Quote from: InsideTrack on December 01, 2017, 11:27:42 AM
Re checking whether a model is the new paint scheme or not: For new James, look for the 2017 copyright date or 17 in the production code below the ISBN box.

Will James be in the new packaging that Thomas and Rosie are in?

Isn't this the same face?

I agree it is not that big of a change, but you can not disagree that it looks miles better than the original. Just with a change of black parts made it look unbelievably better. I will be getting this and replacing the James that I have had since 2005 when it was only like $50 MSRP.

BTW, I have seen people complaining about the face and how it has not been changed. James was seen in the TV series with this same face, around season 8 if i remember correctly. In my opinion it still looks better than Percy's, but then again you have to remember that the first 5 engines were based on cartoon drawings instead of the actual show. I'm sure Hit had something to do with that on characters that followed.

Edit:

Quote from: SilviaGunner on November 22, 2017, 05:29:15 PM
I'm sorry Bachmann, But I'll just have to sell all of my Thomas & friends stock made by you sometime next year because I have been losing faith in you ever since the beginning of this year. The same can be said for the actual show, But I digress. As for this image you just released....You barely changed anything! I'm sure you people did your best, But sadly it's not remotely good enough anymore & you just lost a loyal customer. To the rest of my fellow TTTE fans I should consider 3D printing my own models. So wish me luck.

Just because you have 'lost faith' in Bachmann doesnt mean you have to sell of what you already have. A lot of people have modified engines to have more detailed parts. I have even seen a modeler that has added handrails to all of his engines and it looks great! Hopefully you can keep what you have and not move on, but looks like none of us can stop you. Good luck on if you do make 3D printed models.

...

why did this need a new topic? 

Thomas is also in the new packaging that Rosie was in. So it would seem that Percy and James would be that way as well.

Edit: I should also mention that there were no upgrades to Thomas. Gray hooks, same face and no front coupler still.

https://ibb.co/jh5dxF

Found this on twitter. I am guessing it is fake, but its a very good fake if it is.

I am gonna ask this here instead of making a new topic since it is somewhat related. My friend and I have been modeling our own excursion train with 765, 1361, and soon to be 611 with sound and always running with a Bachmann ES44 for pulling power. He recently got the Milwaukee Road full dome and I got the Empire Builder full dome, both by Walthers. I thought it would be a good idea to get the Bachmann RBBX as well as the Norfolk Southern full dome. Does anyone have these? I wanna see if the size is somewhat close to the Walthers cars so they match. I am more concerned about the Full dome than the RBBX. The spectrum heavyweights are smaller than the Walthers ones so I just wanna be sure.

The point of my post was not Bachmann doing the changes themselves. All other brands are switching to CGI faces because Mattel are telling them to. Bachmann does have a say to a point, remember what happened to Duck? Bachmann decided to change the black running board to white because of the fans. Yes they probably still had to go through Mattel to get it okay'ed but same reasoning applies. Mattel would want to keep products looking as close to the current seasons as possible. I would be interested to know if the CGI changes that happened to the tankers and mail cars happened because Mattel/Hit told them to, or if it was their choice.

For Mattel telling or allowing Bachmann to make the Spiteful Breakvan in G gauge is a good sign that it will come in HO at some point. Just look at the G gauge vans that came out, took a year for them to then come out in HO. I feel the same will happen in 2018.

I myself would totally buy the Spiteful Breakvan in HO scale. I have a lot of custom troublesome trucks with different faces and I think that this would finish that train off perfectly. I did make a custom breakvan with some modifications. I started with a Henrietta and a standard breakvan. I took the top of Henrietta off and used the top of the breakvan shell and placed it on top. With some cutting of the plastic on the base I was able to fit the shell on perfectly. I will post pictures soon. A different style of breakvan would be a nice addition.

I may be in the minority here, but I do see Bachmann taking a year off to revamp part of the HO range, meaning new drive units and updated CGI faces on the engines. I know a lot of people want the classic season faces, but with the many years of production models, I am sure that people would still be able to find the old ones with no problem. In all honesty, the only ones I see them changing the faces on are the main 7. The reason I say this is because every other range has been changed to show CGI faces, aside from A&C and TT's keeping the original faces. Now you could argue that it is easier for Wooden Railway or Take Along/Adventures to make this change with all of their line up, and I would agree with that. But with the Bachmann models, all that would really have to be done is for new face molds to be made to fit the existing eye mechanism. I have seen many people do this with the Wooden Railway faces but you loose the moving eyes, and I have seen some Shapeways 3D printed faces but they still need to be painted and drill the eyes out.

I also can see upgraded drive units, or as I should say, what happened to Thomas about 2 years ago. Make them easier to assemble, have less wiring to the motor and perhaps improve pulling power.

I see this happening sooner, rather than later. Either next year or even the year after that. With the rumored James repaint still not officially announced, I can see them doing this slight upgrade to all of the engines that still have gray parts that should be black and/or paint changes. They did it with the latest Thomas models so I don't see how big of an issue that would be. I know someone is gonna say "You can paint it yourself", but the little upgrades that would just mean replacing the gray paint with black, or the gray plastic mold with black at the factory seems easy. It has been proven with the Sound Thomas, looks like the same exact mold with a different inside and black parts. The same black upgrades that are needed on the main 7 excluding Edward. Only addition to the tender engine would be the wheels on the tenders.

The reset worked! Thank you!

The ES44 that I have had since the first run have come out has been a great runner and very strong puller, always at the front of my train in a consist since it is one of the few that has sound. Last night I was running it and the function 1 key that normally plays the bell is now silent. I changed the CV volume to full blast and that did not work. Not sure what I even did for this to happen. Is there a way I can fix this or even reset the decoder to factory settings? I have looked at the SoundValue CV listing on the SoundTraxx website and couldn't find anything.

On another note, I did notice while looking on the CV listing that CV #195 is Grade Crossing Sensitivity. Can this be used to have the bell ring when I push the horn as well or have it play an automated grade crossing like some other sound decoders have?

Thanks a lot!

Thats great to hear!! Hope to see some more unique roadnames in the future! Maybe some NKP silver and blue cars, or Norfolk Southern to match the full dome.

Loving the look of the new 85' Smooth Sided Passenger Cars. Finally a RBBX coach that looks like the real ones! A few questions before getting some of them. Do they have the same style coupler boxes as the full domes? Meaning, do the coupler boxes swing from side to side when the trucks move? I see that they are LED lit, are they flicker free? Lastly, any other types of cars coming out soon like a diner, baggage or sleeper? Hoping to get a few of these soon!

UPDATE:

So yesterday I got around to pulling the berk apart. I ended up swapping the connections to the motor. I didn't end up getting a new motor for it so it all worked out. While I had the top off, I added some small weights for added traction and pulling power, as well as painting all the white on the wheels except for the drivers like how 765 is now. Just fired it up on the test track and it works perfectly! Thank you Hunt for the suggestions! Now all it needs is a sound decoder and speaker!