Lego Dino 500

The problem with the smaller sets though, is they lack detail and complexity. I wouldn't mind them being a lot smaller, if they were able to pack a lot more detail into them. It's not really appealing to get Protector of Fire, only to realize he has almost no articulation. You can't pose him well, and the lack of elbows, knees, and wrists doesn't help either. CCBS shells and parts are so large you can only make good stuff in large scales, like the 2015 Toa, General Grievous, or any of the wonderful MOCs that get here. If Lego made a micro CCBS system, using the same joints as the pixels that was compatible with technic, I think that would hit the sweet spot. They could interface it with larger CCBS to add more details, articulation, and make smaller more affordable figures.

Hey guys, thought I'd try to flesh out my CCBS skills for once. I was really handy with the G1 constraction system, but with CCBS it just doesn't feel like things fit together right for me yet. And then I saw the Rebrick.lego.com contest. I absolutely love Bionicle, and I would kill to have a signed art book and a complete G2 collection. But murder is illegal, and wouldn't get me the signed art book, so I had to build. I think I have the legs and body down pretty solid, I might add wings to it, but I'm not feeling like it's done. Any criticisms or advice? This is the main body shot. I don't have the mask of ultimate power, since I can't find any of the new sets at my Target, ToysRUs, or Lego Store, but I made do with what I have. And this is a close up of one of the hands. I still haven't built any weapons for Makuta, Lord of Shadows, but it's possible to place them in his hand due to a technic hole from the technic beam w/ ball joint I'm using to support the thumbs. One thing I'm really worried about is filling out the stomach, below the chest. I built this off of a heavily modified and stripped General Grievous, which gives it sizable bulk, but it does lack attachment points for more shells. Photo for scale. He's more than twice as tall as Tahu, and probably uses 4 times a many pieces. I don't have a cape large enough in my collection for him, unless I decide to cut up a t-shirt, which I don't have any black ones to use. This MOC is in essence my farewell to Bionicle, in the wake of its cancellation. Any criticisms? I want to get this thing polished up before I enter it in the contest.

Thanks. And wait: I got it mixed up. Dark red 2x2 and 1x2 curved slopes aren't available, so I had to use cheese wedges. Not the other way around.

I'm still midway through my Santa Fe project, I need to get the files and everything uploaded to Rebrickable. I'm pretty sure I'm done with that, but I'm not sure what else to add to it before I get everything posted. For my new project, I thought I'd tackle the Polar Express! My collection is somewhat lacking in the train department, and given the difficulty of building steam in LDD, I decided I'd try to build the cars first. I had to sacrifice a few details for the sake of functionality, but besides that everything is pretty accurate and well proportioned IMHO. Some of these screenshots are slightly outdated, as I've moved the ladders to the bogies instead of the body, allowing for the couplers to be much closer since. This is the observation ending. This is the most recent screenshot of the car chassises, featuring the updated coupler and ladder positions. All the windows and doors are brick built, using transparent bricks, jumper plates, plates, and bricks. This allowed for the bodies to be much more accurate, with accurate window spacing and sizing. The base is also brick built, not using the standard train plates. One area I've always been self-conscious about is the rounded roofs on observation endings. I always experiment round for hours, playing with different combinations of tiles, curved plates, and cheese wedges. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the shape, but it seems to work for now. This is the interior. One of the biggest things I do when designing cars and locos is use jumper plates to put the seats, to give room for mini figures without using panels for windows and walls. This also allows for a larger corridor for mini figures and details. I tried to replicate the interior from the film, with the sideways facing seats, though there might be a table or two that I'm missing. I'll have to rematch the film for that detail. One of my favorite details is the SNOT for the back window, allowing for the three back windows present in the train car. I think this technique has merit for other prototypes, and you could modify it to make windows of most sizes while staying within the confines of 6 or 7 wide. There's also tiled floors, but you can easily delete the interior details to save cost if you decide to brick link them. If the maersk blue is a problem, it should be relatively easy to change to light blue, dark blue, or grey because it's all common bricks. Close up of the back windows, there's also jumper plates to stick figures in the back of the train. It's a bit short though, you may have to remove legs or only use short figs back there. Close up of the diaphragm. I used jumper plates and more SNOT to get them 3 wide, the correct width, without leaving gaps in the walls. I also added marker lights on the car ends, aside from the observation ending. The regular observation car. The interior of the regular observation car. I had trouble designing the seats, as I couldn't find dark red curved slopes, so I had to use cheese wedges and hinges to make the seats. Unfortunately, this means the seats are about a plate higher than I wanted them to be. If I could get some advice on that, it'd be awesome. My only complaint besides that would be that the observation ending platform is slightly delicate, as the floor and handrail is only held on by the tiles connecting it to the body. Files: polar_express_observation_car.lxf updated_polar_express_passenger_ending.lxf

That looks really good! The amount of SNOT must have been a headache, especially on the nose and roof of the train.

How'd those even get by without 4:3 pictures?

This loco is really well designed! It looks really solid and well detailed, without compromising the scale/shape of the train like I've seen on other builds. Some people get so fixated on replicating a single detail they tend to forget the rest of the model, or try and pack too much detail on there. And how'd you design the drive rods and valve gear? It looks really solid, did you make them yourself or buy them? I'd wager they're made of styrene sheeting, but I'm not sure.

Thanks! You really can pump out a design fast, I'll definitely take advantage of a few of your ideas if it's okay, regarding the windshield and vent fans on top. Though I'm not too keen on the reduced length and other SNOT bits, as I'm working to reach a balance between realism/scale. I'd rather it capture the scale and silhouette of the train than all of the details.

I need to get some BBB wheels and a lathe to try this out. Actually out of curiosity; Has anyone tried building a functional machining lathe from lego?

A normal 1x1 tile stick out too much, and round 1x1 tiles aren't available in regular red. I believe the discoloration is far less visible than the corner of a 2x1 tile sticking out, it's no bigger issue than people using 2x3x6 windscreens instead of the originals.

I just finished building 10025-1. I'll keep fixing the EMD loco and adding in some details I forgot, and I'll post a new picture in a bit. And Zephyr, you were right. It seems that the original price is far too low/tight of a constraint to keep this to, it's unrealistic to expect it to be that low. But guys, how does the nose look? That was the biggest problem I've faced building this. Edit: I just finished the locomotive and 10025-2 baggage car. So theoretically, I've finished all 5 different car variants and the locomotive. So everything there is all you need for a complete consist. Should I keep changing the files around and make some more improvements, or should I go ahead and upload to Rebrickable?

New update: I'm about 60% done with the locomotive. And I've responded and modified the cars and loco to your suggestions, though I'm not entirely sure I made my goals clear: I want this to be bricklinkable at around the MRSP of the original Santa Fe train, and as such am making compromises with the design with the wheel sets for example. The black ones are still produced, and seem to be Lego's standard now. The light grey ones from 9V and RC era are pretty expensive, and can only be found in rare quantities now. For this same reason I discarded the original red 6x28 baseplate, the 9V buffers and magnets, and the 2x6x3 windshield at you guys's suggestions. I was having trouble designing the nose originally, and I took heavy inspiration from zephyr1934's North Coast limited, but I couldn't figure out the design, even from the exploded diagrams. Any attempt I made at replicating it ended up at a dead end, where I couldn't get the bricks flush or the shapes right. So I took the original 10020 nose design, and heavily modified it and substituted arches for curves and cheese wedges. I still don't feel entirely confident on the shaping, but it's at the pinnacle of my talent for now. And to distinguish the doors on the sides of the loco from the walls, I used corrugated texture bricks to get the right depth. The whole loco is an empty shell for now, aside from the PF train motor which I substituted for a 9V motor. The windshield is brick built, so it can be more accurate, but it may require a sticker down the middle to separate the two glass panels. I took your suggestions and unstaggered the corrugated bricks, but I'm still mixed on fixing the top layer above the windows, as that's meant to fit the original 10022 stickers and if I shortened it it'd be too small to fit them. What I am excited about is I could reskin the loco in light grey eventually as an alternate model, and you'd be able to run this as a California Zephyr. Or depending on the parts availability, you could resin this easily to suit any number of railroads, including Santa Fe's blue scheme.

Any good substitutes for the 2x2 curved bricks? I know those are crazy expensive, and I want to substitute the doors for some jumper plates and bricks, but I'm worried about the accuracy. Does this look okay? I'm replacing the doors with bricks and jumper plates right now.

Update: I finished redesigning all of the 10022 1-3 cars, and built new designs from scratch. They all use the new medium grey versus the original bley, the only rare parts I used IIRC were the transparent macaroni, I haven't found a good substitute. These should all be compatible with original or reproduction Santa Fe stickers. Exterior shot of 10022-1 and 10022-3. Interior shot of 10022-1, I couldn't fit a full kitchen. So it's just a few tables, a seat, and a register and counter. Interior shot of 10022-3, with the partitions and doors surrounding the bunks. Unlike the original, I opted for realism and made them narrow enough to leave a 1 1/2 stud hallway throughout the car between the vestibules. Interior shot of 10022-3 without the walls and partitions present. There's room for 4 beds, but I had to cut a few chunks out of them to leave room for the bogie plates. Exterior shot of 10022-2, the observation car. Interior shot of 10022-2, I included 2 sofas and a good amount of seats. Unlike the original I chose to include full seating instead of several tables to make room for the sofas, which were present in the real train. I'll include the Rebrickable link, and I'll post the LDD files there. It's easier to keep track of in case someone copies from me if I put it up there.

Thanks. I'm having to compromise some details, since the goal is a version that'll be cheaper to brick link and somewhat more realistic than the original. Right now the cars are 36 long, 6 wide, and roughly 7 studs tall. They should be roughly proportional aside from the track gauge. If you want I could probably bust out a second version, but that would take a bit more time. I already have the exterior of the first car done, a remake of 10022-1 and a template to make the 4 other cars.

Right now I'm designing a updated Santa Fe train consist, hopefully to scratch the urges of the original without the hefty costs, but I want to ask a few questions before I start working on it. What parts from the original are the most expensive and difficult to buy? What are some better methods to tackle the nose without the expensive parts? I'll be posting updates and images, with LDD files as I work on this and at the end will upload to my Rebrickable, where I already host an old project.

Hopefully they go for something nice, like a big steamer and some pullman cars, I don't like the Christmas specific theme they used on the last Winter Village train.

Respectively, their size is going to be double that of the radius plus the width of the track, since track radius is measured from halfway in-between the rails. A R104 is going to be 216, since a piece of track is 8 studs wide. Converted into feet, the R!04 us going to be 5.7 feet wide from the outer track edges. A R88, is going to be 184 studs or 4.9 feet rounded up. And a R72 is going to be 152 studs and 4 feet wide.

When the motor disengages, does it keep spinning? That's the function I'm attempting to achieve.

I'm trying to design a realistically functioning model of a diesel locomotive. I don't care about looks at this point, given how limited my collection is, but what I'm wanting to aim for is a locomotive that appears to operate realistically. The chassis is going to be 6 studs wide for now as a prototype, and 46 studs long. In order of the drivetrain, it's going to be M-motor -> one way clutch -> flywheel -> forward/reverse gearbox -> trucks. This should allow the locomotive to realistically creep forward, move, and slow down gradually as if it were an actual diesel locomotive with a fluid drive transmission, or like HarmanMotor's fluid drive bus. The only problem I'm encountering so far is a compact, low friction one way clutch design. I've tried the one design made with the 3 rubber 2 stud lifters, but that doesn't work. It's too large and I can't get it to function properly without a large flywheel which wouldn't fit in the body, or base of the locomotive. I'm trying to design something compact enough you could put it inside the base or body of any diesel or electric loco, and dramatically improve the functionality. Any help?

That's a good idea. With them separate like that, you can also use the default bogies and wheel covers like from the 9V and PF motors.

That's cool SavatheAggie! Good luck with the end car build, every single time I've tried one, it comes out a incomprehensible mess. Increasing the length will definitely help the proportions, my train car builds are usually 7X42X8 studs and they have a decent proportion.

It's official, I definitely am gonna brick link this for my birthday. Maybe by then there'll be a end car?

These look really good. The problem is they're a bit too single-purposed, they won't work too well with any real sense of detail. Maybe if you got rid of the wheel covers, so it's a 4x3 shape in the center. Leave a 1 plate dip in the middle for the PF connector, and it'd be good. That'd give more potential for building small details, and make it versatile enough for various prototypes. With the PF connector that you picked, you could run this direct off the transformer like a DC model train, and if you add a Sbrick or IR receiver, you could set up a rudimentary DC system. That'd be awesome. Edit: I just made a mockup of what it would look like in LDD, hope this helps. You could maybe go without the top layer of studs for a thickness of 2 (3 with the axle/pickup mechanism), but then the PF connector would be higher than the brick.

That seems like a better idea. Maybe a power pickup brick similar to the 9V one, that can connect to a SBrick or have proprietary bluetooth controls. Has anyone done this yet?