Dapol 121 and 122 dmus in O gauge

[Keith J]

Yes you do need to trim the legs to get passengers to fit properly and if you intend to fit a driver that involves even more drastic surgery! There was an article in the Model Rail magazine earlier this year that explained how to dismantle the model in order to fit passengers and removal of cab interior to fit the driver and the amount of surgery required.

[John R Smith]

 I have always been very undecided about the whole business of populating carriages and DMUs. On the one hand, if you do not then your trains are always running empty and driverless. But somehow it seems troubling to me to always have the same passengers sitting in the same seats on every journey. And what do you do about the driver on a bubble car (or railbus)? For 50% of the time he will be gazing out of the wrong (rear) cab - or do we have a driver in both cabs, which almost seems worse?

 

Here is Brenda Pascoe waiting for the 12.45 pm to Tregarrick Road on platform 3 at Ponteglos. When the train arrives, I surreptitiously remove Brenda so that when the DMU pulls out she appears to have boarded the train. But to be correct, I should now be able to look through the window and see her seated in the saloon. Perhaps I should have a duplicate Brenda hologram which can be switched on via a function button on my controller? Ah well, there is still a long way to go for complete realism . . .

 

 

[natterjack]

7 minutes ago, John R Smith said:

a duplicate Brenda hologram

Years ago- too many to recall details, I was shown a coach with flip up peopled interiors (a la picture book/gift card tradition) which actually looked pretty convincing at a decent viewing distance. More of an  'action toy' than scale model approach but impressive nonetheless.

[Keith J]

3 hours ago, John R Smith said:

 And what do you do about the driver on a bubble car (or railbus)? For 50% of the time he will be gazing out of the wrong (rear) cab - or do we have a driver in both cabs, which almost seems worse?

 

I know what you mean, it's about time we had a DCC function to pop up a driver facing the direction of travel and not just to change the lights. Maybe one day.

[Night Train]

Lenz V60, watch the driver at 1:40 - 2:25

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Night Train

[neal]

A number of Lenz locos have these features, along with automatic couplings.

 

A&H Models (Brackley) have a host of videos of continental O Scale models.  

 

 

 

Personally I would prioritise other features (such as exhaust smoke) above ‘pop-up’ drivers.  The latter will inevitably compromise cab detail to accommodate any mechanism, and unless the driver figures are well detailed/painted these can look toy-like.

 

If you do get distracted by the videos on the A&H channel, check out the operating crane, very nice and possibly modifiable into a British version….tempted!

 

 

N

[meatloaf]

I recieved a dcc fitted class 121 from hattons yesterday.

 

Sadly its had to go back as its lurched forward - stopped - lurched forwards - stops over and over.. 

 

It was also making a very grindy noise. 

 

Ive opted for a refund. I wouldve liked to try another but since hattons dont supply prepaid returns labels ive had to pay out £15+ to return it. They did say they would cover the cost of the cheapest 2nd class option to send it back. But i didnt feel happy sending back a heavy large parcel worth almost £300 by standard post with only £20 cover. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by meatloaf

[Hal Nail]

13 hours ago, meatloaf said:

I recieved a dcc fitted class 121 from hattons yesterday.

 

Sadly its had to go back as its lurched forward - stopped - lurched forwards - stops over and over.. 

 

It was also making a very grindy noise. 

 

Ive opted for a refund. I wouldve liked to try another but since hattons dont supply prepaid returns labels ive had to pay out £15+ to return it. They did say they would cover the cost of the cheapest 2nd class option to send it back. But i didnt feel happy sending back a heavy large parcel worth almost £300 by standard post with only £20 cover. 

 

Not covering the return would be poor but if they are happy for it to be sent 2nd class its their risk and if you get proof of postage then I wouldn't pay extra personally.

 

I had a class 45 from Tower which was a poor runner. They sent out a replacement the day I rang and another courier to collect mine, all free.

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Hal Nail

[neal]

Hatton’s used to issue pre-paid returns labels, I’ve used them a couple of times with no problem…has this changed?

 

N

Edited September 19, 2022 by neal

[meatloaf]

5 hours ago, neal said:

Hatton’s used to issue pre-paid returns labels, I’ve used them a couple of times with no problem…has this changed?

 

N

Mustve done, i sent a 14XX back a few years ago and im pretty certain that was a prepaid collect plus label. 

 

They did say that they would cover basic 2nd class post - basically the cheapest option. I asked for a prepaid label mainly because if it goes missing its thier problem as they are the ones with the contract with RM. If i post its me with the problem as the sender. They did say dont worry just get a proof of postage - but thats very basic and it lacks the type of item handed over - ie parcel, letter, large letter etc and crucially it dosent have the wieght on it.

[muddys-blues]

I sent a faulty 121 one back in July, they sent me a print off label, to go with a courier, Parcels2Go, IIRC ? And even offered to post a label to me, if I didn’t have the print facilities.

 

i took it along to the nearest Parcels2Go place to me, which was a Garage, all sorted fine and dandy, no problems, refunded within a week.

 

Best regards

Craig 

[John R Smith]

It seems to me that there have been far too many faulty and poor running Dapol Class 121 / 122 railcars. My own 122 was a very poor runner under DC, and I had to resort to the well known trick of removing one motor and running on just one power bogie. Even then, because the bogie is so high-geared, slow speed running was still hesitant and uncertain if there was any gradient or sharp curve involved.

You would have thought that excellent mechanical performance would be a given these days, especially in O gauge where there is so much room for motors and gears. Fifty years ago, I had far better performance and slow speed running from my CCW M7 that I built from a kit with a Pitman motor  -

 

 

[MarkC]

21 minutes ago, John R Smith said:

It seems to me that there have been far too many faulty and poor running Dapol Class 121 / 122 railcars. My own 122 was a very poor runner under DC, and I had to resort to the well known trick of removing one motor and running on just one power bogie. Even then, because the bogie is so high-geared, slow speed running was still hesitant and uncertain if there was any gradient or sharp curve involved.

 

This topic is of interest to me, as although I don't model in O gauge, a good friend has asked me to have a look at his Dapol Class 121 because of its poor running. My first thought, on being told that it has 2 motors, was that it was possible that the motors are working against each other to an extent, and I do plan to remove one motor & see what happens, having first eliminated things like poor pickups, dirty wheels etc. What other solutions have people tried, please, and did any of them work?

[muddys-blues]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

This topic is of interest to me, as although I don't model in O gauge, a good friend has asked me to have a look at his Dapol Class 121 because of its poor running. My first thought, on being told that it has 2 motors, was that it was possible that the motors are working against each other to an extent, and I do plan to remove one motor & see what happens, having first eliminated things like poor pickups, dirty wheels etc. What other solutions have people tried, please, and did any of them work?

Mark, I have a 122 unit, I bought it cheap from Hattons pre-owned as a poor runner, I found in one of the motors, the spindle shaft has excessive back and forth travel, so much so it was getting excessively hot, so something is amiss inside.

 

i have taken the motor out, the unit runs fines on the other motor.

 

Best regards

Craig 

 

[37114]

2 hours ago, MarkC said:

This topic is of interest to me, as although I don't model in O gauge, a good friend has asked me to have a look at his Dapol Class 121 because of its poor running. My first thought, on being told that it has 2 motors, was that it was possible that the motors are working against each other to an extent, and I do plan to remove one motor & see what happens, having first eliminated things like poor pickups, dirty wheels etc. What other solutions have people tried, please, and did any of them work?

Another vote for taking a motor out. I had really poor slow speed running on mine and could see that the bogies were fighting each other. I took a motor out (10 minute job) and the difference was massive. The motor is quite highly geared as @John R Smith says which doesn't help especially when mine only runs in and out of a platform not much longer than the unit itself, a proper can motor and gearbox above the bogie concealed in the brake compartment would have been much better.

 

I don't get why O gauge manufacturers go down the route of 2 motor bogies, (I had a similar issue with a Heljan class 37 and it runs fine on one motor) as a massive central motor driving through drive shafts as per the 4mm Diesels would be a much smoother job.

[meatloaf]

I probably will try another but ill wait until i can try one in a shop. Were due to go Yorkshire in october so plenty of shops to choose from, both in yorkshire and if i take a detour via sheffield :)

[meatloaf]

Just to update hattons have refunded plus the postage cost sp happy its resolved.

 

Ive took the plunge and ordered one from Rails this time and sent an email to ask if they can test run it before they send it. So hopefully i get a good one this time :)

[meatloaf]

My one from Rails arrived today and it runs a lot better so its a keeper, although still a but grindy at low speed. 

 

Just a seat loose inside but ill fix that back when i get the body off which i hope will be fairly easy.

[John R Smith]

The body comes off with just four screws to remove. Watch out for the exhaust pipes! But there are no wires to worry about because of very clever spring-loaded contacts inside.

 

Mine had a loose partition and a window grille floating around, so there you go . . .

 

 

[APT Fan]

Hi,

I have a Class 121 Blue Grey part number 7D-009-003 and it seems to be a smooth runner. As per the manual, I've installed the recommended Dapol Imperium 3 decoder and despite the baffling instructions I think I have all of the lighting functions working now. However I find the cab lighting and interior lighting very dim, particularly the interior lighting - I can't even tell it is on! I'm surprised as they've only used 4.7K load resistors by the looks of it, so is there CV setting that might help improve the brightness?

Also there is no headcode lighting as the LEDs haven't been fitted at locations D1 and D2 - I assume this is by design rather than an oversight?

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by APT Fan

[Hal Nail]

11 hours ago, APT Fan said:

Also there is no headcode lighting as the LEDs haven't been fitted at locations D1 and D2 - I assume this is by design rather than an oversight?

They had the headcodes removed (usually plated over) by the time they got blue grey 

[muddys-blues]

Hello, I probably like many others have just received notification from Rails that the new rerun of Dapol O gauge bubbles have landed, one or two caught my eye for my chosen modelling eras.

 

for those interested in these units, the blue grey class 122 unit M55005 looks interesting, are they really going to model it when it ran with class 121 exhausts ? looks promising when zooming in on the Dapol stock list picture. 

 

from Railcar.co.uk copyright Sturt Mackay collection

 

Dapol website 

 

In the product description Dapol have noted improved drivetrain running, so let’s see what they have come up with, personally I just remove one of the motors.

 

I have it planned to do this unit when it moved to LA and ended up with black windscreen surrounds as P105

 

Happy modelling

Craig 

Edited yesterday at 08:11 by muddys-blues