[MOC] Virgin Pendolino

[Hod Carrier]

The challenge now is to work out how to keep the pantograph level while the body of the car leans over in the bends.

[Paperballpark]

10 minutes ago, Hod Carrier said:

The challenge now is to work out how to keep the pantograph level while the body of the car leans over in the bends.

Erm... that's not going to be possible, because of how I'm tilting the train. Oh well. I'm not going to have it extended anyway.

[Hod Carrier]

Never say never. Whatever the body is doing the bogies will always remain flat and level. One possible solution would be the one employed by Hornby with their tilting APT model. They simply had a hole in the roof and the pantograph mounted to the top of the motor block. It's wasn't a particularly elegant solution I'll admit, but it was effective and admirably simple.

Just out of interest, how are you tilting your model? I'm assuming that as the model turns it's driving up a wedge under one side of the body or the other causing the tilt.

[Paperballpark]

Bingo

Edited September 25, 2016 by Paperballpark

[Bartybum]

If that's the case then how does it handle the S-bends in junctions?

[Paperballpark]

Simple - I don't use them

In theory it'll stay level, as one end will rise up at one side, and the other end will rise up at the other side, raising the whole carriage and keeping it level.

In practice? Well, I don't know, and I doubt I'll ever know either. I've made it to run on ME-Models 104R and 88R track, given the length of the train. Consequently, anything tighter than that will force the bogies to turn to more of an angle than the tilting mechanism can cope with, forcing it over the limit and derailing the carriage when the bogie tries to 'right itself' along the next straight.

Lego track is far too tight for the train anyway, given how long each carriage is. The points (switches) are even tighter than the curves. I hate running trains through points, and don't use them at all when at shows.

[Bartybum]

Ah, okay. How's the project coming along?

[Paperballpark]

Still waiting on a few parts. I'm not expecting them until sometime in October now.

[MaxSupercars]

Paperballpark,

do you got any video? :)

 

Max

 

Edited September 28, 2016 by MaxSupercars

[Paperballpark]

No. I don't tend to do videos, and I've not yet had it running anyway, given that it's not yet complete.

[MaxSupercars]

You didn't had running it anyway? You did not test the tilting in real?

Max

 

[Paperballpark]

I've had it on bends, and running along a piece of curved track about a foot longer than the train, just to test it will actually pull it around, but other than that, not yet no. I don't really have a large enough space at home to put the R104 track out. I'll be testing it this weekend at a show (although it won't be running for the public to see).

[MaxSupercars]

OK,

so you can make a quick video with your smartphone... :)

Max

[Paperballpark]

As I said, I don't tend to do videos. I might do when testing tomorrow, but I might forget.

[Paperballpark]

Right, I tested it out, and it seems to run fine on ME-models R104 track, but derails on the R88 track, as it's too tight a curve!

I also forgot to video it. To be fair, I was more concerned with making sure it didn't crash into the train which was already on the R104 track!

 

It looks great though, the pics really don't do it justice. I'll take some tomorrow morning and post them on flickr in due course.

[Bricksmith]

Fantastic model, The proportions are spot on!

I doubt that this suggestion will be of much use to you at the moment, but the shape of the front might benefit from the use of those new 1x2 sloped pieces with a 45 degree angle cut out of them- the ones that have just been introduced in the Bugatti Chiron Speed Champions set*.Of course they're not yet released in Pendolino colours as far as i'm aware, but it's something to maybe keep an eye out for. What you've done with the pieces available right now is brilliant though, so i wouldn't say there's any urgency for you to change it.

*http://brickset.com/article/26880/new-inventories-and-parts

[Reli]

Really nice model. Love the curved side, I was just wandering what piece have you used for the windows? Can't really find something simular on bricklink.

[Feuer Zug]

5 minutes ago, Reli said:

Really nice model. Love the curved side, I was just wandering what piece have you used for the windows? Can't really find something simular on bricklink.

The windows appear to be part 60592 (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=60592#T=A  The creator appears to have turned the windows sideways to make them look the way they do, at least to me. They could also be 60593, which is 3 bricks high instead of 2.

[Claudius]

@Paperballpark Would you be willing to share a picture of the tilting mechanism? I am planning to build a British Rail Advanced Passenger Train (APT), and came across a Model Train Tilt Mechanism by Mark J E Bellis, which I understand was first exhibited in a LEGO model of a Virgin Pendolino train in 2001.

However, the tilting mechanism extends into the passenger space, which is fine for the majority of the train but I'm struggling to fit the Powered Up Hub (88009), motor (such as 88013) and tilt mechanism in the power car. The alternative is to use the train motor (88011), but as the tilt mechanism uses a shaft fitted to the bogie I haven't worked out how to connect the train motor and the tilt mechanism together. 

[Paperballpark]

Hi! Firstly, I took this train apart earlier this year, so it no longer exists.

Secondly, I removed the tilting mechanism from it after the first run or so, because it simply didn't work. Well, it tilted the train, but the bogies derailed in the process.

Basically, I had cheese bricks on the bogies up against cheese bricks upside down on the underside of the carriage, and the idea was that as the bogies turned through the corners, the cheese slopes would push against each other and tilt the carriage.

As I say, the mechanism worked, but it unbalanced the bogies and resulted in them derailing. As I couldn't find a fix to stop them doing so, I removed the mechanism and tilted the track instead!