LordsofMedieval

Love it. Great colors; nice stern; just enough hull curvature to mimic the real deal.

I have the version before this one. Honestly, I really dislike the step down via plates in front of the canopy on this iteration - it feels lazy, doesn't at all match the sleekness of the source, and might have been an opportunity to introduce new slope molds (something we could always use). On the whole, I feel like this release is a baby step backwards.

I go off the BTD folks - so the model is intended to be 1:48, I guess. That chart is so immensely helpful.

This was always my favorite set as a kid. No idea why, but it hooked me immediately.

I think the game is supposed to be horror-based in some way. It's not out yet, and I kind of don't want to spoil myself on the preview they've released thus far. If you'd like the LXF to take a peek at, just PM me.

God I miss stuff like this. Back when you could just stroll into a Kmart, drop a hundy, and walk out a pirate captain.

Always loved those 3-coupled motors. Never had one as a kid, but I admired them a lot in Lego advertisements.

Yeah I just did that for sizing purposes. I have the BBB/Brick Train Depot mod for Stud.io downloaded, but I always forget the custom pieces tab exists. The drivers are 69", which is exactly XL - or, in this case, an inverted Lego train wheel (I follow the 1 plate = 6" scaling system because smarter minds than I made things easier that way). I left plenty of space over the lead and trailing wheels to accommodate flanges were I to build it.

Damn, that Scrooge is awesome.

If that's the case, don't mix motor sizes - it's best to go with all large or all medium or whatever. The hulking PF can motors you have in that coach will offer very different speed-to-torque ratios than the PoweredUp Mediums. Also, having a bunch of medium motors power the big driving wheels of the engine, and another set of motors power the much smaller wheels of the car could be an issue. My advice is to focus putting the most power possible into one wheel size/type, all feeding off a single IR unit. That way you only have to tote around one controller, and all wheels will spin exactly the same speed at all times, and all your battery packs will drain at the same rate. If that necessitates shortening the train slightly... well... those Isle of Sodor trains were never very big, anyway. Or you could build a second locomotive (like James) to help.

Correct. The motors cannot share a pin. There need to be 2 pins that meet in the middle. They can run counter to each other and brush against one another, but they cannot be on the same pin. Really fancy locomotive, btw, OP - is it supposed to be something specific? With a boiler that size, I bet you could fit 2-3 motors into it - I do it all the time. Dunno if it's worth it to you, or not, but sometimes it is nice to have the locomotive power the train.

Sadly, I started going through the parts last night shortly after I posted, and I was just *shocked* by how many pieces don't come in ol'-reliable standard green. Like, you're sitting there building and model, and you're thinking to yourself "I'm safe - green has been around forever. There's no danger of this being some impossible build in this color scheme or anything." Nope. Lol. Not even slightly. Like... there are loads of just standard parts - pieces that have been in circulation for a decade at least - that are not available in basic green (if I had to take a guess, I would wager that, since standard green is Lego's default foliage color, they've made a concerted effort not to do parts/sets/vehicles in green unless completely called for [like, with a garbage truck]. I can't explain it any other way). Anyway, when I got up to the ~14 count for pieces on the locomotive that wouldn't be available, I gave up - there's dying an odd or end, and there's going insane. And trying to do that would be crazy. While the green would be nice, the grey is still good. Apparently that color scheme is called "Grey Nurse," which seems a bit unusual, and I'd love to know where the moniker comes from if anyone has any clue.

Thanks. The front cone would require dying. It only comes in a handful of colors, and none of those are green :P. I could do grey, though - these engines were painted grey for a while, even in mainline service: Not really as sexy as the green, but it has a certain charm. They were also black for a while, too: But so many steam locomotives are black... *Edit* Just started cycling through parts - no way it can be done in the green, sadly. I'm actually kind of shocked by how many pieces I would regard as 'core' parts aren't available in traditional green. Like a lot of brackets, slopes, SNOT bricks, etc.

I was surprised to learn that these only have 69" driving wheels, which is really, really small for a standard-gauge 4-6-2. Still, I think they're super, super attractive engines - especially with the streamlining that was an acknowledged rip of New Haven I-5 class 4-6-4s. The second video is worth a watch, by the way, if you like steam slipping.

I can't stand those movies, but I think the car is very cool. So glad that Lego is transitioning to 8w cars - so much more detail.

Love the gears protruding from the envelope.

I've modeled a number of locomotives - American, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Japanese - and kind of go where the wind takes me when I'm designing MOCs. Last night, I was chipping away at a rendition of Australia's 3801... ... a design that takes some heavy influences from both American and British schools. While I was working on the boiler, a slightly uneasy thought hit me (which I have admittedly had before): 'is it wrong of me to be doing this, even on some immensely shallow level?' We live in an era where people get very... upset by so-called cultural appropriation. And while I am extremely fond of Australians, their society, their railroads, etc., I could imagine someone, somewhere, seeing it as wrong for an American to be playing Australian trains, or trying to design the best rendition of an iconic Australian engine. And this isn't exclusive to Aussies by any means - I worry about the same thing with trains from Japan, Britain, Germany, etc.; that, to some degree, I'm being insensitive by modeling their stuff. Does that make any sense? Do you experience any similar reservations? I know the act of MOCing an engine is ultimately harmless, but I fear squishing any toes in doing so. I don't like the thought of people misconstruing fondness for being patronized.

Interesting ship - great model. What part of the design were they intending to be 'tri'...? I see only 2 wings.

They were essentially standard gauge locomotives set on narrow gauge running gear.

Did this like 2 years ago and actually forgot about it. As usual, I cannot do piping in Stud.io.

Looking at it now, the cab is probably one stud too long. I'll fix it later.

Speaks for me as well. It's become an IMMENSELY expensive hobby.

And I don't mean against, like, selling sets with illegal builds, or minifig-scale machine guns. Rather, what I'm talking about are the obvious biases against things like reversing plates (say a 2x2 plate with studs on both sides), an almost complete lack of studs-on-angles pieces (particularly following the elimination of parts like 6044) and dozens of other various weird, kind of semi-anal hangups that you run into when designing MOCs. I consider myself fairly adept at the hobby, and yes, I definitely can overcome these restrictions. But most of the time, I find myself trying to think my way out of the same headaches over and over again. And when these same problems or gaps were easily and swiftly addressed by companies like Mega Bloks and Cobi, it leads me to believe that there is a conscious bias - an internal ruleset, of sorts - at Lego precluding the release of certain parts that, while they might be immensely useful, the company simply doesn't want out there. Why is this? Do they view easy stud reversals as somehow... cheating? And, if so, why? Like... why would they even care? It's a children's toy - it should be easy.

Thanks all. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, this is my favorite Lego B-Wing: Because I just like weird stuff. And that is downright inspired. I wish I could come by the instructions for that, because I would build the pants out of it.