The Official Rapido APT-E Thread

[Andy Y]

There's probably a rule to say don't take it outside on a showery day.

 

[mcs_095]

I'm enjoying reading this thread, as it is filling in the time that I'm waiting for my order to find its way down under to sunny Canberra The model looks superb and can't wait to try it out when it comes. I don't have a permanent layout, but have a heap of kato unitrack that allows me to run a big sweeping layout round the lounge room - not sure my partner is going to be so happy when the train layout goes down as soon as the model comes

[piranha230]

My two APT-E models have not arrived yet, to take a close look at, but I have noticed on all the photo's so far the separate nose cone moulding looks larger where it joins onto the front of the train, just underneath the windscreen, its although its nosecone has been moulded slightly larger creating a step, or as though its stuck on slightly higher up, I noticed this on the test moulding photo's that it looked larger.

On the real thing its flush down the sides where it joins up, also on the real one it has black frames around the headlights, with a red and clear light lens clearly visible, even with its lights off.

I am not being critical here, but the lights do look very basic on the model compared to the real one, just two holes on the model, covered by clear plastic, with a silver frame as part of the nose cone moulding.

The lights on the model remind me of the ones on the Hornby APT-P if you push the clear light covers out, ie just a hole, covered by a clear plastic insert.

Has anyone noticed these two things?

Again I am not being critical here, but these two things don't look quite right to me.

[Jitmen]

Packed the train away still connected for a few days, got it running again today with no problems,love it the best model I've ever had

[JSpencer]

My two APT-E models have not arrived yet, to take a close look at, but I have noticed on all the photo's so far the separate nose cone moulding looks larger where it joins onto the front of the train, just underneath the windscreen, its although its nosecone has been moulded slightly larger creating a step, or as though its stuck on slightly higher up, I noticed this on the test moulding photo's that it looked larger.

On the real thing its flush down the sides where it joins up, also on the real one it has black frames around the headlights, with a red and clear light lens clearly visible, even with its lights off.

I am not being critical here, but the lights do look very basic on the model compared to the real one, just two holes on the model, covered by clear plastic, with a silver frame as part of the nose cone moulding.

The lights on the model remind me of the ones on the Hornby APT-P if you push the clear light covers out, ie just a hole, covered by a clear plastic insert.

Has anyone noticed these two things?

Again I am not being critical here, but these two things don't look quite right to me.

 

Admittedly the nose is not quite perfectly aligned and flush - the only slight minor (really minor) flaw on an otherwise perfect model. It is clipped in about 0.4mm too high. Size and shape being fine. It can be easily aligned with a little work but I am not going too.

 

I consider the lights far better than the old Hornby APT-P though.

[Mr_Tilt]

Is it an Android device or does it have an apple on it somewhere? Either way, connect it to your laptop with the USB cable that came with it (it's probably still in the box ) and you should be able to access the phone from said laptop. Note the key word "should"

 

If you can make a train go tilt, you're smart enough to take it from there   (yo, u shouldn't be talkin to da bloke like that!  )

 

HTH

 

 

Ah, but you're assuming it's one of those smartphone thingies, and it isn't.

 

I have a phone that makes phone calls, which HAPPENS to have a rudimentary camera as part of it, and it's 8 years old, plus I have an organiser thingie that tells me where I'm meant to be today, and a BIG camera to take pics with, but I left that at home last night, and a laptop that does almost everything else, except tilt.

 

It seems the answer may lie in something called Bluetooth, which apparently has nothing to do with dentists, but I'm investigating further..............

[Mr_Tilt]

There's probably a rule to say don't take it outside on a showery day.

 

5bw.jpg

 

The turbines LOVE showery days, they perform much better then, unlike humans......... 

[JSpencer]

Ah, but you're assuming it's one of those smartphone thingies, and it isn't.

 

I have a phone that makes phone calls, which HAPPENS to have a rudimentary camera as part of it, and it's 8 years old, plus I have an organiser thingie that tells me where I'm meant to be today, and a BIG camera to take pics with, but I left that at home last night, and a laptop that does almost everything else, except tilt.

 

It seems the answer may lie in something called Bluetooth, which apparently has nothing to do with dentists, but I'm investigating further..............

It might have a memory card that you can pop out and plug straight into the PC.

 

Bluetooth can be quite long (in the tooth).

[jonklein611]

Admittedly the nose is not quite perfectly aligned and flush - the only slight minor (really minor) flaw on an otherwise perfect model. It is clipped in about 0.4mm too high. Size and shape being fine. It can be easily aligned with a little work but I am not going too.

 

I consider the lights far better than the old Hornby APT-P though.

 

I'm confused as to how the nose could be wrong, when it was 3D scanned from the full scale train...

[Ian J.]

Ah, but you're assuming it's one of those smartphone thingies, and it isn't.

 

I have a phone that makes phone calls, which HAPPENS to have a rudimentary camera as part of it, and it's 8 years old, plus I have an organiser thingie that tells me where I'm meant to be today, and a BIG camera to take pics with, but I left that at home last night, and a laptop that does almost everything else, except tilt.

 

It seems the answer may lie in something called Bluetooth, which apparently has nothing to do with dentists, but I'm investigating further..............

 

Do you know what the make and model of the phone is?

[RJennings]

Number 804 (With the first of the 4 additional trailer cars I ordered) has touched down in Birmingham yesterday afternoon - Looks absolutely stunning and can't wait to get it running!

 

Just want to say many thanks to both Locomotion and Rapido for this stunning model and all the hard work that's gone into developing it and getting all the orders sent out the last few weeks.

 

Now time to get the manual out . . .

Edited April 5, 2016 by RJennings

[No Decorum]

I'm confused as to how the nose could be wrong, when it was 3D scanned from the full scale train...

Ah! That’ll be when my daughter walked in front of the scanner at the launch event. She wondered if she would appear as part of the model but something else has obviously happened.

[JSpencer]

I'm confused as to how the nose could be wrong, when it was 3D scanned from the full scale train...

 

The nose is correct. Its made from 3 parts. The front part is not quite perfectly aligned that is all and could be moved into place. But its a very very very very very very very minor niggle!

Edited April 5, 2016 by JSpencer

[Train bleu]

The model's fatally flawed - It's not fast enough......

 

Timed over a 1.8 metre straight at max speed on a number of runs, time taken was averaged out at 2.25 seconds(note, variation from that average was no more than 0.04 seconds -/+). So...

 

1.8 x 76 = 136.8 metres scale distance. 136.8 divided by 2.25 gives a speed of 60.8 metres per second. 60.8 x 3600 seconds gives a speed of 218,880 metres per hour, which is obviously 218.88 kms per hour. 218.88 divided by 1.61 to give the mph equivalent gives a figure of 135.95 mph. Must be the first time a model has been slower than the prototype....

 

However, there IS a solution: if you pretend it's 1/87 scale then the speed works out at 155.63 mph!

 

Is yours faster than mine, mister???

 

Cheers! (must take my anorak off when I'm indoors..)

[Pete the Elaner]

I don't think mine does 155. It is controllable though.

I've not looked at speed mappings. Maybe the maximum has been throttled in the factory defaults?

[JSpencer]

Was that under DC or DCC?

[grandadbob]

Don't know if this is any help to anyone but following a suggestion earlier in the thread I was looking for some cable trunking to make a cassette. However my local Wickes didn't have any but the very nice man there found me some copper tube cover.

 

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Double-Copper-Tube-Pipe-Cover-15mm-x-2500mm/p/420300

 

It also comes with some pipe clips, one of which I fixed to the end with a bit of foam to make a buffer stop.

 

With a little bit of cutting, adding some track and the help of a Peco Loco Lift I ended up with this.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by grandadbob

[Pete the Elaner]

Was that under DC or DCC?

Mine was on DCC.

[JSpencer]

Number 804 (With the first of the 4 additional trailer cars I ordered) has touched down in Birmingham yesterday afternoon - Looks absolutely stunning and can't wait to get it running!

 

Just want to say many thanks to both Locomotion and Rapido for this stunning model and all the hard work that's gone into developing it and getting all the orders sent out the last few weeks.

 

Now time to get the manual out . . .

With 4 additional cars, you will need to create a cassette 8 feet long to add and remove it from the layout

[Train bleu]

Was that under DC or DCC?

DCC, Lenz 100. Haven't touched any of the CVs except to turn down the Dale diesel volume. 135 mph is still plenty fast enough on

my roundy with 4th and 5th radius curves and although my measurements were all correct the post was of course made as a light-hearted addition to this topic. On a serious note I'm still concerned by the high-pitched squealing/whirring from the motor coaches at low speeds(speed steps 12 to 32 running on DCC). Anybody else got this?

[grandadbob]

No squeals from mine but like you I did turn down the Dale diesel volume.

[Vistisen]

The model's fatally flawed - It's not fast enough......

 

Timed over a 1.8 metre straight at max speed on a number of runs, time taken was averaged out at 2.25 seconds(note, variation from that average was no more than 0.04 seconds -/+). So...

 

1.8 x 76 = 136.8 metres scale distance. 136.8 divided by 2.25 gives a speed of 60.8 metres per second. 60.8 x 3600 seconds gives a speed of 218,880 metres per hour, which is obviously 218.88 kms per hour. 218.88 divided by 1.61 to give the mph equivalent gives a figure of 135.95 mph. Must be the first time a model has been slower than the prototype....

 

However, there IS a solution: if you pretend it's 1/87 scale then the speed works out at 155.63 mph!

 

Is yours faster than mine, mister???

 

Cheers! (must take my anorak off when I'm indoors..)

The only OO gauge locomotive I've ever seen do a scale 155mph is the 0-4-0 smokey joe, actually that does almost 150 mph i 1:1 scale

[No Decorum]

No squeals from mine but like you I did turn down the Dale diesel volume.

Judging by some videos, I was thinking of departing from strict realism to do that. It seems to drown out the spectacular turbine sounds.

[reevesthecat]

I decided to be brave and put together my APT-E, runs great from the start and can manage a full circuit of my layout without hitting something (in 1 direction at least).

I was a little disconcerted to read the booklet as it advises against whinging about the couplings on RMWeb unless I have a better idea. Well as an English gentleman I reserve the right to complain about things I have no knowledge of or insight into. That's what makes us English great and why the rest of the world respects and admires us (I think).

 

 

Oh and thanks for the train guys.

[No Decorum]

DCC, Lenz 100. Haven't touched any of the CVs except to turn down the Dale diesel volume. 135 mph is still plenty fast enough on

my roundy with 4th and 5th radius curves and although my measurements were all correct the post was of course made as a light-hearted addition to this topic. On a serious note I'm still concerned by the high-pitched squealing/whirring from the motor coaches at low speeds(speed steps 12 to 32 running on DCC). Anybody else got this?

I’m still waiting but it suggests to me that a tiny drop of oil on the motor bearings might be needed. There or on the transmission.