New OO gauge Class 73

[jjb1970]

I received the blue one today and my initial impression is that the tooling itself is excellent and has captured the look of the 73 very well. Haven't chipped it yet so no idea how it runs. The finish seems odd, the colour does seem very sensitive to light and can vary between looking OK to looking distinctly odd which is a shame given the shape is good and there are some lovely details. Somewhat disappointing, however given that the underlying model is very good hopefully Dapol will get the next releases right. A bit sad that after such a wait and such an anticipated model Dapol need a second go to get the colours right.

[Butler Henderson]

I received the blue one today and my initial impression is that the tooling itself is excellent and has captured the look of the 73 very well. Haven't chipped it yet so no idea how it runs. The finish seems odd, the colour does seem very sensitive to light and can vary between looking OK to looking distinctly odd which is a shame given the shape is good and there are some lovely details. Somewhat disappointing, however given that the underlying model is very good hopefully Dapol will get the next releases right. A bit sad that after such a wait and such an anticipated model Dapol need a second go to get the colours right.

Wonder if they have been resprayed, but the top coat is too thin and allows the undercoat to show through; your description reminds me of a silver 205 I had which after a bodywork repair was partly resprayed with the wrong shade of silver. Although it eventually emerged from the paint shop in the correct shade in some light conditions the panels in question took a different shade.

[jjb1970]

I'm wondering if they have made the classic error of approving the samples based only on looking at them under one type of artificial light (such as fluorescent tube light) and not under a variety of artificial light and also natural light? They wouldn't be the first model supplier to make that mistake if this is the explanation and some paints are very sensitive to natural and artificial lighting.

[SRman]

I have emailed Dapol about the brake gear assembly error on mine (which seems to be a one-off error) and also the faulty PCBs, which seem to be a universal error on all variants of their 73.

One would hope that they will manufacture replacement PCBs which work correctly on DC and DCC and allow the directional lighting to match the actual direction of travel, and offer those replacements under warranty to anyone who wants them for their purchased class 73s.

TheHobbyShop has also posted and I will be sending the details of the brake gear error to him - top marks for responsiveness and follow-up service.

[Mike Storey]

Wonder if they have been resprayed, but the top coat is too thin and allows the undercoat to show through; your description reminds me of a silver 205 I had which after a bodywork repair was partly resprayed with the wrong shade of silver. Although it eventually emerged from the paint shop in the correct shade in some light conditions the panels in question took a different shade.

 

I didn't know they had made Thumpers in that colour?

[SRman]

I bit the bullet and followed Olivia's Trains website suggestion, and swapped and resoldered the brush connections to the PCB. That has fixed the directional problems. The motor now goes forwards when 'forwards' is selected on the controller (i.e. the radiator fan end goes to the front), and the headcode lights now light up at the forward end when going 'forwards' and the 'rear' end when going 'backwards'.

Of course, forwards and backwards are relative terms when talking about double-ended locomotives and units!

I'm a little happier but I am still of the opinion Dapol need to fix this properly. 

Next, I'll deal with those cab lights ... later!

[Andrew F]

Olivia's to the rescue! They must have a hidden agenda, helping out like that.

[Gwiwer]

Olivia's to the rescue! They must have a hidden agenda, helping out like that.

 

Wonder what they suggest for the lemon yellow warning panels?

 

E6007 has received a light weathering to the roof, sides and under frames but not yet to the ends as I want to test out a couple of options and the relevant powders are outside on the layout workbench.  It's dark, it's windy and it's remarkably warm though we can expect that approaching high summer.  But it's not a night for powdering under the lights; I want to do that in natural daylight.

[Francis deWeck]

Olivia's to the rescue! They must have a hidden agenda, helping out like that.

Why? They need not have posted this info and merely kept it to themselves.

 

It would be good for Dapol to come up with a proper solution, I've checked their advice. It doesn't work, and I'm awaiting a reply to my query. I'm of the mind that they send a Lokpilot for my loco.

 

I do have to remark that the loco is mechanically just fine and runs impressively, it is beyond me to answer the question as to why the pcb and its dcc interface came about.

[letterspider]

Wonder if they have been resprayed, but the top coat is too thin and allows the undercoat to show through; your description reminds me of a silver 205 I had which after a bodywork repair was partly resprayed with the wrong shade of silver. Although it eventually emerged from the paint shop in the correct shade in some light conditions the panels in question took a different shade.

Purple is a complimentary shade to yellow. combining the colours should produce a light brown. So I expect a very light weathering of yellowy shades on the body will knock back the purple colour cast and result in brownish weathering effect. The warning panels are the problem as they are clearly lacking in red hues...really not happy I have to experiment with this after paying so much for a correct model.

Dapol it is about time you pulled your head out of the sand and talked to us about this problem, whether it can be solved and if you have a correct second batch on the way. We the consumers are here to support you but if you remain tight lipped, it is like sticking your fingers up to everyone.

Edited December 16, 2015 by letterspider

[letterspider]

I have figured out what has gone wrong. (Assuming the quality control officer wasn't colour blind) Dapol have let a few livery errors slip through, let's say about 100 examples in each colour scheme. They have corrected the problem but in the meantime the cost to produce the model has soared towards forcing an RRP of £130 to recoup the mistake etc. They are keeping back the other several hundreds of good examples.

 

They have let the bad samples into the UK to satisfy the loss making pre-orders, many of which are now being cancelled. Once the dust has settled, Dapol will announce that a corrected batch is being released and the prices will go even higher (I predict  £130 to £135). Everyone will have no choice but to fork out the extra £30 because these correctly liveried locos are not being made available to fulfil pre-orders and because we have all become hooked to the model.

The poorly liveried batch will be discounted, much to the pleasure of those collectors skilled at repainting and the displeasure of the eBay carpet baggers who bought multiple models at the pre-order price.

 

Unfortunate for the rest of us who just want to pay good money to buy a good model

[Andy Y]

Cobblers.

[Guest]

That's a fascinating story, and it's not even bedtime yet.

[locoholic]

Has anyone got their hands on the Dapol Club model of E6001, green with SYP, please?

[roundhouse]

I looked st the Dapol Club one but struggled to find how to join apart from sending them an email and based on past experience of the not replying I wasn't going to even try.

 

So I think I will wait till hey have them discounted with a direct online order which they do respond to.

[jjb1970]

Got around to chipping mine and giving it a run and I have to say the one I have runs beautifully smoothly. Given that it is a lovely runner and given that to me the tooling has many more positives than negatives and really looks excellent it is a bit infuriating the colours let it down under certain lighting. However it does bode well for future use of the tooling.

[newbryford]

Has anyone seen the latest release yet? 73135 in Rail Blue - is it the same as the already released all over purple blue 73124?

 

Cheers,

Mick

[47164]

Shame a good model appears to have been let down by such poor paint control, especially when the 52's and 22's were so good, I will definitely hold onto my blue Lima locos somewhat longer. It would be nice to see a comment from the chaps at Dapol if only to salvage some reputation , and have some compassion towards their client base.

[James90012]

I really don't need a 73 but I'm really keen to have one in my collection. The thing is, in my opinion the most important things for a model to have are a good, strong motor, sufficient weight and lights and then as long as the model 'looks' fine I'm in. This obviously isn't a stance shared with most (?) RMwebbers who in general are far more technical. So whilst the Hornby model 'looks' fine it really isnt suitable with no lights or a suitable motor or weight! Once you add the individual cost of all of that you get scarily close to the Dapol model.

 

Having said that -I've vented before, particularly about Hornby HSTS, regarding livery and quality control and I just don't know what the problem is but I think it applies across all manufacturers -though Bachmann in general don't seem to make as many ultimate cock ups that the rest make!

[buritonhampshire]

I bit the bullet and followed Olivia's Trains website suggestion, and swapped and resoldered the brush connections to the PCB. That has fixed the directional problems. The motor now goes forwards when 'forwards' is selected on the controller (i.e. the radiator fan end goes to the front), and the headcode lights now light up at the forward end when going 'forwards' and the 'rear' end when going 'backwards'.

 

Of course, forwards and backwards are relative terms when talking about double-ended locomotives and units!

 

I'm a little happier but I am still of the opinion Dapol need to fix this properly. 

 

Next, I'll deal with those cab lights ... later!

 

Have done basically the same thing but not having the computer in the work room I can't be sure that the wire from the motor are soldered to the correct pins (I suspect they might not be but see below).

 

The Olivia's link is :- http://www.oliviastrains.com/trains/Dapol-class-73-dcc-fix/

 

When I reassembled I had to change some CV settings -

 

CV29 (usually 6) - 7

CV49 (usually 0) - 16

CV50 (usually 16)- 0

 

These changes have got the model (E6003 in my case) running in the correct direction (Fan end leading) with the white lights for the headcode showing at the correct ends. As I changed CV29 to alter the direction this might indicate that I soldered the wires on the wrong way round - I had unsoldered them last night with a view to ripping out the fitted board and hard-wiring a decoder in!

 

Everything was restored tonight and the loco is running with the factory fitted board again. I taped over the two small pads in the roof so that the cab lights don't light at all as I can live without this function. The LEDs in the headcode panel glow brightly through the backing panels in the cab when on - more black tape required on the reverse methinks! I suspect that this is masked when the cab lights are on and just adds to the cab brightness.

 

Roger

[Dan Griffin]

After reading back through 5 or 6 pages, as i model the southern and my Hornby/lima reissue grates me, can i assume that the large logo one "is the best of a bad bunch" so to speak. i so dearly want a new spec 73, but have been put off my preffered Intercity mainline one after seeing it in the flesh in Trains4u. i may have to opt for the Large logo one. there doesnt appear to be many comments about that particular model.  thanks.

[letterspider]

I have figured out what has gone wrong. (Assuming the quality control officer wasn't colour blind) Dapol have let a few livery errors slip through, let's say about 100 examples in each colour scheme. They have corrected the problem but in the meantime the cost to produce the model has soared towards forcing an RRP of £130 to recoup the mistake etc. They are keeping back the other several hundreds of good examples.

 

They have let the bad samples into the UK to satisfy the loss making pre-orders, many of which are now being cancelled. Once the dust has settled, Dapol will announce that a corrected batch is being released and the prices will go even higher (I predict  £130 to £135). Everyone will have no choice but to fork out the extra £30 because these correctly liveried locos are not being made available to fulfil pre-orders and because we have all become hooked to the model.

The poorly liveried batch will be discounted, much to the pleasure of those collectors skilled at repainting and the displeasure of the eBay carpet baggers who bought multiple models at the pre-order price.

 

Unfortunate for the rest of us who just want to pay good money to buy a good model

 

I received a straightforward reply from Dapol as to what went wrong, as well as what needs correcting. Full credit to product development for being quick off the mark and forthright about it in response to an email request through their website. I would like to have seen this on this forum, if like me the major part of your hobby is this forum, as you have little time to play with your models.

Of course they do need to shift this first batch to recoup money but-  what should this loco be reduced to considering a professional respray is about £50?

I think the price should go down to £60 right now. They clear the faulty stock, us buyers wait several weeks for them to be resprayed and renumbered, by then we have fallen in love with the model all over again and have the option of the new batch with additional numbers. In the meantime everyone gets cash flow and shelf space.

Vote here and I will pass it on to Dapol!

[letterspider]

After reading back through 5 or 6 pages, as i model the southern and my Hornby/lima reissue grates me, can i assume that the large logo one "is the best of a bad bunch" so to speak. i so dearly want a new spec 73, but have been put off my preffered Intercity mainline one after seeing it in the flesh in Trains4u. i may have to opt for the Large logo one. there doesnt appear to be many comments about that particular model.  thanks.

I don't think anyone has had their hands on it yet. The retailers I have looked at, such as eHattons, suggest release sometime this week / next week. It is likely to be bad news again I'm afraid because the same colours appear on this model as BR blue and the colours selected for that model were wrong. How good are you with an airbrush?

Edited December 17, 2015 by letterspider

[BR(S)]

After reading back through 5 or 6 pages, as i model the southern and my Hornby/lima reissue grates me, can i assume that the large logo one "is the best of a bad bunch" so to speak. i so dearly want a new spec 73, but have been put off my preffered Intercity mainline one after seeing it in the flesh in Trains4u. i may have to opt for the Large logo one. there doesnt appear to be many comments about that particular model.  thanks.

 

 

I don't think anyone has had their hands on it yet. The retailers I have looked at, such as eHattons, suggest release sometime this week / next week. It is likely to be bad news again I'm afraid because the same colours appear on this model as BR blue and the colours selected for that model were wrong. How good are you with an airbrush?

 

The large logo one was released with the others and has been available for a while.  I haven't seen any comments on it, but the only thing I can see wrong with the livery (excluding colour issues as I haven't seen one in the flesh) is the lack of gap between the 73 and the 105.

 

If you expand a picture of the blue one and the LL one here and jump between them, they certainly seem to have used the same blue:

 

http://www.oliviastrains.com/trains/mt/Dapol/Dapol-class-73-oo-gauge-locomotives/Dapol-4d-006-002-class-73-124-in-br-blue-livery/

 

http://www.oliviastrains.com/trains/mt/Dapol/Dapol-class-73-oo-gauge-locomotives/Dapol-4d-006-001-class-73-105-in-br-large-logo-livery/ 

 

For me, BR blue varied so much with weathering and age that I'm very forgiving of the colours used and am the same with the warning panel yellow.  I can also overlook the incorrect roof colour on the dutch example, if that turns out to be the case, as mine will be weathered anyway.  The Intercity one had too many errors for me though.

Edited December 17, 2015 by BR(S)

[lofty1966]

 

Of course they do need to shift this first batch to recoup money but-  what should this loco be reduced to considering a professional respray is about £50?

I think the price should go down to £60 right now.

Are you on Crack ?