APT Fan

The takaway of that Dapol 08 is very smooth and it crawls along very nicely. I notice that it is displaying all six lights, the so called 'shunting' mode. What other lighting modes does it offer? There is something a little steam-esk about an 08 shunter with its whistle and coupling rods.

Ha! I wasn't interesting in buying it, just how it was built!

Nice model, although I'm not too sure about the paintwork. Difficult to tell from the picture, but it looks like there are four driving wheels there? I was expecting six. Is the other bogie motorised too? Thanks

My problem is that I never read the manual, I think I do it just to wind up the missus and its become instinctive now! Anyway, they say run it at half speed for half an hour in both directions. The areas indicated in the manual don't look obviously dry to me. However I was surprised to see the underside of the pcb which seems to have some oil splashes from the drive shaft, I hope this isn't going to cause an issue in the future. The detailing on this model is fantastic and I love the build quality, it doesn't feel like bits are going to fall off when you pick it up like some of the high detail Hornby models. The speaker has decent volume and there is an impressive list of DCC functions. I think £275 with factory fitted sound and delivery was a bargain, I'm really pleased with it.

Wow, big shock, must have been a really tough decision. I've enjoyed following thread, mostly as a lurker and will miss it.

Why would prices constantly have to go up? Many manufactured goods actually reduce in price, certainly in real terms whilst the quality improves. The future O gauge Dapol Class 66 retails between £276 (DC) and £302 (DCC) with the large retailers, less than half that of Heljan. A spokesman from Dapol was quoted as saying that the O gauge price doesn't have to be twice or three times that of a product half or a third of the scale. The Dapol 66s all come prenumbered, so perhaps the comment about 'never supplied with numbers' might be considered outdated. I'm not getting at you, just pointing out a fair comparison based on the current market to add some context.

Yes that's a reasonable description, it sounds like the gears to me. It does sound better after running it for an hour at medium speed, although I haven't been paying full attention. Despite it being brand new, I'm not assuming it doesn't need oiling as I don't know how long its been in stock. I've read the manual about checking inside the bogies to see if it looks 'dry' but I don't really know where I am to look or what to look for? How would I know if it needs oiling? Thanks

Probably the minimum one should expect given the huge retail prices being quoted. I understand that the units are not being supplied with numbering or a DCC decoder, so they will be at extra cost.

Exactly the same thing happened to me recently with another retailer, with whom I had placed a Bachmann Pre-order. It was explained that the error was down to a problem with the Bachmann system. At the moment I'm inclined to believe the retailer but time will tell whether it will ever turn up at any retailer let alone the one I've chosen.

Received mine this morning, its very nice. I've been working today, so just had it on a test track in the background running in at various speeds. I turned the sound off so that I could listen to it run properly and it sounds a little noisy to me at top speed. Is that to be expected with this model?

I agree with you that companies have to accept criticsm if they want to improve. It is interesting reading about your comparison between Hornby and Bachmann and they do need to consider the big picture, their job doesn't stop at the point of selling the product, it continues into after sales and support. My recent experience with Hornby was with an excellent model but some question marks over the quality control. I like you, am ex-car industry and if you look at that industry now, total quality is a given for all the manufacturers but that wasn't always the case as it was so expensive to implement. Manufacturers had to go that way to compete with the Japanese, suddenly quality, reliability and eventually reputation overtook brand name and brand loyalty in the priority list of customers. All cars are very well made now and nobody is ashamed of driving a Skoda, Nissan or a Kia nowadays. The differentiators for manufacturers in order to attract customers tend to be things like after sales such a warranties etc in addition to expected quality and reliability. Hornby actually need some healthy competition from the likes of Bachmann to help them improve. In fact more competiton would also be beneficial for the customer, it would be nice to be able to obtain some of their product lines from different manufacturers. One thing that occurs to me reading this thread is that Hornby have chosen specific product line for the Pre-orders, knowing there is a market for it and creating a demand. Years ago they probably would have a had a monopoly on that line e.g. Class 47 but now they have competition for that product. If they are not able to deliver on the products unique to them, it provides an opportunity for other manufacturers to move in as the market demand must clearly be there.

I've found reading this thread really useful and informative and I hope it doesn't get closed. I don't quite understand on what grounds it should be closed anyway? People are entitled to their opinion and I don't think there is anything over the top in here. It would actually concern me more if there was a feeling that reputations should somehow be protected by censoring comments. It wouldn't, reputations are built on customer service history actions, not on a forum.

Is there any updates on this, I have seen a later video of what I assume is a demo model running. I must admit that it looks a little 'square' to my untrained eye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT2Zi870-_Q Does anyone know where I can find out the latest updates, Hattons appear to be the best source of information at the moment. The option for a smoke generator would be great. https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail.aspx?id=597

I do fancy sound, do you think its better to add it rather than going for the factory fitted version? Thanks

Maybe he just received a duff one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mS2w1cjR6g&t=1422s

A Dapol 08? I really like the look of those, the detailing on them looks great. I've been put off by a couple of reviews questioning the quality, basically parts start to fall off them even before they've been taken out of the box.

Thanks, I assume the 20s are consisted? Is there any setup involved to get them to run together? Do the twin motor loco's need decoder with two DC outputs?

Sorry dumb question. but why do you remove motors from the Loco's? Thanks

Difficult to tell but are both of the 20s motored or is one a dummy? The 56 sounds very sweet.

Is it a different retailer? Thanks

I'd level that criticism at nearly all of the retailers websites and Hornby too! I've yet to find a decent one, a common theme is the poor search engines. Arguably one of the better one's in Hatton's is still not structured very, indicated by the fact that it takes forever to do an search and then still returns many spurious results. Having said that, this forum isn't much better, its a nightmare trying to find a specific thread, a waste of time really. Ironically Kernow has one of the better search engines, for example searching for 'class 37' returns mainly class 37 products, also class 370 which is fine and to be expected. Good luck with that search criteria on many other sites.

Aye, I read that about the online pre-order and it kind of put me off, I hesitated, when I did get around to phoning them a couple of days later for a Bachmann model they'd sold out on pre-order. It was a strange one as I'd already been waiting a year so didn't feel like there was any urgency, they did however indicate that there wasn't many available, the figure of 20 rings a bell. Missing out did save me nearly £250 though! From my past experiences, they seem to know what they are doing and I like dealing them when all is said and done.

Okay, doesn't that mean you have to pay up front with them? Whereas if you phone you can just reserve it with card details rather than it being debited at the online checkout?

Did you place the order online with Kernow or by phone? Thanks.

Yes its that balance in terms of how many do you actually need? I personally hate the thought of having locos sat in boxes not being used, I'd rather sell them on for somebody else to enjoy. I've sold four locos this year and purchased none, mainly because the one's I want are not in stock. At this rate I won't have anything to run!