Barduck

Now that she's finally finished, complete with custom decals from OKBrickWorks, it is time to give her a proper thread. She turned out to be one of my most complex diesel engines to design and build, took almost 2 years to actually have her build as I just couldn't find a good solutions for the vents at the back. Containing over 1800 pieces, 2 PF train motors to power her, brickbuild zigzag in the stripes and a pretty complex nose, she's going to be a head turner for sure. The 1x2 plates and 1x2 plates with ladder are custom chromed from Chrome Block City. The enige in the back is my older SD70 That part of the build that caused a lot of design problems The complex nose Awesome decals by OKBrickWorks One last treat, together with the VIRGINIAN 2-8-8-8-4 triplex:

Introducing the LEGO model inspired by the Union Pacific 1111 "Powered by our People" locomotive, which pays tribute to the employees of Union Pacific in their different roles they assume in the company. This is actually the model I started designing first when doing my latest SD70Ace line There are some parts that are not genuine LEGO but from GoBricks, as LEGO doesn't produce those parts in Bright Light Blue (yet). Because of that this model will not be available on Rebrickable but will be produced as a set by GoBricks exclusively. I've done the decals myself, it was near to impossible to find decent pictures of the graphics that were usable so I ended up ordering a decal set for a G-scale model and shrunk and adapted them to fit the model. As is noticeable in the pictures, the dynamic brake intake is completely see-through, achieved with the Slope 18 2 x 1 x 2/3 with Grille. Even the cabin door and access door to the inside of the train was added. Battery cover can be taken off to provide easy access to the Buwizz hub which is used to powered the two train motors.

Ages ago (or so it feels like) in 2016 I posted my build of an SD70 on this forum: With the build of the Union Station being at a halt for the moment (some other things that take precedence) and having a bit of a designers block since the start of the year (as in; really not finding engines I wanted to try and build) I started looking on my own Flickr account at the locomotives I used to own (used too but lost in the fire in 2020), just thinking if I'd actually would rebuild one. My last "recent" diesel was the ES44AC line I did and since then I haven't done any new other more recent diesel engines, that's mainly due to the M10005 and it's coaches that I've done (and still need to finish 4 to complete that consist). So, my eye dropped on my old SD70 version and I was thinking; "not going to rebuild that, better redesign her" and thus I started by choosing which SD70 version I'd want to do and settled on the Ace. First start was slow, I had the basic floor from the older model that I lengthened by 2 studs and then started tinkering with a nose setup. If I could get a good looking nose, I figured the rest would go easy. I had done a nose for a SD90MAC-H and wanted something in the same style, but obviously without the door. crazy nose by Barduck12, on Flickr The end result for that tinkering was this: UP SD???? by Barduck12, on Flickr and I knew I had to test build it first as there are a few things I wasn't really sure about if it would work SD70Ace WIP by Barduck12, on Flickr Even there I changed a few things later to give it a smoother look. It was going to work and all I had to do was choose the initial livery. At that time I was just chatting with someone from Godbricks.com and decided to do a livery that would be unbuildable in genuine LEGO because of the colors used (bright light blue mostly and there's not much available in that color) so my initial design would become an exclusive for them (actually waiting on the parts to arrive to test build that and to see how decals can be done but that's another story for another time as she is still a secret). With the design in that livery ready I then began changing her in to 9 other liveries and those are the ones I'm showing here today. I intend to build at least the UP version for myself and then decide between the BNSF or the Virginian for a second, won't be doing all 9 myself. The designs (in alphabetical order): BNSF SD70Ace BNSF by Barduck12, on Flickr Conrail (I know they didn't have SD70Aces in their line up but what's not to like) SD70Ace Conrail by Barduck12, on Flickr Canadian Pacific SD70Ace CP by Barduck12, on Flickr Canadian Pacific #7021 Desert Sand (which is actually an SD70ACU) SD70Ace CP 7021 by Barduck12, on Flickr CSX SD70Ace CSX by Barduck12, on Flickr Norfolk Southern SD70Ace NS by Barduck12, on Flickr Union Pacific SD70Ace UP by Barduck12, on Flickr Virginian (NS heritage) (will need decals on the 2x6 tiles that hide the Buwizz 2.0) SD70Ace Virginian by Barduck12, on Flickr WABASH (will also need larger decals to hide some stuff) SD70Ace WABASH by Barduck12, on Flickr Depending on livery the models have 2200 to 2300 parts in them, are 66 studs long and 37 plates high (from top of rail to top of cabin). Scale used is 1/42 but I had to make 2 compromises as she's actually 1 or 2 studs to short and 1 plate to high. I tried to incorporate as many detail as possible and where possible not go for easy solutions, I wanted her to look complex and I think I did a decent job at that, but what do you guys think?

Better pictures (in a new post) to come, proof the design works: MOC UP 1111 SD70ACE by Barduck12, on Flickr

Thx. It took several attempts to get it to work, sometimes the slopes were overlapping, sometimes it was impossible to get them in the needed position. To know how I did it you’ll have to get the instructions 😎, it’s one of the features on this design that took to much work to just reveal. There’s so much snot and weird construction solutions in it that I had several times that I was thinking; “WTF did I get myself in to” but it all comes together rather nicely (like all the grills that are offset by 1/3th to 1/2 of a plate). The CSX (the one you like most) and BNSF required some extra work because of the 1x2 brick with grille not existing is the needed colours, again making sure they stick out the same as with those bricks. I agree that the CSX is nice to see in that colour combination, my personal favourites though are the UP, Virginian and BNSF (and the unbuildable UP C&NW because of the missing bricks in dark green, but as I said, Chinese companies have those so I’m tempted to build it regardless)

A non-buildable version, UP C&NW 1995 Chicago & North Western. Lego does not have all needed parts in dark green (some Chinese companies do actually so really tempted, it’s a to beautiful livery)

Indeed they are. Took a whole lot of headaches and try and error to get it to align just right but the the look it gives is just mesmerising. Almost everyone uses either 1x2 bricks with grille or 1x2 tiles with grill to do things like that, I really wanted to pull it to the next level. If one really wants to you can even make almost completely see-through by using clear parts inside (and not bothering that Lego doesn’t have all of the used pieces in transclear)

Bars and robot arms

Hi everyone. I wasn’t going to post anything until I was further but I’m starting to get desperate. Desperate for more pictures of this station. Living in Belgium, Europe, it’s not easy to build anything so massive and add as much details, both inside and outside, as I can. It’s impossible for me at this moment to go visit this station in person. I do hope to go next year or the year after, depending on funding but in the meantime I find myself in a spot where there’s just not enough pictures around on the internet. And trust me when I say, I found all pictures that exist. I’ve even mailed to someone who works for the organization that owns the station, to the restaurant that is inside of it, and more but so far nobody answered my call for help. So hope by posting pictures of my progress so far someone may step up and provide me with more pictures. My progress so far, from initial design of the main hall, till minutes ago: Now to wait on orders to arrive so I can continue building.

Time to update this. Since last post I've been very busy on this, but I'm still lacking the interior pictures to add all the details needed. So I'm building with that in mind, I can always take parts of it apart to add the details whenever I get pictures. In the following pictures are all the parts I've build so far, it's a constant challenge to get parts needed as I'm going thru bricks in a high tempo (1000 1x2 tan bricks last me like half an hour when I start building). I've connected the lights for the sign that are inside the main hall, those will just need their decals to finish them. I've also redone the outside curved wall of the main hall, noticed that there was to much stress on the bricks and that I made a few mistakes as well. Some parts I have to make compromises as it's impossible to get it just right. To add these features I had to cheat big time, drilling holes in to the plates to be able to put the minifig hands in. The slopes were added to get an impression on how this would look, height was ok but I'm going to use 33° slopes instead of these 45° ones as the roof would end up being way to high.

It's finally time to present the MOC of the M10005 “City of Denver”, in all her glory. This MOC has been developed over several years (yes, YEARS) as I started her in October 2018 and very soon ran in to problems finding solutions to build her nose and windscreen. early development While I did not work on her every day, not even every month, I did return to her ever so often to try and see if I could make it work. The biggest problem that I ran in to was that there just isn't enough information about her on the internet. Size, power, etc etc, its nowhere to be found, whatever search pattern I tried. Even pictures of her are difficult to find as the prototypes of this locomotive have all been scrapped ages ago. For a while it seemed this train would remain a WIP for ever. Until September 2021 when, by sheer luck, I found a book called: “UNION PACIFICS M-10000 and the Early Streamliner Era 1934-1941” by Thos. R .Lee. In it was everything I would need; beautiful pictures, a complete history of not only the locomotives but also the consists, and more importantly all the stats and even rough blueprints with measurements. Finally I could design her and in the proper scale as well. From then it was a designing frenzy where I would find solution after solution to design her, it was almost like she wanted to be converted to LEGO and designed herself. Only the windscreen remained at the end. At first I was thinking of using the same method as Anthony Sava in his EMD F7 but I actually didn't like the look it was giving her, it was almost to modern. So after some tampering and test building I found a different way to do it and I'm pretty pleased how that turn out. Now with the design ready I could start getting the needed bricks, all 2250 of them. In between, my render of the A-unit won a price on the LEGO Rail Facebook page that was just running a monthly competition. That month it happened to be the theme “Streamlined” and what could be more streamlined than this City of Denver? After all, they are called “Streamliners” for a reason. The A and B-unit are not connected using the usual magnets but uses a rather nifty spring-loaded system that keeps them together while doing turns. That systems was developed by Teunis Davey and it's with his permission that I adapted it to go for my M10005 MOC. It does mean that this engine will not run on radii smaller then R104. It was all ready late December 2021 when I contacted Andy Mollman of OKBrickWorks to get the decals done and after some going back and forth we settled on a design that would work and he shipped the decals. Those decals are now also on OKBrickWork's site, for a very reasonable price, do check them out: https://www.okbrickworks.com/shop/vinyl-decals/lego-moc-decals/stickers-for-union-pacific-city-of-denver/ Instructions are now available on Rebrickable, you can find them in two versions. The first version is the full locomotive, so A & B-units together. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-97195/Barduck/up-m10005-city-of-denver-a-b-units/#details The second version has the A and the B-unit listed apart: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-97193/Barduck/up-m10005-city-of-denver-a-unit/#details https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-97194/Barduck/up-m10005-city-of-denver-b-unit/#details I've chosen to do it this way so that it's possible not having to buy all the bricks at once but still be able to build at least one of the units and see it run. Because, 2250 bricks, that's not cheap. Later on the coaches of the “City of Denver” consist (all 10!!) will also be added. I hope everyone likes this locomotive as much as I do, for me, it's the most mesmerizing and iconic diesel engine ever build and ever to run on UP's rail network. More pictures and renders, as well as some videos of her running R120's can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/91060327@N07/albums/72157699792435012/with/30711903947/

Since latest reply in this topic I've added 2 more coaches to her but can't yet take good pictures off those as one is missing a decal (spelling mistake). Took this little consist to our LUG's end of the year event at Antwerp, Belgium where she stood with a small corner I threw together in a hurry: Once pictures are taken of the latest 2 coaches I will post those. Also gathering parts for the next 2. Once those are finished I still need to build 4 more, all 70 studs long. I've licensed her to Letbricks to make sets and made a video of it compared to to my version in LEGO: (admin: please remove if not allowed)

My trains are 8 wide, coaches 7. Why? Simply because of weight, 7 wides are slightly lighter than 8's which is beneficial in the end, less weight means longer lasting batteries in the end

actually, entered a digital too, diner coach for the COD consist UP 10303. The others are uploaded, the M10005 "City of Denver" and one of it's coaches "Ogallala". For next year I think I should manage to get the full consist build, already have the decals for it thanks to OKBrickWorks

hey. There's some people that have promised me pictures but so far I haven't received any. Will be contacting everyone next week to see if they managed to get those pictures. School vacation is almost over for the smallest kids so I'll be starting to get more time soon to continue the build (to much of a hassle when they're at home). That doesn't mean I haven't been building in the past month, just very slowly. Although to be honest, September will have more building time on a corner module with 2 tracks which needs to be ready for Brick Mania Antwerp in November.

not that I can think of

defo entering my CoD and coaches from it

IDK, the LUG I'm in seams more concerned with applying stupid rules (like only using LEGO parts and not 3th party like BT or Trixbrix tracks) than with helping LUGmembers with their projects

for the tan 1x2 maybe, the 1x2 dark red plates I've already had over 2 years, got them in a LUGbulk back then. As for side by side shots with the CoD, not possible at the moment, the table where the station will eventually be standing isn't big enough yet to hold station and tracks together, needs about 60 cm

small bit of progress, waiting on parts is slowing the building pace. Added the wall (track side) to the second floor of the main hall (this is the third floor overall, main hall is just 2 floor high): Also did a draft for the doors at going from trackside to main hall, here together with how they'll look with the gold chromed pieces: Won't be doing much in the vacation months as it's difficult to keep the smallest kid from tampering with everything so won't be added extra updates in July and August. Will use those months to replenish my stockpile of tan bricks and some of the dark red pieces I still need a lot more off. As for dark red 1x2 plates, I'm settled: Roughly 9 or 10k pieces left, should hold out for the rest of the building (I hope)

it's getting crazy Going through mountains of tan 1x2 bricks in no time, last order had 800 and I'm already out. Still looking good on 1x2 Dark Red plates, got like 8k left, those should last me to near the end of the build (I hope)

The beams are reinforced but they do drop a bit under their weight. Luckily they are not going to serve as supports for the roof so it should be ok. Building sideways to obtain the pattern in the wall was simple, and why do it difficult if it works just as well the easy way. But not getting close actually, while the main hall may be going in it's detailing phase, there is still more than enough to build. After all this is only 1/5 of the total length of the station.

Bit more progress but I'm starting to get to the point where I'm unable to continue without the much needed pictures. Added the clock at the main hall's trackside exit: Also, 3 of the 4 benches have been added so the minifig have now a place to rest a bit while the station is being build: This is where I'm at for the moment, it's taking shape quite nicely. Still need to do the rounded parts of the main hall and then start on the roof plate that will go on this. That roof will also not be easy, specially the round part, don't have a clue at the moment on how to tackle it. As always, comments, tips, .... all welcome

Well, finally I've got a response to one of my mails inquiring for pictures. Someone at Portland's Architectural Heritage Center contacted me. They do not have any pictures themselves but he's is going to pass my mail to some people he knows that are local railroad and Union Station experts in the hope that one of them might be able to assist me. So a bit of good news at last, now to hope that I'll be getting the much needed pictures

They are not going to be used as support, its more to give the proper look when watching inside. And the roof will come of anyway to show the inside when viewers ask for it. You're bringing very valid points. From the few pictures I have recieved I can deduct that the ticketstation is basicly the same as it used to be, but with the Amtrak symbol added. For the rest I'm still facing the same problems. It's already hard to find pictures from others room than the main hall, boarding and waiting rooms in present time, it might be close to impossible to get pictures from other eras. And, you're not being a bother, this interaction is really helpful to go forward and get a sight on where I want to go with this building