Wild West - Trains, Town, Military and mini-figures

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, kabel said:

I really like the carriage, and since it's not your design, do you mind sharing how it's build?

sorry, the best i can do is point you to the seller of the file: Baskerville Bricks on Bricklink

also, since i'm typing in this thread, here is my newest train:

It's a blue logging engine numbered 4. This geared type loco is called a "Shay" after it's inventor. They could only go about 20MPH at top speed, and were very steady on rough track, hauling trains up grades that would stall any other steamer type.

This loco will have it's own logging train in addition to the red passenger train hauled by by 4-6-0 numbered 3, the green military train pulled by the 4-2-4 engine numbered 1, and the yellow freight train managed by 4-4-0 number 2.

NOTE: The design of the original Shay I redid into my version was by Stephan Pakbaz over on Flickr, as seen below. (His LDD file allowed me to build my version) Flickr link

[Murdoch17]

This Wild West model was originally LEGO set 79110 (Silver Mine Shootout) from the 2013 Lone Ranger theme. I added a more reinforced right wall and a real base-plate to support the model, as I know from experience it can be pretty flimsy if handed wrong. I also added the collapsing water tower from set 79111 (Constitution Train Chase) to the front corner as another action play feature. The model has also been heightened by five bricks to allow for regular train cars to pass through, but unfortunately it still isn't wide enough for custom locomotives with side-rods to fit through. (yet!) The natural rock formation (the skull) on top of the mine gives it it's name, and features a carved out section for two cannons to protect the mine, either from Native Americans wanting their sacred mountain back, or desperadoes looking to cash in on the (supposedly cursed) silver.

This rear view features two spots for dynamite to "explode", removing large chunks of rock to expose the silver. Over on the front you can "blow up" the water tower, blocking the train tracks and trapping the silver gondolas outside the mine, ready to be pilfered by the bad guys. Oh, and you can also see the two cannons up in the skull in this view, ready to defend the mine!

This model will be finished in real life very soon as the second to last order (the long-awaited complete set 79110) arrived yesterday, and will fit in with the other Western items I have made. (frontier town, Fort Legoredo, NA village, etc.) Just need the whole skull and some more tan parts to arrive, maybe by next week. Some of the collected parts are shown above.

Any thoughts or comments?

[Flagon_15]

Haha, Wild West Lego sets are an all-time hit with my kids! I remember having a gold mine with a cart on rails something like 15-20 years ago, but it always was behind Star Wars kits for me... but for some reason, my eldest son digs Western thematics more than anything, so I've rediscovered that now!

By the way, are those designs from "original" Lego kits or your own creations? In both cases, they're awesome.

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, Flagon_15 said:

Haha, Wild West Lego sets are an all-time hit with my kids! I remember having a gold mine with a cart on rails something like 15-20 years ago, but it always was behind Star Wars kits for me... but for some reason, my eldest son digs Western thematics more than anything, so I've rediscovered that now!

By the way, are those designs from "original" Lego kits or your own creations? In both cases, they're awesome.

Thank you! If you look at the main post again, you'll see the real-world skull rock mine and train shed while The Back To The Future time train should be done in real bricks by June 1st.

(This is an older pic, as the flux capacitor is upside down on accident and some 8-wide were changed to 6 studs wide.)

[Murdoch17]

I was inspired by a failed round house and shed from Ideas to make this Wild West arm-strong turn table in LDD. I'm thinking of doing this model instead of the the two track shed, as it is a bit smaller than the twice-as-tall shed.

[Murdoch17]

NEW wagon pictures!

"Come one, Come all! Gather 'round for a cure to end the all-too-common cold!"

It may say "bait shop" on the side, but it really is a patent "medicine" store, where Anton Dewey Cheatum makes his own brand of lethal cures using rattlesnake venom, whiskey and his special addictive ingredient... one or two tastes, and you'll come back for more until you drop (dead). Usually this happens after he has fled town in his red wagon with the citizens hard-earned cash.

This Express Stagecoach model was mostly taken from set 79108 (Stagecoach Escape) from the 2013 Lone Ranger theme. I removed some of the random colors to give it a more unified look, and replaced red with yellow as the main color for this stage while the rear baggage ejection feature still works as originally designed.

Here we see inside the stage, with the roof removed and doors opened. The brown box on the roof is the safe hauling the silver miner's pay, disguised as a steamer trunk to fool bandits. 

These wagons are for my townsfolk and their businesses. The yellow crates hold various liquor bottles for the Saloon, and the other wagon is headed for the mine with TNT and a barrel full of Whiskey.

This 1860's US Army covered ammunition wagon with cannon is inspired by set 6716 (covered wagon) from 1996's Western theme. The cannon can come detached from the wagon, and become ready for action very quickly.

(The snake oil delivery wagon and the two town wagons were designed by Baskerville bricks (seen at this Bricklink store here.) with some added flourish by me.)

[durazno33]

I like the yellow stage coach. It looks like a sharp competitor to the red one. 

I also did some modifications to the Lone Ranger mine. I'll have to post some pictures of it at some point.

[Murdoch17]

9 minutes ago, durazno33 said:

I like the yellow stage coach. It looks like a sharp competitor to the red one. 

I also did some modifications to the Lone Ranger mine. I'll have to post some pictures of it at some point.

Awesome I can't wait to see it @durazno33! Meanwhile, my Skull Mountain silver mine is being revised with a not-yet-built crane on the top of the newly made view-port wall.

With these new additions I am trying to level off the roof at just about the base of the skull. (The window shown is a place holder for different panel parts I don't have yet, and will allow views into the mine when on display.) The exploding rock feature on this side still works, and I have included a place to hang the dynamite when it's not being used for play.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Chief Big Bear, his braves, and his lone tepee

...Notice I only said one tepee! The honor of having a roof belongs to the Chief (or so he says!) and his braves apparently aren't too happy about sleeping with their horses.

In actuality, I ordered too few Lone Ranger tepee covers from Bricklink. (This is simply because I did not know only 1 top covers only half the teepe.... thus I needed to order 3 more covers for the three tepees I'm building.) In all, there will be five when it's all said and done with one for each Native American.

[Murdoch17]

Revered among the west are the lawmen, the get-it-done type of folk, like Wyatt Earp, for example. This is the ride of not a single one of those type of men. The wagon you see here is the official Mayor's carriage of the town of Fort Legoredo. This wagon was used for the second though fifth mayors, with the first (the one who died before this wagon was delivered) being the only truly honest and good one in the bunch. He was pushed off of Boulder Cliff Canyon in 1872 by cattle ranchers for giving the Native Americans a fair share of the land they were owed in a treaty that was signed by all involved.... unfortunately, this mattered not to the ranchers.

The next eight years and four mayors were full of lust, greed, bullets, and backstabbing. It wasn't until 1880 that a real era of economic boom and social change began in the Fort Legoredo area.

Oh, and the Brickota tribe of Native Americans now has three tepees!

(Please NOTE: The mayor's wagon was designed by Baskerville bricks as seen at this Bricklink store here.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Murdoch17

[Klaus-Dieter]

The coaches and carts you built look really excellent, Murdoch17!

The most I like the "Anton's Brit Shop" coach.

[Murdoch17]

6 hours ago, Klaus-Dieter said:

The coaches and carts you built look really excellent, Murdoch17!

The most I like the "Anton's Brit Shop" coach.

It's actually a a "Bait" shop, as in Bait and Tackle or (maybe Bait and Switch, if you want to go with illegal business practices). But thanks for the compliment!

Also, the mine has been updated in it's topic here.

[scroggle]

I like the improved gold mine and addition of train compatibility.

[Murdoch17]

In this picture you will find handy pointer arrows to each updated building and words describing what it's function is supposed to be. The only building missing from this picture is the town's train station, but that was a bit obvious looking with the tracks, platforms, etc. The bank and the train station are the only two buildings already built in real life... and the bank still needs work to be 100% finished.

Each building is open back for play-ability and almost all of them have inside details except for the town hall. (as I was not sure what to put in there) I eventually want to put signs on all the buildings  designating each business, either using printed 1 x 1 tiles or carefully placed stickers. The Sheriff's Office with exploding jail cell is mostly from Colby City Showdown (set 79109) while the bank is heavily modified Gringotts Bank from Diagon Alley (set 10217). The rest of the buildings are designed from my imagination.

To be built in early 2019, hopefully by March!

[Murdoch17]

BUMP:

Added revised Fort Legoredo to the main post!

[Murdoch17]

Major BUMP:

The building session for the western town will be soon, as I am just waiting on one more order to (hopefully) arrive tomorrow. Also, the Mad Scientist building was missing three important structural parts, so I've ordered the $20 Blacksmith's shop along with the replacement parts to finish that maybe next week.

This all means that the six Western buildings will finally be done very soon after waiting 2+ years to build them, and the Mad Science model will be done almost a year after it's design was started!

This blacksmith's store was heavily inspired by 2011 Ninjago set 2508. (Blacksmith Shop) I revised the colors scheme, removed the rotating rear wall, and  added a holder for a future sign that will read "Blacksmith" via a custom sticker. I will be using this figure for the shop keeper, minus the cowl and with a different head.

Also, the Blacksmith's shop has been added to the first post!

Edited February 10, 2019 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Major real world update to the first post!

Well, it's taken me several years (maybe five, I lost count?) but I've finally got my Wild Western town put together as the last (major*) piece of the puzzle for my Wild Western layout. I've just added the buildings all to the first post, so go take a look!

*Granted, I still need to make the army Fort and railroad truss bridge, but I'm so close!

[Pdaitabird]

The update looks good! What power system (if any) do you use for the trains?

[Murdoch17]

On 2/17/2019 at 5:53 PM, Pdaitabird said:

The update looks good! What power system (if any) do you use for the trains?

Sorry for the late reply @Pdaitabird! I hand power all my trains (motors and such are too expensive!), though you can always add a 9v motor to the passenger train under one of the coaches, or add in one of my PF powered boxcars (that I haven't built yet) to the freight train.

Also, while I have your attention, I was inspired by your water tower MOC to re-purpose the model for my Wild Western town / railroad. The tower top rotates a full 360 degrees with the water pipe, allowing the engineer to pull up, get his loco full of (imaginary) water, shove the pipe away, and move on. I plan on building the model next time I order from BrickLink.

This bridge design was originally downloaded by me (I don't remember the name of the original designer who created the bridge) from the LEGO Factory / Design By ME page in 2010-ish and was never built in real life due to questions about it's strength. I came across it again while looking at my MOCpage account's older files and made it into the version seen above using newer parts and a longer frame quite a while ago.

More recently, I revised the deck where the track goes to be able to take the RC track up and be able to put down 9V down more easily. (We run 9V trains at shows in Gateway LUG.) In short, the track is now more easily removable to become 9V, 12V, or even a road bridge. This model will be built at a much later date than the water tower.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

slight update / bump:

Here is your water tower (modified, of course!) in-the-brick @Pdaitabird!

Also, this is a quick update to the western town, which now has stickers made for the all the building's signs printed by my father on his label-maker. (there it even a new post office as well!)

Edited March 5, 2019 by Murdoch17

[Pdaitabird]

Nice MOD! I'm always glad when someone can take inspiration from my designs!

[Murdoch17]

Slight bump, in anticipation of new real-world builds as seen below in LDD format:

The bridge is coming together shortly, I only have one late order left to get here to make this a full reality.

Fort Legoredo has just been ordered tonight, and will be be built as soon as the parts come into my possession. I've even ordered a few more "Lone Ranger" Calvary soldiers, bringing my total up to 10 enlisted men plus the commandant of the Fort. Their is even a special item stuck in with the Fort for the soldiers to protect, to be revealed later on. 

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or ideas?

[Murdoch17]

This through-truss bridge design was originally downloaded by me (I don't remember the name of the original designer who created the bridge) from the LEGO Factory / Design By ME page in 2010-ish and was never built in real life due to questions about it's strength. I came across it again while looking at my MOCpage account's older files and made it into the version seen above using newer parts and a longer frame quite a while ago. (and as to those original questions about it's strength: It's built like a safe, as I can pick it up with a single finger by the top..... just don't drop it, because the reddish brown parts won't survive the landing!)

More recently, I revised the deck where the track goes to be able to take the RC track up and be able to put down 9V down more easily. (We run 9V trains at shows in Gateway LUG.) In short, the track is now more easily removable to become 9V, 12V, or even a road bridge.

The bridge fits any of my trains, and should fit all official LEGO trains except for double stack containers such as sets 10219 (Maersk Train) and 10170 (TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car).

(I have the Fort parts in my possession, just need to find time to build it!)

[Murdoch17]

Two new wagons for my Wild West layout… one for the local bad guy, and one for the miner’s payroll. I even have a safe inside the lock-box cage on the back of the payroll wagon. Both are MODs of two different sets, with the bad guy’s being set 75951 (Grindelwald’s Escape) and the payroll wagon wagon is from set 6765 (Gold City Junction).

[Murdoch17]

This new train station was inspired by set 71044, Disney train and Station. It now has a new chimney flue featuring two fireplaces, freight area with dual sliding doors, and a longer loading platform of five tracks in length. The clock on the tower is gone, replaced by a double sided clock above the center door and where the word LEGOREDO should be spelled out in printed 1 x 1 tiles.

Now, I know this is a pretty fancy station for a frontier Fort town of the American Wild-Western period, but I'm going to say that since the town is in the middle of a twenty-year silver rush boom (circa 1873 - 1894), they splurged a bit and made their new train station one for the ages. (Their old wooden one burned down in The Great Prairie Fire of August 1884. The town was largely unscathed by the fire, but the original station was in ruins. See my many other models in their dedicated topic here.)

This the rear of the station with everything all closed up. The four exposed studs in the middle of the wall should have the year 1885 in 1 x 1 printed tiles on top of them. (They are not in LDD so they are left off, same as the LEGOREDO ones from the track side of the building.)

 

The inside is accessible via three opening wall flaps and a single lift-away roof section. To get them to open you do as follows:
Pull on the two wall lamps to get those sections to open, while the upper left panel is is open-able via the tan brick one the far right side. Also, The middle roof section pops up and off easily, as it is held on by only eight studs.

The interior is kinda bare compared to the heavily detailed set it's based off of, but it does feature some basic furniture. The lower floor features the fireplace, desk with old-fashioned cash register, plus three chairs in the passenger depot, next to the door to the freight section. Upstairs is bare for now except for the fireplace.

BUILDER'S NOTES: I might not be able to get this new station done in time for the Christmas-time Lego show I am putting those other Western models in, but the new station will be able to built with this one without using any of the old brown one's parts... so it's not like I'll be missing a station or anything in the display. I've already got most of the blue wall bricks and dark red roof parts pulled out, I just need to order the rest of the nearly 1,900 bricks. Hopefully, I can get it done by November, with real world pictures uploaded by Dec 1st, or maybe sooner, if I'm lucky.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Murdoch17