Cooper

Eurobricks Vassals
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Posts posted by Cooper

  2. Posted

    These are turning out so nicely as a complete set. The real beauty of these builds is that they would fit in nicely with a range of smaller engines, whether it was a MOC or something like the engine from 7710. Personally, I'm looking forward to when you build the engine to go with this and have a complete little train.

  3. Posted

    Thanks guys.

    RE: Decals

    I'm personally not very into decals. Not sure why exactly, but I honestly can't think of one of my recent MOCs that I have applied decals to.

    RE: Future Plans

    I'm not sure I'm going to do it yet, but I may build one pure passenger car of a similar design. I do however have plans to build another steam engine. :)

  6. Posted

    The only issue with the red wheels is that you get the flanged drivers only and not the blind drivers (which are only known to exist in black)

    True, but Ben offers large red blind drivers. Granted there are no counter weights on Ben's Large Drivers (the XL ones have the counterweights).

    While LEGO may not make blind drivers in red, it would be entirely possible to use the Red LEGO Flanged Drivers with Ben's Red Blind Drivers. The only reason to go that route (that I can see) would be to use Power Functions to power the drivers and use the red traction bands with the red LEGO drivers. If you weren't going to use PF to power the drivers, then I'd just get a set of Ben's Flanged and Blind drivers. That way all of the wheels would match (counterweight wise).

  9. Posted

    I'm a bit disappointed. I finally decided to buy the parts to power my Emerald Night today. But the Belgian www.Lego.com shop states that the XL-motor and IR receiver are backordered, with shipping dates of resp. 20th and 16th april '10. It seems really hard for Lego to keep all the parts available.

    FWIW, I recently encountered something similar with the U.S. LEGO.com site. Given the lack of availability direct from LEGO I purchased two XL motors from bricklink. Those motors arrived today. I honestly can't say enough good about bricklink.

  10. Posted

    From what has been posted previously here on Eurobricks, there will be no expansion packs. As I recall Jamie Berard (LEGO designer of the Emerald Night) says as much in the "Behind the Helm" interview that Eurobricks did this past October.

    Hit bricklink now and don't look back. FWIW, the more expensive parts are the tan window frames (don't forget the glass), the grey curved slopes that make up the roof, the wheel assemblies, and the couplers.

    That's what I did. and I haven't regretted it one bit. Actually, after starting off just wanting more of the EN coaches, I jumped off into the deep end and started building 7-wide MOCs that turned into a complete train.

  14. Posted · Edited by Cooper

    7938 Passenger Train

    7939 Cargo Train

    My real hope i that the Passenger Train is another steam engine with more of the EN drivers. Then the Cargo Train could be PF based with the new train motor. Either way, I hope at least one of those sets has the EN drivers in it.

  15. Posted

    As for people not wanting to buy multiple Emerald Night's to get additional coaches. Why is this??? The price/element ratio for that set is <$0.10/piece and it comes with almost exclusively rare colors!!! What other set gives you that much Dark Green???? Plus...you get MORE STEAM WHEELS. I bought five or six of the Emerald Night, built one engine, four coaches, and parted the rest into my collection.

    I'm in agreement with most of what you have posted above (I came in with PF, so I don't have experience with the 9V part).

    I did want to specifically comment on your point about the Emerald Night. I completely agree. It's actually a good deal especially when you start looking at it as $100 worth of directly applicable train parts (8 sets of train wheels, 4 flanged and 2 blind drivers, 6 train wheels, 5 regular buffers, 10 large tan train windows and glass, 4 small tan train windows and glass, a bunch of light grey curved slopes, and that's even before you get to the dark green and dark brown elements). Honestly, not a bad deal for parts that are all completely useful for train MOCs. I have purchased at least a few extra EN sets as parts packs. Between that and hitting up bricklink to purchase more EN parts, I now have a complete PF based train that I'm really pleased with (for one it actually looks like a train, unlike the EN).

    That said, I understand that buying multiple $100 sets is not a very realistic option for the KFOLs out there that are train fans (or would be if it were a little more approachable from a cost perspective for their non-AFOL parents). Hopefully these 2010 offerings will help address that.

  16. Posted

    Over the past few weeks I have added three more Dark Red and Tan Coaches, bringing the total to 6. All together, it's starting to look like a real train. I don't have photos of everything together yet, so I'll start at the front and work to the back...

    Engine: Power Functions Southern Pacific Cab Forward - more photos and video on Flickr

    3955551169_3d5c502492.jpg

    Baggage Car - more on Flickr

    4151396335_4036b1c639.jpg

    Sleeping Coach - more on Flickr

    4178349434_32e67ab0a5.jpg

    Passenger Coach (Qty =2) - more on Flickr

    4107385661_dcc1dda8df.jpg

    Dining Car - more on Flickr

    4109860893_a7efe84c9e.jpg

    Weathered Passenger Coach - more on Flickr

    4178164169_4bc4189344.jpg

  17. Posted

    Bruce,

    Too bad brickshelf is so up and down lately. However, it still is really interesting to see that Cab Forward builds go back to the 2006 timeframe.

    BTW, Bill Ward posted a photo of your Cab Forward to my flickr stream. Really nice to see that others have taken this on. Hopefully I'll make it out to a BayLUG meeting sometime soon.

    Dave

  19. Posted

    Very nice interior - I think the double seating works OK even with the only 1-wide gangway - it makes for a more "full" looking train from the outside if you were to put more people in.

    Exactly. Seven wide seems like a pretty reasonable width. The only real downside I see to the aisle being only 1-wide is if you're actively trying to "play" by "walking" minifigs down the aisle. Otherwise, it's a pretty nice solution since seats can go against the windows on each side. Plus at 7-wide the coaches are still of a scale that they could work with my smaller engines too.

    If I counted right, they're 12 studs longer than the regular Lego length for such coaches (28 studs). Do they take curves well?

    They are actually 16 longer. They take curves and switches just fine. There is a little overhang in corners, but nothing to me that looks ungainly. My articulated Cab Forward overhangs quite a bit more in corners than these 44 long coaches do.

  20. Posted · Edited by Cooper

    In my experience to date seven wide coaches are very plate intensive to build the bases up. Actually planning the bases for my 7x44 coaches took a fair amount of planning in order to get the seams on each successive level to overlap in a robust manner.

    Here's a shot of the underside.

    4110662830_7d7c71e2c0_o.jpg

    Do you think 8 wide would be streching things? Just that it would allow 2 rows of minifig seats.

    You can do two rows with 7 wide. :wink:

    4109860893_5ce3deb0ec_o.jpg

  21. Posted · Edited by Cooper

    Thanks guys! :classic: And thanks Brickster! :blush:

    The plates were used under the windows intentionally to make a nice consistent texture throughout the side of the coach. I really can't say that I'm a fan of the 1x2 grille bricks, and smooth sided bricks didn't seem to fit with the look I wanted either. JMO, but I think the plates do a very nice job of creating texture (especially given some of the plate to plate color variation).

    Dark Red and Tan seemed to go together naturally. That said, as Brickster pointed out, the color scheme seems to recall Set 7740 (at least to me, that's the set that seems the closest). Also, I'm in complete agreement that the EN should have come with more coaches.

    The larger size and the Dark Red/Tan were both done to essentially take the EN coaches, the 7740 color scheme, and push them in a more AFOL direction.

    EDIT: Updated with Interior Photos

    4109860893_5ce3deb0ec_o.jpg

    4110624760_2bfc4a00f7_o.jpg

    4109861001_ef23a71cb7_o.jpg

    4110624710_6c59377413_o.jpg

  23. Posted

    I haven't spent nearly as much on Big Ben Bricks trainwheels, but I have purchased the large and medium drivers from Ben and the small train wheels from Ben. Much like Tony, I also have purchased two Emerald Nights. My experience with both LEGO and BBB has been extremely similar to Tony's.

    However, if you plan to create a locomotive that has powered drivers, I recommend LEGO's drivers - the added friction of the O-rings, while not 100% essential, will certainly give you a much greater performance. I also use LEGO's small wheels on all of my Power Functions tender-driver engines.

    As much as I love the quality and color selection of Ben's wheels, when I did power the drivers on an engine using Ben's Large Drivers, the engine was pretty much tapped out traction wise with just a couple of railcars in tow. :sceptic: As a result, the point made above has me strongly in the LEGO camp for Large Drivers.

    Just my opinion, but I really think that steam engines should (if at all possible) be powered through the drivers. Power Functions is just so good at putting down power through the drivers (if they have traction bands) that it seems a shame to not power the drivers.

    My favorite combination to date is using LEGO Large Drivers with Ben's Small Trainwheels. They look great together. :thumbup:

  24. Posted

    I must admit, just like most of the other guys around here, I wasn't even aware that similar engines actually existed. Absolutely brilliant - both the idea, and the MOC itself.
    I was also one of those clueless folk who had never heard of a cab forward before so I will be researching into that as soon as I have time. I have never seen one in Lego before so I would say making this one was a brave and successful move!

    Thanks guys. :blush:

    I can't profess a long term knowledge of the Southern Pacific Cab Forwards either. That said, once I saw them, I was really drawn to both the configuration and the elegant nature of the cabs. They almost have a modern steam feel. :wub: Once you see the design and read a little about how much the Southern Pacific relied on this style of steam engine, it is rather surprising (to me at least) that other rail lines did not follow suit over the 55 year history of the SP Cab Forwards (1901-1956).