At a private Mattel toy fair in New York a few King of the Railway secrets were revealed! Trackmaster and Wooden Railway sets were revealed, giving us a brief glimpse of a Wooden Railway Millie and Ulfstead castle in both Trackmaster and Wooden Railway!
Comparisons between the two sets are inevitable so we may as well do a couple! Let's have a look at the Trackmaster set first. The castle is much smaller than the Wooden one. They have made more effort with the higher levels on the Trackmaster set. The Trackmaster set suggests that a crane and a bridge of some description will feature in the Movie.
If you feel we have missed anything please feel free to tell us via the comments section below or the new chat feature. Here is a link to the video so you can have a look for yourself!
As well as the above sets Fisher Price have debuted some other Wooden Railway sets! Take a look and see what you think.
The Fisher Price website depicts what is to come from Take 'n' Play with a first glimpse at Stephen the aptly named Rocket engine. Since the initial appearance of Stephen on the collector poster more pictures have surfaced.
This collector poster gave fans a first look at Stephen. it is available to be printed and viewed online and is suggested as a printable, from the Fisher Price website, which looks like it is still in construction. Further pictures appeared of Stephen close up and with the background removed. This enabled us to have a very good look at him.
On first impression he looks impressive but on closer scrutiny, you may argue that he is lacking in places. For example his tender is attached, he is all one piece, it would have been better if he had a separate tender. His wheel arrangement is correct although very close together. His funnel is very short, but if it was longer the packaging would have to be specially adapted for him, also it would be more likely to snap off completely. It is interesting that his nameplate says 'Rocket' rather than Stephen.
A new picture of Stephen with a treasure chest and gold horse has appeared today. There are a couple of differences between the above picture and the original picture of Stephen For a start his funnel has changed colour. Also he has little speckle of gold, but that is part of the theme. There is a bit of silver detailing in his piston. View this image here.
Finally is a picture of a Take 'n' Play set, featuring what we can assume is Ulfstead castle featured in the trailer. this is from the Fisher Price website. The description for which says:
"There’s plenty of action and excitement in this fast-paced toy inspired by the King of the Railway DVD movie! The Troublesome Truck tries to catch Thomas as he races down the spiral track! Will it be successful in catching him? As Thomas zooms downward the flags unfurl and the treasure drops. Connects to other Take-n-Play™ portable playsets and folds up for easy portability and storage! Includes a die-cast Thomas engine, a Troublesome Truck, and two additional play pieces."
Please leave your thoughts and comments below or in the new chat box.
Today Bachmann released their new catalogue, it shows all the engines for this year including some new faces coupled with plenty of familiar ones. As well as the much anticipated Duck we also see the Iron Works duo diesels; 'Arry and Bert. Further more Bachmann have given mention of Thomas with sounds! So let's take a look.
This years catalogue features Bachmanns new range of Chuggington engines:
"Traintastic Chuggington™ is pulling into Bachmann! Based on the popular TV series Chuggington™ that airs weekdays on Disney Channel’s Disney Junior programming block for kids and their families, and daily on the new 24-hour Disney Junior basic cable and satellite channel, HO Scale Chuggington electric Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Accessories are arriving in 2013! Join your favourite “trainees” —Brewster, Wilson, and Koko— as they ride the rails pulling Chuggington cars that include a Box Car, Low-Sided Gondola, Flat Car, two Hopper Cars, and a Passenger Car. Vee, the depot dispatcher, will be there to keep all the Chuggers on schedulee."
But don't worry Thomas fans, we get a mention, surprisingly no mention of the new Duck in there; but it's not all bad!
"This year, Thomas & Friends™
fans can look forward toIron ‘Arry, Iron Bert, Jeremy, and
Troublesome Truck #4 as well as the new Thomas’ Christmas Express set in HO scale and Toby the Tram Engine and new rolling stock in Large Scale."
We will start with the sounds Thomas:
"Now you can hear Thomas’ steam sounds! With an analog sound system including steam chuffs, periodic whistle, and steam blow-down upon stopping, this sound-equipped Thomas brings to life the sights and sounds of the Island of Sodor."
He is set to retail at $99 which is $38 more expensive than the basic Thomas, but will it be worth it? He runs on normal DC current and the sounds activate according to the speed of Thomas, this should help make the sounds more realistic. However many are always a little wary of sound chips, we will have to wait and see. Some can be good but plenty of them aren't great! Thomas is likely to cost between £70 and £75 when he arrives in the UK. With thanks to TheDieselWorks for reminding us to mention the sounds Thomas.
Jeremy seems a bit of an odd choice to me, Jeremy the plane that only appeared in six episodes (of which he only spoke in one!) and a special. Toby however seems like a good choice, it would be nice to see him in HO, hopefully his faithful coach Henrietta will make it to HO as well.
Most interestingly it features 'Arry and Bert, although sadly they are just CGI stock images at the moment, but that is something to look forward to. Also it is good to see that a few minor modifications have been made to Duck.
Although the image above is blurry you can see that Duck now has a grey (sadly not white) running plate, which as we all know really does make a difference! Also that bit of black on top of his safety valve has been removed. Bachmann must have been reading the viewers responses! It is really good to see a little more progress on Duck. Fingers crossed he will be released at the end of this month as planned.
Back in November 2012 there was much excitement as a picture of Bachmann's new Duck model was released! Comments were flowing with enthusiasm, applauding the engines detail and classic features, this was all from one small picture. Now we have a large scale picture and even a hands on review thanks to Youtube user Sodoradvertures. So I think it is good time to have another look at Duck.
I would say the best way to do this is too look first at each model individually and then make comparisons. Above are the Hornby model, TV series model and Bachmann model. Ultimately I will be comparing them to the TV series model, but also to each other. Where are the TV series model's eye brows?!
Hornby
First of all the Hornby model has a grey running plate which his basically incorrect, also the face although well molded is too much of a dark grey. He is of a dark green, far darker than the other two. The boxes on the running plate are un-detailed and simply molded in green. The cab appears too curved at the top, the funnel looks out of proportion and shape. Finally the number '8' appears too thin. But it is not all doom and gloom for Hornby, the cab is open enabling more detail than that of the Bachmann. The wheels are of better proportion.
Bachmann
The only bad point I would have to say about this one is the wheels. I think they are too small, but please comment your thoughts. Also, the cab is closed, but that is only a minor point. I love the classic face, really nostalgic and suits Duck perfectly. The colour of his livery is near perfect. All the parts under his side tanks are detailed in black, just like the TV series model. Notice the little box under the running plate which I presume is supposed to be the cylinder, is there as it is with the TV series model. I think Bachmann have had a really good look at the TV series model when designing this.
Sadly both engines lack that splash of white on the running plate, which really does make a difference!
Now take a look at this video by Youtube user Sodoradventures. Take a close look at the wheels and see what you think, I still think they are too small. I really enjoyed this video, it was great to see the model and hear Sodor's thoughts.
Duck was originally due to be released in January 2013, but that hasn't happened yet, they are likely preparing for a large demand! Duck is now due to be released, in the US by 28th February 2013, so that is the date to remember, hopefully he will be available to the UK online around that time too. It is a shame that the much awaited Duck has been delayed almost a month, I am sure he will be worth the wait! You can pre-order Duck at 'The Diesel Works'
