GE AC4400CW /w CSX livery in 7 wide [WIP]

[legoman666]

Hi all. Been work on this for a few weeks now. Coming along nicely.

I've tried for days to get this correct I can't get the slightly sloped top-of-front to work. I think what I have looks good, but it doesn't look correct and I was hoping for some inspiration. Right now I'm using 2x3 wedges to create the angle on the face and the top is simply flat.

http://hobbyit.eu/us...e_wv_2012_L.jpg

Eventually making 4. 2 for myself, 2 for the club. 2L motors, large AA PF battery box, 7 wide, custom bluetooth controller, dc-dc converter in each. Hoping to put metal wheels in em too, but I'm not sure if it's possible.

EDIT:

See my most recent post.

Edited September 8, 2014 by legoman666

[zephyr1934]

Try perusing the works of swoofty or wardlaw for inspiration. Or just brows the flickr lego train group.

[legoman666]

Thanks zephyr, I knew of swooftys work, but I had not seen the other!

Edited July 29, 2014 by legoman666

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

You have choosen a beautiful livery legoman666 ...I'll waiting for your Moc!

[legoman666]

I intended to post a WIP shot in the original post, but I seem to have had a brain fart. I'll post one when I get home. Right now I'm trying to get the vents on the rear half to look good with an L motor behind them. The L motor is 3 wide and the rear half is 5W, so I only have 1 stud on each side to work with.

[legoman666]

[El H]

D E V I L I S H building techniques. Looks great.

[legoman666]

After spending about a week on one side of the rear grills, here's what I have to show for it. This is the result of a lot of tinkering. It's made difficult because the motor behind the grill is 3 wide and the entire rear is 5 wide, so I only have 1 stud to work with.

The last shot shows the hidden battery pack. I'm considering adding a stud in between each wheelset on the bogies. Not sure if I want to mess with something that's already working, but on the real thing the wheels are spaced a little apart. It'd also give me a little more room to try to cram in power pickups. I'll mess with it more tonight.

[JopieK]

Very nice job legoman666! I like it that you keep the train as narrow as possible while keeping the features.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

What a great building technique! I love your solution to realize a motorized bogie with three wheels for each side!

Keep on Legoman!!!

[legoman666]

Thanks guys. The build is coming right along but I'm still trying to decide if I should lengthen the bogies by 2 studs...

Last 2 shots show the front motor. Reasonably easy to access, just pull off the top of the cab. Next on the list is the angled top vents.

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow, that is really impressive as to how much you were able to conceal while still achieving that much detail on the hood. Great work.

[legoman666]

Almost done! Just a few more details to wrap up. I need to hide the motor controller by cutting the PCB to fit into a 3-stud-wide space using the Dremel at work. I'm also waiting on delivery of some steel O gauge wheels with technic axle crosses milled in to them and will rebuild my trucks using the new wheels instead of the regular Lego wheels. I'll be able to pull power from the track with the new wheels, should be awesome.

Ignore the wire and controller sprouting from the top, some idiot left his battery charger at Brickfair last weekend and had to hardwire his train to the power source (me).

The slopes under the grill should be yellow, but I can't find em. I know I have a couple, but alas, they are nowhere to be found. Also need 1 more yellow clip to finish my "ladder".

I started to build each side identical before I realized they are in fact, not. Oops. I am also waiting to apply my CSX decals until I've built a second one of these. I'll probably have to take this first one apart to do it, so the decals go on last.

These vents took about a week off my life. They actually work too. There's a 40mm fan under the top vent that pushes air out the headlight bricks behind these 1x2 grill tiles.

Aforementioned fan. Fits perfectly into a 5 stud wide space. The fan is for the DC-DC converter that gets stupidly hot.

Waiting for decals.

[JopieK]

What kind of motor driver do you use? We (students and I) have quite some experience with that, it depends on the actual chip that you use. Will indeed look even better with decals/stickers of course!!!

[legoman666]

Ive made about 5 of Codefax's open source controller: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=87340&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1 which uses the same driver as the Lego V2 IR receiver. I've tied the outputs on it together so I can get about 3A for my 2 L motors. By my ammeters reckoning, this loco pulls about .6A when I stop it with my hand (while still allowing the wheels to spin in place.)

[legoman666]

Finished the top. Still debating whether or not to lengthen the whole thing by 2 studs.

Experimenting with O gauge steel wheels.

[Rail Co]

Wow Looks really good! Honestly I am not the best person to say with this loco (as I am not familiar with it). I would say go for another 2 studs, just because in the real picture it looks like a long locomotive. Just my 2 cents it's your loco and your the one to build and enjoy it!

Great job!

Looking forward to the fully finished model!

-RailCo

[Redimus]

Yeah, it captures the overall shape really well but does look a bit short, an extra 2 studs is probably the way to go.

[codefox421]

Glad to see my Bluetooth motor drivers are still coming in handy. Since it's hidden away in the latest pics, I take it the "surgery" to the PCB went well? I'm finishing up some minor firmware/Android updates tonight; should fix some issues you may not have even noticed yet.

I think the engine would definitely benefit from two extra studs, but it looks good at the length it is now too. I would be more concerned about getting the center wheels back into those nice 6 wheel bogies!

Looking forward to the finished version and to a more in-depth look at those powered trucks with metal wheels!

[Barduck]

Still debating whether or not to lengthen the whole thing by 2 studs.

I'd say more like 6 studs extra in length. At the moment she looks cramped imho

[brickbuilder711]

I love it! Proportionally it does look a little short though, I agree to make it longer. 7 wide works pretty well and is perfect for such PF powering. I managed to do similar locomotives in 6-wide with PF completely immersed within the locomotives.

I have had a similar cramp issue with a CSX GEVO I did before the version visible below; I'd say go for extending the length on the long hood.

Needless to say, you made an excellent choice doing YN2, really like that paint scheme.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickbuilder711/sets/72157640412121104/

[jtlan]

Finished the top. Still debating whether or not to lengthen the whole thing by 2 studs.

At 7-wide, the model should be ~51 studs long (I'm assuming the loco is ~ 10ft wide IRL), so I'd definitely lengthen it. Accurately modeling American anything at Lego scale is tricky.

Experimenting with O gauge steel wheels.

Do those have rubber tires on them? If not, I suspect you're losing a good deal of traction when operating with those.

Edited August 14, 2014 by jtlan

[trainbot1]

love It

[baard]

I love it too

I think you have captured the features of the real train in a good fashion. I like how you have integrated the large battery box in the middle, I know how tricky space limitations can be when you want to keep the width of the model narrow, and at the same time have the PF cables run by "fat" parts like the battery box.

Looking forward to seeing it with decals.

Keep up the good work!

[legoman666]

Thanks everyone!

Glad to see my Bluetooth motor drivers are still coming in handy. Since it's hidden away in the latest pics, I take it the "surgery" to the PCB went well? I'm finishing up some minor firmware/Android updates tonight; should fix some issues you may not have even noticed yet.

I think the engine would definitely benefit from two extra studs, but it looks good at the length it is now too. I would be more concerned about getting the center wheels back into those nice 6 wheel bogies!

Looking forward to the finished version and to a more in-depth look at those powered trucks with metal wheels!

Yep! No problems after slicing off the mounting holes. Fits right into a 3 stud wide space. The center wheels are only MIA while I'm messing with these metal wheels. Alain is sending me 12 wheels with Technic axle holes cut into them and I'll be using those with my longer trucks.

At 7-wide, the model should be ~51 studs long (I'm assuming the loco is ~ 10ft wide IRL), so I'd definitely lengthen it. Accurately modeling American anything at Lego scale is tricky.

Do those have rubber tires on them? If not, I suspect you're losing a good deal of traction when operating with those.

I'll definitely lengthen it after hearing that, wow! I think its 42 studs long right now (assuming I can count) and I'll probably lengthen it by 4. I'm also working on adding a 1 stud gap between wheels and I already moved the fuel tank in anticipation.

As for the loss of traction, I thought the same thing at first, then I considered that the stock 9V train motors have metal wheels too that ride on the inside edge of the track. These O gauge wheels ride on the top of the track, which greatly increases the contact patch. The locomotive is also quite heavy because of the 2 L motors and especially the AA battery pack. I've tested it pulling my 6 car Horizon Express without issue. I'll test it more this weekend when I get my 7W rolling stock back from the LUG trailer. I'm hoping there's no problems :D The plan is to make a twin unit to accompany this one.