Having had my hands on a few friend's Choppers, as it were, I wasn't in any rush to acquire any of Bachmann's recent Class 20s, but the fleet has started to grow somewhat earlier than expected - largely due to the unavailability of certain other items I'd planned to buy first. The Class 20 is a loco that I'll probably end up with quite a few of ultimately, if only because a couple of dozen Lamer items could be replaced, liberating a lifetime's supply of Ultrascales, Mashimas and sprung buffers. Don't get the idea that I'm in any way impressed with this loco, I'm not, but the typical amalgam of Bachmann compromises, sloppiness and shodiness does at least manage to be somewhat less obtrusive to my eyes than in most of their previous releases. Where their abysmal Deltic looks like a cartoon charicature no matter how I look at it, the 20s do seem to look commendably 20-like from 'normal viewing distances'. SFX: sound of coins rattling in the RM swear-box.
Some of my boiler-bunny associates, being used to better things and wanting some green diesels to sit alongside their kettles, have already taken to hacking the Bachmann model around in an effort to minimise some of it's errors. Me? I'm a UK D&E modeller and thus a card-carrying second-class citizen - I can't afford to be too fussy. Whilst recognising the failings of this release and lamenting, once again, it's minimal quality compared to the products the rest of the world enjoys, practicality is the order of the day. I'll never have the time to rebuild fleet quantities of these things - it's a matter of take it or leave it. Fortunately this is something I can live with, if not actually get excited about...
...although I am looking forward to modelling my good friend 20075 for the third time!
Here it is, the leading contender for the Worst-Thing-To-Ever-Appear-On-A-Toy-Train award. I've never understood the fascination with sticking questionable oddments to a perfectly good model and claiming it's super detailed. What about accurately detailed? Doesn't that count for anything? Whilst real locos do indeed have bl**dy great holes in the roof under which twirly-whirly things lurk, they look absolutely nothing like this. A pair of old fishnets and some cheap plastic more normally used to produce Christmas cracker novelties aren't the best ingredients for a feature that demands a delicate touch, especially when the resultant mess is as poorly fitting as this. You could build several starter homes in that gap.
After decades of pancake motors, it's pleasing to know that entry-level products, especially at this low price, now have drive systems that are fit for purpose, but what about the rest of the market? Collectors will collect pretty much anything - that's a given. The detailers will, presumably, be just as happy detailing this as they were the outgoing Lamer offering. But if you've got US/European modelling mates who regularly take the p*ss out of your cheesey UK stock, is something like this going to take the wind out of their sails? Is something like this going to grow the market, attract the more demanding buyers, or help stop the constant haemorrhaging of more discerning modellers to overseas prototypes? Nope.
Whatever happened to that revolution in UK RTR diesels that somebody mentioned?