Tube Map Central

Maybe an East network and a West network, who knows ... http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/lego_maps.jpg

Stop lecturing me, you are so tedious

Thanks for all suggestions, azures and yellows would go well, and all are made harder by lack of key parts, i.e. headlight bricks, vertical grip clips and 2x2 windows. But nothing is insurmountable, these are all less-rare colours. And finally ... BACK TO TAN WINDOWS Keeping the dark green theme, and what a great railway colour it is. Worth tracking down those rare parts. The dark tan roof works well too. Apologies to UK MOCers if you can't find 3x2 roof slopes in Black/grey/dark tan any more, I think I've bought most of them! All I need now is an Underground station ... http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_tan-dgreen_side.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_tan-dgreen_above.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_tan-dgreen_back.jpg

Thanks! I think the trains are good for now, the station building needs extending (the middle third contains the grand staircase) but I think my next build will be the underground station for the Gate Stock. This station in the link looks wonderful, but the station tunnel is a bit two big, usually a London Tube station had a station tunnel twice the radius of the train tunnel. I can't see a good way of getting a stable tighter cylinder which also has a mosaic, so I will have to cheat and create a cut-and-cover station box with straight walls. Which actually makes sense in this context. Thanks! If the part is just right, then I have to use it, even if it is rare. Sometimes I still use the part even if it is the wrong colour. Then I will swap a new one in if it ever gets released in the right colour.Thanks also for giving me another excuse to upload an image, this one shows the construction of the glass floor. 6x5 snotted panels form a six-wide trough (along with a few 2x5 bricks) into which I place 1x1 and 1x2 plates (trans clear with a few trans red/yellow/orange plates along the edges). I then put a layer of seven-wide trans-clear tiles on top that holds the plates in place along a length of floor stud. The tiles alternate 2-1-4/4-1-2 and the tiles/plates are arranged such that everything holds together. Once they are down, they stay down.http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/floordetail.jpgLet's attach my inspirations as well. The glass floor is obvious: an Art Nouveau shop in Brussels, designed by Victor Horta himself, and now the comic strip museum. The interior decoration is inspired by the sweetest Art Nouveau/Arts & Crafts church that you have ever seen, just outside London near the Essex town of Brentwood. The interior is breathtakingly pretty, and I have never seen anything else quite like it. There are a few really nice Lego Art Nouveau buildings out there, but I wanted to see whether I could create one without NPU, seeing what was possible using Lego botanicals, hopefully inspiring other attempts. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/brussels.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/brentwood.jpg I was also very sad when this one did not get enough support: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/2c3772a1-ddff-45fd-90ef-8196c894dcaf

Thanks x3! Feuer Zug, you mean the actual maps of course, I don't have a lined-up photo of them all, until then here are my redrawings of the maps with set numbers. There are also a couple of tram/bus maps (60154 and 60271) and an airport shuttle map (6399). http://www.tubemapcentral.com/writing/newsletterfiles/Lego_Combined.jpg 60197 is the odd one out, why? That it the sort of question that would cause endless debate amongst map enthusiasts. Yes, the museum should have a rail exhibition! Unfortunately I don't have any blue rails, but should the 40th anniversary steam train 40370 have used them?

Sounds intriguing. Go on, tell us non-German speakers more, perhaps in a new thread in the correct place (community, apparently)

That's fine, you go off and write a post about the beauty of pieces with respect to gothic arches, but you will reach exactly the same conclusion as me, that some size parts are beautifully fit for purpose, but other size parts are frustratingly unusable. Your gothic arches all have to be the same size. It all seems a bit arbitrary, TLG seems to focus on individual parts for sets rather than systems. That certainly seems to be the case when you look at the situation re. circular (or circular sections) of bricks, tiles, plates, panels and fences, although that particular situation seems to be improving slowly.

Anyone tried anything specific for 60197? Annoyingly, the nose cone and roof sections would have to be discarded, but it might make for an interesting looking conventional MU. Once you start building in 8-studs, 6-studs just doesn't look right.

Just a bit of fun http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Map_Exhibition/above.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Map_Exhibition/side.jpg

DARK BROWN WINDOWS And on to dark Brown. This really needs a dark colour for the bottom panels because reversed rail liveries (dark windows, light panels) were almost unheard of 100 years ago. I love building in dark green, it us such a rich colour. Lack of clip availability forced many decisions, but orange is a popular lining colour on railways, I'm pleased with this aesthetically. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_dbrown-dgreen_side.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_dbrown-dgreen_back.jpg I also wanted to try something that gave the impression of wood, and medium nougat had just the right part availability to be viable, again a lining colour being necessary due to clip availability. I was feeling pleased with myself with the appearance until I realised that all I had done was recreate Jaffa Cake livery, which appeared in London and the southeast in the 1980s. Oh well, back to the drawing board ... http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_dbrown-mnougat_side.jpg

Thanks! I am currently planning the mid-section of Botanical Gardens, which will house the grand staircase ... It will mean getting a hold load more trans-clear 1x4 tiles though for the glass floor, and 16x16 trans clear base plates for the glass ceiling. OUCH!

Of course, regular blue slipped under the radar, perhaps because of lack of window availability. 2x2 windows are rare, but obtainable ...

It's a shame that TLG is now so focussed on easy/obvious choices. I was brought back from the dark ages by the opportunity to build and explore Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, not dreary tourist traps like Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square (I come from London). Taj Mahal is most certainly not my thing, but I can see the appeal. I am sure TLG will sell plenty of them. I now prefer to explore my architectural interests through MOCing, so I am not so bothered that I'm not being inspired by these sets, my own builds are more interesting to me.

Do retro sets have to be exact duplucates? Not for me personally.

I've posted elsewhere that the new(ish) 3x3 windows are well-suited to railway carriages, but unfortunately they are currently only available in tan, dark brown, and dark purple. The Gate Stock Tube trains I posted earlier do look stylish and authentic in dark red and tan but I wanted to try and make good use of all three window colours with train liveries that might have appeared 100 years ago. So, out came the colour swatches to see what might go together, and I spent a month on Bricklink trying to get my head around colour-part availability (headlights, clips, windows, ugh, nothing makes sense). http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Swatch_Gallery/wide.jpg PURPLE WINDOWS Lets get the big mistake out of the way first. I was trying to see what might go with dark brown, a really nice stylish colour. Red worked well on the swatches, so I gave it a try. I find Lego standard red unsettling. It looks very plasticky (yes, if I don't like plasticky I am in the wrong hobby, but bear with me) and also a little bit fluorescent. It killed the dark brown, I didn't even bother photographing it. Purple is a really troublesome colour in general, and there is something particularly lurid about Lego dark purple. With those unwanted red parts from the failed dark brown experiment, I decided to give it a try. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_purple-red_side.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_purple-red_back.jpg Noooooooooooo! This was horrible, the two difficult colours together gave the combination from Hell, almost literally. I couldn't bear to commute on a train in these colours, it would be like riding inside body parts. So, I needed an interesting colour (not tan or grey) that would complement and tame the purple, and be available in the necessary parts. The only contender I could find was bright light blue, which actually works reasonably well and is surprisingly available. I don't think you would have seen a livery like this 100 years ago, but does anyone have any other suggestions? http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_purple-lblue_side.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/GS_purple-lblue_back.jpg To be continued ...

With feedback for my earlier post, I decided to make them longer, and I think it has transformed them. They seemed to fit together better and the builds made more sense. The builds are modular, so in theory they could get even longer. Thoughts? I also changed the front windows to brown to make them match the body colour. I think that made them a bit more grown up, they don't look as much as though they have faces. They do look very somber now though. Possibly one brick too tall, a combination of using aircraft parts and wanting luggage racks inside, and the way I wanted to do the marker lights on the front. Short stumpy minifigures accentuate the height. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/21_fronts.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/22_sides.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/23_above1.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/24_above2.jpg And, by request, here are the trains in front of their inspiration station, Botanical Gardens. Further building is on hold until next winter, so these are just temporary platforms. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/31_BG_above.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/32_BG_side.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/34_BG_back.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Edwardian_Emus/33_BG_front.jpg

14395 and 18653 are beautiful parts, I think they are my favourites. Put them together and you get graceful continuous curves, just what I need for Art Nouveau windows. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/nice_narrow.jpg Because the geometry is perfect, you can make the windows any width you like using straight sections. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/nice_wide.jpg And I did! http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/botanical_gardens.jpg http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/buffet.jpg The new 70681 is a disappointing part because when you try the same sort of thing you get sharp corners. Actually it still has Art Nouveau potential, and this part is a mirror of inverted slope 24201, but my sense of smoothness is nonetheless offended. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/disappointing.jpg 13965 and 30099 are nasty parts. The top of the arch finishes awkwardly. I can't think of a way to smooth it to horizontal and so you get an ugly break in the curve. The lower slope is even worse, the lip at the bottom is more than a plate high. How is this part in the system? http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Arches/nasty.jpg Or am I missing something? Do those two parts fit with other parts, or are there ways of making beautiful smooth curves from them?

It's not bad news, just invoke what model railroaders call Rule 1: You can do anything you want!

Well, no one can remember what colours these trains really were, and the pre-grouping companies often changed liveries, they were around for a lot longer than the British big-four. Looking through my swatch box, cool yellow might be better. It is less intense but a little bit light, perhaps bright light orange. Actually, yellow might be OK, it's hard to tell on a computer screen, and looking at yellow face to face, it is not to virulent. Tan is definitely not yellow enough. For the later umber livery, try dark orange.

Cut antennae: good for bars and pipe work Cut base plates: essential when working with tram wheels, give a bogie strength/stability without creating clearance issues Needed 1x1 bricks with open stud: 1x1 with clip - a useful donor part 4873 bar with open studs perfect for train gate ends, but needed to be eight wide. Two cut parts solves the problem. Once you kill your first Lego Brick, the rest are easy! How many murdered parts in this view? http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Gate_Stock/Gate_Stock_gateman.JPG

That yellow will be a bit bright! It's more a sort of light orange-brown.

This topic intrigued me enough to look up metal toxicity on the net, and in all honesty I would not be entirely happy with the thought of children accidentally swallowing any pelleted metal. Cast bricks too large to swallow would be a safer option, and bismuth looks like a good candidate as it is considered very low toxicity, has a density that approaches lead (greater than iron and zinc) and a relatively low melting point. It's fairly expensive, more so than tungsten, but nowhere near approaching silver.

This forum sooooooooo needs a like button

I deal in IP for a living, I create it and I protect it, so I know all the issues, and the sinking feeling when someone on Etsy, eBay, or fiverr is ripping off my work, yet again. Anything that Lego has covered with design registration, copyrights, patents, or trademarks is protected, full stop, legally. Anything not protected is fair game, and there are no ethical or legal issues whatsoever. So buy those third party bricks in a colour that Lego refuses to produce, as long as it is legal, it is ethical.

So everyone is going to donate their profits to charity? No, you don't play dumb. IP is time limited, Lego's patents have expired. That is how the whole of the rest of the real world works.