Dapol 121 and 122 dmus in O gauge

[37114]

21 minutes ago, mopar said:

I hadn't even noticed that those blue squares hardly appeared on the real thing. Just been looking at loads of photos....none have the blue squares.

I think they only lasted until the mid 70s.

[meatloaf]

Has anyone run these through the peco set track points?

[muddys-blues]

Copyright Nigel Menzies on Railcar.co.uk 

[muddys-blues]

1 hour ago, 37114 said:

I think they only lasted until the mid 70s.

Looks like it 

 

Best regards

Craig

[Hal Nail]

7 hours ago, muddys-blues said:

Copyright Nigel Menzies on Railcar.co.uk 

All the photos I've found of the blue era with multiple working symbols, have them directly under the lights as here.

 

No idea what the norm was on buffers as seen all three types on blue units but I've found one on my line with the circular type so will model that one.

[two tone green]

10 hours ago, meatloaf said:

Has anyone run these through the peco set track points?

Yes, no problems. 

[70E]

On 07/03/2022 at 16:21, 70E said:

I contacted them again on Saturday and had a reply this morning.

Hello Mark

 

Sorry but no feedback yet.

 

Kind regards

 

Kevin

 

 

 

I received another update from Kevin today

 

Hello 

 

Just to let you know they are still working on it.   They have evidently made improvements but want to refine it further.

 

kind regards

 

Kevin

 

[pwr]

On 21/02/2022 at 11:47, Scrooge said:

I agree with Hal Nail. I had a Dapol 14xx, with sound, in my hands for a few minutes before it was sent back due to damage in the post. Hattons offered to order a replacement as no more were in stock, but it was several months before they realised they could not get one and cancelled the order refunding my money. I never did get a 14xx, hopefully there may be a rerun. In my lifetime?

I also have a 122 with poor running and noisy motor or gears. I contacted Hattons within a couple of days but they were sold out. The only option they offered was a refund. I did not want to loose out again so I said I would consider it and hope it might improve with running, no such luck. After reading this thread I realised other people had the same problem and were trying to get them repaired by Dapol via DCC Supplies. I am still waiting for a reply from Dapol to see if it is possible.

 

 

Scrooge

 

I was in Compass Models in Rotherfield East Sussex yesterday and I am sure the only O gauge loco they had on the shelf was a 14XX. Might be worth giving them a call if you still want one

 

 

Paul R

[railtec-models]

On 02/03/2022 at 14:06, Hal Nail said:

Except it won't let you order them at the moment as a backlog of custom work - there is an option to be e mailed when next available tho. 

 

Now that the house move is done, the customisable items on the web site are available again. Phew!

 

[Steve Williams]

Just returned my second Class 121. Same issue, grinding along like a tractor at slow speeds, plus, as a variation, one of the seats was rattling around the interior, not that that is in itself a major issue, just symptomatic of build quality. Given up on them now.

[Hal Nail]

On 05/03/2022 at 16:00, 37114 said:

Whole number, they came from Railtec who supplied the number of my choice as one number plus provided the "B133" for the front.

I couldn't find the set numbers today - can you remember what they are listed as?

Ta 

[37114]

37 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

I couldn't find the set numbers today - can you remember what they are listed as?

Ta 

Hi, it is set 9090.

[Emma H]

The Class 121 I have runs but not as smoothly as the Heljan Class 128 DPU.

 

Both are due for tweaking to S7 standards so I will most likely remove one of the motors on the Class 121 to sweeten things up.

[Captain Cuttle]

On 09/03/2022 at 17:02, Steve Williams said:

Just returned my second Class 121. Same issue, grinding along like a tractor at slow speeds, plus, as a variation, one of the seats was rattling around the interior, not that that is in itself a major issue, just symptomatic of build quality. Given up on them now.

I returned both of my 122s last year hoping the 121s would be ok but it seems they  have similar issues?

[Captain Cuttle]

On 12/03/2022 at 15:16, Emma H said:

The Class 121 I have runs but not as smoothly as the Heljan Class 128 DPU.

 

Both are due for tweaking to S7 standards so I will most likely remove one of the motors on the Class 121 to sweeten things up.

Does the Heljan 128 have just one power bogie?

[muddys-blues]

3 hours ago, Captain Cuttle said:

Does the Heljan 128 have just one power bogie?

Yes it does.

 

HTH

Craig 

[Hal Nail]

On 16/02/2022 at 17:36, Ray H said:

I was looking at the headcodes this afternoon. I had presumed that they would be fitted from the inside but I can't seem to find a way to extract the two cabs and the lighting bar that joins them. 

 

Had a go at mine today and having taken the cabs out, I found out the roof is actually a separate unit screwed to the body. Once that comes off you can pop the main headcode glazing out by pushing it in from the front easily without risking damage trying to prise it out from the front.

 

Its actually a front and back panel in clear plastic and easier to align transfers on the back panel on the flat rather than trying to fit digits in through the hole. Cleaning up any residue sprue on the front one massively improves the appearance.

 

Next job will be to pop the body glazing out and open up some of the door windows - it is, after all, permanently Summer in my little world.

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Hal Nail

[hmrspaul]

My 121 runs very well. As well as up and down the Ebor Group 0 gauge layout (and my own industrial layout) it did plenty of circuits of the York O gauge area test track yesterday. 

 

Were the seats really green when they were newly introduced? Not something I remember. 

 

Paul

[47606odin]

My 2nd hand 122 has arrived from Hattons.

it is factory sound fitted, but the driver guard buzzer is for some reason a beeper instead of a buzzer. Is it like the 08 where you can have a horn or whistle, where you change one CV and it converts it from one to the other?

also, the motors sound grindy, so I removed one in case it was one motor working against the other, but it isn’t, so it’s on my rolling road hopefully running in as I don’t think it’s actually been run.

[Maybachmd655]

Good luck.  Hopefully it is a good one.  

[Hal Nail]

Thought this photo worth linking as shows the destination box really clearly.

 

https://christrerise.smugmug.com/DMUs/Class-121-Bubble-Car/i-hdkN6m7/A

 

[70E]

On 08/03/2022 at 16:22, 70E said:

I received another update from Kevin today

 

Hello 

 

Just to let you know they are still working on it.   They have evidently made improvements but want to refine it further.

 

kind regards

 

Kevin

 

Not surprisingly Dapol have not come up with a solution to the whiskers, apparently they will make sure they are correct on the next batch whenever that may be.

 

Has anyone changed theirs using Fox or equivalent transfers, how easy was it, what did you use to remove the printing etc (unable to use the correct term as the spell checker changes it to a feminine product !!)

 

I found T Cut difficult on Dapol printing so was wondering if there is an alternative?

 

 

Many thanks

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, 70E said:

I found T Cut difficult on Dapol printing so was wondering if there is an alternative?

 

Haven't done whiskers but I removed the numbers and blue squares using IPA, on a cotton bud, squeeze off the excess, try not to rub too much (as that polishes - although not as much as T cut obviously) and limit the IPA to the bit to be removed as much as possible. Lightly scratch the numbers off with a toothpick - it took a few minutes to soften. Very slight marks in the photo of the numbers, which are much smaller than the ones I removed, doesn't show to the eye and I haven't sealed these replacements yet. There shouldn't be excessive carrier film on whiskers anyway. 

 

It is a bit daunting though - I decided to live with the rather fat double arrows rather than push my luck.

 

Heljan class 50 wipers are worth it but you have to touch up the paint where the original holes are filled. In this case precision signal yellow and a dash of red mixed by eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Hal Nail

[37114]

Hi, I am not 100% happy with the running of my 121 and am tempted to try removing one of the motors as they seem to fight each other, has anyone any experience they can share please? I had a look today and as a minimum I need to desolder the motor from the PCB.

[Hal Nail]

13 hours ago, 37114 said:

Hi, I am not 100% happy with the running of my 121 and am tempted to try removing one of the motors as they seem to fight each other, has anyone any experience they can share please? I had a look today and as a minimum I need to desolder the motor from the PCB.

Some chat about this back on page 13 - you could message the guys who have done it. Personally I'd send it back and get one that runs smoothly but I dont know how long the return window is.