MaineBrickFan
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Everything posted by MaineBrickFan
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holiday characters Expand the Winter Village Contest V
MaineBrickFan replied to Hinckley's topic in LEGO Town
I need a Moderator;s help -- accidentally posted my entry in the Train Tech forum. Would somebody mind moving it, so I do not have to double post? -
Hello, all! Happy to present a 7-wide boxcar, which is probably the single most famous contribution my state ever made to U.S. railroads. BAR "State of Maine" 40-foot boxcar (7 wide) by Patrick Strawbridge, on Flickr BAR "State of Maine" 40-foot boxcar (7 wide) by Patrick Strawbridge, on Flickr BAR "State of Maine" 40-foot boxcar (7 wide) by Patrick Strawbridge, on Flickr (I do intend to add more rungs to the end ladder, so this is not quite final, but close enough since I already took the photos!) Here is a shot of a restored prototype: These heated, insulated boxcars were first purchased in the 1950s by the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad to ship potatoes grown in norther Maine throughout the Eastern United States. In the offseason, they would be leased to other RRs for use as general freight cars. As a result, it was not uncommon to see these cars and their eye-catching red, white and blue livery all over the U.S. They are a favorite of a lot of RR models, but I had not yet seen one in Lego. The basic design of my MOC is patterned after Cale Leiphart's AAR boxcars, with modifications to make them seven-wide and to match the livery and plug doors. This is also my first MOC using my "purist" trucks, which were inspired by the well-known PennLUG/Railbricks design and some experiments by Matt Csenge. C&C welcome!
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MOC: "State of Maine" BAR boxcar (7-wide)
MaineBrickFan replied to MaineBrickFan's topic in LEGO Train Tech
Thanks everybody for the kind words! Yes, BAR did have some of those Ugly Ducklings. I mainly model MEC, but these cars would travel across the MEC roads en route to Boston, New York and points south. Good point on the bearings. I will make that adjustment. The bars allow a modified 1x1 plate to hang off, so an easy adjustment. The decals are O-Scale waterslides from MicroScale. I have not even begun to think about creating my own decals. (One thing at a time) -
This looks really great. I like all the details -- the pallets, the swamp coolers, light fixtures and sign, among others.
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Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion
MaineBrickFan replied to The Jersey Brick Guy's topic in LEGO Town
The interior details look fantastic. Definitely PR quality.... -
Advice on displaying a layout at a local train show
MaineBrickFan replied to ecmo47's topic in LEGO Train Tech
A few thoughts from somebody who has done this twice now... 1. The PF trains will give you three hours of run time, depending on speed and weight of your trains. If you have more trains then tracks, you can actually stretch them out by rotating. But one way or another yo uwill need to recharge, so you should think about how to do it where you are and how easy it is to access the battery boxes. 2. Ropes are better, IMO. Although some theft occurs, the bigger issue is kids being grabby with trains as they go by. Derailments with Lego trains can be catastrophic. Plus sometimes you want some space on the outside of your layout to make adjiustments, repairs, etc. 3. At most shows, people will trade some time watching a neighboring layout to give others a break. In my experience, your table will be one of the busiest and most popular. 4. Stuff will happen. Trains will break, tracks will short out, etc. The troubleshooting and adaptation is part of the fun. I really enjoy exhibiting and interacting with the (often awed) visitors. -
Probably worth its own post!
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I have found that making a commitment to exhibit through BrickFair and my local LUG really got me focused. It provides an all-important deadline, without which I cannot get much done. I highly recommend finding some way to exhibit (even local fairs or stores may provide opportunities in the absence of a nearby LUG or event).
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I bought this set last night and built it. It is a fantastic experience, very playable, and enormously fun to build. I would buy at RRP without regrets, and am likely to get a second set myself.
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Sounds great. As somebody without any mind storms or DCC experience I am very interested in an intuitive, versatile system that can be implemented out of the box. This seems like a potential solution. Very interested to hear of others who have tried this system.
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Very nice! Clean and attractive build. Just as ideas, I might add some 1x1 dark red plates so the bottom of the canopy is flush, and perhaps do a mosaic doormat of 1x1 tiles in place of the two tan 2x2 tiles. That could be a way to inject a little color in. Flower boxes on the upper windows might be another way -- but I very much like it as it is!
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^ Capital idea!
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It seems like the rise of licensed sets has driven the minimization of the train theme, as well. The investment, production rrequirements and potential return from the licensed sets necessarily provides a smaller window for non-licensed themes (as well as direct market competition in some cases, see Pirates and Castle). And, as many inside and outside TLG have noted, train sets just do not register high on the target market demographics, which meansd LEGO prefers to direct it's non-licensed focus at CIty, Friends, etc. Frankly, I am glad we have 2 City trains, a Creator trian, and an alternate (non-motorozed) train in production on a regular basis right now. It's more than enough to keep part prices (relatively) low and quench our thirst for new designs and inspirations..
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Does anyone know what happened to Locomotive Annie?
MaineBrickFan replied to Pizzareno's topic in LEGO Train Tech
I've always had the same question about kuypher. -
US Transport Security Agency/Travelling with LEGO
MaineBrickFan replied to JSN's topic in General LEGO Discussion
I frequently carry PAB cups inboard flights from trips to NYC, and while all bags are x-rayed it has never prompted a response or additional search. My guess is they are used to seeing a lot stranger things than that... -
I thought I would just chime in to offer my perspective on BrickFair, having attended and exhibited at my first at NH this year. It was great! One of the biggest surprises for me were the amount of bricks I received as part of my registration. Door prizes, bingo, contests, the goodie bag, parts drafts, etc. Add in the opportunity to hear from Jamie Berard, Tim Courtney, Kevin Hinkle, and many other AFOL exhibitors, and it was an exceptionally fantastic value. The private convention is really worth the extra cost --and it's a much bigger part of the weekend than the public hours. It was also quite inspiring to see others' work and get the benefit of their ideas and techniques. From the mosaics, to castle, to LOTR (including ShaydDeGrai's unbelievable, winning build), to space, etc., just a ton of inspired MOCs and friendly people. Most also were quite tolerant of my 10-year-old son, who joined me for the second part of the weekend and was eager for opportunities to "help" out. And the organizers were very good: to the point, reasonable in all aspects, and good communication for n00bs like me. I really appreciate all the work Todd and his crew put in. I definitely intend to be at next year's NH event, and may try to venture to Virginia at some point. That show is supposed to be quite the contrast in scale with the small NH event. Go, if you can!
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Kickstarter: ME Models Tracks for both metal and ABS only track pieces
MaineBrickFan replied to JopieK's topic in LEGO Train Tech
Got in for $100. Will be my first metal track. -
Hello all: As promise,d here are some photos of the layout I presented at Brickfair 2014 in Manchester, NH. I decided to go with a working cargo yard, patterned loosely off of the operations of the Maine Central railroad in the later 20th century. The cargo trains for MEC (often pulled by a GP7 od the type I built for the layout) regularly hauled pulpwood (non limber grade) logs to the state's paper mills. So I tried to capture some of that quintessential railyard activity while also keeping the layout fun for all ages. I hopu you like it! Some overview pictures: The signal tower was loosely patterned after PT Tower in Rigby Yard, South Portland, ME. All buildings have interiors. In a concession to time I chose only to MOD the 60059 logging truck: I built a new back end with a second trailer. The shed is bullt on a single extra-large gray baseplate (48 studs). It sits on an elevation of about four bricks -- for reasons that will be apparent soon!. The shed roof comes off in two pieces, like the Simpsons House roof. There is a center beam that holds the "cupola" area. You may notice my homage to the 10027 train shed tools. Ooops! An 8-wide flat and two six-wide boxcars that I built (with help form m 10-year-old son) to fill out the layout. The pink hobo was a last-minute addition. I am very pleased with this bulkhead flat, depicted here being loaded with pulpwood. Get back here, bacon! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did building and showing it!
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MOC: MEC 573 (EMD GP7, aka "Mr. Miller's Engine")
MaineBrickFan replied to MaineBrickFan's topic in LEGO Train Tech
Thanks to all for your nice comments. I like the CSR red livery, but, as greenmtvince noted, it is very reminscent of mid-century B&M and, being in Maine, I love the Pine Green and Harvest Gold look too much not to start out there. I was torn on dark green vs. regular green, as I do think the dark green is closer to the real color. In the end time and availability was the issue; I had the green bricks on hand and did not want to wait on BL orders. Perhaps when I go back to add the lights 'll redo it in dark green (now that I can get a more accurate piece count). I'd love to see the PennLUG boxcar -- I did a quick google search to no avail. Glad to know there's another New Englander trainfan around -- hopefully we can get together at BF next year (when it's not on Mother's Day, thankfully!) -
Survey: New parts and new colors
MaineBrickFan replied to Bonaparte's topic in General LEGO Discussion
I was a little stunned yesterday to realize there is no green 1 x 1 brick with stud on one side. There of course is a green headlight/Erling brick, but the offset can make a difference when trying to do some SNOT work. The stud on one side brick is available in lime green and dark green, but not regular green. . -
Well, the 45% price hike is not great, but I thought an earlier thread said that K-boxes had been discontinued entirely. Is there any official policy in the U.S> as to what can be purchased by the box?
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I can confirm that the Rockefeller store does charge above RRP, at least on the larger sets. I believe that PAB and some of the small sets may be at RRP (or maybe I just do not notice). An alternative with a good LEGO selection (including some of the older themes/sets that may be discontinued sooner elsewhere) is the FAO Schwarz toy store a few blocks away, and I do not think they mark up. I have not been to TRU in Times Square, and cannot address their mark-up, other than to note that TRU's typical U.S. mark-up can be 20% higher than LEGO RRP.
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Has anybody confirmed this change of policy in the States? Maybe it's being implemented to prevent bricklink sellers from loading up, but this is a really useful option for those of us building train or other large layouts and in need of specific parts (2x4 bricks for mountains, grass, etc.). I suppose we can spend all day camped out at the PAB wall loading cup after cup, but I don;t think that serves us or LEGO.
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Truly marvelous. So many little details right -- the stairs, the streetlights, the traffic signals. Fantastic job.
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Love the Wampa easter egg! As usual, top-shelf work. Great job -- the kind of layout I aspire to build one day.