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Tomy Thomas Trackmaster Percys Mail Delivery
by angelboouk My son is a huge Thomas and Friends fan. Last year he became aware of the Trackmaster range of train sets/trains and added one to his Christmas list. Santa ended up delivering three different Trackmaster sets so Boo was over the moon as he loves anything to do with the postal system as he has a Postman for a Daddy! With the help of his ... Gran, Santa chose Percy's Mail Delivery (Express) and here are our thoughts on this set. ~Percy's Mail Delivery~ Contents : *Complete track *Sodor Mail Depot *Cargo car and mail crate *Motorized Percy (this does require 1 x AA battery which isn't included) 'Percy's favourite job on the Island of Sodor is delivering the mail. He chugs around the track and stops at the Sodor Mail Depot to pick up the mail crate. Percy makes sure the mail is delivered on track and on time' - from the box. This Trackmaster set is suitable for children over the age of 3 years as it does contain small parts. The complete set is presented in a colourful box and requires some adult assembly. No tools are required to put together the main part of the set so it is possible to get the set up and running very quickly. I cannot find a tape measure at this time but a little bit of research states this set measures 15 x 11 x 3 inches and I would estimate this as being correct. ~Price and Availability~ This particular Trackmaster set is available online and from certain toy stores at the following prices : *www.smythstoys.com - £24.99 (instore too) *Amazon - £33.71 ~Our Thoughts~ My 4.5yr old son was very excited to unwrap this set from Santa. Thankfully we have a spare room which we currently use as a toy room. As we owned a few Trackmaster sets prior to Christmas, we were aware of how much floor space they take up. I cleared the toy room the week before Christmas ensuring that there was as much floor space as possible. We currently have three complete Trackmaster sets built up, a spare circle of track and also a full box with extra track and two more Trackmaster sets. We simply don't have the room to have every set out at any one time. Out of all three sets that Boo received at Christmas, this was by far the easiest to set up and only took a few minutes. My son knows how to slot the pieces of track together but asked if we could do it for him. It is definitely one of the more basic Trackmaster sets but equally as fun to play with as the bigger sets. There are ten pieces of Trackmaster track supplied - eight curvy pieces and two straight pieces. The track is a standard brown coloured Trackmaster track with connectors at either end to allow the pieces to be clicked together and form an oval shape.. As far as I am aware, all Trackmaster track can be combined if you want to make a bigger track. We have kept this set as a stand alone set for the moment but the option is there to connect it to the Power Line set or other sets we own. One piece of track is slightly different from the others. It is grey and has an extra section at the side with a control lever. This can be placed at either end of the track. The complete track looks very basic so the accessories are important. This particular set has the Sodor Mail Depot which is made of strong, durable plastic. The Depot is the same length as the grey piece of track and slots into an indent on this piece of track. The Depot is a colourful affair. We were pleased to see that Percy himself was included in this set. Any parent who buys Trackmaster will be aware that the trains are quite expensive to purchase. Percy is around the £12.00 mark alone so the set represents a little more value for money. Percy is a motorized train and requires a battery. A screwdriver is needed to gain access to the battery compartment and be aware that one screwdrived doesn't fit all engines as we discovered. Luckily we had one suited to Percy and were able to insert a battery quickly. Percy looks exactly as he does in the show - green and smiley. He can be used alone on this set and any other Trackmaster set with or without his mail cart. The mail cart is red and features an envelope logo and there is also a little plastic piece which has a parcel bag effect. This piece is quite small and easily lost. I can understand the age limit for this set as this particular piece could pose a choking hazzard. ~Postman Percy~ This set is well loved by my son. My son has a fantastic imagination and now that he has a few Trackmaster sets set up in his toy room, he considers himself to be the Fat Controller. It is amusing to watch! Anyway, he enjoys playing with this set as it is simple yet fun. When Percy receives a new battery, he is raring to go but the batteries (even good ones) run out very quickly. Replacing all the trains batteries is becoming an expensive habit indeed. Percy is switched on by nudging the little switch on top of the train. Percy runs smoothly around the track and has yet to fall off unless he hasn't been put on the track correctly. When at full speed (with a fully tank of battery gas), Percy takes to the rails with his mail cart and doesn't stop until he reaches his destination. He is noticeable slower and less enthusiastic as his tank runs low but that is to be expected. The other Trackmaster trains are more than welcome on this track though Gordon and Thomas prefer a bigger track as they have many trucks to pull. Percy takes a short while to chug around the track but Boo cannot just sit back and watch him (as he finally realised) - he needs to help! Once Percy is set around the track, it is important that the little lever on the grey piece of track is moved otherwise Percy will go speeding straight past the Mail Depot and potentially upset the Fat Controller by not being a very useful engine! Flicking the switch pushes up a tripper to stop Percy from going any further. This is well positioned and works very well we have found. Once released, Percy heads off round the track again. Boo is once again asked for a little help to ensure Percy's job is complete. There is a little hollow section at the back of the Mail Depot. It is the perfect size to slot the mail into and with a little pushing, this part will fall forward and send the mail flying into the mail truck that Percy is transporting. This part can then be pushed back up and it is simply a case of removing the mail and starting again. I do feel that it would be good for Percy to have somewhere to deliver the mail too but my son is happy to just repeat the process and bark orders at Percy. ~Conclusion~ Percy's Mail Delivery is a basic but fun little set. It is worth the cost as it comes with Percy himself otherwise I would consider it to be quite expensive. It is a well made set which is durable and can cope with the demands and strength of my son and his cousin on a regular basis. We also have a few regular trains which can be moved around the track manually but Boo prefers the motorized Trackmaster trains. Overall we will award this set 4 stars as it is fun to play with and there is room to expand. Thanks for reading :) Read the complete review |
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Learning Curve Chuggington Dunbar
by cha97mw Chuggington is a childrens television series that features a set of diesel and coal engines who work and live in the town of Chuggington. Similarly to the Thomas the Tank Engine series, all of the engines talk and have personalities on the show, so it was unsurprising to me that there were a series of toys released to accompany the show. ... These are made by Learning Curve who also make some of the Thomas sets. They have quite a different look to the Thomas range as the look is a bit more colourful, and more American in style. Dunbar is a large shunting engine based upon the electric engine, the EMD_GP38-2 manufactured between 1972 and 1986. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GP38-2. He has quite a square boxy looking appearance, and has a striking green coat of paint which I think looks really authorative. In the show Dunbar has a large role in the training of the younger characters in the show so he is a character my children are really familiar with and he features a lot in their games when playing with their models of the engines. The diecast engines are all similar in size. Some of these diecast engines are a little more comfortable to hold than others. Dunbar is one of those that is less comfy. He features an 8 wheel plastic base which is a good quality. The wheels all turn round really smoothly, and we have never had any breakage on these wheels. Dunbar also has the same coupling system as all the other engines in this set which is a strong ball and socket connection which is easy to connect and undo, but will not split when pulling other trucks. You can get a flatbed truck to go with Dunbar, but we tend to use the smaller box cars and recovery trucks which go with Dunbar's assistant Calley who is a smaller shunting engine. I think Dunbar's square appearance makes him look a bit more severe compared to the other engines. He has quite a large open mouth which doesn't look like a big smile like some of the younger engines. He has a simple level of detail on his paintwork. There is what looks like an outer handrail painted in brown, and the same simple detailing showing the windows. Other fans and grills are in green and shown more with texture than colour. I think Dunbar is a fairly essential part of a Chuggington model engine collection if your child likes to recreate the sort of things they have seen on the TV. They can use Dunbar to show the younger engines how to behave. The Chuggington engines cost between £3.50 and £5 from online shops like amazon and toy stores like The Entertainer. I feel Dunbar is one I would pick up at the cheaper end of the scale as I think the ones that have moving parts like Action Chugger or Mtambo are worth more in my opinion. Dunbar is well made. A lot of our engines have chipping on the more prominent edges through play and being stored in the toy box. Dunbar has faired better than most with his darker paintwork. A fine looking engine, with an important role in my childrens role play. Read the complete review |
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Learning Curve Diecast Chuggington Wilson
by cha97mw Chuggington is a childrens TV series shown in the UK on the cbeebies channel and BBC2. The series is about the fictional town of Chuggington which is mainly populated by the trains who do all the jobs around the town. Similar to Thomas the Tank Engine, the show features engines who all have names and distinct looks and personalities, and ... all the engines have a unique role in the town. In the first series there were 3 trainee characters, 2 males - Brewster and Wilson, and the female character Koko. In later series they were joined by twins Hoot and Toot, and Piper. My boys are particularly fond of the three trainees from the first series. They are voiced by children in the show and all have adventurous personalities. Wilson is a lovely looking bright red engine based upon the electromotive diesel F-unit. If you look on the wikipedia page for this type of engine, then you will see the striking resemblance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-unit. His personality is that he jumps straight in and doesn't always pay close attention so there are frequent mishaps involving him not having listened properly. He comes across as a lot of fun, and his heart is in the right place as he always is sorry if things don't turn out quite right. I love the face on Wilson. He has a very prominent front end looking like a nose and jaw, with one central headlight which looks like his nose. There is gold detailing around his eyes like some of the other engines like Old Puffer Pete, but here his look is more wide eyed than world wise. Somehow the manufacturers have got across this is a young and joyous character with the big smile on his face. Wilson is similar in size to all the other engines in the range in length, width and height. He is on an 8 wheel plastic base. The wheels all turn round when you push the engine along floor or track, and has the same unique coupling system that the other engines in the series have. This is like a ball and socket which is easy to link and unlink two items or more together, even for a 2 year old child. But its also very strong and won't come apart unless you pull two engines apart deliberately. You can hold one engine in the air and leave another unsupported, and it won't break the connection. I think Wilson is very ergonomically designed. There are no rough edges and it is really comfortable to hold him in your hand or push him around. There is lovely detail on his painted diecast body to show funnels and fans, and doors and windows. Unfortunately as we have a lot of these engines, even though we own a special storage container for them we have more than fits in the container so some are always knocking about loose. Therefore we have experienced chipping on most of our engines paintwork. Wilson has the same problem on the rear edge at the top as it protrudes slightly. This is after two years of ownership and lots of play. These engines run well on Chuggington track, but we play with our set more on a cheap wooden set I bought in ikea about 8 years ago. It also works on Thomas track that we own. Its made by learning curve who also make a few Thomas toys, so the engines are obviously similar in size. My children have greatly enjoyed owning Wilson. They have seen him in a lot of episodes on the telly, and therefore they have great fun recreating some of the adventures they have seen on the telly, and as they have got older, they now are able to create new stories themselves. We are probably coming to the end of our time with the Chuggington range. My youngest son is 4 and a half, and he is still fond of them, but my eldest son has definitely moved on already to more grown up toys. (He will have a little play still now and again.) At a cost of between £3.50 and £5, these engines are not cheap to collect, but they are definitely great quality and long lasting toys which will delight small children who are fans of the show. We highly recommend the three trainee engines. The rest of the set are nice but without the three main characters I think our set would be incomplete. 5 stars from us for quality, longevity and promoting imaginative role play. My little 2 year old niece just found Koko in her Christmas stocking this year, and immediately said to her Mum, "Where's Wilson?" The three main characters are definitely associated with being together. I think this suits children from about two and a half to 6ish who are fans of the characters. Read the complete review |
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