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Dapol Streamlined Railcar


Richard Mawer
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Just had my Dapol Railcar in the post now, number 11.

 

The model runs perfectly on DC, but it has no horns fitted and no accessory pack. I've just rung Dapol and they say I have to return the whole loco back to Hattons for a full replacement because they have no spares in stock yet !!!!

 

That's a really STUPID situation !

 

Why not just send me some horns when they come into stock rather than sending back whole models that run correctly !

 

Unhappy!

 

I'll buy some brass ones and fit them myself !

Do you have any sharp curves on your layout, does this model have fully formed bogies like the unvalanced versions or bare wheels?

 

Interested to know how it corners as I've a sharp bend out of my fiddleyard.

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Hattons have just rung me back and told me that non of the No11's have horns. They think the model should not come with them, but Dapol told me they should?

 

I personally will not be sending the model back as instructed by Dapol, I will be buying the brass horns from Markits and fitting them in accordance to the pictures on the net. The Dapol ones seem to big, plastic, not enough and in the wrong place anyway.

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  • RMweb Gold

Now that looks lovely in its natural habitat, get them while you can is all I can say.  

 

I enjoyed seeing these develop  and now released into the wild is a great feeling and having had control of one at Dapol club open day last month it was very responsive - it was the demo and I could have sold it a hundred times over, well done Dapol, please find time to shrink to N some time soon ...

mind you I would think O will come first and I can only dream of a 3mm version... anybody got a winning lottery ticket 

 

Robert. 

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Here are some photos I took of No4 in the NRM a year ago. Quite different body to the version produced by Dapol. However I would be interested to know if AEC/GWR changed the bogie design or whether they were the same. The bogies on No 4 certainly have cut-outs and assuming that they are the same on the 10 later versions of the real things I would suggest that the model versions do lack a bit of depth with the same cut out design. The appearance could be enhanced with some careful weathering.

 

I'm sure someone on here can tell me if the bogie design was the same, a quick scan through Colin Judge's book on them suggests that the bogies of the second tranche of ten were redesigned with longer side bearing springs and that the swing links were also considerably improved giving much better riding than the first seven. However though there are drawings of the bogies on the first batch and no 18 I can't see any relating to this batch 8-17. 

 

I look forward to hearing from someone with much greater knowledge of these interesting beasts.

 

all the best

 

Godfrey

 

post-138-0-38433000-1509377880_thumb.jpg

post-138-0-48684100-1509377892_thumb.jpg

post-138-0-33441300-1509377911_thumb.jpg

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Just had my Dapol Railcar in the post now, number 11.

The model runs perfectly on DC, but it has no horns fitted and no accessory pack. I've just rung Dapol and they say I have to return the whole loco back to Hattons for a full replacement because they have no spares in stock yet !!!!

That's a really STUPID situation !

Why not just send me some horns when they come into stock rather than sending back whole models that run correctly !

Unhappy!

I'll buy some brass ones and fit them myself !

 

I have both No 11 and No 8.  The early railcar does not come with lamp or horns.  I suspect that the model is meant to represent the railcar as first brought into service.  If you look at the front of the vehicle there is no place to fit the lamp/lamp bracket and this is how they were first used.  Looking at No 4 it does not have protuding horns either so I reckon that the model is quite correct (other than the holes in the radiators) for what it is meant to represent.  The lamp brackets and horns were (I am not an expert) later modifications and are therefore present on the post war livery vehicle.

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Yes, the valences became less common over the years as they were left off for ease of maintenance.

 

The bogies look basically accurate but I am not sure about the angled corners on the top of the bogies. I thought the tops were squarish.

 

4D-011-001IMG_0970.jpg

W_BR_W13_Denham_26-9-54_GWRA150131_03-02

gwrbsh1294.jpg

 

Are the buffers actually 50mm Cannon in disguise?  :jester:  :jester:

 

(Very useful for keeping the railway clear of trespassers and potential German invaders no doubt)

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That would be the malachite green one then :-)

Absolutely Not.  No Swindon procured product shall be dressed in the sacred shade of malachite on my rails. The flying banana will still be Medium Chocolate and Spilt Milk. 

 

After the dreaded end of December, 1947, the Bodmin Road to Wadebridge service was extended to Padstow by BR. A light prairie and B set in old GWR colors was used for some time. I just Rule One'd this service back to the summer of 1947. Tariff will of course require travelers to Padstow pay an SR supplement for the Wadebridge Padstow segment of their journey.

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Hi,

 

Yes, my model does not come with extra lamps, lamp irons or horns. There is no hole in the body to take a lamp iron, but it does come with holes to take horns and Dapol say it is meant to have horns.

 

However, my model will be going back as now I have had time to really watch the model running, it pulses! I have tried it on DCC and DC and I have cleaned all the wheels and contacts with IPA. The motor runs smooth as does the gears, but the model pulses while in motion. It doesn't stop or jurk, it gently and smoothly kangaroo's down the track, It's only slight, but you can hear the motor rev up and slow down. The faster you go, the more it does it. I've never had a model that does this when everything is perfectly clean.

 

P.S, My controllers are Gaugemaster D for DC testing and Sin-na-Trak for DCC running. Track is perfectly clean and all other models are running as they should.

 

P.P.S, As I sit here looking at my RB in it's postage box ready to be sent back tomorrow (by that time they have sold out) I wonder if it's worth disconnecting the motor and hard wiring it to a basic hard wire Zimo decoder. Just forget all the standard lights and PCB?? I'm not going to do it, unless the exchanged model shows the same running quality, but hard wiring would at least get it running consistently?

Edited by swiftbeam
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For those of you who are interested here is the interior.

 

Beam with horns on just pulls off, I suspect as my layout is in the mid 1930's this was not fitted anyway - need to double check.

Slightly push apart the sides to clear the lug and the body will just slide off with a bit of pulling

post-8925-0-58030900-1509389978_thumb.jpg

 

Undo the two screws in each driver cabs and I put a flat blade between the brown floor and black chassis to separate, just lifts up but watch the wires.

post-8925-0-78866800-1509389995_thumb.jpg

 

Cover for decoder just prises off the lugs - careful not to bend!

post-8925-0-80507100-1509390012_thumb.jpg

 

At this point I was planning to fit my 8pin Hornby decoder as it was already programmed for my original railcar No.22 but when starting to install the 21pin to 8pin adaptor I noticed it was damaged.

So I have ordered a new one and put it all back together - which is just a repeat of the above.

 

I will now set up a test loop of DC track and try a running test to check all is OK.

 

Hope you find this useful.

 

 

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Is it all wheel powered or one bogie. or as suggested one central motor and drive shafts?

Odd running could occur if the motor drives by shafts as they could be U/Ja out of phase, or if one bogie then the gears are too tight.....pure speculation till it arrives.

Stephen

 

Pictures were sent whilst writing

Edited by bertiedog
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Is that not because Number 11 represents the railcar in its earliest condition?

Perhaps....

 

This is the only picture I can find of it on Google and maybe it doesn't have horns 

http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/aec2.htm 

 

In fact in my ignorance, maybe I should follow what I see and declare it is sans horns.

 

Although all Dapol artistry and pre-production show the horns  :O

Edited by woodenhead
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As above, I also took shots of no 4 at York. Of interest is the triangular section missing from the body skirt to allow the drive shaft safety loop to clear the body. I have not seen this on the second batch railcars

 

post-9992-0-25627500-1509393175_thumb.jpg

 

Mike Wiltshire

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