 The What's Neat Show is sponsored by Lombard Hobbies, your value hobby shop for over 40 years of modelers helping modelers. Big inventory, value pricing, fast shipping and great service. And by Broadway Limited Imports, the cutting edge leader in model trains. Check out their website at Broadway-Limited.com. And by Bachman Trains, now that's the way to run a railroad. Check out their website at BachmanTrains.com. And thank you for helping us support the best hobby in the world. This is What's Neat for August 2023. I'm your host Ken Patterson and this month we've got a great show in that Jenny Kirk takes us on a tour of where they actually build trains. And she gets her hand at helping assemble models which isn't exactly as easy as it looks. We also have some fantastic drone footage from our old friend Steven M. Conroy of the Tehachapi Loop. The way I've never seen it before. There's so much construction and new homes being built around that loop. The whole scenery has changed and it looks great in this month's video. Also this month we look at some beautiful and scale locomotives from Broadway Limited with sounds. We have a Y6B articulated locomotive and we also have some RSD-15 locomotives that we expose with beautiful outdoor photography. And by the way these things run like a perfectly running watch. Also this month I've got some great new products that Bachman Industries, we have Doug Blaine on the show this month. And he shared with us all the new products that are coming out this August. Also be sure to check out the What's Neat this week video show that we produce down here every Saturday night keeping you updated on what's new in the hobby with special guests and our wonderful regular podcast crew that we always have. And so with that let's continue on with the rest of this August 2023 What's Neat. We've come out and about and we've traveled down to Cherk which is in Wales near Wrexham and it's the home of Daypaw. We've been invited down here to have a good look around and I'm really excited by this. It's the first time I've actually got to have a look inside a real factory making wagons and such like that. We've come into the factory and I'm really intrigued by these. This is the actual tooling for some of the models and we've got all of the different products that Daypaw produce but what's interesting is that some of these date back to the days of Hornby 00 so when you have your sex assault wagon or your gunpowder wagon that's actually tooling that started out at Hornby 00 and it's a really great link with the heritage of railway modelling but some of these a bit newer but it's so intriguing to see how a plastic model goes from just grains of plastic to being that finished article and today we're going to look through the entire process and find that out. So here in the tool room and this is where the tools go when the needs change these slides that are inside them so when you hear companies talking about a tooling suite having different slides to do different detail for different models in the range this is actually what they mean so this particular tool here is having the inserts changed so that it can make a slightly different version of the model. So a typical process would be that you would change over the sliding cores so the sliding core would be moved over there and bolt the back section remove the detail and then place a new section on depending on what type of mould in you want to do to it. So the back plate there is like a carrier that carries the piece that's got the detail that's actually what's going to come in contact with it. So when the tool opens and closes you'll find those pins slide inside those pins there so the movement so that everything's exactly where it needs to be so that you don't get weird shapes coming out. Correct yeah I mean as with all injection mould tools within microns plastic will find its way through so everything has to be very precise. So how long would it take to change the setup on a tooling like this? This tool would be three to four hours mainly because of the size and the bulk of it. I mean some tools if you can gain access to the sliding core in situ you can actually take that core out so we've got buffers and non-buffers so if you look on sliding core on the end of that you would just change insert on the end. Right there's so many different configurations. So this is the colouring that goes in the plastic the bulk of the plastic is just a plain white colour and then if you add in just three of these capfalls to that full sack that's enough to make the black that we see on the machine coming out that's quite a powerful dye. The bigger tools need more clamping pressure so this can clamp up to 250 tonne worth of pressure whereas some of the smaller machines are only 35 tonne worth of pressure so the bigger the mould the more the clamping pressure is. Right so the big objects like some of the o-gauge items would be made in this machine. Well this will be pumping off the line body for the line wagon. Right so it's quite a big tool. Well it's not the biggest tool we've got but because of the width of it it means and it's got more than one cavity it means to be clamped quite tight. Right. But you'll get sort of flashing around the edges of the body. Yeah where it's sort of squirted out through the gaps. So obviously the pressure will keep everything where it should be and produce nicer. And how long would that tool be on the machine before it's changed to something else? Well I've put this on this morning and we'll probably run it for a couple of days. Right. So we've got you know a thousand or so produced and then we'll swap to something else. And how long does each cycle of the tool take? How long does it take to make each body? About a minute. So it's a minute for each wagon body? For each wagon body, yeah. Right. And then you go through and then when they come off we'll put them on to this little jig. Oh so that stops them from distorting. So yeah so they don't because they're coming off still a bit warm. Yeah. We want them to stay nice and straight so they'll get put on to here. And with you, yes. And then after a minute or two they'll get taken off and put into a box. Just sort of let them cool at the right shape because if you put them into the box warm when you came to put your roof on at the end they wouldn't fit. Yeah. When I'm looking at some of the O-Gauge wagons what really impresses me about those is how many separate parts go into these O-Gauge wagons. And it's a marvel to see that they are made and finished here at the factory in Daypole. And there's so many different stages and processes that go in. And parts that I thought were just one molded part turn out to be multiple parts that go through multiple stages of assembly. I've got here one of the sprues for the Stroudly coaches in O-Gauge. Again, these are all molded here on the machines that we saw before. And you can see just how many individual details just on this one sprue that have to be hand assembled. And it really does give you a new appreciation to the work that goes into these. That piece would be cut off because they're not sprayed. And then you would take the rest away for spraying. With the first trip through the spray booth complete to get the base colour, it's on to the decorating stage where the master for the tampo printing is made. And this is quite a simple process when it's all boiled down. The plastic master is laid into the machine and then a template on clear acetate is laid over the top. And this carries the lettering, numbering and any other details such as strapping on the wagon. Using UV light, this is exposed to the red plastic master. And then by means of a wash with special etching chemicals, they are then recessed out. And this is a process that's quite similar to how etched circuit boards are made. The end product is very durable and can be put into the tampo printing machine. And we're ready to start decorating delivery on the wagon. And as you can see here, the process fills up those newly created recesses with the white ink that the tampo printing sponge can then transfer to the wagon. The end result is a really neat finish and it dries almost instantly. It's then back to the spray booth. So I've actually been allowed to have a go at assembling a wagon. I'm going to see just how hard it is. So the wagon in question is going to be one of the lime type wagons. So I've got the body here. It's already been through that printing process and the spray painting process that we saw before. So we're all ready now to assemble that with all the other bits that go up to make a finished wagon. And the first thing we've got here is the underframe. And that's already had the metal weight glued in place. And these are done in built bulk at the start just to make it a bit easier in the assembly process. And then we're going to be putting the top on there. That's right. It doesn't matter which way around that goes. Make sure you get your limits on the hand first and then check the other side. So I can already see it's harder than it looks. There we go. Yeah, then just make sure it's flush. So just make sure there's nothing that's caught. That's gone all the way in. At the ends together, probably. That's perfect. So I've done that right. And then I'll give you this screw. Okay. So we're going to screw that into there. And how tight do we need this? When you just get to the top, just stop it from bowing. You see on the front here, sorry. Oh, have I gone too far? No, no. Keep going. Just keep going a little bit more. That's it. Because I don't want it to bow. So is that? If you stand it up and just check it then on the edge of the chassis, that it's not bowing, it needs to just untighten a little tad. So, just a little bit. Yeah, just to bring that down a little tad more. I'd say so that's that. Oh, I see. So we'll see what I'm saying. Yeah, so it's level. So again, there's a lot more that goes into it than just putting pieces together. Yeah. So to the next step, we've got all these wheels. And so I'm guessing one side in and then... There we go. So that's in. And then another one. Click that in. And I think that's in. Yeah. And then I'll hook each side of the chassis. So this is the coupling hook. Yeah, you hold the bottom there and then you can click it. Oh, I see, yes. Click it in better. So that we've got something to push against. And then, yeah, click. This is where I can tell that my eyesight wouldn't be good for doing stuff like that. It's not fair for you to do anything. And that's click. So we've got the coupling hooks in. You're ready to project. So that's all of the bits that we need. And there we go. I built this. So if you find the one I made in the box in the shop, no refunds. Yeah. I was really impressed at that. What really struck me actually is it's a little bit more tricky than you might initially think. And particularly tightening that screw up. It's very easy to get the tension wrong and either over tighten it and you ruin the wagon or under tighten it. And the whole thing would just start to rattle. And people get that in the box and think, oh, this isn't right. And I'm gaining a new appreciation of just how much work goes into each of these products. Well, we've had a great time today. And it's been so interesting to see around and to actually find out a bit more about models that are forthcoming. So I really hope that you enjoyed our little visit today. But until next time, you take care. Bye for now. For this segment of What's Neat, this is the part of the video where I'm outside, usually doing a photo shoot. And I have been doing photo shoots in the last couple of days with these beautiful locomotives from Broadway Limited. I've got some Y6B locomotives. Those are the articulated locomotives here on the table. And these things are absolutely amazing. The fidelity of the detail. They remind me of a quality watch. Just how they can make these locomotives so small that they pack so much detail on them, in them, and they also have full sound in them. The first one is the Y6B locomotives. Broadway Limited is offering these models in five paint schemes for the Norfolk and Western Railroad, plus an undecorated sample where it's just simply painted with no lettering and no numbers. And they've also got three or two units that are a fantasy paint scheme, a beautiful blue locomotive. A 2882. Number 2198. And also a maroon locomotive. Again, in the Norfolk and Western paint scheme, this brown, this maroon color is absolutely beautiful. I've got some outdoor photography that I'm going to be showing you as I talk about these models. These models are amazing. The fact that they've got the Paragon 4 sound system in it with rolling thunder. They've got the integrated dual mode decoder with back EMF. These things run really slow and really sweet. I also have video of them running that I'm going to show you while I describe these models. The precision drive mechanism is engineered for heavy load towing and smooth low speed operation with extra built-in capacitors so that they don't stall on your layout. The die cast body and the inside is all die cast heavy weight. So outside is plastic. Inside is a heavy weight on these models with rubber tires. I mean just absolutely beautiful prototypical light operation. Front headlight, rear headlight, and cab lighting on these models. They're microtrains compatible with couplers. They run on code 5570 and 80 rail with no problem on a 9.75 inch radius. These models are just absolutely exquisite as I've said before. And I didn't want to talk about them outside because I thought it would be more important to cover all the details so that you would know what it is you're looking at. Of course you can find all these models on the Broadway Limited website. I did and it's a beautiful website in that. They also sent me some RSD-15s. Now these are passionately known as alligators because they had the long snoot nose on them. They sent me the alligator in the Tiger Stripe ATSF paint scheme. These were made between 1950 and 1960. They also make two other variations of this. They also make the high hood variation. Of course there's a standard high hood and then there's the special high hood variation that they had. Whereas on the Pennsylvania prototype the high hood models have different locations for the bells and the air horns on these locomotives. They also have independently functioning headlights, rear lights, cab lights, and front and rear number boards. All you can then operate with your DCC system and these both run on DC and DCC. It's important for me to point out that the sound system on these locomotives matches the prototype. The sound for the Y6Bs absolutely matched the sound of what they sounded like and the same with the alligators with these RSD-15s. They had the 16 cylinder, 2400 horsepower, Alco 251 engines in them and these models come with that sound system in them. They just, it's amazing. So I mean just an absolutely exposé of these beautiful models. The diesels, the steam locomotives, all the amazing detail. They run slow, they run perfect. They look exquisite. It's amazing how n-scale has come so far and I wanted to make sure that I shared these beautiful models with you this month on What's Neat. For this special segment of What's Neat, I've got Doug Blaine from Bachman Industries all the way from beautiful Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hey Doug, welcome to the What's Neat show for August. How are you today? Very well thanks and yourself. It's great to be with you, Ken and your audience. It's always great to have you on the show. As many folks know, we have been working together for almost 30 years and a lot of great memories and a lot of amazing products, Doug. And we're going to keep them coming. Memories and products, you know. So what do you got to talk about today? I've got, I'm going to be featuring several of our new Thomas and Friends products. I'm going to be starting with large scale or G scale and working through HO, HO narrow gauge and n-scale new products. Very cool. So I'm going to start out for your garden railroad folks here. This is, oh we've got a burnt way up here. I've got to get used to this camera angle. So this is Toby's Museum Coach. It's a brown coach, I don't know if it's, that's showing up as brown. That's beautiful. Yes. So a nice passenger car typically runs behind Toby. You could choose to run it behind any locomotive. In any case, it's not limited to just Toby. So there's the coach. We also have a brake coach. So I'll bring that right up. And here we go from brake coach. Very interesting. So it's got the, sorry, the brake end there with a rear lamp. It's got a typical British style shape for the brake coach. And so that'll be a nice addition to a garden railroad line. That is so true. All right. So that's our large scale products. Moving on to HO scale. We have a character that's not as well known. This is Beau. This is based on an American 440 prototype. Oh, wow. So this was only in one movie. So it's not, as I said, it's not as well known. But as an American prototype, we felt we really wanted to do it. We put a typical Thomas and Friends hook and loop coupler on the back. So it will connect with other hook and loop product. And just, this is a minor change, but the color on the trim on the tender, just below the wood load on the actual production will be silver. This right now, what you see is going to be silver like this. I'm going to get the reflection, but on the sample, it's not yet silver. So that would be different in final production as silver. Very nice. Boy, that's a good excuse to bring time. Thomas into the American landscape, and we just thought we should do that. Also coming, so that's for future production, as are the large scale coaches. Currently available now, these just came into stock. These are HO scale narrow gauge box fans. Oh, nice. So these, we have a box fan and a brake fan in two different colors. So this is, as I said, this is HO narrow gauge. And it actually runs on end track. Where am I going here? Go up. All right, this is. Keep going up. There you go. Perfect. Look at that. So more freight cars to add to the end narrow gauge. Yeah. HO scale narrow gauge. So we have this in two different colors. This matches our, we have passenger cars in red and blue. Okay. So this is the red version of the box fan and brake fan. And then I'll show you the blue as well over there. Oh, nice. So again, this is HO narrow gauge, gauge runs on end track. And we have several locomotives to go along with us. There's Scarloy. There's Reneus, Peter Sam, Rusty and more to come. That's amazing. All right. New in end scale, not out yet. So now that was HO narrow gauge. We're going down to end scale now. Okay. This is an early production sample. This is Emily. And this is based on a sterling single prototype. There we go. How to hook up the. Very nice. Yes. Look at that. That is Emily. And did you say this is, what scale is that? This is end scale. Okay. Very good. So this is going to, I'm going to put up Thomas there just to give you a size comparison. So this is our end scale. Oh, we have a visitor. He heard Thomas, I think. So there's Thomas and Emily size comparison in end scale. That's amazing. Yes. Kind of don't have hooked up right there or there we go. That's a better alignment. That's such a big market, isn't it? Absolutely. The end scale Thomas has been very, very well received. And then to go along with Emily, we have her coaches. Just hold these guys up. There's a regular coach and a break coach. Ah, there goes a coupler. Oh, well, these things happen. So I'm just going to hold up now that the coaches as a pair. Okay. There we go. That's amazing. Yes. The fidelity of end scale just, it's just so, it just blows me away that you can do such finite detail like that. We put up pack a lot of detail in this smaller size. We really do. We try and make them as accurate as possible. And our customers, I think, appreciate the effort. They absolutely do. Truly. All right. Now I've got three end scale box fans. These are currently, these just came into stock. So this is the same size as the Thomas and Emily locomotives I just showed you. Up higher. There you go. Up, down, down, down, down, down. There you go, right there. Perfect. All right. And pull back a little. So that's a Sodor fruit and vegetable company. Okay. Is that a focus? Yes, it is now. All right. We have an ice cream van. Okay. Okay. And one more for a great Western box fan here. Okay. Whoop, whoop, there we go. G and W, there you go. All right. Also, we just got some samples in for HO scale figures. So these are Thomas and friend figures. And we've had figures in the Thomas line, but are much larger, more appropriate for G scale really. Okay. So these are HO, or really they're double low to match our Thomas size. And this is the hat family. We're going to have several different character groups. So all right, these are the two children in the hat family. This is going to be tough. Okay. All right, are they focused at all? Yes, no, it looks good. Okay, that's Stephen and Bridget. There's the hat children. Then I'm going to bring up Mrs. Hat and Dowager Hat. So this is the wife and mother of Sir Topham Hat. Okay, very good. All right. And then of course the star of the show is always Sir Topham Hat for Thomas and Friends. And there's Sir Topham Hat. Very cool, Doug. Yes, this is going to be interesting. This is the first time you've done characters like that. Absolutely. And people have been really responded well to the introduction of the figures. It's just going to be a great addition to the layouts to be able to add Thomas figures and add some life to those layouts. All right, and I've got one more. Oh, here we go. So this is a big debut here on your show, Ken. This is the first time we showed a painted sample of Ann Scale Gordon. Okay. So a little drum roll there. Drum roll. And let me get the coupler out. There we go. Okay, here is Ann Scale Gordon. So this is our first painted sample. And if I do say so, he's looking pretty sharp. That's beautiful, Doug. Gordon is such a popular figure in the Thomas line. Absolutely. The HS Scale model you made of that was beautiful. So this is for an Ann Scale model by size. It's a lot bigger than Thomas, but it just, it does look great. It does. Smooth runner. It's got a nice slow speed operation. And again, for expanding an Ann Scale layout with Thomas, we now have Thomas, Percy, James, coming out with Emily, we have Toby, and now Gordon. So we've got a great selection in Ann Scale to expand that. And range. Yes, you do. Fantastic. You know, those are models I've never photographed outside. Well, maybe in G scale, we've done that in G scale, but you know, that that would be an interesting model to do. G scale. That's that's one big locomotive. Yes, it is. Absolutely. So that's it for our new Thomas and Friends products, either what's coming in stock now or in development. Very, very cool. For parents and grandparents, great addition to railroad to entertain kids and grandkids. And, you know, there's always fans of Thomas of any age for your own railroad. That is absolutely right. That's it for new Thomas and Friends products. And I was happy to share them with you today. That's awesome, Doug Blaine. It's always great to have you folks sharing the new products, including the ones for this month of August. And that is this special segment for What's Neat. All of the products seen on this episode of What's Neat are available from Lombard Hobbies in Lombard, Illinois. Or order online at LombardHobby.com. And by Broadway Limited Imports, the cutting edge leader in model trains. Check out their website at Broadway-limited.com. Bachman Trains. Now that's the way to run a railroad. Check out their website at BachmanTrains.com.