Beau Appreciation Thread

[Red Tender 5]

RT if you love Beau!!

I just watched Thomas Tuesday April 2023 and saw the painted sample for Beau. Great looking model, naturally, as Bachmann has had many years to perfect the 4-4-0. It would have been nice if the headlamp was a little bit higher up as it kind of obscures his face a little bit more than the CGI version, but that's not such a huge problem.

I am curious about the coupler conversion on the tender. It sounded like Bachmann did not modify any existing tooling, so how does the british-style coupling attach? Does it screw onto the existing draft gear? I hope this is the case, since I run all my rolling stock with kadees and replacing it with a lid would be extremely convenient.

I was kind of lukewarm about getting Beau but after seeing the sample, I may have to get him.

[JLK2707]

Same here!

[Armada Starscream]

If they are doing Beau because they already have the 4-4-0 engine tooling, maybe Bachmann would be willing to consider doing similar with turning some of their Bachmann UK Model toolings into Bachmann Thomas items. I believe Bachmann UK already have them for Arthur's class (LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T), Murdoch's class (BR Standard Class 9F), and Derek's class (British Rail Class 17) already, and there might be more I am not aware of. Considering these characters are quite popular in their own right, there would definitely be a market for them. It would be a great way to get products out on to the market without having to invest too much in designing new toolings, as the basis already exist as a starting point, and could also be a valid argument for lifting the CGI restriction.

[TrainFan97]

If the CGI mandate could get lifted, Bachmann could use the UK toolings to make Arthur, Murdoch, Derek and Class 40. Just like how they used the American 4-4-0 tooling to make Beau.

If they use the existing tooling to make Mighty Mac, they wouldn't have buffers, but then again, neither does the model of Beau. This would be better than investing in new toolings specifically for them.

[TrainFan97]

Forgive me for bumping this thread, but Beau just arrived here earlier today, and he turned out to be a great model. Another product finally released. The next products I have to look forward to are N Scale Gordon and Emily.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Part of what made Beau work in the Thomas range is that the CGI model is underscaled, making his HO-tooling based model coincidentally work alongside the OO-scaled Thomas models. Regardless of one's opinions of the character or the decision to make him, it was an economical one that also works for the accuracy of the character, and I can see him being part of many peoples layouts for the sheer novelty of his existence.

The CGI-mandate is a strange decision and I think its status needs to be reconsidered by the parties within Mattel and Bachmann who have agreed to it. Model trains are a nostalgia driven market, and Thomas has a growing fan base of nostalgia-driven consumers, so cutting off the Bachmann Thomas' range of familiarity to 2009 (not even 15 years yet) out of a franchise that's almost 80 years old continues to be a decision I can't agree with the reasoning behind.

While I would prefer an Arthur or Murdoch model to be a fresh tooling that's accurate to their props, it would not surprise me if the Bachmann UK toolings would be eyed for a "Beau" treatment, should Bachmann be satisfied with his sales and they look into potential similar products (surprise: there isn't a lot of CGI characters they can pull that card with).

[DustyMarie53!]

While I would prefer an Arthur or Murdoch model to be a fresh tooling that's accurate to their props, it would not surprise me if the Bachmann UK toolings would be eyed for a "Beau" treatment, should Bachmann be satisfied with his sales and they look into potential similar products (surprise: there isn't a lot of CGI characters they can pull that card with).

I've thought about them doing these two in this style a lot, frankly I still argue that they should. However, I think it is of note that Bachmann seems to be more concerned with accuracy to the reference pictures as of recently, tweaking minor things they show off during streams to make them more accurate. I feel these UK tooling's might be a bit overly detailed and thus not what they would want to use for these characters, but it's hard to say for sure with Beau as our only example right now. I know the Bachmann 9f also had a lot of functionality problems so I would hope Murdoch wouldn't reuse it, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he did.

[MrNormalDraws]

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.

[Armada Starscream]

While the Arthur, Murdoch, Derek, and Class 40 toolings might be too detailed right now, it should be noted that with these toolings, Bachmann does at least have a starting point for making more show-accurate models of these characters. They won't have to make completely new models, and can make some improvements and modifications.

Such as if the Hornby 9F or any of the other models have functionality problems, hopefully Bachmann could address them at the same time as well.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Unless I missed something, Heljan makes the Class 17 in OO scale, not Bachmann.