[MOC] Class 08 shunter

[Dutchiedoughnut]

It's been a while since I posted in the train forum, and I'm designing a model in LDD that has been done a couple times. Still, I love the brick and I wanted to try out some driveline ideas.

Here were my design thoughts:

- It has to be a 7-wide or 8-wide model. I'll soon be building 7-wide trucks and trailers, and I can't have trains that are smaller than trucks ;).

- It has to have power functions. Which is a problem in such a small package.

- I wanted to try a worm gear to reduce the output speed of the engine, it seems a logical choice for a slow diesel shunter.

So, here it is. I'm pretty satisfied with the overall look of the shunter and especially the size. I didn't want the side of the shunter to be too cluttered, so it's quite clean compared to other models I took inspiration from.

Well, it's an 8-wide model because that worked best for the front of the shunter (in my opinion, anyway). There will be a sticker so the front and the rear will have yellow and black hazard stripes. I do like it as it is in LDD though.

Here is the rear and the cab.

And the drive train. As you can see, the shunter is pretty full, but it's certainly not stuffed yet. And the IR receiver is missing from the party at the moment. I've got some ideas to solve that but I have to work those out in LDD to see if they will work.

The shunter will have a medium motor, which will drive a worm gear connected to a 24 teeth gear. It'll have a reduction of 1/24 so I'm thinking the shunter will be strong and slow. All wheels of the shunter are driven by gears so there should be plenty of traction. I have had problems with the drive rods binding on an earlier model so I decided to drive all the wheels and make sure they all turn.

And a size comparison to 60052. Looks pretty good to me :). They have the same rough scale while the class 08 is certainly much more boxy and short.

[Beck]

The Class 08 looks pretty good, but I think the main problem is going to be your choice of drivetrain. I believe the M-motor runs at 272rpm at 9v and with your drivetrain your output rpm is ~11. This would be slower than a micromotor (16rpm I think). You would have too much torque and very little speed.

[Dutchiedoughnut]

One rotation for six seconds does sound slow ;). I do have some places to gear it up to about 20-25 rpm. But I'll go figure out how fast I want it to be.

[Rail Co]

I actually tried this exact idea for my 0-6-0 tanker seen here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=111250. When I first designed it but then found out it was way to slow and wouldn't look realistic unless you had it with a long rake of cargo. I suggest rethinking the way you power it but overall a great looking loco!

-RailCo

[jtlan]

Greetings Dutchiedoughnut,

Nicely done. Hiding the IR receiver is always hard, so you might have to sacrifice the cab interior to get it to fit. Alternatively, a different gear train (with the M motor mounted vertically) might give you enough room inside the body. I agree with Beck that given the weight of this model the gear ratio is likely overkill, but if your goal is to conduct slow shunting maneuvers then that sort of reduction is probably appropriate (you can see

for roughly how fast that would be -- the small locomotives are powered by micro motors).

One thing I'd watch out for is that the mounting points for the couplers look really far from the wheels, which could cause problems in curves. I'd try mocking up a chassis with the same spacing to make sure it works in real life.

Side comment: I'd turn on the "Show Outlines on Bricks" option in LDD, which I find gives a better recommendation of what the model will actually look like in real life, because it shows the seams between bricks.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

You can use a simple switch to turn on/off the motor and save space and money! ;-)

This is my solution for a similar shunter:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=66760

[zephyr1934]

Still a tour de force getting all of the mechanicals and electricals in such a small form factor... then to have the room to dress it up so well... impressive.

[baard]

Really nice shunter

I like the idea of building a shunter putting a lot of details and functions in a small space

I have built a version of the Class 8 Diesel shunter as well as a smaller Norwegian SK 226 shunter. In both there are 2 motors, one for propulsion and the other for a built-in decoupler. Gear reduction is not necessary imo because you have 7 steps on your controller, in other words you can pretty much control the speed to be quite low (and realistic).

Good luck

My Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/115097068@N03/

[someguy]

Im jealous and I want one lol. Looks awesome. For me personally, I feel it would be ok going slow since its a shunter. You have the fast big engines and then you have to have fun with the slow small engine too.

[Dutchiedoughnut]

I've rebuilt the shunter brick by brick ;). It's gotten shorter by 5! studs, it'll be difficult to shave off more, and the model would suffer if it got even shorter.

The drive train has changed - credits to Daedalus304 for the inspiration there. The worm wheel has gone and a 1:3 gear reduction was put in place. It'll be plenty powerful, and a little quicker than the worm wheel solution. All wheels are driven. It's pretty much stuffed full now.

Without counting the round buffers, the model is just 20 studs long.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Dutchiedoughnut

[Younge]

Magnificent engineering on display right there!!!

To get the design to an even shorter length is an impressive feat.

I'm a bit of a fan of Lego shunters, so, I am loving your work!!!

[dr_spock]

Great job shortening it even more.