Roundhouse Bill posted:OK, the original was plastic and not cast. Would you accept plastic now?
A couple of years ago Lionel said that if people would accept plastic steam engines the tooling was a whole lot less. I did a survey of sorts here and the result was about 50/50. Lionel is afraid that plastic wouldn't sell.
Opinions??
I personally don’t have a problem with steam locomotives having plastic bodies. If it enabled production of new locomotives to the bland repetitive offerings now, then I can only see it as a bonus.
I also see an advantage of greater detail which would be a plus for both the hi-railers and the scaly groups, a win win to me.
On the flip side what are the advantages of die-cast bodies for some people, they have heft to them but what else do they offer? I don’t see extra traction being a real positive for die-cast bodies, look at the plastic bodied PA’s with traction tyres, they will probably pull more than most people need and are lighter for a combined weight of chassis and body.
At least plastic doesn’t suffer from zinc pest which is always a worry, especially if you have a lot invested financially into a locomotive.
