13 replies to this topic

[MetroiD]

Howdy dear Train fans,

I've been busy rearranging all the X-mas decorations and putting them back in their respective boxes (while I still have the time for that - otherwise they'd probably still be out by the end of the month!) and in the meantime I decided to take a few pics of our lil Christmas MOC.

Admiteddly, the composition or the engine itself is nothing special and both are most definitely inspired by the Holiday Train. However, I still tried to add my own touch to it and seeing as this is my first Train MOC ever, I thought I'd share it with you in hope that you might have some constructive criticism or comments for me . This one was built in a hurry since I only had an hour or two and I just had to finally have a train going underneath the Christmas tree - I knew how much Asya would love that! For obvious reasons, I wasn't too keen on using the Super Chief or the GP-38, so I came up with Santa's White Steam Train without really aiming for any sort of realism... I actually wanted it to look a bit more... how shall I put it -- LEGO-like.

Hopefully, in 11 months I'll have some more spare time and I'll be able to pick an actual real-life engine on which I'll base Santa's 2010 Steam Train. Until then, I guess I'll keep studying Tony Sava's Polar Express  

On with the pics then...

[Big Cam]

hahaha, I like it.

The swirly piece at the nose and the smoke coming out of the smoke stack is really clever.

It's a few days late for Christmas, but we'll let it slide.

[Badsneaker]

I love it! Great 1st train MOC!!

[Zorbas]

It's the first time that environmentalists actually encourage the use of steam trains. As Homer would say:


Mmmm....Sweet smoke....

  


Very nice work neighbour! It really feels like Christmas! Having this weather here though, I can easily say say that this is not the Polar Express but the Solar Express!


About the Christmas issue, Christmas never pass/leave, only come! We are not 10 days after Christmas, just 355 before!

Thanks for sharing!

EDIT:
Homer replacement

Edited by Zorbas, 06 January 2010 - 01:49 AM.

[Milan]

Very interesting!
White color is really appropriate for the theme, and I think it is not too late for this MOC!
Beside from great delicious color scheme, train has cool details!

Too bad we cant see a picture with the train under the tree!

[CommanderFox]

Great MOC TheOtters!
I really like the nose and the steam, the little cart in between the two bigger ones is really cute.
Very nice MOC, lookingforward to "santa's 2010 Steam Train"!

CommanderFox

[lightningtiger]

Cute train 'The Otters' !
Looks wonderful in white with red trim.
Ready for next Christmas, excellent work 'The Otters' !     

[missouri_bb63]

Very cool! I would love to see that train put into a wintery Lego scene with lots of trees and perhaps a few snow covered buildings.  

[peterab]

TheOtters, on Jan 6 2010, 01:55 AM, said:

Howdy dear Train fans,

This is a cute Moc and especially nice for a first train. I too like the smoke.

If you rebuild or tweak this one for more realism, I have a suggestion; The distance between the coal tender and the engine is too big. The poor fireman would have to make a huge jump with every shovel load of coal   In real life the tender often had a platform which extended over the coupling for the fireman to walk on, and you could also mount the couplings further back to bring the two closer together.

[MetroiD]

Wow, thank you all for the nice comments guys! For a MOC this simple, I'm very happy you've enjoyed this one :)

Big Cam, on Jan 5 2010, 04:11 PM, said:

The swirly piece at the nose...

I guess I should thank Tim, his monkey and the Professor for that   I've always liked the Time Cruisers, to be perfecly honest!

Zorbas, on Jan 5 2010, 04:35 PM, said:

As Homer would say:
Having this weather here though, I can easily say say that this is not the Polar Express but the Solar Express!

It's almost like that up here as well... The thing is though, we keep having an amplitude of ~25 degrees over 2-3 days which is a bit weird. Heavy snowfall yesterday, it's over 10 degrees outside today. Perhaps I should have bought a bike and learnt to ride it in the winter?!

Milan, on Jan 5 2010, 08:19 PM, said:

Too bad we cant see a picture with the train under the tree!

On Christmas, everything is possible - even if it's in the past tense:

CommanderFox, on Jan 5 2010, 10:50 PM, said:

Very nice MOC, lookingforward to "santa's 2010 Steam Train"!

Me too! Looking forward to a MOC-full 2010 and Santa's 2010 Steam Train should be the icing on the cake :]

lightningtiger, on Jan 5 2010, 11:13 PM, said:

Looks wonderful in white with red trim.

Thanks mate, I was wondering whether I should go for red or green trim, but I'm very happy with the final colour scheme. Glad you like it :)

missouri_bb63, on Jan 5 2010, 11:59 PM, said:

I would love to see that train put into a wintery Lego scene with lots of trees and perhaps a few snow covered buildings.  

Santa's 2010 Train -- promise!

peterab, on Jan 6 2010, 01:08 AM, said:

If you rebuild or tweak this one for more realism, I have a suggestion; The distance between the coal tender and the engine is too big. The poor fireman would have to make a huge jump with every shovel load of coal   In real life the tender often had a platform which extended over the coupling for the fireman to walk on, and you could also mount the couplings further back to bring the two closer together.

Thanks a lot mate, that's precisely the kind of feedback I was hoping for. Obviously I didn't spend anywhere near enough time researching this, but that distance you've mentioned is something I'll definitely take into account in future (hopefully, more elaborate) train MOCs!

[Zorbas]

The combination of Santa's White Steam Train and Winter Toy Shop is just great! Bird's eye view really makes the engine look like it has snow on it!

[peterab]

Zorbas, on Jan 6 2010, 11:12 PM, said:

The combination of Santa's White Steam Train and Winter Toy Shop is just great! Bird's eye view really makes the engine look like it has snow on it!

Hmmm, I know what you mean, but snow doesn't stay on a moving steam engine very long, as the boiler gets pretty hot.  

[Zorbas]

peterab, on Jan 6 2010, 01:22 PM, said:

Hmmm, I know what you mean, but snow doesn't stay on a moving steam engine very long, as the boiler gets pretty hot.  

It's Santa's train and with him on board everything is possible!

[Milan]

TheOtters, on Jan 6 2010, 01:00 PM, said:

On Christmas, everything is possible - even if it's in the past tense:

Indeed it is! You sound like Santa with those words
Looks great, but most important thing is that you made one special person happy, right