Bachmann James Revisions

[Cheeky_ULP]

Recently I was thinking about how people have often requested Thomas, Percy and James get redesigns to bring them up to par to the newer engines in the Bachmann range. This led me to a conclusion that I am curious to see if people will agree with: while the Bachmann Thomas and Percy could use a complete overhaul, James only needs modifications here and there to bring him up to speed. I've made an illustration before to detail out each detail I think could be updated to make him more accurate.

 What do you guys think?

[JLK2707]

Great idea. The wheels should also just be painted black.

[Zorran202]

Man, if only they can revamp the James model overall... I would buy the revamped James in a heartbeat!

[Armada Starscream]

Seems solid to me.

As mentioned, the wheels should also be painted black.

In addition, maybe they could put the black lining and painted lamp on the tender, to match up with the red lining and painted lamp on the  Origins James Model.

[Luke22]

Now that I think about it, the easy add-on for James would the the Lamp, considering that both Oliver and Ryan both have these lamps that it would be easy to just now not use those old weird shaped lamps Thomas, Percy, and James have been using for some weird reason....

[Mulfred100]

I'm gonna be real. This likely won't happen for many reasons.

Firstly the time it'll take to make the new tooling and assembly. Its not as simple as just switching a few parts over especially if you want a new running board and buffer beam. More opened cab design. While yes it would look great and be more accurate to the CGI era. All those adjustments would take time and then thats time fixing a model thats already available rather then working on something new. We've seen in recent years how backed up things can get and how some projects which on paper sound extremely simple like DCC Thomas and Percy, Reintroduce Salty still aren't available after being introduced years ago. Likelihood would be if they did redesign James then any potential new tooling for an engine would be out the window for that year. Which I could see potential back lash against.

Another factor is the money side of things, this would likely result in a higher price point for the extra money they spent resigning him. Then there's the fact James is also available in the UK market which is another market they'll have to distribute too and make sure his model is up to standards that means in the UK it can be sold to ages 3+ (not 8+)

Then there's recent announcements of the 80th anniversary set. I'm sorry to say if they aren't gonna make a new face for Thomas for an anniversary set which lets face it fans would have ate up and had the perfect excuse to do so. They aren't gonna make one for James.

Lastly then there's the current James model. Do Bachmann introduce the redesign under a new code and product?do they wait for the current stock to sell out? Then redesign him? What about Origins James and Busy Bee James? Plus there's the Bachmann UK version as well.

Add into all of this the uncertainty around tarrifs and recent price increases on Bachmann Thomas Items. Theres alot to consider in this. Its not as simple as saying to someone in a factory use this part and not that one.

Like I say if he was redesigned to the standard shown in your illustration then that'll likely comes with extra cost and at the expense of new tooling being developed. Which if thats something people are ok with then fair enough. By all means go for it.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I'm gonna be real. This likely won't happen for many reasons.

Firstly the time it'll take to make the new tooling and assembly. Its not as simple as just switching a few parts over especially if you want a new running board and buffer beam. More opened cab design. While yes it would look great and be more accurate to the CGI era. All those adjustments would take time and then thats time fixing a model thats already available rather then working on something new. We've seen in recent years how backed up things can get and how some projects which on paper sound extremely simple like DCC Thomas and Percy, Reintroduce Salty still aren't available after being introduced years ago. Likelihood would be if they did redesign James then any potential new tooling for an engine would be out the window for that year. Which I could see potential back lash against.

Another factor is the money side of things, this would likely result in a higher price point for the extra money they spent resigning him. Then there's the fact James is also available in the UK market which is another market they'll have to distribute too and make sure his model is up to standards that means in the UK it can be sold to ages 3+ (not 8+)

Then there's recent announcements of the 80th anniversary set. I'm sorry to say if they aren't gonna make a new face for Thomas for an anniversary set which lets face it fans would have ate up and had the perfect excuse to do so. They aren't gonna make one for James.

Lastly then there's the current James model. Do Bachmann introduce the redesign under a new code and product?do they wait for the current stock to sell out? Then redesign him? What about Origins James and Busy Bee James? Plus there's the Bachmann UK version as well.

Add into all of this the uncertainty around tarrifs and recent price increases on Bachmann Thomas Items. Theres alot to consider in this. Its not as simple as saying to someone in a factory use this part and not that one.

Like I say if he was redesigned to the standard shown in your illustration then that'll likely comes with extra cost and at the expense of new tooling being developed. Which if thats something people are ok with then fair enough. By all means go for it.

No disrespect to you Mulfred, but we're both enough of Bachmann Thomas veterans here to know that all of those factors should go without saying. The insight is understandable and within reason, but I think these days the consumers need to challenge them a bit more than accepting them as just-is. Any sort of redesign is matter of gauging up consumer interest within the Thomas fandom to see if Bachmann would consider these factors worth the time, resources and investment and having Bachmann understand why the demand for retoolings is increasing over the years.

I think the only obstacle I hadn't thought of would be the UK market range, which would probably rule out the more accurate couplers.

I also was inspired to make this thread partially because of how the 80th Anniversary Thomas has been poorly received by the fandom, which shows there is a growing shift in demands and expectations of the Thomas brand.

[DustyMarie53!]

Adding on, they've highlighted the reason they didn't want to do the RWS Thomas face change is because it is a single run product and doing a new mold for that wouldn't be feasible. This, of course, wouldn't apply to James. I feel like the main thing holding them back to redesigning him is the fact there are now 4 different variations in productions (I'm counting the UK line) which would make a unified modification a harder sell, how does that get sold/marketed, etc. They are aware James especially is a flawed model, having redesigned him in the past with cosmetic tweaks, but even those hit production snags. New molding I could see being a worry taking multiple of one of their most popular characters of the market. I think it'll be worth it in the long run, but I also think it'd be smarter to gauge interest with someone less risky, rather than taking one of their more popular models off the market for an unknown amount of time. Depending on how Sidney or Mainland Diesel is done a Paxton redo could work wonders for this role, or even Spencer with some cosmetic changes since there's only one of him as well but this wouldn't be an exact test. I'd also suggest Percy, but he'd need the most work done and probably wouldn't be the most viable to take it off the market. Thinking about it doing an updated Henrietta in a similar vein would be smart as well. Relaunch her with her face, helps to troubleshoot any potential worries about a transition period/product confusion and then see how things work out. This went off on a bit of a tangent so apologies. Overall, I think promoting redesigns of old stuff is definitely a good move, just unsure if James is the most logical first choice even if he'd be the easiest of the 3 who arguably need it the most.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Adding on, they've highlighted the reason they didn't want to do the RWS Thomas face change is because it is a single run product and doing a new mold for that wouldn't be feasible. This, of course, wouldn't apply to James. I feel like the main thing holding them back to redesigning him is the fact there are now 4 different variations in productions (I'm counting the UK line) which would make a unified modification a harder sell, how does that get sold/marketed, etc. They are aware James especially is a flawed model, having redesigned him in the past with cosmetic tweaks, but even those hit production snags. New molding I could see being a worry taking multiple of one of their most popular characters of the market. I think it'll be worth it in the long run, but I also think it'd be smarter to gauge interest with someone less risky, rather than taking one of their more popular models off the market for an unknown amount of time. Depending on how Sidney or Mainland Diesel is done a Paxton redo could work wonders for this role, or even Spencer with some cosmetic changes since there's only one of him as well but this wouldn't be an exact test. I'd also suggest Percy, but he'd need the most work done and probably wouldn't be the most viable to take it off the market. Thinking about it doing an updated Henrietta in a similar vein would be smart as well. Relaunch her with her face, helps to troubleshoot any potential worries about a transition period/product confusion and then see how things work out. This went off on a bit of a tangent so apologies. Overall, I think promoting redesigns of old stuff is definitely a good move, just unsure if James is the most logical first choice even if he'd be the easiest of the 3 who arguably need it the most.

I wouldn't say James should be the first one either; I made this thread because I think he requires less extreme changes than Thomas and Percy do, who would better benefit from starting entirely over. I'd much rather see them done first, if given the choice.

Changing toolings can be expensive, but I wonder if it would be feasible to do James in gradual phases, so that his model isn't taken out of production for very long. One run would have an updated cab for example, while the next run would have an updated face, etc. Doesn't have to be those specifically or in any particular order, but just an example. That way, the Bee James and Origins James could also gradually get each upgrade as well until James is fully "up to date."

It's a hypothetical though, not sure how practical it would actually be. I do agree though that the quality of the range has gone up tremendously in recent years, that it only makes sense fans want the original trio to be higher quality now too. I don't think the demand will go quiet anytime soon.

I also agree that repaints and gimmicky products could help absorb costs that would go into redesigns. The Mainland Diesels could certainly help with that, as well as a new Henrietta. Maybe even a "classic" Arry and Bert limited run, some BWBA Class 08s, or Splatter and Dodge. The "Thomas" class 08 tooling has a lot of mileage.

[Armada Starscream]

It's a hypothetical though, not sure how practical it would actually be. I do agree though that the quality of the range has gone up tremendously in recent years, that it only makes sense fans want the original trio to be higher quality now too. I don't think the demand will go quiet anytime soon.

I also agree that repaints and gimmicky products could help absorb costs that would go into redesigns. The Mainland Diesels could certainly help with that, as well as a new Henrietta. Maybe even a "classic" Arry and Bert limited run, some BWBA Class 08s, or Splatter and Dodge. The "Thomas" class 08 tooling has a lot of mileage.

Indeed. And if they do Splatter and Dodge, they would only need to make 1 new face for both of them, as whenever they are onscreen together, Splatter and Dodge both use identical faces as each other.

Other repaints that Bachmann could do would be Blue Donald and Blue Douglas.

And a revision on a piece of rolling stock I would like to see would be updating their Bachmann Toad model with the correct hook-and-loop style couplings, so that way he would work seamlessly with the Bachmann Thomas HO/OO range, as well as other ranges like Hornby. I am not sure if retooling Toad is doable, but I wanted to at least mention it.