ColletArrow

Excellent, one of my favourite threads is back! Your stories are excellent, and I agree with @Vindicare that the town seems bigger than it is with your photos. I'm excited to see what the year holds for the place.

Excellent! The planking looks perfect, and everything about it just works; I can't see any faults with it at all. It shows what can be achieved in a slightly larger scale. These two models together would make for a striking display piece anywhere. Good work.

I'm interested to see what a mammoth display this is! I think it would be possible to achieve full control by connecting motorised switches to the receiver outputs. @Sariel diagrammed a similar set-up here at 9:00 : Although I'm not entirely sure those two particular examples work, as I think an IR receiver is "on" no matter what position any preceding switch is in. I believe you could instead use all 4 receivers followed by X switches (one for each of X motors) connected to 6 of the outputs. The two remaining outputs and motors would be used to operate said switches. This allows 2 motors on each of 6 outputs, a total of 12. If the switches were operated via one of the various stepper type mechanisms developed for mechanical gearboxes, I think up to 4 motors could be run off one output, increasing the total to 24! The drawbacks: you need miles of wiring and the control system would be mind-boggling. It's just a theory; I have no idea how practical or useful it is, as I have no experience of this scale.

Of course! That's reminded me of the UK's "autoballaster" (a wagon type that came about by accident): (Not my picture - it's from a UK model shop.) The wagon has a raised solebar and chutes that can unload either side of the rail, so as to dispense ballast exactly where required. The one pictured is fitted with a generator; only one is in each rake, to provide compressed air. It's even got the same colour scheme as the original set (for those like me who don't remember set numbers): (Again, not my picture; this one's from Brickset.) I'd say despite the different end shape and the obvious chute-above-the-solebar difference, the set could certainly have been inspired by the autoballasters. I think they were around at the right time, in the right livery.

Good work! I like the integration of the train motor in the tender, which by the way I agree is nicer to look at than the interesting-concept-but-slab-sided corridor tenders. The firebox and complex running board shaping is also done well. Ultimately, everything I'd expect to be represented is there, plus more on the side. A very neat job, I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's been decorated! Side-note: the videos are fine for me, and show off the model well. For those having trouble, it's probably because they're hosted on Facebook.

This looks to me like an excellent rendering of the original locomotive, with a superb level of detailing. That Conrail Blue version really catches my eye for some reason; you've done a brilliant job. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of these built in real bricks!

Woot! I snuck in for the first time at the end there, prize B on the last day. Now we get the second anxious wait of the competition, waiting for the prizes! Thanks as always to CopMike for hosting this wonderful tradition. Merry Christmas!

That's one way of making an entrance! This is an impressive beast with plenty of details, although I'm not sure about the studs along the running plates. I too would love to see some more pictures of the mechanics, it sounds interesting.

How about his idea then? I've had this mechanism knocking around my head for the past year or so, so it was good to get it down on paper. Or in digital, at least. The idea is that the two "pegs" are slid in by an angled brick at the side of the track as it's pushed past. Below I've highlighted the moving section in yellow: And roughly how it works: Here the yellow brick opens the hopper, and the blue one would close it again once it's passed. This will only work with 1x1 round bricks or plates for the material being unloaded, but should function with very little external input, and it still looks like a real wagon. The LDD file (for anyone interested) is on my bricksafe. Whatever you go with, I'll be interested in the result; I love the sound of what you're doing!

That side-on comparison shot really shows off how accurate your MOC is. I think it's one of your better models; the detailing and sizing just looks... right. Although that might just be because I can see the details more clearly on this one! You've built so many excellent locomotives recently, I wonder if it would be a good idea to start your own "index" topic with a picture and link to each creation. It'd be neat to see them all side-by-side, even if that'll never happen in physical bricks.

A great little micro-moc! I love that you're pursuing Technic in two (size) extremes at once. This is also the second time in the past few days I've seen that suspension arm part used in an unexpected location. I'm now wondering if you could make a small, geared, tilting/pitching stand thing for it, to "animate" it a little? You could even fix it onto the mechanism JK Brickworks used, although that's leaving the realm of Technic.

This is certainly an interesting Modular, probably one of my favourites already; purely because it's a building with functions! The garage door isn't something I'd have thought to do, even if it makes the side walls a bit ugly. The Tow Truck has some excellent parts usage around, making a beautifully compact design. And the car lift... ...I'm in two minds about. It's nice they included it, and the mechanism for actuating it from outside the building is good, but on the whole it's underwhelming. To me at least, it looks quite thin, weak and wobbly, exactly what you DON'T want in something you're going to be working underneath! I would have at least provided another vertical rail on the "open" side, but that might get in the way of the interior play space. Other things I don't like so much about the model include those deep gaps down the front, and how the pavement would match up to adjacent buildings. However, I love the colours (of the ground floor section at least), and it's interesting to see LEGO stepping away from the city-centre high-street and going on a tour of the back roads. Overall I'm pleased with this addition to the line-up.

Thanks @jwarner! I hope your exam went well; mine certainly did this afternoon. Which also means I've had a little time this evening to relax, by which I mean improve my entry. The Heliplane has now gained landing gear and larger engines & propellers, as well as an improved roof line and tail wing. I've had to go for 4-blade props; the real things only ever seem to use 3, but I don't have enough parts already in my collection to achieve that, so 4 it is. I don't think they look to out-of-place, as the entire model is quite freelance anyway! General view of the model: The distinctive vertical tail fins looks a lot tidier now, although I hope I can get them sturdy without that upper bar. This view also shows the opening cargo ramp, and the new landing gear. I tried to make it fold, and the rear wheels can turn upwards somewhat, but the front pair is pretty fixed. At least they're there. And finally, from the front with the props facing forward: I don't think I can go much further with the digital build, so this will have to wait a week or so until I get back to my collection to start bringing this to life. Until then, any comments and criticism is welcome!

This is why you don't let a Civil Engineer do statistics! At least I was correct in part, just it was only *one* part of many. I'll add your points to the sheet at some point, but at the rate my workload is increasing it won't be until next year.

Well, here I go. This is both my first time entering a TC, and my first published Technic MOC. In no way am I expecting to win, but I'm interested to see how the competition will push me to come up with a decent MOC for once! I'm also a University student, so A) I'm only using parts already in my collection, B) I won't be able to build with physical bricks until I get home in a couple of weeks, and C) Any building I do at the moment is technically procrastination. I've chosen the wrong time to enter a competition, but I'm having a go anyway. With that out of the way, here's the first LDD sketch of my idea: a small-scale, largely-freelance Heliplane. It started out as a sketch to see if I could come with anything, and ended up looking better than I expected for a first draft. The only panels I own matching pairs of are from the 9393 tractor set, so that's what I'm using. So far the functions are rotating the engines upwards using the gear at the back, opening the tailgate and (clearly) spinning the propellers. Coming back and looking at it again, pretty much everything needs to be improved! I think the first thing is that the engines and props need to be larger. Then the tail needs cleaning up from it's current placeholder state, and I've entirely neglected the landing gear... There's probably many more glaring omissions from the view of aero engineers, so I'm interested to hear what you have to say.

@mocbuild101 pegged it at 185 this year, compared to 203 last year. I personally don't have stats further than that. This is my second year participating, and I didn't win a manatee last time. However, it looks like my chances are better this year. Below is my "Probability of winning" sheet, that calculates and shows how the chance of winning a manatee falls over time (as there are fewer prizes per remaining contestants). I posted this link in the Entries thread the other day, but now this one is up I'll link it here too. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l846TgJeM1NQpmIGk__Mn_eg6u8LEUO3jwl8187bJU0/edit?usp=sharing. Tomorrow's chance stands at 75.4%. Good luck!

Looks realistic and functions realistically - just what I love trying to achieve in LEGO, and you've managed this one perfectly. Excellent work, I may have to copy it one day.

Although that decreases as advent progresses, as there are less prizes available per remaining entrants. I'll link again to an explanatory Google Sheets I made last year: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l846TgJeM1NQpmIGk__Mn_eg6u8LEUO3jwl8187bJU0/edit?usp=sharing. Assuming your guess of 185 entries, the probability is a good 77.8% today, but starts to tail off. It dips below 50% on the 19th, and by the 24th has reached only 12%. Is the Winners Advent Calendar up yet? I can't find it with the search, and it hasn't been frontpaged, so I have no idea where it is.

Spectacular LEGO engineering, as you always accomplish. I love the mechanical solution to the problem, and the pnuematic implementation works beautifully. I have a slightly random question, though; how noisy is the model when running? Could you place the compressor a little way off, and just have it hissing away to itself as it rearranges the discs?

My ideal Father Christmas simply had to be on a steam locomotive... ...so I built a narrow-gauge Hunslet-inspired 0-4-0, suitably liveried. Thanks CopMike for keeping up with the tradition Manatees this year, and good luck to all!

You've managed some excellent building to overcome a unique set of challenges. Everything you could want in this model is here, from the opening door to the driver squeezed in the cab. Overall it's a stunning model. Good luck in the competition; I'm glad I don't have to compete against you!

'Tis done! OK, so the model was done about 3 weeks ago. But University work got in the way, so only tonight have I uploaded some final good-quality renders to the BMR Flickr Group, officially entering the contest. (I've never used Flickr before; is that what I was supposed to do @raised?) I may as well post the pictures here too: I know they're not perfect, but I didn't spot some issues until after my laptop had taken a good while to produce them. Just please pretend the unit is sitting on the track in the second image, not floating one stud to the left! @Dorino: Thank you for your work and photographs! I had forgotten you'd built my 60198 replica, and the similar colour schemes make the models look really good next to each other. You might have just given me an idea for a mini-project, too. @Vilhelm22: Thanks for the comment. It seems unlikely I will ever get to build this thing in proper bricks; as a student, I unfortunately have neither the money nor space to throw at LEGO. Even if I could build the things I've designed in LDD, this model wouldn't be the first to be done. However, I will be sharing whatever I build from my collection when I get back to it at Christmas. It will be entirely unrelated to this topic though. In the mean time: thank you for looking, good luck if you're in the contest, and Happy OcTRAINber!

I (always!) say that if you can make something work realistically, do it. It ultimately depends on how much you care about the appearance of the finished model; working, custom sliding doors are always going to be more bulky than purely cosmetic ones, or the parts [door on rail] I assume you were describing as "limiting". Many models simply use static doors that *look* like they move, as on the BMR Boxcars (as far as I can tell, from pictures). However, there are many ways of making doors slide; I think the simplest, if you're OK having 1-brick thick doors, is to use the 2x8 version of the rail top and bottom (as done for building doors, e.g. 7945 Fire Station). Thinner doors are possible using LEGO geometry; a door of tiles-over-plates can be held vertical by a rail of 1x4x1 panels. I was designing this yesterday, for a building: The top of the door is kept behind the 1x8 tile by a 2x2 tile with studs. I'm not sure whether this is a suitable design for a railway wagon; it depends on how wide your models typically are, and hence how bulky the doors can be without looking odd. These are just my thoughts though!

Who said anyone was getting bored? I love watching a model build up like this! That's a surprising amount of space inside; I really should try out a 9V battery like that sometime. I don't think there's much need for interior details, as the windows wouldn't really allow it to be seen. However, as you have gaps around the motor, can I suggest that you brace the bevel gears with either 87408 or 48496? Although it seems this model performs well without, those parts will make it truly impossible for the gears to slip! I think (from some experience) that it's good practice to reinforce as much as possible in these drive trains. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished bus trundling around the track. Good work.

I'd say go with the fixed, single axle; it's more true to the original, and it means you don't have to hide anything under there. I too am surprised at how well it runs, but seeing as it does why not keep it simple and accurate? Either way, I'm looking forward to the bus running around in the bricks!