Hi Guys and Gals, here we have the new James from TOMY Plarail and what a cracker it is!\r
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I have had this for a couple of months now and have been waiting patiently to unbox just for you guys! So lets get on with the review :)\r
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I also want to say that all the locos you see running nalongside James in this video are locos I repaired or rebuilt today, they were all broken locos from my parts box but now they run like new. The locos are Diesel 10, Angry Thomas & Duck, all the locos are from TOMY so that is the theme of the day :)\r
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The Plarail james new has the newer type of Plarail drive unit that runs on a single AA battery, we have seen this unit before in the New Gordon, Connor, Caitlin & Stephen. It is a rather complex gearset when compared to the single gear and worm of the Trackmaster revolutions. Why the gearset is so complex is not clear to me except that I guess that they can alter the gearing of the loco to change its speed & lets face it, its just a little bit fancy! Who doesnt like fancy?! The engine pulls well and had little problem over the many many laps I ran him to film the sequence, the speed was average and you can see Diesel 10 and Thomas are faster. Duck was a good match in speed for the new James and Im sure many of you have a Duck at home :)\r
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The look of James is splendid indeed! A brilliant vibrant red with all the fine detailing and paint applications you would expect from TOMY. The animated face very reminiscent of the recent tv show and specials. Disappointed that the side cab windows are not painted but none of the companies paint that area, There is a whistle on the roof that is painted gold and I am very happy that James presents so well especially for the fairly high price tag compared to the domestic offerings from Mattel. There are no stickers at all, every detail is tampo graphed (fancy printing) which is lovely after some recent trackmaster 1 and 2 locos of mines stickers are starting to bubble.\r
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It works on the Trackmaster motorized turntable too! YAY :)\r
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I give this James an 8.5/10. it is lacking the speed of a powerful mixed traffic engine but his look makes up for it somewhat. Buy this version if you dont have one yet.
