Hi everyone,

My first post here in a long time. I spent quite a while developing this Mk1 Track Inspection Coach DB999508 belonging to Network Rail in the UK. It is 8 wide and I developed a new technique to try to get the gentle curve of the mk1 coach side using the back of minifig chairs as the coach exterior. 

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Here's the prototype 

 

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Laurie

Edited March 18, 20204 yr by SeaKing61

Oh, that's clever. Those seats work really well for those subtle curves. Brilliant.

Apart from that the rest is also very nicely detailed.

That is a very complicated build, great work with lots of clever tricks. Thanks for sharing all of the behind the scenes trickery to get the complicated details.

Great work on the inspection car. It's not something you normally see and this one has some definite challenges that you overcame.

Impressive building technique ...and amazing model very close to the original

Thanks all. This was definitely the most complex build I've undertaken. What you don't see in the pictures is about two years of prototypes and experimenting with different techniques. 

Thanks,

Laurie

The use of the chairs is an interesting technique, though I am not one hundred percent convinced that the result is any superior to the typical slopes (whatever is gained visually by the slightly more gentle angle is - IMO - lost in the non-prototypical flat 'band' created at the base of the seat pieces). It also looks like it sacrificed any chance of creating a substantial interior.

I think the car itself is really cool, though. I'm very impressed with the double indentations on the left side.

Yeah, it is a bit of a compromise as is necessary in any design like this. The recess is on both sides. I have put a small amount of detail in each end of the coach as shown in the last picture. The demonstration pic I showed earlier was more to show that that spacing of the chairs brings it to 8-wide. The coach did require a fair bit of internal bracing to keep everything lined up, however the recesses are a major weak point in the coach side. I'm looking at making a more standard mk1 coach to test how much interior would be possible with more continuous sides.

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Lego DB999508 by Laurie Bennett, on Flickr

Thanks,

Laurie

Having built Mk1's myself recently (see my Hogwarts Express threads in this forum) I think this is pretty much spot-on. Great job. Almost too bad you called out the use of minifig chairs - it looked great when I saw the pictures, but now that you've told me about the chairs I cannot help but seeing them all the time. Still, love the overall build and shaping.

Thanks, Phil. I know what you mean about the chairs. When I first tried it after having the idea I couldn't see anything but a row of chairs, especially the slight curve to the corners. However, now sat on my shelf it looks fairly smooth. The only problem with the technique is it denies any sort of detail to the bottom half of the coach so liveries such as Intercity, Network south east or the old royal mail coaches are impossible.

Thanks,

Laurie

Beautiful car, it looks looks longer than the Emerald Knight

Wonderfull and such a beautyfull workout of the details

On 3/18/2020 at 7:58 PM, SeaKing61 said:

What you don't see in the pictures is about two years of prototypes and experimenting with different techniques. 

Oh no, I see that clearly a lot of time and experimentation went in, there are too many novel tricks there

The body is very nice. I think you could make nicer trucks if you used Technic axles and the cross-axle wheels.

Thanks guys. I should get out some of my standard lego trains for a comparison. It really dwarfs them. I'm quite happy with the bogies; they're fairly accurate. I'd only end up reproducing a lot of the details on the lego wheelsets like the springs either side of the axlebox. I also have an abundance of those lego wheelsets and barely any for the technical axles.

 

Thanks

Laurie

Congrats on hitting the front page!

Oh wow thanks, I had missed that.

Great work!