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Header: Hal-Zuzzu Model Railway Build Blog |
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| Published: Monday, January 3, 2022 | ||||||
| Post: #103/174 - Views: 45006 |
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Under the bonnet of the Dapol Class 142 DMU 142042 (DCC FITTED) At a glance, a good 10 out of 10. Made me immediately want to have one running up and down my layout. A few things I need to mention about it though, starting with the decoders that came with it. I was not impressed with the Imperium2 decoders. I ended up removing the one in the main car and installing a Lenz Next18 decoder, which now makes it drive so much smoother. I control the lights in the rear car with the Imperium2. I am very new to DCC, maybe I am not knowledgeable enough to configure these decoders, but then, I got the Lenz to work, and it was so much easier. So lesson learnt was for me to go Lenz in the future. I am sure many people have their preferences when it comes to DCC decoders, but I will not be getting another Imperium2 decoder. Case closed.
It is a noisy little thing slowly rolling around the layout, especially if you, like me, have no underlay in the current part of my layout but then, in its defence, it is not mounted on bogies, therefore, there is 100% transmission of track noise directly being amplified by the body. It is something you learn to live with. Let me say this, I know when the Pacer is about to emerge from the lower level The directional lights on it are very basic. Two in the front and two in the rear. I just wish Dapol made more effort of getting the front lights (both front lights in both cars) to look better. In my case, it almost looks like a class 66, one of the lights is brighter than the other or, depending on which direction it is going, one light is almost off. Not too good I'm afraid. I sometimes like to drive my trains with the room lights off, to enjoy the effect of the train lights. Just like a 66, the Pacer has its unique way of being recognised in the dark, besides the noise.
The two cars are connected using what Dapol call the "contact plate". They not only join the two cars physically but also transfer track power from car to car. This is the only means of connectivity between the two cars, which is why each car requires a decoder for DCC operation. I guess you can use only one in the main car, but then the rear one will have no lights. So far so good, until you run the DMU around the track a few times and you realise the screws holding the "contact plate" to the underside of the chassis are loose, and I mean about 4 turns to be exact. My instinct was to tighten them but that caused a problem. The cars became as one. There was no wiggle room for them to go around bends easily. When pushing the lighter dummy car, it is easily derailed by the main car, so I needed to find a happy medium where they were tight enough to not come loose again but loose enough to allow the two cars to flex around the bends. The only solution I could find was using Loctite® Threadlocker Blue and allowing it to sit overnight in a slightly loose position. It did do the trick but it shows me how little effort was made to make this beautiful DMU a better one. Oh, and when your screws come off (because they will if you don't secure them) you will need to go around the track looking for them. Sadly they are not very magnetic, because the easiest way to find them is to send a train around with a magnet attached to the underside.
I tried and failed!!! and Dapol/DCCSupplies do not have spare screws in stock at the time of this post.
I had to improvise for the one I managed to SNAP!! (can you believe that??)
One last thing. The mainboard or decoder socket. I think a piece of gum would hold it more securely to the chassis than the 2 micro screws used.
I swear, less than a millimetre thread holding the board down. One of mine came off and screwing it back on again is no longer possible. Disappointed in this part too. This DMU is nice from afar, but far from nice (DALE!!!). I guess one has to own one to understand what I am on about but then I am a big sucker, because, against all odds, I bought a second one (DCC READY this time) and love them both to bits hahaha
Look at the detail. Shame most of it will never be appreciated because of the small scale and the fact that most of us are retired old and almost blind farts 
Now, if only can give me an idea on how to change those destination names!! No Manchester in Malta 
Yes, there is a lot of room for improvement, especially when one considers the price tag, but they will complement any layout. I can't wait to see both mine running up and down the partially shared line, going to and fro the main station to the other ends of their dedicated tracks...
Oh did I tell you? This is all based on my personal opinion Check out the live CCTV camera HERE |
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