And a very fine looking beast it is too. Yes, that is British outline N gauge (1:148 scale, 9mm gauge) and based on this model, together with its other recent releases, it’s clear that Dapol is pushing the British N gauge modelling envelope quite hard. In fact, this area of the British hobby will be consistently on par with the top-of-the-range stuff I buy from the US…before too long. Graham Farish has the problem of updating its older range, so is in that awkward position of equally good new models rubbing shoulders with older items in the catalogue which simply do not past muster by modern standards. Dapol is more fortunate by having a fresh start and introducing some fab standards and technological advances from the start.
There’s much fine detail, some very nice tooling and standalone parts for windscreen wipers, grilles, brake discs on the wheels and so on.
Roof detail is good – the angles appear to be right on first inspection. Overall, the proportions are nicely modelled.
Here’s the pair of EWS models. 67 027 is supplied with etched nameplates and instructions on how to fit them. The specification is now becoming familiar: All wheel drive, 6-pin DCC interface, 5-pole motor driving all wheels through flexible shafts and gear towers, easy maintenance bogies, LED lighting, coupling pockets, alternative coupling options, flush glazing, etched detail…it’s going to be popular.
After a light oiling as recommended in the instructions supplied by Dapol together with a gentle breaking in on a rolling road; the Class 67s were commissioned and placed on the layout for running trials. To run on my Atlas code 55 track, I regauged the wheels to NMRA standards, just a slight adjustment of a fraction of a millimetre. The models look good – I hope the pictures will help you make up your own minds.
My thanks to David Jones of Dapol for the chance to view of the models.
