ER0L

I really like the idea, and I do think, too, that such a set would be highly welcomed by Lego City fans. I'd certainly buy it. However, I'm not quite sure about the vehicle. In my opinion it can't be called a van, as a pickup truck (often used by US farmers for such purposes if I'm correct) it is much too large scalewise (which can be seen in comparison to the figs). At this size it's rather supposed to be a large flatbed truck, however a proper prototype for this doesn't come to my head (which could of course mean that I just don't know the vehicle you had in mind here). Also the colour seems rather unusual to me, perhaps it would look better in a normal green (with red rims maybe). But well, that's rather a question of personal taste. Anyhow good luck with your project!

We tend to think that Lego stock vehicles going with minifigs are matching more or less scalewise, too - which is not the case: there's a large span between about 1:30 (some Speed Champions sets) to 1:60 (smaller trains). However this doesn't mean that there shouldn't be more variety in sizes, as you demand - a semi truck should of course be wider than a sports car. It's just that we can't rely on sets to achieve this, also because we need the odd widths, too, to get the whole spectrum of sizes (the new 5w Mini Cooper being a very welcome exception). But since we're dealing with Lego nobody can stop us from changing the scale of vehicles to our liking. Scalewise the mentioned Sunshine Surfer Van would look much more appropriate in 6w in my opinion - shouldn't be too difficult to get this done.

Great model, instantly recognizable! Especially the rear section is very well done in my opinion. My only point would be to set down the roof which is too tall scalewise (which could be seen with a minifig next to the car). I'd try the lower windscreen part for that purpose. Another suggestion - rather an option - would be to widen the car by mounting SNOT tiles at the sides between the wheel wells. The look would be a bit more voluminous then - after all the Ford Crown Victoria is a full size-car. Also, by doing so, you might get a more distinct door shaping. Anyhow, looking forward to further car models from you!

Nice to hear from you bootz, thanks for your estimation, glad you like it!

Thank you, glad you like it! As a comparison, both step vans side by side plus the new 8w semi truck: Group Shot The 8w version is more to scale, however I'll leave the Ice Cream Van as it is, I guess. Now there's still the Trash Chomper set 70805 though I don't have a proper design idea for that one yet - should be something from the seventies or eighties to match the other vehicles. Regarding Lego Movie 2 vehicles the sets as such are quite nice, however I haven't found something yet for this kind of approach. As a City vehicle, the Pizza Van 60150 is still awaiting a conversion (which has been done by others in the meantime, too).

Hi all, it's quite interesting to see how things change over the years, yet there are some aspects that stand the test of time. The wrecker looks like this now: Long Nose Trucks - updates The container truck is being changed to something matching better into the scale system I'm using, see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/97314-larger-city-scale-range-of-vehicle-widths/ Anyway, there's a new vehicle fitting in here quite well: #4: Joe the Plumber's Badass Step Van (70811 MOD) Joe the Plumber's Badass Step Van (70811 MOD) Like the Ice Cream Van not really a MOD since the 70811 vehicle is completely changed. I can't tell an exact scale here - there had to be a decision between 7w and 8w regarding step vans, maybe it's slightly too wide for a 1/40 scale vehicle, however the height looks okay - seems to be rather difficult to get the exact measurements of a more or less matching prototype. Main points here were the sbs seating of the figs (which isn't a problem on an 8w vehicle, of course) plus the set down, "pimped" look which required an upside down solution on the wheel wells - the wheels not spinning very well to be honest, but at least sitting nicely where they belong. Both requirements prevented a more elaborate door solution which otherwise would be something to be featured on a step van. Thanks for looking!

Larger City Scale - vehicle width overview Hi all, now that there's the above mentioned 5w Mini in 1/35 scale (coming from TLG which is a great thing) and quite a few other vehicles built in the meantime (8w trucks among them) I thought it might be a good idea to update the scale system I'm using for vehicle builds. The "Larger City Scale", as I call it, is an attempt to harmonize the different vehicle widths and scales used in Town/Minifig surroundings into a single system, according to the following requirements: It must be possible to build all sorts (quite an important point) of vehicles in a more or less realistic manner, especially regarding proportions. The widths used should be able to reflect the different characters of cars (it's obvious that e. g. a full-size car/landyacht must look much more massive than, say, a pony car like a Mustang). It should be possible to combine vehicles and figs standing next to them. It should be possible to use the typical vehicle stuff in minifig scale/City surrounding like mudguards, windscreens, wheels and roofparts. The seating of minifigs is desirable but not a strict requirement. However, it should be possible to seat the figs side by side or - if there's only room for one fig - to avoid placing it in the center of the car which I can't help looks odd. Using a single scale throughout to fulfill these requirements proved to be quite difficult. Even if the figs are altered to a 1/40 scale (like I do with all the figs) it is a problem to build matching - and at the same time well-proportioned - cars - the more so if you want to place figs into them. Thus for passenger cars a 1/35 scale proved to be a good compromise. (It is quite interesting that there's at least one clone brick manufacturer - which I won't even name - who produces Lego compatible car models in an explicit scale of 1/35 which I regard as a confirmation of my approach nonetheless.) On larger vehicles like buses or semis a 1/40 scale is no problem, trains are a bit smaller in scale (1/43, 9w) because at 1/40 which would mean a width of 10 studs (at least regarding US style) trains become hard to handle and tend to "dwarf" even buildings. Still they look as massive as they should. The idea of a variable scale according to the absolute size of a structure (the larger the structure the smaller the scale) is not a new idea, of course. An example is the use of 1/43 vehicles on 1/48 model train layouts (especially in the US, if I'm right). A stadium in the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg is built in a much smaller scale than its surrounding because otherwise it would take too much room on the layout - yet it's an impressive structure. Anyhow, it should be mentioned that all this is not an exact science, all categorizations are approximative, some decisions are rather determinations - e. g. for reasons of proportions you find the Ford GT40 in the 2m (7w) class though in reality it only measures 1,78 m. As you may spot there's still a conflict between a 1/40 step van in 7w and a 1/35 Hummer in 8w - step vans should probably be 8w throughout, too (I'm actually trying this). Overview of the width classes (with some further information regarding the seating of minifigs and the windscreens used; probably I'll add some info about the wheelsizes used, too). You may spot that there's a great variety of shapes used, exploiting all the possibilities of City, Speed Champions and even Lego Movie sets. Also, you will notice some differences between this and the earlier version, inter alia the missing "+-system" regarding mudguards - it didn't prove very helpful since the mudguard parts are used for different purposes: On trucks and also on vintage cars they often belong to larger structures and should therefore count regarding width whereas on passenger cars they rather can be understood as (quite disproportionate) wheel arches which in reality are much smaller. 9w, 1/43 3 meter class (US trains) Seating of minifigs: yes (though not in the locos) Model depicted: GP15-1 8w, 1/40 2,5 meter class (semi trucks, buses) Windscreens: 2x4w, custom Seating of minifigs: partially yes (sbs) Models depicted: Greyhound Bus, Semi Tractor, Seagrave Pumper 7w, 1/40 2,3 m class (step vans) Windscreens: 6w Seating of minifigs: no Model depicted: Ice Cream Truck 8w, 1/35 2.2 m class (oversized utility vehicles) Windscreens: custom Seating of minifigs: no Model depicted: Hummer H1 7w, 1/35 2 meter class (full-size vehicles, pickup trucks, vintage cars, super sports cars) Windscreens: 6w (mostly) Seating of minifigs: partially (sbs) Models depicted: Dodge Ram, Chevy Impala, Rolls-Royce Phantom III, Ford GT40 6.8 w, 1/35 1,9 meter class (muscle cars) Windscreens: 6w Seating of minifigs: no Model depicted: Dodge Charger 6w, 1/35 1,8 meter class (sports cars, convertibles and smaller passenger cars) Windscreens: 5w Seating of minifigs: partially yes (sbs) Models depicted: Mustang, Roadster 5w, 1/35 1,5 meter class (small cars) Windscreens: 4w Seating of minifigs: no Model depicted: Mini Thanks for reading all this stuff!

Thank you! I'm not sure if it can be called an "uncanny valley" effect regarding minifig scale Lego cars, however, I guess a build like, say, the 4w 40109 Mini Cooper is just recognized as a blocky Lego car by everybody, it's a cute toy, nobody cares about proportions and such, whereas on a build like the 75894 SC Mini Cooper with all those fancy new parts we're much less inclined to accept that the proportions are off if other aspects are much more realistic. The sometimes awkward (in my opinion) mixture of realistic details (often via stickers) with a rather surprising "blockiness" or "studdiness" (see the Ferrari F40) on quite a few Speed Champions sets is another aspect of this conflict, I guess.

It may be difficult when you're dealing with modular buildings, but if you want to light up a whole building it might be an option to just omit the floors and use only one light source for the whole thing, like it is done in model train layouts. I did this on the building to the right (plus an outdoor light; all the lighting is Lego): Firehouse & Painted Lady (R66 mini diorama) - Night Scene

Hi all, there were two models that interested me most regarding the actual Speed Champions batch: the Ferrari F40 (75890) and - of course - the Mini Cooper from set 75894. I actually built the Ferrari (quite an interesting build with lots of great SNOT and upside-down sections), however, the result wasn't as inspiring as I had hoped. In fact I miserably failed in modding the car according to my usual requirements. However, there was still the Mini Cooper. I was very much looking forward to this model: it's 5-wide (which admittedly I never thought would happen on a stock Lego model) plus I reckoned it would fit quite well into my 1/35 scale range of passenger cars - which it did, since not only the car itself but also its scale is considerably smaller than the usual SC models (rather 1/30 to 1/32). I measured the following: Wheelbase: 2032 mm/56 mm = ~36 Length: 3060 mm/85 mm = ~36 Width: 1410 mm/40 mm = ~35 A very good match indeed. However, there's one rather strong exception: Height: 1355 mm/46 mm = ~29,5 I understand this is due to the requirement of seating a fig plus the fact that there's no proper wheelbase for such a car so that the fig sits on top of 2 layers of plates (instead on a lowered wheelbase plate). Here you can see the result of this (with an already flattened roof): Speed Champions 75893 Mini Cooper S - Scale You may spot that especially the body is much too tall (the original height of the 1:35 Firebird is 1262 mm which isn't much less than a Mini Cooper). Maybe it's also interesting to mention that the SC Ford GT40 had to be reduced in height very much, too (even by one whole brick). So all that had to be done was to set down the vehicle: I "cut off" the bottom and mounted smaller wheels (which are required on a Mini of that period anyway, I guess). As already mentioned, the roof was flattened. So height was reduced by 8 mm all in all which improved the proportions quite significantly, I guess. Some details were changed, too: The bumper is an old dark gray rigid hose in 5L which seems to be an official length. The visible hollow studs on those nice rounded plates could be understood as indicators (so obvious to me that I don't understand why they didn't use that feature on the set). The result: Mini Cooper 1/35 (Speed Champions 75894 MOD) Here you can spot the street version together with another classic British car: British automotive culture More pics on Flickr. Anyhow I'm very pleased that there's this step towards a more realistic range of widths by offering a 5-wide Mini Cooper. However I‘ve no hope for, say, a 7-wide muscle car within the SC range because this would be contradictory to the usual 6-wide scheme they are using for years now, whereas the Mini belongs to a completely different size class. Thanks for looking!

Same procedure as every year ... First off, I'll add another version of last year's Hummer with an improved windscreen: Hummer H2 Super Secret Police 2.0 But also this version doesn't exist any more, though it somehow survives in its stretched version I built for a special purpose (to be seen in the following video of a joint layout together with Gábor Horváth and Steffen Kasteleiner which also shows the 2014 PI plus the command center vehicle moving at the very ending): However, now the original H2 was turned into this: Hummer H1 "Super Secret Police" (Police Vehicle of the Year 2018) 8w, 1:35 scale. For quite some time I had the idea that a SNOT front section with hinge bricks - similar to the muscle cars - would look good on a Hummer H1. Now that I needed to build another police vehicle of the year I used the opportunity to modify last year's H2 (7w) and turn it into an H1. Scale is pretty much exactly 1:35 though the model is a little bit too wide, however, also in reality an H1 is a bit wider than an H2. The wheels are a combination of SC rims and those large City tires. Like on the H2 Stickers are taken mainly from 70802, a Lego Movie set - thus the "Super Secret Police" setup which I think is a nice thing to have as some kind of a special forces police department. The Super Secret Police may serve as a SWAT team or as kind of a secret service at the same time. Thanks for looking!

At first view: Interesting, but not very appealing in my opinion. There's too many colours, too many structures, too many ideas packed into one building. Don't like the gaps with those awkward side views of details which shouldn't be visible. The garage sign looks like it's from a City set. The irregular lane (8w on the right, 12w on the left) doesn't make sense to me. What I do like: the combination of Dark Orange and Sand Blue plus the design and especially the colour design of the gas station as such: Dark Red and Dark Green are a much better combination for the Octan Corporate Identity, I guess.

Oh dear, that "Hellephant" is one ugly conversion ... Regarding your model: True, the wider body improves the situation regarding the wheels, however, there's still the problem of the much too narrow passenger compartment - which is due to the SC style, I know, but that was my thought: If they're willing to modify their range of widths to get a more realistic ratio between vehicles (and a much more realistic look of the cars themselves, take a look at the Mini Cooper which is by far the most realistic SC model to date in my opinion) - why don't they do the same thing in the other direction and widen larger cars like a Charger? Because on a 7-wide Charger you may use a 6w windscreen and the whole thing will look much better (just like a 4w windscreen on a 5w model). But I'll stop complaining now - I'm glad there is something like this treat of a Mini Cooper anyway.

Nice. A Mini in 5-wide - I wouldn't have thought they'd do this. In my opinion that's a huge step in the right direction - to vary the sizes of vehicles more to get a nice graduation between different types of vehicles, A 5w Mini also fits very well in my own range of widths. (Consequently an SC Charger should be 7-wide and rather have a 6w - or even better: a 6 to 5 - windscreen. The 75893 version doesn't work for me at all proportionwise, I must say. Also mudguard parts don't look good on a Charger model in my opinion, it's a typical design element of the original Charger that the wheels are situated rather within the body and don't stick out.) I also like the F40 (though there are already some nice MOCs in minifig scale), especially that black line is done very well, I guess. Don't like the "shaping with stickers" sections, though, but well, stickers can be omitted. The studs don't bother me, they'll disappear anyway when setting down the model which I'll try for sure.

Thanks a lot for your nice comment, I'm glad you like it! And thanks all for commenting and viewing! -- Okay, this was the last entry in quite a long row of vintage cars on Eurobricks, stretching over a couple of years. However, there are still lots of ideas in the pipeline - in case you're interested in further classics from ER0L's Garage, join me on Flickr. Or take a look at lots of great-looking vintage cars from a wide variety of builders on the Lego Vintage Car Group on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/legovintagecars/ Thanks all for your feedback!

Thank you! Thanks! Regarding the tires, antp is correct (the light gray variation of it). They are real "old-timers" - quite amazing to realize that the time distance between their production years (late Sixties) and a Mercedes 504K is considerably shorter than until today (30 vs. 50 years). Glad you like it! Thanks for delivering the link, too.

#17 Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial-Roadster With this one I've tried to more or less fulfill the above list - the Mercedes 540K even fits two minifigs. I'm not satisfied with every aspect of the model (some elements are rather standard solutions, some areas need additional work), however, building the frontend in full 7-wide with the 2x2 curved slopes turned inwards seems to pay off especially when the grille of the prototype is set back as much as on the 540K Spezial-Roadster which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful roadsters of its era. Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial-Roadster (V 1.0) On the backend where a certain roundness is absolutely required I used the 2x6 plates with rounded corners we know best from the Speed Champions series, also on the upper layer, since macaroni tiles 2x2 in white don't exist yet. Although I'm no fan of studs on cars at this small scale, for whatever reason they don't bug me too much here: Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial-Roadster - rear Thanks for looking!

Hi all, there hasn't been much activity regarding the larger cargo trains over the last year, however I just finished another monorail train which was built for a special purpose: Two monorail trains (7-wide, PF-controlled) The new one (above) is supposed to join the already existing Monorail train on a portion of the joint Route 66 layout (see https://www.flickr.com/groups/route66brickproject/pool/, consisting of builds by Gábor Horváth, Steffen Kasteleiner and myself). The idea is to be able to combine several modules to get a large and interesting setup for conventions, but at the same time have a smaller "home layout" which is working on its own. Being a big fan of the abilities of the good old Monorail it was clear that I wanted to do something with it. Regarding the fact that a monorail loop fits nicely into a train loop, I came up with the following track layout for the section: R66 Downtown Section - track layout Here you can see both trains in action, together with a dummy of an elevated train (8w), the whole setup still being a WIP, but technically already working quite well: One of the features here is a motorized switch that allows the monorail trains to change between the two loops. Since everything must be done by hand, the play factor is quite high, I guess. Together with the larger cargo trains and the other moving vehicles there'll be a lot going on on the layout which is what I have in mind. The idea to use 12 Volt tracks for the elevated train stems from Steffen Kasteleiner which I think is great because it clearly indicates that it's electrified, even if the center rail isn't being used. Thus different types of tracks are put to good use on one layout. 100% Lego. Thanks for looking, comments welcome as usual!

Do you really think our wishes have an impact on TLG and their plans regarding further Speed Champions sets? Of course that would be great, but I doubt it, I must say. However I'm looking forward to any classic race car like the Ferrari 250 GTO or the Porsche 917K since these sets are an excellent basis for moccing or at least modding purposes. If I was to pick a favourite it would be a Lotus F1 racer which isn't very likely to happen, I guess.

Nice, I really like the idea of using the high quality LM stickers (much better than City stickers) on car MOCs - did that with 70802, too -, plus the shaping of the whole thing is well done in my opinion. However, an 8w passenger car (even wider than 9w at the middle section with the side bumpers) is out of scale in a minifig surrounding, I guess. Wouldn't it work in 6w (plus mudguards and side bumpers), too?

Thanks for the detailed info! If I understand correctly, the light is transferred to the dishes via the goblets - interesting technique, also because the wiring is completely hidden, I'll surely try that. Regarding the lighting problem as a whole I agree that PF LEDs are hard to handle when it comes to the lighting of buildings, mainly because of their narrow light beam, I guess. That's why I rather use L&S lights for that purpose. However, LED spots are working nicely as headlights and backlights of vehicles and also as streetlights. On an actual building I'm using them to highlight the entrance section (mixed with L&S) which seems to work quite well. In any case I agree that the PU LEDs are a step back: they are way to expensive, they can't be stacked, as you said, plus you can't connect them to a train trafo which is absolutely required on larger layouts with lots of lights. But well: As long as we have access to all the lighting techniques TLG has developed so far (even the old 12 V lights are being used on our Route 66 layout) I guess we're able to find more or less adequate solutions for our lighting problems.

Nice! It's always great to see rather unusual buildings in a Lego town, and you did a great job in recreating the typical elements of socialist classicism in my opinion. I also like the idea of a "Ministry of Bricks" as such. One aspect I find especially interesting is the lighting. It's great that you used PF LEDs instead of Nonlego lighting stuff - unfortunately spreading more and more in Lego towns. However, I can't quite figure out how you did the lamps, also because I can't see any wiring. Could you please tell a bit more about that? Thanks and keep up the great work!

Thank you! Glad you like the SNOT masonry - of course by using this technique the masonry doesn't protrude like it does in reality, however, mimicking such very small protrusions with Lego doesn't work that well in my opinion, it might even spoil the lines of a building too much. But well, in either case compromises have to be made. Concerning the colour design I have the impression that dark red goes especially well with dark orange (much better than with red) - both have that kind of earthy look to them. Regarding the reflections: In fact they aren't intended, I even regard them as a downside of black SNOT roads (though I already try to use rather old and scratchy bricks to build them). Roads rather look as if they're wet, in combination with the desert sections you may at least think of a mirage on a hot road surface. But well, regarding the many advantages of a brickbuilt road design I guess I can live with that.

As a last addition, a video, moving Greyhound Bus included: Only a short impression, however, it shows quite well some of the basic principles of the Route 66 Brick Project layout standard: no use of unchanged sets (though MODs are allowed) matching scale throughout (more or less; I call it "Larger City Scale", see also https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/97314-citytown-vehicles-range-of-possible-widths/) brickbuilt roads and sidewalks no baseplates used as a foundation of buildings strict constructive separation between buildings and sidewalks 100% Lego lighting of streets and buildings plus on some of the vehicles (here: PF + L&S, see also https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/87577-mocs-100-lego-lighting) motorized vehicles (only a few of them, of course), either steered by a guiding arm or moving freely as RC vehicles, see also https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/144073-moving-vehicles-in-a-lego-city-100-lego-solution/&do=findComment&comment=2971069. All elements are harmonized with each other (e.g. streets are wide enough and junctions are smooth enough for the turns of moving vehicles, there's enough room for the necessary wiring underneath the sidewalks and buildings etc.) which makes the building process of further MOCs for the layout much easier. You just don't have to think about all this stuff any more - which is where the fun begins in my opinion. More on this soon, thanks for commenting and viewing!

Thank you! - Correct. Probably I built the two versions back in the day to see which one looks better and didn't recognize it when finishing the build. Thanks a lot! Glad you like the cars, too.