Dapol OO Gauge GWR Large Prairie & GWR Mogul.

[swiftbeam]

Ahh well, I have a really nice Hornby 61xx with 60:1, Mashima, and flywheel. The old model is actually quite nice, so time matters not. My pre-order is with Hattons, so I've spent nothing thus far, just forget about it and one day it will arrive

[Bigmet]

Well perhaps, in the case of the large Prairie tank. Now that Hornby have shown test prints of a large Prairie model that is already a fair way down its development path the decision will come down to what retailer orders Dapol retain when the Hornby model goes on sale well before theirs: and especially so if Hornby overshoot on volume to any extent, resulting in significant discounting a year or more after the first releases.

Hornby have of course doubled up vs Dapol. There is an all new Terrier coming from Hornby too, and the first group of releases are supposed to go on sale before end of March this year.

The general thought is that Hornby had these models well underway ahead of the respective Dapol announcements, and kept quiet confident that they were sufficiently far ahead to get to market first and pretty much scoop the pool unopposed.

[boxbrownie]

Some who very definitely know their Swindonions have picked up on significant inaccuracies in exterior appearance in the first CADs that have been shown. I have no view one way or the other, but these are people who on past evidence are worth listening to, and hopefully Dapol will attend to that...

Well, as I never saw (or cannot remember) these Locos in the wild as long as they look similar (smoke comes out the front and coal,goes in the back) that’s good enough for me, after all I will not be comparing them with tech drawings while playing trains.

[Mike Parkes]

Hornby have of course doubled up vs Dapol. There is an all new Terrier coming from Hornby too

The Dapol Terrier is a commission by Rails/NRM/Locomotion and it could have been any manufacturer

[61xx]

We have heard the grand total of nothing regarding these models for months now, and Hornby have announced their own model of the large prairie.
I honestly believe that we will never see any of these ! With this in mind I am forgetting about them , and going back to my original plan of kit building them.....

Rob

[Bigmet]

The Prairie appears to have been quietly dropped since the Hornby announcement that they had one underway, but a test assembly of the Mogul was shown at Ally Pally show, and the first EP is expected end 2019.

[Lysander]

I would have thought that for any manufacturer, producing a large Prairie in OO from scratch was going to be a risky proposition given that the ex-Airfix model in the Hornby stable was inevitably going to be upgraded one day. I’m fairly certain that I read, or heard, Simon Kohler talk about the need to do this years ago, before he left Hornby to return later (he mentioned the need for a superdetailed King at the same time). This certainly isn’t a business for anybody with a dodgy crystal ball.....

Tony

[sir hayden]

The Prairie appears to have been quietly dropped since the Hornby announcement that they had one underway, but a test assembly of the Mogul was shown at Ally Pally show, and the first EP is expected end 2019.

They did day they still plan to make theirs, they're probably wanting to finish the B4, Mogul, and Rails Exclusive Terriers before continuing on their Large Prairie, so hope is not lost guys.

[Bigmet]

That's Dapol once again playing the 'wait and see' card they last used on their announced DP2 model, when Heljan beat them to the punch. What happened? Even though the Heljan DP2 model was visibly afflicted with a body shape error, Dapol didn't proceed (or perhaps 'haven't yet proceeded'?).

I would suggest that the Hornby Large Prairie would have to prove hopelessly poor for it to be worthwhile for Dapol to have a go. It's not as though there is a shortage of subjects still with no RTR OO model, or no good model. Get classes 21, 29, 59 and the Terrier and Mogul out on sale, and continue surveying the landscape for the next 'low hanging fruit' opportunities.

[6C]

Painted samples of the Mogul on Hattons site today - for pre-order.

[6C]

CAD and pre-order options for OO large prairie up on Hattons today - so they are going head-to-head.....

[Bigmet]

Dealers putting it out that the Churchward mogul is expected this month. I will be interested if anyone buys and cares to report. First steam tender loco in a long time from Dapol, and they have a new multiway electrical plug and socket on it as the loco to tender connection, which is also planned to go in the Rails/NRM commissioned D class 4-4-0 (which is tempting me sorely despite its non-ERness, what with it representing the ne plus ultra of 4-4-0 exterior appearance).

CAD and pre-order options for OO large prairie up on Hattons today - so they are going head-to-head...

.
On paper! There's more evidence of progress on the Manor they announced more recently. Hornby have a newly tooled large Prairie on sale, and that will have an effect on what orders Dapol get for theirs. There's no detectable great dissatisfaction with the Hornby model, so I expect Dapol's to quietly fade away. There's no end of locos without models to choose from, and some decidedly poor OO models that could use a redo, much as Dapol have already picked up on the Mogul and the Manor.

In the current uncertainty, I really don't think duplication is going to find any favour. There were some 'hard landings' in previous such events, when the economic situation was better...

[boxbrownie]

Well if the sound fitted Moguls are assembled the same way as my Streamlined Railcar was when bought direct from Dapol I’d fend them off with a very large barge pole TBH........my Railcar sound was bad from the start, sent back to Dapol and came back better and then died completely, sent back again and no fault found and when opened to investigate by myself upon its return this time I found the speaker wires just wound loosely around the speaker terminals and shorting out against the speaker metal case, no wonder it didn’t work occasionally and when it did it sounded bloody awful, Dapol has never since responded to my emails regarding a repair, ignored completely!

Dapol will never be getting my money again.

[Bigmet]

Well if the sound fitted Moguls are assembled the same way as my Streamlined Railcar was when bought direct from Dapol I’d fend them off with a very large barge pole TBH...

Seen those reports relating to their sound fitted locos, and not good. Fine way to shoot yourself in the foot; because there is no doubt that Dapol can and have done 'DCC ready' locos very well, my solitary class 21, and a friend's LMS CoCo of some years past, were and are both fine. Anyone capable of installing a decoder by their own efforts, whether silent or with sound effects, is likely best advised to go the DIY route I feel.

[boxbrownie]

Well if the sound fitted Moguls are assembled the same way as my Streamlined Railcar was when bought direct from Dapol I’d fend them off with a very large barge pole TBH...

Seen those reports relating to their sound fitted locos, and not good. Fine way to shoot yourself in the foot; because there is no doubt that Dapol can and have done 'DCC ready' locos very well, my solitary class 21, and a friend's LMS CoCo of some years past, were and are both fine. Anyone capable of installing a decoder by their own efforts, whether silent or with sound effects, is likely best advised to go the DIY route I feel.

I have always in the past installed sound in all my Locos myself, I actually love the challenge of some of the difficult installations, this one single time when the Railcar was announced as a sound fitted version through the Dapol club I thought “yes, why not” oh what a bloody big mistake that was!

I have bought thousands of pounds worth of Dapol both 7mm and 4mm in the past......that stops now!