Dardenbahst, Workhorse of the Deutsches Reich

[Morgan19]

My first attempt at a steampunk MOC...

Dardenbahst, Workhorse of the Deutsches Reich

The Great Steam Age had become a time of unparalleled freedom and progress throughout the Deutsches Reich by the late 1850s, but the gloriously mechanized society needed constant maintenance to operate at peak performance. Driven by a single skilled pilot and assisted by several ground crewmen, the Dardenbahst's wide range of support roles included ferrying cumbersome repair materials to outlying villages, scrubbing down the grungy undersides of massive metal airships, and assisting in the construction of countless factories across the country.

> Gallery (once moderated)

Deeplinks:

Schematics | Front | Rear | Control socket closeup | Rear closeup | Minifigs | Sectioned apart

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UPDATE March 20th:

BuySteampunk.com Interview

m19

Edited May 4, 2008 by imperialshadows

[iamded]

Ooh! Shiny! That's one great creation, packed with details. Very well done! *y*

~Peace

[Batbrick]

Wow! Thats purely amazing, fantastic work, I simply could not fault it if I tried! I love all the gold, and the mfs are a charm, the design of the legs and arms is ingenious, simply astounding! X-O

To the Bricksignal! >:-)

[Khorne]

Great MOC *y* ! I really love the minifigs you made to go with it *wub* . One small nitpick, though, there was no real official German Reich before 1870-1871 (not really sure) if I remember correctly :-/ .

[Ras 74]

That is horribly good!!

(Can you say it like that? You can say it in Swedish)

So many details.

Still trying to figure out some things...

The golden domes for instance, did you paint those yourself?

What did you use to do so?

-Ras-

[Captain Green Hair]

Excellent work! *y*

I'd like to know if the gold pieces are painted as well...or is that a big secret.... :'-)

[Morgan19]

Thanks very much for all the kind words, guys.

KhoRne: Good catch! I'm actually glad someone noticed that. I really wanted to ground this MOC in real history before venturing off into steampunkery, so I had to fudge the timeline a bit. The second Industrial Revolution was around 1850 but, as you'd pointed out, the first Reich didn't come about until 1870. The simple solution was to rewrite history a bit and just move it back twenty years. It was absolutely intentional, but I'm impressed you picked up on it.

Ras 74 / Captain green hair: No secret. :) The "brass" pieces are official LEGO pieces painted with a couple coats of Krylon's mettalic gold spraypaint. I'm actually really pleased with how well those bits turned out

[zero1312]

WOW!!! 8-

[Morgan19]

Hallelujah! The gallery's finally public. There are more angles and close-up shots in there, some more minifig images, and an interesting "breakapart" shot showing the MOC's modularity. (As I was building I noticed how decent the body looks even on its own, without the legs and arms, and it got me thinking about using the body in other constructions...)

zero1312: Part of the "modularity" (per the above) aspect I noticed about the MOC makes me want to build a militarized version of the dardenbahst... I'm already planning out a pair of giant cannons up on top, heavier armor maybe, that sort of thing. Who knows if I'll actually get around to it, but stay tuned. ;)

m19

[Plural]

This is absolutely amazing! 8-

[LegoLyons]

That is a splendid machine, and them minifigs are amazing too, although I have no idea what stempunk means. :-$

Love the gold parts and the data sheet is a neat touch. Inspirational! *y*

[Morgan19]

What would impress me even more though is if you made instructions for that thing!

Ha! That, I can assure you, will never happen. ;) For a simpler model like the swallowtail I gladly did that, but I think trying to reverse-engineer this and then remember how to put it all back together would drive me bonkers.

That is a splendid machine, and them minifigs are amazing too, although I have no idea what stempunk means.

Here you go: steampunk.

m19

Edited March 13, 2008 by Morgan19

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Attempt? Attempt????? More like work of art!!!!!!! *wub* *y* *y*

[Asuka]

An absolutely stunning creation, beautiful and inspiring. An unbelievable well greebled masterpiece indeed. *wub*

Your MFs

[LegoLyons]

Here you go: steampunk.

m19

Thanks Morgan. Now I know what it is, I have no idea how I would attempt to build one, I'm not sure vehicles are my fort

[Morgan19]

Again, thank you! Although I'm still not pleased with how my printer seems to butcher the decals when they're printed out, I'm glad they're well-received. Coming up with new decals here and there is definitely a highlight of my building process.

LegoLyons: I hadn't attempted any steampunkery before this one either, but what I can suggest is just going to Brickshelf or doing a general search for "steampunk" on Google and see what comes up. I spent about a week doing image research like that before I felt comfortable enough to strike out with my own design, so it definitely helped.

m19

[Squinty Eyes]

Finally can tell you in person how amazing this is. It's definitely one of the definitive steampunk pieces. The use of custom color brass parts really bring out the victorian era feel. The leg construction is ingenious, it's a feast to my eyes to figure out how to work/fit together.

In the scale modeling world, a product know as Alcad II is proven to have superior metallic finish compared to spray cans. If you are interested to learn more about this I can dig up some links for you. You can have some shiny shiny brass parts! :-)

[Morgan19]

Ooo, absolutely, that would be fantastic! I'm already pretty impressed with the spray metallic, so I'd be interested how much more metallic the pieces could get. o_O

m19

[Morgan19]

I'm very proud to announce that my first online interview has been posted by Mike over at BuySteampunk.com, about my two steampunk models and LEGO in general:

> Click here to read the full interview

In our first addition of Crafter’s Spotlight, I’m pleased to introduce Mr. Jamie “Morgan19″ Spencer. Jamie is a LEGO enthusiast who has recently gained some fame on popular blogs such as BoingBoing, The Brothers Brick, and Brass Goggles for his “Dardenbahst” and “Kreigerhund” creations. These LEGO masterpieces are not only technically impressive from a design and construction standpoint, they also manage to perfectly encapsulate all that we fans of steampunk hold near and dear. From their metallic tanks to their custom painted minifigs, these are true works of art.

This line in particular might interest some folks...

Stay tuned for more exciting steampunk news and a chance to win your own Kreigerhund!

m19

Edited March 20, 2008 by Morgan19

[ApophisV]

*applause*

8-�