The Van Conundrum.

[Redimus]

So I've been steadily increasing my collection of steam era 7 wide wagons over the last few months. Most of them came out remarkably well and remarkably quickly and needed little or no modifications to the original design, others (well the brakevan) needed a little work but didn't take too long all the same.

Then there's the van conundrum. I just can't get these right, and it continues to bug me that the most simple shape a railway wagon can be is causing me the most issues.

The original design took a lot of time to perfect, and in LDD looked pretty good, but it turned out to be less than solid in the bricks, and whilst it basically looks really good, it's also a bit too short compared to the other rolling stock I have and am designing.

After a fair bit of faffing, I was still not altogether happy, so I decided to pad around the net for other people's ideas, and I stumbled across H.A.Brick's PF battery van kit.

It arrived, and I enjoyed building it (there's an extra instruction book and some extra pieces to build it without the sensor hole), but it only served to highlight the problems with my existing design (too short, not sturdy enough). Never the less, it gave me some ideas, such as using some black Lego to represent the frames the van is sat on to bulk up it's height, so after slightly modifying the (upper part of the) build to closer fit my needs, I set upon one of my existing vans to have a look at the idea with my standard truck chassis design. The height was good, but the bufferbeam was terrible, in order to line up with the rest of my rolling stock, it needed to be lower than the 'frames' which just doesn't look right at all.

The current line up, L-R: modified H.A.Bricks van, modified version of my cattlevan MOC (with some random colours and random gaps), my original standard van MOC.

The modified H.A.Bricks design. Internally strengthened and black plate/rail removed from between the body and the roof to bring down to my preferred height. (See also the rather ugly bufferbeam of the truck next to it.)

Modified version of my cattle van. Although now the correct hight, I really don't like the fact the bufferbeam isn't inline with the 'frames'.

Original design. See the less than perfect panel alignment due to less than perfect internal structure plus old and chewed bricks.

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Still not exactly happy with any of the designs, I went back to LDD.

First I married the H.A.Bricks design with my own frames, and it wasn't bad but I was still not sure it was right for my preferred style and level of detail. Another thought I had was to add an extra plank to my existing design (and drastically redesign it internally). I've come up with several variations, none of which feels like a complete winner to me.

H.A.Bricks inspired vans, both short and long bodied (whichever style I settle on, I will eventually produce long and short bodied versions).

Several variations on the 7 high version of my van and cattle van. At the moment, my preferred normal van is the one with the 1x8 tiles running down the side and preferred cattle van will probably be a long bodied version of the one with the 1x8 tiles hanging down the side (although I can't decide on plain doors (middle version) or slatted doors (other two).

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Any ideas or suggestions are very welcome, also if anybody wants the LDD files to play with (complete with engine and brakevan), feel free to PM me.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Redimus

[Electricsteam]

I think they look really nice!

[BricksMcgee]

Some brilliant MOCs there. I actually think the imperfections and older bricks add to the models - Lego layouts can look "too plastic" and shiny.

(Nice to spot a post of yours after we talked about Brick Alley LUG!)

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

This wagon is really well made, I like the PF IR solution!

[Redimus]

The PF one wasn't my original design, and ironically enough, is not welcome on my layout (I want all my locos to be self powered so I can shunt).

I was really hoping I could get some helpful ideas for improvements or preferences, because I'm not entirely happy with any of the designs yet.

[BricksMcgee]

Perhaps you could try mixing reddish brown with darker brown to give some texture to the sides?

[codefox421]

My 2¢: I like the ones with vertical tiles on the sides. They break up the monotony of the long horizontal lines and give it the feeling of more structure/framework.

[jtlan]

My 2¢: I like the ones with vertical tiles on the sides. They break up the monotony of the long horizontal lines and give it the feeling of more structure/framework.

+1 (cent?). I'll also note that there might be some additional friction pulling the long-bodied versions around curves due to the increased wheel spacing.