Class 86 1st Decorated samples

[Neil Dapol]

For your viewing pleasure, photographs of the N gauge Class 86 1st decorated samples. As always constructive comment is welcomed.

[Neil Dapol]

Les Ross / Peter Pan

[JR_P]

Neil Dapol - the name plates are wrong; yes, you correctly did in italics, but there should be loads of ‘edge’, especially on the Les Ross plate.... it took me about two seconds online to find a square-on, up-close image of the Les Ross plate that highlighted this glaring error. Overall, the model looks nice - I’ll certainly be in for one of these :-)

[Neil Dapol]

HI JR_P

Thank you for your comment, most appreciated.

We have provided feedback to the factory on the name plates and we will see what we get with the next deco samples and go from there.

Kind Regards

Neil

[JeremiahBunyan]

The black vent on the cab roof looks a bit odd. Is that an AC vent?? It seems to be white on the real locomotive. It's less noticeable on Class 86s with a darker colour roof. That darker colour only shows because of the grille effect. Can it not be done in a shade of grey? Or just left white?

[Neil Dapol]

Metior

[Scruff]

colours look great, but the nameplate seems off..
image here.. https://www.gwra.co.uk/auctions/name...0nov-0360.html
Hope that helps to show what i mean.

Cheers
Mark

[JeremiahBunyan]

Scruff they are indeed aware of the nameplates being both oversized and in some cases I think the fonts are incorrect.

[Southernlad86]

Oh Yeahh Can't wait :-D

[Neil Dapol]

Mons Meg

[Neil Dapol]

The Boys Brigade

[JeremiahBunyan]

The black vent on the cab roof looks a bit odd. Is that an AC vent?? It seems to be yellow on the real locomotives. It's less noticeable on Class 86s with a darker colour roof.

[Neil Dapol]

Class photo.... to try and help with colour debates I have attached a naturally lit photo taken on my phone.

[JeremiahBunyan]

Under natural light I personally feel the colour of "Les Ross" is a tad light. I hope someone will be kind enough to help here. I think we need a picture of it under an overcast sky also.

[JeremiahBunyan]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the wonderful images. They look nice. I've got "Mons Meg" on pre-order, I was thinking about "Les Ross" since it is very much a locomotive that will fit into this present day and age. However now that Dapol has confirmed that there will be the proper Chiltern Blue livery on the Class 121 I am in a fix. Fingers crossed - it's all based on when these hit shop shelves.

Already discussed "86259 - Les Ross" with you privately.

[dazzer]

Hi Neil,

The yellow on 86259 finishes below the hand rail and goes across the headlight.

Dazzer

[JR_P]

Yep, I concur with Dazzer’s comment.

[Neil Dapol]

Hi, Dazzer and JR_P.

Good observation and this is something we have asked to have addressed

Kind Regards

Neil

[JackD09]

Hi, I’ve noticed the nameplate on caledonian sleeper 86401 is a little high and needs to be moved down a touch

[Stu from EGDL]

Hi Neil; Please get the factory to rescale and redraw all the nameplates as they all look too large on these samples. As I will probably have an order for all of these models, I feel that ..unless corrected, I may have to replace the nameplates on these locos. Livery wise, they look very nice...some of the colour transition on the Caley Sleeper loco looks a bit rough but I am sure that you have already seen this. Thanks for allowing us to comment on these samples. Best Regards; Stu from EGDL

[JeremiahBunyan]

That's probably because it's a hand painted sample.

[Jcmjcm]

I too think the size of nameplates looks wrong. I hope you are able to improve these before production. Jeremy

[carderrail]

Looking good - I hope the nameplates are not super-glued on and are level unlike the last batch of Class 67s - I retuned 5 before I found one acceptable....

Tony

[Joel Dapol]

Yes, the plates are not great. We have asked for the names to be printed smaller and will probably supply plates in the bag. We should have some more pictures of corrected versions next week.

[JeremiahBunyan]

I'd be happy to fit the nameplates myself. So You've got one vote for bagged nameplates from me!

[Scruff]

I'm the same as you Jeremiah, Nameplates in the bag ready to be attached with "Glue and Glaze"!

[JeremiahBunyan]

Well atleast if we make a mess of the nameplates we have no one else to blame!

[JeremiahBunyan]

Here's a nice picture from "The Railway Centre" website and it came up as part of their "Picture of the Day"

http://www.railway-centre.com/upload...08-18_orig.jpg

Class 86 #86259 "Peter Pan"

[JeremiahBunyan]

Hello Neil Dapol

I believe that the Class 86 samples at TINGS 2018 were updated models? By the looks of it they seemed to have nameplates that were far better than the first samples you showed us. Can you confirm this please? Will you be posting pics?

[Michel van den Hof (NL)]

Will the pantographs become available as spare parts again?
I can do with 2 dozen or so.

Regards,
Michel

[Vonzack]

Using a 68 as a base, you know the 88 is longer?

[JeremiahBunyan]

It's something that I've had many requests for, so I doubt the people who have asked for the kit have an issue about the difference in length. Not everyone is a rivet counter. Most people are just happy if it resembles the prototype.

I don't know what Dapol's plans are, but a Class 88 in N gauge seems to be a huge gamble and personally there's better electric locomotives like the Class 87, Class 90 and Class 91 to do which have a higher sales potential than the DRS Class 88. I'll be thoroughly surprised if Dapol actually invest money in an N gauge DRS Class 88.

Designing the conversion kit to the many who wanted it seems to be a sensible idea as it's just a few hours work and no monetary investment.

[Vonzack]

I've made it, referred to as a 'Rivet Counter' ;-)

Good luck with you're conversion kit