Looking for constructive criticisms please

[rday1982]

10 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

I think you are using a train  baseplate and then a row of headlight bricks on top of it

Close. I'm using several normal plates as the base, with a total thickness of one, but then sticking a 4x1 on top that has studs down the sides. A cutaway, with some of the bricks hidden might help to show you how I've built this up:

I think I see what you're telling me to do instead... If I use headlight bricks instead, I should save one plate. Then I can cut out the decorative panel above the curve, and build the remainder of the body half a stud stud wider on each side to match the width of the bottom (instead of the awkward transition via the brackets). That will save me two more plates, and I can easily cut out a brick from the height of the rear doors. The only remaining problem will be that this will mess up the way I've put the passenger doors in. They currently sit flush with the carriage but can be opened - this will inset them by half a stud and prevent them from opening unless I figure out how to hang them from the roofline and have them sit flush again.

Thanks. You've definitely given me something to think about. Right now, I'm trying to rebuild the locomotive and tender to hold a battery pack and motor. When that's done, I will turn my attention to the carriage, and this will be helpful to refer back to.

10 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Also, looking at your trucks, you have technic axle wheels.

Axle-pin hybrids in the ponies under the tender and the bogies under the carriage. I know they're not the best solution, but I wanted specifically to try using my own wheelset rather than the pre-moulded ones. Also, these are significantly cheaper. What I'll probably end up doing for any brick-build is making it, regretting my choice, and eventually switching to roller bearings.

[zephyr1934]

Actually I didn't have any qualms about the width of the coach. If you are going for something on the order 30 studs long then 6 studs wide is a good proportion. And I was completely wrong about how you constructed the sides. Now seeing how you are building it, for the white portion of the sides, if you do not care about having an interior one possibility would be doing 4 wide plates for the center, then some combination of brackets pointing outward (to get a half plate spacing) and then the 2 plate tall curved slopes. In this way, the top of the curve would be flush with the windows and you could get the sloped sides ending right above your trucks to keep the overall height down. You would need a row of plates above the curved sides to bring in studs for the windows though. If you are going for an interior, 1x2 x 1x2 up brackets with the thin bracket stuck into the bottom of the windows might be your friends.

[rday1982]

The interior is pretty basic. I could live without it. I'll play around with that suggestion though.

Anyhow, I rebuilt pretty much from scratch, and managed to cram a motor and battery box into the locomotive.

The internal gearing is something I'm not very happy with. Here's a cutaway of how I built the boiler around it:

And here's the internal transmission of power from the motor:

I'm just not sure whether this will work as intended... does anybody see any obvious problems and/or solutions?

[Amicus1]

The 12-tooth and 8-tooth aren’t “supposed” to mesh nicely, but it will likely work well enough.

[adwind]

On 10/4/2020 at 8:52 AM, rday1982 said:

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Okay, this seems like it might help. Guess I'll have to learn how to use Brickstock next.

Specifically for those windows, they appear to be the most recent variant and yet do not appear to have a cheaper alternative (also they don't seem to come in a huge selection of colours, which means I can't do the classic green or blue BR liveries).

Anyway, here is the locomotive, in all its blocky basic glory. Shorter than the real thing should be, I know. I ought to have tried mapping the length to a number of studs when the width is assumed to be equivalent to 6. It's been a while since I've done this, so I guess I'm a little rusty. I swear, I used to be decent at this stuff. I guess Lego builds are a skill that atrophies when not used for a few years, like anything else. All the stuff on the side panel between the wheel sets is just a placeholder - if anybody has a suggestion as to what should go there to mimic the real locomotive, then suggestions will be gratefully received. The power switch is hidden under one of the grille tiles on the roof. I'm still looking for a more elegant and representative way to reproduce the roof vents.

I already know where I want to make a few refinements in terms of adding detail, and can see a couple of small areas (roof, side windows, maybe the doors) where I have idea for a better parts set to more accurately represent the real thing. Which I suppose I should supply my reference photo for also. The difference between the front and rear vents is due to the internal geometry of the battery box, motors, and command receiver unit being squeezed in there (The cutaway views of the class 47 by @Dutchiedoughnut here helped me mount the motors in similar fashion, so thanks, Dutchie).

 

I'm quite pleased with my solution for the three-axle powered bogies - IIRC these should be the maximum distance that you can position a trio of wheels at on a single truck and still make it around a normal Lego curve. I guess I'd have to build it and see to be sure, but I'm reasonably confident for now (and could always turn the leading axle into something unpowered and with a little slip if not. I have it already designed in Studio, it wouldn't be much work to sub that part out, I just wanted to see if I could actually power two out of three axles and produce something that I think will handle the standard curved track).

Just in case it'll be of use to anybody else, here is a render of the bogie design in several semi-assembled states and orientations. If you see a problem with it, please do let me know! Since I can't test it in brick without ordering parts, if anybody spots a problem and lets me know, they'll be doing me a huge favour rather than just nitpicking!

 

This loco design isn't perfect, but I decided to not let perfect be the enemy of good, and I figured that folks here might be able to point out some easy fixes or quick wins to tip the balance closer to perfect than it was. As always, any comments that help me improve are appreciated!

Hi mate! May I ask you if you had a chance to test those 3 wheels on 1 truck turn? Tring to find some info on this question and I wonder how close three wheels of this diameter can be positioned without influence on turning. 

[neonic]

On 9/7/2020 at 9:58 PM, rday1982 said:

I'd like constructive criticism ... Please, help me learn and grow if you're open to sharing your collective expertise.

Thanks in advance!

With the expertise part I can't help you. I'm no expert of trains and stuff but I can tell you what I think, some ideas/thoughts if you like.
the Green one looks good already. Maybe it's also the colors.
Think I like the black one most, the second one. It looks kinda weird but in a positive way. It reminds me of those hotrods for some reason. Maybe you can go that way a bit more? I always like hotrods, ratrods all that sort of 'weird' stuff. Personally I don't like the gaps between the wheels of the tender but that's maybe something to do with the length/weight of it.

And in general ... think the drivetrain can use some improvements. It looks a bit 'big'. And I mis some exhaust(s). Maybe a driving ring extension or barrel is an idea.

 

ps. the Electric loc looks good too.

Edited November 22, 2020 by neonic