I agree that splodge makes sense and would easily be approved, but the thing is they actually require a fair amount of changes to the diesel tooling.

Like arry and bert (since they used the same models) splodge doesnt have the wiring connecting their headlamps at the front - arry and bert are erroneously molded with them in the bachmann lineup. Its not a huuge deal, but i do think without the complicated paint job of the hazard stripes camoflauging it, it would be alot more noticeable and clog up their comparatvely simple front ends.

Splodges faces are also much smaller than diesels/arrys/berts, and if any of you have every taken the physical face off of the model in person youll know that theres alot of relief molding to accept the faceplate, so its very noticeable if you replace the face with anything smaller. This is why paxton's faceplate has the green border infill attached to it, because his narrower face wouldve revealed the gaps (yes his face was also stretched to fit diesels eye mech- but this mainly changed the height of his eyes, his face is still slightly thinner than diesels, necessitating the green infill) However, this problem does seem to have been fixed with sidney and the mainland diesel, so it may be that each character actually has a slightly differently tooled body. I guess the question then is would splodge be considered good enough sellers to retool the body front again - or would they take the easier route of having a filled in area around the face like paxton. Because with two new diesels coming shortly, having 7 nearly identical shunters in the range may get a bit competative.

I'm glad everyone is excited about the announcements - as they should be! It really seems that Mattel has loosened the grip slightly this year since we are getting many fan favorites and deep cut references, a change I think represents how they feel about the upcoming show too but I digress.

Hopefully I'm not repeating anyone here but I did want to share a few thoughts.

-Thomas/Percy Retoolings
I honestly thought these would never come so I am very pleasantly suprised! It will be so nice to have a CGI thomas that sits alongside stanley and ryan etc perfectly. As far as the body goes, I'm hopeful they will have half-open cabs (like stanley or ryan's), as well as front couplers. Parts of the chassis being reused does worry me though. In an ideal scenario - thomas reuses stanley's die cast motor bracket/gear train assembly (his current one is plastic) and please - edward wheels. I understand that it's cost effective to reuse parts from other releases, but I do not think thomas' wheels look amazing. Many modelers out there have swapped them for edward wheels, and I think these would look incredible on the rerelease. (Stanley shouldve used them as well imo). It would also be great to use stanley's square capped rods here. I would also hope that the ends of the axles are painted - this seems to happen sometimes but not always. Stanley's are, but ryan's and oliver's arent, and the bare silver sticks out terribly. Thomas and percy also use black insulators currently, so the wheel centers stand out like a sore thumb as is.

Percy is more of a challenge, I dont know if there are many existing parts he can reuse. The motor/geartrain assembly as is makes him incredibly difficult to take apart for servicing or repairs, but a new one would need to be tooled from the ground up. In an ideal world, his chassis block would be retooled as well - the model straddles a large square hunk of die cast that fills in space at the front and rear of ths undercarriage that should be empty. This may sound nitpicky but it really improves the look and proportions of the character, and the amazing detail work bachmann did on stanley's chassis gives me hope something more akin to the show would be made for percy. I do not believe there are currently better alternatives for his wheels in the range, and I dont see them being retooled for this release, but painting the bare axles/wheel centers and giving him new rods would be a huge improvement. Seeing how accurate and fine the slidebar assemblies have been on rebecca and the narrow gauge engines gives me hope that percy's could be redone in an amazing way too, but at this point we dont know how much of the old chassis he's reusing. Also-hopefully updated cgi lamps for both!

People seem to think james is next for updates and I do agree - especially in terms of his face and cab, but I personally would love to see annie and clarabel, the N scale ones are fantastic by comparison. Since scotsman is currently being worked on it could be a great excuse to redo the chunky gordon side rods and then rerelease gordon and henry with them too...

I'll try to keep the rest brief (oops)

-Diesel 10
Truly going to be an amazing release. The fact that the claw has any degree of posability is fine with me. The quality of the recent locomotive toolings doesnt have me worried for how he will turn out at all, the last handful have been great! I personally would hope for the lowered body seen in the model era without the gap below the face, as it might make him slightly more compatible with low tunnels and bridges, but the complete cg route is fine too.

-Chocolate Syrup Tanker
Neat- will nab

-Stone Trucks with loads
This is a neat idea because its ripped straight from the background trucks of the nitrogen era (specifically from Blue mountain mystery?) However the releases are a bit plain, i think something that would really make them 'must haves' would be to include some quarry dust weathering. Its hard to tell but i think thats the effect they are already going for since the red and brown seem to be very faded. As far as cgi trucks go in the range, it would also be nice to see more variety with cargo, there's so many different loads used in the show, i wouldve felt more compelled to buy if there was a red wagon with crates and a green wagon with rubbish or scrap, then you can have a grand time can swapping all the cargo pieces around.

-The v tippers
I'll be honest these dont really look like the ones in the show? Unless I am missing something, the BMM ones are alot longer overall with bigger hoppers. Perhaps these are based on real life prototypes but it is a slight let down.

-Hannah and Henrietta in G scale
Great to see the range finally get a new tooling! These will be very fun items to add figures to. I can only hope the HO henrietta gets an update so her and her sister can be released in the last range that doesnt have them.. Anyway will definitely pick up.

(Not really an N scale modeller and I think people have covered that already!)

Quote from: GordonPacific04 on February 03, 2026, 09:06:39 PMI am also down with resin buildings making a return. But taking critical approach, my biggest concern would definitely be the cost, especially in the current economy. (Even if I would buy them out of consumer loyalty regardless.) Also the Scene Scapes Resin buildings were all discontinued in 2023 and Bachmann has not produced any Resin Buildings since, so I assumed that resin buildings were dead in the water for the US market, as typically buildings are a one and done buy, and take up way more space and don't have as much demand as Engines and Rolling stock. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the resin buildings for the Thomas range. But I can't help but see the line between what us fans want and what is realistically feasible and profitable from a business perspective. However, the internet has gained much more exposure to the bachmann thomas range especially with Bachmann now taking more reception from what the fans want thanks to the Bachmann forums and the Thomas Tuesday livestreams. With the resurgence of demand for the resin buildings from older fans, and an increase of several new fans who never got the chance to obtain these buildings, I don't think it is completely off the table, it just has to be approached right.

If we are tying ourselves down to the Small, Recognizable, and versatile for general model railway use, I would love to see ones like the Signal box, trackside station, and black loch folly return.

I pretty much agree with everything Terence said, so I don't have much to add, but I'll advocate for a few of my top picks.

Narrow Gauge Engine shed -



OO9 is a prime market to strike for resin buildings. Been wanting one of these for a while, The Granite Rheneas sheds would be my top pick, but any of the skarloey sheds or depot sheds would be welcome as well.

Ffarquhar -
 


I know we're going with smaller buildings, but Ffarquhar station is one of, if not THE most Iconic thomas station. It was used in the classic series intro, and has remained relevant in CGI ever since it's return in The Adventure begins. Every fan would be over the moon if this got announced, and is one I can see selling very well.

An Idea I have is going the Hornby route and sell the station and platforms separately. I used to be hate the idea of this, trust me I know most of you will raise an eyebrow at this. But cost wise, say you already have usable platforms, so you just buy the station. Or if you need more Thomas platforms then you can buy more of those. You want both, than just buy both as if they were one. Maybe unrealistic, but just a thought.

Haunted Mine -



This is actually an Idea I've grown to love, it's a very industrial piece of architecture that I feel could work for any layout.

This will be a thread I can definitely see myself coming back to, and adding new ideas, but these would be my top picks. Don't want to dilute the water with too much.

Here's a question I'll ask and leave you all with, as I feel everyone's answers are important to this topic.
What exactly is the appeal of the Resin buildings, and what advantage do they have over a simple plastic or card kit?

Yea I think the detailing is second to none, weighty items always feel higher quality- but since everything is cast theres no wonky corners or warped parts and it scales very well as a result. the textures used are also often straight off the props and the effects of multiple layers of paint on this fine relief detail is just amazing. tidmouth sheds for some reason has massivesly scaled bricks when you compare it to something like maithwaite, and the colors are never as bright and synthetic looking.

That being said I think a paintjob goes a long way- the old sodor junction from ex-plasticville pieces are really nice items even if they arent accurate to the show, the subtle weathering and matte finish actually makes them sit quite nicely alongside resin buildings.

I definitely agree, I think the smaller more affordable items are the way to go for now, and if they can match the quality of the previous resin range I would be all in. Maybe it'll lead to larger ones in the future.

As for specifics I definitely agree we need buildings for the narrow gauge engines, any shed, a small slate built water tower, or even the incline winding house would look great. Also while I think the castle loch was a fine item, I would much prefer a small ruined castle as seem on the causeway to compliment the NG line.

If we are going for small but iconic and memorable, I would also suggest items like the multiple small vertical boiler cranes or even the sodor maid canal boat, these could be well detailed but still have more of a 'play' factor to them that may get more people into the higher quality resin line. I think part of the reason the og signal box did well was because it was the most affordable railway related option, and railway related buildings I feel generally more inclined to buy or use. (not everybody has room to use a scenic castle loch or random sheds- but they most likely have room for a signal box next to the tracks, or an engine shed etc)

The workmans hut and tidmouth dairy are good choices for the die hard fan, but on their own they do have a tendency to look a bit generic as you said. If they need a strong jumpstart to a new resin line, things with ttte-unique signs like the Neptune Cafe, or the C&B barber pack that extra punch and really make it feel like a thomas item. So as much of that as possible, like the Cool Arlesburgh Maritime Museum building with its iconic mural, or an MC Bunn Cafe. I think this was the appeal of the hornby resin range having items like "waterton butchers" etc that had that unmistakeable connection to the thomas world.

I'd also argue the clock tower steeple is very iconic, being seen in many countryside sets, by knapford, in arlesburgh harbor too. I dont think they would need to make the church that seems to be attached to it (I thought it was just a standalone clock tower for the longest time)

It might also be worth noting that the maithwaite tooling could be altered to create an affordable building for the new range: harwick station. With Ryan and Daisy in OO already this could please alot of people, just the station building with no platforms.

Its bizarre to me that ffarquhar or the watermill havent been made by bachmann or hornby, so if the resin range picks back up those would be great in time. I may just be speaking for myself but comsidering the rarity of alot of bachmann's previous buildings I know I'd be pre-ordering any new ones that were announced! Here's to hoping they come back!

This has been discussed with Doug on Thomas Tuesday Livestreams, the market and interest may be there, but the fact is that the faces on the locomotives are not meant to be removed by the average consumer. There is no designed way to remove them. It is quite easy to damage the products by removing the faces and- depending on the engine- the eyes come out with the face. which makes them incredibly fiddly to refit. There will be no alternate face options unless the loco toolings themselves are updated to accomodate the feature. I recall talking with Doug about this to which he said something along the lines of "we would end up with many broken thomas' in the repairs department."

Niche modifications like this are well covered in the fandom already too. there are many options to purchase STLs or face prints from lots of different individuals. Kato has recently released a thomas face and while I believe its only available in japan, the fan ones are still of higher quality. We are now at the place where scans of actual prop casts exist digitally and for free! https://x.com/thomasmodeller/status/1920301786302177469?s=46