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New OO gauge Class 73


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My, that is all a bit extreme. Don’t forget that a relatively few moans on here may actually represent and even smaller percentage of sales. Other models that have slated by a few have been reported as having little by way of returns. He didn’t say no problems did he? So perhaps there have only been a few issues, that have now been resolved.

 

Also, trolling Dapol seemed to amuse a few posters a while ago, which may have biased the view.

 

As for me, I love mine.

 

Roy

 

I had to return 3 Dapol 73's and swop them for just one in the GBrF livery, for which the lemony yellow warning panel is passable but I lost my pre-order discount as a result, as well as two way postage fees. I was going to pre order the Class 68 DRS and it looks like I dodged a bullet there. I still have a Ltd edition Class 121 on order and I am nervous about the current problems of the packaging damaging the paint around the cabs.

Despite the excellent Class 08  in O gauge I am no longer going to pre-order from Dapol

 

once bitten - twice shy

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To be honest I haven't bought anything brand new from Dapol since the days of David Boyle.

 

I was also contemplating the two models mentioned above though (DRC and Class 73). So a bit of reading is in order then....

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

It's a good model but the first batch was let down by inexplicably poor quality control on the livery- the next batch promises good things. Save yourself the trouble of reading 100+ pages and buy from the 2nd batch!

Personally I think the Network Rail yellow ltd editions are attractively priced but it may be a gamble to pre order - hopefully Dapol will have ironed out the problems. 

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To be honest I haven't bought anything brand new from Dapol since the days of David Boyle.

 

I was also contemplating the two models mentioned above though (DRC and Class 73). So a bit of reading is in order then....

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

They've moved on a bit since the 150 and Pendolino..... (The 155 was passable at the time)

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They've moved on a bit since the 150 and Pendolino.....

Those are strong contenders for the list of worse models since standards improved in the mid 1970s although I think the mid 80s Hornby Princess Royal Pacific takes some beating; the classic example of using as many already available parts to make something that is definitely not right

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It's a good model but the first batch was let down by inexplicably poor quality control on the livery- the next batch promises good things. Save yourself the trouble of reading 100+ pages and buy from the 2nd batch!

Personally I think the Network Rail yellow ltd editions are attractively priced but it may be a gamble to pre order - hopefully Dapol will have ironed out the problems.

I think that's a fair summary. I really thought that Dapol did a superb job in terms of capturing the look of the Class 73 and the model has some superb detailing. Unfortunately the first set of releases was blighted by some niggly QC, odd colour and livery issues but the underlying model is excellent. If Dapol correct those issues the model will be a winner.

Unfortunately this is something Dapol need to get a grip of as they seem to have a habit of tooling up superb models and then releasing them for sale with avoidable problems. Their Class 68 is wonderful, but the livery error on the DRS version was quite glaring. If they correct that then Dapol could compete with the best as they are capable of producing models which match any other OO models in terms of fidelity to prototype and nice detailing.

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  • 3 months later...

Following a thorough read of this thread and an impending show I decided to tackle my Intercity 73102 properly.

I had previously corrected the lower Intercity white to beige and also changed the roof colour some months ago from black. However I didn't touch the bodyside black or warning panel yellow as I thought I could live with it.

After leaving the model alone for a while, I decided to tackle the pickups this week using Temeraire's method and am pleased to report much smoother and reliable running.

I then also had to sort out my DCC sound installation as I had a vibration caused by the speaker rattling on the cab/headcode wiring when the body was on (custom build speaker enclosure which I made too tall!)

Annoyingly in sorting this out, I've chipped away some of the paint on the roof, so this needs redoing. Also a number of grilles popped out, and my not very careful gluing needs covering up.

I then thought, I may as well correct the black whilst I am here, so the model is currently masked up awaiting spraying.

I know that the black should be executive dark grey, but what colour was the roof? 

Pictures on Flickr seem to show various different colours which is most likely down to weathering/lighting/camera, but does anyone know what it should be? If its also Exec Dark Grey this is a great help as the airbrush only needs to be filled once!

I will then attack the warning panel yellow, and also thinking of adding a Replica headlight to each end to model a loco from around 1991 with the orange cantrail too. 73103 seems a good candidate as it is unnamed and remained in Intercity livery for the duration of my modelling period.

 

post-8166-0-18822800-1517173783_thumb.jpg

 

Note I have ambitiously masked the double arrows in hope I don't need to buy any transfers! The printed nameplates have yet to be rubbed away.

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I routinely mask the arrows on the Large Logo liveried class 50's I've renumbered, a single piece of clear masking film & gently cut around the edge with scalpel & steel rule.

Saved me buying about 30 sets of arrows so far !!

 

Cheers,

Phil.

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Looking forward to the result Rich, I am doing 73136 "Kent Youth Music", in Mainline blue currently, the problem with the Dapol 73s are the grills and pretty much anything that's glued in come off too easily due to lack of glue, but at least its easily to disassemble for painting

 

NL

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I know that the black should be executive dark grey, but what colour was the roof? 

 

I will then attack the warning panel yellow, and also thinking of adding a Replica headlight to each end to model a loco from around 1991 with the orange cantrail too. 73103 seems a good candidate as it is unnamed and remained in Intercity livery for the duration of my modelling period.

 

Hi Rich

 

As I mentioned on the other thread I believe the roof to be the same as the bodysides and it certainly is on my model, which as you say makes painting easier. If you look at page 31 of the Tidworth thread, I painted orange along the top which I then masked for spraying to create the cantrail stripe and I didn't bother with a headlight after looking at pics of the period, as they seemed to be added a bit later on.

Edited by Temeraire
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Hi Rich

 

As I mentioned on the other thread I believe the roof to be the same as the bodysides and it certainly is on my model, which as you say makes painting easier. If you look at page 31 of the Tidworth thread, I painted orange along the top which I then masked for spraying to create the cantrail stripe and I didn't bother with a headlight after looking at pics of the period, as they seemed to be added a bit later on.

Yes it was your initial repaint of 73102 that inspired me to sort out the roof and Intercity beige, I thought a full strip and repaint at the time was a bit drastic, but by the time it's done the only original livery elements will be the red and white stripes !!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Considering the effort Dapol went to in order to sort out the livery errors on the Class 68, I am surprised they have not done the same with the 73. I sent back my BR blue models but have kept the GBRF one, as the warning panel is acceptable against the glare of the other colours...but please Dapol, can you at least send us two windscreen wipers - you know I would even pay for them?

Edited by letterspider
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Considering the effort Dapol went to in order to sort out the livery errors on the Class 68, I am surprised they have not done the same with the 73. I sent back my BR blue models but have kept the GBRF one, as the warning panel is acceptable against the glare of the other colours...but please Dapol, can you at least send us two windscreen wipers - you know I would even pay for them?

Look here....

http://www.dccsupplies.com/search/results/?search=Wiper

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Considering the effort Dapol went to in order to sort out the livery errors on the Class 68, I am surprised they have not done the same with the 73. I sent back my BR blue models but have kept the GBRF one, as the warning panel is acceptable against the glare of the other colours...but please Dapol, can you at least send us two windscreen wipers - you know I would even pay for them?

 

Saw some 73s in a display case at Dapol HQ today. All three were weathered - two blue "E" numbered locos and one in InterCity livery. The paint jobs were very authentic and beautifully applied, particularly the three pieces grille on the lower bodyside of the InterCity one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It took a little longer than I would have liked but I managed to finish off my re-spray of 73102 into 73103. Black corrected to Exec Dark Grey and the lower white to Exec Light Grey/Beige. The masked double arrows turned out surprisingly well.

 

post-8166-0-66922400-1520983017_thumb.jpg

post-8166-0-29377800-1520983021_thumb.jpg

 

I ran out of time before the Basingstoke show, but next steps are to add a headlight and orange cantrail for running up to 1999.

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It took a little longer than I would have liked but I managed to finish off my re-spray of 73102 into 73103. Black corrected to Exec Dark Grey and the lower white to Exec Light Grey/Beige. The masked double arrows turned out surprisingly well.

 

attachicon.gif20180313_215001.jpg

attachicon.gif20180313_215023.jpg

 

I ran out of time before the Basingstoke show, but next steps are to add a headlight and orange cantrail for running up to 1999.

Superb work on your ED sir. Looks much better.

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It's all gone quiet regarding the new liveries, nothing on the Dapol Digest but Hattons have them listed as due between April and June.

 

Speaking of Hattons they have taken on stock of the Olivias Trains Limited Edition 73's and have them at a reasonable price (£99), does anyone know if the Gatwick Express livery is correct on 73207?   EDIT - looking back at this thread it looks like the answer is no!

Edited by Red Fox
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