Davey Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) As many of you know, Stacy and I are really into Harry Potter and have an ever growing section of our layout devoted to Harry Potter. Awhile back, I decided I would try my hand at building the Hogwarts Express. At the time, only steam wheels from Big Ben's Bricks were available. For some reason, I never got around to ordering them and subsequently never built the MOC. With the release of the Emerald Night, I found I had a renewed interest in steam trains and decided to give this one a try. Here's the money shot showing a nice ISO view of the engine. The driving rods are okay...but I find that the design binds after about 15 minutes of continuous running. I am in the process of redesigning these. Others have noted the same issue with the Emerald Night. I based the boiler off of the official LEGO set and then did the rest myself. To go with the engine, I had to build a few coaches. I originally did the roof in black, but after watching Goblet of Fire again, I realized that the roof of the coaches was actually gray. Good thing I had enough of the curved slopes in light bley to cover all three coaches. The windows are done with a SNOT technique I learned from one of James Mathis' presentations. And a couple images of the train sitting on my layout at home. I've got a few kinks to work out of this MOC yet, but overall I really like how the design came out. You can see more images on my Flickr page. -Dave ToT-LUG Edited July 21, 2009 by TheBrickster Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WesternOutlaw Posted July 21, 2009 Okay, thanks a lot Dave. Now I'm going to have to break out my Hogwart's Express. Seriously, this is fantastic! I love the locomotive that I'm sure I don't need to say, far surpasses the original set. I love those large train wheels on this model, something that the original set completely lacked. Your addition of the custom passenger wagons is superb. It's definately ready for some HP action. Seeing the entire train on your green foresty layout makes it look that much better. Great creation here, and very deserving of a "Train Tech" link. Believe it or not, I was going to share a topic in Trains & Town on "other-themed" trains including the HP train and Spider Man's subway car set (forget the name of it) - just had not decided the details of the topic yet. Top notch creation here! I'm very impressed. EDIT: This train deserves special mention on Classic-Town! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matn Posted July 21, 2009 Like I've said on Flickr and MOCpages, this is awesome. Everything looks very good, especially the colors combined. If I get my hands on those wheels I will probably base my own Hogwarts Express on yours. The coaches look also very good with that yellow line. The windows make it look longer, so I will probably use this technique also instead of the official train windows. Although I'm not very sure about the light grey roof. Wouldn't black look better? But it's still an awesome Hogwarts Express! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Davey Posted July 21, 2009 Although I'm not very sure about the light grey roof. Wouldn't black look better? But it's still an awesome Hogwarts Express! I wondered that same thing! I tried it in black originally and it just didn't look right. Interestingly enough, the actual coaches used in the movie are somewhere between light gray and black. So...what I really need is a bunch on those curved pieces from the Emerald Night in Dark Bley. -Dave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
