Dapol have announced that their first Engineering Prototypes (EPs) for their N gauge LMS period III 57ft Non-Lavatory Suburban Coaches have arrived and have been going through a thorough inspection.

As is common with first new-build engineering prototypes of any model, some minor errors with the coach’s bodywork regarding the fit of the compartments, twisting of the underframes and inadequate coupling design were discovered upon their arrival at Dapol.

Though this is frustrating and delays the project, it highlights the flaws in the original CAD drawings. These can be amended based on the prototypes before going for a second trial run.

3D design is an extremely useful tool in the 21st century, especially in the model-making industry, though, as with many designs that look good in drawings and CAD programs, nothing is certain until the first engineering prototypes arrive and are inspected.

Despite this, Dapol have released some images of their first engineering prototypes for their LMS N gauge 57ft coaches, showing how the development of this project is progressing. The designs feature a Driving Brake Third, a Composite, a Brake Third and a full third-class carriage, all of which have different layouts in the bodywork and underframe details.

Minor changes have since been made to the CAD designs, and the next set of engineering samples is expected to arrive from the Far East by early November.

Happy with the general appearance of the coaches and confident that the second set of engineering samples will arrive flawlessly, Dapol has moved this project into the tooling room. The first decorated samples of these 57ft suburban coaches should be in the UK for inspection before the end of the year.

Back in August, Dapol announced that it would also upgrade the appearance of its LMS Stanier corridor coaches. With the non-corridor suburban coaches coming along at a steady pace, there will be a multitude of LMS carriages to choose from in Dapol’s range next year.