Compbck

I don't think Heljan has anything to worry about the Dapol rendition, at least certainly the Class 122 DMU. Sadly along with many other buyers I have had to return three units to suppliers for a refund after experiencing what appears to be on the face of it, a manufacturing defect, that is causing the two bogie motors to fight each other when power is applied to the unit resulting in a grinding and shuddering and sudden stopping during running sessions. In saying that the lighting albiet a complex setup is very good. I am now eagerly awaiting the release of the Heljan versions, albeit slightly more expensive, but I am informed by those in the know that the quality of the motors being used are of a very high quality, so I do not mind spending a little more on reliability. I look forward to hearing from others who have purchased the Dapol Class 122 and whether they have experienced similar problems. Apparently Dapol are frantically making changes to the Class 121 motors, although that information has come from a third-party supplier source.

I've just had a look at Hattons O Gauge listing for this DMU and it states that they are sold out on Pre Order for the DCC Sound version. Whatever that means, I presume Dapol have produced a limited number of DCC Sound versions and orders have reached their maximum. Tower Models are still indicating models being available in January 2021, which of course has now past. It would be really nice to know from Dapol what the current situation is. Are the delays due to manufacturing problems or Covid-19 restrictions or both. I think my order is now nearly 3 years old.

I am currently in the process of installing new unifrog O gauge turnouts, and have replaced all of the previous electrofrog turnouts that despite the correct adjustments being made for DCC use, seemed to cause smaller locomotives to either stop or jerk when passing over the turnout. However, having installed unifrog turnouts all locomotives now run smoothly over them. I run a DCC layout, and use of droppers has been greatly reduced to each end, eliminating the need for droppers all over the layout. The unifrog turnouts seem to allow the power to flow in all directions even without connecting the frog wire to the frog connector on the Colbalt Point motors, with no stoppages or shorts at the frog. Plastic fish plates have also been eliminated. Despite the ease of installation, I have experienced a problem with just one turnout, which showed signs of overheating at the frog and melted the surrounding plastic. I have yet to determine the reason for this, as it has been installed in the same manner as all the other turnouts about 18 in total. Apart from the above gliche I am quite pleased with the performance of the new O Gauge Unifrog turnouts.

To date several buyers have attempted to get our money back using the legal system. - To date bailiffs have stated that the company appears to be run from private addresses with no re-saleable business products available to seize. So it looks like a lot of customer monies have been misappropriated, and as F-UnitMad states may now have to be written off. Many of us are not very impressed with the practice of demanding money at the time of ordering resulting in massive losses to many prospective purchasers,, and a result could be to the detriment of the future of the company, even if it does sell to a new owner. From now on I will stick to the large suppliers such as Dapol, Heljan and outlets such as Tower Models who can be trusted, and from whom I have already purchased many goodies over the years.

Several attempts have been made to obtain a refund for the alleged returnable deposit in respect of the Class 22, but to date, it appears the owner is ducking and diving his legal responsibilities. The business website is still up and running and offering the Class 22 for sale.

I purchased a Hornby 2-8-0T from the new range a couple of months ago. At the time there was no exact sound decoder for this modeI, so I purchased a sound decoder from Wickness Models originally designed for the 4MT locomotive. Due to size constraints I purchased a LokSound v4 micro decorder and was easily able to fit it within the body of the Hornby without too much aggravation.

Now that the world of model locomotive sound is beginning to open up big time, I do hope that Bachmann include some consideration for those of us who wish to fit sound, but without the need to cut or file away bits of the bodywork just to get a speaker installed. I am currently in the middle of fitting sound to all my loco fleet both steam and diesel, and it would be nice to be able to fit sound to a new model straight out of the box for a change. In saying that, I do love a decoder fitting challenge, which I suppose is all part of the learning curve.