Semis

[Worldwide_build]

Hey there fellow LEGO fans,

I don't really know where I should post this so here goes nothin'.

I want to build myself a Semi but I am struggling to come up with a proper width. My trains are 8-Wide, my cars are 4, 5, or 6-Wide depending on the class. See the thing is that it is very hard to model with LEGO when your vehicle has an uneven width. I was thinking either 7-Wide or 6-Wide but 6-Wide would make some sports cars or bigger SUVs look really wide. So what do you recommend?

Cheers, Gregory U.

[supertruper1988]

I have some American style ones is 7-wide with instructions on my rebrickable page here.

I find that 7 wide is a great in between for city (mini-fig) scaled things.

[Worldwide_build]

Hey @supertruper1988,

Thanks for the link and I will definitely take a look at your building instructions! Really appreciate it!

Gregory U.

[deraven]

For what it's worth, I think 6- or 7-wide is the way to go.  7-wide I think gives you just enough extra size to add some nice detailing without it looking too big next to the trains or too small in comparison to some of the wider city vehicles.  Here's a MOC Pages group that you might find some more inspiration in as well:

http://www.moc-pages.com/folder.php/162988

[ER0L]

 

8 hours ago, Worldwide_build said:

I want to build myself a Semi but I am struggling to come up with a proper width. My trains are 8-Wide, my cars are 4, 5, or 6-Wide depending on the class. See the thing is that it is very hard to model with LEGO when your vehicle has an uneven width. I was thinking either 7-Wide or 6-Wide but 6-Wide would make some sports cars or bigger SUVs look really wide. So what do you recommend?

Those are some good thoughts, in my opinion there should be much more communication between train and City builders about scale subjects. I agree with the others that 7-wide may be the suitable width for your purposes. As an example you might want to look at Steffen Kasteleiners great 7-wide semis (there's a lot more of this kind of stuff on his Flickr account):

I have built this more modern 7-wide container truck - a consequence of this approach is that you get 7-wide containers, too. 

Also, there's a Flickr album with quite a few pics regarding scale between several kinds of vehicles, trains among them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/albums/72157658693815583

Hopefully this will give you some inspiration. 

7 hours ago, supertruper1988 said:

I have some American style ones is 7-wide with instructions on my rebrickable page here.

I find that 7 wide is a great in between for city (mini-fig) scaled things.

Great semis indeed, however calling them 7-wide might be misleading - they are what I call 6w+, which means a 6-wide base plus attachments like mudguards, steps or fuel tanks. It's the usual City truck configuration. Consequently, the semis above are in fact 7w+ since they have 7-wide bases plus attachments.

 

[Worldwide_build]

3 hours ago, ER0L said:

 

Those are some good thoughts, in my opinion there should be much more communication between train and City builders about scale subjects. I agree with the others that 7-wide may be the suitable width for your purposes. As an example you might want to look at Steffen Kasteleiners great 7-wide semis (there's a lot more of this kind of stuff on his Flickr account):

I have built this more modern 7-wide container truck - a consequence of this approach is that you get 7-wide containers, too. 

Also, there's a Flickr album with quite a few pics regarding scale between several kinds of vehicles, trains among them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/albums/72157658693815583

Hopefully this will give you some inspiration. 

Great semis indeed, however calling them 7-wide might be misleading - they are what I call 6w+, which means a 6-wide base plus attachments like mudguards, steps or fuel tanks. It's the usual City truck configuration. Consequently, the semis above are in fact 7w+ since they have 7-wide bases plus attachments.

 

 

Wow, @ER0L those are some very stunning vehicles you got there! The locomotive even surpasses my standards of detail for the railings! I like what you did with the front with the chain element. Well, 7-Wide it is then. Thought about it this night so I decided 7-Wide would be better than 6-Wide because it would be narrower than my train designs and wider than my car designs.

7-Wide containers should not be a problem as I obviously have 8-Wide train designs haha.

@deraven Thanks for the link! It certainly does give me inspiration.

Gregory U.

---EDIT---

Oh forgot to ask but are those tires on the LTI truck custom?

Gregory U.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Worldwide_build
Forgot to ask a question.

[ER0L]

3 hours ago, Worldwide_build said:

Wow, @ER0L those are some very stunning vehicles you got there! The locomotive even surpasses my standards of detail for the railings! I like what you did with the front with the chain element. Well, 7-Wide it is then. Thought about it this night so I decided 7-Wide would be better than 6-Wide because it would be narrower than my train designs and wider than my car designs.

7-Wide containers should not be a problem as I obviously have 8-Wide train designs haha.

Oh forgot to ask but are those tires on the LTI truck custom?

Gregory U.

Thanks, in fact the loco (and the running stock so far) are 9w+ (9-wide platform plus railings), scale is about 1/43. This is also due to the fact that the passenger cars have a rather large scale for minifig purposes (~1/35), plus dealing with 7w containers is probably easier on 9w rolling stock. It's obvious that any decision in this field has quite a few implications, but with 7-wide for the trucks you're on the safe side, I guess. You'll need quite a few jumper plates though ... 

Regarding the tires: No, everything is 100% Lego. The tires are turned inside-out to get at least a little bit of profile on the outside. But today I rather think it isn't worth the effort, the effect isn't that impressive, I guess. 

[supertruper1988]

7 hours ago, ER0L said:

Great semis indeed, however calling them 7-wide might be misleading - they are what I call 6w+, which means a 6-wide base plus attachments like mudguards, steps or fuel tanks. It's the usual City truck configuration. Consequently, the semis above are in fact 7w+ since they have 7-wide bases plus attachments.

I have called them 7 because the main body of them is 7 and all the trailers are 7 except the container trailers. I took the measurements from a few drawings and found that the nose and cabs are narrower than the trailers by enough of a margin that a 6 wide representation suits the look better. That is even more pronounced because I am generally trying to stick to the PennLUG 1 foot = .8 studs scale. 

Obviously, I have have a looser interpretation than a strict scale because fitting minifigs and having the play value of container well cars, fitting pallets and other loads, and looking ok next to official sets is more important than being exactly in scale all the time. 

[Stefaneris]

I build busses and trucks in 8 wide. Especially for the european cab design, 8 wide is easier than 7 and they still look good next to the cars. However on a layout where several people participate like on exhibitons I take care that my Mocs are not next to some 6 wide trucks. That would look silly. They also look silly next to 6 wide trains but next to 8 wide is okay. I also build trains in 8 wide.

Here is link to my Scania truck:

Scania B-Train

[AllanSmith]

I have been building my trucks and buses 8 wide to go with my 6 wide Speed Champions sets and moc's. Here is a LDD picture of a car carrier that I have now built in blue and white.