FS Italian glories in 4-wide - 1:87

[Paperinik77pk]

Ciao all,

you have already seen my E.656 topic last week, but after posting it, I realized both the locomotive and coaches were wrongly shaped.

First of all I tried to build a mockup, and move it around some Lemax track - I had bad luck, since the radius is too tight and the locomotive is badly bent, looking unrealistic. So for the moment I decided to redesign it as a static only, more solid model.

Plus, during the rebuilding the "nose" was redesigned so it's more pointy. 

The locomotive now is longer by one stud, due to central cover for articulation (I wonder which is the correct English term!) being now in exact 1:87 scale.

Since I was already working, I prepared also the freight version, called E.655, which had a gear ratio adapted for better pulling power than speed (120km/h).

Then I remade all the pictures with the coaches, since the UIC-X in Livery Red/Gray paint scheme adopted an underbody protection.

The express train is now more precise than its first version and I'm more happy with it.

Now it is the perfect replica of my Lima H0 train I had many many years ago! 

It seems very elegant with all coaches in coordinated colors...but in reality Italian trains of the era were composed by coaches in different color styles. 

Now, having made the famous "Caimano", I needed to go on , and design the "Tartaruga", or E.444 (yes, we have a nickname for quite everything ).

Modern and elegant, the E.444 has been the fastest Italian locomotive for a long time. 

Having the possibility to play with colors, I tried to recreate some coaches in their various paint schemes, to recreate a typical Express train of the 80s.

In the picture below you can find UIC-X coaches in "Grigio Ardesia" (a kind of dark "stone gray" well fitting the Lego Dark Bluish Gray), the already seen Livery Red/Gray UIC-X, and the colorful "Eurofima" in Orange.

The "Grigio Ardesia" UIC-X are a bit older then the Red/Gray ones, but not all were converted, so it was not strange to see both in Italian consists. Older UIC-X do not have the underbody protection, as far as I could understand (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Now that we've seen the E.656 and the E.444, let's go back to an older model, the great E.646 and its freight version, the E.645:

This has the same base as my E.656 (in reality the chassis of the E.646 was then used as the starting point to create the "Caimano"), but has a more...boxy body and it's full of grilles of different shapes. 

It has some different choices for headlights due to the lack of some parts in green and Dark Tan. The first E.646 locomotives featured a body similar to the E.636 and E.424.

Another step back in the family of articulated locomotives...and now we're coming to the first one of the dynasty, the E.636. 

In its "Castano-Isabella" paint scheme (Reddish Brown and Dark Tan), this was quite a mess for me. 

This model requires a slight modification (I cannot do in a better way) of the "tiles with clips" parts, holding the headlights: these parts must be sand-papered  on one side to fit under the "nose". I tried it before drawing the final version. Other parts did not fit or were not available in right colors.

I love this locomotive, but her cabin is a nightmare! Let's make her pull an end-of-the-70s express!

The E.636 group of locomotives has a special member, nicknamed "Camilla". It seems a "Caimano" but it's not.

The E.636.284 was involved in a fatal accident. Cabin was completely destroyed and the engineer lost his life. The cabins were designed in the 40s, so were not so secure.

Nonetheless, the locomotive was not scrapped, since it was quite intact in all its main parts. Therefore, an experiment was performed (in order maybe to renew all the 636), and a cabin from an E.656 was fitted. A particular paint scheme was used.  The nickname "Camilla" is due to the name written on the unfinished new cabin by one of the workers (after the name of his beloved grilfriend)...and became the official name of the locomotive, which remained the only 636 with this body. It still is operational and historically preserved.

And now, last but not least, the smaller (but not less important, since it started the whole family of these modern shaped locomotives!) E.424. Same cabin as the E.636, so same needed modification to clips parts.

This one is made in 80s "Navetta" color scheme , which was used in the last employment for this little all-purpose locomotive: Commuter reversible trains. For this reason the last (or first? ) coach was a semi-pilot one, with all remote controls for the locomotive. 

Here it is the Semi-Pilot MDVE type coach (all other coaches of the consist are MDVC type). It is nicknamed "MAZINGA" - which is the Italian pronunciation of "Mazinger", the famous big robot featured in the 70s Japanese cartoon. It was called this way, since it resembles a robotic head 

That's all (for the moment)!

I hope you like these trains - I will try to go on with designs on this scale since these are really fun!

Ciao!

Davide

Edited December 27, 2021 by Paperinik77pk
Added tags

[Toastie]

OK.

I think there needs to be a "4-wide thread" here on TrainTech. Man. This is so nice. There were recently other posts here as well. I have NO clue, how you do it, but that is irrelevant.

Three things come to mind:

1. First: You guys are ingenious.
2. These model are so nice, so iconic, so showing!
3. The part count is >considerably< lower as for 6 or 7/8+ wide models - I believe this is a true show-case advantage!

Sure: Functionality suffers. But in the 4-wide world, it is (for me) more showing than operating. I really see a new project for me: Try to rebuild your models and then put them up on shelves on my sloped attic walls.

Again: Congratulations, @Paperinik77pk: All this is beyond any of my skills.

All the best
Thorsten

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

Gorgeous rendition of these iconic Italian locomotives. 

The 4-wide train idea is really growing on me. Makes me want to do my own version of 4-wide locomotives of the Malayan railway. 

Would definitely be a nice office table deco. 

 

[CMF-1138]

Really well done! Such a diverse collection, and each with its own character. I really like the images with the full consists of coaches.

[Asper]

Wonderful! Great collection - you captured many details, your models are very close to the real trains.

[Man with a hat]

Awesome, Amazing how realistic these models look at this scale. Really well done!

[Hod Carrier]

Brilliant!! Just brilliant!! Not only a single build, but the basis for an entire fleet complete with rolling stock and electrification masts too. What's not to love?

I have a real soft spot for 4-wide scale builds, as that's how I started participating in this hobby. All you need now is some scale track to pose your models on. 

[Paperinik77pk]

3 minutes ago, Hod Carrier said:

Brilliant!! Just brilliant!! Not only a single build, but the basis for an entire fleet complete with rolling stock and electrification masts too. What's not to love?

I have a real soft spot for 4-wide scale builds, as that's how I started participating in this hobby. All you need now is some scale track to pose your models on. 

Thanks! I completely missed that discussion - your models are awesome!!! I now see that the poles I prepared are made in the same way as yours (absolutely no blatant plagiarism intended)!  

In reality Italian poles are made more in "Lego 12v style" , but the parts used in the 80s for signals and so on are not available at all in light bluish gray, so I tried to make them in a fast way, and Technic was the only possibility.

And wow, that track is great! I was thinking - but just thinking, to make the track 3 wide. but then, it would be a mess to stretch the bogies  - It's something to be tried, I think!

[Paperinik77pk]

13 hours ago, Toastie said:

OK.

I think there needs to be a "4-wide thread" here on TrainTech. Man. This is so nice. There were recently other posts here as well. I have NO clue, how you do it, but that is irrelevant.

Three things come to mind:

1. First: You guys are ingenious.
2. These model are so nice, so iconic, so showing!
3. The part count is >considerably< lower as for 6 or 7/8+ wide models - I believe this is a true show-case advantage!

Sure: Functionality suffers. But in the 4-wide world, it is (for me) more showing than operating. I really see a new project for me: Try to rebuild your models and then put them up on shelves on my sloped attic walls.

Again: Congratulations, @Paperinik77pk: All this is beyond any of my skills.

All the best
Thorsten

Ciao Thorsten, thanks! 

I think this is an interesting way to build - functionality is really a pain for the moment, but maybe...something can be sorted out also on that specific aspect. So these things in 4-wide can really be intended as shelf queens. The idea of the "showcase base" was taken from  an "Hachette" series of models that could be bought together with a sort of encyclopedia.

This scale perfectly fits the simple IKEA shelves used for photos, pictures and small objects .I've recently put one of these in my daughter's room and I immediately thought about a "suspended" railway running all around (yes I'm not normal - I know )

I think you can easily reverse-engineer these locos and coaches, but just in case the .io file can be provided in seconds. UIC-X cars are the same also in Germany - only colors will change a bit (tan-red/tan-blue just to start).

It could be nice to have a common showcase for all these 4-wide MOCs - maybe a Flickr group with trains from all countries? 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, LEGOTrainBuilderSG said:

Gorgeous rendition of these iconic Italian locomotives. 

The 4-wide train idea is really growing on me. Makes me want to do my own version of 4-wide locomotives of the Malayan railway. 

Would definitely be a nice office table deco. 

 

Thanks!  My advice is absolutely to go on and try that because it's really fun to do!!!  

6 hours ago, CMF-1138 said:

Really well done! Such a diverse collection, and each with its own character. I really like the images with the full consists of coaches.

Thank you very much - I've always considered the "consist" part as...let's say - boring. I started knowing some of the Italian coaches starting these designs. For the moment I've used standard coaches models that can be found in all Europe - so it's a simple matter of re-coloring them with the paint scheme we like most. 

The problem will be to represent not standard country-specific coaches - but it could be a nice challenge  

5 hours ago, Asper said:

Wonderful! Great collection - you captured many details, your models are very close to the real trains.

Thanks , thanks, thanks!! 

1 hour ago, Man with a hat said:

Awesome, Amazing how realistic these models look at this scale. Really well done!

Thank you!!! It's a nice scale, indeed - I'm re-descovering the love for H0 (not only in Lego) 

[Feuer Zug]

Quite the collection of locomotives. You've blended the history in your descriptions with the designs magnificently. I do like 4-wide, and this is stellar work at that scale.

[zephyr1934]

This is some great work! 4 wide is definitely harder than 6. Your trains are stunning at any size.

 

3 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

It could be nice to have a common showcase for all these 4-wide MOCs - maybe a Flickr group with trains from all countries? 

That would be cool to see so many different builders' 4 wide in the same spot

[Toastie]

6 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

It could be nice to have a common showcase for all these 4-wide MOCs - maybe a Flickr group with trains from all countries

Why not here on EB? Could be a pinned thread at the top of the forum!

Best
Thorsten

[Paperinik77pk]

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

Why not here on EB? Could be a pinned thread at the top of the forum!

Best
Thorsten

Aaaah I thought it was not possible directly here ! 

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Aaaah I thought it was not possible directly here

Well, I believe it needs a moderator to do that  Actually I have no clue. But wait. Let us flag this to @JopieK - maybe he knows how to proceed.

Best
Thorsten

[Hod Carrier]

11 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

I now see that the poles I prepared are made in the same way as yours (absolutely no blatant plagiarism intended)!  

Heavens!! Don't be worrying about that, Davide. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Besides, it's the obvious solution to making structures at this scale, as anything brick-built would be vastly over-scale.

11 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

And wow, that track is great! I was thinking - but just thinking, to make the track 3 wide. but then, it would be a mess to stretch the bogies  - It's something to be tried, I think!

I thought about that too because the train bogies ought to be underneath the train body and not sticking out at the sides, but I agree that it might be tricky to achieve both with the track and the bogies. My solution to get around this visual problem was to try and make the bogies as narrow as possible so that it was within 4 studs width. This was the solution I came up with for the 4-wide FYRA high-speed train, which I have also used on my older 4-wide trains.

[JopieK]

13 hours ago, Toastie said:

Well, I believe it needs a moderator to do that  Actually I have no clue. But wait. Let us flag this to @JopieK - maybe he knows how to proceed.

Best
Thorsten

I think that would be a really great idea! So let's just do that.

[zephyr1934]

3 hours ago, JopieK said:

I think that would be a really great idea! So let's just do that.

Is there any chance you could hang it off of the master index instead of giving it another pinned thread? BTW, I really liked the MOC index when it was live, but that had to have been a huge amount of work to manage it. I also like the fact that the 4 wide stuff comes up in the main forum. What should someone do now with their 4 wide creation? Post to the new thread? Post to the forum? Both?

Here's a thought, why not move the 4 wide page to the master index, have a nice opening post by one of the current 4-wide builders, keep the forum open for self posts but with guidelines that the posts should consist of only two things: a representative photo and a link to a thread in the main train tech forum. That way a given MOC can have lots of discussion in its own thread without clogging up the index.

Here's another thought, make it "under 6 wide", so the occasional 1 & 2 wide builds would also fall in there.

Here's yet another thought, do something similar for the various categories listed under the "Pictorial MOC Index" It could become something like the Official Lego sets made in LDraw. (but please keep the current Pictorial MOC Index unchanged for its historical value)

 

[Paperinik77pk]

8 hours ago, JopieK said:

I think that would be a really great idea! So let's just do that.

I cannot say other than...thanks!!! It will be great fun! 

[Toastie]

4 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Here's a thought, why not move the 4 wide page to the master index, have a nice opening post by one of the current 4-wide builders, keep the forum open for self posts but with guidelines that the posts should consist of only two things: a representative photo and a link to a thread in the main train tech forum. That way a given MOC can have lots of discussion in its own thread without clogging up the index.

That is a brilliant proposal!

4 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Here's another thought, make it "under 6 wide", so the occasional 1 & 2 wide builds would also fall in there.

Again, very nice, but the "six" may make "rapid posters" fuzzy ... when there are no 5 wides (never seen that) why not make in "4 wide and even smaller"? OK, that seems to be splitting hairs, but today I spent some hours programming my ZX Spectrum - that super computer wants you to be clear: You can use >6, but >=4 is way better to keep track of all the GOSUBs and GOTOs ... (and to the rest of the world: Yes, Sinclair BASIC does not have labels or the like )

Best + thank you for these very nice ideas!
Thorsten

[Paperinik77pk]

Hi all,

I add here the new render for the FS E.424 in its original paint scheme (with central sliding gate in gray) "Castano-Isabella"

This was literally the first modern-looking Italian locomotive.

Now, let's see a Diesel locomotive, the powerful D.345 (and D.343):

It has a very very difficult shape to replicate, and the green tone is not correct - the problem is that the headlamp holders in dark green are still unavailable and bricks with grilles have terrific prices. Therefore I chose a lighter tint of green (let's imagine it is ruined by years of work!)

This is a great locomotive I particularly love for its ability to bring train transportation even on less important lines.

Here we have a local train with short "Corbellini" coaches , in late spring / summer configuration - so without the "heater" wagon (which I'm preparing for the next update) to heat the coaches.

It is currently the most difficult locomotive I tried to replicate

Ciao!

Davide

Edited April 7, 2021 by Paperinik77pk

[kondor7001]

I discovered your work just the other day.  It is nice. Keep up the inspiring work. 

 

 

[CMF-1138]

Nice job with a challenging shape. I am not familiar with the prototype, but pulling up images online, your model is easily recognizable. Brick-built striping is challenging!