A little while back we blogged Matija Grguric rail construction diorama and I mentioned that the train it featured was actually a German engine. Matija has now remedied this with his excellent Western Train. I’m glad he waited for after the Eurobricks competition to post this.
Matija Grguric has been building American “Old West” dioramas for a while now and they’ve all been excellent. But his latest one is a particularly neat depiction of the construction of a railway line. The workmans’ tents are a beautiful touch. Great stuff.
RAILBRICKS issue 10 is just out. Chock full of the usual trainy goodness with a focus on recent events. And it’s happy editor birthday to Elroy Davis who marks one year in charge of RAILBRICKS.
RAILBRICKS Issue 10 is now available for download. The new issue features stories covering some fan events from the past summer, as well as tips and building instructions.
You might be able to guess I’m going through my recent additions to my blog list. These two steam train pictures look so nice together I’m going to save myself some typing and blog them together. Both are excellent models and showcase the advantages of building trains at 8-wide. Which needs to be showcased since it is a dirty size[1].
First we have Cale Leiphart‘s USRA Light Mikado from World War I as operated by the Baltimore and Ohio railway.
Followed by this excellent diorama by Tony Sava (SaveTheAggie) from his series “The Texas Brick Railroad”.
[1] That’s a train-head joke. There’s joking banter between 6/7w builders and 8w builders that dates back many years.
The purpose of this post is two-fold: 1) to show off Dave Stannard’s (Brickhead) excellent models and 2) to serve as inspiration and a reminder for the 7777 Redux contest.
Dave has been working on his LBB layout for quite a long time and, to me, it exemplifies what LEGO Ideas Books are all about, and that KISS can apply to LEGO models too. Dave’s models aren’t full of weird and tricky connections but they still look really great. Not they’re free of SNOT or studless but on the whole he keeps his techniques close to that of official sets. If you’re thinking of entering the 7777 Redux contest you could do worse than to check out his photostream.
Ben Beneke is one of the greats of LEGO train building, with even his old steamers still standing out as some of the best. I’d been wondering what had happened to Ben recently (he usually posts at least one new train a year) but apparently he’s been spending time making excellent animations using LDraw and POVray. An animation like this is really hard to do in POVray. I know, I’ve tried.
Brian Williams (BMW_Indy) is definitely not a LEGO purist and likes to do things his own way. With results like this I can see why. Whenever I see something new by Brian I always find myself questioning my own rules.
I’ve never seen The Wild Wild West TV show that inspired this creation, but I have to admit I’m tempted now. The idea of a lab on track is pretty cool.
This was an entry for the Spaghetti Western contest on Eurobricks and you can vote for your favourite train here.
In the past I’ve designed and made instructions for a Wild West playset as Christmas gifts to the community. This year the Spaghetti Western contest at Eurobricks encouraged me to build one for myself. I wanted it to look like a cool toy train that a kid might get for Christmas or a birthday. Hopefully I achieved what I set out to do.
There was a time when LEGO released books of ideas, when trains were a flagship property, when a LEGO license was something you used to drive at LEGOland. That time was the 80s and that time produced 7777. But it was not a perfect time. We now have new parts, new colours, new techniques, and 7777 looks dated. But the idea (pardon the pun) was good. Let’s make it better.
EDIT:NB. Please do not ask questions about the contest here, ask them in the flickr thread. I will not be answering questions here.
In LEGO Train MOCs we run semi-regular contests and challenges. This time we’re inviting all AFOLs to play. The challenge is to create a new version of 7777 ideas book with prizes for those deemed best and most 7777-like. As a twist we won’t be allowing locomotive engines.
This contest differs a little from regular LEGO contests: rather than giving prizes to the best entry we will be assessing entries on how well they would fit in a new version of 7777. This means models should be kept relatively simple, bonus points will be awarded for instructions and scenes, and we won’t be looking for exact replicas of obscure trains.
So if you love trains, if you love town, or if you just love LEGO and a new challenge we’d love to see what you can do. You don’t even need a single train wheel or track to play. Just bricks and a creative mind.
Closing date: All entries must be in by midnight 31st30th November on the east side of the date line. If your clock says Nov 30th you’ll be fine.
Prizes: Three prizes will be given for the three entries judged ‘best’ (no person will win more than one prize). Prizes are: 10219 Maersk train, 7937 Train Station, 7936 Level Crossing
Rules: There are no hard and fast rules (other than the closing date) however there are judging criteria so if you want a chance of winning you should meet as many of them as possible. We also expect no more than three entries (one is fine) per person. Further entries may be allowed with prior arrangement.
Entering: To enter the contest you must join the 7777 Redux group on flickr and post your entry in the entries thread. If you do not wish to join flickr contact me (Tim G) privately and we may come to an arrangement.
Judging criteria:
Judges: Judging will be by me (Tim Gould), Tim David, Peter Norman and special non-trainhead judge Mark Stafford
Anthony Sava has become a man known for his locomotives and the reputation is well-deserved. He has been working on a project to build all five of the Texas State Railroad locomotives and this is the final one. It has been quite the project and I have enjoyed it. I’m not a train guy but even I have to admit that there is something about locomotives that grabs you. Well done, Tony!
Peter Norman (swoofty) has been draining BrickLink of dark turquoise parts to make this Brazillian oddity. It’s a very nice locomotive in a hard to work with colours but what I found most fun was the presentation of it shipping on flatbeds. Very fun.
