ProvenceTristram

Here's a diorama: And some car pics, as requested: The rolling stock is several years old, and there are elements of them that I would likely redo if they were ever built.

And pulling a suitable train:

Here it is with a significantly shortened boiler, to better represent the prototype (I didn't convert it to oil-burning, though, because I'd like to fill the tender up with cordwood). I sure wish there was a way to do outside frames in this scale, but I can't see how.

This is loosely inspired by the famous Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (N de M) 2-8-0s, though it has a longer boiler, and lacks an outside frame running gear set up. Also, please ignore the wheels - they are stand-ins for the Big Ben mediums. Proto (sorta): Model:

Yeah, I just don't know if I want the loco to be a Darjeeling Class-B, or just a member of the type. Certainly, a lot of people who have built live steam versions of this engine have utilized green and red, which to my knowledge aren't prototypical, either. Here's a weird size comparison. Strictly speaking, both of these engines run on the same track, and are to scale with one another.

I dunno. Maybe red is a better color. It certainly makes the gold pop a lot more. I originally was dead-set on blue, but I've now had two people (my fiance and my mother) tell me that the blue looked too much like Thomas the Tank Engine, which (even though I know the designs are radically different, to the average non-railfan, I can see the connection) frankly I would like to avoid.

Alright, I decided to completely recommission this thread. I originally posted it as a color survey, and then, while looking at the photos, realized that I was totally unsatisfied with my work. This was - back in the day - my first steam locomotive MOC in Lego, and I recently decided to revisit and touch it up. However, I eventually concluded that the entire thing needed to be rebuilt a stud wider, and 1-2 (depending on location) plates higher. I am *much* more satisfied with the final product (although I do wish that the running gear could be functional. Unfortunately, in minifig scale, using wheels this small, I'm pretty convinced that there is no way to make that work). Proto (note, I used my own color scheme because, hey, it's paint): Model:

This is amazing, but like almost everything awesome that gets submitted to ideas, my guess is that - even if it gets to 10k - they'll refuse.

This is a good start. I like that you angled the windows at the stern.

Going to echo this. The hull - let's be honest - is kind of a mess. The rigging and masts, however, are strong (better than what I am doing, definitely). The use of the snotted railings as the base for the shrouds, in particular, is just a stroke of genius.

In all seriousness, I like this. It's very set-like.

AHHHH. I can't hold on! And there's nothing but sky below me!

Yeah, I see that it's the "Imperial Flagship but not." My advice would be to sit down and steal some design techniques from a few people on this board and see if you can hash out something a lot more realistic at a lower price point. The thing about the Flagship is, for all its grandeur, it is neither particularly realistic, nor very well gunned for its size - in fact, it's kind of laughable on both fronts. You could probably part out a small brig that was close to being actual minifig scale, had a lower part count, and would beat the Flagship in a real-world battle. Not to dump on what you did here, of course. I'm just saying - if you're going to go all-in on a big buy, it might as well be 100% your own boat.

I like it, but I would make every effort to lower the stern castle. But that's just me. If you ditch the rear black stern section, you should be able to drop it down (with some modifications). You could then spread the masts out a bit more.

Dude... it was seven years ago. Stuff breaks.

One more photo. I made some slight alterations to the ship: 1) I added two hatches in the upper deck (not the weather deck) to allow for on/offloading of cargo (not pictured). They weren't originally included because I was so tired that I forgot about them while building the ship this morning. 2) I altered the shaping of the hull just beneath the stern gilding. The original parts I had utilized here were not available in reddish brown, and I want to be able to construct the vessel eventually. 3) I added more blue to the stern. While this isn't an enormous change, I feel like the effect is rather dramatic overall.

Thanks! They're not really changes, though - this is a whole new ship. The original used built-up versions of the old Black Seas Baricuda-era hull pieces, whereas this one employs the newer parts from more recent pirate waves. As I said in the OP, I actually prefer the traditional hull, but it forces you to use a non-uniform (or disjointed) color scheme for the sides. The new parts give me an opportunity to take banding right to the waterline, even if the shaping of the trascom is marred slightly by necessary SNOTting. I think the tradeoff is ultimately worth it (Athena's Rage mounted only 28 heavy guns; Valkyrie has 36), but it also helped to jump the parts count past 3,000 :/. I do hope to eventually build this ship, but I need a new job first.

I decided last night to revisit my Athena's Rage (the second MOC I posted on here, about two weeks ago), because I felt like I had developed a lot of nice techniques in the intervening timespan, and wanted to see what I could crack out in roughly the same size (note: this isn't to say I dislike Athena's Rage - I still think the old Lego large hulls are a more pleasing starting point. However, I really wanted something I could actually get in the reddish-brown color). I based this model heavily - not only on that prior vessel - but also the Swedish Götheborg, although my ship is a generation earlier, and has an more antiquated sail plan (and more guns, and a more pronounced stern castle :P). I think this is the last one I am going to do for a while, because, frankly, I have a hard time conceiving of being too much more satisfied with a project than this one (at least at this semi minifig [or "realistic for a budget"] scale). Prototype: Old Athena's Rage: Duke of York: And one shot of the lower cabin interior from LDD. There's an upper captain's cabin, but this is the roomier space:

Actually, in most of my mocs, the hull does contract towards the stern. However, when it comes to galleons, you're then talking about three different angles at that point - the angle outwards of the transcom, the angle inwards of the sides, and then a narrowing. i decided, in this instance, to dispense with the narrowing due to the amount of structural detail on the back.

Spent all night working on this: And an interior shot to show the sheer:

And here is a potential alternate color scheme. Unfortunately, the 13731 long slope doesn't exist in reddish brown (or any brown), so there's no way to do the lower hull in the original paint.

The schooner-brig is actually a modern take on a "traditional" sail plan, which can be seen on ships such as the Hawaiian Chieftain (which is, itself, a steel-hulled vessel with an extremely shallow draft triple-keel bottom). However, I really like how they look, and decided to loosely base something on the Chieftain, albeit set right around 1700. Note also that this ship doesn't use a stock hull - I elected (much to my [eventual] satisfaction [and initial frustration/doubts]) to build this vessel mostly out of traditional bricks, which I think resulted in a very sleek and trim design. Prototype (sorta): Model:

Just wanted to do an escort for the Athena's Rage - something to split enemy fire. This is obviously a lot smaller, and uses the old narrow hull (as opposed to the old wide hull on the bigger ship): I think it turned out fairly decent, considering how small it is.

Proto/inspiration (sort of): Model: