Bachmann Stanley thread

[JacobSK]

I haven't seen a thread for Stanley, so let's get one going!

Cannot believe he's got a prototype almost one year to the day that he's been announced. Talk about progress. It appears he has an open cab, too. Unexpected, but appreciated. The question I have is: will he recycle Thomas' chassis? Or will he have one unique to him? I imagine his wheels will be new. I can see plenty of OO model makers using Stanley's wheels to kitbash a more accurate OO Thomas.

[Chaz]

I'll admit I wasn't expecting Stanley to flat out reuse Thomas' chassis, but hopefully it doesn't affect its performance too greatly.  He still looks a lot better than I expected so far and I'm excited for further updates on this model.  I can see him selling fairly well once released.

[N Scale Sudrian]

Interesting that it uses the HO Thomas chassis in its entirety... I suppose the eye mechanism is excised in favor of one fitting Stanley, though. Still, quite an economy. I remember somebody suggested this exact setup for Stanley before, and at the time I thought it wouldn't happen due to the wheel sizing and placement of HO Thomas not aligning with 'CGI' Stanley in the kind of picture-perfect way Bachmann tends to prefer nowadays... This is the same company that opted to make a new tooling for N Scale Toad despite a perfectly acceptable Graham Farish 'Toad' already existing in their tooling library, after all... I'm not sure if I am glad to be proven wrong in this case since its not clear yet just how far this chassis strays from the show model, but I assume for most the exact wheel sizing and spacing will not detract from the Stanley Experience, ha ha.

It does make me wonder if Bachmann will use this strategy for other product suggestions yet to be announced... I struggle to think of any instances that hue as close as Stanley to Thomas, but then again I would have said the same about Stanley to Thomas before this reveal... Spencer's chassis recycled for a Flying Scotsman or Merlin, perhaps?

Either way, this model sample looks excellent and I am happy for fans of Stanley.

[Armada Starscream]

Is there a prototype of Bachmann Stanley available? If so, where could I find some images of it? I haven't been able to find any.

[Chaz]

Here you go, Armada.

[Armada Starscream]

Gotcha. Thank you Chaz!

Indeed, he looks quite good. Plus, that silver gives an interesting look at how Stanley's silver smokebox will look like.

[Cheeky_ULP]

If there's one thing they need to do before they begin manufacturing, is switch out the Thomas wheels for Edward wheels. Nearly every Thomas custom they've shown on streams has done this, as Thomas modellers tend to agree that the Edward tooling wheel looks more accurate to the Marklin BR55 wheels they're based on.

[RailsByRick]

If there's one thing they need to do before they begin manufacturing, is switch out the Thomas wheels for Edward wheels. Nearly every Thomas custom they've shown on streams has done this, as Thomas modellers tend to agree that the Edward tooling wheel looks more accurate to the Marklin BR55 wheels they're based on.

I agree the wheels need to be changed. Bachmann does accept some feedback to a certain extent. What is the best way to communicate to Bachmann that the wheels should be changed to Edward's?

[TrainFan97]

I predicted that Stanley would reuse Thomas' chassis, and I was right.

Doug Blaine also finally acknowledged Harvey and Diesel 10, saying they are possible, but their attachments would make them very expensive to produce. I may be late to the party on that one, but I was away for several days.

[JacobSK]

IF everyone saw on Facebook, a HQ image of Stanley was posted there. That gives me a better idea of what to expect. I think he looks great! Him having Thomas' wheels don't bother me. Stanley seemed (to me) on the short side in CGI, so the Thomas wheels give him some added height, closer to his model series counterpart.

[JLK2707]

Nice job on Stanley!

[Armada Starscream]

I can't find the image.

[Cheeky_ULP]

IF everyone saw on Facebook, a HQ image of Stanley was posted there. That gives me a better idea of what to expect. I think he looks great! Him having Thomas' wheels don't bother me. Stanley seemed (to me) on the short side in CGI, so the Thomas wheels give him some added height, closer to his model series counterpart.

The wheels aren't about height; simply rather accuracy. The Thomas tooling was made more to resemble 2002 stock art, while the Edward wheels are based more closely on the BR55 Marklin wheels, of which Stanleys design is derived from.

[Armada Starscream]

Found the picture!

Here is a link to it for anyone who has not seen it:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=949787763858393&set=pb.100064815337741.-2207520000&type=3

[Mulfred100]

Official image of Stanley.
I have to say I'm really impressed with how he's looking. Shocked it's been released before the Trainworld stream but very glad it did