Quote from: Luke22 on November 04, 2024, 01:11:23 AMI can see Norman being made, especially if they decide to reuse Rebecca's wheels AND seeing that they're cousins to each other being built from the same designer Bulleid..., more or less.

Not exactly, as Rebecca's wheels were reused from Hiro and are larger, and Norman's are definitionally Bulleid wheels and I think smaller.

I don't mind buying Connor, but I wonder if that leads into making Caitlin as the two go together.

I'm impressed that they got him finished quickly compare to Rebecca! Can't wait for him very soon. I'm only worried on how he'll be on Thomas' chassis after hearing stuff about it.

One thing I don't get is Doug's reasoning of cross appeal. Most fans stated that it's likely because Duncan isn't accurate to the real basis, which I get that part. But we got Rusty, who unlike the other 4 engines, is based more on his model just with extra vents. Whereas the first four are a hybrid on the models and real basis.

Since it's 15 years since the CGI era started, I think Bachmann could have a crack at one of the Nitrogen era character that not too many like as the hatred for the era has died down  (and they are starting to do Sidney next).

Dash and Bash wouldn't be too hard, but the problem isn't so much the reception on Misty Island, but rather because of Ferdinand. Because I heard from the grapevine that Bachmann likely won't do another tender engine unless Rebecca  sells well, and that preorders for her aren't that high compare to Beau (who keep in mind, is a retool). And while Dash and Bash do sell fine together without Ferdinand, I still think it wouldn't be complete without all three.

Belle is a mid range tank engine with water cannons, though unlike Harvey or Diesel 10, they don't need a lot of detailing as they don't have a lot of complicated parts. Though like with Dash and Bash, the only thing holding Belle back is that she's paired with Flynn, who might be a complicated character Bachmann would have to deal with. Granted, they had done road vehicles on rails, but the thing about Flynn is that he goes on both road and rails. Another factor is that he has a small trailer, which we don't know if that classifies as a tender engine or not.

I think Beau is the exception as Bachmann already had the tooling for the US (and it resembles the engine a bit) and the fact he only appeared in one story. The problem is that like what Dusty said; the toolings for Arthur and Murdoch are a bit detailed and I rather have them look more like how they are in the show.

Where is it mentioned? The catalog didn't say they were. I know they're sold out, but we don't know for sure. That was like what happened with the analog Thomas, as we thought that was out of the market after being sold out, but it was brought back.

The only items that are taken out this year are the lobster vans, the McColl figure and the Brendam Bay Conflat. The McColl one is kinda surprising as he was the last large human figure made and the only one that is based on the CGI looks. Also the Brendam Bay Conflat as that was only released just the start of the 2020s, and one of the few that only lasted a few years. I'm gonna buy more of those before they're gone.

So with the recent store closures of Hattons UK and ModelTrainStuff, I wanna ask if you guys think the hobby is dying or not.

I never had much history with Hattons, but I bought from ModelTrainStuff for years until they made a lot of changes, such as adding taxes and when they closed their reward system late last month. Then I found out about their closures from instagram.

What do you guys think?

I'm probably in the minority, but I rather have Bachmann make a new tooling for either Murdoch or Arthur than using an existing tooling like with Beau.  I don't mind Beau being an existing retooling as he only appeared once and at least has a working light rather than the moving eyes. But for Arthur and Murdoch, I'm rather picky for them to look like how they are from the show, considering there are modifications between the real basis and how they're depicted in the show. Sooner or later, Mattel would have to let Bachmann do characters that weren't in the CGI era unless they plan to bring it back later on, but that's a topic for another day.

I don't much have to say for HO/OO, but for N scale, since they already have some of the Steam Team up, I like to see if they can do a Christmas set as it's only been a few years since the range started. I wouldn't mind having a Christmas themed set as my family has those little tabletop trees and it can go well with the table. Though it depends if they can just do a smaller scale version of one of the existing sets or make a new one. If they can go with an existing one, the first set would be good as they already have all the existing toolings for it. They can't do the ones after that as the later ones have a conflat and the other set from 2019 has the first brake van tooling.

I saw the models through their facebook and I feel like they're very spot on! They would be very good for multiple ranges and not just the Bachmann line!

Quote from: RailwayRoundhouse on June 13, 2023, 03:48:38 PMWow! Wasn't expecting a reply directly from Bachmann themselves! 

With the announcement of Sir Topham Hatt's Car, I'd really love to see off rail-characters be made. I'd personally love to see Trevor and Bulgy. A model of George the Steamroller would be amazing too, though Trevor and Bulgy seem a lot more likely. Maybe even some of the pack characters might have a chance as a good few did in fact return in CGI.

That's something I would like to see more of now that we have the Hatt Car coming soon. I heard from Doug years ago that they were thinking on doing Trevor, and he would be a good edition if Bachmann plans to do Jem Cole as he's an important character to Trevor as well, and he still shows up in the CGI era as well.

I'm not sure why the recent posts on Daisy just vanished, but I got her last year and she's one of the best models Bachmann made since getting back into the hobby.

I didn't noticed that the forum was back up after many months of delays on updating, but I stumble back after the recent announcements for 2023.

Aside from Ryan and Salty, I'm very happy that Bachmann is doing Rebecca as not only a fan of the character, but also the engine class itself. Beau is one I didn't thought they would do, but I'll grab him regardless as I want to expand the roster. The only things being discontinued is the rest of buildings aside from the red water tower and the lighthouse. It's kinda ashame as I thought they would expand more on that after they got Tidmouth Sheds back. Speaking of which, I don't understand why they stopped making the expansion packs just after they got the main one back. One thing Im' surprised they kept is the analog Thomas due to the fact it was out of stock for over a year, but has a new packaging based on the recent style.

If Bachmann does another diesel shunter that isn't a 08, the ones I think would work are Den, Dart, Dennis and Norman.

Since everyone is talking about smaller engines, that made me thinking on how Bachmann can do Den and Dart, as they are a very unique design. Plus Hornby only ever did Dart, and I don't think it was accurate to how he was in the show. Plus that would one way closer to get all of the diesels from "Day of the Diesels" being completed in the line.

The other diesel shunter I would like to see if Dennis, as like most people said, there hasn't been a legit HO/OO model on the BR 11001 so far, and I think Bachmann could take this advantage to make it. As for why I said Dennis instead of Norman is because of the face. Remember when Paxton was made in the line a few years ago? The problem is that he has a smaller face compare to Diesel, and because of it Bachmann kinda had to make the face larger as they only made the tooling for Diesel as Paxton and Sidney didn't existed yet (which is what I fear if they did Sidney next as it be botched like with Paxton). If Bachmann did Norman first instead of Dennis, it would be a repeat of the Paxton problem. The only way they can get around this is if Bachmann made both Norman and Dennis at the same time (like when they made the large scale Diesel and Paxton) and they can figure out how to make the same tooling fit for both engines without making the smaller face being out of scale.