Thomas & Percy Retoolings

[RailsByRick]

Thanks for bringing this up. It's one of those things that once you see it you can't unsee it. I hope Bachmann keep this in mind in the design process.

And just to piggyback- some more accurate wheels for Thomas and Percy would be much appreciated. The Edward driving wheels I'd say are acceptable for Thomas, but Percy needs newly tooled wheels to be accurate. Percy's wheels lacked the counterweight in CGI. This detail was also reflected on the N scale model.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Thanks for bringing this up. It's one of those things that once you see it you can't unsee it. I hope Bachmann keep this in mind in the design process.

And just to piggyback- some more accurate wheels for Thomas and Percy would be much appreciated. The Edward driving wheels I'd say are acceptable for Thomas, but Percy needs newly tooled wheels to be accurate. Percy's wheels lacked the counterweight in CGI. This detail was also reflected on the N scale model.

Percy's drive wheels having counter-weights is a detail I would not mind seeing Bachmann deviate from, since they're usually very faithful to the CGI models. Percy's CGI model only doesn't have counter-weights because Nitrogen based it on one of his duplicates from the model era that erroneously excluded them.

[TrainFan97]

Percy will go from being the worst model in HO Scale, to one of the best. I never owned the original HO Scale Percy model, and it doesn't look like it's worth it at this point.

Thomas won't look so weird next to Ryan, or other recent models anymore.

It's possible we may see Gordon and Henry get updated as well, with them getting thinner side rods, CGI faces, black dummy couplings and pony trucks, and correct tender height, especially for Henry.

[TEHNewClearwaterFeatures]

Gordon & Henry will likely be retooled & shipped in 2029, whereas James & Edward will be retooled & shipped in 2028. I know what you're all thinking..."Why does Edward even deserve to be retooled? His HO model is perfect the way it is." HELLOOOO!!!! Edward has to match his CGI counterpart!

[Cheeky_ULP]

If Flying Scotsman re-uses Gordon's chassis but with updated valve gear, I could see Bachmann killing two birds with one stone and giving him the updated valve gear too.

[Chaz]

I know what you're all thinking..."Why does Edward even deserve to be retooled? His HO model is perfect the way it is." HELLOOOO!!!! Edward has to match his CGI counterpart!

The reason why people are pushing for James and not Edward is because the James model has a lot more evident flaws than Edward does, right down to the build quality and some of the more obvious design flaws, such as the lack of a front hook-and-loop coupler.

Edward is a pretty low to nonexistent priority for fans, not because of the face, but because of the build quality and overall representation of the character is a lot more accurate, regardless of the face being CGI or not.  When there are more glaring flaws with Thomas, Percy, and James compared to other characters like Edward (or even Gordon and Henry, for that matter), naturally, more people are going to lean toward those characters receiving revisions first.

Paxton is probably the only other engine besides James who could benefit from a revision at this time, and even then, it would really just be a matter of updating the eye mechanism and giving Paxton a new face.

[Zorran202]

Yeah as much as I'd love Edward to be slightly modified (never a fan of his Season 10-12 upgrade due to him receiving a new brass model), that would never be remotely possible unless if they plan on overhauling the first batch of engines to match the CGI era designs...aside from Thomas and Percy (maybe James too if and when they get around to him...)...

[TEHNewClearwaterFeatures]

Evidently, Bachmann is planning to overhaul their prior HO models to match their CGI counterparts & Thomas & Percy are their first two. At this rate, Bachmann will definitely overhaul two of their prior models each year, whether they are announced in their main catalogs or their NMRA brochure. Therefore, you can expect a thread about why HO Edward deserves to be overhauled to match his CGI appearance alongside James.

[TrainFan97]

Out of all engines that need to be retooled, James is the top priority, as he is the third engine made when the Bachmann Thomas range started. When the range was in its infancy, the standards didn't match the quality of today's. Edward, which some are really pushing for, is nowhere near a priority, since his build quality still holds up. Toby may not have the best chassis, but he's not really a priority either. Maybe Gordon and Henry will get the treatment, but I don't know about anyone else after that. James needs it most, since there's a lot more things wrong with the model.

Bertie and Cranky could also use the retool treatment, since their models also look severely outdated.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I saw this mentioned on Twitter recently and I figured it would be worth mentioning here too:



On the Bachmann Oliver and Rosie, the whistles are molded into the cab, rather than a separate detail piece. This makes me wonder what direction they'll take for Thomas.



On the N scale model, his whistles are molds. I wouldn't be surprised if Bachmann went this route to keep the costs of a new tooling down, but it would be much nicer looking if his whistle was a separate piece.

Curiously, this wasn't the case for Stanley:



He got a normal separate piece for a whistle.

Even the N scale Percy and Gordon got separate pieces:



It makes me wonder what the rhyme and reason is, since we have different design choices in both scales.

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One of my concerns is that, will the chassis of the new version of Thomas still work with the snow plough that comes with the holiday sets?

[RailsByRick]

Thanks for bringing this up, Cheeky_ULP. There's so many concerns with the new Thomas and Percy that it's hard to address them all at once but this is a big one. I would hope that since the 2002 Thomas has separate whistles that the new one would do the same, but obviously that's not a guarantee. Separate whistles is the way to go.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I don't know if I would call these concerns, more observations. Even if the new Thomas has a wider smokebox saddle and molded funnel, I would still consider it an upgrade from what is currently being manufactured if it resembles the N scale and Large Scale models. That said, if Bachmann can manage to make a narrower saddle and separate whistle piece, I would be a very happy customer.

[Zorran202]

One of my concerns is that, will the chassis of the new version of Thomas still work with the snow plough that comes with the holiday sets?

Thinking about that part because if they implement the new hook-n-loop couplers for the fronts of Thomas and Percy, I can see where the question stems from. IF they have the foresight to include an extra bit for the screws to tap into the updated running board, MAYBE it might be possible, but we shall see...

[TEHNewClearwaterFeatures]

I just know Bachmann will definitely take their large scale models of Thomas and Percy and scale them down to HO. That or they scale up their N scale models