There are definitely a lot of "inaccuracies" with models currently in the works; Thomas' smokebox saddle, Percy's CGI model missing the counterweights, Scotsman having the wrong tender lining on his CGI model, and of course Diesel 10s elevated body.

Personally, I think Bachmann knows to do their research and pick which details will best suit the taste of the fans, but Mattel does have the final say on how accurate the models are to their actual designs. It's a miracle that they allowed Sir Handel to be as derivative as he is.

Quote from: Cheeky_ULP on August 06, 2026, 08:39:12 PMThere are definitely a lot of "inaccuracies" with models currently in the works; Thomas' smokebox saddle, Percy's CGI model missing the counterweights, Scotsman having the wrong tender lining on his CGI model, and of course Diesel 10s elevated body.

Personally, I think Bachmann knows to do their research and pick which details will best suit the taste of the fans, but Mattel does have the final say on how accurate the models are to their actual designs. It's a miracle that they allowed Sir Handel to be as derivative as he is.

Scotsman's tender also having 6 wheels, where as in real life he has 8 wheels on his tender is another one that annoys me, not as much as Percy's missing counterweights but still is quite disappointing.

I forgot about the 6 wheel tenders, that was another odd design choice.

I was also thinking recently about how Wonders of Sodor, a licensed game that came out recently, had its own take on Thomas and Friends' character designs, in an officially approved product no less.



Instead of using the BWBA models, they did their own take on all the "extra" details. These designs were very well received by the general fandom, and it's easy to see why; the new details are much more subtle and tasteful, enhancing the CGI models without feeling intrusive. I don't see Bachmann adding these specific details, but it would be a fun project for anyone who wants to "enhance" the upcoming Thomas and Percy redesigns.



Though, Percy's drive wheels didn't regain their counter-weights.

The point is though, that based on this and Sir Handel, Mattel does allow some creative liberties.

I thought I read somewhere that for Thomas and Percy that they were just gonna reuse their chassis to keep costs down(?).

I mean don't forget their Large Scale counterparts, because Percy in that line has counterweights to them. The N Scale Percy, not-so-much, but we'll see how things go...

Quote from: Zorran202 on August 09, 2026, 11:58:21 AMI thought I read somewhere that for Thomas and Percy that they were just gonna reuse their chassis to keep costs down(?).

I mean don't forget their Large Scale counterparts, because Percy in that line has counterweights to them. The N Scale Percy, not-so-much, but we'll see how things go...

This is a good point, and shows that there is precedent to a Bachmann Percy having the correct wheels. Hopefully they remember that.

You know, it makes me wonder: will they give Diesel 10 a smiling face or his "evil" grin face, just like the other Diesel? I'd imagine they'd have to give him the latter face just to make sure they don't repeat, well the latter model of Diesel where he initially had a happy face, but then also gained a grumpy face.

If Diesel and the Mainland Diesel can have grumpy faces, so can Diesel 10.

The dream would be for Diesel 10 to have either the evil smirking face from Magic Railroad, or the one we all know and love where he's angry. I don't see that happening, but you never know.

This is such a crazy product I feel like some rules are bendable, as people were saying above. We should for sure make our thoughts known, I'm going to post my ideal Diesel 10 soon.

I do want to say thank you to BACHMANN for releasing him though. The six year old in me is screaming almost as loud as I am now. It's reignited my interest quite a bit to be honest.

Never even had him in my signature because I just didn't think it would be a possibility.

Quote from: thomasj219 on August 11, 2026, 11:32:13 AMNever even had him in my signature because I just didn't think it would be a possibility.

We probably aren't that far off from seeing Harvey off your signature considering the recent direction we've been going.

Here's hoping. I never thought we'd get Diesel first. But Val is right. Harvey is more complicated.

Well at least it's not 100% certain that Pinchy won't open and close and that there still is hope as the design phase is happening as we speak.

There's still hope for Diesel 10 to have his body lowered to cover the gap, and for the claw to pinch.

He will certainly have a CGI face, which can be him smirking. If anyone wants him to have a model series face, you'll just have to 3D print your own faces for him.

I don't understand the desire to have the body lowered. I'd rather the model be as close to the CGI reference as possible provided by Mattel. I prefer the gap and don't see the reason to change it.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on August 12, 2026, 05:21:10 PMThere's still hope for Diesel 10 to have his body lowered to cover the gap, and for the claw to pinch.

I know they had to modify Rebecca's front buffer beam slightly because it's a bit too long and they don't want it to grind her front coupling, so I'm sure Mattel would let some changes done for D10.

Quote from: MrNormalDraws on August 12, 2026, 10:35:53 PM

Quote from: TrainFan97 on August 12, 2026, 05:21:10 PMThere's still hope for Diesel 10 to have his body lowered to cover the gap, and for the claw to pinch.

I know they had to modify Rebecca's front buffer beam slightly because it's a bit too long and they don't want it to grind her front coupling, so I'm sure Mattel would let some changes done for D10.

That and what Bachmann did with Sir Handel's model, give me hope for Diesel 10's model fixing some things that CGI changed.