Hrw-Amen

Awesome, would not look out of place in an Osprey book on the Victorian Navy.

Yes, I have thought about doing this and have seen it done with other types of model railways, but like others have said it is OK if you just want to see the bottom of your trains. I decided against it. Also waist height is not really practical unless you have room for a loop at either end to make the track continuous without bridging the door. At the moment I am stuck with just having to set up, play and put it away again. I know if I left it out especially in front of the door it would get kicked trodden on and generally broken pretty quickly.

Those towers with the spirals were rather good, I imagined the train flying off the top with that speeded up video, it did look a little precarious going across from one to another as it was. Still very good and I'd like to see this in real life!

I want to say something good about this as I really like it, however most all of the good things have been said so I will just have to agree with everyone else.

Yes indeed, I am all for running trains around a layout. The only problem being having the room to set one up and leave it. Even as a kid I had to pack everything away after I finished playing and bits got knocked off of buildings and the like even though I had a good few boxes to put them in to try and stop this. OK, It is LEGO and can be put back but I'd love to have the space even for a small permanent loop. Love to have all those other buildings to go with it mind you, a modular train station sounds good.

If I remember it was about the mid 1970's when LEGO first started to make those odd little proto-mini-fig things that were just a torso and chest with a head and no printing. Prior to that if I had wanted LEGO figures actually made from LEGO I had used 1X1 bricks with 1X1 round bricks and a 1X1 plate as a hat or hair. A much smaller scale but then the cars and buildings were much smaller as well so they seemed about the right size. Then it does not seem to have been long before proper mini-figs came to be in sets, in fact I think I only got a couple of sets with those armless, faceless, ones in them before the proper ones turned up. So was it always the intention of TLG that those proto-mini-figs would only be around for a year or so until they started to replace them with the real thing and if so why did they opt knowing that, to bring them out in the first place? Why not just wait and go with the proper mini-figs straight away? Or was it a case of they tried them first, found children did not like them so looked for something better?

After getting sets out of the attic after 25 years or so of storage I can appreciate how much dirt gets ingrained onto them even if you have wrapped them carefully and put them in boxes. I wonder where it all comes from. I wish you well in your quest, I am not sure I would have the patience to distinguish between modern an old brick types as long as they were the same shape and colour, but that is all good if you can do it. For my own ships I don't think I had as many chewed bits as what you have, one or two, but my parents were quite hot on me not chewing my LEGO when I was younger and the threat of a smacked megablocks was enough to stop most of it. Anyway, best of luck, look forwards to seeing some now and then photos later on.

With something like Space Marines, Galaxy Patrol or even Space Police or any of the others I don't see why they all have to be human. Even if the force is seen as being a human based one originating from Earth, I am sure that as they encounter other planets with other intelligent life some of those are going to be friendly just as some would not be and not always all of one species being friendly or bad. So some aliens could get enrolled into the Space Marines, Galaxy Patrol or Space Police (And so on.) whilst at the same times some aliens possibly from the same species could be in whatever the bad guy force is. Afterall in CITY we have humans in the police and humans as criminals. There are going to be good and bad in all intelligent species the same as in ours. I think both Good and bad factions should have a mixture of humans and aliens, not just one race against another. I have a couple of Green S3 CMF aliens serving in the police force in my CITY, they hunt human criminals alongside their human comrades, but if some aliens came and committed a crime they would hunt them just the same.

Like others I did not realise how huge this was until I saw the red car. A Massive robot/mech!! Looks great. You say it is the 'retaking of Terra' Can I ask what they are retaking it from as those scared citizens look pretty human? Is that a squashed Mc Donalds restaurant he is treading on? Looks like a good job at making one. I think if I was to make something like this I too would be making lots of laser noises all the time and testing the patience of my wife! Well done.

This looks really nice with the old grey and green. The tank is my favourite though the skimmer is also good.

Perhaps they will will using human mini-figs based off the Cusoo project or very similar to them as the human faction? They would still be able to tie in with the Galaxy Patrol and Pink space girl and ADU. I mean there would not just be one type of human in space. No reason why they could not be used alongside Space Police, M-Tron and the bugs allied to Blacktron and so on. As for the aliens being insectoids that is fine, I loved that range when it was first out. Not all aliens have to look like humans with a funny head, perhaps some of these could have wings etc like those flying aliens villains from Star Wars (Don't know what they are called, not a big fan.)especially now we have fairy wings that fit mini-figs.

Good upgrade to the vehicles here. I have a couple of both of them lying around somewhere. Did not photograph the box though! I like the Tunnelator but think it looks more authentic with the original chunky white Ice Planet wheels. Otherwise it could be something used by CITY folk who live in a ski resort somewhere. The idea of having the laser is a good one and a bit more up to date I guess, glad to see you still have a place for the chainsaw as a back up incase that laser breaks down at some point.

It is a pity in a way that you cannot actually make the track go 3Km (Or whatever.) from one town or village to another. Actually having a LEGO train travelling between two real places and breaking the record would be really good. I did watch a programme in the UK last year where they had a model train (I think OO/HO Gauge) running between two towns in Devon, that was almost unbelievable but they did it. Anyway, a really good project regardless and I wish you all the best and cannot wait to see the images and video from it. Good luck!!

I found some in Tesco (At long last!) in my area, they were behind the Customer Service desk, but the lady was happy for me to have the box up on the counter to feel through the packets. Mind you in was 5am and they were quite empty, maybe she would not have been so happy if it had been mid day or some other busy time?

Not specific to this engine, although I am planning to build some open coal type wagons for it to pull at some point. I am also looking at ballasting some track curves as I am trying to get a wider radius curve around the outside of a normal one. Whilst I can just lay this on the floor it tends to move a little every time the train goes over it. Trouble is it uses up thousands of little 1X1 tiles doing this and takes ages to lay them all. I don't have room for a layout but hoped that having the four corners of the loop done in this way (Hopefully some straights as well eventually.) would make it quicker and easier to set up as well as make it more stable. Anyway, the point being that could make for some good scenic shots once completed.

Thanks, I was trying to do that, but for some reason when I clicked on the add image button nothing was happening. Usually I get a little pop-up to put the code in, but it was not functioning for some reason, same with my post about the rolling stock?

As well as my latest engine I have also managed to take some pictures of various items of rolling stock that I have made. These are not all new, but I have up to this point not posted photographs of them. (I don't think?) First up are some passenger coaches. I did not have many, just three to run with my Emerald Night which were pretty bog standard EN coaches apart from being seven wide as opposed to LEGO standard six studs. So I decided to make a few more. In order to keep with the theme of most of my steam engines being from around the C1900 era I made them twin axle four wheeled ones. I am currently working on longer four axle ones but they are not finished. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hrw-Amen/Smallcoach/green_coach_01.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hrw-Amen/Smallcoach/green_coach_04.jpg Anyway, these are similar to the ones that used to operate on the branch line that ran behind my parents house when I was a very small child. Although by the time I came along it was just used for goods traffic my mother informs me that up until the early 1960's they still used this type of small coach. I have not been able to find any reference to that so I will have to go on her word. But anyhow they seemed like a good thing to make. Originally when I started making them I built the first two with connecting corridors, but found that in order for them to not touch on standard curves they needed to have the couplings placed in such a way that the main body of the coaches were 5 studs apart which looked ridiculous. Also upon further investigation I was not able to find a single photo of old twin axle coaches that had connecting corridors so I changed them to stand alone wagons which made them look a little more real (As far as LEGO can.) and that they were able to run closer together. I decided to make three standard coaches like this and then a final brake coach to bring up the rear. I looked at various designs for these and most of the early ones seemed to have the birdsnest arrangement for the guard to look out of, however and partly due to clearance under my station, I did not want to go down this route (Although I probably could have just about got away with it.) but instead decided to go with the ducket version as you can see from the pictures. I did find some evidence for these although not so much so maybe they were not as popular? Interestingly every spell check and dictionary I have looked in wants to spell ducket with two 't's but in every railway related thing I read for it there is only one 't?' Brickshelf Link:- http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=512614 flickr Link:- The other wagon I wanted to share with you was a standard twin axle box goods truck. Where I grew up we used to get long trains of these down at the harbour where they took fruits and vegetables off of ships that came into port. This one was made using the bits from the Toy Story train and although I did like the idea as it reminded me of my youth I wanted it to look a bit more 'real' and also British. I have made some goods trucks like this before but with standard doors and also more readily available LEGO yellow and white bricks. I hope to get enough of those sliding doors to make a few of these eventually, but they will have to wait a while. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hrw-Amen/Box/box_car_04.jpg It is also a whole brick higher than my standard wagons of a similar design that I mentioned, but this is simply down to the height of the sliding doors and there was not a lot I could do about that. (Other than make the older ones higher I guess?.) There is a comparison photo in the gallery. Brickshelf Link:- http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=512613 flickr Link:- PS. As a side is anyone else having trouble with the insert image icon, I am clicking it but it is not opening the box to put the link in?

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hrw-Amen/Black/coupled_8_g.jpg I think this is perhaps my favourite of all the steam trains I have, it certainly runs the best. It is nothing special in the greater run of real world steam trains. They were used mainly for hauling coal wagons and stuff like that. It is powered from the tender using a normal Power Functions train motor. It uses 8 Big Bens medium wheels, two sets of drivers and two blind drivers. At first O found the set up quite stiff but now have managed to get the engine to free wheel quite well. Anyway, here is the link:- Brickshelf:- http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=512611 Flickr:-

So when are these L motors going to become available to buy then as I have not been able to locate them under the Power Functions category on the LEGO website yet?

I would and usually do buy them direct from a store where I can feel them, but local to where I live nobody has them. They are apparently supposed to be in Tesco, but none of the ones in my local area have any.

I got six from TLG direct from the website with my last order as no-one was stocking them and they arrived today. Out of the six I got FOUR business men which I don't mind admitting left me feeling a little cheated!

Well my mother lived through WWII and is still very much alive, I am not sure she would appreciate people saying otherwise! However in spite of living through it and knowing the horrors of it, that did not stop her and my father buying me model tanks and soldiers when I was a young kid and encouraging me to join a wargaming club where WWII & WWI were recreated on the table top each and every week. However a gaming club and model kits I do feel are slightly different to LEGO. I know some people use LEGO to make buildings and other stuff for wargames (And I can vouch for how effective it can be.) and yes I would probably like to buy a panzer III or a Tiger or even a Sherman LEGO tank if they made them, but as a toy I am not sure it would be a good move. I am not sure I can really justify why it would not be seeing as lots of other manufacturers do make modern war models and get away with it and even sell loads (And presumably make money?) but somehow it just does not seem like it would be right for LEGO to do it. Maybe it is that we have all grown up with the 'nice friendly' feel of LEGO, I don't know? Perhaps if they wanted to make something from that era to appeal to older members of the community it should be something that was ground breaking for the time. It could be military but maybe not something involved in the war to great degree. Perhaps an early helicopter or maybe a plane like the Gloucester Meteor or something? Other than that I think it should be left at least for now to those who like to make MOCs for themselves. However I don't think banning discussion is the way to go as there are perhaps some things from the time, technological breakthroughs that could make good future sets and as time goes on and stuff retreats into history it may become usable eventually in a watered down theme. You never know in a hundred years or so LEGO WWII could seem no more controversial than LEGO Pirates does now. Galaxy Patrol on the other hand, well they may turn out to be real bad guys, but we will have to let history be the judge of that.

OK thanks. I have to say I have never looked under the catalogue button before, I was trying to use the search facility to look through all the train related products but it was taking forever.

Will be interesting to see how it runs around the curves and through points. I have seen some long passenger coaches and they seem to handle curves OK, so hopefully it will do so? For myself I made some copies of the cars from the Maersk train to run with the real ones but just in a cheaper colour, your longer ones look better though.

A sort of post apocalypse train sounds like a good idea, but would it not be better toned down a bit, it seems a bit bright and happy, or is the idea to have it bright blood red to confuse all those followers of Khorne that it is in fact the blood gods own train so they don't attack it? I imagine that there will be a few of those armoured trucks though for transporting the weapons in and also plenty of guards. It looks like you have only used two of the doors from the Toy Story wagon so are you building a second? I am interested to see the finished train to see what it looks like. I imagine it to be a sci-fied up version of the old western steam trains, maybe a bit steam punk?