I looked at all of the numbers in the catalogue and looked somewhat critically at these as models since that is how Lionel describes them in their text.
It looks like the 1218 excursion version is their target with the least chance for flaws as a model. I don't have any interest in the excursion engine but the major elements seem to be correct. The illustration of the 1218 shows multiple bearing crosshead guides which would be a big mistake but I assume they'll correct that on the model.
The 1211, Post 1945 looks to be pretty good. That cover over the turret in front of the cab looks awful on that engine but everything else looks in line. It appears to have sheathing over the smoke box and I'm not sure how that will be handled by Lionel. Will the sheathing be cast on and simply painted over to represent un-sheathed smokeboxes on the other models? That could look a bit weird. As far as I know 1211 did not have sheathing over the smokebox but other engines did so that would be a simple matter of renumbering on the modeler's part. The description does not say it will have the Wilson after cooler but the illustration shows it there. The modeler can remove the Wilson after cooler to date the for their own preference.
On the 1200, as built, the turret cover is not good. One other thing stands out to me with the use of the Y3 tenders is that the frame at the bottom of the tender and the fishbelly should not appear there. The sides of the tender should extend down below the frame. Will the smokebox have sheathing that is simply painted over gray? That might look strange. I'm also assuming the covers over the sand lines can be removed on all of the models as the 1200 sandlines should be visible. One other thing about the 1200 description that stands out is that it says the tender has Commonwealth trucks which it should, but the illustration appears to show Buckeye trucks. I'm assuming the 1200 tender model will get Commonwealth trucks. Some of the other early engines did have Buckeye trucks but not the 1200.
The 1210 as mentioned earlier in the thread should have alligator crosshead guides and hangers. The other items about the turret cover, Y3 tender frames, the smokebox sheathing, sand line covers and tender trucks that apply to the 1200 also apply to this engine.
The 1238 illustrated model has the wrong tender and wrong trucks in any case other than possibly the end of its life. As it is in the illustration renumbering the model won't work and I can't think of an easy way to fix this one except to replace the whole tender. Also, the bell isn't placed correctly. It should be moved to the right on the engineer's side of the boiler. The bell also has a the wrong holder and fitting. The turret cover should not be there as with the other models. It also looks like they intend to have the sheathing on the smokebox but I don't think it should be on this engine. I'd have to look into that a little closer.
The 1222 would be a pretty good model, the same as the 1211, except the description says that the model will have ROLLER BEARING RODS. I think those rods should be on 1238-1242 but not 1222. I'm curious where they came up with this and something interesting to look into.
