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The Official Rapido APT-E Thread


rapidotrains
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On the model and the real train it has a hole between the headlights, im sure I have seen pics in the past with a needle like probe coming out of the hole ?.

 

You have, and this question has come up before as well.

 

The hole was used to mount a long aerodynamic probe when we were measuring the drag, air flow direction and the actual airspeed of the train. We used the probe on the WR 150 mph runs and the London-Leicester 1 hr runs, as well as some special aero tests on the Test Track.

 

I have no doubt that some enterprising garage manufacturer will produce such a probe in brass or similar material before much longer for those who want to model the train wholly accurately on one specific day  :D but it will make the overhang on curves even more extensive than it'll be already, and it'll be pretty fragile too!

 

For those determined that their aero probe equipped  models are 100% accurate the probe was almost always fitted to PC1 as that Power Car was usually leading on the crucial runs. That meant it was facing east on the WR runs and north on the Lon-Leic runs.

 

The probe was in two parts, a larger diameter but shorter support section that was often mounted on its own, and a smaller diameter section that protruded from the support section and carried the actual probes and vanes on its extreme tip.

 

lnSPc2.jpg

 

Aero probe mounted on PC1 at Didcot during the WR runs.

 

 

zVOmDN.jpg

 

A badly scratched print showing the probe fitted at St Pancras for the London-Leicester runs.

 

 

kHuFeL.jpg

 

An enlargement of the above print showing that it's just the support tube fitted here.

 

 

CLzrAE.jpg

 

A super close-up taken at Kettering showing both parts of the probe and the sensors on the extreme tip.

 

Please note that the train as it exists at Shildon today has a clear plastic cover over PC2's aero probe hole. That/s been added to stop any Little Darlings getting their fingers, toes,, or even whole hands jammed in the hole! It's not a standard E-Train fit!

Edited by Mr_Tilt
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Anyone know the arrangements for pick up from Shildon of the APT models? I am not sure how I will be informed when I can go an get it, and I am avoiding distubing the packing operations by ringing up. I am working in Darlington, so pick up was more economical than post ( and saved the team some time in packing).

 

Mike Wiltshire

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You have, and this question has come up before as well.

 

The hole was used to mount a long aerodynamic probe when we were measuring the drag, air flow direction and the actual airspeed of the train. We used the probe on the WR 150 mph runs and the London-Leicester 1 hr runs, as well as some special aero tests on the Test Track.

 

I have no doubt that some enterprising garage manufacturer will produce such a probe in brass or similar material before much longer for those who want to model the train wholly accurately on one specific day  :D but it will make the overhang on curves even more extensive than it'll be already, and it'll be pretty fragile too!

 

Three words: Battlespace Turbo Car.

 

:-)

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Anyone know the arrangements for pick up from Shildon of the APT models? I am not sure how I will be informed when I can go an get it, and I am avoiding distubing the packing operations by ringing up. I am working in Darlington, so pick up was more economical than post ( and saved the team some time in packing).

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Anyone know the arrangements for pick up from Shildon of the APT models? I am not sure how I will be informed when I can go an get it, and I am avoiding distubing the packing operations by ringing up. I am working in Darlington, so pick up was more economical than post ( and saved the team some time in packing).

 

Mike Wiltshire

Hi Mike, I've made a note to email when ready so you can pick up

Cheers

San

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Ordered and paid deposit with free postage 26 June 2014 and paid balance plus £9 postage 7 January 2016 - no mention of an allocation or sequence number. I did inquire about upgrading to a sound fitted version but was met with a wall of silence so eventually gave up..... Not had any communications from Locomotion other than the original e-mail confirmations of deposit and balance paid.

Hello Martin,  Have you changed your email address to the one I have for you? 

 

I'm in all day today and you will be able to reach me on 01388 771413 / 01904 685785 or 07766 785333.

Cheers

San

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You have, and this question has come up before as well.

 

The hole was used to mount a long aerodynamic probe when we were measuring the drag, air flow direction and the actual airspeed of the train. We used the probe on the WR 150 mph runs and the London-Leicester 1 hr runs, as well as some special aero tests on the Test Track.

You mean it wasn’t a machine gun? :cry:

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I ought to reserve judgement until I've seen the actual model - which let's face it is probably only a month away now - But I'm going to give my thoughts anyway:

 

Can anyone think of a product where; from announcement through to delivery; there's been a continual dialogue on here between manufacturer (Rapido), commissioner/retailer (Locomotion), original project engineer (Kit) and the customer (me and you) for a period of two years or so??

 

Absolutely fantastic. That's been part of the enjoyment of for me - the complete story of the model told out in 73 pages, including the fun side (the talking train video, the Benny Hill-style train chase), the technical story of the original iconic train itself (Kit and others insights), the product updates (samples on display at various sites; the photos of noses in production and packaging drop-testing), and now of course the final details of shipment to the UK, transportation to Shildon, and onward packaging and shipping from there.

 

If you have to announce products (and even take some money from customers) two years before they're available, then the story that's been laid out in this thread is surely the way to go. There are other manufacturers that could learn a lot about such communications. Okay; perhaps the re-tooled Class 158 might not stretch to 73 pages, but having a thread showing progress would be fantastic.

 

Rapido and NRM@Shildon are the manufacturer/commissioner/retailer partnership to beat in this respect in my view.

 

My ten penneth

 

Rob

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I ought to reserve judgement until I've seen the actual model - which let's face it is probably only a month away now - But I'm going to give my thoughts anyway:

 

Can anyone think of a product where; from announcement through to delivery; there's been a continual dialogue on here between manufacturer (Rapido), commissioner/retailer (Locomotion), original project engineer (Kit) and the customer (me and you) for a period of two years or so??

 

 

 

Rob

 

Possibly Dapol's Western comes close in communication, along with Realtrack's 144/143.

 

Understandably though due to duplication issues, I can appreciate why manufacturers are now keeping stuff closer to their chest. The APT-E is, to me, a very unique item and was unlikely to be duplicated.

 

Cheers,

Mic

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The only duplication will be whatever finally comes from my workbench, but strictly speaking it's not duplication as mine will be hand built in nickle silver. Of which there may be only a handful built.

 

Cheers

 

Shane

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If you have to announce products (and even take some money from customers) two years before they're available, then the story that's been laid out in this thread is surely the way to go. There are other manufacturers that could learn a lot about such communications. Okay; perhaps the re-tooled Class 158 might not stretch to 73 pages, but having a thread showing progress would be fantastic.

 

 

I agree, I think this is a textbook example of how to do customer (and media) communication in the Internet era.

 

To be fair, I don't think this is necessarily unique to Rapido. Other smaller manufacturers generally seem to do this pretty well, too, and there are some commissioners (Kernow and Model Rail mag come to mind) who've done a very good job of keeping people informed of the progress of their models. And we are privileged to have Jason et al on RMweb; I don't think it's realistic to expect every manufacturer and every retailer to be a member of every forum. But the simple thing of keeping your own website updated with progress and getting a continual stream of information out via email and press releases is something that every manufacturer should be doing as a matter of routine.

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Regarding the pole from the front of the APT-E. If you have two sets on order, you could fit the poles on the front of each set and try jousting on your R2 curves.

 

Off on my horse now...

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Regarding the pole from the front of the APT-E. If you have two sets on order, you could fit the poles on the front of each set and try jousting on your R2 curves.

 

Off on my horse now...

No this is one one to go for.

 Just need to cut a bit of the post to make it lower:

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Guest spet0114

Getting quite exited about this one now.  Having seen Sandra's videos of the model generating sound whilst on DC, I called Locomotion and was told there had been a few 'cancellations' and as a result I was able to pay the difference to upgrade to the sound version.

 

Yay! :-)

 

Cheers
Adrian

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Getting quite exited about this one now.  Having seen Sandra's videos of the model generating sound whilst on DC, I called Locomotion and was told there had been a few 'cancellations' and as a result I was able to pay the difference to upgrade to the sound version.

 

Yay! :-)

 

Cheers

Adrian

Yeah well that's what they told me about 4 weeks ago, but despite several emails and phone calls later still heard nothing. Looks like I'll be taking my money to spend at Tower Models Blackpool, at least it's not too much trouble to them to deal with their customers.

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