519 replies to this topic

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Incredible building technique for an official lego set!  
I like the shared bogie and the SNOT windows ...the inner details look amazing!  
Fantastic choice put the woman to the cockpit!  

[zephyr1934]

Okay, Lego needs better copywriters for their press releases: "Steer from the front engine car"

The train looks great, probably a good choice for a subject too (one of the more recognizable trains of the modern era). Too bad the prototype doesn't have more rare colors in it.

I like the way they gave the undercarrage a seamless, snotted inverted slope with hidden hinges.

The trucks on the "engine" are similar to the Maersk locomotive- designed to look like a PF motor when one is installed (what a drag, in the literal sense). Oh, looking again at the photos- only the front truck has the technic axles and will presumably be where the motor is intended to go, the second one uses regular train wheels (less of a drag, again in the literal sense).

[Gianluca Morelli]

Being a long time TGV PSE fan, I made some light modifications to the nose of the engine. This because the nose is too high (even the white stripe on the side points upwards instead of downwards...)



(full size image here: http://www.brickshel...tuff/screen.jpg )


The side 1x6 white tiles become 1x4 tiles next to a 1x3 white brick and similarly the side 1x5 (1x4 + 1x1, actually...) orange tiles become 1x3 orange tiles next to two 1x2 orange plates stacked together.

This allows all the nose block to be moved 1 plate downwards. To compensate this, I added 2 orange 30357 (Plate, Round Corner 3 x 3) over the windscreen. And yes, the two black headlight bricks near the windcreen became two transparent 1x1 bricks...)

This modification also makes the front spoiler closer to the rail. But there's a couple ot bad things:
1. moving the big orange 32084s (Wedges 6 x 8 Cutout) "eats" the space for stud on the orange 1x1 brick with handle next to the door (it is 1/2 stud inside the wall so it needs a tile or jumper on top)
2. I'm not sure if the train motor can freely rotate

Not that I can't solve these issues... ;-)

Now, the next big thing to change is the position of the front bogie, that needs to be moved two studs forward. This can be achieved redesigning totally the front spoiler, aka not using the upsidedown 32084 (Wedge 6 x 8 Cutout) and moving the 6x28 train plate 1 or 2 studs forward.

But now it's 5.53 AM so it'd bedtime :-P

Edited by Gianluca Morelli, 30 September 2012 - 04:54 AM.

[Legonardo]

Great! illegal techniques in a LEGO set!
I think this "eXpert" line will come out quite well

[Kaila]

My fav colours I'm so buying 2 of these!

[Ayato Zechs]

My mind just exploded from all of the epicness that is oozing from this Creator set. I will have at least 2 of these!

[L@go]

ghostmind, on 30 September 2012 - 03:25 AM, said:

So is Jamie the designer of this set? Because it looks like a Jamie set.

L@go, on 30 September 2012 - 01:23 AM, said:

As far as I can tell, nobody who actually witnessed the train being presented by its designer Jamie Berard...

Yes ;)

[Rufus]

It's the 4435 Caravan Couple!  



Except she has a new 'Luke Skywalker' hairstyle and he has had a bad facial hair makeover.  

At least they look happier travelling by train.

[Tolkinist]

Nice!Like!

[antp]

jonwil, on 30 September 2012 - 02:42 AM, said:

Given that the Power Functions motor and the old 9V motor are the same size, I see no reason you couldn't fit a 9V motor to this set.

Same for the 12V: no problem with putting a 12V motor on the Maersk train, so I suppose/hope it will be the same for this one :)

[SavaTheAggie]

Meh.

Decent LEGO version of an ugly train.  Nothing against the set designer, an admirable job with having to work from the source material.

I'll never pay full retail for that.

--Tony

[AncientDayz]

I was about to buy 2 Maersk trains on Monday. I may have to rethink that plan now - I may want two of these instead (what the hay, maybe I can talk the wife into all four).

[Redhead1982]

It looks amazingly beautiful!   I only have the red passenger train, but this one looks fantastic enough to seriously consider buying (and playing with it). There's so many amazing details of the interiors as well as exteriors (SNOTing is fantastic). And this being a part of a 'new' Creator line is equally impressive, as the train seems to be build with 'regular' bricks instead of some huge (ugly) pieces. I'm definitely looking forward to the release date and a review here on EB.

[mikka says]

i went and had a look back at james mathis' original one. i can see a few similar elements, but i will say, something just seems right with this design, not only is it a new style of building by TLG itself, but it's encouraging other AFOL's to take a brick sized gander at our train tech.

i will most certainly be looking forward to buying, at the very least 2 sets of this train. so it's a decent length and prototypically correct (with the two power cars as standard)....

shame i cant pre-order 4 months in advance :P

ah well.

[Bachus]

Video: Jamie unveils the new 10233 Horizon Express and shows some building techniques...

10233 Horizon Express

Edited by Bachus, 30 September 2012 - 11:32 AM.

[Anio]

What impresses me on this new train is not the techniques used.
I mean, cheesy slopes to make some arrows, studs upside down, windows on the side. That's very easy to achieve. More or less everyone is able to do that for years.

No, what dazzle me is the way the designer captured the shape of the TGV.
AFOL try to reproduce this famous train for decades. We have seen ton of rendition of this model, some good, some other so so, etc.

But here, basically with :
- 1 windscreen
- 3 big wedges
- 1 regular slope
- 5 curved slopes
- and a DBG roof wedge
The job is done !
The spirit of the train lie in a clever use of 10 parts ! That's totally amazing !

And curious at the same time. How hell does no Lego Train fan ever built something like that to reproduce the TGV ?

Edited by Anio, 30 September 2012 - 11:36 AM.

[1974]

SavaTheAggie, on 30 September 2012 - 09:38 AM, said:

Meh.

Decent LEGO version of an ugly train.  Nothing against the set designer, an admirable job with having to work from the source material.

I'll never pay full retail for that.

--Tony

Have you seen a better LEGO version of the beautifull TGV?

It's nice to see something modern instead of boring ugly antiquated american steamers  

I never pay full retail for LEGO. But I would if I had to

mikka says, on 30 September 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

i went and had a look back at james mathis' original one. i can see a few similar elements, but i will say, something just seems right with this design, not only is it a new style of building by TLG itself, but it's encouraging other AFOL's to take a brick sized gander at our train tech.

Have you got a link? There will allways be similarities when two designers choose the same source. It's LEGO, it's quite limited, especially when trying to design a nose like that

[lifeinplastic]

The nose of the train looks badly built to me and I really dislike the orange colour scheme. It's good it comes with minifigures but not really a great selection. The arrow designs on the side are probably the best feature. However, give me the classic Metroliner and club car or the Emerald Express any day!

I'd like to see the Australian Indian-Pacific made with a good number of figures like the Metroliner, and possibly something representing the Australia Outback (kangaroos). Hope this does not mean we won't be seeing a better non-Creator train released in the near future.

[Teddy]

In my opinion, it is a beautiful rendition of the recognizable TGV train in the minifig illusion scale.
It is instantly recognizable.

[tbroyd]

lifeinplastic, on 30 September 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

The nose of the train looks badly built to me and I really dislike the orange colour scheme. It's good it comes with minifigures but not really a great selection. The arrow designs on the side are probably the best feature. However, give me the classic Metroliner and club car or the Emerald Express any day!

I'd like to see the Australian Indian-Pacific made with a good number of figures like the Metroliner, and possibly something representing the Australia Outback (kangaroos). Hope this does not mean we won't be seeing a better non-Creator train released in the near future.

Although the Australian train would be great, I think they probably choose the TGV because of its wide sqhere of operation. As well as operating in Frence, they also travel through to many other European countries including Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Belgium

[lightningtiger]

Well it seems we have people who like it and dislike it.....I say run a poll on likes/dislikes.

[Aanchir]

jonwil, on 30 September 2012 - 02:30 AM, said:

WOW. Just WOW. I would have to rank this as one of the greatest train sets of all time, better than any passenger train LEGO have produced to date with the possible exception of the Emerald Night and maybe the Santa Fe Super Chief. After seeing this, any thoughts I had of spending some of my limited LEGO budget on buying the Town Hall have vanished, this is SO much cooler :)

Loving the minifigs.
The bottle piece in trans-green is awesome, as is the head on the guy with the green jumper (I cant put my finger on who but the head makes me think of a famous geek who's face I can remember but not the name or why they are famous). Hopefully the new head appears in a few smaller sets so I can pick up a couple :)
Is the hair on the female with the blue shirt a new piece?

The face on the man in the green sweater is from this year's LEGO City Mining sets. The cheapest set it is available in currently is the Mining 4x4, which isn't a badly-designed set in its own right.

The hair on the woman in blue is Luke Skywalker's new hair piece introduced last year.

Legonardo, on 30 September 2012 - 04:55 AM, said:

Great! illegal techniques in a LEGO set!
I think this "eXpert" line will come out quite well

What makes you think there are any illegal techniques here? I don't think cheese slope cubes on their own are illegal. They certainly aren't used when the parts just have to be sitting there (these ones seem to be attached to some interior structure by clips), but a small number of cubes like this should not exceed the parts' tolerances.

Cheese slope mosaics or large quantities of cheese slope cubes within a single surface might easily be illegal since the more you put together, the more compression the parts tend to be under. In cheese slope mosaics this is almost a necessity since usually the compression of the parts is all that holds them in place. But it probably wouldn't be allowed in official sets.

[1974]

It's not only compression, I've seen mosaics where the cheeses etc are actually not connected to anything, just hold in place by gravity. That probably wouldn't be legal?

I'd love to see examples of similar trains with better build noses. I've searched MOCpages and Brickshelf and all I've seen is really not good. Imho that is

[TheBoyWonder]

I wish it had power functions.

[Cardinal Brick]

Excellent new train, really the best HST we've seen since the Metroliner if you ask me. It's a very cunning move to make me need to buy two but as the price isn't to steep I don't mind. I hope we can look forward to more trains like this...