[MOC] Simple Tank Car

[Phoxtane]

This model came about after I realized I wanted a simple train car I could build copies of over and over again for cheap and easy long trains. I made three copies of the original version for my old LUG's annual train show in my home town, but the images here are primarily of the second version that I finalized two weeks ago. In my opinion, this second design is much better than the first, as its proportions are much closer to a real-life tank car. 

 

Measured from the end rails, it's about 33 studs long. The bogies can spin a full 360 degrees, so it shouldn't have any issues navigating standard Lego curves. The round shape was accomplished by borrowing a technique from (Lego) steam engine boiler designs. In my digital designs, hot pink parts denote which parts don't have to be a specific color (either ones I already have free in my collection or the cheapest I can find on Bricklink). The tank section is attached to the end sections via 2x2 round plates with center holes and 2x2 jumper tiles. 

The car was designed such that the color scheme depends primarily on five "exotic" pieces: 2x2 round plates, 6x6 dishes, 2x4x2/3 curved slopes, 1x8 door rails, and 1x2 door rails. The color range these parts can be found is is fairly diverse and should allow for many different liveries without requiring stickers. (2x4 plates come in almost any color so I'm not considering them "exotic")

 

(New version on the left, old version on the right)

 

My future plans for this design are to update the two remaining old-type cars to new ones. Afterwards, I want to build two more sets of three in different liveries. This will give me a total of nine cars to work with!

[sed6]

Very nice! I appreciate the screenshots of the internals, good design! Personally I like your shorter version because I build short cars for my small layout. 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Very nice design ...and ...there is often a cat (or a pet) with Lego MOCs!

[ColletArrow]

On 10/3/2019 at 11:53 PM, Phoxtane said:

Measured from the end rails, it's about 33 studs one cat long

A much better unit of measurement!

A very clean and pleasingly (apparently) simple model; a train of these should look very smart, especially with the neat yellow waist colour scheme. I think the only addition could be custom info-panel decals in one corner, but otherwise they're perfect.

[Feuer Zug]

Nice design. It's simple, yet scalable for various needs.

[Phoxtane]

I was having trouble finding alternate color schemes for tank cars; image searches were returning mostly all-black, all-brown, or all dark-red cars. So, why not turn to traditional model railroad storefronts for ideas?

As it turns out, this was a great idea. While every manufacturer has tank cars of some type available for purchase, I found that the biggest and easiest-to-browse selection came from Walthers (no affiliation, content for reference only, etc.): https://www.walthers.com/products/trains/freight-cars/tank-car/#

Unfortunately, many of the color schemes I've been interested in so far are impossible to reproduce due to lack of certain critical parts (listed above) in the colors necessary. For example: an all-blue Montana Rail Link car, which would look spectacular...

I did find some that I am considering, however:

(Dark blue-gray 6x6 dishes are rare and expensive, unfortunately. I only need six though...)

While maybe not in these colors, I'm interested in doing another two-tone car, but in the style above.

Another idea for a two-tone car. I could spice this one up by building the end rail sections out of white pieces as well. Finding white tubing would take some searching however.

And finally, one I might consider doing if I ever decide I really hate myself. I might do one of these just for fun - thankfully, I know from building the first run of three that 6x6 dishes can be found in white.

[supertruper1988]

After looking at your thread, you could easily use 2x2 slopes with long 2xn plates to provide the support you need to get rid of the 1x8 door rails the 2x2 slopes are also available in many more colors as well 

[Phoxtane]

4 hours ago, supertruper1988 said:

After looking at your thread, you could easily use 2x2 slopes with long 2xn plates to provide the support you need to get rid of the 1x8 door rails the 2x2 slopes are also available in many more colors as well 

The door rails are necessary to fill out the "corners" of the round shape, unfortunately. See below:

However, as you'll notice, 1x2 jumper plates could also be used, but then the "skin" of the car has to change as well:

I don't have a scale to prove this but to me it seems that doing this technique across the entire car would add a lot of weight, and since I'm planning on doing 9+ of these, I probably should worry about that sort of thing. The tradeoff here is parts selection versus weight. Unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that 6x6 dishes are what limit me the most in terms of color choice.

I am planning on using the above technique for vertical striping - it should work nicely on the green-gray model I posted above.

[supertruper1988]

13 hours ago, Phoxtane said:

The door rails are necessary to fill out the "corners" of the round shape, unfortunately. See below:

However, as you'll notice, 1x2 jumper plates could also be used, but then the "skin" of the car has to change as well:

I don't have a scale to prove this but to me it seems that doing this technique across the entire car would add a lot of weight, and since I'm planning on doing 9+ of these, I probably should worry about that sort of thing. The tradeoff here is parts selection versus weight. Unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that 6x6 dishes are what limit me the most in terms of color choice.

I am planning on using the above technique for vertical striping - it should work nicely on the green-gray model I posted above.

I was more saying that instead of using the 1x8 door rails for strength, you can use 1x2 door rails instead which are more common in more colors. and the 2x2 slopes are the same so it opens up your color options quite a bit.