MOC: Western Star Brandt Power Unit

[Ricecracker]

Inspired by Tearloch's OTM Tracker, I decided to built a Brandt Power Unit on a Western Star chassis.

The Brandt Power Units are used as MOW vehicles on many railroads in North America, and are used as locomotives on some shortlines around the world. They are capable of pulling up to 10 loaded train cars or 25 empty cars.

I've included an M motor in the truck. It is slow and can't negotiate curves, but it is strong! It was able to pull a ~15 car Santa Fe that couldn't pull itself.

Western Star Brandt Power Unit by Ricecracker., on Flickr

And here's a breakdown shot of the cab.

Cab Breakdown by Ricecracker., on Flickr

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Awesome truck 'Ricecracker'. Great job designing the truck, it looks very much like a western star cab. Keep up the great work

[dr_spock]

Great looking truck. How did you mount the M-motor?

[Tearloch]

Wow, that was a kick in the pants......VERY NICE! It seems I may need to do a 4th re-design on my version

I really like the horns under the front bumper. Beautiful build.

I am almost ready to post the pics of my actual build on the truck....just need to put on some decals (I made some nice bitmaps of the Brandt and OTMTracker logo). I just ordered all the parts for my OTM Tracker crane and gondola car build, so as long as PAB doesn't take 4 weeks like it did last time, I hope to have mine fully done by Christmas. I did find some interesting pictures on the Brandt website, showing a mechanism on the bed that raises up to same level a gondola to allow the transfer...so I may add that part in latter.

[Ricecracker]

Thanks, guys!

Great looking truck. How did you mount the M-motor?

The motor is between the fuel tanks, underneath the large white box.

Wow, that was a kick in the pants......VERY NICE! It seems I may need to do a 4th re-design on my version

I really like the horns under the front bumper. Beautiful build.

I am almost ready to post the pics of my actual build on the truck....just need to put on some decals (I made some nice bitmaps of the Brandt and OTMTracker logo). I just ordered all the parts for my OTM Tracker crane and gondola car build, so as long as PAB doesn't take 4 weeks like it did last time, I hope to have mine fully done by Christmas. I did find some interesting pictures on the Brandt website, showing a mechanism on the bed that raises up to same level a gondola to allow the transfer...so I may add that part in latter.

I really like where you're going with yours, and I can't wait to see your final photos! The one thing I really did want on mine was the Brandt logo and a roadname logo. Now that you mention, I do need to build a gondola to hold the battery box.