talisman56 Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Hi Grahame, The ‘dutch’ yellow/grey engineers versions have been ordered from China. However as they are in the middle of their hectic season of getting everything from rubber ducks to the latest computer toys out for the Christmas market I have not yet got a production slot, hence why I have not announced anything formally, so as to not get hopes up for a pre Christmas delivery. My best guess is just before CNY but if it happens before, then that’s a bonus. Cheers Dave Not the Olive ones then... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Hi everyone, 1 week to go until Warley, and DJM’s first appearance there, I was just about to fly the Dutch mermaids in for the show when something went wrong in packaging, and tampo finishing. So, unfortunately they will not be on general sale at the show, except for a very few i will receive that are perfect, on Wednesday of next week. They will be available on a first come first served basis at the show, and once their gone that’s it, until a production slot for remanufacture comes available in January. Apologies to those who won’t be at Warley, but rest assured I’m doing all I can to push them through quicker. Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 hi Everyone, I can confirm that I have had a small amount of Dutch engineers Mermaid wagons delivered, and they are here now with me. I’ll have them on the stand Saturday morning if you are there and want any, I have had no feedback from China yet regarding a new production slot so they may be the only ones for a while yet. Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 27, 2017 Share Posted November 27, 2017 Ok, now that’s interesting........ I’ve just received an e-mail that the factory has reworked the mermaid bodies over the weekend, and the main batch are in final assembly. I don’t want to miss the Christmas market by sea shipping them, so i’ll look at air freighting them in. More news when I have it on the subject. Cheers Dave 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Hi everyone, Wow, well it seems that sometimes fat gets pulled from the fire. I’m told the Mermaid rework will be finished and ready for collection by courier today. I’m surprised but very please, as you can imagine. So, I’ve made a few calls and it appears I can get them airfreight in for a Friday (yes this Friday) dispatch to stockists. Amazing if true, so i’m not promising until I update this later today or early tomorrow, but fingers crossed. Cheers Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Wonders will never cease. Batch of 974 +/- Engineers grey/yellow ‘dutch’ livery models currently on their way to Leipzig, for onward transit to the UK. I expect and easy transit through customs (just wait to see that statement bite me on the backside, lol) then onto Kernow who are distributing for me. If all goes well they should be in Camborne sometime early Friday morning for hopefully distribution to the stockists that have ordered, the same day. Cheers Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpgibbons Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 (edited) Kernow now have the Dutch livery in stock. Edited November 29, 2017 by dpgibbons Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJM Dave Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Heck, not sure what happened there. I’ve not received notification of them being in country yet as I have to pay import duty to release them. I think it’s more a slip up somewhere as there are expecting them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan24 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Received mine today from hattons but only the A and D suffix numbers for some reason. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted December 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2017 If anyone is still looking for the Black version then Gaugemaster in Ford have a few B, C and D variants in stock. Not sure where they have come from as these had sold out but some more seem to have been found. Despite having a couple of Olive Green ones on order, I succumbed and picked up a black one! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold scottystitch Posted December 9, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 9, 2017 If anyone is still looking for the Black version then Gaugemaster in Ford have a few B, C and D variants in stock. Not sure where they have come from as these had sold out but some more seem to have been found. Despite having a couple of Olive Green ones on order, I succumbed and picked up a black one! C&M in Carlisle, also had at least one when I was in last week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan24 Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 I like the simple packaging as well. Dapol wagons seem over packaged with a hard plastic box and foam insert, just for a wagon, this must be adding to the cost of the product by way of materials and shipping weight. It's good for the environment too, well done Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternKing Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Despite having a couple of Olive Green ones on order, I succumbed and picked up a black one! Me too John, I had olive green ones on order but when the black ones came first I bought those instead & cancelled my order! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at C&M Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 C&M in Carlisle, also had at least one when I was in last week. Indeed we have about a dozen of the black liveried 'Mermaids' left. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted December 14, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 14, 2017 I decided to be brave (or foolish, you decide!) and give my solitary black Mermaid a little grime, rust and muck: 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Robert Shrives Posted December 14, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 14, 2017 looks the part ! Well 2 more dutch arrived from hattons this week and both of these roll freely so the two I got from Dave at Warley I will look at and compare the models. Two more on way from Rails of Sheffield so will have more to compare. These will get rechained and weathered to go with my shark kit and I guess a grubby 31. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Crepello Posted December 15, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 15, 2017 I decided to be brave (or foolish, you decide!) and give my solitary black Mermaid a little grime, rust and muck: 20171214_152400.jpg Great job John but oh, those couplings! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy L S Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 I have fitted my four with Farish short-shanks and a Dapol Easi-Shunt short shank at one end of the rake, they look much better. It would be nice if Dave were able to specify short shank couplings on future batches, but I guess that depends on what extra cost would be involved apart from anything else. Lovely wagons, I too have taken the plunge and weathered one, it really does bring out the wealth of detail the wagon possesses. Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan24 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Whilst these wagons look excellent, even more so with short couplings, I'm experiencing a small issue and looking for advice... I found that the wheels did not spin freely as per other models and when on the track there is less side play in the wagon. I took a small drill (0.65mm) to the axle boxes and opened them out a bit - half a turn just until a tiny slither of swarf was produced. This helped the free spin a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped for. I have a rake of 9 and both a Farish 08 and 31 struggled to take them round a Peco radius 3 (11.75 inch I think) curve. There's quite a lot of drag. I compared the wheel sets with some spare Farish ones and found that the Farish wheel sets had a slightly smaller back to back measurement. The Farish ones also have longer axles and larger wheels so direct replacement was not an option. My suspicion was that the back to back was too large, causing drag by jamming on the curve due to lack of sideways movement, so to be sure I purchased the DCC Concepts gauge for 9mm track which says that it is set to the mid-point of the tolerance range at 7.65mm. The DJM wheels are a 'snug' fit onto the Gauge - just as described by the DCC Concepts instructions. I can only conclude that these wheels are 'spot on' in that respect. I did find that neither Farish nor Peco wagon wheels would fit onto the gauge, obviously they're using less than 7.65mm. What is the correct BTB figure and is there a preset gauge I can use to set the wheels slightly less than 7.65mm? Alan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswrightmk Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Delighted with both versions. Discovered a photo of GWR lettered version which may be worth considering. GWR Wagons Vol1 page 64 -by Tourret in Railways in Profile series -no15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan24 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Whilst these wagons look excellent, even more so with short couplings, I'm experiencing a small issue and looking for advice... I found that the wheels did not spin freely as per other models and when on the track there is less side play in the wagon. I took a small drill (0.65mm) to the axle boxes and opened them out a bit - half a turn just until a tiny slither of swarf was produced. This helped the free spin a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped for. I have a rake of 9 and both a Farish 08 and 31 struggled to take them round a Peco radius 3 (11.75 inch I think) curve. There's quite a lot of drag. I compared the wheel sets with some spare Farish ones and found that the Farish wheel sets had a slightly smaller back to back measurement. The Farish ones also have longer axles and larger wheels so direct replacement was not an option. My suspicion was that the back to back was too large, causing drag by jamming on the curve due to lack of sideways movement, so to be sure I purchased the DCC Concepts gauge for 9mm track which says that it is set to the mid-point of the tolerance range at 7.65mm. The DJM wheels are a 'snug' fit onto the Gauge - just as described by the DCC Concepts instructions. I can only conclude that these wheels are 'spot on' in that respect. I did find that neither Farish nor Peco wagon wheels would fit onto the gauge, obviously they're using less than 7.65mm. What is the correct BTB figure and is there a preset gauge I can use to set the wheels slightly less than 7.65mm? Alan. I have now looked into this s bit more... NMRA standards show BTB as 0.301" (7.6454mm) with tolerance of +0.0508mm / -0.1016mm. This is where the 7.65mm comes from. However, looking at some old ModelRail mags for reviews I find that... Dapol class 33 is 7.3mm BTB Farish A2 is 7.2mm BTB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Crepello Posted January 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 3, 2018 (edited) I have now looked into this s bit more... NMRA standards show BTB as 0.301" (7.6454mm) with tolerance of +0.0508mm / -0.1016mm. This is where the 7.65mm comes from. However, looking at some old ModelRail mags for reviews I find that... Dapol class 33 is 7.3mm BTB Farish A2 is 7.2mm BTB Peco have recently sent me the N-gauge back-to-back standard which is about 7.3mm. I've put it on the N-gauge Forum under the Farish Class 40, with which I was, and am still having derailment problems. I'll add it here when I find it. Note this is for Peco Code 55 track and probably code 80 too, but not for Atlas or other makes. It's 7.315-7.366mm. Certainly 7.65mm won't work through Peco points--I've tried it! Edited January 3, 2018 by Crepello Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan24 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Peco have recently sent me the N-gauge back-to-back standard which is about 7.3mm. I've put it on the N-gauge Forum under the Farish Class 40, with which I was, and am still having derailment problems. I'll add it here when I find it. Note this is for Peco Code 55 track and probably code 80 too, but not for Atlas or other makes. It's 7.315-7.366mm. Certainly 7.65mm won't work through Peco points--I've tried it! Thanks Crepello. Found your earlier post on the class 40 thread. Posted by Crepello on 16 December 2017 - 16:06 in Farish Undoubtedly they are superb models but the 1Co-Co1 wheel arrangement appears rather prone to trouble on Peco code 55 curved points; they'll run perfectly without the pony as a Co-Co but maybe extra weight or a spring would refine performance. Back-to-backs seem to be properly set for the Peco-recommended standard of 7.315-7.366mm. I would now advise against returning them as it seems to be an inherent characteristic of the long bogies Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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