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sed6

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  1. sed6
    Glad everyone likes! With the recent completion of my 4-4-0 American it was time to see if I could run all four trains simultaneously...
  2. sed6
    Update! I finally have her built! Took about 10 hours to get it all just right. I have some fine tuning to do but she runs! See my first post for all the new pics!
  3. sed6
    Not 100 percent sure what you mean but I'll give it a try. Wheelbase is the measure between two axles, generally between the front and rear axles or first and last axles. Wheelbase is important in Lego train design because our trains must negotiate tight radius curved track. If the distance between two axles is too long the wheels will bind on the rails and the train won't make it through the curve. The standard Lego curves track allows about 12 studs (center to center) between axles before they will bind. If you have two axles on each truck (two or more wheels grouped together) on each end of your train car, a very common practice, they cannot be rigidly fixed to the train car at and must instead be allowed to swivel. For a truck with three axles on it you can go 7 studs (center to center), this is also the length of the standard PF train motor. The attached pics show some examples of the above. On my BNSF loco notice that the three axles are hinged between #2 and #3 to allow it to negotiate curves. In the other pic you can see examples of what works and what doesn't. Of course once you start adding pivot points to your trucks the sky's the limit for length but eventually overhang and other factors start to become a concern. Hope this helps.
  4. sed6
    Here's a pic of the cuts you make. Notice also that with the addition of a piece of flex track with the ends cut off you can join two modified switches together for a crossover that maintains the standard 8 studs between ties, again allowing for much more flexibility in your track layout. Compare that to the unmodified switches which give you a ridiculous 18 studs between two parallel lines!
  5. sed6
    Thanks! I just realized I didn't include a pic of the underside so I added one in my first post.
  6. sed6
    Thanks for the compliment. Yes, good eye! I modified many of my switches to a constant radius curve common to every other model railroad switch on the market (except Lego!). The modified switch allows much greater versatility in both placement and usage. Best of all the modified switch can still be used (restored) in its original format making this modification 100 percent reversible. All you need is a thin hobby saw (sometime called a Zona saw), a couple of bricks to serve as a straight edge for your cut, and a 2x4 plate to join the cut pieces together. You will though need to sacrifice a curve piece, but you can use each half of that curve piece, on for a left hand switch and the other for a right hand switch! Here's a link to the process I followed. http://jiri.boha.cz/lego/switches/
  7. sed6
    I cut my teeth on 60051and 60052 just this past fall so I'm new to Lego trains. I had been eagerly awaiting Legos new train releases this spring or summer but now not so much. In the past few months I've designed and built many of my own engines and cars and with each new one I make the desire to buy one of Legos new sets diminishes. Don't get me wrong, I still want to support Lego and do want to try out their new PF offerings, but as I become more and more experienced at creating my own the desire to buy a complete train set lessens. What say you all, will you experienced MOCer's buy the new sets?
  8. sed6
    You are welcome. In a big build like this it's hard to get the file over to Bricklink. You best bet is to move it over one group at a time. Create a LDD file and name it something like "ES44AC for BL". The highlight one group and then ctrl-alt-g to create a template. Then open your new "ES44AC for BL" file in LDD and paste the template into that file. Save the file and then upload it it to BL. Then once you try to verify the parts in BL you'll get a very brief popup that says "part # xxxxx can't be found". Pop back over to your new LDD file and search for that part and delete it and save the file (make a note of the part number and quantity). Then pop over to BL, search for the part and manually add it to your wish list. Then try uploading to BL again and repeat as necessary. It will take some time and effort but EVERY part in that loco is a standard part. The problem lies with the LDD to BL conversion, not my parts choice. For example you will find that BL cannot find a standard 2x3 tile. It's a very common part, used in all sorts of sets and builds, but BL can't find it. There's only a dozen or two parts in that loco that BL can't find and breaking it down by groups makes it much easier. You can do It! I wish to heck BL would enable their 'share wanted list' feature that's been "coming soon" forever! It would make things so much easier on everyone.
  9. sed6
    Showpiece is the right word! Certainly kudos to the original designer but kudos to you as well for building it! I'd love to see the .lxf file. Create an account on Bricksafe if you haven't done so yet and share the link with us. My best photo tip for you...always take a picture with your back to the light source (windows). Rotate your model (or the whole table) if needed :)
  10. sed6
    Not quite enough width on my table, I need 8 studs between the tracks for a crossover on the back and only have 4. Switching in freight yards requires a lot of back and forth anyway, so I'm okay reversing onto the inner loop. Thanks everyone for the positive comments, glad you like!
  11. sed6
    Try this. Problem is you're about .0001" shy of them lining up properly. The solution is to move the yellow and attached gray pieces away, add the brick with the knob, and then replace the yellow and gray pieces.
  12. sed6
    Maybe find your son a step-mom who likes Legos? Seriously, how can a wife (and mom) object to an activity that a father and son enjoy doing together, especially one as inane as Lego? Tell you what, pick another activity that you and your son can do together, like a violent sport, or something expensive or something that takes up much more room (maybe big game hunting and taxidermy, see how she feels about a stuffed Kodiak bear in her dining room); then suddenly your little Lego collection won't seem like such a big deal...
  13. sed6
    All of the above reasons are good and make sense. I'll add that I believe it's to add variety to your Lego collection when your sets are disassembled. Imagine if you disassembled a gray Star Wars set or green Emerald Night and all you had was gray and green...boring!
  14. sed6
    Actually I hadn't thought of that, great idea! Edit to add: That worked! Just 2 pieces of flex wider and 2 pieces longer allows my BNSF to pass another train on the inside or outside. Thanks again! Good eye! I have parts for one more loco on order and that'll fill up that left most spot :)
  15. sed6
    My first Lego locomotive MOC. Modeled after a BNSF ES44AC locomotive. 6 studs wide, 50 studs long and powered by two Lego Power Functions train motors. The three axle bogies have enough articulation to negotiate the standard Legos curves. It's made up of about 1200 bricks, took about 50 hours to design in Lego Digital Designer, 8 hours to assemble and cost a little over $200 to build, complete with electronics, from parts purchased off Bricklink. I've included the .lxf file below and welcome anyone to build, copy, modify or just examine my building techniques. I took great care to create many different groups to make the digital version easy to disassemble an examine. I've also included a link to a YouTube video of it running. It negotiates the standard Lego curves with no problems. I hope you like! Here's the .lxf file... https://bricksafe.com/pages/sed6/bnsf-es44ac-locomotive Thanks for looking!
  16. sed6
    I have a standard 36 inch by 80 inch hollow core interior door on folding legs that serves many purposes in my hobby room. It constantly gets repurposed for any number of different hobbies I enjoy. Currently I have it set up for my trains and I've tried to cram as much track and functionality into it as possible. Right now my layout has: two complete loops, a crossover between the two loops, a reversing leg, five sidings, nine switches, a passenger platform with crossing, a cargo or maintenance terminal and room to park all my trains. My blue cargo train (60052) and white passenger train (60051) can run at the same time despite the zero clearance between the loops. The BNSF loco can navigate the entire layout but cannot pass another train on the curves because of it overhang. I know it might look a little jam packed to some but it provides me with endless switching and running possibilities. Hope you like! Newest update- Here's a video of my layout today with only my custom trains running.
  17. sed6
    @Murdoch17 inspires me the most! His creations are beautiful, his write-ups and history of his locos are informative and his willingness to share his work and help others here is a great example for all to follow. I'm on lots and lots of forums and his contributions along with others like him are what makes the internet so darn awesome!
  18. sed6
    Meh, don't want to read 39 pages...point us in the right direction?
  19. sed6
    Thank you very much! Account created! Try this link... https://bricksafe.com/pages/sed6/4-4-0-american-locomotive
  20. sed6
    I agree, it's probably a difference in the motors. TLG doesn't care if one motor is slightly faster or slower than another motor as they don't make any trains that use two train motors. It's only a problem for us train fans who MOC their own.
  21. sed6
    Best news so far! I'm very excited to hear it will have it's own controller. Bluetooth and smartphones won't exist in 20, 30 maybe 50 years and having a toy that relies on obsolete technology like that really had me worried. The stand alone controller is a great idea as those will essentially future proof these sets. Way to go Lego!
  22. sed6
    Update - she's built and pics added! These 4-4-0's were so popular in the US from the mid-1800's to the mid-1900's that they are referred to as a 4-4-0 American. They were a mainline work horse until the early 1900's when larger engines replaced them but they continued service on shortlines and spurs until the 1950's. My particular engine was inspired by #185 of the St.Louis-San Francisco Railway, nicknamed Frisco. It has 1050 bricks between the engine and tender and took me over 50 hours to make in LDD. It's 8 bricks wide and I tried hard to capture many of the important details without making it too super detailed. I focused mainly on scale and proportions. I did add good detail to the boiler in the cab and gave the tender good detail behind the cab to include the coal shoot and working coal doors. It's powered by a PF train motor under the engine with the battery and receiver housed in the tender. The very top of the coal heap serves as the button for the battery and you can look straight down and see the battery light glowing green. The cable for the motor runs under the floor of the engine and tender, but just above the coupler, keeping it out of sight. The .lxf file is quite detailed with over a dozen different groups making it easy to take the engine and tender apart allowing you to make modifications, change colors or just to examine my building technique. I have not run it through Bricklink yet, so there could be some parts in certain colors that are not available, like all the metallic gold in the cab for example. Here's a link to more history about the Frisco Railway... https://www.american-rails.com/the-frisco.html Here's a link to the .lxf file... https://bricksafe.com/pages/sed6/4-4-0-american-locomotive And here's some pics (click on each for bigger)...Hope you like!
  23. sed6
    How do I play with the lighting? I'm not at all happy with my first render. Did a black steam train locomotive and there is no depth to the blacks at all. I think (hope) changing the angle of the lighting (possible?) Or another lighting setting will help. LDD pictured on top and BR pictured on bottom...
  24. sed6
    Very nice! I too am working on an American 4-4-0 but a little later version.
  25. sed6
    It only take four couplers to join three cars, you have all you need already :)
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