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Hello together, we have the beginning of October, so time for an new OcTRAINber ;-) Whereby I will be honest: I started with this project already at the beginning of September (after the announcement of the topic for this OcTRAINber) and thus in the construction a month ahead. But I first wanted to get a feeling for whether I can even create such a project in the short time. I therefore show here in the first days the construction progress of September and then approach after a few days the actual state on my desk. Ps: for the readers from a German forum: please do not spoil ;-) Thomas
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[OcTRAINber 2022 - Moc] - FS Vnx806.200 in 1:87 scale
Paperinik77pk posted a topic in LEGO Train Tech
Hi all!!! Some days ago, back from holidays, I found here on EB that the new OcTRAINber contest has been started earlier!!! Well, I was expecting it in October, so I was a bit "unprepared"!!! Topic is particularly interesting , but it's difficult to immediately figure out what to prepare. I was quite lucky, since during the holidays, I had the the opportunity to spot a special hystoric train on the Ceva-Ormea line, in Piedmont. This line was literally the last one adopting the three-phases alternate current "Italian" system, and was converted to diesel-only in 1973. Therefore, being unusable on the new DC system, all the old locomotives were scrapped, or abandoned...or in one specific case...CONVERTED. Here's a specific page (in Italian - but can be translated by the browser), showing the Ceva Ormea in its electric and diesel era. As you can see,the AC system required two overhead wires. http://www.stagniweb.it/foto6.asp?File=l_aln2&Inizio=26&Righe=10&InizioI=1&RigheI=50&Col=5 Among all the AC locomotives, the FS E.550 was the smallest electric "three-phases" locomotive of the whole lot. A small wonder that allowed to pull trains on the terrible Giovi line, which was a real pain for steam locomotives. The AC system was affordable, easy to use, reliable, and smooth. The only problem was related to the fixed speeds (25,50,75, and the top limit of 100 Km/h) , which declared the end of the AC and the adoption of the still used DC system (started with the glorious E.626) The E.550 is only 9.5 meters long, has 5 axles (central one with plain wheels, the outer axles have a lateral movement of 20mm), so it's a pretty agile locomotive. I sincerely DO NOT KNOW if it has ever been used on the Ceva-Ormea line. Now that we've introduced the E.550, let's forget about it for a moment,and let's move again to the Ceva-Ormea line - to be precise to Ceva Station, which is near to my holidays house. Back in the late 80s, my dad used to travel from Genova to Ceva during summer months, staying in our house for weekends. Therefore, on fridays my mom and me used to wait him at Ceva station. This station has a backyard with some dead tracks, which at the time were full of old stuff and easily accessible, since it was near the car parking. In this yard I could see a lot of things - an old shunter, some wagons, a tender... and THAT thing ! For more info, look here - the first photo is clearly depicting what I used to see back in the days: http://www.stagniweb.it/foto6.asp?File=trifase2&Inizio=27&Righe=10&InizioI=1&RigheI=100&Col=5 At the time I tought it was an old, odd diesel snowplow, resembling me a...slug. Then a very nice man working at the station explained me that it once WAS a locomotive and then it was converted to a dummy unit, needing another locomotive to push it. It's marked as VNX 806.200, and it's basically an E.550 without motor,rods,electrical equipment...and with a big snow plow mounted frontally. It was used to clean the Ceva-Ormea line and was permanently assigned (and parked) in Ceva station. I saw a restored VNX at the Savigliano's museum, but it was another unit (VNX 806.221). The 806.200 is currently parked in another station near Turin (I hope waiting for a full restore). This is what I want to propose this year for OcTRAINber contest, and I can tell you it will be in 1:87 (4-wide) and will be a display only model. There will be also an E.550, so I can show the BEFORE and AFTER together (in a pretty limited space!) See you in the next days!!! Davide -
My contribution for this years Octrainber "Critters" is Vollert Robot DER 100 "Leonhard Weiss", a tiny little modern shunter engine I saw the other day in real live traveling from Stuttgart to Nürnberg in Germany. A quick google search brought me to www.eisenbahndienstfahrzeuge.de with some pictures and additional information about this a bit strange looking "thing" on rails. The shape looks a bit odd but it might be a challenge for a LEGO model, especially the dark grey triangle next to the front windows. But yes, not another KÖF, but something modern. And Circuitcubes Bluetooth controlled mini motors are waiting here to be used in a train MOC. The prototype was build by the German company Vollert. Vollert does offer a few shunting robots from very tiny to mid sized locomotives. The Robot DER 100 has a total length of 5,45 m and a total weight of approx. 44 tons. It has a pulling capacity of 2,400 tons. This robot is powered either electric (cable or battery) or diesel-electric. As option it can operate in explosive atmosphere environments, e.g. chemical plants. The version I saw is operated by the German construction and building company Leonhard Weiss which is well known in railway construction. The LEGO MOC also will be powered by battery electric but I will not pull 2,400 tons of rolling stock ;-) But it will (hopefully) offer enough space for at least 2 Curcuitcube mini motors to power the drive and as special function a decoupling unit. If this works, I will get a remote controlle shunter with a high play value. Attaching a small linear actuator directly to the motor seems to work. Now I need to squeeze in everything in the dark grey/yellow body of the Vollert Robot shunter. A few years ago I already integrated a decoupling unit powered with PF in a 12 Volt MOC engine. So I already have some knowledge to integrate LEGO set 7862 in a locomotive. Stay tuned for the further development of my LEGO version of the Vollert Robot DER 100 ...
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Hi all, since it's now published on Brick Model Railroader group, I can finally present also here in EuroBricks my second entry, this time in "MOW vehicle" section: You already know it from the WIP thread - it's a small little patchwork of two Fiat 600T/850T vans and a FIAT 500 499,5cc (21HP) motor. Here's the full story! And here's some bonus content!!! Presentation for Octrainber ends here , but there are some other photos: Transmission is on only one axle, as in the prototype, and it's using (again!!! ) the twisted rubber band transmission. The battery is a 200Mah Li-Po, connected to a small circuit in order to charge-discharge and manage the output to the motor. It can be recharged with an USB Adapter (in this case a serial to USB adapted I had at home). And two videos, showing the rubber band transmission and a small track with the 500 in action! https://www.flickr.com/photos/138174786@N04/51670350725/in/album-72157720126403108/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/138174786@N04/51673059120/in/album-72157720126403108/ I hope you like it! Ciao! Davide P.S. for reference! For more information, please refer to this site (it can be translated) https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2017/07/29/draisina-fiat/ and to this video, showing a restoration of the Fiat 500 Draisina - which inspired the Giovanni and Giorgio story (Italian only, sorry, maybe it can work with subtitles) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7vwRs0Akkk&t=211s
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Hello, it´s OcTRAINber-Time.... WIP story and progress of "my" Köf II: I wanted to build a Köf for a long time. Yes, I know, it's not a special locomotive and has been done well in Lego. But not by me. From the beginning, it was clear to me: a locomotive must be able to drive alone, not a freight car with an engine behind it as a drive! This is not really feasible for a Köf in scale 1:41 with pure Lego means. 9V motor would be a solution, but since I am not a 9V driver, have 0 track material for it, the 9V solution is out for me. All known conversions with PF/PF Lego Technic are too big for me and would not fit to scale next to my other models. About a week ago came the announcement for the competition OcTRAINber 2021: small shunting locomotives or maintenance cars etc. were the topic. I combine: I have an unused Circuit Cube engine lying in front of me, I want to build a Köf and there is just a suitable Wettberb. Ok, then I'll build the Köf now and put other topics on the back burner for now. Ok, let's go.... at the beginning is the research. The Köf II is really very small. Link to a sketch, I come there in my scale to about 16 studs length without buffers / coupler Circuit Cube + motor is small, but somehow the Köf II is even smaller. So I thought about the placement of the motor. The first try went wrong. The motor builds up too deep at the bottom and grinds on the top of the rail. This does not work with switches and level crossings. Ok, so set the motor higher and roughly mark out the outer edges. The disadvantage of this motor position are the many necessary gears (friction losses), the advantage is, I can drive both axes. You can also see nicely how small the Köf is to become. One day later: I didn't like the many gears and I also had a crazy idea for the front. It needs space and therefore the engine has to give way: Motor is now 90° tilted. I have fewer gears in use and can still drive both axles. Nice. But the installation there is also difficult and I need MORE space on top for pretty design.... So radically new approach thought out. Motor comes down again, but turned to the side, so that it has 1/2 plate distance to the top of the rail. Advantage: one gear less (even less is not possible^^), both axles can be driven, lots of space on the top. Disadvantage: does it hold? The whole thing is also not so nice from a constructional point of view, because I have to leave the grid inside for the motor, too. The cabin sits all the time also already 1/2 plate in the grid shifted (in height), so that everything becomes very interesting. This was the moment when I also had to test the whole thing with real stones: yes, it works and the thing drives: Now I have a LOT of ;-) Space and can be filled with stupid ideas. But that's another story.... Thomas
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[OcTRAINber] Hogwarts Express on Glenfinnan Viaduct - Reimagined
Phil B posted a topic in LEGO Train Tech
My submission for OcTRAINber 2020: This was originally intended to be a 3x3 baseplate sized full microscale diorama of the Hogwarts Express crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct, with the Weasley's flying car chasing it. Alas, time and other duties were not fair, and last weekend I had to reimagine the project into a much smaller size. But I am glad I did, as I think it came out really well - hopefully my woeful photography skills still allow some of its glory to shine. Couple of "Where is Waldo's?" - Did you spot the bear? - The construction crew at work? - The fallen tree? -
Warning: long post ahead! Go and get your cuppa first... This thread was supposed to be my 3-stage WIP-story and entry for the BMR OcTRAINber 2019 Technic Challenge. I was ecstatic when the theme was announced, trains+technic is exactly what I like building. Unfortunately, life conspired against me, and I have no access to my bricks this month. I can still enter the contest, but with an unpublished 3.5-year-old version of the model, rather than a new one as I would have liked. This also means the pictures and videos are far from ideal, since they were only taken for a personal record rather than a contest entry. Nevertheless, here we go. My subject: the British Railways Plasser Theurer "General Purpose Crane" GPC72. A fairly simple, robust and versatile self-propelled maintenance crane, they were often used for track laying. They could be coupled up and work in tandem to replace large track panels on double track lines, or work over one end lifting individual rails and components. For a whole host of prototype photos, visit Paul Bartlett's amazing site: https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/plassercrane My model V1 was built in March 2015. I had only recently acquired Power Functions components, and decided to have a go at building a decent, functioning rail crane. The result looks a bit of a mess, but worked rather well and proved the concept worked in LEGO. The two switches were used to operate the two m-motors, mounted side-by-side under the chassis. The nearest one is clearly connected directly to the winch spool, whilst the far one operated a gear train to slew the superstructure. The boom was raised and lowered manually, using the mini linear actuator - I'd ran out of motors and space by this point, and the switches meant this was never going to be a fully remote-controlled model anyway. Of course, it was a bit of a cheat. Power, propulsion, and speed control of the functions was provided by a "PF wagon". I could have built it into a Class 08... but I didn't. Overall, the crane worked surprisingly well and was great to play simulate operations with, but it just looked a bit... odd. I wasn't really satisfied with messy cables and the PF wagon either. Therefore, a year later, V2 was built. The functionality and controls remained exactly the same, but everything from the mechanism to the aesthetics was rebuilt from the ground up. And she looks much better for it! Slightly longer buffer-to-buffer and adhering to my now-standard 7w (perfect for British models), there's more space to fit everything in. The battery box is mounted sideways under the front bonnet, which makes it slightly too blocky for the prototype but it looks good enough. The motors are in similar positions to before, and the switches have moved to the rear bonnet. The IR receiver was the one component I didn't bother to hide, but the real thing has a fair amount of clutter above deck too so I wasn't too bothered. The boom is only red because I didn't have a yellow one when I took these photos! Use of this part over standard bricks allowed me to include boom extension as a manual function. Eventually I got a yellow boom, and replaced the over-sized pulleys with twice as many smaller ones. Note that the battery box had also been stolen for something else by this point! Annoyingly, these sub-standard photos and unpolished model must be my entry for "OcTRAINber - The Technic Challenge", since it's the latest model I've built and filmed. So here it is. But that doesn't mean this model doesn't stop there! I've been building several digital versions since 2016, culminating in V3 - the ultimate. This was what I'd hoped to get home, build and enter for the contest, but it's not going to happen until at least Christmas now. With cleaner (if blockier) lines, stronger motor mountings and another complete redesign for the superstructure, she's better than ever. I pondered fitting in a micro motor to control the boom remotely, but it didn't sit well, would prevent unlimited 360-degree rotation, and I can't find many sold in the UK. I did make sure this design allows easy replacement of the switches with an IR receiver though, and vice-versa. If some of the part choices seem a little odd, it's because I'm planning to build it from my existing collection of bricks - I hope to build this latest model, if there's time over Christmas. Until then, more photos and V3's LDD file are available at https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/general-purpose-crane. Happy building!
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“Everything that happens once can never happen twice. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” If there is one thing at BMR that this could apply for, definitely now that September is coming to a close, it would be the month of OcTRAINber. And yes, just like last year, we would like to announce that this year there will indeed be another OcTRAINber building challenge! Just like last year and the year before, OcTRAINber isn’t just a regular challenge, it’s a themed challenge. Two years ago it was all about ridiculous long trains, last year it was all about foreign trains, and this year the challenge is… The Technic Challenge! As you know, OcTRAINber is all about building outside of your comfort zone. Ofcourse, all of us motorize our trains, be it with PUP, PF, IR, 9V, 12V or anything in between. But in real life, not only the wheels move. There is so much more going on in trains and trackside structures that moves around, or wiggles, or turns, or whatever it does, as long as it makes a movement. So, for this year, we thought it would be fun to challenge our Lego Train community to come up with as much train-related stuff that makes movement, other than just the regular motorization of a locomotive. And, different than the last two years, this time it doesn’t have to be a train, it can also be a trackside structure! As long as it has a form of movement not necessary to let it run on the tracks, you are good to go! Rules As per tradition, we won’t tell you as of yet any of the specifics we will use to score builds until October 1st, but, as per tradition, we will give the general rules that are necessary to enter your builds and start planning! “Moving” is defined as: A movement of any locomotive, rolling stock, structure, or other railroad-related item that is NOT indented to propel the item forwards or backwards on track. Of course, the item can have these movements (we even recommend doing this, because static trains are soooo boring), but you will only be scored on extra movements, like doors opening, or running vents, or a moving telehandler on a goods dock… So, you can enter your newly build Acela Express, and it can be 9V powered, but it needs to have some extra modes of movement included as well, otherwise we will disqualify your entry. I’m sure you get the point. Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no MODs, only MOCs. We are making no rules for the scale you choose to model in. We are welcoming models of 6, 7, and 8 studs, and anything in between or beyond! However, we appreciate detail and accuracy. Reasonably sized models are usually better for that, but we don’t knock anything or anyone with serious skill. NEW BUILDS ONLY. We are willing to accept anything unpublished or anything that was not published before September 1st 2019 as new. We want to inspire and promote a challenging build, entering an old model doesn’t quite work in that regard. Entries MUST be made on our Flickr group in the appropriate thread. This is the ONLY place we will be looking for entries, nowhere else. Sending photos to us on social media or showing us in person do not count as entries! We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st to Midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). There is possibility of a grace period to ensure those that need that one final Bricklink order have a fair chance. Entries and Prizes Keep in mind that OcTRAINber is a ‘quality over quantity’-building event. This means that we rather encourage you to build one amazing build than several sub-par ones. That’s why, just like last year, we will restrict the number of entries to only one per person. We are not accepting digital entries this year to emphasize the spirit of the challenge. We haven’t finalized on prizes yet, but since this is a building challenge, we will for sure have some, just like in previous years. Just like last year, we want to encourage you to show off your WIPs this year as well, to make OcTRAINber really a month that is all about trains within the Lego community. Therefore, extra credit will be given to the best WIP stories and/or pictures during the event. Specific information about WIP points will be mentioned in the kick-off article, but the rules will be pretty much in line with last year’s event. We will pick the winners after we have announced the official close of the competition and have stopped accepting new entries, which will be some time after November 1. Once the judges (who, just like last year, will be announced in an upcoming article) have come to a sound conclusion regarding the winners, we will post one final article announcing them, and then we will be in contact with those winners regarding their prizes. So, that’s it for now. We are very excited about this years’ installment, hopefully the same goes for all you train-heads out there! Stay tuned for updates on the start of the challenge, the judges and the scoring when OcTRAINber starts on October 1st. So pack your gear and all aboard OcTRAINber! BTW: For more information and extras it's always wise to check out both Brickmodelrailroader.com, our Flickr and our Facebook, but we will ofcourse try our best to also answer your questions here on the famous Train Tech forums! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we announced a bit over a week ago, this year BMR will again run the OcTRAINber contest. OcTRAINber is a contest meant to get outside of your comfort zone and build something you haven’t thought of before. You know, that one truly special build that will spice up your layout like no other has before. All within the realm of Lego Trains, but with a twist. So, let us officially introduce you to the contest and let’s get rolling! OcTRAINber First of all, the name. It’s called OcTRAINber, if somebody had not noticed after two years. Why OcTRAINber? Well, because it’s a great intermediate month between SHIPtember and November. Also, TRAINS. Mostly TRAINS. TRAINS. “The Technic Challenge” Second of all, the subject of this years OcTRAINber. Why the Technic Challenge? Two years ago we had a ‘build your longest’ theme, and last year we were all about ‘building that foreign dream of yours’. Both of them produced some really nice models, but, in essence, they were all static. Yes, some of them were motorized, and yes, some of them even had very fancy motorization that not even us had thought of before. However, in the end motorization was just a nice have-to, not a requirement, which is strange when you think about it. Therefore, we have decided that this year everything is forced to move. The more movement, the better! The Rules The Rules have already been announced in the previous OcTRAINber post, but for completeness’ sake we have pasted them here again: “Moving” is defined as: A movement of any locomotive, rolling stock, structure, or other railroad-related item that is NOT indented to propel the item forwards or backwards on track.Ofcourse, the item can have these movements (we even recommend doing this, because static trains are soooo boring), but you will only be scored on extra movements, like doors opening, or running vents, or a moving telehandler on a goods dock. So, you can enter your newly build Acela Express, and it can be 9V powered, but it needs to have some extra modes of movement included as well, otherwise we will disqualify your entry. I’m sure you get the point. Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no MODs, only MOCs. We are making no rules for the scale you choose to model in. We are welcoming models of 6, 7, and 8 studs, and anything in between or beyond! However, we appreciate detail and accuracy. Reasonably sized models are usually better for that, but we don’t knock anything or anyone with serious skill. Also, the building of Train-related builds which aren’t trains themselves (trackside structures etc.) is stimulated, so no need to even join the 6 vs 7 vs 8 wide wars this year! NEW BUILDS ONLY. We are willing to accept anything unpublished or anything that was not published before September 1st 2019 as new. We want to inspire and promote a challenging build, entering an old model doesn’t quite work in that regard. Type of Entries Unlike the previous two years, we will only accept real-life builds this year. This has everything to do with the subject of this year’s challenge. It’s just virtually impossible to show movement in digital builds, and to prove that it actually works. To level the playing field we have thus decided not to allow digital builds. However, we will have to separate categories of Entries: Direct Drive and Indirect Drive. To explain this a bit further: Direct Drive entries are entries that are/could be driven by a separate motor that is specifically meant for that moment. So think moving crossing poles, a truck that runs around, waggling ducks, a moving carousel… You name it. The Indirect Drive category in the other hand is meant for entries that move around because of a movement that is already happening. So think a train that is already running around due to it’s train motor, but that has some movement that is kinetically powered and only moves when the train moves. Does your Entry have both? Well, then you are in luck and you can enter it in both categories! That’s just a gesture from us here at BMR to stimulate some extra movement :) Third party parts BMR has always been positive towards third-party parts, as long as they have any way of added value to the hobby. So the rule of thumb is simple: Lego: Yes Third Party Parts meant specifically for use with Lego: Yes* Clones: No *Other than the previous years we have made some extra specification to the Third Party Parts. All Third Party Parts this year have to be meant for use with Lego. So BuWizz, PFx Brick, sBrick etc. are allowed, but Arduino and Raspberry Pi are not. Rule of thumb: If it has studs and/or connectors to one of the Lego electric systems, it’s OK. If not, it isn’t. Points Points will be awarded in three categories: Credibility, WIP Story and Movement Factor. First of all, credibility of the prototype. This means we will be looking at how much the build represents the real life prototype. This means the quality of the build, but potential scale etc. If you are sending in a fantasy model, we will look at how credible the build is; would it fit in, does the backstory make sense? (Please note that this means an entry does need to be based in the real-life in some way, so no fantasy universes like Star Wars, etc.) Second of all, the WIP story. This refers to both showing off your building process, but also to how and why you decided to model a certain prototype. The better the story and the more updates you give and the more elaborate your building story is, the better. (Also, feel free to cross-post these pictures in our WIP-thread while you are still building!) Third and last, the Movement Factor. This is all about the how of the movement of your build. So, is it powered in a special way, or does it have some crazy movement, or does it have some special functionality, etc. The more the merrier, but as always with OcTRAINber, it’s about quality first, and quality second. So it’s great if you have some wobbling pigeons, but if one of them also flies up and down… that could definitely add some points. The Judges This contest will have four judges. Why four? Well, because last year we also had four. Just like last year we will have a guest judge related to the building contest. This year our guest judge will be none other than Peer Kreuger, better known as Mahjqa, one of the most well-known technic gearheads out there. Almost (if not all) of Peer’s builds have some funky motorization in them, which time after time surprises and makes his builds even more fun. We are delighted to have him and we hope it will give you guys an extra incentive to build! Glenn Holland Cale Leiphart Gerbrand van den Eeckhout Peer Kreuger (This year’s guest judge!) Timeline We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st (being right now!) to midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). There is possibility of a grace period to ensure those that need that one final Bricklink order have a fair chance Entries Entries are to be sent in ONLY via our own BMR Flickr! There are two discussions; one for the Direct Drive Entries and one for the Indirect Drive Entries. This is the ONLY place we will be looking for entries, nowhere else. Sending photos to us on social media or showing us in person do not count as entries. Next to that, please also add your pictures in the pool! Also, we have a special thread for WIP pictures, just to keep OcTRAINber going. However, do keep in mind that pictures in this thread don’t count as entries! The Prizes No contest without prizes! Just as last year we have some really nice prizes from several outlets. Which prizes specifically will be made public as soon as possible, so to keep the hype train running for a little bit longer! Spare Parts We here over at BMR are very, very excited about OcTRAINber 2019: The Technic Challenge and we are looking forward to all those entries. We are really looking forward to see what the community has to offer in terms of creativity and we hope that all of you will be stimulated by this contest to finally build that one amazing moving MOC that you always wanted to build, but never managed. Also, if there are any things that aren’t fully clear, you can always reach out to us by posting your message below. So pack your gear and get aboard OcTRAINber!
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Here is my submission for this year's OcTRAINber, as run by www.brickmodelrailroader.com: (click on the image to start the video) I know I am pushing the boundaries of the intent of the competition, but according to the rules this meets the objective, and I had fun with it :)
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Dear everyone, we hope you all have a great start of your autumn! With September drawing to a close, and October quickly approaching, the time has come to announce our latest installment of our OcTRAINber build competition! This year, the challenge is… The Foreign Challenge! The goal of the foreign challenge is to promote outside-the-box thinking and change up people’s build lists. In general, most builders tend to stick with what they know, which is often what is local to them. As such, not as many people break that mold and build something that is not local to them. Hopefully all participants can appreciate building something out of their comfort zone! BMR is certainly excited about this challenge, and we hope to see many rise to the occasion. Rules: “Foreign” is defined as: Any locomotive, rolling stock, structure, or other railroad-related item that was NOT designed OR used in the native country of the builder. So, being from the Unites States, I could not enter legitimately with a United States locomotive such as a Santa Fe F7. I’m sure you get the point. Entries must be original models. No stealing. We are making no rules for the scale you choose to model in. We are welcoming models of 6, 7, and 8 studs, and anything in between or beyond. However, we appreciate detail and accuracy. Reasonably sized models are usually better for that, but we don’t knock anything or anyone with serious skill. NEW BUILDS ONLY. We are willing to accept anything unpublished or anything that was not published before September 1st 2018 as new. We want to inspire and promote a challenging build, entering an old model doesn’t quite work in that regard. Entries MUST be made on our Flickr group in the appropriate thread: real-life entries in the real-life thread, and digital entries in the digital thread. This is the ONLY place we will be looking for entries, nowhere else. Sending photos to us on social media or showing us in person do not count as entries. We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st to midnight on November 1st. There is possibility of a grace period to ensure those that need that one final Bricklink order have a fair chance. Entries and Prizes We are allowing digital entries and real life builds, but everyone is limited to one entry only to keep things fair. We will have three prizes available: Top staff pick of the real-life entries Runner up real-life entry Top staff pick of the digital entries We want to focus on and inspire some real building here, so this explains why more prizes are available for the real-life entries. Prizes will be revealed in an upcoming article on BMR. Different from the previous year, we want to encourage you to show off your WIPs this year as well, to make OcTRAINber really a month that is all about trains within the Lego community. Therefore, extra credit will be given to the best WIP stories and/or pictures during the event. Specific information about WIP points will be mentioned in an upcoming article on BMR. We will pick the winners after we have announced the official close of the competition and have stopped accepting new entries, which will be some time after November 1. Once the judges have come to a sound conclusion regarding the winners, we will post one final article announcing them, and then we will be in contact with those winners regarding their prizes. Judges will also be announced in an upcoming article on BMR. Thanks for reading, and now it’s time for some building! Again, we will only accept entries after midnight on October 1. Until then, start planning! We are seriously looking forward to this competition, especially after how much fun last year was. If there are any questions, please feel free to ask us; we are more than happy to provide clarification. Happy building from the Staff of Brick Model Railroader! BTW: For more information and extras it's always wise to check out both Brickmodelrailroader.com, our Flickr and our Facebook, but we will ofcourse try our best to also answer your questions here on the famous Train Tech forums!
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As a proud Brit I wondered for a while what I could enter into this fine contest. Quite a lot of the world's railways still uses equipment designed and built right here in the UK, and I wanted to try to build something distinctive and clearly not British. Earlier this year I designed my own LEGO version of the Oslo Tram 2020 concept but, as much as I like it, I decided that I didn't want to rush into building it. Then I had a brainwave. Come with me to South America, to the Andes and the high Altiplano on the borders of Peru and Bolivia. Life is harsh and transportation is difficult over the inhospitable terrain of the Andes. And yet the railways exist even here. But there are no modern express trains whisking extravagantly coiffed socialites in air conditioned comfort, no at-seat refreshment service offering a selection of hand-ground coffees and artisan baked goods, and certainly no high-speed rail connections linking the glittering capitals of these two proud nations. Instead, there is this. It's a 1952 Dodge "Ferrobus", one of a motley selection of improvised railbuses running on Bolivia's metre gauge network. No other rail vehicles are light enough to safely traverse the poorly maintained track, and so these plucky little vehicles ply back and forth across the Andes and provide a lifeline to isolated communities. Even so, derailments and other mishaps are not uncommon and the service depends on the skill and determination of the crew to deal with any situation that may arise. I have no personal connection with these railbuses, as I have never travelled to the Andes to gain first-hand experience of them. However, as a railwayman myself, I have a great admiration for my Bolivian colleagues who run these services and for the vehicles which seem so unsuited to such a large and demanding challenge. My entry will be a tribute to the railways of the Andes and to the people who run them. As you can see, I'm already quite a long way through the design process because I started my designs within a couple of days of the announcement of this year's contest. Most of the body is done, although the roof still needs to be finished together with the roof rack and other details, and I still have to decide where to hide the battery. Some parts of the model have already gone through quite a few redesigns, most notably the front bogie, and there are some parts I'm still not sure about. I'm borrowing the power and control concept from the tiny TRAXX loco I built a couple of years ago, with drive from an M motor, control coming from an SBrick and power from a 9V PP3 battery. My initial thoughts are to run this train on standard LEGO narrow gauge tracks, but this means that a fixed rear axle, as used on the prototype, would be unworkable. Therefore, I have designed a small and hopefully unobtrusive bogie to allow the rear axle to articulate, but I may come back and revisit this idea later.
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For my digital entry for OcTRAINber 2018, I have decided to model a Hungarian rail maintenance vehicle of which I found a few pictures online. (Picture found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markizay/34556999890/in/photostream/) It looks to be the right proportion of interest and buildability, with just enough space to hide PF. I have already got quite far with it; I started work in LDD soon after deciding on this prototype. After a long, head-racking session on the model this evening, I had finally got the entire cab and nose shaped up well. So here's what I can show you: Yep. Unfortunately, when moving the model around the "stage" in LDD, most of it disappeared suddenly; I must have hit the "D" key or something. I should have instantly closed the program and reopened to regain my last save point. However, I clicked around a bit and discovered the bricks were still "there"; their blue outlines would show, as if they were "hidden". So I saved before closing and reopening, only to find even the blue lines had gone. So now I'm now left with this. No WIP to show you, and no way to recover the work of the past two days. Oh well, I hope I can rebuild it from memory; if so, I'll be back with an actual model tomorrow. Certainly one way to start a competition entry!
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This train was created for the Brick Model Railroad OcTRAINber contest. Rarely seen on the lunar rails is the classic Space Train. This 69 stud long locomotive is an all-in-one train setup for transporting and launching missiles. Up front is the engineer’s compartment with full computer support to enable one man operations. Behind him is the electrical cabinet with satellite communications dish (PF receiver and AAA battery box). After the transformer is the crew compartment (roof opens for ease of access). Designed for comfort, it includes a bunk, microwave, and small pantry cabinet. Besides the creature amenities, it has two workstations. The right side wall console is primary satellite and orbital management while the aft console is for missile operations. Separated from the crew by a duratanium firewall is the missile bay. Due to the need to launch missile from any location to reach the desired orbit, the train itself is designed as the launch platform. When the top hatch opens, the missile is raised to launch position while doors on the side open up to allow the hot gasses to escape. The locomotive is capable of carrying one missile with satellite payload at a time. Behind the missile storage area is the power reactor, defensive plasma cannon, and thrusters. The plasma cannon turret can rotate 270 degrees around and the barrel can elevate to 80 degrees. The main engines provide the majority of the thrust while cruising the lunar landscape. The Swoosh 69 studs long, Power Function equipped, capable of handling R40 curves, and the lights turn on too! Benny would so approve.
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