Class 26

[MRDEEDIESEL]

Oh yes.....Class 26..BR Blue with headcodes and now ploughs?...gets better & better. Dare i ask if the upcoming 27's will also have ploughs?? ;o)

[DapolDave]

Lol , wait and see ;-)

Cheers

Dave

[woodenhead]

Thanks Woodenhead for your pointed and succint input.....

 

Maybe I shouldn't post at 1:52 in the morning

[Crepello]

It's a nice looking model but because Dapol carry no spares in case of an accident or damage I'll never buy another Dapol loco.

 

Allan

 

My experience is different from yours Allan. My 26 arrived from Liverpool and I noticed one of the buffers was mangled (presumably in the factory as the packaging was undamaged). An e-mail to Dapol Sales produced a replacement in a couple of days. I reckon you should give them another chance.

[Tom J]

Well, after all the stress, expense and heartache caused by my 67s and Britannia, my Dapol experience is improving. The HST seems to have behaved and now my 26 has done four or five hours of running in, my confidence is returning!

 

It really is a lovely model. Just a shame that neither catcher-recesses nor twin headlights have been modelled on any of the releases so far.

 

I would also be interested in unpowered blue ones (so far the only dummy has been the Rails special edition, to my knowledge). Far North and Kyle line trains often had two 26s at the head, to balance locos and retrieve failures, and I would like a pair to sit between my NGS snowploughs.

 

I just hope I can still knuckle down and finish my 24/1 conversion now that I have the '26'!

[Elvinley]

I just bought the Dutch boxset at Thornbury model show (Bristol). I thought these were exclusive to club members, but Cheltenham models had one on their stall. I must say that so far the loco is the best running Dapol I have had so far. No heat from it and very quiet and smooth.

[oreamnos]

This may be a dumb question, but now having fitted the headcode discs to my D5301 (BR Green, SYP), why did Dapol provide lights for each of the four headcode disc locations when after you fit the discs supplied, the lights are covered and not visble? I considered drilling out the discs when they were still attached to the sprue but ultimately decided the hand coordination required for such fine work was beyond my skill.

 

This doesn't even rise to the level of a quibble with me as I really adore Dapol's Class 26. In fact, I just received 26026 in Rail Blue today (I genuinely wonder how many other copies have made it to the States. Mine must be one of just a handful.) and I will fit the discs to it, too. But it just seems odd to me that Dapol would have gone to the trouble and expense of lighting the model if the lights were just going to be covered over. On Farish's Class 24, even with the discs fitted the lights are still visible and that kind of makes more sense to me.

 

Photo attached of (l to r) a Farish 24, a Dapol 26 with discs fitted, and a Dapol 26 without the discs fitted for comparison.

 

Matt

 

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Matt

 

The headcode discs should have very small holes to allow the lights to shine through.

 

Your options are to leave as they are, attempt to drill holes in the Dapol discs, use any spare Farish discs, or use TPM etched discs, which will give a finer appearance too but would need to be painted white.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[scruff]

I got the blue one (26026) and noticed the problem with the discs too.. but there were no snowploughs with mine.

 

Overall I'm really pleased with mine, well done Dapol.

 

what is nd145g? I just hope I've not missed one!

 

Cheers

 

Mark

Edited May 8, 2012 by scruff

[oreamnos]

Yes Ben, of course the discs are suppose to have holes. Perhaps I wasn't understood. The point I was trying to raise was that the electrical complexity added to the model and the corresponding additional cost (which must be passed on to the consumer) seems to be all for naught when the manufacturer supplies discs without holes with the model, which I can attest it has at least with D5301 and 26026. Perhaps other liveries came with discs that had holes.

 

It's still a very fine model and one of my favourites.

 

Matt

[Revolution Mike]

The point I was trying to raise was that the electrical complexity added to the model and the corresponding additional cost (which must be passed on to the consumer) seems to be all for naught when the manufacturer supplies discs without holes with the model

 

But later in life the 26s ran without disks so it is cheaper to design a model with lights for all than 2 variants (with and w/out lights).

 

The only problem is lack of hole in the discs, which should be pretty easy to do with a small drill bit in a pin vice - mark where you want the hole with a pin (or small bit) and then drill out.

 

Cheers, Mike

[bcnPete]

Not sure if I am missing something here....

 

...but I would have thought Dapol provided light to all the holes to allow each person to configure the headcode discs as per the own requirements for train formations?

 

At least that way they had covered all bases...(and the lights too )

[scruff]

Dapol did provide light to all holes, its just the actual discs don't have holes to allow the light through.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[oreamnos]

But later in life the 26s ran without disks so it is cheaper to design a model with lights for all than 2 variants (with and w/out lights).

 

The only problem is lack of hole in the discs, which should be pretty easy to do with a small drill bit in a pin vice - mark where you want the hole with a pin (or small bit) and then drill out.

 

Cheers, Mike

 

You make a good point Mike about the later 26s, though with the discs removed from them and plated over (at least the two stacked ones in the center were plated over) the lights on the later 26s wouldn't be visible either so I think my question about Dapol's reasoning not to mould holes in the discs is still valid.

 

In theory, yes, drilling out the holes would be a simple matter. I even have a drill bit and pin vice small enough to make the holes, but 1.) the discs are only about 2mm in diameter and are not very securely attached to the sprue, 2.) my manual dexterity is not what it used to be. In fact I'm not sure I could have ever have tackled such fine work in this scale.

 

Again, I'm very happy with my 26s and how they look with the supplied discs fitted, even with the lights blocked off. I just think it would have made more sense for Dapol to supply pre-holed discs, especially as Farish supplied them with its Class 24s,

 

Matt

[MRDEEDIESEL]

This has dampened my delight a wee bit as i cant believe the discs dont have holes in them and im concerned that the snowploughs arent there either as advertised.Still looks a great model though.I take it Farish 24 discs could be used to compensate?Hopefully ive enough in my spares box!

[BernardTPM]

If you're doing daytime running I wouldn't worry about the lights anyway. Until well into the 1970s they wouldn't have normally had them on in the daytime and even when they were on, they were barely visible.

[oreamnos]

Regarding the snowploughs, was it normal operating procedure to have ploughs fitted at one end only (obvioulsy, the leading end), or would would both ends have fitted with ploughs at the same time?

 

I'm asking because my blue 26026 only came with a single plough assembly for one end. IF it should have come with two (I simply don't know if it should have or not) I'll have to contact Dapol, mostly over just the principle of getting what I paid for than anything else.

 

Matt

[Pennine MC]

Regarding the snowploughs, was it normal operating procedure to have ploughs fitted at one end only (obvioulsy, the leading end), or would would both ends have fitted with ploughs at the same time?

 

Both ends Matt; otherwise they'd have ended up turning the loco, which kinda defeats the point of having two cabs.

[MRDEEDIESEL]

Fitted the discs today(drilled holes in them) and damaged a bit of the loco paintwork then went onto add the plough but gave up as could not see how it attaches to the loco as the bogie sticks too far out.Would help if there was some instruction!!Then finally the pipework- gave up on that as well.

Lovely model but the Farish 24 was a doodle to detail compared to this and it had clear instructions included.

Ran it today and the lights from the open discs are barely visable ;o(

[oreamnos]

Fitted the discs today(drilled holes in them) and damaged a bit of the loco paintwork then went onto add the plough but gave up as could not see how it attaches to the loco as the bogie sticks too far out.Would help if there was some instruction!!Then finally the pipework- gave up on that as well.

Lovely model but the Farish 24 was a doodle to detail compared to this and it had clear instructions included.

Ran it today and the lights from the open discs are barely visable ;o(

 

Did your 26 come with one or two ploughs then? Just curious - mine only came with one.

 

I agree that the Farish 24 is much easier to detail and much better documented. Ironically, I had to use the headcode disc diagram that came with my Farish 24 in order to fit the disc on my Dapol 26.

 

I really like the 26 and have warmed up to Dapol because of it, even if compared to similar Farish products it is a little rough around the edges

 

Matt

[MRDEEDIESEL]

Hi Matt,the wee bag contained 1 set of ploughs (coloured black sadly) Any idea how you are meant to fit them as i was scared that i might do further damage to the model ?

[oreamnos]

Hi Matt,the wee bag contained 1 set of ploughs (coloured black sadly) Any idea how you are meant to fit them as i was scared that i might do further damage to the model ?

 

I got the same single black plough. I didn't try to fit it because I figured the loco wouldn't be right with ploughs fitted only at one end. Based on your experience, I don't think I'll even try to fit it now.

 

As pleased as I am with the 26s I have, I admit I'm slightly miffed regarding the ploughs. I think Dapol overpromised here and then under delivered. If you're going to make a big deal about a Scottish 26 coming with ploughs, 1.) supply two of them and 2.) design them so they can actually be fitted - and provide a diagram showing how it's to be done.

 

The same thing could be said about the headcode discs, actually. If you're going to light your loco and supply discs to fit over them, design your discs so they don't block the lights. Bachmann managed that with its 24; there's no reason Dapol couldn't have done the same with its 26.

 

Matt

[bcnPete]

I fitted my Dapol ploughs (previously bought separately as their spares) and fitted it with a dab of superglue using a photo for reference.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54272-snowploughs-for-n-scale-class-24s-and-26s/#entry682631

 

I still think its a terrific model and the issues of the ploughs and headcode discs as raised are not the end of the world.

[oreamnos]

I agree it's not the end of the world by any means. It's a very small issue. Which is my point: it should have been easy to get right. In all other respects the 26 is fantasic.

 

That's a really nice looking model you've linked too and very well done. The irony is that those look like discs from a Farish 24.

 

Matt

Edited May 15, 2012 by oreamnos

[bcnPete]

That's a really nice looking model you've linked too and very well done. The irony is that those look like discs from a Farish 24.

 

Thanks - You're right...they are!

 

I don't use DCC at present so am not so worried about the lighting in my locos...but I do appreciate that it is important to others.