Barduck

they will but got quite a lot off things to still do for it, like finalize decal design etc. And in the meanwhile build layout parts for our LuG's biggest event in November

Test build of a truck revealed she can’t take r40 or r56. Don’t have any r72 or r88 to test with.. r104 and r120 are no problem. edit: although, if we cheat and remove axle 1 and 4 she can take any curve

I’m not sure yet, test building the trucks this week. Hoping for r40 although that would look silly. As for parts count, it’s around 3700

There’s articulation inside the trucks.

2 Large should be fine, my previous model of the triplex had 3 on one hub and never had problems. 3 is max though

A long time ago, in a gala..... sorry, got carried away there. Once upon a time, in a magical land ca.... Somewhere on this forum my previous version of the DDa40X floats around. At that time it was already a very nice build, but way to big to handle. It would sweep down anything in it's path due to it's massive overhang. Almost 2 years ago I did a little study for an EMD nose, which would have served for an EMD SD90MAC -H. While I've yet to return to that design, someone guessed it was the nose for a DDa. I kept that in mind, waiting for the right time to redesign that engine, a time that has come now. In March I finally started designing this monster of a train, not using the standard train baseplate as a way to put the motors on it this time would require a new truck design for it. If she'll be able to take the standard curves and turn-outs remains to be tested, but I had my trucks. So work on the cabin and then the rest began. While doing that I noticed I was running out of space with the initial length I set her on so I got a blueprint from the internet and put it over what I had so far Blasted, a few studs to short. So I lengthened her base, shortened her cabin, redid some other parts like the windows and then continued working on it And now, she's close to ready to being build, I got someone proof "reading" the made instructions, got a design ready and test printed for the fans on top, and got the basic sticker design close to ready. (actually, just need to add 2 extra tubes at the front for the other stair railing) Here she is with some of the stickers added in the render Once the instructions are ready and I've test build the trucks to check for solidity and to see what kind of corners they can take, I can start actually getting the parts and build this beast. She'll be powered by 2 large technic motors (one for each truck) and controlled by the IR receiver (went "old school" as there's still no extension cables from LEGO for the PU system)

k, so, she's back up. In the instructions there's now a link to download the STL files needed for the custom parts. It was really to much of a hassle to print and ship these myself, with all the tariffs being added these end up being way to pricey. Cost price for the moc has been increased by only 5€ to compensate for the STL files, if you bought the instructions before and still need the 3D printed parts, feel free to contact me to buy the link

I did pm as I didn't want to unnecessary boost this post. When I put the Triplex on Rebrickable I set a goal of how many sales I wanted it to be at and retired her when that goal was reached as I really wanted her to be a bit more exclusive. I may put her back as there still seems demand for it, but the 3D printed parts are a pain to make available as shipping is just way to costly with all the extra import taxes so I'll most probably be putting those as STL's up instead when I do return her

one improvement they should do is a train motor that has it's own rechargeable battery like Mouldking made but better (https://www.techbrick.co.uk/moulding/mould-king-rwy-module-and-controller). Would get rid of a lot of the cables

It's already indicated in what you quoted: "For this, I connected the two center wires to standard Dupont male pin headers. ". No diagram needed

yeah, it'll be at Brick Mania Antwerp

Great update, I just hope this will also mean that the EU reseller will get some more stock as I’ve been trying to get my hands on some r104’s for months now, so badly even that I’m printing my own

To attend a LUG event later this year (November) I started building a part of a layout which me and 6-7 more LUG members will be doing together. Trains aren't the main focus, rather that there will be 2 tracks going around the layout with a railyard included. Still, we aim to do it on MILS just to make it more uniform. I assigned myself a corner and started thinking what I could do with it to make it stand out. As we have access to tables with different heights (20 cm difference), I've settle on doing something with bridges. The idea off adding the river and waterfall came later on while I was building. First, I started with what I knew, there needed to be 20cm off height difference, take in account that there need to be MILS connected, have the bridges be curved tracks, not weigh to much thus needing technic inside frame, and separated in different parts for easier transport. The first part would be 4x2 baseplates in footprint, the other 2 would need to be 4x1 baseplates and attach to either side off the main frame that has the bridges. With this in mind I started building: WIP ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr I wanted it to be organic looking, so a good mix of sloped bricks and plates put at an angle to create an interesting effect: WIP ravine with bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr WIP ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr WIP ravine with bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr The final result off the ravine's edges already looked good enough to start thinking about the bridges: WIP ravine with bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr It was at this time that I decided I wanted to add a river which the bridges would cross. So I took out the middles part of the base MILS, added the base outline off the river and started on the first bridge: WIP ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr WIP ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr The track on this outside bridge is PF r120, the one on the inside bridge is 9v r104 With the bigger middle section coming together I turned my attention to the end part of the module, one of the 4x1 baseplates module that would need a sort of closing end so it can be placed on the table in such a way that it doesn't interfere with whatever is build on the higher table behind it. I decided it needed a waterfall as else it might look weird to have a river that has no beginning. That waterfall could not start at the top off the build as at this point we don't know what will be placed behind my modules, so I decided to make it appear as if the waterfall comes out off the mountain side instead off from the top: WIP ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr Moc ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr The end result (here while I still was adding trees): Moc ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr Moc ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr Moc ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr The 3 different parts split up: Moc ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr With trees added (showing the build at my youngest kid school as they were doing stuff around fathers (job, hobbies, etc) MOC Ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr With my EMD SD70Ace UP 1111 "Powered By Our People" and a UP H-20-44 (unnumbered still): MOC ravine with 2 bridges by Barduck12, on Flickr

I hate to say it but residents of the states may think they are safe but I’m not so sure. Nike has done the same with someone that customised sneakers of them and won because of the brand’s name still being on them, won’t be hard now to do the same by TLG

All the more reasons to stop buying genuine LEGO and look at the other brands. In many cases the quality of the off-brands is even better than “the real thing”, they don’t break, they have no color differences and clutch is just as good. Plus they offer things Lego never will. Some even pay you for your Mocs like letbricks. And they don’t complain about altering pieces or printing on parts, they applaud it

Superior quality? Sorry to burst their bubble but the “clone bricks” companies are getting better than the original. I’m pretty sure that almost everyone in this forum had a piece break without using a lot of force on it, I for one have piles of reddish brown 1x4 tiles and dark red plates that break from even looking at them the wrong way. So if they’re so sure about their quality, shouldn’t everyone that ever had a piece break sue them for selling faulty merchandise? I have a lot of “clone bricks” as well because they are 1) cheaper and 2) don’t break from blowing on them yet those clone bricks are seen as a no-go by purist that don’t know anything better

Introducing the LEGO model inspired by the Union Pacific 1111 "Powered by our People" locomotive, which pays tribute to the employees of Union Pacific in their different roles they assume in the company. This is actually the model I started designing first when doing my latest SD70Ace line There are some parts that are not genuine LEGO but from GoBricks, as LEGO doesn't produce those parts in Bright Light Blue (yet). Because of that this model will not be available on Rebrickable but will be produced as a set by GoBricks exclusively. I've done the decals myself, it was near to impossible to find decent pictures of the graphics that were usable so I ended up ordering a decal set for a G-scale model and shrunk and adapted them to fit the model. As is noticeable in the pictures, the dynamic brake intake is completely see-through, achieved with the Slope 18 2 x 1 x 2/3 with Grille. Even the cabin door and access door to the inside of the train was added. Battery cover can be taken off to provide easy access to the Buwizz hub which is used to powered the two train motors.

Better pictures (in a new post) to come, proof the design works: MOC UP 1111 SD70ACE by Barduck12, on Flickr

Thx. It took several attempts to get it to work, sometimes the slopes were overlapping, sometimes it was impossible to get them in the needed position. To know how I did it you’ll have to get the instructions 😎, it’s one of the features on this design that took to much work to just reveal. There’s so much snot and weird construction solutions in it that I had several times that I was thinking; “WTF did I get myself in to” but it all comes together rather nicely (like all the grills that are offset by 1/3th to 1/2 of a plate). The CSX (the one you like most) and BNSF required some extra work because of the 1x2 brick with grille not existing is the needed colours, again making sure they stick out the same as with those bricks. I agree that the CSX is nice to see in that colour combination, my personal favourites though are the UP, Virginian and BNSF (and the unbuildable UP C&NW because of the missing bricks in dark green, but as I said, Chinese companies have those so I’m tempted to build it regardless)

A non-buildable version, UP C&NW 1995 Chicago & North Western. Lego does not have all needed parts in dark green (some Chinese companies do actually so really tempted, it’s a to beautiful livery)

Indeed they are. Took a whole lot of headaches and try and error to get it to align just right but the the look it gives is just mesmerising. Almost everyone uses either 1x2 bricks with grille or 1x2 tiles with grill to do things like that, I really wanted to pull it to the next level. If one really wants to you can even make almost completely see-through by using clear parts inside (and not bothering that Lego doesn’t have all of the used pieces in transclear)

Bars and robot arms

Ages ago (or so it feels like) in 2016 I posted my build of an SD70 on this forum: With the build of the Union Station being at a halt for the moment (some other things that take precedence) and having a bit of a designers block since the start of the year (as in; really not finding engines I wanted to try and build) I started looking on my own Flickr account at the locomotives I used to own (used too but lost in the fire in 2020), just thinking if I'd actually would rebuild one. My last "recent" diesel was the ES44AC line I did and since then I haven't done any new other more recent diesel engines, that's mainly due to the M10005 and it's coaches that I've done (and still need to finish 4 to complete that consist). So, my eye dropped on my old SD70 version and I was thinking; "not going to rebuild that, better redesign her" and thus I started by choosing which SD70 version I'd want to do and settled on the Ace. First start was slow, I had the basic floor from the older model that I lengthened by 2 studs and then started tinkering with a nose setup. If I could get a good looking nose, I figured the rest would go easy. I had done a nose for a SD90MAC-H and wanted something in the same style, but obviously without the door. crazy nose by Barduck12, on Flickr The end result for that tinkering was this: UP SD???? by Barduck12, on Flickr and I knew I had to test build it first as there are a few things I wasn't really sure about if it would work SD70Ace WIP by Barduck12, on Flickr Even there I changed a few things later to give it a smoother look. It was going to work and all I had to do was choose the initial livery. At that time I was just chatting with someone from Godbricks.com and decided to do a livery that would be unbuildable in genuine LEGO because of the colors used (bright light blue mostly and there's not much available in that color) so my initial design would become an exclusive for them (actually waiting on the parts to arrive to test build that and to see how decals can be done but that's another story for another time as she is still a secret). With the design in that livery ready I then began changing her in to 9 other liveries and those are the ones I'm showing here today. I intend to build at least the UP version for myself and then decide between the BNSF or the Virginian for a second, won't be doing all 9 myself. The designs (in alphabetical order): BNSF SD70Ace BNSF by Barduck12, on Flickr Conrail (I know they didn't have SD70Aces in their line up but what's not to like) SD70Ace Conrail by Barduck12, on Flickr Canadian Pacific SD70Ace CP by Barduck12, on Flickr Canadian Pacific #7021 Desert Sand (which is actually an SD70ACU) SD70Ace CP 7021 by Barduck12, on Flickr CSX SD70Ace CSX by Barduck12, on Flickr Norfolk Southern SD70Ace NS by Barduck12, on Flickr Union Pacific SD70Ace UP by Barduck12, on Flickr Virginian (NS heritage) (will need decals on the 2x6 tiles that hide the Buwizz 2.0) SD70Ace Virginian by Barduck12, on Flickr WABASH (will also need larger decals to hide some stuff) SD70Ace WABASH by Barduck12, on Flickr Depending on livery the models have 2200 to 2300 parts in them, are 66 studs long and 37 plates high (from top of rail to top of cabin). Scale used is 1/42 but I had to make 2 compromises as she's actually 1 or 2 studs to short and 1 plate to high. I tried to incorporate as many detail as possible and where possible not go for easy solutions, I wanted her to look complex and I think I did a decent job at that, but what do you guys think?

Time to update this. Since last post I've been very busy on this, but I'm still lacking the interior pictures to add all the details needed. So I'm building with that in mind, I can always take parts of it apart to add the details whenever I get pictures. In the following pictures are all the parts I've build so far, it's a constant challenge to get parts needed as I'm going thru bricks in a high tempo (1000 1x2 tan bricks last me like half an hour when I start building). I've connected the lights for the sign that are inside the main hall, those will just need their decals to finish them. I've also redone the outside curved wall of the main hall, noticed that there was to much stress on the bricks and that I made a few mistakes as well. Some parts I have to make compromises as it's impossible to get it just right. To add these features I had to cheat big time, drilling holes in to the plates to be able to put the minifig hands in. The slopes were added to get an impression on how this would look, height was ok but I'm going to use 33° slopes instead of these 45° ones as the roof would end up being way to high.

Since latest reply in this topic I've added 2 more coaches to her but can't yet take good pictures off those as one is missing a decal (spelling mistake). Took this little consist to our LUG's end of the year event at Antwerp, Belgium where she stood with a small corner I threw together in a hurry: Once pictures are taken of the latest 2 coaches I will post those. Also gathering parts for the next 2. Once those are finished I still need to build 4 more, all 70 studs long. I've licensed her to Letbricks to make sets and made a video of it compared to to my version in LEGO: (admin: please remove if not allowed)