The tool for the body of this locomotive is not at all familiar to me. If it is a pre-existing tool, it is not one that went into any type of mass production in the last 20 years at least. The only O scale FP7s I am aware of are the Sunset ones I worked on and the surprisingly scale tin-plate Pride Lines FP7. I will speculate, and I hate doing that, that perhaps this tool was paid for by another manufacturer but never made it to full production. Another thought is that it is a new tool and the cost of developing it will be offset by sheer numbers if the final production piece costs anywhere close to the pre-production model. The Blomberg truck side frames are readily available from any number of sources across Asia.
I still need to get some run time in with mine. I was hoping to last weekend, but my daughter was more interested in other activities and that always comes first. Perhaps this weekend I will break it in.
The modeler in me sees the opportunity in several potential modifications and repainting, but the collector in me sees the value in having something that is a limited run and keeping it in its as delivered state.
Perhaps when the model is offered after beta testing is completed, I will purchase some additional ones for projects. Of all the F Unit variants, the FP versions are among my favorite.
