nickb4141

Any news from Dapol as to when these will be released?

Anyone have any updates on this project, or any indication when these might be released?

This project seems to have quietly dropped off the radar? Does anyone have any news about it? Or are Heljan waiting to see if Dapol make an announcement as a follow-on to their impending Class 121/122 bubble cars?

Totally agree with the class 101 DMU - I’m amazed neither Heljan or Dapol have snapped this one up, bearing in mind it’s longevity, geographical spread and vast amount of liveries to produce!

Does anyone who, (like me,) has committed money to this project,have a copy of the terms and conditions? I have had a search through all of my emails and can’t find any record of anything? I’ve also looked on the website and there is no mention of anything. Any help in finding these (assuming they actually exist,) would be greatly appreciated.

I will do. I suspect she will say there is nothing I can do and everyone who has ‘invested’ will have lost their money. What I find staggering is that LLC didn’t even have the courtesy of sending people who have invested money any explanation as to what is going on. I’m also alarmed that we have all paid two payments when only development work has occurred and according to his ‘statement’ the class 22 is only ‘ready for tooling’ This alone makes me question just how legitimate the company was in the first place.

I can’t believe everyone is so blasé and ‘understanding’ about this?!!! I have paid £850 and it totally unacceptable that he now decides to sell the company, leaving everyone high and dry! This seems nothing short of a scam. I shall be talking to my lawyer in the morning about this. Disgraceful....

Hopefully next weeks episode will be better, but for me, it was a case of blink and you miss the bits actually about Hornby! It might have been better to do separate programmes about Airfix and Scaletrix and actually concentrate what the vast majority of the public believe Hornby represents; ie a train company. Airfix seemed to get the vast majority of the airtime. Unsurprisingly, it was very much in the ‘Top Gear cheesy cliches’ mould of TV, featuring a typical media version of a ‘train set geek’ in his garage -for me, it felt like it was belittling the hobby. A shame really as this could have been a really interesting subject matter for a decent quality documentary and deserves a much better production!

I’m sorry if my post felt like I was directed at you. I promise you it wasn’t, I was just trying to add a bit of balance and objectivity to some of the more extreme views that I have read. The posting by Steve from LLC might explain the background to some of the negativity posted on here! Cheers, Nick

very gracious and honest of you to set the record straight Steve. I wish you all the best with your future projects and can’t wait to get my hands on the two Class 22’s I have on order with you! Kind Regards, Nick.

It all seems to have gone a bit quiet from Dapol? Does anyone know when these are likely to land in the shops? ( can’t wait to get my hands on one!)

It all seems to have gone a bit quiet from Dapol? Does anyone know when these are likely to land in the shops? ( can’t wait to get my hands on one!)

I read today in Rail Express that Heljan have done CADs not only the 117, but also the 121,122 and the class 149/150 trailer cars. That was a surprise! I thought the 121 had been dropped after Dapol’s imminent model (interestingly, the 121 page has been taken off Tower Models Heljan section- so I thought it being dropped was the likely explanation). These CADs look great by the way and do capture the character of the real thing, in my humble opinion. I wonder if developing the 117 into the similar 116 might be a better commercial venture for Heljan, rather than releasing 121’s and 122’s head to head with Dapol?

I totally agree with you! I think the level of criticism is more about punishing Heljan for daring to announce a rival model to LLC (when the likelihood was it was already in development anyway!) It seems there are a growing number of people who DO think the model resembles a class 50 - including the normally (constructively critical,) Rail Express Modeller in their November issue!

It still amazes me that the notion Heljan just announced a class 50 just to rain on LLC’s parade still abounds! Sorry, but I just think that is plain stupidity. Every other model manufacturer seems to have on average at least a three year lead time in getting a roduct to market, and in a lot of cases, or example Bachmann and Dapol it can be considerably longer! Why you think Heljan are different, amazes me! The likelihood is Heljan we’re developing a class 50 when LLC announced their intention, and in my view, announcing theirs at that point was the honourable thing to do. Do people really think it would have been better to let LLC continue paying development costs and then Heljan announce their model? Of course not! Yes, I’m sure LLC would have made a lovely product, of which I had placed an order for two from them. At least LLC were spared additional costs and were able to move onto the class 22 (again, which I’ve pre-ordered two locos from). As to the point about price - are Heljan and LLC really that far apart? If you take Heljan’s last release, the mighty Western - I pre-ordered two and paid £475 for them, which I think is pretty good value? I do like this forum, but I do think there are a few who like to spit their dummies out and bash whoever the latest ‘whipping boy’ manufacturer is! Come on guys, be constructive and fair and stop getting so negative! This model really isn’t as bad as a small vociferous minority are making it out to be!

Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t see what is so wrong with this model. I get the impression that even if the Heljan model was the most accurate model ever made there would still be a small minority determined to find fault and write it off. Whether this is because these individuals still feel aggrieved that Heljan announced this model just to spite Little Loco Company’s offering is debatable. If this was the case, I find it strange that Heljan have progressed this far so quickly, unless O gauge models have a much shorter lead time to market than what every other manufacturer achieves! I had put my name down for a couple of class 50’s from LLC and I’m sure, on past performance they would have been great, but we are where we are and I think it’s best to stay objective about the model and stop acting like petulant children. I’m all for constructive criticism, but This feel like nit picking for the sake of having a dig at Heljan. We should at least be thankful that we aren’t N gauge modellers..... the current engineering models from Dapol still look some way off from achieving the correct face, yet interesting don’t seem to be attracting anywhere near the level of flak it’s bigger brother is! Come on guys, play fair and be more objective!

I think that’s a bit unfair considering Heljan’s Class 50 final product hasn’t even been delivered yet! Cut them some slack! The pre-production sample isn’t (in my opinion,) that bad. Yes, there are still issues with the cab windows and front (which Heljan themselves have acknowledged and are working on). I think we all need to keep an open mind until the final rendition is unveiled. A couple of years ago, the trend seemed to be ‘knock Hornby’ ..now there seems to be a fair few people taking every opportunity to ‘knock Heljan’ Sure, it’s a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but let’s stay positive and keep an open mind before we know the facts! PS I have two Little Loco Class 22’s on order which I’m sure will be fab,so I am in no way doubting their expetise.

It would definitely make sense for Heljan to drop their proposed 121. The Dapol version looks excellent and they have nailed the look of the prototype, ( in my personal view,) perfectly. When you can buy a ready to run sound-fitted Dapol one for (possibly) less than a standard Heljan DC version, there’s no contest. It surely can’t be commercially viable for Heljan to proceed with the 121. I do agree that they should still proceed with the class 120 ( surely also viable to produce in 00 as well) and the Class 117. I get the impression that Heljan are playing a bit of ‘Cat & Mouse’ it’s Dapol and are waiting to see if they do develop the 121 & 122 into a 116/117/118, before they commit to tooling up anything.

These do look excellent, even better than the 00 gauge version, with regard to the much better interior arrangement. Have Dapol suggested any further developments with these( ie Class 116/117/118 DMU’s?) ...and could this be why the Heljan proposals seem to have disappeared off the radar?

Hi, Does anyone know whether these DMU’s are still going ahead? There seems no mention of these in Heljan’s announcement on Saturday and it has been reported there was no mention or presence of these on their stand? Have these quietly been dropped? (really hope not!)

Thanks for the photos Rich- it’s much appreciated

Hi, Does anyone know if the 03’s ever worked in Cornwall, and if so, what loco numbers? These look really good, but don’t know if they would be plausible for my Cornish layout? Thanks, Nick.

The prospect of Mark 2’s being produced is very exciting- particularly if they look as good as these Mark 1 samples! Coaches are probably the weak link currently in O gauge, so if Dapol o come up with the goods, they could really clean up.

Thanks for the photos Rich. The class 50 looks good already. Agree with others in that the windows are 100% correct yet, but good to hear Heljan are trying to improve them and to be honest, he current sample looks far more like a class 50 than Dapol’s N gauge version where the front looks wrong (at least to my eyes)