bummelsp4449

Thank you! Well the problem I ran into with the nose was that LEGO slopes are simply too steep. Both the point of the blue paint going downwards (just below the headlight), and the point all in grey facing forwards are actually quite gradual compared to the overall size and scale of the locomotive, and LEGO really doesn't have anything like that; except maybe for cheese bricks. I tried replacing both front points on the locomotive with cheese bricks, but to me it just didn't look good. I can post a screenshot if you want, but IMO the gradual slopes used by tiles and plates are about the closest ways I can think of. Though if you have ideas, please don't hesitate to let me know! :)

Ah I see; is this what you had in mind? What looked like jumpers on the windshield piece, in the same row as the tiles, are actually the hinges that allow the whole piece to sit at the angle it does. I had to move the hinges down a row both on the roof and the windshield piece to allow for cheese bricks all the way across, though looking at the picture I did forget to exchange the 1x1 cheese bricks for 1x2's like you mentioned; so I'll go do that real quick. Otherwise I was able to add the brackets, and extend the tile as you mentioned. Thanks again for the tips! Haha, yes I definitely thought about it. Unfortunately the loco is 52 studs long (excluding the magnet couplers), and about 56 studs long with couplers. So close! Actually the hole in the roof was for the on/off switch on the battery pack; I already designed a plug with a boat stud on the bottom that would set on top of the button just with gravity, and when not depressed would sit flush with the roof, so it would just look like another 2x2 tile. I don't know whether I would need to leave a gap for the eye of the receiver, as admittedly I've never really worked PF before; thus I was mostly basing this design off of the way LEGO designed 60051. That's an excellent idea though, when it comes time to actually run the loco that's likely what I'll use! Thank you for the great suggestion!

Thank you all for the kind words and constructive (literally) advice! Which way were you thinking of pointing the cheese bricks on top? If I put the larger side towards the back, I can just barely fit them under the existing roof; though the gap isn't quite big enough, so the roof is pushed up ever so slightly (not really noticeable though). As for the sides of the nose, I think the brackets are an excellent idea! It will take a bit of re-engineering, but from playing around with it a bit I think it will definitely look a lot better. Unfortunately at the very top of where the new brackets would be, there is a big gap that I can't seem to get rid of (right under the very front end of the roof on each side; the front windshield panel doesn't cover it even with cheese bricks). Otherwise I'll post back with some screenshots once I've finished making the improvements. Thanks again!

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, but I've been building LEGOs for quite a few years. I was surprised upon doing some Googling at how few LEGO models of the P42 have been made, since while it usually isn't well known for it's attractive looks, it is the most commonly used passenger locomotive used in the United States. Since I'm one of the weird ones that actually likes both the look of the Genesis and the Phase V paint scheme, I decided to try my hand at recreating it. It's built to 8 studs wide, though admittedly I sacrificed the scale a bit to make the locomotive taller so as to add more details. Overall, I think I got pretty close to capturing the 'feel' of the real thing. The model is basically hollow inside, and is built to use a battery pack, receiver, and PF motor (note the square-shaped hole on the roof, where the on/off switch would be if the battery pack was installed. Let me know what you think! Link to full-sized images (and more pictures): https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5yC5kC