DapolDave

Hi Rover, From next month all new locomotives wil be fitted with these couplers as standard. Longer and shorter arms are under design but the shorter ones might prove problematic due to buffers stopping them close coupling but we'll see. The non NEM coupling box conversion kit is finishing its design so I hope to have something tangible to show soon on that front too. Cheers Dave

Hi 47164, I seem to remember a company who introduced a Vossloh locomotive in HO at Nuremburg last year fitted them with working sprung suspension. I have not seen reviews though so cannot comment on how it works. Cheers Dave

Hi Jim, If it's any conscolation we are currently sitting on 150 x D6320 pre-ordered for stockists, but awaiting certain circumstances if you get my meaning, so only 350 are out in the public domain at the moment. cheers Dave

Hi Jim, looks like i need to go and learn my alphabet again. sorry, twas D + E as 6320 has been out a goodly amount of time now. Have modified my posting to reflect the D+E models. My fault. cheers Dave

Hi chaps, Just a quick note with the usual stockists caviats applying, D1000D D1000E have arrived here and will start leaving here for stockists late today or tomorrow morning. They are both Green SYY and are D6319 and D6313 respectively. cheers Dave

Hi Matt, No sorry, there's no work been done on an N gauge version by me yet. When i start work it should take about 9-12 months cheers Dave

Hi Andy, lol, i could write a book on the subject, warts and all......maybe after i retire eh? One largish stockist has previously told me he 'doesnt have time to read press releases from manufacturers and wont read the web forums to keep abreast because he see's no need for it'!!! Heck some of the stockists wont even send their order forms back to us either. Whilst i fully acknowledge there are some terrific stockists out there, my favourite phrase of the moment still must be.......... 'you can lead a horse to water.......' cheers Dave

Hi D605, We have produced 500 x 6 running numbers (2 in blue and 4 in green) as a preliminary introduction. Basically trade support for these was so bad that we had to hedge our bets (thats not to say the bad trade support was unfounded as it was our first 'Dapol' loco since the pendolino, so worries were fully justified), and once we sent review samples out and the model started to appear in the magazines trade support was still quite poor. Then, probably due to modellers apprehension regarding the models quality etc, (again quite right if you ask me to be honest), suddenly we were deluged with orders and sold out almost overnight. However, as we had already ordered the 6 x 500 models and they had been made we could not alter those plans. For future runs we will push the manufactured amount up a bit to hopefully cover all bases, but as you can imagine we dont want to be left holding lots of dead stock once the saturation point for the split box version has been reached so it's a delicate balance. I know this doesnt help you,but it might explain the situation. Persevere as stockists wont necessarily have sold out as yet. cheers Dave

Hi Lee, Sorry but ALL stockists received notification of these ( I know as I snail mailed everyone myself), plus my CEO sent out an order form to everyone as well. I'm not saying this is the case, but some stockists do tend to be more 'on the ball' than others when it comes to being knowledgable about new products, checking the forums or even reading / ordering press releases and order forms. I can assure you that all stockists in good standing who ordered would have received them or, if the couplers do not make minimum order for post paid, have them waiting for dispatch as soon as the minimum order level is reached. Hope this helps. Cheers Dave

RED DWARF ALERT!! RED DWARF ALERT!! Ok your all thinking has Dave lost what little marbles he had left? Not at all the 'Lister' (get it?) has landed, and will be going out to stockists today. For those non Dwarf fans, D1000c class 22 numbered D6320 in green with small yellow warning panel has arrived and is starting to be shipped today. cheers Dave

Hi Chaps, With Chinese New Year quickly descending on us like a 2 week holiday turning into a 4 week marathon the cad engineer has improved further the cad/cam of the Western for your comments. I also attach the profile of the Western with measurements so we can hopefully sort out the bodyside profile once and for all. Not much more to do now, and once this one is accepted i'll get the battery box fittings changed as a separate entity rather than muck around with this version when its 'locked down'. Anyway, comments appreciated. And yes, the more i look at it i think its going to be mighty fine in OO gauge, great in N and who knows in 'O'? cheers Dave

Hi Dave, No problem and glad to be of service. I haven't had a chance to check your returned ones yet as things were hectic just before the break. Rest assured I will once we are back in the office come Tuesday. Cheers Dave

Hi guys, I'll put up some more cad.cams tomorrow leaving out the handrails to see if the curve is any easier to spot. Meanwhile the measurements given earlier were great. However I think I'll ask the cad designer to supply some across body measurements at various heights for the cad and see what you guys think. Certainly I'm beginning to think that there is a curve just not enough. As for a 55? It has been laser scanned by someone in the last 6 months. Cheers Dave

and a like for like picture of the cad/cam. cheers Dave

Hi, the bodyside certainly isnt flat, but it is very subtle the curve on the cad.cam. please see the picture i have attached and put a straight edge to the middle and see how the upper and lower curve away from the centre point. I think its just that subtle, but if we put more curve do we risk the model being even more wrong? have attached a picture of the lower bodyside of the real thing for comparison. cheers Dave

Hi everyone, Another post giving you an update of where we are with the Western with warts and all. As you can see from the cad.cam there are vast improvements to ours now including a full roof detail, better profile front and valance with some tweeks here and there including air tanks, and roof lift rings. Worthy of note, are that the Chinese still cannot understand what an exhaust port is, and that curved roof panels should be exactly that, and that there should not be a gap betwen the peak and the top of the cab front windows!!! However i have a charged cattle prod in my hand and i intend to use it on the engineer. Thanks to Mark for his generous help in aiding this project, and he will no doubt be as pleased as me with some of the progress and vexed by others. Yes you can see a gap betwen the valance and the body, but dont worry as the model will come with spare valances for you to fix and not have a coupling arm gap visible in. And here's a question..............................who thinks we should sell sound equipped DCC ready Westerns using our big speaker and a loc sound4? (just sounding you out (excuse the pun)) Thoughts and questions are as usual welcomed. cheers Dave

Dave's Listening, dont you worry. And i must admit to a love of hydraulics. And i think that the Warship in any guise (and gauge) has not been done correctly..............yet cheers Dave

Hi, Well before the model gets tainted by ,shall I say, 'unsubstantiated' comments about dud locomotives, I think yours is only one of 2 I know about. Just working the math on this and that's 2 out of 500, so less than half of 1% which in anyone's books ( he says touching wood and crossing fingers) isn't bad. However this doesn't mean that you cannot be dissapointed ( I was recently having spent £300+ on 2 fleischmann loco's only to have both as duffers!) If Chris has a spare then great, however if not, I will replace the chassis for you once the next batch of green arrive in a couple of weeks. Please PM me and let me know if Chris can help, and if not a replacement chassis is your for the asking. Cheers Dave

Hi Dave, thats perfect thanks cheers Dave

hi Dave, can you please return these directly to me at Dapol as i am anxious to see if there might be a miss mold on yours i can sort out form happening on others? i will of course replace them for you. cheers Dave

Hi Chaps, to clear up the product codes thing. i must admit to being a bit of adolt when it comes to these things but as i read it the answer to the question is this; A couple of years back we (not me) allocated the class 22 numbers based on the spaces we had on out software system for them and they turned out to be D1000. We had no intention at the time to produce a Western and as such it wasnt taken into account, but once its 'out there' in the public domain it leads to further confusion (as if the running number change didnt ) by changing to product code. To add to this, when we changed to our Sage software accounting and ordering package, all the codes were transferred across, and sage wont let you change the numbers after they have been inputted. This means the product codes are there for life as long as you have put them on the system. We have recently changed coding to a mode user friendly (for us) 2+3+3 digit and number system and this will help us with future 'miss matches' should the possibility of them occur., but its too late for the Western, 22, 21/29 but not too late for the ..........oh sorry i havnt told you about them yet. lol cheers Dave ave

D1000a (BR Blue) went out to stockists today guys. cheers Dave

Hi Matt, Again I appreciate the price difference between the USA and the UK but as you mentioned there is the dreaded VAT, us the economies of scale between the 2 countries amount of modellers. Plus, and here's one not mentioned yet.....if a product was made say 2 or 3 years ago then tooling was cheaper and as such combined with the available large N scale market will have long amortised the tooling. Both Dapol and Farish are starting from scratch and as such will need to factor in the 20% tax and wage rise in China, rising steel prices and 20% VAT. Not ideal but I hope it helps Cheers Dave

Hi guys, As I mentioned on a another thread and in our press releases to all Dapol stockists and magazines, we are releasing 'bulk pack' multi packs of 5 pairs of couplers at an RRP of £19.95 per pack. I understand the concerns regarding the single pair pack price but please believe me there is a huge disparity in the price from China for a single pair per pack compared to 5 pairs per pack. I know this won't help some, and I'm sorry, but costs from China are just wierd at the moment. Cheers Dave

"they have designed their knuckle couplings to ride at the American standard height not the NEM height." Not according to conversations i have had with Colin Albright but i might be wrong and didnt talk to him cheers Dave