Well, I didn't get any responses as yet today. Hopefully things change and we get some confirmation on if 1218 is only going to have that cover. I would imagine that most of the images of the other engines that will be offered, that is real pictures, that they don't have the cover on them.
I know that the cover wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but accurate models is the name of the game, or pretty darn close. If the cover was only in place for maybe at least a year, I really wouldn't pop it on the model(unless it was specially being modeled for that time period).
I won't be getting the 1218 model specially for the shine on it, but have yet to decide which version I'd be getting especially since we don't have any other catalog pictures(as yet). See what comes I suppose(hopefully without the cover).
