FluffyFeathers

On 29/09/2020 at 13:35, boxbrownie said:

Going by my experience with Dapol, definitely buy from a retailer NOT direct from Dapol whatever you do.

Thanks, I'll try. 

I have my doubts, now, about the whole thing to be honest. For me, as a single parent it's a risk. Looks like my son could only have a straight board 4'-5' long. I'm still thinking it through.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Thanks everyone, I'm grateful for the advice. I've taken everything onboard. I try and get someone to figure out the track curves, not sure my boy has fully considered that. Do I take it that most of these models are okay, work well and last then?

2 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

 

ignore the fuss - not that we know what it was! This is as good as anywhere.

 

Dapol are relatively new to the market in O gauge and have been producing some well detailed and accurate models much cheaper than, for example, Heljan. They have always had a lot of flak for taking a long time to produce models, which is utterly irrelevant and a suggestion that their quality control isnt brilliant, which is more concerning. My locos have all been fine but more than a few have have reported problems. Do test thoroughly and if any problems send it straight back - by and large I think things have been replaced. I always use Tower personally and have had good service from them.

 

Whether O gauge is suitable or not is a different matter. I would say the vast majority totally underestimate the cost and space involved and the amount of stuff being resold on eBay from an "abandoned project" is testament to that. On the flip side someone will almost certainly tell you to go for it as "you wont regret it" (thought presumably all those ebay people would disagree).

 

I'm sure others will chip in if i've missed anything!

 

edit. of course if your son changes his mind he can put it on ebay for slightly more than it costs in the shops and someone will buy it!

 

Hi thanks for the advice and information. My son has his heart set on O gauge and tells me that Dapol is almost as cheap as OO. I'm not taking his word for that! But he just wants a L shaped board, a few wagons and buildings. I'll also have a look on eBay then. Thanks again.

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

Short answer:- No.

 

Long answer:- No. 

It is now owned by a publishing Company, of which model railways is a very small part. It has no affiliations to any manufacturers at all. 

You just happened to join in as a bit of dummy-throwing was being dealt with. Remember the old football manager's quote, that football wasn't a matter of life & death, but far more important than that? Welcome to the model railway version.

I had a Dapol 08 for a while (a few months). No problems with it at all in that admitedly short time; I only sold it because it's livery wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Whilst O Scale is a great scale & I for one wouldn't wish to discourage anyone, depending on the age of your son, you might wish to start with something a bit cheaper (like Hornby OO ) if he's quite young.

Hi, Thanks for the heads up, I think that I understand the situation here now. My son is 12, he has his heart set on O scale, like his granddad had, but more modern, if that makes sense. Thanks for the advice on your own experience with these too.

I came here as single parent as my son had asked for a Dapol 08 loco as joint birthday and Christmas present. He's a fan of the great model railway challenge and would like a small O gauge shunting layout. As it would be a purchase that required some thought, I did a Google search, that led me here. So I joined up (my father used to have model railway too, in O scale).

I hoped to find out about all of the in's and outs of the model, whether it was any good or not. Or if there were other options.

I had thought that model trains were a gentlemanly pursuit - how wrong I was, lol.I  can't understand the controversy as my needs are to be able to read all opinions.

As a potential purchaser I want to know the warts and all views on this engine, and if it's reliable, other peoples experiences and reviews are all welcome.

I'm now not sure if this is the place for me to get to the bottom of whether or not to buy this model engine or not.

The general gist that I'm getting from some posters is that this site isn't truly independent? Have I missed something, is the site owned by a manufacturer? Sorry if I've missed something, I'm a novice. Am I correct in thinking that? If it is not, where can I go to get that sort of information?

And there was me thinking that twitter was where all the action is! Ha ha!

14 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

 

You might not agree with his decision but Isn't that his job? 

Depends on the issue in hand. Eg swearing, abuse, hate crimes etc, or commentary on a model and customer services, a customers' experiences etc. Depends if the fellow accused has the right to reply or not I guess. What did he write/do?

I've started reading this thread from page one. I wondered why there were gaps. I would rather see honest appraisals and long term user reviews.