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N gauge Class 50


DapolDave
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10 hours ago, StuartM said:

I'd be interested to know how this model runs
I was disappointed with the Westerns which were beautiful models but had none concentric wheels leading to wobble when running

I wonder if the new class 50 is the same?


I don't see the connection at all between the Class 50 and Class 52 (apart from the number 5)? Dapol's Class 50 is part of their "new generation" models, it's also the second new generation diesel, following the superb Class 68. It's like comparing apples and pears. If you'd like to have an idea of what the Class 50 runs like, look at their Class 68 in N gauge and read up reviews on that.

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10 hours ago, StuartM said:

I'd be interested to know how this model runs
I was disappointed with the Westerns which were beautiful models but had none concentric wheels leading to wobble when running

I wonder if the new class 50 is the same?

Hi Stuart,

Just to add that although I do very much remember the issue with some (again, they surely went back for exchange?), I've seen a good few at exhibitions running faultlessly - just one layout example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrX348SmerY&app=desktop

as do my two from new.

 

Regards, Gerry.

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36 minutes ago, steam-driven boy said:

Hi Stuart,

Just to add that although I do very much remember the issue with some (again, they surely went back for exchange?), I've seen a good few at exhibitions running faultlessly - just one layout example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrX348SmerY&app=desktop

as do my two from new.

 

Regards, Gerry.

That's my layout and I can confirm that all my Westerns are fine although I did hear there were a batch of bad wheels which got fitted on some locos.  If I had a bad one I would have used one of the spare bogies that every Western comes with.

 

I picked up my 50 yesterday. Initial impressions are very good. Very smooth runner, very good slow running straight out of the box. The layout will be at TINGS this year but I'm not sure about the class 50 - it is just a few years out of the era I am running and needs just a little weathering before running on the layout at exhibitions.

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Hi 

Well postie delivered  50007 and hope to get 015 at TINGS this weekend. Also check out 50 fund for 500049 in large logo - range of options and over 1/3 sold mate a work says.  Hopefully mine not too far away, examples on display at TINGS.  I am totally broke now !! - bread and water for several months but worth it to see the model at market.    

 

Thanks to all at Dapol who persevered to pick up the early version and turn it into this lovely model.      

Robert 

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Despite being out of era I could not resist getting large logo 50040 at the weekend. I used to spend a lot of time travelling behind them on the ex LSWR route to Exeter.

 

50040 seen on railtour duty in platform 1 at Banbury yesterday at the Faversham show.

 

I may renumber it but need to see if a large logo livery one was on mainline tour duty in the past 10 years.

20190915_140811.jpg

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Thanks for the info.

Fox do 50031 'Hood' plates so these along with decals have been ordered. They don't do all of the 50's in N scale though. 50031 appears to have been repainted in the last few years into executive livery so large logo is close enough for circa 2011.

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Mine runs fabulously well and is very happy on network express services on the reopened Great Central south of Rugby in 1989...

 

It does look a little too slab sided. This has been a problem with several Dapol releases (153, 143) which makes me wonder if it is a deliberate design decision to ensure the motor enclosure has enough clearance or to make it more robust when being assembled? It is a shame though. Otherwise it is superb (even though its Invincible)... 

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Yes, the Dapol class 50 is a very nice model. It looks the part, is a vast improvement over the Farish class 50 and runs very well indeed. But there are some shape issues which if they had been resolved would have established the model as amongst the best currently available and ever produced.

 

It is a shame that we seem to be going through a period of a lack of fidelity in N gauge models and particularly D&E types. The Dapol class 142 and 50 and now the Farish class 319 are showing these worrying traits. Let's hope things improve and with the 319 only at first EP stage it can be corrected for production.

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My first locos arrived in the post today. Sadly, two are already on the way back because of damage (possibly caused during transit). Now that I have seen them for real, I am much more impressed than I was expecting to be. The close-up photos that appeared in the preceding months do amplify the model's shortcomings but once I’d put them on the test track and saw them from normal viewing distances and angles, I thought they looked very good. 

I am hoping that they sell well and a second run will result, as is happening with the class 33s. If so, 50149 in Railfreight General livery and a revised NSE version (carried by at least 15 of the class before the adoption of the darker blue) would get my vote.

 

Edited by Western Aviator
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6 hours ago, fezza said:

Mine runs fabulously well and is very happy on network express services on the reopened Great Central south of Rugby in 1989...

 

It does look a little too slab sided. This has been a problem with several Dapol releases (153, 143) which makes me wonder if it is a deliberate design decision to ensure the motor enclosure has enough clearance or to make it more robust when being assembled? It is a shame though. Otherwise it is superb (even though its Invincible)... 

 

Hopefully more invincible than Invincible.

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6 hours ago, fezza said:

Mine runs fabulously well and is very happy on network express services on the reopened Great Central south of Rugby in 1989...

 

It does look a little too slab sided. This has been a problem with several Dapol releases (153, 143) which makes me wonder if it is a deliberate design decision to ensure the motor enclosure has enough clearance or to make it more robust when being assembled? It is a shame though. Otherwise it is superb (even though its Invincible)... 

 

Having given up on modelling US outline when the level of fidelity on body handrails became so good that the scale handrails fell apart as soon as you breathed on them (sometimes while still in the box) I can cope with a little loss of fidelity for the sake of robustness.

 

A comparison might be the Minitrix German class 143/243 electric locos where the bodysides are very thin indeed at the bottom and crack easily- especially given the need for a knife to be applied between the chassis and body to separate the two for decoder fitting.   There seems to have been a vast number on sale secondhand with serious body cracks, and quite a goodly number of chassis appearing on German eBay - as far as I am aware the chassis has not been made available separately.

 

I lost quite a lot of money on my Class 143s, buying locos and selling chassis before building Furtwangen Ost as a diesel/steam only layout.  I would much rather have an overthick body bottom that doesn't break when removed from the chassis.

 

Les

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I've never has a body crack when removing it or handrails fall apart. I guess how RTR models are handled has a lot to do with it as I've knocked airhorns off units I've made myself. Perhaps the glue I used wasn't strong enough but they were easy enough to stick back on.

 

I'm happy for increasing levels of fidelity. And decently designed it doesn't have to mean a lack or robustness.

 

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Just a tip about body removal to amend the light settings.

I found the best way was to use the '4 pieces of thin plastic sheet' method as described in the instruction booklet, rather than removing the 'engine cover'. 

The booklet uses the term 'cab lights', but this means front and tail lights.

Agreed the running is very good--I've found Dapol diesels superior to Farish through points with no back-to-back issues.

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21 hours ago, Western Aviator said:

 

I am hoping that they sell well and a second run will result, as is happening with the class 33s. If so, 50149 in Railfreight General livery and a revised NSE version (carried by at least 15 of the class before the adoption of the darker blue) would get my vote.

 

At risk of jinxing it a subsequent run seems nailed on, with 149, the intermediate NSE (lighter blue, no upswept stripes) and revised-NSE (darker blue, never quite sure on the official descriptions!) are as good as a certainty. I’d like to see a GBRf one too. 

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