Southern Pacific GP-30

[Rotundus]

Hi all,

Thank you to all of you who have viewed and taken an interest in my project. The prototype photos and ideas have been put to good use.

To Nemo57... That solution for the rear end of the dynamic brake bulge drove me crazy... I like the way you made it work.

To Zephyr... It is my goal to employ an all LEGO solution as much as possible. But as you'll see in the next photos, I will be bending that ideal just a (wee) bit. As an example of that, I was considering using blank red stickers to cover the "cheese graters". But honestly, I kind of like how they look (now in red), even though it is not prototypical. On the other side of that coin... The rigid mounted coupler is in a good position for the model, but comes up lacking for operations. Since I do not have a layout this will be a "static display" model, so I won't have to worry about that. Like most MOC's this one can be considered the Mark I. I'll continue to think on better solutions for that and other issues, (like motorizing). And your right, a "Black Widow" paint job would look very good indeed.

Now on to the new photos:

gp-30 shaping-side by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Here is an early phase test build. As long as the brick had the right general shape, (I didn't worry about the color or pesky, unwanted studs), I stuck it in there. In fact most of the long hood sides are made up of bricks with the extra studs turned to the inside.

gp-30 top 2nd by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

This pic shows my take on the angled roof on the cab. The 2x4 wedge is actually a bit too short, but the 3x6 is too wide... 2x6 would have been just right, but no such animal exists in the LEGO world. Also I am trying out how the top would look covered in tiles. I'm not sure yet if I like it or not. The technic disks are to be replaced by 4x4 round plates, if they fit and look right.

gp-30 side w sticker preview by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

This next one shows what is a basically completed model, shape-wise, (at least from the chassis plates up). It is my intention to use stickers for a lot of the side details ,so I mocked up their positions with paper copies... (Hey Zephyr, do you do custom printing of stickers, too? I'll contact you about it in a few days.)

So there you have it. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but more parts are in the mail.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Rotundus

[zephyr1934]

If you are not going to attempt to take this around lego curves then that does away with any operational concerns. I bet it feels nice to be free of that burden. Indeed, you have the proportions very well done, though if you are not going to run this engine, perhaps you can come up with something that looks more like a knuckle coupler than the lego train magent?

The tiled roof looks really good, but the studded roof does have a retro lego feel to it. The stickers for doors certainly has lego precedence, most of the recent city sets have had stickers for doors for electrics, water, oil, and pneumatics. I had often wondered how well stickers for doors would look on a scale like you've done and they look good (though probably would not want a high contrast in color for the outlines). Just a warning up front, the stickers have a fixed cost per area, so covering a lot of area will be more expensive. If you do go that route, you might want to replace the sides with 1x6x5 panels wherever possible to minimize the seems between the bricks under the stickers. Doing the SP lettering shouldn't be bad (I've already done it for one of my steamers) and I'm curious to see how the doors look.

[Nemo57]

We have already built two such locomotives, one - blue, one - black. Strictly Lego City style. Thank you for choosing interesting locomotive, I did not know that such an original exists and, importantly, the standard Lego trike suitable for copying. I look forward to your version is probably a huge locomotive work?

[Rotundus]

Hey Nemo... I like it! A 6-wide "Black Widow", not bad at all. Nice solution for the handrail right behind the cab. Good looking fans, too. I see a couple of details that I'll have to look into for the Mk-II update on mine that I think I'll have to work on.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Rotundus

[Rotundus]

Hi all,

If your saying to yourself, "Self, I do believe that I've seen and read these posts before"... well, you have. The reason why this topic has cycled back to the top is that I finally figured out the proper way to display the photos here... So I updated the posts with photos in them to reflect the proper procedure. What all that means is that at the moment I have nothing new to show you. Sorry to yank on your chain like that. What I can report is that currently I am working on ver. 2.0 of the handrails, as well as re-visiting the under-chassis details. And lastly, if I have enough time before the stickers arrive, I'd like to look at the engineering of the "fixed position" couplers and see if I can make them more "operationally friendly". Thanks for your continued interest in my MOC. I'll try not to disappoint.

Late update: The last of the parts needed to complete my MOC, (including the stickers), are now in the mail. Patience, my friends. Soon I will post the entire story, (complete with 27 8 x10 color glossies with circles and arrows on the back of each one...)... Sorry folks, I got carried away there for a moment... .

Edited May 26, 2016 by Rotundus

[Rotundus]

Hello all,

Before I start, I'd like to thank all of you who have taken an interest in my project. The many photos and ideas posted by you all have been an invaluable source of information and inspiration.

And now for all of you who have continued to check back in... Here's your reward. I hope you like it.

For my first true MOC, I thought I'd build one of my favorite diesel locomotives, the EMD GP-30. I mean, come on, it just looks cool, right? Any way, I was looking for a unique prototype and decided that the GP-30 was just the thing.

Only "all LEGO" solutions were used in creating this locomotive. Built in 10-wide scale, it is the largest model I have built to date. The model is 52 studs long (not including the couplers), 10 studs across the frame, and 13 bricks, or 16 studs tall measured from the railhead. This matches up well enough with the prototypes being 56' long, 10'2" across the cab, and 15' tall at the top of the hood/cab. Sorry, no parts count for you all, but I do have the overall weight... just about 2¹/₄lb, (1070g to be exact).

Now for some photos:

(A tip o' the hat and a wink to all those who think they recognize a piece or two of the build.)

First off, a photo of the prototype. Sorry, I don't own the photo, so to avoid any copyright conflicts, I included it as a link only...

http://www.railpictu....1245634054.jpg

Next up, the model...

The Southern Pacific 5010 EMD GP-30...

SP GP-30 lf by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

SP GP-30 front by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Here are the cab and front porch details...

SP GP-30 cab by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

...And the detail for the long hood...

SP GP-30 hood by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

A BIG thank you goes to Zephyr1934 for doing such good work on the stickers that are responsible for so many of the details on this project. Well done!

Let's call this model v1.3. There are a few thing I'd like to address as my skills improve, among them: better looking trucks. (The one thing I learned over and over during this build was that I need more skills.) Also, if I can afford it, maybe doing something about getting some 3 stud diameter wheels. With bigger scaled wheelsets, the entire undercarriage can then be improved.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Rotundus

[CrispyBassist]

Wow, that thing looks like a beast! How big of wheels do you need? Would BBB medium drivers work? I can't remember offhand what their diameter is. As for the aesthetics of the trucks, I agree they're a bit blocky. Id recommend using bars or SNOTed plates or tiles and clips. The ones on my GP-9 and RDC are built this way (I'd post Flickr links but I'm on my phone).

[zephyr1934]

That is looking really sharp! Truly top notch. You lamented your trucks but I have to say using the grated cheese slopes for leaf springs like that is a great looking technique that I don't think I've seen before. The only tweak to them I would contemplate is to see how they look nudged out by half a stud or moved up 1 plate to add a gap below the outside portion of the slope. You had mentioned that you might rebuild down the road, there is a bonus about the stickers, you should be able to remove and reapply them. I haven't tried it yet with a sticker this large, but I did just rebuild several containers and reapplied stickers that were first applied over a year ago. If you ever think of going there drop me a PM and I can give you more tips.

[Nemo57]

Well done. Realistic handrails, windows form observed, and it is possible to guess a prototype without labels. But the label is much better.

[Rotundus]

The first thing I thought of for the wheels, Crispy, was indeed BBB's. But his diesel compatible wheels are the same size as LEGO, so unfortunately they were out. Anybody out there do 3D printing? I'd bet there is a market for a larger size non-steam driver.

Benn, I will contact you for those tips in the future. Wait a minute... You do 3D printing, interested in another project?

One of the nice things about 1^s : 1' Nemo, is that a lot of the smaller things look a lot closer to the proper size than in other more traditional L-gauge scales.

Here is one last photo... A size comparison with a well known model.

(Sorry about the small size, but I didn't want to upload this to flicker and ruin the timeline of my photo presentation).

Edited May 30, 2016 by Rotundus

[xboxtravis7992]

Wow that is a beast of a model! Great job.

[ShrikeArghast]

I like the body a lot, but it kind of has the effect of dwarfing the trucks.

[dr_spock]

It's a beast. Trucks are hard to distinguish if they are Bloombergs or AAR Type B.

I found a 3D print file for a 1:32 scale garden railway wheel with LEGO axle hole. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26739

[Rotundus]

It's a beast. Trucks are hard to distinguish if they are Bloombergs or AAR Type B.

I found a 3D print file for a 1:32 scale garden railway wheel with LEGO axle hole. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26739

I believe that the trucks are supposed to be Bloomberg trucks. The "Garden Railway" wheels look interesting... With a little mod-ing they could be usable... But what are the dimensions?

[dr_spock]

I believe that the trucks are supposed to be Bloomberg trucks. The "Garden Railway" wheels look interesting... With a little mod-ing they could be usable... But what are the dimensions?

I believe SP GP30s use Bloomberg trucks. Some railroads like Soo Line bought GP30s with the AAR Type B trucks.

I opened the file with MeshMixer and it says 36mm in diameter.

[Rotundus]

dr _spock --> I opened the file with MeshMixer and it says 36mm in diameter. <--

Right. That works out to about 5^s. Even if that includes the flanges, that would be 4¹/₂' tread to tread... Just a bit too big for a 30-36" wheel. Good try though, thanks.

ShrikeArghast --> I like the body a lot, but it kind of has the effect of dwarfing the trucks. <--

The trucks are actually two plates too small, (one above and one below the center line of the wheel). I wanted to make them bigger, but if I had they would have scraped the track. Again, the right size wheels would make all the difference. The trucks could be both enlarged and opened up for more detail, the fuel tank could be lowered to allow it to come out to the frame edge which would allow the small cylinders above them to be scaled more correctly as well. Eventually (sigh).

Edited May 30, 2016 by Rotundus

[zephyr1934]

With as much of the truck frame is concealing, since this is a static model could you just move the lego train wheels down a few plates so that the axle centers are actually below where they look like they are on the outside of the frame?

[Rotundus]

With as much of the truck frame is concealing, since this is a static model could you just move the lego train wheels down a few plates so that the axle centers are actually below where they look like they are on the outside of the frame?

That concept was considered and initially rejected (for the rebuild) since the idea of opening up the truck and letting the wheel become part of the detailing was so much more attractive to me. But... I think I will at least work up a trial build and see where it takes me.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Rotundus

[dr_spock]

dr _spock --> I opened the file with MeshMixer and it says 36mm in diameter. <--

Right. That works out to about 5^s. Even if that includes the flanges, that would be 4¹/₂' tread to tread... Just a bit too big for a 30-36" wheel. Good try though, thanks.

You can edit the STL files with a free program like SketchUp and change the wheel diameter to suit your needs. Then send the edited file to a 3D printer or printing service. Check your local public library, they may offer inexpensive or free 3D printing.

[mjotrainbrain]

I attempted one probably about 5 years ago, but I have not pictures of it and it no longer exists; it was pretty bad. Anyways, I agree with you that it is a beautiful locomotive, definitely deserving of being done at high quality in LEGO. Good luck with it!

[Rotundus]

Hello Fellow Brickers...

In the waning days of March, I started on a project that would teach me a lot about a recently acquired hobby of mine... LEGO. Over the intervening months, after a lot of false starts and "close, but no cigar" moments, I have finally produced a model that I can call completed. Although I just said that it is now done, I'm sure that if I stare at it long enough I will discover something new that needs to be either added or fixed. That just seems to be the way of it with MOC's.

Anyway... On to the photos: (Sorry about the lousy photo quality. I do not own a "fancy" digital camera and had to rely on my ancient "flip" phone.)

SP GP-30 Mark-II by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

A "Builders" photo...

SP GP-30 Mark-II railfan view by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

... And a railfan's view.

As you can tell from the photos in earlier posts, there was quite an evolutionary process to this build. After completing it the first time it didn't take me long to notice that there were a few things that I should have (and could have) done to make this a better model. As previously lamented, the Bloomberg trucks were the largest sore spot, followed closely by the general state of the undercarriage. Basically, everything below the chassis plates! Thus was born the Mark-II.

SP GP-30 bottom by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

It is rather easy to see from this photo why I was so unhappy with it... no details at all. It just looked wrong!

I had decided that the key to the entire problem lay in the size of the wheels. (LEGO train wheels are just too small, right?) To solve this I contacted Zephyr1934 and asked him if he would be willing to produce for me a wheel with the proper proportions for my model. He agreed. The rebuild was on!

While I waited for the new wheels I proceeded to redesign the whole thing. First up, a "spine and bolster" frame, followed by new "porches", coupler pockets, and MU hoses. Also with larger wheels in the works, I could now move the fuel tanks outward to better match the prototype.

SP GP-30 M2 - better by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Much better!

Using some spare bricks I mocked up up a truck so I could check clearances. All looks good so far, right? Well... almost. This next photo shows one of my many "oops" moments. The technic disk and pulleys were fine for the diameter of the wheel from tread to tread, but I had forgotten to take into account the flange. Oops!

SP GP-30 M2 - early chassis-truck dev by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Hurrah, the new wheels have arrived...

SP GP-30 Mark-II wheel size comp by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

With the new, larger wheels now in hand the Mark-II's Bloomberg truck design could move forward in earnest. As you can see in the photo there is a BIG difference in the diameters... 3 studs for Zephyr's wheels as compared to 2 studs for the LEGO wheels. Let me say right now that without Zephyr's help with the wheels, this rebuild would not have been realized. THANK YOU.

SP GP-30 Mark-II Bloomberg by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Much closer to the prototype now. The bigger wheels allowed me to enlarge and open up the truck design and include the wheels themselves as part of the detailing.

The locomotive carbody was not neglected in the Mark-II rebuild. While the chassis was separated from the rest I took the time to replace about 90 or so bricks that made up the sides of the long hood with 1x6x5 panels. Also replaced were the handrails. No, they are not one piece. I had several skinny, long antenna pieces that had become broken, so I used them to join the tubing of the handrails. Maybe its not a purist solution, but at least its LEGO. The last thing to be done was mounting the road number up above the cab. You have to let people know who's coming after all. On a side note: Before the rebuild the model weighed 1070g, now it weighs 1098g... And I thought my re-design was going to be lighter!

SP GP-30 Mark-II f by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

Perhaps I should get off the tracks.

A big thank-you to all of you who have made suggestions and voiced opinions. All were considered and many were incorporated into my model. Again, a huge helping of my thanks and gratitude goes to Zephyr1934. His "most excellent" work on the wheels and the custom stickers have really brought this locomotive to life. WELL DONE, SIR!!

Well... Thats all for the EMD GP-30 (SP #5010). I hope you have enjoyed this build as much as I have. Happy bricking!

There are a few additional photos on my Flickr page... Here is the link https://www.flickr.c.../140523717@N03/

One final photo for you all...

SP GP-30 Mark-II lr by Ronald Clark, on Flickr

See ya...

Edited July 15, 2016 by Rotundus

[zephyr1934]

Very nice indeed!

[JopieK]

Great job! Work completed :)