Retooled Dapol N Gauge Class 56

[TomE]

Interesting news and a welcome development from Dapol: https://www.ngaugenews.com/post/Dapol-announce-re-tooled-n-gauge-class-56

Tom. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by TomE

[Stuart A]

I see they are sticking with 131 for the large logo version. I pointed out on the Dapol Digest in 2021 that 131 only wore large logo for around 3 years, then when named in '87 it got regular sized numbers, then it was repainted into trainload coal in 1989.

 

I mentioned that in 1992, there were still 3 in Large Logo, 56119, 56124 and 56126 and Neil said they were going to change it to 119.

 

Not sure the Dapol digest is still a thing as I can't login anymore.

 

Good news on the re-tooling and additional liveries though.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Stuart A
additional date

[Steadfast]

Nice announcement. A question for @Adam1701D

Will the width be corrected, or is it using the same chassis block? This extra width is what appears to give the cab front it's squashed look.

 

Jo

[franciswilliamwebb]

Fingers crossed for this one.  I've a couple of the existing ones and they stay in their boxes, my medication just can't cope 😮

[The Pilotman]

Hopefully they’ll do the same with the Class 50s. It’s streets ahead of the old Farish model but not quite there looks-wise. 

[TomE]

34 minutes ago, The Pilotman said:

Hopefully they’ll do the same with the Class 50s. It’s streets ahead of the old Farish model but not quite there looks-wise. 

Having had the Accurascale Class 50 in hand, I’m hoping that finds its way into the shrink ray eventually! 
 

Tom. 

[The Pilotman]

49 minutes ago, TomE said:

Having had the Accurascale Class 50 in hand, I’m hoping that finds its way into the shrink ray eventually! 
 

Tom. 

Well, that’s another possibility, of course 🙂 

I thought the 56 was ok; not brilliant but reasonable, but it’s still surprising that a retool is being undertaken when it’s less than ten years old. 

[davebem]

Excellent news, I guess Dapol wanted to ‘bag’ the 56 so it was worth a bit more investment. Nice to see them improving some models.

[woodenhead]

If you are going to take the time to redo these models with Next18 sockets why not also plan for sound, at least the class 50 had a speaker socket.

 

Farish and Rapido do sound ready and sound fitted models, just doing DCC ready and Next18 fitted sounds like Dapol are still a step behind.

 

Will there at least be a speaker socket?

[Kaput]

Changing them to Next18 has so far only required changing the PCB and wiring. Making space for a speaker means altering the actual chassis block which is a much more expensive change tooling wise.

 

The only Dapol N gauge models with speaker provision (note: speakers aren't fitted, theres just space for them) is the only ones that were completely new tooling and not a retool/update of anything older.

[woodenhead]

9 minutes ago, Kaput said:

Changing them to Next18 has so far only required changing the PCB and wiring. Making space for a speaker means altering the actual chassis block which is a much more expensive change tooling wise.

 

The only Dapol N gauge models with speaker provision (note: speakers aren't fitted, theres just space for them) is the only ones that were completely new tooling and not a retool/update of anything older.

But if they are going to the effort of re-tooling the body it's more than a PCB change.

[Kaput]

They may view altering the body tooling as an acceptable cost but not the chassis tooling.

 

Anything is possible though.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Kaput

[Adam1701D]

We are retaining the existing chassis but the body is all-new.

[Stuart A]

The coal liveried choice of 56054 also doesn't have a long life span in that guise - less than 6 months.  From some Flickr searches it can be deduced;

 

August 1989 -  May 1993 - Trainload Coal livery,  Unnamed

May 1993 - November 1993 Trainload Coal livery,  Named 'BRITISH STEEL LLANWERN' 

November 1993 - June 1995 Trainload Metals livery Named 'BRITISH STEEL LLANWERN'

July 1995 - late 2000's until scrapped Transrail 3tg livery Named 'BRITISH STEEL LLANWERN'

 

I'm not trying to be critical here, just think one of the class members that wore the livery for more than 6 months would hold more appeal.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Stuart A
found more evidence

[woodenhead]

2 hours ago, Stuart A said:

I'm not trying to be critical here, just think one of the class members that wore the livery for more than 6 months would hold more appeal.

I think most people are happy with a model that represents a livery that the class wore, whether it was one week or 10 years it will be fine for most people.

[Adam1701D]

It is still early days with the artwork, so things can be changed. 56054 is much better being un-named and it will also make renumbering easier. 56131 is staying as it is because I really want to portray an ex-works Crewe 56 with the light grey grilles.

[woodenhead]

PS. Still think it would be popular if you can find a space to insert a speaker or at least a speaker housing to fit your own like the 50.

[Stuart A]

58 minutes ago, Adam1701D said:

It is still early days with the artwork, so things can be changed. 56054 is much better being un-named and it will also make renumbering easier. 56131 is staying as it is because I really want to portray an ex-works Crewe 56 with the light grey grilles.

 

Derek Elston on Flickr

Tony Dennett on Flicker

 

Keith Long on Flickr

 

Just saying.....

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Stuart A
additional photos

[Steven B]

It'll be interesting to see if the re-tool also includes options for class 69.

 

Hopefully Adam's involvement will fix the livery issues - particularly with the 3 tone grey based models.

Looking forward to seeing what they look like compared to the current model.

 

They're due around the same time as the class 87. Time to start saving...

 

Steven B.

[Steven B]

Nah, save me the time of renumbering and make 56 110 - you get silver window frames too:

Grid On The Speedlink Coal (Michael McNicholas) by Neil Harvey 156, on Flickr

 

Note the DCC user-friendly number on the front!

 

 

Steven B

Edited August 8, 2023 by Steven B

[PaulCheffus]

2 hours ago, Steven B said:

Nah, save me the time of renumbering and make 56 110 - you get silver window frames too:

Grid On The Speedlink Coal (Michael McNicholas) by Neil Harvey 156, on Flickr

 

Note the DCC user-friendly number on the front!

 

 

Steven B

Hi

 

Is that for people with DCC handsets that only do 10 locos as that is showing the number 6.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[TomE]

CAD images have now been released: https://www.ngaugenews.com/post/re-tooled-Dapol-n-gauge-class-56-cad-revealed

 

Tom. 

[bmthtrains - David]

Nice to see the body getting a tweak, the window always looked a little off to me. The 56s are a bit out of my time period for heavy use but a fast line one might get added to the fleet when they come out.

 

David

[Steadfast]

It may be the relatively low resolution of the CAD on @TomE's wonderful N Gauge News, but the Doncaster style 56 doesn't appear to feature the "shelf" below the windscreens these fabricated cab machines have.

See below for a picture to illustrate. 

Where the top of the yellow is, the panel is dead flat horizontal.

 

The Romanian and earlier UK cabs made from castings were much more rounded here, as shown by this Flickr link. You can see how the yellow is painted straight but doesn't actually follow the shape of the cab.

 

 

This side by side shot shows the difference. I once had it described to me that you can put your mug on a fabricated cab, but it'll slide off a cast cab front.

 

Edited to add this Flickr gem. Really shows the two styles, both in yellow so shows up well. Click able for full size 

 

 

If it isn't a CAD artifact,  I hope it's not too late to tweak this part of the design, something that really separates the two styles.

 

All the best

 

Jo

Edited August 8, 2023 by Steadfast

[TomE]

I think it is there Jo, looking at the following two images side by side. You can see on the Romanian version on the left that there is a representation of the more curved interface between windows and nose, where as the Donny version doesn't have this:

 

My one main observation after a glance over the CADs, is that the cab windows are perhaps not 'droopy' enough toward the outer edges? On the CAD, the windows appear to more or less parallel with the top of the nose 'shelf'. 



The shape of the cab dome seems to be a big improvement over the original version though. 

Tom.