zephyr1934

I suspect you might run into problems from transient disconnections that are long enough to "turn off" the PF receiver but short enough that the train glides over them. So looping in a capacitor or some other energy storage to bridge small interruptions would be critical. Otherwise, the PF receiver would say "stop" when it reset

MOC Charley Harper- Red and Fed in Lego I would like to present my take on Charley Harper's Red and Fed in Lego bricks. Harper's original artwork depicts a cardinal in the snow that found a corn cob for a nice meal. The viewer looks on from behind a few dried grasses in the shaded foreground that are still standing from last fall. Charley Harper was a modernist artist, best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters, and book illustrations. He called his style "minimal realism", striving to capture the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible visual elements. I find this approach well suited for Lego building. I wanted to replicate the essence of his work- seemingly effortless when, at least in my case, there was so much going on below the surface. The MOC is roughly 9" x 7" (24 cm x 18 cm) and getting the fine details was very tricky at this small scale. The white background is only two studs deep to do all the SNOT work. Take a close look at the thin legs of the cardinal or the stylized corn cob behind the silhouette of the light foliage. It took a long time to find the right combination of parts to capture the thin features of the plants. Look closely and you might spot a fishing rod, an umbrella, hand cuffs and more. While there is a little trickery in the build, it is all strictly Lego parts with no modifications. The trickery only becomes apparent upon close inspection from an angle. Notice how the foliage is built up of several independent mountings on two planes, aligned to create the appearance of a single object. We have a print of Harper's Red and Fed in our dining room, so I see Harper's work every day. Many years ago, I built my first Lego interpretation of this cardinal and that sparked the inspiration to build the entire picture. It evolved over several years, the idea for the corn came next and while the corn is largely unchanged, ultimately, I had to completely redo the cardinal. As my build was all coming together, my Lego User Group was preparing to set up a display at the Columbus Museum of Art. Although the main display is a minifig diorama, the museum was interested in a few pieces to hang on the walls. I showed the partially completed MOC and they wanted it, but they stipulated that it had to be behind glass. So, I had to abandon the brick built frame in my model and this build has an unusual size to fit the non-Lego frame required for the museum (not shown). For these photos I took it out of that frame and demonstrate two different ways it could be displayed using strictly Lego parts. If you like this build, please support it on Lego IDEAS and tell your mid-century modern friends about it too

Wow, that's great work collecting all those parts in a rare color and making an excellent model with the limited palette. I bet all of those plates helps with the weight on the drive wheels

The BrickForge folks are train heads so this is a good move.

Those doors are surprisingly handy for covering things in tight spaces. I had a similar experience in the past year where the door was the only thing that would fit

That's a tough angle to pull off in lego. There are probably tricks to do it but it will require a lot of trial and error before you find the trade off that you like. Perhaps start a new thread and show what you've got so far and tell the readers what you do not like about it or what you want it to do.

Looks better than the silver tape and the fact that you went all the way down the outside makes it look much more like a "rail". Will be neat to see the Kof go under track power. I've seen folks splay multi strand wire and use that as a track pickup.

Very nice, and the full copper taping of the plastic rails looks great

Nice!

I finally had time to put together my solution. My approach is way over-engineered compared to the others. I solved the problem in two parts. First, the lower 5 logs and second, the top log. The middle band of the figure shows the solution to the 5 logs. I realized that when staked, the center of any two adjacent logs should be exactly two studs apart, so the bottom row centers could all be connected with a 5 long technic beam, and the middle row centers could be connected by a 3 long technic beam. Meanwhile, if I connected the end logs on the two rows, that would also force them to be adjacent. The relatively new 1x2 half cylinders would allow me to hide the technic beams. Trouble is, how to hold the end logs, here the solution was a 1x2 tile, but a normal 1x2 tile would completely block the hole in the 2x2 round bricks needed to connect to the technic beams. Ah, 1x2 tile with rounded ends would allow me to get a bar through. That pretty much solved the bottom 5 logs, I did this assembly on either end. For the top log I had a couple of solutions that worked with varying levels of success. The one I finally went with is shown on the right band. The top log holds a 1x2 jumper plate that is forced between a pair of 1x2 half cylinders. I can't quite tell, there might be a little stress in this assembly, but it is close enough that it works.

Your builds are jaw dropping. Each building, train and detail in the background looks like it is worthy of its own post. But that's okay to leave us wanting more, the gestalt of it all together is amazing.

Lego is your secondary hobby? You've got to be kidding. Your MOCs are top notch, I can only imagine how far you must go with your main hobby. Each one of those scenes has several different trains/buildings/road or whatnot that would be amazing to see from multiple angles. It looks so great all together.

I suspect the 1/2 plate thickness of the panels could cause occasional problems, e.g., if it falls between the traction band and the flange on a powered axle. Probably would still work, just a little extra drag. I like the look of the tiles between the double jumper plates. Have you tried it with 1x2 tiles in the middle instead of 1x2 plates?

With the gray it is starting to look like a Burlington (CB&Q, not BN) locomotive.

That's probably what @Feuer Zug was talking about. The OE cars are heavy and the engine is light. Worse yet, the wheels on the car are high friction. If it slips too much you might be able to replace what look like stacked of two red and blue 2x4's in the following picture with one or more weight bricks. If you don't have any weight bricks I suggest testing with something else weighty (roll of coins?) before making the investment.

That's insane! But I fear your minifig crew might start protesting the working conditions. I like how you got the massive couplers on this tiny bug. Some of the snot makes my head hurt.

Amazing

Interesting stuff. Curves will be tough but doable, e.g., the logging train BL set. A long time ago someone posted working brick built switches in train tech, most of the links are dead but one remains operational: http://vimeo.com/22037422 Another ancient take on brick built curves http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=477982 I can recall one more take on a brick built switch but I can't find it in my notes.

Very nice, I wanted to use those bricks with pin holes to hold the top log on, but they are not (yet) available in brown. Had the part been available I would have used 1x1 round plates to fill the exposed pin holes. I had not thought about using the the plates (tiles?) with one stud to do the rotation, very resourceful. I contemplated doing just that, but I could not come up with anything that looked acceptable from all angles. Doesn't mean it is impossible though, if you come up with something that would make the build a lot simpler.

You are quite welcome

Oh, that's clever! The one weakness I can see are the tiles, but like Stereo's solution, if they are near the end of the logs they shouldn't be an issue. It is neat to see the different solution paths, especially since they are so different. I would say we are two for two in terms of working solutions, or really three for three since mine took a different approach. I'll hold off with my reveal for a little while to see if any other solutions come in.

That's a nice combination of playful features on top of detailed building

This sounds interesting. Unfortunately the pictures did not come through. For Eurobricks you need to post the photos on a different host (e.g., flickr) and link to them from your EB post.

Welcome @L-Gauger, looking forward to seeing some of your MOCs. Your avatar hints at lots of details too small to see.

Oh, that's nice. If the geometry works that would be a slick solution. Then if you add the third 2x2 round brick on the bottom, to the left of your current assembly you are on to something. Remember that except at the ends, the bottom middle log is unseen so it gives you a small amount of space to hide your work. The round tiles in the middle of the logs will give you strength problems though. If you replace the 1x1 round plate with a 1x1 round brick you can do away with the tiles and it will be a lot stronger.