Never Again

As far as I can tell, only the colour of the switch is a little different (different type of motor), and there are some very minor changes in the paintwork of some details, but not regarding the gold: it's still not that shiny as in your first pic. The comparison video is HERE.

[Super]

Other than the different chassis type, I didn't really see anything different unless I missed something.

They could, at the very least, paint some roof elements (say, black), this would significantly contribute to the overall look of the model.

That's horrible! I hate people who do this

It makes me wonder if Tomy are facing some budgetary issues as a company, its unusual for them to so drastically downgrade the quality of their products for any other reason.  I should imagine the gold expo model would be quite a bit more expensive to produce, but if that was a problem you'd think they would have released two versions.  The current one as a base model and the expo design as a 'pro' or 'deluxe' version at an appropriate price uplift.

On the other hand I wonder if the expo model was a true production model, or one that they printed on a high end 3D printer and whoever did it used a 'silk' or 'glitter' type filament that can look truly metallic.  Only to find when they come to injection moulding it was not easy/feasible/cost-effective to make them out of the same material?!?

[Super]

True but they have mass produced many other 'metallic' trans.

Yes, this is true, but the 'chromed' trains tend to be normal white plastic with the chrome, gold or whatever overlaid on it, you can see that if they pick up any damage as the white under layer shows through.  That expo one is not chromed, it is just solid plastic by the look of things and it does look very much like some of the gold silk filaments I've used many times

[Super]

So could that type of Gold Silk Filament material also be used in a production line injection mold too?

it appears so:

https://xy-masterbatch.en.made-in-china....uding.html

[Super]

Thanks Dr Chris

Only the last picture looks like gold to me but because it isn't a clear image I have to assume that the photo has been enhanced...maybe to look more gold like?, the others just look like colored plastic.