With the economic situation I wonder what if anything new will be promised for next year, Bachmann (both 2 and 4mm) still have enough already promised from 2008 to take them into 2010, Hornby seem to be up to date but many are screaming out for re-releases and re-liveries - could be a lean year or two, something we've not seen since the early 1980s...
Or could go the other way. Manufacturers/distributers/marketeers have got to work harder to get us to spend on their products rather than less essential bits like washing up liquid ?
It'll need to be *really* good to beat Bachmann's new version, which proved good enough to tempt me. I can tell from the pre-production images that Hornby's model will have better backhead detail, but to be honest I think that's totally wasted - you can barely see inside the cab with the tender attached.
Not from my customers. I don't see anything significantly wrong with it and it fits in nicely with the Bachmann family of Standards.
I think there are a lot of 8-pin decoders in the market place and the 21-pin jobbie is (I believe) only intended for locos which will eventually be released with sound decoders. It doesn't bother me which decoder socket they have, as long as it's not that silly Hornby 4-pin effort used in their base digital locos.
What do you suggest they connect the other 13 pins to? Unless all the wiring and infrastructure is already in place to allow a drop in sound retro-fit then 8 pins is perfectly adequate for most steam outline.
What do you suggest they connect the other 13 pins to? Unless all the wiring and infrastructure is already in place to allow a drop in sound retro-fit then 8 pins is perfectly adequate for most steam outline.
MBQ
You are a snappy lot, again taking the wrong emphasis - but it may not be my fault even if everyone does it. Will add a bit of background. In recent times, Bachmann have taken to fitting a 21 pin plug despite there being very few 21 pin decoders. If you want to fit an 8 pin decoder then its £3 to buy adapter. Now there was a bit of a hoo har about this when these first appeared.
So here we have a new tooling super duper (apparently) loco. Been in development for 18 months at least - no rush job this one - yet theyve gone back to the 8 pin plug.
I merely wonder why ? But if you want to quibble about any other comment have made (or might have) then dont let my question distract.
True theres nothing 'significantly wrong' although position of buffers on buffer beam might upset a few people.
Would bother me if had to pay extra £3 cos only wanted 8 pin decoder. So how do they decide what will and what wont go for sound fitting? G2 will but standard 4 wont ?
It is probably at least in part based on how much space there is inside the model. A standard 4 has quite a narrow boiler, and most of the tender options are quite small and low, meaning it would be hard to find somewhere to fit a speaker.
Were any of the extra pins actually connected, e.g. to lights that didn't work if you used an 8 pin decoder? If not, then it was a strange decision. Probably a new entrant to DCC thinking the 21 pin interface was the new standard and they'd better use it. I model in N, where 6 pins are the norm for steam outline, so I didn't pay too much attention at the time.
Being gracious, I would say they learned from the customer feedback.
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.