Daedalus304

Thanks! I've found that I have a lot of fun trying to design and build things that fit alongside existing themes. I'm very glad that this one works in that regard. A wrecking ball would be a pretty interesting addition to the Rock Raiders equipment. I don't think I've seen one of those before! I really appreciate vehicles like the Granite Grinder and Tunnel Transport having their tools in a place that the minifigures can easily access - and having a shovel and pickaxe handy to use with the dump bed seemed like a no-brainer! Axle, of course, was an obvious pick for one of the operators. It's a two-Raider job, one drives the vehicle and the other operates the crane/dump bed, and Bandit seemed like the right guy for the job to me. His experience on rough waters felt like it would help him operate a crane on a moving vehicle pretty well, and you're right-on that his sailing knowledge would be a big help when operating over the water. I'm glad you caught that! :D

Hello! Today I'd like to present a new Rock Raiders build I've put together, the goal with this one was to make something new that fit in with the official Rock Raiders line of sets - and the game as well! I've tried very hard to make sure it fits well into the Rock Raiders theme, I've tried to make sure that the build style matches that of the existing sets and game models, and good, sturdy play features have been redesigned and reiterated until they felt like they worked just right. The Rubble Wrecker is a bi-directional heavy transport vehicle, capable of sitting down in one spot and gathering large amounts of resources in its cargo hold. It can transport these resources itself, or fill up the cargo module used by the Tunnel Transport for even more efficient cargo transportation. The top section of the Rubble Wrecker is able to spin a full 360 degrees, and the crane allows it to collect resources that may otherwise be out of reach. The cargo bed of the vehicle tilts to dump out all the rocks, ore, and crystals the raiders have obtained - and it is able to do so no matter which direction the cockpit is facing. The crane has two modes, a free motion mode and a supported mode to keep the boom up at an angle. This little lock hinge is the trick to that. Raising the boom all the way up lifts this bar, which will support the crane arm in a lifted position. It's a sturdy little support, but all you have to do is push it back a little bit and the boom will regain its full range of motion. If the Rubble Wrecker were in the game, of course it would need to have upgrades. I've designed two for it, both seen here in this render. The Engine Upgrade swaps out the tires for a set of heavy-duty repulsor lifts that let it cross freely over both bodies of water and bubbling magma. When paired with a Tunnel Transport, it's easy to gather and move large amounts of supplies from anywhere in the cavern network! The Scanner Upgrade increases the capabilities of the crane's bucket - a sonar system allows the crew to find and extract precious materials from underwater. In essence, it's a dredging upgrade! A few more photos can be found on my Flickr page! I've put together a set of PDF instructions for the Rubble Wrecker, which are freely available for anybody interested in building one. I've tried to make sure to avoid using too many hard-to-find parts, and I've attempted to match the design ethos of the original 1999 Rock Raiders sets. The instructions are available in the Google Drive Folder below, you can download the PDF by itself or the "Instructions Pack" zip file which also includes a Parts List PDF and a Bricklink Wanted List XML. Instructions for the Rubble Wrecker! One step up from that folder, you can find the instructions I've made for every building and vehicle in the Rock Raiders PC Game! Rock Raiders PC Building and Vehicle Instructions I want these to be free for anybody who's interested in Rock Raiders. However, if you would like to donate a bit, I have a Ko-Fi set up now so you can do so. I do not expect you to do so! I'm happy to share the love of Rock Raiders.

Hello all! Rock Raiders has always been a special Lego theme to me, since the release of both the sets and the PC game in 1999. I spent a lot of time playing the PC game, and have returned to it over the years. The game included a ton of buildings and a few vehicles that were never released as sets, and since I was little I always had the dream of some day building these models and having a "real" Rock Raiders base for myself. Earlier this year, after spending some time trying to get my original PC game running again, I found the fan remake "Manic Miners" by Baraklava and it really re-ignited my fire for the theme. It's taken a long time, but this year I've finally started to make this dream come true and build these models. As I've been working on this project, I had a thought - how nice it would be to have actual building instructions for these models! And that is what brings me here. I've spent the last couple months making 1999-style Instruction booklets for each of the buildings and vehicles found in the Lego Rock Raiders game, plus a few bonuses, and I wanted to share these with anybody who is interested in them. The models are not my designs, and neither are a few of the resources (Background art for the pages, etc) used to help make these. These instructions are freely available for anybody to use, and I've formatted the pages with printing in mind - each book's pages are scaled for either a full-sized or a half-sized A4, depending on the model, and each one has an even number of pages as well. There are 13 Instructions in total, and each one has been given a "set number" as well. I've got instructions for the following buildings and vehicles: The Canteen shown in the picture was a building intended to be included in the game, but was never completed before release. This interpretation of the design was created by Baraklava. The Mobile Repair Center and Repair Exosuit are both also 'lost' material for the game. The Repair Center itself is the original design for the Tool Store (As seen in the game's instruction manual), and I've re-purposed it here as the Repair Center. The Repair Exosuit was also from some promotional material, and this design was reverse engineered by many people (not including myself) and shared with the public by R.R. Slugger over on Youtube. The small truck shown in the picture is actually the prototype of the Small Transport Truck, the design of which later changed to what can be found in the official 4990 Rock Raiders HQ set and is seen in game. This prototype, however, was used in a set of the game's pre-rendered cutscenes, in which two Rock Raiders, Axel and Docs, must use the truck in a desperate escape from a lava flow. Here's an overview of one of them, the "Small Mobile Laser Cutter". All of the instruction books can be found right here. There is also a Readme file with some extra information for each model, and another folder with "Instructions Packs" that contains a .zip file which includes the Instructions, a Parts List, and a file with the Bricklink Wanted List XML to build the models - though be warned, many of the printed or unique elements have become very hard to find and/or expensive now. I don't suspect many people will build these, but even for people who don't want to do so I hope that the instructions can help share these models from a game and a series that I've loved for 25 years. Though short-lived, it was a great theme with some really awesome designs and I'd love for others people to get a chance to appreciate them.

There's been plenty of speculation, but I think this picture pretty well confirms which engine LEGO's Orient Express is based on: This being a Swiss "705 SBB A 3/5".

I'll admit that I often do this as well when building sets or otherwise following instructions, because it forces me to slow down and be deliberate with what I'm doing instead of just speed-building everything as I'm naturally inclined to do. It's a good way to be mindful of the journey, kind of like taking the time to savor a meal instead of just wolfing it down.

You're right, of course. Our good friend here has been banned from Eurobricks a good half-dozen times for this same attitude and spiteful nature, and it's surely only a matter of time before he puts another notch in that tally. It's no use trying to reason with him. He is inherently unreasonable and will just double down on his vitriol, there is absolutely no interest in good faith discussion and the old internet adage "Don't feed the trolls" is really the only winning play. Shrike Arghast, Providence Tristram, Steam Sewn Empire, 'Lord of Medieval', and whatever username he makes to try to hide himself on his next account - it's a song and dance that's going to be the same every time.

Aha, yes, I see what you are talking about. I did not realize that Bricklink/Studio listed the raw physical dimensions of some of the train wheels the way they do the technic wheels. From that direction I suppose that makes sense. The M/L/XL/XXL nomenclature was created by train builders with the debut of Big Ben Bricks' train wheels, well before Lego's Emerald Night brought a similar offering. This naming convention is focused on the train wheels as train wheels first, and so the wheels are only referred to by their actual rolling diameter (flanges are not the 'tire' on rails). This system was the standard that all 3rd parties adhered to after that point; and LEGO themselves don't make enough different train wheels to need to care. The new more modern system, the #15 etc, came because we train builders went a little bit... 'Extra' in pursuit of the 'proper' diameter wheels. What to call a driver that's somewhere between an XL and XXL, but closer to XL than XXL? Something like XLL? For a time, yeah, but that isn't intuitive. So we started switching to the number system with values that more clearly denote the wheel size - but still retain the focus on the "wheel" diameter as we did with L/XL/XXL system.

The flanges are never considered in the diameter. The humble Blind driver is probably the clearest example of why this is invariably the standard. If you are after a #15 driver set, both blind and flanged will be #15.

Hello again, everyone! I'm happy to share with you all that the results of OcTRAINber 2022 have been determined, and you can see the winners in our new article! https://brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2022/11/19/octrainber-2022-the-results/ Thanks to everyone for participating, and congratulations to the winners!

Just under a week and a half left until the close of OcTRAINber 2022. To that end, here's a small article with a few thoughts on ways to polish up the entries as we approach the finish line - as well as a links to a few basic digital resources to help anyone who's missing out: OcTRAINber 2022: Polishing the Presentations

The Delta-7 has always been one of my favorite Star Wars ships and the original version of this set was NOT to my taste at all, much much too tall and I just did not see it as an improvement over my old 2002 starfighter. That said, your mod of the model fixes things incredibly, especially since you've done such significant fixes with only parts from the base kit. Because of your mod + free(!!!) instructions, I actually bought the set today and built it straight off the bat to your specifications. It's a really pleasant looking little starfighter now and I really appreciate it. Your model is without a doubt how it should have been designed out of the box. Thanks for sharing!

Haha, yes, we've had a few entries from previous year's OcTRAINbers that would have fit into this theme pretty well. Both models need to be 'new' models. It could be a subject you've modeled before and are going back to tackle it again in a big do-over, of course, but it does need to be at least a mostly new build.

Hello again, everybody! October isn't quite here yet, but it's just about time to get rolling for this year's OcTRAINber. We're going to be making a couple tweaks to the format this year that I'll explain later in the post, but for now let's get into the rundown on this year's theme: "Rebuilds & Retrofits". Railroads have had a long history of taking old cars or engines and trying to use them for as long as possible. Railroad equipment is expensive, after all. Old equipment is kept repaired and patched up as best as it can be, but sometimes these old pieces of stock end up being changed for something very different. Locomotives may be altered significantly to help them better fit in a different role, such as a tank engine having its tanks removed and replaced with a tender. Sometimes old passenger cars end up heavily rebuilt for a non-revenue role and go on to serve as Maintenance-of-Way equipment. Some freight cars end up rebuilt as passenger service cars, or stripped down and turned into a bridge. That, ultimately, is what this year’s OcTRAINber is all about. We’re looking for models of Railroad equipment that has been rebuilt or retrofitted to serve a different or altered function from its original intent. In addition, we’d like to see two LEGO models, one of both the before AND after – show us how the subject has changed! Hammond Lumber Co.’s 2-6-6-2t #6 was later converted to a tender engine and sold to Southwest Lumber, where it was re-numbered to #12 The Challenge Ultimately, we’re looking for major changes in the modeled subjects. While a boxcar with friction-bearing trucks getting an upgrade to roller-bearing trucks does indeed count as a retrofit, it’s not a very large change and won’t score many points. What we’re really looking for is something that has been changed to operate in a significantly different way, or something that has been altered to look drastically different. We realize that this year’s theme requires building two models – but we’re very open to options. There are several acceptable ways to reach this criteria: 1. Build both versions of the model in LEGO Bricks. 2. Build both versions of the model digitally 3. Build one version in LEGO, and one version digitally 4. Build and photograph one version in LEGO bricks, then actually alter it to the second version and photograph that. Both versions need not exist simultaneously; they just need to be photographed and submitted together in a single entry Southern Pacific removed the engine components from 9010 and rebuilt the nose, turning it into a camera car and re-numbering it to 8799 Rules Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no Mods (thus also no sets), only original MOCs. One entry per person, per category. You can enter as many categories as you like, but you can only enter one model in each category. We want quality over quantity. So pick your best model and make it shine. Third party parts are allowed, clone bricks aren’t. We know this can be a thin line, just walk it wisely, and we’ll do our best to judge fairly on this. 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 August 1st 2022 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 does not count as entries! These threads will open on September 1st. We will be accepting entries from Midnight on September 1st to Midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). Due to the scale of the competition as well as helping efforts to expedite the judging, we’ve opted to start OcTRAINber early instead of having it run long into the holiday season. This also means there will be no extensions this year, so make sure you’re all ready by the end of October! Digital entries are allowed, and will be competing in the same categories as the physical models. As mentioned before, we are accepting “mixed-media” entries due to requiring two models, so you are welcome to submit one Physical and one Digital model to complete an entry. A second deck has been added to this New Haven flatcar to facilitate maintenance on the electrified lines Categories There will be four categories to enter this year, with a winner for each. There will also be an extra Grand Prize winner, as we’ve done in some previous years, for a total of five prizes. The Categories are as follows: 1. Steam Locomotives 2. Other Locomotives (E.G. Diesels, Electrics, Rail buses, anything that provides its own motive power) 3. Rolling Stock (E.G. Freight, Passenger, MOW, etc) 4. Buildings and Structures (E.G. repurposed stations, rail cars that have been repurposed as bridges.) If you are building something that could go in multiple categories, for example a flatcar (rolling stock) that has been repurposed into a bridge (structure), then we’d recommend entering it in the category that best fits what it has been adapted into. In this example the flatcar has been turned into a bridge, and should be entered as a structure. This ATSF Boxcar was converted into a bridge over a canal Judging and Scoring Entries will be judged primarily on these three criteria: 1. Accuracy to Prototype — How well do your models represent their real-life counterparts? Proportions, detailing, and functionality all help out here. 2. WIP Story — Include pictures and information on the real-life counterparts to your build, show the build process, and highlight the differences between the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ versions of your model. 3. Transformation Factor — This is focused on how significant of a change took place. Something like changing the trucks out to reflect a bearing type upgrade will score much lower than something that has been changed to operate or be used in a significantly different or unique way; or has been altered to look drastically different. As always, keep in mind that OcTRAINber is a ‘quality over quantity’ building event. This means that we encourage (and give higher scores for) higher-quality entries as opposed to several sub-par ones. Build your best, and don’t rush yourself to try to hit something in every category. While we’ve tried to give several examples for things that will fit into the theme, the examples listed are not exhaustive. We encourage you to explore and find some really amazing things to enter, so if you find something that you feel really grabs the spirit of the theme then go ahead. If it’s something really out there that won’t fit into one of the listed categories, feel free to ask for clarification. Final Words The last couple years, the judging for OcTRAINber hasn’t exactly been the quickest, and that’s something we would really like to change this year. November and December are filled with Holidays and train shows, and mixed with the growing number of entries it’s been getting quite difficult to find a good time to get through everything once Thanksgiving starts to hit. To help alleviate that, for all of you as well as for the judges, instead of extending OcTRAINber into November, we are going to start it earlier this year and will work to have the judging taken care of before the big holiday season starts up. Starting September 1st is certainly change, but we still end it in October, so it totally counts, right? We will have more articles posted in the coming months with more information as needed. OcTRAINber has always been fun for us, and we’re excited to see what you all come up with to enter this year. Thank you for reading, and we hope you have as much fun with the event as we do. Happy building! NYC’s #5344 Hudson has run both with and without the streamlined panels

It's true, though. Wheels this large require a spacing far enough apart that the wheelbase is too long to fit through an r40 curve, and especially too long for an r40 switch. For even the Emerald Night drivers, spacing the flanged drivers for a wheelbase longer than about 14 studs starts to run into issues. The larger the driver, the sooner this becomes a problem - and this Hogwarts Express has a driver wheelbase about 16 studs long with drivers larger than even third parties produce right now. An engine with 4 of these drivers (close enough together) could probably deal with r40 just fine. A 6-driver loco like the Hogwarts Express... Probably not!

To make it clear that the engine was not designed to run on LEGO's track, and that if you want it to do so it's going to take modifications. The XXXL drivers it comes with will certainly not make it through LEGO's tight r40 curves. If the engine is not compatible with their track system (and, even discounting the gauge, it's not), then making the deliberate choice to completely sidestep this incompatible similar product is the smart thing to do for them.