[WIP] Hungarian Railways Lencse-005

[ColletArrow]

For my digital entry for OcTRAINber 2018, I have decided to model a Hungarian rail maintenance vehicle of which I found a few pictures online.

(Picture found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markizay/34556999890/in/photostream/)

It looks to be the right proportion of interest and buildability, with just enough space to hide PF.

I have already got quite far with it; I started work in LDD soon after deciding on this prototype. After a long, head-racking session on the model this evening, I had finally got the entire cab and nose shaped up well. So here's what I can show you:

Yep. Unfortunately, when moving the model around the "stage" in LDD, most of it disappeared suddenly; I must have hit the "D" key or something. I should have instantly closed the program and reopened to regain my last save point. However, I clicked around a bit and discovered the bricks were still "there"; their blue outlines would show, as if they were "hidden". So I saved before closing and reopening, only to find even the blue lines had gone.
So now I'm now left with this. No WIP to show you, and no way to recover the work of the past two days. Oh well, I hope I can rebuild it from memory; if so, I'll be back with an actual model tomorrow.
Certainly one way to start a competition entry!

Edited September 25, 2018 by ColletArrow
Hit enter to soon...

[Glenn Holland]

Starting the WIP off right ;)

Looking forward to the rest.

[Hod Carrier]

Gah!! I feel your pain. It sounds like a glitch in the software, because I’ve never had this happen whenever I’ve used LDD. I’m sure you’ll make back the lost time and have your design repaired in no time. Maybe you’ll even come up with something better. 

[ColletArrow]

Thanks both! @Hod Carrier It's never happened before (although it has tried something similar, on one piece, since). It seems likely to me its a user error, these things usually are!

Anyhow, rebuilding it was a lot easier than expected. I took some screenshots as I went along, just to give an idea of my work process; I'll put some of them here, but the majority (along with my .lxf) are here at bricksafe.
I started with the chassis; it's pretty simple, and I had stolen it from another MOC, so I stole it again and placed the remaining parts on top. As one was the rear fence I knew exactly where it went, and that helped to place the front block to regain the cab size.

Then I repeated the build by starting with the windscreen, then the nose and the sides. It was quicker, as I didn't have to experiment for a long time to get it right! I haven't quite solved it yet; the 1x6 section with the headlights is just floating until I figure out how to hold it in. (The 2 tan half-round tiles at the sides represent the newish 1x2 rounded plate). Other internal "colour vomit" is colour-coding to tell what a piece is at a glance.

 

I won't bore you with all the development pictures. Eventually I got to here; the IR receiver is in the cab, and the BB is disguised as a transformer unit being carried. 

I then started to play around with the bed details, and decided that A) I wanted the unit to be shorter to fit better with LEGO "scale", and B) the BB was really too big to look right. So I set about swapping the BB and IR receiver, and to my surprise it works! The rear side window assemblies are now held in by the "illegal" plate-pushed-between-studs method that took some jiggling in LDD.

And then I couldn't stop. I added the crane, the bed, and other undiscernible deck equipment. I'm basing this entire model on just a series of 4 pictures on Flickr so I haven't got the best idea of what is actually there, but in short I've gone from nowt to a full model in a day. (No, I'm not procrastinating; it's my Uni's "Fresher's Week" so I've got nothing else to do. Don't worry, I'll be hard studying next week...). Here's the result.

However, I don't consider this "finished" yet. There are bound to be improvements to make (I've already decided the crane boom is too weedy), and I'm going to check whether every part is available in each colour. I'm pretty sure they will; I usually have a bricklink tab open to check specialised parts, but there are always some surprises. Let's hope I don't delete this one!

[BrickMusher]

6 hours ago, ColletArrow said:

the 1x6 section with the headlights is just floating until I figure out how to hold it in

Maybe this will be a help?

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=25893#T=C&C=12

However, nice idea to tell us about your developing-process on this MOC.

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow, it is neat to see the evolution of the WIP

[Roadmonkeytj]

I love the fact you included the wipers!  Looks like the PFs is hidden well

Edited September 28, 2018 by Roadmonkeytj

[ColletArrow]

Thanks everybody.

@BrickMusher Thanks for the tip, that's saved me a lot of time! The cab front is now all held together. It looks a little tight in LDD, but I suspect were the model to be built IRL it would be easier than LDD's hinge tool to get everything to line up! Again, I've colour-coded the picture to make my technique obvious:

I also beefed up the crane a bit; the first stage was rebuilt to match the second, and I took advantage of the prototype's extra counterweight to secure the upright. The only reason for my boom design is to allow the second stage to extend using the cylinder 1x5.5 (just about visible int the image below). I haven't modified much else yet, but here are some "posed" screenshots of the overall model.

This concludes tonight's work. As usual, there's a few more images and the updated .lxf file available on my Bricksafe. 
I'm also about to look into rendering programs for this, to make the final digital submission tidier. Has anyone got a recommendation?

[BrickMusher]

1 hour ago, ColletArrow said:

Thanks for the tip, that's saved me a lot of time!

You are welcome

 

 

About rendering:

I imported your .lxf File to Stud.io and used their rendering tool. Maybe there are better rendering programs out there, but I am not so much into that stuff.

 

 

[ColletArrow]

I've decided to give Stud.io a try. I downloaded and installed the 2.0 version from Bricklink, and loaded the file into it. I took quite a while to sort out the transfer glitches and shuffle a couple of parts around, getting used to a different environment. Eventually, I hit render, and it produced this beauty.

Now, based on my first hour of experiencing the software, I don't think I'm going to switch to building primarily in Stud.io. This is mainly because it's a lot slower and heavier-going on my laptop; it was juddering along just when moving this model around in the program, let alone the rendering! I can build much larger models with relative ease in LDD, but I'll keep this for the beautiful pictures it creates. I'll use it to produce the final renders when I submit the MOC.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Epic work very well executed!

[Hod Carrier]

Don’t things look so much better when they are properly rendered? So much better than an LDD screen-grab. 

I agree with your assessment of the relative merits of the software. I find LDD more intuitive and simpler to use (even though the latest update has shuffled the parts palette around and moved some standard everyday parts into the Extended menu), but I use Stud.io to gain access to POV-Ray.

Your entry is progressing very well indeed. I’d say you have the shape nailed down pretty well and the details are coming along nicely. I’ll be interested to see how things develop. 

[Selander]

Nice result ✌️??

[Plastic_Goth]

Very handsome, in a utilitarian way. I like the cabin a lot. The crane reminds me of a boom lift MOC I made a long while ago:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lemon_boy/4508854060/
 

[CrispyBassist]

Would a Power UP box fit in the cab? That would let you eliminate the IR receiver entirely, it's just hard to tell if the new cable connections would fit in the cab. 

[Dorino]

Hello @ColletArrow and thanks for that wonderful MOC!

I surely liked it a lot because i started building it last night.
 

I started with base and crane because i am not sure if i have enough yellows for cabin and if i want it in yellow in first place.

One thing i noticed while building / playing around with it is that Fences on both sides of crane prevent it from rotating ( I am not sure if it was intended or not )

I also just realised i didn't use 2 x 1 Curved Slope in the lowest crane arm.

I will hopefully continue building it later today. 

Cheers :)

[Paperinik77pk]

Hi there @ColletArrow - it's a lovely work!!!

Can't wait to see it finished in real bricks!!!

[ColletArrow]

Thanks for the words everybody!

@Plastic_Goth It's certainly a similar concept. I designed mine to allow the secondary boom to actually slide out, using a 1x5.5 cylinder inside.

@CrispyBassist PU sort of fits. I think the best plan would be to turn the PU unit around (switch at back, plugs at front) and shuffle it backwards 1 stud, but you'd need to redesign the rear of the cab. It would certainly free up deck space though.

7 hours ago, Dorino said:

Hello @ColletArrow and thanks for that wonderful MOC!

I surely liked it a lot because i started building it last night.

I started with base and crane because i am not sure if i have enough yellows for cabin and if i want it in yellow in first place.

One thing i noticed while building / playing around with it is that Fences on both sides of crane prevent it from rotating ( I am not sure if it was intended or not )

I also just realised i didn't use 2 x 1 Curved Slope in the lowest crane arm.

I will hopefully continue building it later today. 

Cheers :)

...I'm stunned. I know I shared the .lxf, but I didn't expect anyone to actually build this! Do you mind if I link to your pictures when I submit this to ocTRAINber, just to prove that it can be built?
I knew about the fences colliding with the crane, by the way. On the prototype they appear to be removable chains, so I decided to add them to the model on those 1x4 plate/tiles so they can be taken off during operation. How well does the crane "play" overall, though? I've built one in the past, but I've made a few modifications to this version.
Are you going to build this with or without the PF? If you're adding a motor, I take it the front bogie is only a placeholder. It's better to put the motor at the front, as it's directly under the batteries there. I'm sure you'll come across many more niggles that result from me not having physical bricks to play with, and I don't think the online LDD file is quite up-to-date; I should probably change that! I hope you have fun building the MOC though. 

And for everyone else, here are a couple more "photo-realistic" renders from Stud.io 2.0. I really quite like them, even if it my laptop takes a while and a bit of heat to produce them! However, I discovered that with the low angle of the first image the program stops the "floor" after a certain distance and reverts to a black background. That looked a bit ugly so I tried to take it off, hence the black artifacts around some edges. 

Thank you for looking!

[Dorino]

Yes surely! i hope ill get it to the stage where its worth showing 

The crane feels delicate especially the last part. Red tiles are attached just on one stud and they like to rotate out of position. The black ballast also feels delicate.

Base of crane is attached on 1 x 2 brick with studs on side and also feels weak.

(none of this things matter to me because i am not going to play with it anyway  just display)

As for now i am not planing to put any PF, both boogies are just placeholders at this moment. 

Let us know when You update LXF, great job!

[Dorino]

Hello again, 

I finally had some time to continue building Your moc

As mentioned earlier i picked white because i surely don't have enough yellows. I am also missing loads of trans clear bricks for windows. 

It's staring to look better and better. Unfortunately i am missing that little wedge plate 2 x 2 and anything similar in white. I also don't have that new part connecting these two wedges together. 

I noticed that windows assembly next to door handle just slide in place, is this correct? Nothing holds them in there. 

Will continue building it later (Hopefully) :)

 

[Toastie]

How wonderful is this? This is exactly what LEGO is about:

@ColletArrowcomes up with a simply stunning MOC (I will try to build this myself for sure!) - and shares relevant files.

@Dorino is building the model using these fiels with real bricks - and has tips and suggestions.

This collaboration alone qualifies both of you to get very high up in the list of OcTRAINber 2018!!!

All the very best for both of you!

Thorsten

 

[ColletArrow]

@Dorino Looking good! The white colour scheme looks nice, especially with that dark red. How easy was the front to align, does it all hold well?

The rear windows are held in by a plate-between-studs method.

The vertical 2x3 plate to either side of the door carries the windows and is held in place by a horizontal 1x2 plate pushed between the studs, which itself is connected to the side walls under the 1-stud-wide window. I think this technique works, and I hope I make sense! I've re-uploaded the .lxf (still here) in case you're working from an older version, but I doubt much has changed; I haven't really been working on the model since my Uni's teaching resumed.

@Toastie Thank you for the kind words. I would love to see your interpretation of the model!

[Dorino]

Hello again everyone, 

The model is finished (as far as MOC can be finished) and You can see results in following photos.

@ColletArrow thanks for final tips with windows. It all works really well! I guess i just missed it completly the first time i was going through model

The minimal changes i did to model was:
- I didn't have enough of  2 x 3 x 2 Cupboard pieces and surely not in black colour, mocked up something as replacement
- Hinge train gate 2 x 4 - replaced with brick built version

I absolutely love the crane and everything that goes around it. Red colour goes so well with yellow and black. 

You mentioned that red goes well with dark red, i completely agree. Dark red is my favourite colour and it started to appear more and more in my latest creations. I used same colour scheme (dark red and white) in my previous model based on somebody's project. Which happens to be You again. Safe to say, You've got fan  

Here's the extra photo of Your Mocs 

That's all from me for now.
Cheers :)

Edited October 20, 2018 by Dorino

[Vilhelm22]

Even if not by the creator, it's nice to see this MOC come to life!  ColletArrow, at some point in the future will you build it yourself?

[ColletArrow]

'Tis done!

OK, so the model was done about 3 weeks ago. But University work got in the way, so only tonight have I uploaded some final good-quality renders to the BMR Flickr Group, officially entering the contest. (I've never used Flickr before; is that what I was supposed to do @raised?) 

I may as well post the pictures here too:

I know they're not perfect, but I didn't spot some issues until after my laptop had taken a good while to produce them. Just please pretend the unit is sitting on the track in the second image, not floating one stud to the left!

@Dorino: Thank you for your work and photographs! I had forgotten you'd built my 60198 replica, and the similar colour schemes make the models look really good next to each other. You might have just given me an idea for a mini-project, too.

@Vilhelm22: Thanks for the comment. It seems unlikely I will ever get to build this thing in proper bricks; as a student, I unfortunately have neither the money nor space to throw at LEGO. Even if I could build the things I've designed in LDD, this model wouldn't be the first to be done.
However, I will be sharing whatever I build from my collection when I get back to it at Christmas. It will be entirely unrelated to this topic though.

In the mean time: thank you for looking, good luck if you're in the contest, and Happy OcTRAINber!