Dapol Class 121 and 122 in OO gauge

[meatloaf]

My blue / grey one wth the stag on the front arrived today from hattons.

 

With a lais DCC decoder it ran a bit jittery ( had already run in on DC so knew it wasn't the loco )

 

Swapped it with an imperium from another loco and it runs ok now and the class 24 now runs ok with the lais chip.

[portsladepete]

Did you get a decal sheet with your blue/grey one?

[66738]

1 hour ago, portsladepete said:

Did you get a decal sheet with your blue/grey one?

My 121 55026 didn’t but both my 122’s did.
I couldn’t wait to get rid of that stag and oval buffers on 55026. Looks a lot better now.

[meatloaf]

1 hour ago, portsladepete said:

Did you get a decal sheet with your blue/grey one?

no mate but the headcode panel is blanked like the one pictured above, so it dosent light up so not needed however Ive also got a blue one with the 2 digit headcode box at the front. I didn't get one with that either even tho that needed them. I ended up paying a tenner for them from dcc supplies

Edited May 21, 2020 by meatloaf

[portsladepete]

11 hours ago, 66738 said:

My 121 55026 didn’t but both my 122’s did.
I couldn’t wait to get rid of that stag and oval buffers on 55026. Looks a lot better now.

 

[portsladepete]

How easy is it to replace the buffers? One of mine launched itself skyward when I was fitting the details, originally only found the buffer, dab of superglue to refit it, then immediately found spring and the tiniest retaining collar I’ve ever seen.

Do you put buffer and spring in first and the attach collar from the rear? If so, might have  to leave it glued, I can barely see the collar let alone fit it

 

[66738]

16 minutes ago, portsladepete said:

How easy is it to replace the buffers? One of mine launched itself skyward when I was fitting the details, originally only found the buffer, dab of superglue to refit it, then immediately found spring and the tiniest retaining collar I’ve ever seen.

Do you put buffer and spring in first and the attach collar from the rear? If so, might have  to leave it glued, I can barely see the collar let alone fit it

 

It’s a fiddly job. Suffice to say, they are no longer sprung buffers. It’s no big deal for me. They look right, and that’s all that matters to me. 
66738

[D400]

So have been reading everyone comments on loud motors and running problems and reckon I have diagnosed the problem. My motor is also getting very hot after an unreasonable period of running and this led me to believe it was being placed under unacceptable stress. Closer examination proved that there is no horizontal play in the metal cardan shafts which is putting the motor under-strain. Removing one of these proved my theory as although the motor is still getting a little hot, it is no where near as bad as it was. 

 

Hornby Bachmann etc all use plastic cardan's with a little bit of play in them as it is inevitable that motor with the fly wheels on will move laterally slightly while in use - the Hornby Class 50 and 31s even have telescopic cardan shafts to help with this problem! 

 

So a better solution I suspect will be to make new shafts, either from plastic or telescopic to solve the problem. 

 

Bruce 

[NickL2008]

On 22/05/2020 at 09:53, portsladepete said:

How easy is it to replace the buffers? One of mine launched itself skyward when I was fitting the details, originally only found the buffer, dab of superglue to refit it, then immediately found spring and the tiniest retaining collar I’ve ever seen.

Do you put buffer and spring in first and the attach collar from the rear? If so, might have  to leave it glued, I can barely see the collar let alone fit it

 

 

I replaced the ones on my 960011 model with ones from Wizard models (22" Oleos), but it was quite a job getting rid of the cast shanks off of the bufferbeam though so probably not for the faint hearted, the new ones though look much better than the Dapol Shanks anyday, a pity though as the supplied ones are decent enough

 

NL

[portsladepete]

Realise this has been covered previously, but I would like to fit drivers to each end. I have tried going through the opening behind the seats, but can’t get them seated!

I think the two screws holding the light bar should be undone and then the whole assembly comes out including the cabs, by stretching the body sides.

Would appreciate a step by step guide,(pictures would be even better),as I don’t want to damage the light bar etc.

Thanks

[BR(S)]

6 hours ago, portsladepete said:

Realise this has been covered previously, but I would like to fit drivers to each end. I have tried going through the opening behind the seats, but can’t get them seated!

I think the two screws holding the light bar should be undone and then the whole assembly comes out including the cabs, by stretching the body sides.

Would appreciate a step by step guide,(pictures would be even better),as I don’t want to damage the light bar etc.

Thanks

 

From 

The light bar is released by removing two cross-head screws.

 

The cab interiors are fixed to the light-bar and locate into slots in the body - spring the body sides apart and the cab interiors and light-bar will pull out.

 

 

[portsladepete]

Thanks, just what I was looking for and couldn’t find !! 

[Class 158 productions]

Recently ran into this problem on a 122, motor running but no movement. Trying most of the remedy’s in the chat and it doesn’t seem to be helping, any ideas, think I can still send it back. 

[cessna152towser]

I've been following this thread for a while.   I was hesitant to buy the 121 because of some of the less than fully positive comments, however £79 for the Highland Stag version from Hattons finally tempted me.  It arrived today.  Runs nicely (I even took it round the goods loop with its 2nd radius curved point and no derailments).  As others have pointed out, it does draw quite a current and the motor buzz is loud by comparison with modern Bachmann and Hornby (but nowhere near as noisy as my vintage Grafar 00 gauge 94xx tank from the 1970s.)  However I only have a small fiddle yard to branch terminus layout so the 121 is never likely to be run far and fast enough to overheat.  Overall I am quite pleased with it.

[russellwar]

Has anyone done a comparison of the Backmann and Dapol one? I understand the Dapol one is a few years old now, any pros or cons?

[Mike_Walker]

On 18/05/2020 at 21:12, portsladepete said:

How long have you had yours?  I think mine has quietened down after extensive running ,or my hearing has decided to ignore it.

Normally I would put a tiny amount of oil on the motor bearing, but Dapol have warned that this would destroy the motor ???

With the decoder fitted, it is now quite enjoyable, an awful lot of people seem to fit sound to this, wonder if some of them can’t stand the noise!

Pro: Dapol is cheaper.

Cons: How long have you got? In every way the Bachmann version wipes the floor with the Dapol one.

 

Mike

 

[stovepipe]

2 hours ago, russellwar said:

Has anyone done a comparison of the Backmann and Dapol one? I understand the Dapol one is a few years old now, any pros or cons?

 

Yes Model Rail's Chris Leigh has reviewed them all and knows the subject well.

 

Dapol Class 122 was in August 2017 issue - scored 95%

Dapol Class 121 was in March 2018 issue - scored 95%

Bachmann Class 121 was in May 2020 issue - scored 93% - a Model of the Year contender?

 

So they are all very good models, though the Bachmann is I think a little bit better, though more expensive, which explains the lower score no doubt. Bachmann has a lower floor than the Dapol one, and better underframe detail, though the Dapol one is still good. Some Dapol models have small decoration errors, but is/was available in a wider choice of liveries and as a Class 122. They both can use a 6-function decoder for lights/sound etc. The Bachmann one has drive on one bogie only, the Dapol one is all wheel drive, but some people - myself included - have had to disconnect one drive shaft to get it run smoothly. Not all require this doing. Not difficult and it runs very well now. I paid £80 for it new.

 

I will probably get a Bachmann one when they do the right livery for my era, the first batch are commonly available at £125 discounted. I doubt it is 1.5 times better than the Dapol one, but it is better.

 

[Covkid]

On 09/10/2020 at 10:37, Mike_Walker said:

Pro: Dapol is cheaper.

Cons: How long have you got? In every way the Bachmann version wipes the floor with the Dapol one.

 

Mike

 

That is fine if you want a 121, or a 117.

On the other hand, are Bachmann intending to produce the 116 and 122 ?

If not you can either butcher the Bachmann 121 into a 122, or buy a Dapol 122. 

[Zunnan]

16 hours ago, Covkid said:

That is fine if you want a 121, or a 117.

On the other hand, are Bachmann intending to produce the 116 and 122 ?

If not you can either butcher the Bachmann 121 into a 122, or buy a Dapol 122. 

 

I'm half tempted to re-chassis my two 122s with the Bachmann chassis, the only challenge then becomes retaining the lighting functionality. The Dapol chassis isn't the best, not by a long way. Having to resolder the pickup wires is a royal faff when 3 of them showed signs of being dry joints, and the less said about the mechanical resistance in the geartrain the better. I've never been happy with my 122s, and would have returned them had the shop I bought them from not closed down. Its been a constant regime of tweaks and fixes with both of them, and resoldering the wires to the top of the pickup contacts under the seating moulding is an absolute nightmare, as is stripping them down to get to that part of them. Sorry, but for me the Dapol model has been more trouble than they are worth and there is a much better model on the market now. I have mine running sort of OK after stripping out half of the drivel, but each one still draws more current than two class 117s and each motor still gets worryingly warm.

 

Having both manufacturers bubble car models and run them for some time now, if you were to put the Dapol 121/122 at £75 in front of me and the Bachmann 121 at full RRP, I'd take the Bachmann unit every single time, even if I were looking for a 122.

[Covkid]

3 hours ago, Zunnan said:

 

 Sorry, but for me the Dapol model has been more trouble than they are worth and there is a much better model on the market now. 

 

Having both manufacturers bubble car models and run them for some time now, if you were to put the Dapol 121/122 at £75 in front of me and the Bachmann 121 at full RRP, I'd take the Bachmann unit every single time, even if I were looking for a 122.

Sorry to labour the point but there isn't an RTR alternative to the Dapol 122 - unless you want to bash the Bachmann 121 or the Hornby 121.   I realise many would be happy running a 121 instead of a 122, but there isn't a better RTR model of an RTR 122 on the market at the moment.  

[Zunnan]

1 minute ago, Covkid said:

Sorry to labour the point but there isn't an RTR alternative to the Dapol 122 - unless you want to bash the Bachmann 121 or the Hornby 121.   I realise many would be happy running a 121 instead of a 122, but there isn't a better RTR model of an RTR 122 on the market at the moment.  

 

I get exactly where you are coming from, I was originally of the same persuasion. However, more out of frustration with the models I ended up with, my mind has been firmly changed.

 

I was after two class 122s rather than 121s and so bought the corresponding Dapol models. I regret doing so as with hindsight I should have waited for the Bachmann 121 and converted that. Altering the latter model will have been a considerable less bother than the numerous fixes I had to apply to the Dapol units. With stripping down the mechanism to one bogie drive and removing the gears from the deleted bogie as well as resoldering much of the pickup wiring I ended up with models which while orders of magnitude better than when I first opened their boxes; they are still vastly inferior to the performance of the Bachmann models. More simply, I could have put in much less effort to produce a 122 from a 121 than get an adequate 122 from a 122. Granted the 121 to 122 conversion isn't for everyone, but for those so inclined it will net a better running model. Aesthetics wise its a shame, as the 122 is a great looking model...the Dapol 121 slightly less so being as it has a 122 guards door handrail arrangement...

[Oldddudders]

As someone with a weakness for single-unit railcars (I have a cupboard full of French ones, none of which cost less than the current UK models) I have both Bachmann and Dapol (122) bubble cars, and find they each run on DCC as well as I would like.  I also have a Hornby bubble and a couple of Lima ones in Silverlink colours - my former employer. I am puzzled by the Wiki which says the 122s were used on the LMR, because my 1961/2 Ian Allan ABC shows both classes as having W prefixes, and I apparently saw several 122s - despite never having spotted on LMR outside London, while I certainly saw some WR trains in the South West in those days. So much for Wiki. 

[dibber25]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

As someone with a weakness for single-unit railcars (I have a cupboard full of French ones, none of which cost less than the current UK models) I have both Bachmann and Dapol (122) bubble cars, and find they each run on DCC as well as I would like.  I also have a Hornby bubble and a couple of Lima ones in Silverlink colours - my former employer. I am puzzled by the Wiki which says the 122s were used on the LMR, because my 1961/2 Ian Allan ABC shows both classes as having W prefixes, and I apparently saw several 122s - despite never having spotted on LMR outside London, while I certainly saw some WR trains in the South West in those days. So much for Wiki. 

A number of 122s which were based at Tyseley became M prefix when that depot was transferred from the Western to the LM but it was by no means all of the class, several of which stayed in the West Country. However 122s were generally quicker to get the chop from front-line service than 121s and 122s became parcels cars in Scotland, and route learners and sandite cars elsewhere. (CJL)

[Oldddudders]

Thanks, Chris. I will have seen 122s on the Withered Arm lines in the mid-sixties - I was last there in 1965, and certainly travelled from Wadebridge to Bodmin Road on one. The Tyseley thing makes absolute sense - I know a bit about Regional transfers from when the LSWR WoE mainline came back to SR in 1984, and we had to find quick ways of improving reliability!

[class37418stag]

Hello 

class 121 975042 is sandite and route learning of NSE livery ?

 

 Thank you