cheers Phil

[Bulleidnutter]

21 hours ago, deltic17 said:

So they had samples of the aluminium framed versions at Warley did they? I must have missed that.

it would be interesting to see a photo if anyone has one.

Lets hope the frames are modelled correctly in production otherwise a missed opportunity. Hopefully any errors have been pointed out to them and if so Dapol seem pretty good at going back and correcting etc.

There wasnt the later style of frame but there was a square edged moulding which was apparent around the windows. 

 

The shame is Easybuilds roof to body join isnt that great. If someone could come up with a U section that matches a Mark 1, it would improve them massively. 

[Hal Nail]

39 minutes ago, Bulleidnutter said:

...there was a square edged moulding which was apparent around the windows. 

 

You can see it in the photo posted on here on August 6th (top of previous page). I presume is something to do with tooling for both types.

[Hal Nail]

On 03/12/2019 at 17:35, Captain Cuttle said:

Just the springs on the bogies then.

I had a good look at the Darsteads at Reading trade show today. Dapol dont attend unfortunately. The door outlines were only painted on, the hinges are either very low relief or printed, no door stops and handles are low relief as well. Additionally the handrails seemed over scale. I know these have their fans but for me, even ignoring the ride height etc, the Easybuild at the same show were significantly better representations and I'm hoping Dapol are a notch up again.

 

Just my view obviously although the Darstead/Ellis Clark rep said they made the later suburbans to a higher standard in response to feedback on the mk1s.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Hal Nail

[CME and Bottlewasher]

On 04/12/2019 at 13:10, Bulleidnutter said:

There wasnt the later style of frame but there was a square edged moulding which was apparent around the windows. 

 

The shame is Easybuilds roof to body join isnt that great. If someone could come up with a U section that matches a Mark 1, it would improve them massively. 

The 'later' window frames were a repair, in effect, so as to help resolve (patch repair?) early corrosion issues.

[SVR C & W]

20 hours ago, CME and Bottlewasher said:

The 'later' window frames were a repair, in effect, so as to help resolve (patch repair?) early corrosion issues.

The frames also caused their own problems. You've got aluminum frames with soft steel rivets into galvanised steel. If the rubber seal around the window isn't bedded in properly the frames held the water and rotted the corners.