Dapol HST

[Stu from EGDL]

Comparison - 1st run Mk3 vs one form the HST book set. Can you tell which is which?

 

Well, judging by the fact that the FO has buffers and a M11xxx number...I'm inclined to say that the one with the darker roof is from the set.

Looks like an easy 'Chaos Black' resparay for all required roofs!!!

 

Later;

STU from EGDL

[Tyrone]

I not impressed. Broken in the box and the decoders don't fit and it has a has a scale speed of 75 mph and the roofs look proper odd. Not worth the wait sorry.

[philiprporter]

Just unpacked mine and taken a few snaps. First impression - it has the 'wow' factor when the box is opened. Closer inspection however reveals what looks like a glue line along the base of the power car (the motored one) windscreen base so this is heading back to Hattons - bit gutted having waited so long for this

 

However, the difference in coach roof colour isnt an issue as far as Im concerned - pics below of the book set MK3 (Black roof) and the earlier MK3 with a very slightly lighter grey roof and another image showing the earlier MK3 coupled to the power car.

 

All in all it looks fantastic, though I wont be test running as it needs to go back due to the windscreen issue - something to look out for.

 

So, here are the pics - not great quality Im afraid, but should give the general idea of the roof colour issue:

[DapolDave]

Hi Tyrone,

 

 

 

sorry to hear of your problems with the HST sets. I'm worried that your decoders didnt fit. I'm not sure what ones you are using but we have recommended and fitted to the HSTthe following decoders, Zimo, Lens Silver, Ct Electronic, and i think Gaugemaster (from memory that last one as i'm at home). any other make of manufacture is not recommended because of either size (due ot shrink wrapping making the decoder thicker than it needs to be, or by other qualities that through testing we have not found to be 'up to the mark'.

 

the broken in the box worries me as they are very securely packed with no lateral movement for the units, and wonder if (just thinking out loud and not accusing anyone) whether its been out of the box previously and not put back properly? Was the plastic bogie holder in place on the read powered unit bogie?

 

 

75mph is also a worry as we have scaled the gearing to be as authentic when on full power as possible and i havnt heard of this problem before.

 

All in all, it doesnt matter, as by one way or another this product is faulty. Would you do me a favour and in this instance return it directly to me at Dapol (dont worry we'll pay your postage) as i'd like to have a look at your set with some urgency? I will check it out, and fully test it for you, and if needs be replace it in full.

 

Let me know by PM what you would like to do?

 

By the way, despite my posting about roof colours for the virgin set, this set was designed on purpose to have 'as delivered' black roofs and i spoke at length privately to members of this forum regarding this colour and the possible miss match and it was felt looking at pictures of the real thing, that we would be on a hiding for nothing if we went for the same colour as the HST was black on the roof, but weathered down quickly which was felt acceptable as a compromise.

 

cheers

Dave

 

Dapol Ltd

[ste234]

I'm worried that your decoders didnt fit. I'm not sure what ones you are using but we have recommended and fitted to the HSTthe following decoders, Zimo, Lens Silver, Ct Electronic, and i think Gaugemaster (from memory that last one as i'm at home). any other make of manufacture is not recommended because of either size (due ot shrink wrapping making the decoder thicker than it needs to be, or by other qualities that through testing we have not found to be 'up to the mark'.

Hi Dave, I was just wondering what about the likes of the "cheaper" end of the Decoder market, like the Digitrax DZ125IN, all my stock so far uses these as they are fairly cheap, quite reliable and if I was to buy a HST I would be disappointed if one doesn't fit, the ones listed above tend to lean towards the more expensive decoders?

I might have a GC HST when they come out

 

Cheers,

Ste

[klaatu]

Hi Dave, I was just wondering what about the likes of the "cheaper" end of the Decoder market, like the Digitrax DZ125IN

The TCS EUN651 is also on the Dapol recommended list - I have one in mine - and costs only slightly more than the DZ125IN. I've actually got a cheap Bachmann shrink-wrapped decoder in the dummy car for the lights, and didn't have any problems fitting it.

 

Mine does a scale 130mph flat out.

 

Steve

[n-gauge]

I've had more time to inspect my example, and can see the same issue with the windscreen, but to a lesser extent. The side windows don't have this problem, so I wonder if its similar to the prismatic effect on the new Mk1 coaches available from another N gauge manufacturer. I've not removed the glazing, but it appears that the glazing plastic does not meet the bodyshell at 90 degrees? My Physics master would have me in detention for forgetting this, but refraction springs to mind?

 

Anyway a Digitrax DZ125IN fits no problem. Running was very smooth if a tad noisy, but it only has a length of flexi track to run along at the moment, and the oil may not have yet reached all the gear teeth.

 

Paintwork is top notch, nice sharp lines to the yellow edges and a nice colour consistency. When running on DC the lights were bright before the loco moved, and on DCC they were very bright. No damage to the motive units / coaches, but other than being sent to the retailer is has not been through the postal sorting system.

 

Overall a very happy Dapol HST owner. Looking forward to the 26, 52 and whatever else will go with the LNER tender

[Dr Al]

So, here are the pics - not great quality Im afraid, but should give the general idea of the roof colour issue:

 

Thanks to those who've posted pics on the roof colours. The earlier separate coaches don't really look right I have to say compared to the box sets, but I guess fortunately they are detachable so can be resprayed.

 

Just a shame we have to go to the time and expense of doing so...

 

Has anyone coupled the set up on the buckeyes - will it fully close couple...?

 

Cheers,

Alan

[Padishar Creel]

Has anyone coupled the set up on the buckeyes - will it fully close couple...?

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

 

it is possible to use 2x short shank knuckle couplers with no problems around curves. There is a huge amount of give with the Dapol close coupling mechanism and pulling opens them up. But even in push mode no problems - no buffers mean no buffer locking! I've modified my buffered MK3s now by cutting off one buffer (on the "inside" of the layout) of one coach to achieve the same effect.

 

How are the running qualities of the hst?

[bcnPete]

Thanks all for the feedback / photos....

 

Just ordered one from Hattons...now to build the viaduct its going to sit on...well, about 10% of it that is

[philiprporter]

Thanks all for the feedback / photos....

 

Just ordered one from Hattons...now to build the viaduct its going to sit on...well, about 10% of it that is

You won't be disappointed (as long as you don't have the same windscreen issue I had that is!) - it really looks the business and for my money the coach roof colour just isn't noticeable enough to be an issue. Can't wait to get my replacement from Hattons! Just a shame that the bank holiday means an extra day to wait!!

[Crompton Power]

HI Folks, My blue/grey HST arrived this morning, it certainly looks the part.I've not seen it commented on before but in the bag of bits are a set of exhaust deflectors. Unfortunately my powered car has the glue mark as described by philiprporter and also the headlights/horn grill have a bad fit on one side.The dummy car is fine.

Hopefully the attached pictures will show what I am on about?!!

Before I send it back to my dealer, Dapol Dave can you confirm that these glue marks are only on a few that have slipped the net and not the entire batch? Still looking forward to the executive and swallow versions. Keith.

[woodenhead]

I've got the same effect in the motor power car as well so it looks like it's affected quite a few.

 

Question is, does it cause me a problem, well it's only dead obvious head on with the unit close to my eyes, closer than it ever would be on track and the light units look to be a good fit.

 

Looking at the close up picture above it does look bad and if it was OO then it would be a clear issue but at 2mm scale it's not so obvious and I only really notice it because I looked for it.

 

Tell you what DapolDave, send me a free B/G Buffet and we'll call it quits .

[philiprporter]

HI Folks, My blue/grey HST arrived this morning, it certainly looks the part.I've not seen it commented on before but in the bag of bits are a set of exhaust deflectors. Unfortunately my powered car has the glue mark as described by philiprporter and also the headlights/horn grill have a bad fit on one side.The dummy car is fine.

Hopefully the attached pictures will show what I am on about?!!

Before I send it back to my dealer, Dapol Dave can you confirm that these glue marks are only on a few that have slipped the net and not the entire batch? Still looking forward to the executive and swallow versions. Keith.

 

Interested to hear this. I spoke to Hattons today (having returned my set) who confirmed that all their blue-grey HST stock have the 'glue' issue to varying degrees which appears to only be affecting the motored power cars and weirdly not the dummy power cars.

 

I'm not sure what to do - its one of those borderline things that may bother some, but not bother others, but it really ought not to be present.

 

Hmmmm Dapol have sold out of blue-grey ones from this batch so I have ordered a replacement from Hattons and will try to live with it - as another poster has said, its not such a big deal in n-gauge, but equally for ï¿¡129 notes I have mixed feelings - aaargh what a dilema! To not have a model I have waited ages for or wait even longer and hope that another blue-grey batch appear soon that don't have the glue issue - but will the next batch be 254 (making the western region coaches I have redundant) or 253??! Answers on a postcard please!

 

Thanks for the heads up on the exhaust deflectors - didnt spot that and its good news because I really want to add those

[robrailltd]

surely light weathering would provide splatted flies etc which would hide the glue issue?

[Kris]

Anyone else think that the windscreen wiper is parked at an odd angle and appears to be too high up the screen? To me it stands out more than the glue marks on the windscreen.

 

Might go a fraction height, but I think what makes it stand out more than the height is the thickness of it. However I suspect that there is not much that Dapol could have done about that and still get it to retain the strength that it needs. It appears that the rock is the fat wiper and the hard place would be a wiper that was closer to scale but easily broken because of this, which people would then complain about.

 

 

 

[bcnPete]

wiper or not...I can just see one snaking through Avonwick though - Go on Kris...

[Kris]

Had I some spare money it would happen.

[Steven B]

I not impressed. Broken in the box and the decoders don't fit and it has a has a scale speed of 75 mph and the roofs look proper odd. Not worth the wait sorry.

 

Were you running on DCC when you calculated your scale speed of 75mph? Some systems allow you to adjust the Voltage applied to the track so that the larger the scale, the more Volts are applied. Using the N Gauge/Scale setting on my Digitrax system reduces the top speed of trains compared to using the OO setting or the Bachmann trainset DCC controller.

 

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

[Tyrone]

Were you running on DCC when you calculated your scale speed of 75mph? Some systems allow you to adjust the Voltage applied to the track so that the larger the scale, the more Volts are applied. Using the N Gauge/Scale setting on my Digitrax system reduces the top speed of trains compared to using the OO setting or the Bachmann trainset DCC controller.

 

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

 

Yes mate is was running DCC but how you change the the voltage i dont know first I've herd that. I'm using an NCE set up and I've not come across that. It did increase when i changed to the lenz chips but not by much. The model has now gone back to Dapol for this and other things

[PaulCheffus]

Yes mate is was running DCC but how you change the the voltage i dont know first I've herd that. I'm using an NCE set up and I've not come across that. It did increase when i changed to the lenz chips but not by much. The model has now gone back to Dapol for this and other things

 

Hi

 

The top speed is set in CV5 on the decoder. The track voltage can be changed (depending on the control system) but for N I wouldn't recommend raising it above 14v.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[NZmodeller]

Hi Everyone,

 

My B/G Bookset arrived today, the glue on the window is evident but not too bad. As my layout is not set up for push-pull operation it will run motor first almost all of the time therefore I swapped the bodies on the power cars on the basis that any onlooker will spend much more time looking at the front of the train than the rear. Now the issue is that the window is so large it is much more apparent than normal that there is no crew in the cab

 

The roof colour was more of an issue but was an easy fix. For the record I used Plasti-kote project paint matt super wjich only required 1 coat and matches well enough for me to have to check the running numbers to identify the painted ones. In some light at specific angles there is a difference in the sheen but to be honest it took me quite q while to spot that.

 

I'm experimenting with couplings and the best close coupling match to me seems to be the short Dapol buckeyes althugh these are a pain to fasten. It may turn out that these are a little too tight for some areas of my layout, more testing needed here. Under this configuration pushing will result in some sort of derailment sooner or later but for me that is a minor issue.

 

It's not that quick though on DC or DCC (CT Electronik), maybe that will improve with running in, it did with my Brtannia. Overall it looks fantastic, it runs smooth and the slow running is excellent.

 

Just need a buffet car now.

 

Peter

[philiprporter]

Just received my replacement blue-grey set from Hattons - the glue is still there on the motored power car windscreen, but its very slightly better than the fisrt set and, along with Peter above, I have swapped the bodies over to avoid the 'gluey' windscreen power car running first (it doesn't push well over one of my points - thats my poor track laying to blame I hasten to add!).

 

It really is a mystery why the dummy doesn't suffer from the glue issue while the motored power car does and I'm wondering if Dapol know what the story is here and if anything can be done about it?

 

No issues with speed - it took and hour and a half of running in post-oiling to get to a decent top speed (sluggish at first), but it now whizzes round at what looks to be a much higher scale speed than 125mph! This is on DC.

 

The exhaust deflectors are a lovely moulding - fit perfectly and look the business.

 

Yes, roll on the catering vehicles!

[Dr Al]

I'm wondering if Dapol know what the story is here and if anything can be done about it?

 

I'm waiting now to see if they'll do anything to rectify this - otherwise I'll be holding onto my money for a bit longer.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[gelboy45]

Hi

 

I'm thinking of buying a blue/grey HST book set but I do not have any other carriages to complete a full prototypical HST. Can anyone tell me where I can buy these or are they about to be released? (I obviously won't buy the set without a guarantee of procurring them).

 

All help appreciated ;o))

 

Thanks

 

Gerry