Quote from: Falcon on December 09, 2017, 10:06:18 PM
Journey Beyond Sodor also gave us Troublesome Slate Wagons, though I doubt we'd see them anytime soon.

Actually troublesome slate wagons existed long before Journey Beyond Sodor, but in narrow gauge.



I'm not sure if you were referring to them as standard gauge slate wagons or just new characters in general, but just thought I'd mention that.  To be fair though, I'd rather see a tanker or van over troublesome slate wagons in large scale.  Now this is just my opinion, but I feel that slate wagons should stay where they belong, and that's in narrow gauge.  Just from my point of view, they look too out of place even if they are scaled up with the rest of the rolling stock.  Maybe a few others can shed some light on this topic as well.



-Rusty

Considering I've wanted to touch on this subject this year, I think now is my chance to do so.  For a couple years now, the idea for Bachmann to make a Troublesome Truck #3 for the range has been in the back of my mind.  I brought this up last year as a model I'd like to see for 2017, but now I'm hoping we can at least see this simple addition added to the range for 2018.

Lets start by explaining why Bachmann should add another troublesome truck to the range.  First off, troublesome trucks have always been a popular seller and to this day continue to carry on this trend.  This is because they are rolling stock that people will buy 2 or more of in many cases.  It's safe to say that Troublesome Truck #3 would be no different and would fly off the shelves as well.  It's just a simple fact that you can never have enough troublesome trucks.

Bachmann would also be able to keep production costs for the model low by just using an already existing piece of rolling stock.  Personally I think it would be most beneficial for Bachmann to make Troublesome Truck #3 by simply doing a recolor of the Ice Cream Wagon.  It would be easy to make a brown van and put a face on it, similar to what we have here.



I think the above photo pretty much covers what many large scale Thomas modelers want to see.  The only problem is that this style of troublesome truck hasn't been seen in the CGI series, which the large scale models are pretty much based on.  However, models such as Annie and Clarabel, the Troublesome Trucks, Tar Wagon, and the Raspberry Syrup Tanker are in their model series forums, so I really don't see where there's any room to argue that claim with Troublesome Truck #3.  HOWEVER, I do have that sneaking suspicion that if Bachmann did in fact announce Troublesome Truck #3 and it was a van, I feel we'd probably end up with this.



Now I'm not saying I'm agents this style of troublesome truck because it's a CGI one or because its connected to Journey Beyond Sodor, but I prefer the model series one over this.  My main reason is simply because of the color and design.  I prefer the brown color (similar to the Great Western Van) and also the positioning of the face.  The face on the CGI version just looks to be positioned too high for my liking.  I'd personally like to see the model series style van with the same style of face in large scale, but with the range mainly focusing on CGI, it's probably wishful thinking.  Then again, the Explosives, Great Western, and Sodor Fruit & Vegetable Co. vans weren't in CGI either, yet we still have those.  I think I've proven my point on that topic.

Now another option Bachmann could have for a Troublesome Truck #3 is recoloring a tanker.  I'm thinking something similar to this.



Unfortunately I feel this is very unlikely because these tankers only appeared in 1 episode of the series, and haven't been seen since.  Considering they're 1 off characters (that's what I'm calling them, so deal with it...) chances of them being made in large scale are about as likely as Gordon and Henry.  Even so, these tankers have made a comeback in CGI, so this potentially gives them a chance of being made.



Although I wasn't a big fan of the film these tankers are related to, I'm honestly all for seeing them introduced into large scale.  All Bachmann would have to do is recolor one of their existing tankers, but that's the funny part about this.  These tankers are actually the oil tankers with a face, but Bachmann actually made the oil tanker (without a face) in large scale up until it was discontinued back in 2014.  Basically if Bachmann were to make this for Troublesome Truck #3, this means the return of the oil tanker as well, but with a face.  It's definitely an easy model if Bachmann wants to take a stab at it.

So to finish up, here are my thoughts.  I feel that Troublesome Truck #3 is a good chance for Bachmann to introduce something into the range that is sure to be a great addition for 2018.  I was honestly expecting Troublesome Truck #3 for 2017, but apparently Bachmann found it easier to slap a face on the Brakevan rather than a box van.  The worst part about that was the fact there was more demand for the Spiteful Breakvan in the HO range, and literally none for it in large scale.  That aside though, I think that if Bachmann were to take either a box van or tanker and make Troublesome Truck #3 for large scale, it would definitely be a step in the right direction.

-Rusty

Considering family has been on me asking what in the hey I want for Christmas, I think I'll be putting Rheneas on my list along with the squirty gun and the YoYo.   In all seriousness though, I'm glad to see Rheneas shipping before Christmas.  Hopefully a new supply of Skarloey models is going to be shipping soon as well.

-Rusty

Quote from: Large Scale Champion on November 24, 2017, 10:21:15 AM
Another thing we're keen to see is other members custom builds in large scale. we have a secret project on at the moment and will debut in pics. Has anyone else done a custom? the best we've seen is the red brake coach.

Well, I have 2 projects I did that were from a couple years ago.  The first one is Emily's snowplow which I built back in 2015.  The plow I made for her was built from tin and I used aluminum and styrene for the mounting bracket.  I then painted the front of the plow silver and the sides dark green.  Mounting the plow is simple as it just goes right down over Emily's buffers.  Unlike the Thomas model, I'm able to run Emily's plow on her without having to remove the knuckle coupler on the pony truck.

I modeled Emily's plow after the one she had in Season 8, and I know some will argue that its inaccurate that I'm using a model series plow on a CGI series Emily, but I could honestly care less.  Realistically plows tend to get shined up after excessive use, so having Emily's plow fully painted green doesn't make any sense.  One thing I would like to also add is that although I have tried it and the plow does indeed plow snow, I don't recommend it.  While the plow and it's mounting bracket could more than likely take the abuse, I fear Emily's plastic buffers wouldn't.


The next project I attempted was a custom Season 1 truck made back in 2016.  I started with the open wagon that you would get if you bought the large scale Thomas' Christmas Delivery set.  Now before you ask why I chose to use this wagon over one of the others, it's because of the price.  An online retailer I buy from frequently had the wagon (separate from the set) for only $24 which was cheaper than going out and buying one of the other wagons for about $50-$60+.  I also ended up with the 2 presents in the truck, but threw those in with the Christmas decorations.

It was pretty simple to just sand down the old decals on the wagon, repaint it flat black, add some weathering, and then the custom face.  Overall I thought the model turned out pretty good, and a friend of mine actually thought I used the Tenmile Gauge 1 kit to build it.  The photo shows the truck with a chain link coupler, but I actually run knuckle couplers on my railroad.  The photo was taken prior to me adding knuckle couplers to the model.


Lastly is a current work in progress I started back in October of this year.  I'm currently making a large scale model of Victoria from The Railway Series.  Obviously I've used a Bachmann Annie/Clarabel for the basis, but Victoria isn't a LB&SCR Stroudley coach so quite a few alterations have to be made.  I've seen many of the HO Boys just simply repaint an Annie/Clarabel coach, but that's not going to cut it for this project.  I'm mainly trying to base my build off the Clive Spong illustrations, but have referred to Victoria's actual basis (Furness Railway Passenger Coach) for details as well.  Regardless what I do, this model could very well be a hybrid.

As she sits now, Victoria is mainly in primer gray until I finish adding details to the model and find the proper color blue to paint her.  The coach's frame also needs a few alterations as well, but I'm yet to start on that.  Incase anyone is curious, I don't have plans to build Helena, mainly just because of the fact (considering the fait Victoria suffered) it seems likely she's probably been scrapped.  I've still got quite a bit of work to do, but Victoria is perhaps a build I should revisit on here once she's finished.


Questions and comments welcome.

-Rusty

Quote from: SilviaGunner on November 05, 2017, 04:17:27 PM
If you ask me, Bachmann should just discontinue their TTTE Large Scale range.

Quote from: JLK2707 on November 05, 2017, 05:19:10 PM
I agree. Bachmann should just discontinue their thomas and friends large scale range before it is too late.

And if brains were gasoline, most people who think that way couldn't run an ants go-kart 2 laps around a Cheerio...

Lets be realistic here.  The large scale market isn't what it used to be, but there is no way Bachmann would be foolish enough to just discontinue the range completely.  After all this is large scale Thomas & Friends rather than O gauge Chuggington.   I can honestly agree with Chaz that in a worst case scenario, Bachmann would stop introducing new models into the range, but continue to produce existing ones.  Personally I'm leaning more towards Bachmann trying to push new recolors each year as much as they can, but that's just me making a prediction based on what's been introduced into the range within the last 2-3 years.

As a collector of large scale trains, I tend to keep up with a lot of the discussion that goes on with large scale products, especially Bachmann.  Yes announcements haven't been the best and chances of certain characters being made are nil, but that's kind of the price Bachmann has to pay when they have a limited amount of leeway from Mattel and enough costs in production to pay off the national debt.  There's no doubt that the large scale Thomas & Friends range will stay around, but announcements are/and probably will continue to be a little underwhelming.  Either way its best to just sit back and appreciate what little Bachmann can offer to the range, rather than whine and complain about what they can't.

-Rusty

So lets talk about large scale red coaches.  These are another addition I would like to see for the large scale range, and I know many people want to see them as well.  The red coaches were in high demand years ago for the HO range, and have proven to be popular sellers by selling out a number of times.

To start off, the red coaches have made numerous appearances with numerous characters, and in many cases you'll see them with engines such as Percy, James, Edward, Rosie, Henry, Duck, etc.  We've also seen in recent seasons (even in the earlier seasons such as season 2) that in some cases the engines are pulling 3-4 coach trains with the red coaches.  This plays out a little later on, but I'll get to that in a moment.  Something that also should be mentioned about the red coaches is that they are/were used on many different parts of Sodor such as the Ffarquhar Branch, Brendam Branch, Harwick Branch, The Little Western, The Main Line, etc.

So is there a demand for the red coaches?  I wouldn't be making this post of there wasn't.  For a couple years now there's been many discussions come up for the red coaches in large scale, and for good reason too.  Years back the red coaches were in high demand for HO, and after being around a few years they're still flying off the shelves.  With the demand now, there's no doubt they would move in large scale.  Some people have even gone as far to make their own as seen below.



Chances are some people would even consider buying multiple red coaches instead of just buying a red coach and a red break coach.  It's also safe to say that considering chances of getting some express coaches in large scale are out of the question, it would be nice to have the red coaches as a replacement to go along with James.

Now it's a question of how Bachmann would do in terms of production of said models.  They honestly have an advantage with the red coaches considering the tooling is already somewhat there.  Starting with the existing Annie and Clarabel/Emily's coaches tooling, alterations can be made to make the red coaches.  The break coach would require the most work, but just the regular red coach only requires the new roof tooling which in turn is used for the break coach anyway.  The only downside I can find with the red coaches is that the tooling for them (even though it exists) needing altered might be asking a little much.  This isn't as simple as just taking an existing van or wagon and recoloring it.  Keep in mind what the large scale announcements have been lately.

So to wrap things up, what are my thoughts on getting the red coaches in large scale?  I'm honestly all for these additions, as I'm sure many others are as well.  Overall they seem simple enough, appealing enough, and would definitely sell better than something like a vegetable van or a raspberry syrup tanker.  It would also be nice to have them to go along with James and/or Percy in the range, and other characters like Edward, Duck, Rosie, Ryan, Oliver, etc when/if they're ever announced.  Now if you'll excuse me, its lunchtime!



-Rusty

Quote from: douglas on October 26, 2017, 09:57:36 PM
Do Arry and Bert still even have roles in the TV series significant enough to warrant electric models in any scale? I haven't seen any episodes since around season 12.

No, but that doesn't matter when the tooling for them is already there courtesy of Devious Diesel.  That's basically the only reason Bachmann made Arry and Bert in HO, and also why they were made for the O gauge line by one of Bachmann's competitors.  Either way, manufactures still get a small profit off Arry and Bert just because of the reuse of tooling.  Personally if Bachmann wants to reuse a tooling and have a model that sells, just forget about Arry and Bert and make Paxton instead.  Would make sense considering his HO model was announced this year.

-Rusty

Some of you younger fellas might not remember him, but the YouTuber Topkazfatt has made the narrow gauge engines (including Freddie and Mighty Mac) and their Talyllyn counterparts.  He's also attempted making the Arlesdale and Culdee Fell engines as well.  Most of his engines were made from existing merchandise, but he has used kits and built some of his own chassis.  Check out his channel via the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/user/topkazfatt

Sadly he doesn't seem to be doing anymore modeling these days and has actually been quite inactive the last few years.  Considering he's been doing this since 2007 and within the last few years had 2 kids, I dare say family takes priority now.  Still have to admire his work though.

-Rusty

Quote from: TrainandRockmusicfan97 on October 25, 2017, 09:49:51 AM
Plus, they're tank engines and are a pretty reasonable size for the G-Scale range.

Not to mention Bill and Ben would require a single tooling which would help Bachmann in terms of production costs.  The faces would be the only thing possibly requiring a separate tooling, but I personally see Bachmann just changing the eyebrows like they did for the HO Donald and Douglas models, or just making the faces the same like Arry and Bert.  I'd say the faces on Bill and Ben would probably be the same considering there's not much difference between the 2 of them.  I don't really see them getting different expressions like their HO counterparts.

Like I've said before though, considering Diesel was announced in large scale and the tooling is there, it's pretty clear the next set of twins the range will get is Arry and Bert.  However, I think many would agree Bill and Ben would do way better than Arry and Bert would in large scale, or any range for that matter.  They've had more appearances lately, their sales would be better, and there's been more of a demand for them in the last couple years.  I myself would be tempted to get the tank engine twins if they were ever announced.

-Rusty

Model it in N scale.  Shouldn't take up much space and will fit neatly between your furnace and your hot water heater.

-Rusty

Quote from: Griffin on October 22, 2017, 09:02:57 PM
I would've found that joke funny 4 years ago, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.

Which is a good reason to throw this whole topic overboard...

-Rusty

Quote from: Grapevine Flyer on October 11, 2017, 05:31:47 PM
Thanks. I'm referring to the DC Thomas (without sound)

In that case it should be drawing between 0.5 and 1 amp like I said before.  If you had the DCC model, it would be more as you would also be drawing more amps for the sound.

-Rusty

Quote from: TrainFan97 on October 13, 2017, 03:44:16 PM
Considering he was first seen back in February, they must be trying to get a HUGE supply of models, possibly in time for Christmas. Let's hope he does make it.

Also, fingers crossed Peter Sam gets announced for 2018. Rusty might be revealed at that time as well (mid February).

I think Bachmann is trying to get a large supply built up in time for Christmas in efforts to avoid the shortage of stock that they had with Skarloey.  Personally I don't think even that's going to work, considering the narrow gauge range literally flies off the shelves.  Bottom line here is, don't hesitate to get the model when it becomes available.

As for Rusty, I'm saying mid February as well.  I did have hopes of seeing him in time for Christmas, but we haven't even got as much as an update from Bachmann about him, which leads me to believe we probably won't hear anything on the model till next year.  Possibly get an update on the model along with the 2018 announcements.

-Rusty

You say the colors possibly aren't accurate to Thomas & Friends, but personally I don't think you're too far off from basically having this.



Overall I think they look pretty good.  Kind of makes me wish I was still modeling in HO/OO scales.  Hoping to get my hands on a few of Bachmann's large scale vans to add to my collection and maybe make a 3rd troublesome truck unless Bachmann beats me too it.

-Rusty

Quote from: TrainFan97 on October 22, 2017, 06:23:13 PM
If nothing is impossible, then I guess Sam for Large Scale is inevitable! He has a very good chance, since nothing is impossible!

Don't be silly, I'm joking.

At this point, Large Scale would be lucky enough just to get another engine besides Arry and Bert, which are almost inevitable at this point considering their tooling is already there.  If anything, many agree we will get something like Philip or Samson because they are smaller models and are less costly to make, hence why we got Winston.  With the direction the range has gone the last few years, there's no way Bachmann would make any engine larger than James, and even then that's a stretch for them.  From what I heard before the 2017 announcements were made, Bachmann wanted to do a tank engine, but instead we got Diesel.  That still makes sense though considering Diesel is about the size of engines such as Thomas and/or Toby.

When it comes to tender engines in large scale, I personally I feel like Bachmann regrets making Emily, simply because of her size.  She is after all the largest model in the range and has the highest RRP, which is understandable.  However, you could just about buy a Bachmann 4-6-0 Anniversary Edition for the same price, and on top of that you're getting lights, sound, smoke, and overall more detail with that model verses Emily.  Don't get me wrong, I really like Emily's model and I think she is the best one Bachmann introduced into large scale, but I have to agree that she was a stretch for the range.

-Rusty