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Murdoch17

Eurobricks Grand Dukes
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Everything posted by Murdoch17

  1. Murdoch17
    A little later than the rest of my Wild West models (1920's vs 1890's), but still tied to the railroading timeframe I'm building in by the thinnest of threads, is this Galloping Goose. After the very brutal winter of 1920 with many rockslides and avalanches in Glacier Gulch Pass, the WXYZ Railroad had a major problem: It's Western most reaches, consisting of the tracks-end at Zephyrus, New Mexico all the way to Glacier Gulch Pass (just beyond the mining town of Yazoo, Colorado) was cut off from the rest of the line. Tracks in the pass were gone for nearly a mile, and two bridges were washed away by the roaring waters of a late-spring thaw to boot. This, in effect, cut the railroad in two. The tracks west of the pass were in fine condition, as were the ones directly east of the break. The line's steam-loco servicing facility, located in Wichita, Kansas struggled with how to service customers on the far side of the break - only three or four working steam engines were on that side - until the idea of combining a boxcar with a Ford Model A was borrowed from a Rio Grande Maintenance Of Way vehicle from 1913. The WXYZ built three (numbered 7, 8, and 9) of them, two for freight and one with seats and windows for passengers (that was number 8). These "doodlebugs" or "motors" were later termed "Galloping Geese" after the Rio Grande came up with a very similar idea (yet in narrow gauge) in 1935. They were retained by the Railroad once it was repaired for branch-line duty, even after it's 1923 bank sale to investors and reorganization thereafter. Number 9 was converted to passenger service like number 8 in the 1950's for use with tourist trains, while 7 retained it's freight look into the 2020's, as it was made into a rolling museum of the WXYZ railroad for use touring the country on other tourist lines, and being trucked to isolated locations. Here is number 7 with the doors open. (The number six goes on the black 1 x 1 tile near the doors.) This vehicle's front half was inspired by @hachiroku and his Indiana Jones staff car MOC.
  2. Murdoch17
    Just talked to my dad, this 1965 set (set 610 Super Wheel Toy, in the tall box) was the first one he got when he was 8. LEGO (especially trains) definitely run in the family!
  3. Murdoch17
    B-I-G bump for 2021 Updated the first post with a new model, a mashup of @hachiroku's model and Build Better Bricks' version, albeit in steampunk format. Parts are currently being found for this version, and are mostly being scrounged from the Neo-Classic Space version I made a few years back that didn't stay together. So stay tuned, there is more to come!
  4. Murdoch17
    She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts... The original Millennium Falcon (set 7190) was the first set I remember getting for Christmas and building (with help!) in 2000... then set 8001 Technic Battle Droid (from Phantom Menace) followed shortly thereafter, but I never built it, being only 5 in 2000. I also remember getting the Lego Loco computer video game, and playing it... but that couldn't have been in 1998, (when the game came out), as I would've been too small at age 3. Must've been at least 6 by then when I did play it, or so. Also, my copy was the barebones no-handcar version. I really wanted Super Station Master, but never got him until 2011, when my dad bought him on BrickLink.
  5. Murdoch17
    This is mind-blowingly awesome! Keep up the Great work!
  6. Murdoch17
    This (revised) Armstrong turntable, with it's eight outlet tracks, is two 10 inch base plates across, with a little extra for the slightly larger circle of plates. I have bought 24 pieces of straight RC track (three of set 60205 from Amazon put me back about $48 US in that respect) for this, with 11 tracks being on the turntable itself, and the rest being used as the outlet tracks. NOTE: (Purists look away!) I will need a half track, with 1/4 of track at each end (a taken-apart flex track will do nicely for this) for this table to work "right". Also, the wild western Garratt loco fits on the table, but only just barely, so I'll have to be really careful in turning it. The turntable model is on the list to be bought, as are the 4-4-0 + freight cars and 2-8-0 w/ military cars. (in no particular order) Here we see the remaining parts to be bought for the turntable... ...the military train and 2-8-0 steamer... ...and finally the inside-connected 4-4-0 loco and it's freight train.
  7. Murdoch17
    Yes, here you go. He also did one of the rubber band. (NOT MINE!)
  8. Murdoch17
    Thank you @mark6399! Here is some more teasing of the real world builds of the passenger and snow plow trains: Gold City Junction, Colorado, was a division point on the WXYZ Railroad. It marked the end of the western prairies, and the start of the climb into the tall peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Zachary Yreka Smith first found the pass the trains used at this time, (first plotted out in 1870 and named by him as Glacier Gulch Pass) that actually was nearly impassible in winter without heavy equipment due to the steep cuts needed to get through the pass on the west side. Much like Rodgers Pass up in Canada, snow-sheds and a tunnel eventually replaced most of the pass' route, as Bucking Bull Tunnel was finished in 1905. (Rotary snow plows were still need for some sections in the run-up the tunnel portals on either side, however.) This shot was taken atop Raindance Ridge by an amateur photo enthusiast in Late Summer 1888. It shows locomotive No. 1 about to enter Boulder Cliff Canyon tunnel, and then onto the frontier town of fort Legoredo, located to the back of the photographer on the other side of the ridge. The switch track to the right is for a yet-to-be-built roundhouse and turntable, which was finished being constructed in January 1890. The track to the left is for rotary snowplow "YO" (pushed by engine number 4) in storage for use in Winter in these higher elevations. The disused tunnel entrance is at the end of that track, and was for access to a silver mine further into the mountains that had mostly played out by this point.
  9. Murdoch17
    Love these tiny subway cars! ...also, the rock monster is a nice touch.
  10. Murdoch17
    (Singing) They gave him his orders in Monroe, Virginia, they said: Steve, you're way behind time! This is not Thirty-eight this is... ...old Ninety-Seven Number 5, get her into Spencer on time! If Steve Brody (R.I.P.) took this yard goat instead of 97, I don't think he would've gotten anywhere near 90MPH (as in the song and near his supposed actual speed), but he probably would've reached Spencer in one piece though! (unlike old 97) Wild Western loco number 5 is an eight wide model of a generic 0-6-0 saddle tank steam engine switcher (or yard goat) from the 1870's, and was inspired by a @ScotNick build of Stanley from Thomas and Friends for the stripe work, and this build of Percy (also from Thomas but by the L Gauge site owner) for the front of the boiler front / piston assembly. NOTE: The color scheme is red and yellow, though sadly here red looks pink / magenta... stupid phone camera. @The_Creator: the minifig is a Weeping Angel from Dr Who. Be sure not to blink when looking at that photo!
  11. Murdoch17
    (Singing) They gave him his orders in Monroe, Virginia, they said: Steve, you're way behind time! This is not Thirty-eight this is... ...old Ninety-Seven Number 5, get her into Spencer on time! If Steve Brody (R.I.P.) took this yard goat instead of 97, I don't think he would've gotten anywhere near 90MPH (as in the song and near his supposed actual speed), but he probably would've reached Spencer in one piece though! (unlike old 97) Wild Western loco number 5 is an eight wide model of a generic 0-6-0 saddle tank steam engine switcher (or yard goat) from the 1870's, and was inspired by a @ScotNick build of Stanley from Thomas and Friends for the stripe work, and this build of Percy (also from Thomas but by the L Gauge site owner) for the front of the boiler front / piston assembly. NOTE: The color scheme is red and yellow, though sadly here red looks pink / magenta... stupid phone camera.
  12. Murdoch17
    Thanks needs to be given to user @Lyichir for his idea for modifying this set back on February 27th of this year. (Sorry for not uploading this sooner, I had to puzzle out the wings, as they were VERY complex.) This ship is heavily based on set 80020 (White Dragon horse Jet) from the Monkie Kid theme. I made it slightly less overtly dragon-themed by removing the "eyes holes" by closing them up and replacing them with slopes. I also added laser cannons where the flick-fire shooter was, plus the canopy has been reversed 180 degrees too. This allows for more room for the pilot to sit up and reach the controls. The rear of the rocket-ship has one engine, with the Imagination-fueled powerplant located under the light bluish gray heatsink panels. This space fighter now looks more like a F-18 jet with the new brick-built tail fins. (at least to me!) The new Dragon-wing fighters are flying escort duty for Bob's cruiser. (The old fighters from 2016 will be destroyed to make these new ones.) Any thoughts on these new ships?
  13. Murdoch17
    Been sitting on this model for about a year or two, waiting to upload it. It is off a Frontier church for my Wild West town. I based it partially off set 309 and 1309 (both called "Church") from 1957 / 58's Town Plan theme.. the only official Lego church ever made, as far as I know. The words "Church of the Unmodified Brick" go on some 2 x 4 tiles with custom stickers I'll probably get from my dad's label maker. (I don't own one) The model features a "golden" bell in the tower, and seven seats for parishioners, while the Reverend Mallory has to stand to deliver his fire-and-brimstone sermon on the "evils" of cutting baseplates, third party bricks, and gluing parts together. The lattice work for the windows is supposed to continue into the square versions using 22 of this part. The rear window has a trans blue / trans orange stained glass window with a cross outline in front of it. This church will go along with the gothic graveyard I assembled from both 70420 (Graveyard Mystery from Hidden Side) and 75965 (Rise of Voldemort from Harry Potter.) Also, please ignore the older 4-2-4 steam loco in the back of this photo, it's not important and has been disassembled for a 2-8-0 as seen in the Train Tech sub-forum. Father Tom Mallory has seen many reddish-brown bricks shattered, models glued together, and old gray baseplates cut down by the blade of Exact Zero in The First Purism War*. His service during that conflict has not exactly helped his intense fire-and-brimstone sermons on "Purity of the Brick". *DO NOT mention the war!
  14. Murdoch17
    Sorry to bump this again, I know it's annoying. BUT: I have news to share! These are all the parts that are left (minus the four blind and four flanged medium Big BenBricks and several Brick Tracks wheels in red) to find for my 2-8-0 and the Western / Toy Story military train. The Western turntable, with it's eight outlet tracks, is two 10 inch base plates across, with a little extra for the slightly larger circle of plates. I will need to buy at least 20 pieces of straight RC track for this, with 11 being on the outlet tracks / turntable itself. (Purists look away!) I will need a half track, with 1/4 of track at each end (a taken-apart flex track will do nicely for this) for this table to work "right". This "Armstrong" turntable has moved up and onto the To-Build list, and is to be constructed over the summer. (I measured the available space this morning with almost a dozen inches to spare, so hopefully it works out!) ...As a side note: the small 0-6-0 switcher has been purchased as of yesterday, with six red medium-size Big Ben bricks wheels ordered from the site.
  15. Murdoch17
    Just got to find two more "GREAT" and two more "WEST" printed 2 x 4 tiles for the Wild West eight wide passenger train + locomotive models. The last hard-to-find bits I ordered cost $45 total (I had the rest) and should be here Monday or Tuesday. …Then I start all over again with Engine No.3, and the US Army train. (The #2 loco and freight train I am skipping over currently cost too much to build... I'll be waiting for funds for a while for that one.)
  16. Murdoch17
    This station was inspired by several sets, chief among them 4554 (Metro Station) and 71044 (Disney Train and Station). I added a fireplace and a different, more vertically-sloped roof to the 4554 style station with the attic windows from 71044 as a bonus. The lattice windows in the arches are my own idea, while the lower half of all the windows comes from set the ones in 21324. (123 Sesame Street) The model is modular, and features a detachable track side platform, ground floor, and lift-away second floor and tower roof sections. The words "LEGO City" go on the awning above the platform entrance, while the year 1891 (100 years before set 4554 was released) goes on the street side as the date of construction completion. (Both of these should be in official printed 1 x 1 tile letters.) The street side features the same basic look as the other side, but in this case their is a staircase.... which could cause a problem for luggage trolleys and wheelchairs as there is no ramp. (It doesn't have one as they weren't required in the 1890's, when this was "built") One could easily be added to the platform ends, however. The top floor features the tiny station master's office, which includes fixtures such as a desk, telephone, and some filing cabinets. The ground floor features the ticket counter (with old fashioned cash registers), indoor seating, and cozy fireplace. Drinks on the white podium are also available for sale to thirsty travelers. Every floor and platform is grouped separately in LDD. Speaking of which, the file can be found at this link to it's Bricksafe page. As it stands right now, the parts collecting from my personal stash has started for this model, so it should be built by the start of summer, at the latest. Thoughts, comments, and complaints welcome!
  17. Murdoch17
    Tiny update: The family, foes and friends of the Time Traveler has been added to the first post.... or you can see it below. This story is set in my Adventures / Monster fighters / Pharaoh's Quest Universe of the early 1920's. In order from Left to Right: Mr. Harold Sutton: wealthy financial backer of Dr. Wormwood's experiments with time travel. Secretly wishes to have full control over the project for it's use by an unknown, Sinister third party. Mrs. Evelyn Sutton: sister of Dr. Wormwood (whom she despises) and step-mother of Gracie Sutton. Married to Mr. Sutton, who shares in her secret hatred of Dr. Wormwood. Grandad Joseph Wormwood: Father of Dr. Wormwood and Evelyn Sutton, and grandfather of Billy. His wife is deceased and he is living with Nancy, Billy, and the Doctor in Wormwood Manor. Gracie Sutton: Stepdaughter of Evelyn, and daughter of Harold Sutton & a complete sociopath. She enjoys tormenting people for pleasure, including younger cousin Billy Wormwood. Billy Wormwood: son of Nancy Wormwood and the good Doctor. Secretly tormented by cousin Gracie, he tries to find an escape from his predicament in any way. Nancy Wormwood: mother of Billy, and is concerned by Gracie's "play dates" with her son. After spying on Gracie Sutton tormenting Billy, she forbids her from seeing him, which puts the Doctor's financial backing at risk as payback by the Sutton family. "X": The mysterious masked man (woman?) who kidnaps Billy in 1922 with his time travel equipment. This person is also showed up on the Wormwood's estate lawn many years ago, resulting in Dr. Wormwood's fascination with time travel. Mrs. Katie Johnson: Town busybody and local telephone operator, who keeps an ear to private conversations for her own gain. Wife of Officer Pete Johnson, who (usually) keeps her in line. Officer Pete Johnson: Member of Scotland Yard and lives near Sutton Estate & Wormwood Manor. Is keen to know just what's going on when Billy get's kidnapped by "X" and Dr. Wormwood goes off to find him in time and space. NOT PICTURED: Dr. William Wormwood: The brains behind the brand-new invention of the time machine vehicle (or TMV, for short) and rebuilder of the giant mechanoid the Brass Automaton. Father of Billy, husband of Nancy, and financial backing recipient of the Sutton family, as his fortune was wiped out in his previous attempts at travel through time.
  18. Murdoch17
    I ordered the last few parts today from BrickLink for this 8-wide steam loco + train. (Also, the blue 2-8-0+0-8-2 Garret is finished in real life, but needs photos taken.)
  19. Murdoch17
    Sorry for the late response @Samus Aran, but I think story wise, the giant's original power core was damaged in some way by the icebreaker ship, and the scientist who found it then worked out a way to power the bot using an very advanced steam-powered generators. The Brass Automaton is gazing at the sleeks lines of his about-to-be-lunch (actually a early '20's Duesenberg automobile owned by the scientist) hopefully with the owner not in the car! (Hopefully, I can finish this robot soon... the parts will come from my Classic Space robot, as it is broken beyond my ability to fix it.)
  20. Murdoch17
    Thank you, it's quite an honor. I haven't ever been front-paged / blogged before, so this is a new experience for me!
  21. Murdoch17
    Thanks for the tag, @Legownz, this is a 100% improvement, as I love the new nose. It looks way better there, and I love that you've increased the amount of controls inside the cab. Keep up the good work!
  22. Murdoch17
    Thanks for the idea @Lyichir! I'll defiantly look into changing it around once instructions or the parts lists are released. EDIT: Here is an updated picture of the trains in the other thread, as shown below... just in case anyone wants to check out my changes!
  23. Murdoch17
    I added the freight train to the first post, ands revised the passenger train's dome car to include this sloped part in trans-black. The passenger train is on the to-order list, and the freight train is in the "gathering parts" phase.
  24. Murdoch17
    I'm back, and with the diminutive (yet powerful) locomotive number 5, built in the late 1870's for use in the Wichita Xenia Yazoo & Zephyrus Rail-Road's shop facilities. Number 5 is an eight wide model of a generic 0-6-0 saddle tank steam engine from the later half of the 19th century, and was inspired by a @ScotNick build of Stanley from Thomas and Friends for the stripe work, and this build of Percy (also from Thomas but by a different builder) for the front of the boiler/ piston assembly. (The website I got Percy from is pretty cool, and has some really interesting models. I puzzled him out from the pictures provided, as there are some models, like Percy, without any instructions or L-Draw files.) The 1 x 1 black tiles on the coal bunker should have the number "5" printed on them. Also, Big Ben Bricks' medium size wheels in yellow (4 flanged and 2 blind ones) are needed to take the place of the six 40-tooth gear wheels when built in real life. You can buy the wheels at his site here.
  25. Murdoch17
    Sorry for the late response @Curbthetide! I have some of the base setup in my living room, as part of a three (3 x 6 foot each) table train layout, as seen above. The fleet is packed away, but I'm considering putting it near the base on the tables, possibly behind the base. (As the front is taken by the RR spur which will soon feature the train shown below.) Here is my latest update: The Moonlighter train is owned by the Nexus Force, and is a retro-futuristic stream-liner mix of old-school steam technology, but with hyper-modern safety features designed specifically for use by Nexus Force personnel as a very high-speed, high-security ground transport between the northern-most city of St. Nicklaus and north-pole-hugging outpost of Ice Station Odyssey, around 500 miles away. (this all takes places on the ice-bound planet of Beta Polaris, which orbits what we here call the North Star, far away from Earth.) Thus this makes it a space train! Unlike the slower Earth trains, the Moonlighter type of space-train is super-streamlined, and can go up to speeds of up to 110 MPH (135 is the loco's top possible speed) on it's special track, with super-elevated curves and long straight-away's over hundreds of miles, all while using Positive Train Control (PTC) on the the mostly double-track mainline, where all vehicle crossings are flyovers and switches virtually non-existent once out of St. Nicklaus city limits. This train runs along with nine other identical versions of this train (10 total trains in all) on the route with up to seven in running order on the route and at least two in the maintenance shed / in emergency backup storage at any one time. They are numbered 2000 through 2010. (This one will be numbered 2007, as that's the year that LEGO Universe was unveiled to the public in the form of a early teaser image / page on the official LEGO website.) You can read more about this (space!) steam train here in the dedicated topic.
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