Canadian Pacific RS-18

[Supplement_Creatif]

Hello there,

First time poster here, thought I would share a build to get some advice and feedback from others. 

If anybody here happens to be one of my 6 followers on instagram (that which I highly doubt, as one of those followers happens to be myself as well), you would know that I have been working on a GE 44-Ton locomotive of the Greater Winnipeg Water District. A really cool short line (I believe is what they are called) railway with a very cool, although controversial, history. The 44-ton being such a small loco, I was having trouble nailing the details I wanted to get. Along with part colour availability that had left me frustrated. Also I couldn't even imagine getting power functions in this thing its so small (most likely necessitating a powered freight car to run a train with the 44-ton at its head). Anywho reading the new Brick Model Rail Roader article on scaling I took away quite a few things. Most importantly that since we have the luxury of modeling with Lego, we can come back to stuff and modify it at anytime we desire! I therefore decided to take a break with the GWWD short line project and do something a bit bigger allowing me a greater canvas to experiment with detailing and also put some power in it. I am definitely not shelving the 44-ton switcher, just need some time away from it to get a fresh outlook and maybe learn some building techniques before going back.

So on to the actual post! A MLW RS-18 in Canadian Pacific colour scheme. I was looking for a new project (see lengthy preambule) and found a few threads on here. First thought was to make an RS-23 locomotive as the GWWD has quite a few in its roster included two in CP action red paint as spare parts for their working ones. Looking at the forum I saw SteamSewnEmpire's thread about an RS-23 and loved it! Somehow though I stumbled upon SteamSewnEmpire's RS-18 loco and though: wow that is a sweet locomotive! Looking at prototypical photos online of the RS-18 I decided let's do it why not! So here it is, first WIP photo. Will be posting more angles once I get a better handle on how to put pictures in a post.

Any and all feedback is more than welcomed!

cheers!

And lastly here is a photo of the prototype locomotive. The one I am modeling is the top left, numbered: 8786

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by Supplement_Creatif

[SteamSewnEmpire]

Nice. Did I do one of these? I cannot honestly remember. If you need any assistance, let me know.

[ivanlan9]

Long time Alco fan here.  To me, the proportions look really good, but the square grills on the sides look too big.  Could you use the backs of headlight bricks for this purpose, perhaps?

Metta,

Ivan

Edited October 20, 2020 by ivanlan9

[zephyr1934]

Definitely a good start and I don't see much to tweak from the profile view except perhaps replace the studs on the cab roof with tiles and extend the deck for the rear runningboards. If you build PF or PUP is there room to hide the battery box and receiver?

[Supplement_Creatif]

Thanks for the Replies so far, very much appreciate the feedback!

16 hours ago, SteamSewnEmpire said:

Nice. Did I do one of these? I cannot honestly remember. If you need any assistance, let me know.

I will definitely shoot you a line if I ever want to dig deeper in the model you made!

16 hours ago, ivanlan9 said:

Long time Alco fan here.  To me, the proportions look really good, but the square grills on the sides look too big.  Could you use the backs of headlight bricks for this purpose, perhaps?

Hi Ivan, I was able to find mechanical drawings for the RS-18 and those side grills are a tad oversized in my current model however I fear that the backside of a headlight might be too small. I have attached a picture of the drawings. Looking at the Alco RS-11 which is the Loco that the MLW RS-18 is based off of, it seems that the rear top bigger grill is a lot bigger on the Alco's compared to the RS-18's, which would make the 5 smaller ones seem off for an Alco. Not sure if any of those sentences made sense, too many adjectives of smaller and bigger ha! I will definitely keep this detail in the back of my mind however moving forward.

Drawings:

http://trainiax.net/drawings/18-mlw/rs/dim-18-mlw-rs18-cn-2b-m.GIF

2 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Definitely a good start and I don't see much to tweak from the profile view except perhaps replace the studs on the cab roof with tiles and extend the deck for the rear runningboards. If you build PF or PUP is there room to hide the battery box and receiver?

Thanks Zephyr. Currently for the cab I am using the airplane fuselage top. They are just there as a place holder for now to get an overall shape before I start making something out of individual bricks. In terms of the running boards are you suggesting extending them a plate downwards to make them thicker? For the length of the running boards I will for sure change, I had only slapped a few plates down to gauge the length for scaling. In terms of motor in this thing I do intend to use PF. Although I am very new to any type of motor use so not necessarily set on PF over PU, any suggestions for one of over the other? I have left the loco empty enough to slap those components in.

I have made a flickr account to make posting multiple photos instead of the limited size of attachements. Here are some better photos with more angles. Yesterday and this morning I was more focused on making the trucks of the model hence no work on the body. For the trucks I am overall happy except for the horizontal cylinders being to far outwards. A few more details I need to add in are the brakes I believe (the linkages in front of each wheel is what I assume is brakes?). I also need to ensure that everything will be stiff enough, might have to build up a truck with my current collection to see if it will be sturdy enough. 

As I mentioned previously I am new to the ideal of playing with technic and power. For you veterans of making these locos does my drive train system make any lick of sense?

Kind Regards,

 

 

 

[SteamSewnEmpire]

I have no complaints about the cab roof. Everything in Lego is a tradeoff. The price for the very prototypical contour is a few studs. No big.

[zephyr1934]

Ah yes, the small amount of storage on EB is for things like your profile photo, any pictures for posts should be stored on a photo sharing site. Seeing the different angles, a couple of parts you might want to consider,

for the cab roof (at which point you could go 7 wide for the cab if you wanted to)

for the headlight

It would also be interesting to see the bell in pearl gold (even if the prototype has it painted gray) and the number boards in black. Also, I suspect you would want a L motor instead of an M motor.

At any rate, looking good

[SteamSewnEmpire]

36 minutes ago, zephyr1934 said:

 

for the cab roof (at which point you could go 7 wide for the cab if you wanted to)

The angling on that is more severe, though, isn't it?

[JintaiZ]

I think it's a nice build but proper windows would work better, at least in my opinion.

[SteamSewnEmpire]

44 minutes ago, JintaiZ said:

I think it's a nice build but proper windows would work better, at least in my opinion.

What other windows could he use?

[Amoreternum]

I'd swap the M-motor for a L-motor, looks like the engine itself might have some weight to it, but if you want to use it to pull or push some rolling stock, I think you'd need just a bit more power.

[Supplement_Creatif]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the replies I do appreciate all the input!

In the last few days I have been trying to hammer out the trucks of the locomotive. I am at a place where I am mostly happy however I still need to add in the brake rods and still am not 100% set on the horizontal cylinders on the trucks. They are at the right height and position however I don't know if I like the droid arm coming over the center of the truck.

Replies to the comments and advice you have been giving me:

Roof: I am more in line with @SteamSewnEmpire on this as the 1 x 3 x 3 arch pieces seem like a much sharper curve than the prototype. When I get back to the cab and overall body of the locomotive I will really start looking at the cab roof a bit closer.

Headlights: @zephyr1934 thank you for the suggestion, I tried it out on the front and I think I am liking it quite a bit, if only I can find a way to get some powered lights through there that would be the icing on the cake.

Motor: I originally thought of putting in two M motors in the locomotive however I might switch to a single L-motor to avoid having to move the battery box or make some sort of re-routing of a shaft under the battery box.

Windows: I really like the current side windows however a window which I would like to find a better solution is the front and backwards facing ones. When I get back to working on the cab and body I will be looking to dig deep into that.

Again thank you for all the comments and suggestions. It is really tough trying to get this thing together. Working on the trucks I couldn't stop looking around and something would catch my eye and my mental list of everything left to be modified and tweaked doesn't stop to grow. The deeper I am getting into the model the more and more things it seems that pop up which I need to get done eventually.

The current big decision which I am struggling with is whether or not to connect the couplers to the trucks in a way. Looking around I figured I might do something like the Maersk train where the front stairs and coupler section is attached to the trucks. From what I understand this would make this locomotive capable of running on R40 curves without loosing its rolling stock. If I were to keep the front stairs/coupler attached to the frame and body however, the minimum radius that the locomotive would be able to turn and pull something would get much bigger. At the current moment in this hobby I have no clue if I will ever be running a train around an oval of some type, I am envisioning only a small yard at the moment and a length of strait track. Any suggestions on how I should approach the coupler and whether it is a good idea to build it with R40 curves in mind in case I end up running a small oval?

Here are some WIP of the current state of the locomotive. I have put on the latest version of trucks and started to play around with the gas tank. I am pretty happy with the height of the loco on the trucks and the trucks placement so far. As always all feedback is welcome!

Cheers,

 

[KvadratGnezdo]

This looks great!

 

[zephyr1934]

7 hours ago, Supplement_Creatif said:

At the current moment in this hobby I have no clue if I will ever be running a train around an oval of some type, I am envisioning only a small yard at the moment and a length of strait track. Any suggestions on how I should approach the coupler and whether it is a good idea to build it with R40 curves in mind in case I end up running a small oval?

I'd suggest designing it so that you can swap between the two options. Having the coupler and stairs integrated with the body will look better for display, but for operation around curves they need to be part of the truck. There's a good chance that if you build it for a straight track layout that you will eventually expand to a loop and will need the truck mounts, but if you design it for both formats you can't go wrong.

[Supplement_Creatif]

Alright a few new updates.

Work still continues on the undercarriage. I am still undecided on if I will be making this thing usable on R40 loops. I have designed both as of now. The first photos are a profile and Iso shot of the front stairs attached to the body of the loco. The second set of photos is with the stairs attached to the trucks. 

Few things of concern: 

1: making a strong connection to the trucks.

2: making sure that connection is not only strong but will not droop.

I think I have met both of those criteria without it not looking to imposing under the trucks, but let me know what you guys think.

As always I really appreciate all feedback.

cheers,

 

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Supplement_Creatif

[Paperinik77pk]

You are doing a really good job, this locomotive seems really nice and well proportioned. Trucks are very nicely detailed!

As far as I can see both trucks have gears, so I think both will be powered. This could give a serious traction to this locomotive. You only need to think a way to transfer power to both bogies

My 2 cents:

• instead of using 1 medium motor  and transferring the power between the front and rear with gears and axles, you could use 2 medium motors, one for each bogie. I'd keep the PF solution instead of the PoweredUp.
• the battery box could be in the middle of locomotive (supporting the hood side panels) or inside the fuel tanks to lower the centre of weight.
• trucks with "turning" stairs are less realistic, but more suitable to run these long locomotives on narrow R40 radius. Even if you run this locomotive on straights and large curves made with flexible track, Lego switches radius is always 40. So fixed stairs with a tilting coupler connected to trucks are good, but there must be sufficient room to allow bogie to turn freely.

Keep up the good work!!!

Ciao!

Davide

 

 

[Supplement_Creatif]

A few new updates on the locomotive.

I have not remained completely idle the last week and a half, however starting back full time where I was working during the summer has taken away quite a bit of time working projects.

@Paperinik77pk thank you for all the suggestions. in terms of your suggestions I have been really going back and forth on if I will be powering this thing and I have decided I will, however not in the immediate future. Considering I have just begun building trains (funny saying train plural as so far this only encompasses designing a box car, half a loco, and now this one, not exactly 1 train yet) I am quite far away, both financially and in the very finite resource of time, in getting a layout which has an oval and a train with a few cars. Therefore I will continue the design of the locomotive purely for display while keeping the inside of the locomotive as open as possible to allow for motorisation. Once I get there however I will be powering both trucks, each with either an M motor or more likely with 2 L motors to make sure this thing can really pull. In the future when it will come to put power to the loco I will definitely keep all the points you and the other members of the forum in mind.

Now back to some WIP pictures. I am considering the outside of the locomotive to be pretty close to complete. Left to modify is the Cab, adding the brakes to the trucks, all the under carriage hoses and such, and any other bits and bobs to modify here and there. Once I am satisfied with the exterior I will be taring the model apart to ensure everything is structurally sound and that I am using parts as efficiently as possible. 

A few points:

-I didn't want the railing to stick out a stud therefore I brought it in so it is in line with the rest of the loco.

-For the details on the roof, I have made them black as if covered in soot. It seems hat all these locos upper vents turn black pretty quickly and it is hard to find a prototype image of one without the roof almost entirely black with soot.

-added the air tanks under the carriage

-the front railing will be most likely not Lego 3mm hose and some other 3mm hose which I will bend into the proper shape. The railing forward of the cab will be the same situation. All vertical hose is 3mm black Lego hose which will get a minifigure hand and horizontal railing added on. The last vertical railing at the rear of the loco before the stairs will not be supported by a clip but by the horizontal railing attached to the other vertical rails. Rear most railing will be something similar to the front most railing, a non Lego 3mm hose bent to shape.

-I have also included a photo of the display stand I will be building for the loco. I have already ordered the parts on bricklink and they should be arriving anytime next week. Will be great to get to building with some real bricks for a change.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions they are truly greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

 

 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

What a beautiful project, I like the clean lines and the exact respect of the proportions!

I hope to see this locomotive in real bricks! 

[zephyr1934]

Coming along nicely! (and yes, virtual trains seem to move slowly some times, I've been working/waiting on one for over 9 months now)