Sounds good, but remember the Skarloey railway engines, if thats what you're planning on running, are very expensive!

I've been thinking and I might put my 00 project to the side and get a small NG layout up and running- it's too exciting not to. You all have inspired me.

Sadly he's been discontinued as separate sale for a while, check eBay though as I've seen models floating around there very often. worst comes to worst you can always purchase his set and get 3 pieces of thomas dock-esque rolling stock (most of which is also discontinued ... a bonus!) or simply use another engine.

I would think a Salty model at the docks would be a nice touch (and cranky too) and based on what I know salty would be able to handle the same curves as thomas and percy if need be. rosie or oliver and some basic rolling stock would look pretty neat too.

so, so impressive grandpuff. please keep up the good work, and a side note: i think you should look into doing fearless freddie as your next project. i have a feeling he would look stunning if you took a whack at him...

Well...

See if you can spot the difference on the tender...surely Mattel/FP wouldn't have allowed Bachmann to make this minor change, yet leave the rest of James' flaws untouched, right? Indicates to me that maybe Bachmann just didn't feel any changes were necessary. Sadly, this re-release is far from what I and I assume many others were hoping for.

That is the best thing I've seen all day. 

I was really just asking, wasn't meant to be mean at all. It looks good aside from that, especially for a first attempt. Better than anything I could do

did you take some sandpaper to diesel's face before painting? looks a little bumpy..

Hmm. Looking at that picture, somehow Bachmann knew to color the front side of James's tender (the side facing the cab) black, but none of the other parts. I wonder how.

Quote from: Chaz on November 22, 2017, 04:45:47 PM

Quote from: Griffin on November 22, 2017, 04:23:17 PM
I'm sure they didn't consciously choose to announce James over updating us about Rheneas. Patience is a virtue.

Except that's not what I said in my post... -_-

I said that I would have been a lot happier over hearing about Rheneas, and something tells me I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

All I meant was, they don't have control about which products are updated when. Therefore, what you or anyone might've preferred to see first wasn't what they could've shown.

I'm quite happy James is being updated. Might lead the way for more in the future.

A new face would require a totally new mould as well as probably licensing privileges from HiT/Mattel. A motor is, in my eyes at least, something they have far more control over since they themselves are in charge of the mechanical aspect- the physical appearance of the model is something that HiT and Mattel control. This was confirmed on a thread somewhere here. 

Quote from: Chaz on November 22, 2017, 04:41:49 PM

Quote from: Griffin on November 22, 2017, 04:12:51 PM
It's only a picture, we have no idea what all might actually be changed and I for one believe that might include the motor. You never know, it's better to wait and see I think ...

Except when the only thing behind this revision was the paint change, then why would they change the motor in the process?  It would actually cost them more money to do even more of a drastic change.  Especially with how minimal the revision the model itself had based on the picture.

All I'm saying is that it's too early to predict what they might've done, what's the harm in giving them the benefit of the doubt?

Quote from: Chaz on November 22, 2017, 01:37:15 PM
Would be nice to know if this will be out in time for Christmas.  Would have been a lot happier seeing an update on this than the James model.

I'm sure it will be before Christmas, Bachmann would never miss out on an opportunity to sell a model in such high demand around Christmastime when every consumer has their wallet out ready to spend...and I'm sure they didn't consciously choose to announce James over updating us about Rheneas. Patience is a virtue.

Quote from: Chaz on November 22, 2017, 01:35:37 PM
There, now everyone can stop talking about this.

Honestly this isn't worth getting that excited over, sure it's nice they have the wheels Black amongst a few other details but they didn't fix every paint error, the face is the same with no update, and it has the same motor before.  If people are planning on buying this then by all means go for it, but for me these are things revisions a lot of Thomas fans have done in the past with James models so it's not something I'm overly keen on. 

Yes it's an improvement, but will it be an improvement in the sales it had before?  Honestly, probably not.

It's only a picture, we have no idea what all might actually be changed and I for one believe that might include the motor. You never know, it's better to wait and see I think ...