Chessie SD40-2 in 7W - Almost Done!

[legoman666]

Greetings TrainTech, I'd like to show a few photos of my latest locomotive. This is my third SD40-2 in a row, the first two being a Canadian National and a Vale. Both of these were a challenge to build even though they're both unpowered dummy units, but I'd thought I'd step it up a notch on my third and motorize it.

With that in mind, I started with the electronics. The Bluetooth motor controller is a homemade build of Codefox's open source BT Bricks. Picking up track power I use modified O Gauge steel wheels from OSO Rail. To store power I'm doing something a little different than normal; rather than batteries, I'm using Super Capacitors. There are tradeoffs when using Super Caps that I'm not really going to get in to on this post, but I think they are worth it.

Not too complicated, but it sure is a pain hiding all the wires...

Anyway, to the photos:

Getting power from the trucks to the electronics is always tricky, but this home made slip ring wannabe is pretty reliable. The metal technic axle is stainless steel, some guy on bricklink sells them.

The decals are custom printed at home on clear waterslide decal sheets that I got from Amazon. They turned out better than I expected, although they are slightly transparent.

Centering the 4 wide hood on the 7 wide cab is a challenge, especially keeping the windshield in the middle.

If I remember right, using technic wheels with the tires was recommended to me by Cale when I was at Brickworld Chicago a couple weeks ago. Looks good. Getting the side vents just right was kind of a pain and even now I think they're a little too prominent. That said, the curved side vent turned out well.

The red stripe going down the side is not 1 brick high, but rather 1 stud high. 5 plates = 2 studs, so that leaves a 1/2 plate height gap that I needed to compensate for in the black top. On the very back (where the rear 3 vents are), I couldn't find a way to add in that 1/2 plate since the motor is behind the wall meaning that the height above the walkways is actually 17.5 plates tall whereas the rest of the locomotive is 17 plates tall.

Now that I know how to build them, I prefer brick built couplers rather than using Lego's (they're 6 wide anyway, mine are 8).

I'm also happy with my truck details, they're quite strong.

The center axle floats both up and down and side to side. I cut the axle long so that it floats inside the back of the headlight bricks.

Edited June 30, 2016 by legoman666

[garethjellis]

Wow. What excellent work. I would love to see more detail in the pickups you have made.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Amazing work on that bogies ...and another amazing locomotive Legoman666! :wub:

[Nemo57]

Great model. Especially liked the detailed and detailed roof. I do not understand anything in the cart, but probably too well done.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Nemo57

[zephyr1934]

Excellent work, and you know that 0.5 plate in height is still driving me nuts (grin, actually I would have never noticed had you not said something). Great stuff!

[CrispyBassist]

Wow, this looks awesome! Is this the one we saw partially built at Brickworld? Using track power and a Bluetooth controller is a very interesting idea. Must be nice not having to squeeze a battery and IR receiver in!

[legoman666]

Wow. What excellent work. I would love to see more detail in the pickups you have made.

Glad you like it! I'll throw up a couple photos after the long weekend.

Excellent work, and you know that 0.5 plate in height is still driving me nuts (grin, actually I would have never noticed had you not said something). Great stuff!

Hah! You'll be able to see it for yourself in a week and give me crap for the 1/2 plate offset.

Wow, this looks awesome! Is this the one we saw partially built at Brickworld? Using track power and a Bluetooth controller is a very interesting idea. Must be nice not having to squeeze a battery and IR receiver in!

The very same. Electronics are untouched since then except for some tidying up of the wires before I bricked it over. In a 5 wide body, it's so much easier not having to hide the battery box. The capacitors I used are about 0.2mm less than 3 studs, so they fit perfectly inside the 5 wide body stacked together. I had the seller send a photo of a caliper measurement before I purchased them so I could be sure that they would fit.

[dr_spock]

Good looking 'cat' locomotive.

[Celeste]

Fantastic job! I always loved the colors that Chessie System used.

[Kodan Black]

Looks amazing! I had this in HO scale as a kid, always loved their kitty logo and the color scheme was so unique. A great rendition!

[legoman666]

Finished up the decals, the right hand side railing, and fixed some electronic issues I was having. All done I guess. It has been going in circles next to me for about an hour with no issues.

Choo choo.

[pirzyk]

I saw this run for most of the weekend without any issues, though I was not watching it closely. The big attraction for the weekend was all the engines (at least 3 distinct, including once twice) and IR transmitters having issues with gravity.

It is a great looking model with a very unique drive system. So Legoman666, when are you going to productize the power system? :D

[legoman666]

It is a great looking model with a very unique drive system. So Legoman666, when are you going to productize the power system? :D

Hah, probably never! I will probably rebuild my Amtrak to use the same system. I was also told to make a Western Maryland SD40 using the same drive train too.

Everything besides the blue tooth controller is off the shelf components, anyone with soldering experience could put one together.

[tnmears]

I was about to ask how you got that short chain, but I found it on Bricklink. Your guardrails are amazing.