Selander

Comments are welcome

Truck looks good, so does the flatbed, but what impresed me most was the excavator. Nicely captured details on that one, Ralph

Nice work with the video camera. thanks for sharing

So it seems.....so they look out of scale in real life too

very nicely built Christopher but where is Indiana ? Perhaps captured in one of those towers.... nice work, interesting to see your creation !!

I really like that engine. I really like those wagons. Sorry to say so, but.....those wagons look to small (too low) compared to the engine, so I don't think they go too well together. I would propose lowering the locomotive, it's too high compared to it's original proportions. = A challenge for you

I've built a VR SR1, if you browse this site I think you'll find it.

I voted high. I enjoy building all sorts of trains, BUT my favorites are models from Europe especially Sweden where I live. There is a special feeling to create those trains you have a relation to.

Nice work Ras. Got to love that man on his knees, asking her to marry him - just great.

Fascinating post BMW....also I learnt a new word - "catenary". I've read that railbrick magazine, but iI cannot recall having noticed the above. thanks !!

Nice work "Tiger"....I like the idea of building things from your surroundings, so look forward to see more designs showing typical buildings/vehicles/trains etc from the Australia

Aha, I didn't catch that. So that makes the working pantograph question completely different compared to my initial understanding of the topic

I think this subject has been / and will be / discussed an endless number of times, and there will never be a clear summary upon what's best, 6- 7- or 8-wide etc. All depends on your own preferences and your "theme" or idea with your creations as a whole. However if you are building a "one off" creation which is always displayed on it's own you can forget the rest of my post. First I like to compare with Ralph S:s very good post about wheel size and relative size for vehicles, cars are smaller than trucks etc, (see thread in town forum) and transfer those thoughts into this train topic. -Trucks and trains IRL are nearly the same width. Concequence: If you have a collection of 6-wide trucks - you should build 6-wide trains, provided you're looking for some matching realism in your lego city or layout. Or 7-wide trucks => 7-wide trains etc...... Apart from personal opinions I concider a few other things important: -The wider trains you build - the longer should it be, to achieve a realistic look. Concequence: the wider you build, you add more weight, you add more costs and add more lenght. Very long creations can as Ralph pointed out above, look ridiculous (or at least out of realism) when taking curves. -Inheritence: lego original trains are 6-wide, so if you like to run originals together with your MOC:s, that fact should be concidered. Part of the inheritance are 6-wide train base plates, as well as 6-wide train windows, buffers etc etc. As a strictly personal conclusion of the above, I choose to make my trains (and trucks) 6-wide. It allows me to make, smaller, sleaker, more proportional designs at a lower cost and weight, and I do like to run my MOC:s with Lego originals, through curves etc on layouts which can be built in a normal room. Now changing subject completely to pantographs, did you mean working pantographs in the sence that they should pick up current from an "airborn wire" - like IRL ? It's certainly an intersting idea but I foresee a lot of problems: I assume we are talking 9V systems now, as they are the only modern system with some capability of transfering current ! (?) Battery operated systems should not be an option in that sence. You need a plus and minus pole to let a current flow. IRL pantograph are in metal and touches the plus pole (airborn wire) so that current flows through the engine and is grounded in the rails. To achieve something similar, metal pantographs must be built and connected to one pole of the 9V motor, while the ground would be one or both metal rails. Not only do you have to design a working airborne wire (which I would concider a great challenge) but also you have to modify the existing lego motor. A said it is certainly an intersting idea, but I wouldn't be intersted in getting such omplex system work. Concequence and proposal: Build a "fake" airborne wire and let you plastic (lego) pantograph touch them.... Also you can run all types of system on that, both 9V system, PF-trains and/or...whatever you like. perhaps I completely misunderstood your idea ? If so just forget the above

.....right after finding the SUB-TILE message, which was a treasure map....the evil opponants stole his map, and tied Indy to a nearby railway....... After brutally stopping the train, throwing off the driver and disconnecting it's wagons, they intented to get rid of Indy.....and head off towards the treasure...... ....the situation looked hopeless..... ....but somehow Indy manages to solve the situation and...... ...with his whip he got hold of the tender.....to pursue his enemy towards the treasure..... .....TO BE CONTINUED.... Hope you enjoyed

Nice town.....but now it's definetly time to build yourself a train !! those poor people shouldn't have to wait a minute more by the station

I've sent a mail to you through eurobricks message service....

Nice vignette, Etzel You have achieved a good mix of own creativity and some borrowed technics. I thought of Gran emporium, when I saw the SHOP sign.

This T44 was built in 123 units, and is the most common diesel-electric freight locomotive in Sweden. Besides from hauling goods between our mayor cities, it's also often used as a shunter locomotive on goods terminals. Some units were even exported to Norway and Israel (!). The classic colour scheme for Swedish state railways version of T44 is orange base and dark blue top, which is quite good colours to copy in Lego (since both colours are relatively easy to find...). Windscreen is the normal 2 x 6 x 2 with special decals that I made. T44 on pictures is operated by Green cargo company. Hope you like it. Comments welcome as ususal. Here together with original engine... And here with a RC4 electric locomotive in the background. Same as above but without original locomotive.

That's a nice moc you have built with decals and a true colours to the original. It certainly looks very similar to the French BB7200 that I built some time ago for TTCE competition, but my engine has a completely different colour-scheme. I suppose these locos are made in the same factory ? A difficult part to model accurately in 6-wide for this loco, is the front which has a nasty mix of angle, but I think you have done a good job. I would lower the whole engine to get more sleek proportions and hence give an impression of beeing longer. This is just a matter of taste though.

Thanks for all positive comments ! A few comments follows. To me it was far from obvious...it took me literally a couple of years of thinking to come up with a solution..... It is really difficult to explain in words but i give it a try (and will add some pictures later - now done) The bearing element is a square "brick 3 x 3" which consists of 4pcs 4733 in each corner and with 4pcs 6541 in between to connect all 8 bricks to one stabile unit. Connecting another 2pcs 4070 just behind creates a gap in center which makes a technic axle just possible to squeeze trough it. With 3 such complex elements after each other you got the basic structure. After that it is "just" to attach the cosmetic parts which are visible on pictures.....Do you follow me All-in-all it's a small miracle of mathematics and trials. Now you know the most important....it just remains to build the rest Thanks ! Yes the drums rotates on a long technic axle. In fact it is quite stabile. Thanks Davey cab was intentionally built very gray to put focus on the colourful drum.....and it does have a small black stripe in the mid body side thanks for creative proposal !

I've felt for a long time that the 8-wide original Lego tanker is too wide. Below you can see an attempt to create a tank wagon in 6-wide scale. The tank has a smaller diameter than the 8-wide version, using Viking-wheels. Also I added a kind of "bent" ladder. Unfortunately, during the photoshoot, the worker slipped, almost resulting in a nasty accident.

My latest truck-MOC. A 6-wide Scania cement mixer. I made a similar one before, but in red and white. I checked a little on the internet, and it seems that the black-yellow colour scheme is the most commonly used, at least here in Sweden. The drum is inspired by P. Normandin, any comments appreciated!

Sometimes you think the same..... I too was planning this kind of post, but you gor first. Great initiative, let's always think of the less fortunate when disasters like this occurs.

Thanks for review. I concider the design as average, but I like 6-wide trucks Parts of biggest interest for me are the new green doors which has never been produced before and also it was highly interesting to see the new bracket 2x6/1x4 or whatever it will be called, used to attach the windscreen. I dare assume those items will be costy on bricklink for some time......once the truck starts to sell in volume.

Suberb post Ralph S ! Just imagine if all posts would have your high quality level You have done an excellent overview and I fully agree to most of your recommendations and thoughts. Futhermore you are a brillant builder of small cars. As an addition, I like to share a few personal comments, as I find this topic very interesting too. Since I am mostly into Lego trains, I do prefer the Lego "original " train scale = 6-wide bodies for locomotives and train wagons. Concequently, since trucks, trailers and containers in reality are about the same width as trains, I choose to make my trucks 6-wide. I fully share your view that wheel size should reflect the size of the complete vehicle, but I didn't see you mention any difference between front and rear wheels as real trucks have. I typically use the below size for truck wheels and put the rims with "hub" in front, and a wide rim "without hub" in rear, to get a realistic look. No part of wheels or mud flaps are sticking out, so all is within 6-wide width. See following example: For SUV:s and small cars, I (so far) built only 4-wide bodies, and use smaller wheels as you recommend. For SUV:s I use the same wheels used by Lego in set 7239, together with mudguards which makes it about 5-wide over the wheels. Smaller cars have smaller wheels without mudgards so they are about 4-wide, like the "Smart". See following example of the three different wheel sizes and corresponding vehicle size. Once again many thanks for your excellent post.