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When I see some of the great MOCs presented here and on Brickshelf, I often envy the creators, because they have construction skills I do not have; or I don't have them yet. However, the internet is full of fantastic instructions of MOCs. Some great moccers seem to have pity with those who are not as excellent builders as they; they put the instructions of their creations on-line, so that everyone can build them. I am absolutely grateful for them. Even though my building skills are too low to create something amazing with LEGO bricks, I can build something amazing previously created by someone else. But even if you use the instructions someone put on-line, you can still make improvements; you can turn such a creation into your own subtype or version.
My passion for building other people's creations started off with the discovery of James Mathis' (jamathis on brickshelf) Dome Car for the Super Chief on Brickshelf:
This waggon looked so brilliant, and, fortunately, the instructions were available in the same folder:
Anyway, I wasn't totally satisfied with James Mathis's waggon. The upside down construction wasn't attached to the waggon so well. The problem is that James Mathis just used two red technic plates, which allow you to attach the construction to the waggon:
So I decided to use four technic plates instead:
This gave me me 4 more studs in the construction's centre. On it I put a 2x4 plate to have even more studs. In this picture you can also see that I added four 1x1 bricks and 2 plates on each of them. This is to make the upside down construction closed without leaving holes.
Having more studs at my disposal, it was easier to press the construction with the blue plate onto the grey and red brick construction:
But one problem remains: You must press the red technic plates on the construction really hard; otherwise the studs are too low on the other side so that it doesn't keep to the waggon well. And you cannot attach the whole construction as one piece. First you must put the thing with the blue plate into the waggon; the upsidedown construction is attached from the waggon's outside.
The outside of my Dome Car is finished, but it still lacks a wonderful inside:
And here pictures of the finished outside:
You will notice that I used buffers. James Mathis didn't use them, but I wanted the wheel constructions to be identical with the ones of the sets 10022 and 10025.
Apart from the hinges used to hold the windscreens, I used new bricks only. And the whole waggon is in old grey. If anyone's interested, I can tell him or her the brick number TLC uses for the windscreen. I only found used ones on bricklink. I phoned TLC and they still had it available.
If you check my brickshelf folder - as soon as it is public - you can see that I use the filename "dome-car-inspired-by-jamathis." I don't want to plagiarise without giving full credit to the creator, because I'm happy that such people like James Mathis make their instructions public.
Well, the Dome car wasn't my first and last build of someone else's creation. When I saw the on-line version of Railbricks journal, issue 4, I wanted to build the gondola and the hopper waggon. The gondola is finished. I used old grey for it and here's the result:
The waggon was built with ordinary bricks, but it looks fantastic. I especially like the front/back of the waggon with the ladder and the technic steering wheel. It is - as I have said - an easy construction, but the ladder and the steering wheel make it very detailed:
The construction under the waggon plate between the wheels is very simple, but it is good to have something there instead of nothing:
And a final shot from the bird's eye view:
The only flaw that this waggon has is that - so I believe - the coupling (magnet and/or magnet holder) seems to touch the ladder when it goes through curvy areas.
The hopper waggon in Railbricks, issue 4, is not yet finished. So I didn't take photos of it. But it is also in old grey. Since the hopper waggon is nearly finished, I already found another creation that has caught my interest. It is a small diesel engine of a brickshelf user called Maggimutti. What I do not understand, however, is how the creator tries to install a back and front light. He or she uses the contacts of a 9V cable just without the cable. But the 9V motor has only 4 elctric studs on one end but not on the other:
And here the finished product:
I'm still buying bricks for this little diesel engine. Hopefully, I will have all the necessary bricks in the near future!
By the way, the same user also has on-line instructions of another one of his creations:
I didn't check if the instructions of his other engines are also on-line.
Summarising, I can only recommend using on-line instructions for those who are not as creative as myself. And you can also make some changes to a creation and thus make it to your personal version. I didn't change anything with the gondola, but I didn't follow the instructions of the Dome Car all the time. Furthermore, even experienced moccers might find it interesting to build the creation of a fellow moccer from time to time. What I find important, however, is that the creators are credited. I usually do this in the file name. I think they should be credited because we should be grateful that they show us their instructions and that they are for every LEGO lover's use.
Edited by legotrainfan, 06 June 2009 - 09:43 AM.
So it was GM that constructed it and Nohab produced more locomotives of that type in license. And they were also sold to Denmark and Hungary. Very informative, that wikipedia article! Thanks! 
