Are these Dapol open wagons in "a similar league" to current Bachmann and Oxford ones?

[flockandroll]

Hi, I am wondering about particular Dapol wagons such as these

https://railsofsheffield.com/groups/3295/advent-calendar-day-11

How do they compare to current Bachmann and Oxford offerings? Are they "in a similar league"?

ie are they dimensionally accurate versions of a particular prototype? Details? Brakes etc? Liveries (fanciful/from an earlier era/accurate)? Running abilities (weight/wheels/droopy couplers)? 

Have to confess I have tended to steer clear of Dapol (and Hornby) opens so far... 

Thanks

[The Johnster]

AFAIK they are dimensionally close enough to scale, and the liveries are real, accurate, and well applied.  Now for the bad news; I have had nowt but trouble with Dapol wheels and with thier droopy NEM couplings, and many of their chassis have moulded brake handles; they are not up to the standard of current Bachmann or Oxford in this respect.  Replacement with Baccy or Hornby wheels and Bachmann NEM couplings with Parkside coupling mounts cures the running problems, but the handbrake lever is harder to address.  I only buy Dapol wagons when there is as specific prototype that I want, such as the 21T double door GW steel mineral, and in the knowledge that I am going to replace the wheels and couplings.

 

The majority of my RTR goods and mineral stock is Bachmann and the quality is very good (should be at that price), but Bachmann are no more or less immune than anyone else to getting some items wrong and not retooling.  Their 16T steel minerals are peerless, but the LMS cattle wagon is sold in an incorrect/generic LNER livery and is on an incorrectly wheelbased chassis as an LMS model.  The LMS sliding door van is dimensionally inaccurate and proportionally wrong; there are no doubt other dogs in the range!  I am suspicious of PO liveries, which may be correct but are often on generic RCH wagons that are not correct for that livery; I suspect all manufacturers are guilty of this.  It's almost inevitable given the huge range of XPO 7 plank minerals in reality, and would push the cost up more than the market would bear to produce correct wagons for all  the liveries. The answere is not to do most of the liveries, but the demand is persistent for them.

 

I have no problem with Hornbys' xmas, Father's day etc wagons so long as they don't claim to be accurate models of anything.  Hornbys' non-railroad 'serious' wagons are pretty good, but the 16T mineral, like Dapols', is stretched to fit an incorrect generic 10' wheelbase chassis; stay away!

 

Nobody produces an accurate RTR GW 5-plank open that is not a china clay wagon (which doesn't prevent them supplying 5-plankers in GW livery), a major gap in the market unless you are ok with the Parkside kit.  Parksides are pretty good quality but can be difficult to ballast effectively if you want to run them as empties.

 

Dapol do separate chassis and unpainted bodies; avoid the chassis, but the unpainted bodies are cheap and fine to put on Parkside chassis.  For BR period, John Isherwood of this very parish supplies transfers for them under the Cambridge Custom Transfers label.

[Wheatley]

Those look comparable in terms of level of detail and finish but whether they are accurate for what the real Messrs Telling and Bramley were actually running is another matter. Beware the 10' wb / 17'6" long wagons still in Dapol's range pretending to be 9' / 16'6" minerals, those are more directly comparable with 1980s Lima but from the photos I don't think these are they. The last couple of Dapol wagons I bought had decent wheels but they've certainly had some ... er ... interesting flange profiles in the past. 

[HonestTom]

For me, the big problems are the wheels and the couplings which, as @The Johnster noted, have a tendency to droop. I have a few Dapol wagons and with weathering, they look fine next to more detailed wagons.

[Nick Holliday]

2 hours ago, The Johnster said:

AFAIK they are dimensionally close enough to scale, and the liveries are real, accurate, and well applied. 

One problem with Dapol PO liveries is that they were (are?) reluctant to paint wooden solebars in the body colour, with the iron work picked out in black.  This was the norm with wooden framed wagons, and Bachmann and others seem to be able to do it, these days, and I think it makes a tremendous difference to the looks of a wagon.

[spikey]

2 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 I only buy Dapol wagons when there is as specific prototype that I want ...

Same here, and then only with great reluctance.  Happily though my self-enforced period of pre-Dapol-purchase introspection and giving myself a good talking-to nearly always works and I come to my senses ...

[tomparryharry]

They are ok-ish. I run them in rakes, with 3-link couplings, and a Kadee at both ends of he rake. The Dapol can be (usually ) converted fairly simply; the Bachmann & Hornby models need a bit more 'fiddle' but can be made to work. Beware the spurious Private Owner liveries;  a bit of research is always a good thing.  I have a lot of old Mainline wagons, which I intend to re-chassis with some Ratio/Parkside 570 chassis kits. Bachmann & others sell some fairly decent wagon wheels as well. 

[Wheatley]

2 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

I have a lot of old Mainline wagons, which I intend to re-chassis with some Ratio/Parkside 570 chassis kits. Bachmann & others sell some fairly decent wagon wheels as well. 

Indeed. Any kit chassis with separate solebars (Parkside, Cambrian etc) can be glued direct to the Mainline/Airfix wagon floor on opens, it's an easy conversion. Ratio solebars with part of the floor/ side attached are a bit more of a challenge on opens but, if built on the kit floor fit inside van bodies easily enough. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Wheatley