Murdoch17

Okay, so it took a little longer than a week to get the final parts, but the Leviathan has been added, along with about six other buildings from my past that also fit the bill. See it all in the first post!

@JopieK I think this thread needs to be re-pinned.... I thought it was at one point, but it isn't anymore. It's just too awesome not to keep up top! @Eki1210 Awesome trains, I especially love the 10333 BNSF loco backdated to Burlington Northern "Cascade Green"! I've seen a few MOD's of the 2011 Maersk engine to that color scheme, but not the original 2004 set. Fantastic work!

The model, as it is right now, is fantastic! I think this is a wonderful little 0-6-2 tank engine, with such an unusual (yet prototypical) wheel arrangement you don't see very often. As for the "brass" color, two of this 2 x 2 round plate part in pearl gold might help you out, with one per dome... it's not as high on the dome as it should be according to your model's real life counterpart, but it should do well enough. As for the large tan gear, even the 10194 Emerald Night 4-6-2 steam loco couldn't hide it when it was designed as it's just too big to disguise within the 4-wide footprint needed. Keep up the great work, @idlemarvel!

Good luck @Ropefish on your journey into actually building the Yellowstone! I hope your now-real design doesn't run into any problems as digital builds can hide nasty surprises. (as I'm sure you're well aware of!)

New photos added to the main post, including the above caboose and Conjunction Junction freight train. There is more to come when the engine is completed, (hopefully the orders will arrive by March 1st) so keep an eye out for more pictures to come!

I've already built the Conjunction Junction freight train and The Caboose Who Got Loose (a MOD of a @zephyr1934 model), which you can see in the topics linked and in the pictures directly below. Until recently, however, the fact this freight train had no engine had been a major stumbling block: I looked up the 4-6-2 "Pacific" steamer from The Caboose Who Got Loose book, but it wasn't very eye-catching in the all-black color scheme. I also watched the Conjunction Junction music video and realized the engine pulling the cars is never actually seen / mentioned. This is just about where the steam engine I started this topic about comes in. Originally I had found a late-1930's 7-wide 2-8-4 (the link is to the designer's Rebrickable page) to pull this special freight train, but then I found out how expensive the eight driving wheels would have been from Bricklink. (two blind drivers by themselves are CRAZY pricy - about as expensive as the pre-packaged bag of one blind and two with flange!) So, late last week I went back to the drawing board, taking my set 7597-style MOD engine and tinkering with it. It emerged from the shop a late 1880's 2-6-0 instead of a mid-1870's 4-4-0 as it originally was. Adding working pistons is what forced me to stretch the frame and thus add in two more driving wheels. (NOTE: A four-wheel bogie truck can be easily added instead of the two-wheel one seen above... I just wanted to be cheap and not have to buy more small train wheels than was the bare minimum.) Here is the steamer as far as can be assembled right now. I'm only missing 36 parts until the loco can be completed, and another one part for Katy Caboose. (I slimmed down Katy's roofline to be 6-wide to keep it more in line with the majority of my rolling stock. I also added printed 1 x 1 letters saying "KATY" on the long sides... Not very accurate to the book I know, but it makes for people to understand what it is better.) I also took apart the original, generic green caboose I made for the Conjunction Jct. consist as I needed the parts, and because it was being replaced by the Caboose Who Got Loose. Also, if you are wondering what "WFP" stands for, it is a nod to the 12-inch gauge steam railroad I've ridden on MANY times as a child and adult. I've even displayed there some of my LEGO trains in the past as a part of Gateway LUG displays. To read more about the real Wabash Frisco and Pacific Railroad, check out their website with awesome 15 engine roster and history sections. NOTE: They don't have a 2-6-0 at the real WFP railroad or a engine numbered 289. This was a gap I naturally filled in, kind of like a fan-fic story but with a steam engine instead. Two boxcars from a part of the Schoolhouse Rock educational cartoon series. This specific early 1970's Grammar-themed rock-n-roll music video featured a diminutive stereotypical train conductor, two hobos (one fat and tall, and one small and skinny), and a train with words on it... not just any words, but CONJUNCTIONS, as the name of the video and location is Conjunction Junction. A tanker and a third boxcar. Refrigerated boxcar and stone hopper. Heavily inspired by Zephyr1934 / Trained Bricks MOC of "Katy" from the classic children's book "The Caboose who got Loose" by ex-Disney animator Bill Peet. Zephyr's version can be seen here. I didn't want to use stickers for Katy's eyes like what's being done by the original builder, so I decided to use the eyes from set 43186 (Bruni the Salamander buildable character) from the Disney Frozen II line . I also added a actual mouth, as just the two eyes without something between them looked kind of odd, most likely because of the specific eyes I chose. The MOC I based this on used a different method for the mouth using a lot of SNOT-work.... I used a brick with 2 studs on the sides and two quarter tiles to give her a open mouth. The "rear" of the caboose is the forward facing part closest to the engine, which is a part of Katy we never see in the book. Confused yet? I took some liberties with Zephyr's design, such as changing the ladders at each end to black from red, removing two wheelsets + the roof chimney, and redoing the roof itself to be much simpler. (This last one was done because I couldn't figure out the original MOC roof's curved design!) I did keep the basic SNOT-work design for the body, but made it so both halves would be stud-inwards. I also changed the roofline to be six wide instead of eight as on my inspiration's model and added the name KATY to the left and right sides. All of this makes the models less accurate to the book it's based off, but I don't really think anyone in the general public will notice. (The general LEGO community might know of some discrepancies and fellow train modelers not of the LEGO-type will not care even if I did make it accurate, as it's not a "real" train.) - More to come when the engine is completed, hopefully by March 1st! - Comments, questions, suggestions and complaints welcome!

First post updated 2/12/22: The few remaining 76388 tavern MOD parts were ordered on the 11th of February. Here is some photographic proof I have the set needed for my planned modifications of these buildings, including putting a matching back section on the pub, and adding a second floor + rear half to the candy shop. In this picture you can see all 352 bricks left to find / order for my changes to Honeydukes sweet shop since I have the original 76388 set. I started out at 1015 parts for the whole building, so I have found or purchased 663 pieces for this model. All the parts I ordered for the Tavern. This model should be built in about a week, more or less. This candy shop will have to wait a few weeks before it is ordered because of funds. Stay tuned for more updates next week!

I got a copy of set 76388 - Hogsmeade Village Visit on Saturday the 5th of February from the LEGO Store in my town. It will be heavily modified to fit into my existing setup, with back halves added to the buildings, same as I did to set 10217 - Diagon Alley set and heavily inspired by the style of 10193 - Medieval Market Village (both sets of which I've owned for over a decade now!) for use in my early-to-mid 1900's-town. You can find all those buildings, along with a few more, below. The Leviathan Inn Here are the pictures of "The Leviathan", which is supposed to be a bar / inn of some sort, and was formerly known as "The Three Broomsticks" pub. This building has a newly added back half and revised details on the inside, including more bench seating, a few beds upstairs, steam heat, drink dispenser tap, and a much-needed cash register. Side note: One of the dark green windows is backwards in this picture and has since been rotated into its proper place. The rear of the model. Unlike the revised Candy Shop, this building opens up to 180 degrees, allowing for the building's inside details to be more accessible. The entire rear half is new, along with most of the building's furniture and all the printed parts. Inside on the upper floor is a few beds for weary travelers, with two beds and two chairs. The room also features a steam-heater modeled after the one in the 2008 Modular Building, set 10185 - Green Grocer. The lower floor has tripled it's seating with two more "picnic" benches. I also added a drink tap to the counter beside a cash register. (the latter feature was sorely missing from the original set!) Wonka Candy Shop This is a rebranded Honeydukes from set 76388 - Hogsmeade Visit with a back half to the building and a (NEW) second sales floor added on. The name WONKA will go over the front door in printed 1 x 1 tiles I don't have in LDD, along with quite a few other parts missing from this model. ...and yes, that's supposed to be Willy Wonka standing out front of the shop. Rear view of the building. (Wonka should really look into getting that roof fixed as you can practically see inside the attic!) Also, the building can only open up to 90 degrees for inside access due to the overhanging structure of the roof and a few other items. This store has everything; a wall of Everlasting Gobstopper's in the four flavors, Scrumdidilyumptious bars, Square Candies That Look 'Round, new-formula Fizzy-Lifting drinks, a Wonka chocolate fountain, Exploding Candy (for your enemies), Lollipops of all kinds, and many more items. (Ok, so I didn't design most of the items in here. square candies and the Gobstopper wall are all I added of consequence to the inside. The rest of the sweets are repurposed / duplicated from the set, but they ARE in there.) Octan Gas Station (and 1920's fuel tanker truck) Here is my WIP version of my gas station and early tanker truck. I added a back wall to the building, made it look more late 1920's / early '30's by adding painted wooden siding, and removing the Christmas-time items as were originally installed by the designer. Also, several printed items are missing in this picture that will be added later. (Thanks to my brother who gave me the new 32 x 32 road plate for this project.) The truck was originally from set 10222 - Winter Village Post Office, while the building is inspired by Brick City Depot's Winter Village Gas Station, which you can see at their website. The Captain's Daughter Tavern This English style tavern was built from set 10193 - Medieval Market Village, and expanded by my brother to have an inside staircase and a better chimney. Rear view of this building. The inside of the model features a Frog on the bar (for no real reason), a inside staircase, and a bunch of seating on the second floor. Their is a gumball machine on the second floor at the top of the stairs. Backwash Bros. Saloon This model was inspired by set 79109 - Colby City Showdown from the 2013 Lone Ranger theme. I turned the 1 story bank into a 2 story saloon, complete with two lift-away sections to access the inside. This picture is from 2015, and the "neon" Saloon sign no longer exists. The first floor features the bar with old fashioned cash register, and a staircase to more seating on the second floor. The second floor features more seats and a piano. This level was originally supposed to be a game room, filled with pool tables and poker dealers. Unfortunately, the room never happened as the space constraints left too little space to place figures. The Adventuring Surplus Store This building was originally part of set 10217 - Diagon Alley, specifically Ollivander's wand Shop. I added a rear to the building and redid the interior to have more of an adventure supply / military surplus store. The store is currently owned and run by Bob from LEGO Universe, and features a few items from the game inside. The rear of the store features the back door. The shop only opens 90 degrees instead of 180, due to the roof being in the way. Inside we have weapons of various origins, from deep space to the distant past. Upstairs is the clothing section, with several space suits and battle armor on display. My Sig-Fig's House This building was originally the Blacksmith's shop from set 10193 - Medieval Market Village released back in 2009. I got it in 2011, near the end of it's production run. It has been turned into my mini-figures house, complete with furnished interior. Here is the rear of the house, continuing the wooden patterns from the front. The inside of the building features a couch, bed and a pot bellied stove. Their is a staircase, which was completely missing in the original set. Johnny Thunder's "Adventurers, Inc." Office (and Johnny's car) This Adventurers model was inspired by my original Johnny Thunder office building from 2015. I modified it into a corner building with a tower like in set 10255 - Assembly Square.The building is modular, and comes apart into three sections: roof, second floor and main floor. This model is my actually second tallest creation, as it's shorter than Lord Sam Sinister's Mansion and only slightly taller than my Saloon. The lower floor features a cabinet from set 10228 - Haunted House and a 1920's style ivory phone borrowed from set 10218 - Pet Shop. A hat rack (also from the Pet Shop set) is next to the wall opposite the desk. The far wall features some treasure from Johnny and his friends many adventurers, such as the Golden Shield from "Orient Expedition", a T-Rex tooth from "Dino Island", a trident from the "Quest for Atlantis", the replica hammer of the Thunder god from the "Age of Ragnarok", the helmet of a dwarf from "The Search for Middle Zealand", and many others artifacts. the upper floor features Johnny's bed, a stove, table with root beer bottle, and a radio / record player. This concludes my buildings I've built since 2013 that I still have built, with more to come. A few of these pictures are from 2015 and 2017... but I'll let you guess which ones. Any Questions, complaints, suggestions, etc. are welcome!

I got a copy of set 76388 - Hogsmeade Village Visit on Saturday the 5th of February (yesterday) from the LEGO Store in St. Louis. It will be heavily modified to fit my existing town, with back halves added to the buildings, same as I did to the original (2011) Diagon Alley set and heavily inspired by Medieval Market Village. (both of which I've owned for over a decade now!) Oh, and the final $20 worth of parts have been bought for my HP Shrieking Shack MOD to be more "normal".... been working on that model since August of 2021!

Sorry for the bit of a bump: but progress has been made, with more to come! I started this in August 2021, and as of yesterday I only have 115 parts left to go out of the grand total of 1,516 pieces. (most of which you can see in this picture above.) I ordered these 307 parts (six of a new bracket I couldn't get from Bricklink were added to it as well) from LEGO Bricks and Pieces yesterday for my Shrieking Shack MOD. The amounts and parts are shown above, and they should be here in about 4-6 weeks from now. It's been almost six months since I started looking for parts, and this is the longest I've ever had a project sit around in a bin in parts unfinished. Thankfully, the end is in sight, with the remaining $20-ish worth of parts (shown in the first pic of this post) will be ordered as soon as I get my paycheck. And that's not all, as I've recreated set 40532 (Vintage Taxi) and ordered those parts as of the January 30th. I used Rebrickable's set inventory to get a parts list of set 40532 - Vintage Taxi, removed all the accessories (taxi stand, mini-fig, etc.) and changed the color of the yellow parts to several other colors to see what worked before settling on dark red. I was hoping to use official instructions to build it, (it was just a parts list at first, nothing but parts laid out in a grid in LDD) but decided I didn't want to wait for it while prices could go up and thus I reverse engineered it using only logical part placements from the list. I also used Brickset's review of the set for reference to things official LEGO pictures didn't give. Some parts are missing from the file due to LDD constraints, but all needed parts for this model have (mostly) been ordered or found in my collection... except one part type in black, of which I need six and is brand-new in that color. I changed the wheels to be something I already have in the same basic size, and the front grille to be a different style for reasons of cost saving and individuality. (If everyone else is going to have that one-piece front grille, why follow the crowd?) Doing something similar, but yet not the same was a goal in this entire car project to begin with anyway. Thoughts on all these new developments?

Hey, @Veynom if Steve Rodgers is a Separatist B1 Battle Droid, then what in the world would Red Skull be? R5-D4 or R-3PO, perhaps? (because of red color paint / plating?) The world needs to know these answers! (Awesome MOCs by the way!)

Hey there @Tobbit_is_here, Zanthera hasn't been on this forum since 2019, so chances are he won't see your request, or the person above yours' request either... also, as a general rule, you're technically not supposed to bump old topics like this. (six month to a year is what I THINK is the limit, unless it's a news topic with new info, or you actually have something about the model like "I built this in real bricks, here is some problems I'm having" or similar.) Also, asking for instructions is generally frowned upon for several reasons... The rule of thumb on that is: if they didn't upload them to begin with, or say they were going to later, just don't ask, as it's considered rude. @JopieK is our train Moderator, and might be able to help with the rules if you have questions.

just fyi, @AlexxInc you are only allowed one EB account. You can ask a mod to change your name in the name change request thread... I think it's in the Forum Info and Help section.

This set is a strange, sad little model and it has my pity. Why? I think you covered why already, and I'll add to the pile that Buzz really needs a half-visor behind his head. (It just looks weird without it!) There is a bright side to this set however: printed parts, such as those matching printed 2x3 wing parts. (I need them for the Space Ranger meets PUG-Z mashup / MOD I just finished in real life.) This set doesn't look perfect (not even the same solar system as Perfect) but in my eyes the price is too good to ignore for the value in parts.

Well, I honestly don't know what to do. I have tried studio and don't like it / understand it, and converting all 5,540 LDD files I have is impossible. I thought 2022 would be better for me than 2021 and 2020, and now I have lost something I've used since 2005.

If James Cameron is a genius and good with sequels then where is my Titanic 2? To be honest, this is Hollywood we are talking about: they can ruin anything with a simple touch: just ask "John Carter of Mars" which was, as a book a hundred years ago, magnitudes more popular than the author's other famous work: "TARZAN".. or what about putting Treasure Island (one of the greatest fiction books written about pirates) in space? Treasure Planet was a horrible flop for Disney. Beloved figures such as The Lone Ranger or Loony Tunes? The 2013 Johnny Depp film was very badly done and about 60 years too late, while Loony Tunes: Back in Action is indescribably horrid. Do I need to mention the original 1980's DUNE film, or the Batman film starring George Clooney? Not even George Lucas and Steven Spielberg can make things right 100% of the time... THX-1138 is George's first feature film and might have well been his last! Jaws in 4-D is widely regarded as one of the worst films in history, and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull made a new Hollywood phrase with "nuke the fridge". The film made money, yes, but it just as horrible plot-wise as Transformers under Michael Bay. (oddly, a certain actor was in both franchises) I'll believe Avatar 2 when I see it. I hope it succeeds, because they have already started making 3 AND 4. Disney will not take it lightly if it fails as "You Don't Mess with the Mouse". (Sorry MODs for the slight-off topic post, but I just can't stand fanboy-ing, and no Director is beyond mistakes of any kind, including James Cameron, whose first film from 1982 was called "Piranha II - The Spawning" and had pitched Titanic (this is the whole pitch) as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic")

My thoughts are as such on the rumored Indy 2022 theme (and what the designers are probably going through in deciding on what to produce): LEGO picking the "right" set idea for most Indy fans, LEGO fans, and children is a bit like picking the Holy Grail amongst all the 30 or so false ones in Last Crusade. Pick well, (Temple Escape from Raiders, for example) and it's name will live evermore in the halls of set history... but just random picking of cool stuff (I mean like if they did a "Nuke the Fridge set" or something awful like that) and it will not be well received and be confined to the dustbin of time. The problem becomes there are so many scenes, characters, and situations to choose from that can be done properly that you increase the false grails by about triple (or more) with only a few "true" ones sprinkled into the mix. Add in personal bias of LEGO Designers for certain features / scenes, fans wanting something impossible or unlikely to be produced, the studio's veto power, plus things we probably have no idea about, and you've just made deciding the right set (or sets) into something downright impossible to do 100% correctly, or even 80%. Think of a vault filled with maybe 300 grails. All seem similar, or even exact duplicates at first. You take one, give it a good once over, and cast it aside. Maybe you come back to it later on (like the 2009 Temple of Doom sets came out later), or maybe you don't. You are blindly guessing, with only research (market research) telling you where to look. And even if you get the right idea for 75% of all people, it can be wrong to everyone else as you can't please everyone all the time. To summarize: I wouldn't want to be a Set Designer on this theme if I worked for Lego. It would be incredibly difficult to choose a set, much less just six sets for the four films as they are now rumored. As a Indy fan, buyer of sets from 2008 and 2009, and LEGO MOC builder of things we didn't get, I do hope they choose wisely.

There is a verbal reference to LEGO in the new film released today... but not exactly in a way you would expect. Spoilers for exactly when / what: Makes you wonder why LEGO would release this photo yesterday, and the brand is sort-of talked about in the film released today. Can this be a coincidence, or am I going crazy? Oh, wait I forgot we don't say that word here.

I, as a steam train / LEGO fan , am actually hoping the Hogwarts Express isn't the big set as some people have speculated. Now having said that, I've been waiting for a more accurate Hogwarts Express since I got the 2001 version when it was released. I want it to be accurate to the actual 5972 Olton Hall locomotive, and have more than just one car available to buy. (*glares at the Emerald Night angrily*) However, the train is four cars long (most of the time) and I don't think many people (parents with train fan kids) are going to be happy with LEGO if they did a hyper realistic model with four cars at the bigger price tag than any train previously made. If they, for example, did a set with the steam engine, and a supplementary set of just two - or even one coach as a 3-in-1 (like Creator does) - they would set 10x the amount of sets they would if they put them in one set at double (or more) the price of a build-you-own-express. Think about it: You want a just-coaches train? Buy four sets, and build them in the original configuration. You want the train from Half Blood Prince, with the open floor plan fifth car? Buy five copies, and build one in the second version. You want a Sorcerer's Stone-era car with baggage area and Guard compartment? Buy four sets, and build one as the third variety. Or, if you just want a cool looking locomotive for your layout, but don't have room for coaches / you've already built your own passenger cars? Buy just the engine and you don't need to spend extra money on something un-needed. Sadly, knowing Lego these days, they would probably just do an all-or-nothing approach, as the last time they did this build-your-own train idea (in 2001-ish) went badly, mostly through bad choices they made and horrible timing relating to their sinking overall business at that time. Just my thoughts on that idea!

Just wondering if you have a LDD file version of your MOD of my MOD, @Toxic43, or maybe if you can't do the LDD, a file / list of just the parts you added so I know what to order? (I don't do Stud.io, but I would like to add this for my two 7597-style steamers.) Thanks in advance!

I took a look at your Imgur picture, @Toxic43, and I think what you are doing with it is very awesome. Keep us posted on whether the piston / side-rods MOD goes well... I might try to add it into my two models if it does work! Keep up the good work!

That one part in purple ink close to the bottom of the ToothDominos drawing looks identical to this part as seen in Monkie Kid set 80030: * insert the "Coincidence? I think NOT!" meme here* Although, this does bring up the question of other drawn parts from his tweet coming to us later on down the line...

It's been pointed out by Andrew Barnick over on NewElementary's comment section of their review that something remarkable has been featured in the art gallery.

Judging from how it's is ALWAYS "tomorrow" somewhere on the globe, when LEGO does reveal it, it would be up to 23 hours after the actual listed time it would be revealed for half the globe. (thus making it tomorrow for at least half, even though they are knowing about it at the same time as it was actually released) That is, unless the world suddenly stops spinning two days before they reveal it and it becomes totally locked in place rotationally - where one half the Earth would roast away in scorching heat, while the other half dies of hypothermia and exposure to extreme cold - then "tomorrow" would never come, quite literally. (Because every living thing would be dead, and / or thrown from the planet's surface into outer space in it's sudden deceleration!) Then, we would never know the modular for 2022! ...On a lighter, related topic, here is a lesson I learned on one my favorite childhood TV shows that seems apt here: Squidward: "Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow?" Mr. Krabs: "What is Today, but Yesterday's Tomorrow?" Now, if you'll excuse me, I now have a migraine from typing all this wibbely-wobbly timey-wimey stuff and need to lie down.

"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run..." -Gordon Lightfoot, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" As you can guess, I'm currently on a train-song kick. Everything from the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group's 1956 rendition "Wabash Cannonball", to the 1974 Eagles song "Midnight Flyer" to Arlo Guthrie's 1977 hit "City of New Orleans" and everything in-between. Also have about 22 other songs spanning from Big Band era (Take the A-Train), rock-n-roll (Long Train Runnin'), singer-songwriter (Canadian Railroad Trilogy) on down to folk / country (Wreck of the Old '97). All in all, 1 hour and 15 minutes of railroad bliss.