Going in the opposite direction, chronologically, from the last post yesterday, here’s an armored hand car by Beau Donnan (Ɍaillery).
Two minifigs fit inside this “railtank,” pumping the adorable little war machine forward.
Though posted nearly a year ago, I also can’t pass up Beau’s wonderfully inventive windmill locomotive in the same alternate history theme.
Once again I venture into dangerous territory staked out by Brother-Brick Tim to bring you some much needed Train-related action. pinioncorp claims this is an old model, but we won’t hold that against him, especially since he found a way to fit Power Functions inside such a small shunter. The diorama isn’t half-bad either, with just enough snowy detail to make it interesting.
See you next weekend, constant reader, unless of course Tim has other plans…
I am a stickler for scale models and I love comparison pictures between the model and a photograph or a line drawing of the real thing. It will come as no surprise then that the beautiful BR 55 steam locomotive by Ronald Vallenduuk (Duq) caught my attention.
The comparison shows that the proportions are spot on. I also had the fortune of seeing this black beauty and its many details with my own two eyes at a Lowlug meeting last weekend. Since photographing a black model is not easy, the details are a bit more difficult to see in photographs, but I can recommend looking at the flickr set. The locomotive is powered by a Power Functions L-motor carefully hidden in the firebox, with a battery box and IR receiver in the tender. The locomotive is 8 studs wide, which may be bigger than many LEGO train lovers like, but it can navigate normal LEGO train curves without any difficulty.
As an interesting side-note, the connecting rods are custom pieces made by Benn Coifman from Railbricks. The surface finish of the parts suggest that they were 3D-printed, as they are not completely smooth, but the fit is impressive.
It has been too long since we featured something for our Train-head friends on the big blog. Hopefully i don’t run afoul of Gambort, operating on his digital turf, but I couldn’t resist blogging this photogenic Vagon-CZRC by Valgarise The Vagon was built as a companion piece for set #79111 (Constitution Train Chase) and I think the builder did an admirable job replicating the style of the train.
Please don’t shank me Tim…last time it took like 50 stitches to close me up.
The super cute Köf locomotive is one of the most distinctive shunters/switchers in the world. There are too many LEGO versions out there for me to link to, but this new one by Henrik Hoexbroe was pretty enough to force me to work out[1] how to use the new flickr interface for a blog post.
[1] It’s slightly more annoying to navigate, and way uglier. But all the old functionality seems to be there.
I am not sure whether any of the trains built by Andrew Harvey (technoandrew) have been featured here before, but in British LEGO fan circles he has a well-deserved reputation for building beautiful steam locomotives. His latest picture shows how he has been updating his model of a British so-called Black Five steam locomotive. These were among the last steam locomotives used on British railways. As I’m currently updating some of my own existing models, it caught my eye.
It is fascinating to see how the new parts and new tricks Andrew has picked up over a period of several years have lead to a constant refinement in the shape and the level of detail. As a result, the LEGO model is getting closer and closer to the scale model shown at the bottom.
Carl Greatrix (bricktrix) has once again built something I thought would be impossible to reproduce in LEGO. The Blue Pullman was a very strange, but ugly/attractive diesel luxury train running in Britain through the 60s. Its very distinctive wedge shaped face is extremely challenging, but Carl has managed to get a pretty great likeness. It also looks very nice lit up and running.
Stijn Oom has just made a stunning post-apocalyptic LEGO diorama for 2013 Mocathlon. Very notable features are the track sinking into the swamp, and the leaning building, but the whole diorama offers a very pleasing mixture of artificial and natural forms.
Peter Oglivy (Peter.A.B.) has graciously offered to take over the occasional LEGO Trains challenge, and given us a doozy for town and train builders: build a railbus. Railbuses were an important part of rail networks in the 1930s (and even today in some parts of the world) and because of the era and other limitations, are rather difficult to build well in LEGO.
So if you’re keen on a challenge, head on over to LEGO Train MOCs. And even if you’re not, check out the entries as they appear, you’re sure to see some spiffy models and snazzy techniques.
To the right is Henrik Hoexbroe’s take on a Railbus from a while back.
LEGO magnets are cool, but most people just use them for connecting trains or picking up crates. Not so for Simon Liu, the ever-innovative Canadian builder. This mass transit suspension bridge is actually held aloft by magnetism, providing a cushy platform for the mag-lev train that rides on it over an earth-quake riddled fault-line. Be sure to watch the video of Simon disassembling it to show the magnets’ effects. Besides having an uuber cool concept, though, Simon has nailed the style of this futuristic bridge, giving it an edgy, techy architectural look. Also, I’m pretty sure Simon is crazy, because he’s competing concurrently in both the Iron Builder competition and the MocAthalon contest, and this creation counts for both.
