[MOC] NYC J3A 4-6-4 Hudson - Empire State Express

[ProvenceTristram]

So, a few things right off the bat. 1) You're going to have to forgive the wheels - I needed stand-ins for custom drivers in LDD, and those were the size I required (they're different because I wanted to represent wheels with and without flanges). Therefore, it's necessary to use your imagination for that part. And 2) bluerender does horribly with silver, so I felt like there was no point in running it through that app. when it was just going to come out looking like some deranged glitter choo-choo.

The locomotive itself is actually powered, which I always think is a minor achievement. I wish I could lower the skirting on the tender, but I don't see any way to do so without dramatically impacting the appearance of the trucks (or their ability to turn). Overall, I am satisfied with it, though I am always wary of these streamlined engines, since you have to go really light on the greebling, and thus risk a model that looks too toy-like. 

Proto:

 

Model:

 

Overall, I feel like it wasn't a bad 6 hours spent.

Edited November 12, 2018 by ProvenceTristram

[ProvenceTristram]

One more photo - fixed the cabling on the front.

[Roadmonkeytj]

I wish I had your time to dedicate to drawing lol...  It always amazes me that you crank these out so fast.   I spent 12 hrs 30-60 min at a time and only have half the progress lol 

Saying that though.   The stand in wheels will you be ordering or printing them? The bricks Translate well honestly.  It looks fairly close to me (I'm sure there are rivets missing lol) it looks as if you built this 8w what does that bring the valve gear and rods to overall? Any chance so see where you hid all the goodies in it? 

[ProvenceTristram]

1 hour ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

I wish I had your time to dedicate to drawing lol...  It always amazes me that you crank these out so fast.   I spent 12 hrs 30-60 min at a time and only have half the progress lol 

Saying that though.   The stand in wheels will you be ordering or printing them? The bricks Translate well honestly.  It looks fairly close to me (I'm sure there are rivets missing lol) it looks as if you built this 8w what does that bring the valve gear and rods to overall? Any chance so see where you hid all the goodies in it? 

Cylinders are 10, valve gear should vary from 8 to 9. I'll try to remember to rip it open and take some screenshots of the mechanism tomorrow, but it's pretty simple - just the PF 3-wide motor laying on its side.

[Digger of Bricks]

Pretty sweet! All and all, it turned out quite clean I think, not to mention that one particular canopy part works great on the front of the locomotive!  

[ProvenceTristram]

3 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Pretty sweet! All and all, it turned out quite clean I think, not to mention that one particular canopy part works great on the front of the locomotive!  

Thanks!

16 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

Any chance so see where you hid all the goodies in it? 

Here are the internals. 

[sed6]

Ooh, I really like this! I like the streamlined look. You've captured this engine well. The silver and black scheme, that might prove irresistible to me. Any chance you'd share the .xlf file?

[Roadmonkeytj]

5 minutes ago, sed6 said:

 irresistible to me. Any chance you'd share the .xlf file?

Lol I would second this ... 

 

The gearing seems quite simple on this one...  Are you just driving one axle or are there multiple "drivers"

[ProvenceTristram]

1 hour ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

Lol I would second this ... 

 

The gearing seems quite simple on this one...  Are you just driving one axle or are there multiple "drivers"

Just one. The others would obviously be powered by the rod attachment. Is there any advantage to direct-powering multiples, and, if so, why?

[Jeffinslaw]

1 hour ago, ProvenceTristram said:

Just one. The others would obviously be powered by the rod attachment. Is there any advantage to direct-powering multiples, and, if so, why?

Careful with this. You might have a lot of binding. Also, you need to make sure your gears are locked into place and can't flex out of contact. With your current setup, as soon as your wheels hit any sort of resistance, the gear on the axle coming out of your motor will pop out of contact and grind/skip. I would suggest incorporating 87408 into your gear setup. Also, go with a 20 toothed beveled gear for a bit of speed boost. 

-Jeffinslaw

[Redimus]

I love the look of this loco, you've really captured it well.

How much freedom of movement do the leading and trailing bogies have, they look pretty limited? You may want to give em some more clearance.

[Laura Beinbrech]

Really nicely done!  This looks fantastic, and instantly recognizable for what it is, even with the placeholder wheels.  Even though I've always been more of a Pennsylvania RR fan myself, I have always kinda liked these sleek Hudson streamliners that the NYC built.

[ProvenceTristram]

1 hour ago, Redimus said:

I love the look of this loco, you've really captured it well.

How much freedom of movement do the leading and trailing bogies have, they look pretty limited? You may want to give em some more clearance.

About 10 degrees on the front and back - so not enormous. This could be upped significantly by lowering the detail. 

Honestly, though, I can't imagine any of my models being much more than powered shelf-sitters; I don't begrudge the people who participate in the Lego Train club scene, but it isn't for me (one of these engines would cost at least 400-500 USD to build, not counting any custom necessities [rods, wheels, painting/dying parts]. Once you start adding cars and scenery, you're talking about a hobby that can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars very quickly). When I want to (and have the space/money) to model, I tend to gravitate towards N, HO, On30, and even - perhaps one day - O scales, not only because they result in a higher degree of realism, but because the scenery can be produced at a farthing compared to that involving Lego (your standard "hill" in HO is a piece of foam covered by some ground accessories that can be purchased or built in bulk. Your standard "hill" in Lego is a few thousand pieces).

This is more of a way to convert my childhood interest in Lego and Trains into something to kill time (something I have plenty of, in my present jobless/penniless state). 

41 minutes ago, Laura Takayama said:

Really nicely done!  This looks fantastic, and instantly recognizable for what it is, even with the placeholder wheels.  Even though I've always been more of a Pennsylvania RR fan myself, I have always kinda liked these sleek Hudson streamliners that the NYC built.

Thanks! I have considered doing a Pennsy loco at some point. I really like the G-5s, and the Q2s.

[Roadmonkeytj]

11 hours ago, ProvenceTristram said:

Just one. The others would obviously be powered by the rod attachment. Is there any advantage to direct-powering multiples, and, if so, why?

I noticed this on my 4-6-2 I relied on the side rods to keep them in line.   Every once and a while I would get a strange chugging motion that I would have to power through. I increased the drive to power both flanged drivers and I've not noticed this anymore.

True you may never notice this effect on your shelf but if you ever do run it at a show the uneven tables can make the problem evident.  

I personally do not have a layout of my own...  Just a unimpressive test loop of track.   But I do run my trains at events on club layouts.  

As far as the cost...  You can set your price caps on parts and get them lower when ordering through brick link.   You may still wind up with a 200 dollar loco though lol. 

[sed6]

2 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

As far as the cost...  You can set your price caps on parts and get them lower when ordering through brick link.   You may still wind up with a 200 dollar loco though lol. 

Agreed! And we'll never know of we don't try. @ProvenceTristram if you're inclined to share your LDD file I'd be happy to have it. 

[ProvenceTristram]

7 minutes ago, sed6 said:

Agreed! And we'll never know of we don't try. @ProvenceTristram if you're inclined to share your LDD file I'd be happy to have it. 

I'm going to have to think about that for a while. It's nothing personal - please don't take it that way. I just feel like - as an artist would with any form of art - I am not eager to put an original piece out there for public consumption.

[sed6]

44 minutes ago, ProvenceTristram said:

I'm going to have to think about that for a while. It's nothing personal - please don't take it that way. I just feel like - as an artist would with any form of art - I am not eager to put an original piece out there for public consumption.

I do understand. I had a similar quandary and ultimately decided to share all my designs with anyone interested. I put them all up on Bricksafe. https://bricksafe.com/pages/sed6

Those designs represent hundreds of hours of work and honesty if someone is interested in building them I'm happy for them to be able to do so. 

Alternatively if you don't want to share yours with the public you could just share them on an individual basis. I would promise to never share them with anyone nor publish them anywhere :)

[Roadmonkeytj]

2 hours ago, ProvenceTristram said:

I'm going to have to think about that for a while. It's nothing personal - please don't take it that way. I just feel like - as an artist would with any form of art - I am not eager to put an original piece out there for public consumption.

I understand this as I've had a few builds.  Ultimately if someone really wants to recreate your stuff with a good idea of Lego system and stud counting you can really fill in slot of the blanks.   I can say I've done this to a few designs out there (although taking a 8w design and making it 6w).  There are some things we hold onto.   I have a few ships that I don't share as I want to build them in brick first.  There's nothing wrong with holding onto them just remember "imitation is the greatest form of flattery"

I can only speak for myself on this one but I personally would love to see this zipping around my clubs layout lol

[zephyr1934]

A great build of a great prototype, excellent work!

 

On 11/13/2018 at 7:57 AM, ProvenceTristram said:

Honestly, though, I can't imagine any of my models being much more than powered shelf-sitters; I don't begrudge the people who participate in the Lego Train club scene, but it isn't for me (one of these engines would cost at least 400-500 USD to build, not counting any custom necessities [rods, wheels, painting/dying parts]. Once you start adding cars and scenery, you're talking about a hobby that can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars very quickly). When I want to (and have the space/money) to model, I tend to gravitate towards N, HO, On30, and even - perhaps one day - O scales, not only because they result in a higher degree of realism, but because the scenery can be produced at a farthing compared to that involving Lego (your standard "hill" in HO is a piece of foam covered by some ground accessories that can be purchased or built in bulk. Your standard "hill" in Lego is a few thousand pieces).

This is more of a way to convert my childhood interest in Lego and Trains into something to kill time (something I have plenty of, in my present jobless/penniless state). 

Thanks! I have considered doing a Pennsy loco at some point. I really like the G-5s, and the Q2s.

I bet the cost is less to build this engine, still in the 100's but probably more like $200 (still nothing to sneeze at). There are some builders who will make 2-5 copies of a MOC and then sell all but one on ebay or bricklink. If you ever feel inclined to realize your creations in brick you might want to try that for yourself with a small build (passenger car?) and see if it works for you. You could also sell your digital design. Some people might pirate it (or try to sell physical copies) but there are enough honest people that some would likely pay.

 

 

[SavaTheAggie]

This looks good, well done.  The Empire State Express has been on my list, though I've been thinking of building it more recently for reasons I won't get into here.  

I hope to see yours in real brick someday.

--Tony

[Craig Strader]

It looks good. All you need to do now is to build it WITH custom disc drivers along with an ESE consist to go with it.

[JopieK]

This was a 2-year old topic Craig. Don't revive old threads without a really good reason.