Lego Kit 7897 AKA ICE Train Advice

[edsmith0075]

I recently scored a partially complete 7897 kit from ebay. I would like to build the passenger cars out to match the current TGV lego train kit dimensions. I can only find the white bases in shorter sizes, none at 28 studs or equvialant to TGV length. Any advice on how to work around this? I saw a picture of someone who modified their 7897 kit in a similar way but can not find the photos online. Soooo... Any suggestions? I like this kit but the cars are far to short in length for my taste.

[Jan]

You can make your own trainbase base out of a double layer of normale white plates combined with technic plates with holes to fit the bogies.

[ronenson]

You can simply extend a 24-stud baseplate with 2 2x6 plates on both sides.

[edsmith0075]

I was thinking about the extension with a technic plate for the boogie. Has anyone else done ths or have pics available?

[Hrw-Amen]

Yes, not specifically for the carriages you are wanting to build though. I make nearly all of my railway bases (Apart from official stuff.) from plates and technic plates for the holes. I have plenty of threads on here that you can see as well as loads of stuff on my flickr pages. I won't post a link as it seems it wants to scroll through all 500 odd pictures when i tried it. But here is a link to some old fashioned coaches I made and there are many more in the train tech pages at the start of the forum.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=74815

[spzero]

or a 2x2 turntable works fine for attaching the bogies

[Jan]

or a 2x2 turntable works fine for attaching the bogies

A problem with a 2x2 turntable can be that they don't allow for much vertical movement for the bogies, which comes in neccecary when you have slopes in your trainplan.

[dr_spock]

Or a 4x4 turntable. I replaced my 2x2 turntable with 4x4 as they have a bit more clutch power. Actually you can use the 4x4 round plate with the hole. The bogie plate with the pin fits right in the plate's hole.

[ritzcrackerman]

I recently scored a partially complete 7897 kit from ebay. I would like to build the passenger cars out to match the current TGV lego train kit dimensions. I can only find the white bases in shorter sizes, none at 28 studs or equvialant to TGV length. Any advice on how to work around this? I saw a picture of someone who modified their 7897 kit in a similar way but can not find the photos online. Soooo... Any suggestions? I like this kit but the cars are far to short in length for my taste.

Cheers to you for attempting this. I had a similar idea recently - I thought that 7897 would look more attractive with 1) No windows on the engine, and 2) longer passenger cars with sideways windows, similar to the Horizon Express. Looking forward to what you come up with.

[edsmith0075]

I started the project last night, need to post pics. Anyway, I plan to make the engine window less. I am going to keep the windows the way they are originally. I like the Horizon sideway windows more but am trying to keep some of the original elements for this train. I don't want to make a duplicate just similar. The extended passenger cars make a HUGE difference in this kits appearance. My wife even noticed the difference calling the longer cars "sexy" lol.

Time to get on bricklink and order supplies to build 3 more cars!

[singcaijia]

ut here is a link to some old fashioned coaches I made and there are many more in the train tech pages at the start of the forum.

[ritzcrackerman]

Good luck with this, I'm excited to see what you come up with. Hopefully with the holidays coming up I'll have more time to experiment myself.

[edsmith0075]

My parts for this project hav started to arrive. Now I need to find the time to put it all together.