Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

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Ken Shabby
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Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Ken Shabby »

Hi,
Do the 16ton mineral and the 20ton Esso tanker wagon kits come with tension lock couplings ?.
Thanks, Ken
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Bufferstop
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Bufferstop »

I don't think they do Ken. They have a rather heavy plastic knuckle coupler that was just about compatible with Peco/Hornby Dublo couplers, but it does have a nice large boss on the underside of the floor that will take a screw through an NEM pocket.
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Bigmet
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Bigmet »

Nor do they come with wheelsets that work well. Ideally fit them with whatever RTR OO wheelsets you get on with, and use brass pinpoint bearing inserts to make them run freely, rather than rely on the plastic as a bearing surface. Needs the bearing locations drilled out 2mm. Then there is the requirement for a little extra weight, half an ounce / 15g is enough.

Can you get a comparison price to the nearest equivalents from Parkside-Dundas? These are moulded in a better grade of plastic, and are supplied with metal wheels and bearings. Good though the Airfix kits were in their day, there is better now available.
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stuartp
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by stuartp »

The Parkside 16 tonner is certainly worth looking out, it comes with metal wheels and bearings as standard and although it's getting a bit long in the tooth it's more refined than the Airfix kit, especially underneath.

There's no equivalent for the tanker, in fact tankers generally get a fairly poor deal both RTR and kitbuilt. It's dimensionally accurate though, if a little basic. As far as I can remember the Dapol versions come with adapters for Dapol tension locks but Parkside will also sell you a sprue of little wedge sockets to take NEM pockets. You'll need to experiment with the best position to fit them though.
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by bike2steam »

About 15 years ago I managed to get hold of a batch of Dapol (Airfix) tankers, 22 in all, enough for a near complete tanker train. The kits were poor castings full of inclusions, and the chassis for most were in varying degrees of twist which was cured in most by using MJT Compensation Units on one axle. Well the end result was 16 wagons, detailed with etch brass ladders, and others various bits of brass detailing. As bigmet sez, re-wheel, and include pin-point bearings, and to give the wagons a more solid feel, and little more weight, the tanks were filled with wood dowelling.
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Ken Shabby
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Ken Shabby »

Thanks for the advice. About 5 years back I built the Airfix / Dapol meat van , which went together very easily and came with metal wheels and tension locks and I was hoping the mineral wagon and tanker would have them as well.
I saw a kit on ebay ( possibly Parkside) of one of those mineral wagons with cupboard style doors, so I may attempt one of those instead.

Ken
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Bushey Troughs »

Dapol, CO90 20 ton Regent tanker comes with both metal, and plastic wheel sets. The kit also comes with tension lock couplings.
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Kindling
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Kindling »

I have a couple of mineral wagon kits (C037) and they came with metal wheels and medium size tension lock coupling.
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by luckymucklebackit »

I have a mineral wagon, an Esso tank Wagon, Prestflo Twin Tub and a Blue Circle Cement wagon, all came with metal wheels and tension lock coupling, my only observation however is that the 16T Mineral wagon looks very underscale when coupled to a Bachman example.

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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by 6C »

Add the 10T Meat Van to the above - anything from the last 5 years production basically - has metal wheels and tension lock couplings.

They really go together very well - I am looking at a couple of their Prestwins (which are hugely better in detail than the Hornby jobs) currently - and would recommend the therapeutic nature of putting them together yourself - 4x16T min, 4x10T Meat Vans and 4 Cattle Wagons later !
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ModelMinutes
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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by ModelMinutes »

They do now, but i found that on my Esso tanker there was a coupling missing, but when I purchased a 10 ton meat van, there was a whole extra set . . . convenient

The metal wheels are handy, although a few kits also come with the plastic ones

They are really lightweight though, and extra weight is needed to keep them on the tracks,

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Re: Dapol Ex Airfix mineral wagon & tanker kits

Post by Pennine MC »

luckymucklebackit wrote:...my only observation however is that the 16T Mineral wagon looks very underscale when coupled to a Bachman example.
It shouldnt, unless your Bachmann ones are the old ex-Mainline ones (in which case it's those that are wrong, as they're a scale foot overlength). A well sorted Airfix kit and the current Bachmann model are almost indistinguishable.
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