zephyr1934

@Ashi Valkoinen Thanks, and I appreciate your forthright comments. Definitely not for everyone but I was stretching the train theme to make it more inviting to non-train folks too (if it works for police and arctic, it's got to work for space and castle too, grin) while still being interesting for train heads. When it was on BDP some folks liked the inclusion of the bridge others did not. Which makes sense, depending on one's perspective it is either a handy means to bridge a gap or a pile of unneeded parts. After a whole bunch of unlikely "if's" (if it makes it to 10k, if it got selected from those that did, etc.) I wonder what the Lego designers would do to the classic space and castle. Sometimes they nail it (Barracuda bay and the classic castle), but at least for my tastes they haven't nailed classic space yet. Classic space in my ideal is not too large, not too detailed, but everyone has their own vision. Regardless, at some point I will build my own version of the classic spaceship on a freight car.

Simply amazing! The wave in the dark tan stripe across the front door is a sticker, right?

Thank you both! To be honest, the knights car started out as a blue cattle car, but only the roof came off at that point. I was scratching my chin, how could I make this more classic? And that's when the knight car struck me, and of course it needed to open up like the classic castle, and then... and then and then... Grin.

As I mentioned on IDEAS, that's so American of you... as in 4-4-0, good shot! I doubt this will even make it to 5k, but it has a good shot at 1k and that is pretty cool in and of itself. Train tech is about as close as I get to social media so I don't have much of a following to call upon.

Just when your wallet thought it was safe to go outside it gets hit by another train (grin). Looking forward to see what comes of it.

Thank you thank you! Of course whenever you see a nice train on IDEAS be sure to vote for it, Lego needs all the feedback they can get that folks like well designed trains.

That looks like it will be large scale, if so, that works in your favor- gives you more options of bricks to use. Anyway, you seem to already be on the right track using the studless slopes above the windows. If you like geometry you can do the calculations as to where to put the hinges so that the slopes are close to the roof, or you can just play around with bricks until you get something close. For the bottom, you could flip to studs down and do the same thing there. Or you could transition to stud out wedge plates.

Reduce, reuse, recycle... My Classic Train was not selected in the last round of BDP (amazing competition so, easy come easy go). Unfortunately, when they released the palette of parts for the upcoming round of BDP, they left off some critical pieces like the steam engine wheels and magnetic train couplers, as well as several other parts that could be worked around in a pinch, but there were just so many. As a result, sadly, I can't have another go with this model on BDP (I also had sketches for a lovely steam locomotive based on the previous palette that I now need to scrap, !@#$%). Simply building the train digitally was good fun, and working around the limited palette surprisingly proved to be a welcome challenge. I already had the bridge and the 0-2-0 locomotive built, and now I've got a short list of improvements to make based on the BDP design. Anyway, one door closes and another opens... Let me present to you the Classic Train on Lego IDEAS And a big thank you to everyone who supported the model on BDP!

The mail van is an impressive addition, the doors are smooth! Great work

It's a great little build. I know you've done it before but I really like the look of the grill tiles in the clips around the top of the tender.

Could you do a cylinder in the center and have the cars on either end rotate about that?

I just checked, and Star Wars is not allowed. Perhaps you could morph it into classic space with heavy hints of SW styling

Splendid!

That little box cab locomotive gives heavy vibes of 7720 reimagined.

Talk about hot topics... I have great respect for both the purists and the impurists, as well as everyone in between. I just ask that whatever path EB takes, please don't add restrictions to the forums that already tolerate a certain level of off-brands. I would hate to see some topics that currently appear in Train Tech get pushed behind a curtain because they use third party parts or whatnot. In other words, please continue to give the individual communities some latitude in how strict they want to enforce "purity". I like the fact Train Tech is mostly Lego, but I also like the fact that a bit of non-Lego slips in. I also love how civil and spam free the forum is. I've got friends around the world there. Anyway, also a big thanks to all of you who make EB work behind the scenes, you're amazing!

You did an amazing job, especially on the nose where the brick built striping slowly widens around the windshield while also changing tilt and elevation. Such controlled shifting in three dimensions is impressive. That nose is definitely full of snot.

Ah, well then, you should take the reference photo and apply a little tape... (grin). Seriously though, good to hear. They are such distinct train (little m variant not withstanding)

That's a masterful recreation of an iconic prototype. Lots of nice part usage (e.g., the gray windshield as a plow). And of course the custom lighting. One suggestion, if you can get the color match of the stickers close enough, it would be neat to try to reproduce the rounded end of the blue stripe either with a blue half circle on yellow bricks or yellow masks on the blue bricks. Actually, with all of the modern arches and curved bricks, you might be able to round the corners of the end of the blue stripe strictly using bricks. Yeah, it would be a square with rounded corners rather than a continuous curve, but color match would be easier and it would be more eloquent than simply pulling out the sticker gun and shooting the guy spinning two giant machetes at you.

All the detail is fantastic. That is both brilliant and eloquent. With the introduction of a completely new track system and vehicles with your design, maintaining the legacy radius probably is not critical, but it is laudable nonetheless. Equally clever, and this makes sense for an AFOL with moderate skills, but is probably too complex for all IDEAS buyers. Not a fatal flaw though, if it ever made it that far the Lego designers would by definition come up with a solution that meets whatever standards Lego would want. I'm sure there's some way to use fixed bricks to get a desired profile, but it might not be pretty.

The whole layout (train, station, combine, and field) really has the feeling of a high end 1980's set or maybe something you would see in a Lego promotional build (with all the pieces an individual builder would never be able to obtain in those pre-bricklink days). Lots of clever part usage of older parts, very skillful, while a judicious sprinkling of modern parts just to do a few important things that are not possible with the palette of that era.

@Brickthus The new build looks great (and supported on IDEAS). It has been a long time since you've updated the train tech community about your innovations with the CRS, e.g., "here are technical insights/developments," going into greater depth and details than a show video or the IDEAS description. For example, it would be neat to see the techniques used in your horizontal and vertical curves.

Mark was one of the innovators of the two stud wide monorails and if you look back through at least this thread, he was an active contributor (possibly posting more than the original author). So I wouldn't say this was a hi-jack. However, this thread has been inactive for six years, and spamming a lot of different threads with the same content (especially self-promotional from an infrequent contributor) should be discouraged. I'll put the rest of my thoughts in what seems to be the very active two stud wide monorail thread.

Exactly!

Aw, you updated the first post rather than keeping the original design there and showing the improvements later in the thread or starting a new thread if the changes are large. I always like to see how projects progress but as the designer it is well within your prerogative to do so. Only one minor problem though, any comments to the first post pre-update are now out of context. Regardless, from what I recall, it looks like you've done some major changes and updates to improve an already great design. Good job

You've done a great job with all of those difficult curves on the nose and sides! The only thing that sticks out to me are the port hole windows in the side. They really should be closer to two studs wide. But the only pure single part options are the window from the Super Chief or this window that is only available in dark green or blue. Or I suppose you could use boat studs, or arches, but those have their own trade offs.