Dapol Black Label A4

[Woodcock29]

I wondered if anyone has studied the new Dapol Black Label A4s?

I have been loaned the model of Mallard for a couple of days for inspection.

Whilst I think the body generally captures the look of the A4 quite well I noted a few matters that I thought were unexpected given the price.

The non-corridor tender with Mallard has a coal space that seems to be 4mm too long compared with several drawings of LNER 8 wheel corridor tenders and the non-corridor type coupled to a number of the A4s.

The rubber imitation canvas between the loco roof and tender is so over scale its not worth bothering with as is spoils the overall appearance.

When running on a straight section of track hauling 9 RTR coaches it was noted that the engine had a distinct 'crabbing'. Was this due to the rubber sheet between engine and tender catching somewhere? No it was simply that the loco has so much sideways slop in the front and rear axles that it can decide whatever fashion it wants to run in. This was easily cured after careful study by inserting 3 Peco fibre washers to the left hand side of the rear axle - simply by cutting out a small section and easing them over the axle.

The expansion links seem to be too long as the eccentric rods display a curious strange un-prototypical angle when the cranks are in a certain position.

Although the basic 'chuff' sound operates on DC I've had no opportunity to test the sound and its various functions under DCC control as I have only run it on a DC layout. This is expected to be arranged with the owner and a friend with a large USA DCC layout who lives nearby in the next couple of weeks

I'd be interested to hear others comments.

Andrew Emmett

[mick b]

Strange that no one on here or the dark side have posted any photos of these models.

I have seen Dapol's photos of the pre production version which was panned by many , at £400.00 it did nothing for me in its appearance. The add ons compared to the much better looking Hornby version for me are just gimmicks.

[Manxman1831]

There was a YouTube video floating around on the 'Model Railways' page on Facebook, about a week or so ago - full sound and smoke. Looked impressive.

[Kestrel]

look at these https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dapol+a4

[mick b]

Thanks for the link

The production version still has/appears to most of the faults of the earlier pre production samples.

Cab

Very poor fit of the to the Footplate, the cab just looks very strange , very thick side walls , looks like the very thick Cab Doors are part of the same casting., Windows look too small. No side wind deflectors.

Boiler
Washout plugs,rivets and lamp irons look far too big/clumsy. Bugatti Nose looks flat.


Tender

Again heavy detail and thick castings. Rear lamp irons and steps poorly moulded.


The pre production version of the Green version has all the Red lining to the Cartazzi Truck and Tender totally omitted. Cab, again looks poorly lined out and the windows look even more strange on that version. Its also had the fairing on the Tender , haven't checked but didn't that go while they were still in Silver Grey?

Silver Grey version Corridor Connector painted silver would have been Black. Well done to putting the Fairing on the tender on that version.


Smoke and sound.

We are very overdue a decent smoke system, this better than some. No wow factor sadly.

Sound is just as annoying as all the others , it simply doesn't sound like a Steam train to me.


The model lacks the finesse of the Hornby version.