Model Forum / General / Railroads / July 2008

I haven't seen the Dapol wagons recently, but my fading memory tells
me they were better detailed than the other available stuff

I don't know. These days I model O scale. I've got enough plastic
wagons and vans from Slaters, Parkside and Peco for 5 times as many
goods trains than I need. Living on the left side of the pond, I
tended to stock up when I went back  home for the hols and build them
when I had spare time duringthe year.

I'm slowly replacing them with brass kits as funds allow.

Parkside have better bodies than Slaters, because the Slaters have
flat insides, but I don't like their floating axle boxes. I
particularly like the Parkside private owner wagons which are right
for my period but wrong for the location. (but who cares!)

On Jul 28, 6:15 am, Jim Guthrie wrote:

I find the 'soapy' plastic that Dapol use doesn't hold fine detail as
well as the original Airfix kits, and by the time I've added on the
cost of metal wheelsets for a Dapol kit it's close to the cost of a
Parkside. If I want something esoteric like a Prestiwn I seek out old
Airfix ones rather than the Dapol.
I haven't bought any of the Dapol kits, but many of my Airfix 16-tonners are
still in service. Over time, all have received metal wheels in brass
pin-point bearings, 'scale' couplings and various styles of cast buffers;
most have got 'Morton' brakes, rather than the 'Independent' ones supplied,
whilst a lot have received vacuum gear. The majority were painted whilst I
had a summer job at BSC Landore, part of which included checking wagon
identities against BR Control details for demurrage calculations- I recorded
rather more than simply the numbers.....The great thing was that they were
relatively cheap, so one didn't feel too bad about 'distressing' them by
using a soldering iron to put bulges in the sides etc.
Brian