RMweb Gold tetsudofan Posted May 20, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 20, 2020 I've ordered the sound version. The problem, though, having heard the real thing operating in Lowestoft, they didn't make much noise. We used to walk down the harbour to get to the beach and one of these would creep up on us without any warning, turn around and there it was. Despite that I want a sound version, it might be quiet but that's better than no chuff chuff sound. It will be realistic!! Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordy Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 (edited) So as always I decided that I needed another industrial loco and the Dapol sentinel is a cracking model however I didn’t like the fictional blue ncb livery in 7mm because the name looked cheap. I did however like the wasp stripes and feel it’s not something I could paint as well they have. As the rest of my stock is crimson I thought I would have a bash at a respray with my trusty rattle can humbrol acrylic spray. I need to detail and lightly weather when it’s fully hardened but quite pleased overall with it! Edited May 20, 2020 by Lordy 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dch05 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 On 20/05/2020 at 10:13, Adrian Stevenson said: Hi David, I think either base colour would work fine. A couple of coats will cover no problem. I bought a green one as it was on offer. I chose No 12 as I am modelling the Malmesbury branch line where this loco was trialled. Cheers, Ade. Many thanks Adrian - will spring into action once Covid-delayed mail to the end of the world arrives. Think I will go for proper plates to be part of the "family uniform".............. David Hobbs NZ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDuty Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Can anyone comment on the running characteristics of these? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
norman Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Very smooth and pulling power way more than prototype. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henk van der Kolk Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 Finally I can show you my "Catweazle" Sentinel. Corona didn't help, but am happy now! 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Received my sound fitted version today, just about two years since it was first announced by Dapol, and 9 months after the none sound versions, but hey ho! I have to thank Hattons for keeping me as up to date with progress as they could and speedy delivery when it finally was released. I was informed that it had been despatched Thursday by tracked post and thanks to excellent work by the post office it was delivered today, Friday, before I had chance to check its progress. Well done both, I am well pleased. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Young Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 23 hours ago, Phil Traxson said: Received my sound fitted version today, just about two years since it was first announced by Dapol, and 9 months after the none sound versions, but hey ho! I have to thank Hattons for keeping me as up to date with progress as they could and speedy delivery when it finally was released. I was informed that it had been despatched Thursday by tracked post and thanks to excellent work by the post office it was delivered today, Friday, before I had chance to check its progress. Well done both, I am well pleased. Still undecided about one of these and hoping that now the sound fitted ones are arriving that a video or two will appear to help me decide. Can you tell which make of DCC decoder have been installed? Cheers, Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Andrew Young said: Still undecided about one of these and hoping that now the sound fitted ones are arriving that a video or two will appear to help me decide. Can you tell which make of DCC decoder have been installed? Cheers, Andrew Hi Andy, according to the instruction booklet the sound fitted version has a Zimo MX644D decoder. The none sound ones have a Dapol Imperium 21 pin decoder. Fascinating to listen to, being a geared loco, with so many chuffs for such low speeds. Lost nearly 2hours yesterday when it arrived play checking and testing it. Phil T. Edited October 31, 2020 by Phil Traxson 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Young Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 3 minutes ago, Phil Traxson said: Hi Andy, according to the instruction booklet the sound fitted version has a Zimo MX644D decoder. The none sound ones have a Dapol Imperium 21 pin decoder. Fascinating to listen to, being a geared loco, with so many chuffs for such low speeds. Phil T. Thanks Phil, sounds most promising. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, Andrew Young said: Thanks Phil, sounds most promising. Seems very susceptible to uneven track and wide point crossing gaps, I think that's just down to the small wheel diameter and being a rigid four wheeler though, rather than a fault within the loco. if my layout was bigger than the shunting diorama that it is I would consider wiring up a wagon for extra pickups and keeping it semi-permanently coupled up, but my max train is 3 four wheel wagons and a loco. Edited October 31, 2020 by Phil Traxson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
norman Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Phil Perhaps DCC with stay alive is a good solution to your dilemma, there is plenty of room inside. Norman 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, norman said: Phil Perhaps DCC with stay alive is a good solution to your dilemma, there is plenty of room inside. Norman Just needs a stay alive capacitor fitting then, though the hesitation is getting less as I use the loco. To be fair it only arrived on Thursday (29th Oct) and probably has only had a total of a couple of hours running on a very small layout, max run is only 8ft 6ins including both fiddle sticks, and so it is a very extreme test. It is just that I only have Ixion/Minerva loco's to compare it with and they just performed so well, immediately, out of the box. This is my first DCC layout and I am amazed at the slow running capability, I can get the speed down to imperceptible with all the loco's, to the point of having to look away for a time to find that they have moved. Edited November 1, 2020 by Phil Traxson 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Young Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 15 hours ago, Phil Traxson said: Seems very susceptible to uneven track and wide point crossing gaps, I think that's just down to the small wheel diameter and being a rigid four wheeler though, rather than a fault within the loco. if my layout was bigger than the shunting diorama that it is I would consider wiring up a wagon for extra pickups and keeping it semi-permanently coupled up, but my max train is 3 four wheel wagons and a loco. Thanks Phil, reckon you might be well advised to speak to Paul about fitting some stay alive capacity. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hal Nail Posted November 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) For what its worth my Dapol locos (14xx, 57xx, 08) all run impeccably smoothly and if I had one that didnt, I would check it is actually ok before modifying it. Edited November 1, 2020 by Hal Nail Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Young Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Phil Traxson said: Just needs a stay alive capacitor fitting then, though the hesitation is getting less as I use the loco. To be fair it only arrived on Thursday (29th Oct) and probably has only had a total of a couple of hours running on a very small layout, max run is only 8ft 6ins including both fiddle sticks, and so it is a very extreme test. It is just that I only have Ixion/Minerva loco's to compare it with and they just performed so well, immediately, out of the box. This is my first DCC layout and I am amazed at the slow running capability, I can get the speed down to imperceptible with all the loco's, to the point of having to look away for a time to find that they have moved. Just wondering Phil, if the Sentinel is hesitant over the crossing vees, your layout uses the Peco set track points with their unifrogs, just checking that the vees have been wired rather than left as dead frogs? Of course, just might’ve been a bit of dirt! Cheers, Andrew Edited November 1, 2020 by Andrew Young 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 5 hours ago, Hal Nail said: For what its worth my Dapol locos (14xx, 57xx, 08) all run impeccably smoothly and if I had one that didnt, I would check it is actually ok before modifying it. I think its just that its a 4 wheeler and very small wheels as well, it's at the same spots each time so I don't think it's a fault on the Loco. I've been watching carefully and it tends to drop into the crossing gap so rocks a little, more down to the small radius Peco points than the loco, a stay alive will just get it over the spot by acting as an electric flywheel where it loses contact. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Young Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 14 minutes ago, Phil Traxson said: I think its just that its a 4 wheeler and very small wheels as well, it's at the same spots each time so I don't think it's a fault on the Loco. I've been watching carefully and it tends to drop into the crossing gap so rocks a little, more down to the small radius Peco points than the loco, a stay alive will just get it over the spot by acting as an electric flywheel where it loses contact. Thanks Phil. As I use the same points as you, will make a mental note to source some stay alive if I get one. Thanks, Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) It's improving all the time, needs a bit of wear in the bearings, need a bigger layout! I have just had a 20 minute play and it didn't stall once right down to step 3 on the controller over the points, which is 1 chuff per second, on a geared loco I don't think it would ever go that slowly in real life. I'm now going to see if I can video it on my point and shoot camera, several firsts there!! Edited November 1, 2020 by Phil Traxson 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ROSSPOP Posted November 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) Mine arrived last week and runs impeccably although as to be expected is susceptible to dirty track and pickups. Application of Graphite to the rails will improve performance in the absence of a stay-alive unit. As for the above sound file....to my ear it ain`t much like the real thing which seems to be all hiss and clanks but no chuffs !! Edited November 2, 2020 by ROSSPOP wrong yutube clip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ROSSPOP Posted November 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 20/05/2020 at 23:29, Lordy said: So as always I decided that I needed another industrial loco and the Dapol sentinel is a cracking model however I didn’t like the fictional blue ncb livery in 7mm because the name looked cheap. I did however like the wasp stripes and feel it’s not something I could paint as well they have. As the rest of my stock is crimson I thought I would have a bash at a respray with my trusty rattle can humbrol acrylic spray. I need to detail and lightly weather when it’s fully hardened but quite pleased overall with it! What did you use to remove the printed transfers please ? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hal Nail Posted November 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 2, 2020 2 hours ago, ROSSPOP said: What did you use to remove the printed transfers please ? John I stripped a Dapol brake van in IPA and the lettering came off well before it had any impact at all on the body colour. No guarantee that would work when needed of course! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 3 hours ago, ROSSPOP said: Mine arrived last week and runs impeccably although as to be expected is susceptible to dirty track and pickups. Application of Graphite to the rails will improve performance in the absence of a stay-alive unit. As for the above sound file....to my ear it ain`t much like the real thing which seems to be all hiss and clanks but no chuffs !! That's probably because I was running it too slowly, it does sound more like the real one as it speeds up. I was a bit wary of going too fast on a short layout and (almost) working the camera as well, it was my first attempt at this, hopefully I will improve with practice but there 's no guarantee. That clip is very useful in helping with more realistic operation, thanks very much for showing it, it also gives access to more of the same at the end of the clip which gives even more help. I was definitely trying to run too slowly. I'm pretty sure the recording the sound file was built from was from No 12, the whistle is definitely the same as the Cholsely and Wallingford clip. I'll perhaps have another go at recording the model, but wait until I have a decent video before I publish it! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Just now, Phil Traxson said: That's probably because I was running it too slowly, it does sound more like the real one as it speeds up. I was a bit wary of going too fast on a short layout and (almost) working the camera as well, it was my first attempt at this, hopefully I will improve with practice but there 's no guarantee. That clip is very useful in helping with more realistic operation, thanks very much for showing it, it also gives access to more of the same at the end of the clip which gives even more help. I was definitely trying to run too slowly. I'm pretty sure the recording the sound file was built from was from No 12, the whistle is definitely the same as the Cholsely and Wallingford clip. I'll perhaps have another go at recording the model, but wait until I have a decent video before I publish it! The rails are graphited, I'm a long time convert to this. I think the steady improvement in pick-up may well be down to the transfer of the graphite to the wheel treads as time goes on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted May 30, 2022 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 30, 2022 Has anyone running the DCC sound version of these fitted a stay alive? If so, which one did you fit, and where? Mine isn't happy on a couple of sections of the layout at slow speed, so I'm hoping that adding a stay alive may just help it when doing shunting etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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