DapolDave

Nope it's not right. Railfreight grey only i'm afriad. Hattons contacted and hope they will change it soon. cheers Dave

Hi Pete, I'm not sure but will ask Kevin , who deals with this side of Dapol, to contact them next week. Cheers Dave

No but we do have a large shipment in on Monday

Arrival imminent. :-) Cheers Dave

Hi, I hope to have Enterprise's in finished format on display for the Steam show, but not product unfortunately. I should also have finished Blue, Maroon and Green versions on display as well. As for delivery? well i would think Warley is a good guess for the standard run with the Steam model of Enterprise coming in as a 'launch' model a fair bit earlier. cheers Dave

Hi Nidge, Just cleared out my 'in box' (amazing how quickly it fills). I've gone for body coloured clips for Enterprise with red fan blades. Cheers Dave

Hi, To avoid speculation (or unfortunately perhaps increase it), i can confirm the following. 1) The 29 will be the first model type of this 'class' to be produced 2) The 21 was dropped from the catalogue simply because although we will be doing it after the 29, i cannot give a definite time frame within the next 18 months. 3) The main reason for doing the 29 first is that we have access to a large scale accurate model that we will laser scan as a basis for our model, and then subsequently putting slides in the tooling to allow for backdating etc to a 21. (like we have with the 22) makes life easier. 4) Yes we are producing a 4th 29 and yes we know it will have a disc headcode (the benefits of slides). 5) It will be PLuX22 compatible. 6) It will have a 'clip in' cab as per the Western to allow for modellers to add crew etc. Hope this helps cheers Dave

Hi everyone, Coal sector and EWS class 56's came in today and will start shipping to stockists who have ordered them and are in good standing tomorrow. X/C MK3 coaches also arrived. The other class 56's and EMT & I/C executive MK3 coaches are in next month. cheers Dave

Hi Chris, or further runs cheers Dave

Hi everyone, Now that the numbers and letters for the headcode are sorted, i have another 2 questions (in multiple format) that i'm hopeful you can help with. Early style battery box clips.....painted or not? if so what colour? and did D1000 have them painted? Anyone know the fan blade colour please? Cheers Dave

Hi Dave and Tase, Not on holiday yet although I'm winding down for it. Incidentally please note that I'm pretty much away for the whole month of August from the 2nd onwards so I'd appreciate any who read this to let others know who might post here or mail me at work but don't get an expedient answer :-) cheers Anyway, to answer the question, they have all been pushed back accordingly because of the N.R. Yellow ones taking space etc. What I can confirm is that I received a mail today from China indicating that it was all systems go on the blue/grey N.R. Ones now. Hope this helps Dave

Hi everyone, just to give you a quick update on this project...... I have received a slightly modified tooling version of the 1st EP model which removed the join line between the chassis and bodyside. and i am currently awaiting the 2nd EP sample with the changes required regarding the front (brackets, sloping nose, window pillars etc). Ive also received and approved the paint samples for BR Green, BR Blue and Desert Sand liveries (the BR Blue being a spit for the Bachmann Blue used on their Deltic model). Nameplate and decoration mark positions using official works paint drawings have been sent to China for them to refine the decoration. The box lid has been approved and we are currently working on a subtle change to our PCB board 21 pin socket to allow for the Bachmann 21-8pin converter to be fitted without having to worry about he decoder being upside down (as the class 22 was). The only major thing i have to get right now is the headcode digits, and i need some help here. Any thoughts about how this should be done (remember the cab is a clip in one, not glued) would be gratefully received. Do you want them printed on, a sticker as per the 22, in the rear of the glass (problems with the light channeling here possibly needing smaller digits)? Also a size for these would be good as i want them to be as close to acceptable as possible. thank guys cheers Dave

Hi Chris, I think the 1 thing we have to be careful of, as there are already murmerings from the lesser read of the forums, is announcing delivery dates. So in all honesty i wont do that at the moment in case it gives the trolls ammunition. I think i'll "take the 5th" on this issue and say that only when i personally say its on the boat, can you be assured it is. (this normally means about 6 weeks to the stockists).. This will save any confusion i think. cheers Dave

Basically the TGS is I design but as we didn't put slides into the tooling it, like the buffet is a whole new body shell. I envision (knowing what the production schedule should be) that we will see them around Feb 2013 Oh and for those who havnt twigged yet on here and other forums we are doing a blue/grey HST set again as an eastern region 254, and extra mk3 coaches in ALL liveries. Hope this helps Cheers Dave

Hi Graham, i see what you mean. however i am not sure there is a big enough market for it in N gauge to be honest. but i am open to thoughts, providing it doesnt cost an arm and a leg. cheers Dave

yes we are

Hi Graham, as the cabs are separate moulding i suppose there is, although to be honest i hadnt considered this. cheers Dave

Hi Tom, what stunned me was the cylinders. When i got the first one i thought 'what the heck has the engineer been smoking'. Sometimes it beggars belief. cheers Dave

Hi , Rest assured these were early cad/cam images. things like the correct profile pony wheels, tender, separate valances for the correct livery plus some( not all) of the points raised here have already been sorted on the revised V3 cad/cam. However some points here are quite improtant to the 'look' and they are also now being worked on. cheers Dave

Hi everyone, Just to confirm that the MRA's are currently OBS (on board ship) and arrive in the UK on the the 15th August. Typically the shipment missed the ship it was booked onto because of a customs check. So if the 15th is correct, expect them in the shops about a week later. cheers Dave

Hi Michael, The coupling pocket is something that has concerned me greatly over the last few years. The problem is it is a set size as defined by the MOROP/NEM standards and as such fixed. You then have the minimum distance needed for clearance etc. I always said that if I were doing a loco such as the 56, if I wanted the coupling box less obtrusive id remove (in cad/cam stage) the gear on the front axle, effectively making the loco a 1-bo-bo-1 wheel arrangement. However with the 56 I wanted maximum weight and adhesion so went all wheel drive as a compromise. You will find its not as obtrusive in the flesh though, I'm glad to say. Talking of which the EWS and coal sector loco's should be in the UK within about 10 days. Cheers Dave

Hi PLD, yes it is and no I won't, sorry. No point giving others more ammunition on something that apart from a delay, won't affect them. Blue/grey 254's are about 3 months away as that's when their production slot is. Cheers Dave

Hi guys, I think I need to clear this up before we get into a gnashing of teeth and wailing in the street by the "Dapol" has let us down AGAIN brigade. MK3 coaches for the HST in ALL liveries are scheduled for production over the coming months. Nothing has changed in these plans! The buffet and further projects have taken a front seat. Please ask yourself this question........if we were abandoning these, why would we produce the buffet, or the W&SR and pretendolino twin packs? If those that were there would have noticed, the last 2 shows attended have featured a MK3 in both I/C swallow and I/C executive liveries. Blue/grey , virgin, and others are slotted into the schedule (2x TSOs and a First in Blue /grey if I remember correctly along with a 254 HST book set in Blue/grey. You will find that certain shops have culled from their order list quite a bit recently, but basically as either that code has dropped out of our system, or we have cancelled that model. We may have 'cancelled' those particular coaches, but only with that production number, as this will be re-issued with the new ones closer to release. In fact ,and I'm sure this will fan the flames of the conspiracy boys, I'm thinking that the catalogue mentions the coaches but doesn't include product numbers for them due to lack of space. I hope this clarifies Cheers Dave

No problem mate. We do change things a bit. You will find this also happens as we change catalogue numbers or decide not to do a model we have already announced for some reason. I know we are trying to get this 'fixed' with the catalogue when it's out. Cheers Dave