River Canyon Railroad

[mark6399]

Halfway Point!

This was a pretty tough section. The entire bridge side of the river was full of challenges. From the contours of the landscape, to the bridge bents, to ballasting the ME track (Seriously, please share if you know of a simple way to add the studs and anti-studs on complex custom parts!), they all required some extensive figure'n. Also, I'm thinking of redoing the water with dark blue tiles I think it'd probably look quite a bit cleaner. 

Next up is the truss span across the river! 

River_Canyon halfway_12 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon halfway_9 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon halfway_10 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon halfway_3 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon halfway_11 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon halfway_5 by Mark, on Flickr

[JWBDolphins]

 

So far, so Great!, keep it up!!!  I think the water is really well done as-is, you really get a sense of flowing.

You mentioned dark blue tiles - I know sometimes Transparent Dark Blue 1x2 tiles Over blue studs are used to give a nice effect.  Even Transparent Light Blue tiles in some places can work well.  I really enjoy watching your progress!

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by JWBDolphins
addition, typo

[Man with a hat]

Wow. That looks amazing!

[zephyr1934]

You've done some amazing work here! Possibly too good as it looks so natural many spectators will not realize how "unnatural" the form is for lego. You worked some real magic with this parts intensive scene.

[mark6399]

Thank you everyone! 

 

[Chromeknight]

I think for the water, if you’re going for a mountain river, transclear studded plates may be your way to go. It’ll provide depth but bring the colour closer to natural.

This pic 

 was work in progress from a Durango and Silverton layout I did a couple of years ago.

[Vilhelm22]

Very impressive!  These landscapes are always some of my favourites.  What’s going to happen to the train track in the end - will it curve around into a tunnel in the side of the canyon?  Will the canyon open out? Will it straighten out on the opposite bank?  

[mark6399]

@Chromeknight Thanks, that's a really nice technique! I'll have to experiment with it.

@Vilhelm22 Thank you! On this side, the track is going to continue curving forming a 90 deg into a tunnel (I think). I started thinking of ideas for what I want to happen on the other side too, haha. I think I would like the canyon to begin to level out and I'd like to have a small western town. Maybe just a station and a couple buildings. Then I'd have the track wind back around so the track can form a loop. That is waaaay down the line though. I've started on the the fourth section, but it will be well into next year when I finish all six of these sections, most likely. I'll have to look into joining a LUG so I can get in on LUGBulk, so I can hopefully build this!

Edited December 20, 2020 by mark6399

[zephyr1934]

21 hours ago, mark6399 said:

I started thinking of ideas for what I want to happen on the other side too, haha. I think I would like the canyon to begin to level out and I'd like to have a small western town. Maybe just a station and a couple buildings. Then I'd have the track wind back around so the track can form a loop. That is waaaay down the line though. I've started on the the fourth section, but it will be well into next year when I finish all six of these sections, most likely. I'll have to look into joining a LUG so I can get in on LUGBulk, so I can hopefully build this!

Oh yeah, figure out the big picture before you start building this, it would totally suck to build it and then discover that you can't run trains on it because there is no room to set it up or have a minimum a bare bones return track to loop back to the start. Still, with all of the detail in these modules, it would be great if you were able to display them at shows, so joining a LUG would be great in that respect too. Of course building the modules for transport is a whole extra level of complexity.

BTW, LUGBulk for 2021 has already started so if you want to participate to receive parts this spring or summer you should look into your local LUG anyway.

[mark6399]

11 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

it would be great if you were able to display them at shows

Thanks, I think that would be fun! Things are kind of up in the air for me right now, though. I may be moving across the country for work in the coming months, so this is going to stay digital for the foreseeable future, unfortunately. Kind of a pet project right now. 

I'm designing the display to break apart into 6, 3 baseplate deep sections. I'll probably set each section on a wooden board or something so they can be moved more easily. Hopefully it'll be transportable. I know I'm going to run into a whole new set of challenges building this in real life!

 

[mark6399]

Wow, it's been a few months since my last update. Since then I've developed actual supports for the hillsides (before they were mostly floating) and updated the water. I'm going back through my first three sections and implementing the changes, starting with the first. The hills in sections 4-6 will be much more complicated, so I wanted to standardize my angles and support structure. Pictures of WIP and final product below. Let me know what ya'll think of the "rapids" in the water of the last image. I think they may work in other parts of my build, but looking at it now, I think I may keep the water flat in this section. Comments welcome!

River_Canyon1_V2 Supports1 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon1_V2 Supports2 by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon1-V2_Flat water by Mark, on Flickr

River_Canyon1-V2_1 by Mark, on Flickr

[Feuer Zug]

Brilliant idea for the technic hill supports. I'll bet you have them solidly attached.

[zephyr1934]

The build continues to look amazing! One thought, if you are going to transport these modules to shows, make sure the support structure is robust to lateral and twisting forces too.

[Shiva]

Yep, technic beams/liftarms https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?pg=1&catString=137&catType=P added to those and it should be able to get quite stabile.

[mark6399]

Thanks everyone! @Shiva Thanks for the tip!

[zephyr1934]

22 hours ago, mark6399 said:

Thanks everyone! @Shiva Thanks for the tip! 

Compare prices, technic bricks might be cheaper in some cases, it varies for a given length. Presumably you already know this but maybe not everyone reading this thread does, since you don't care about appearances, buy used in whatever color is cheapest in quantity.

[mark6399]

I finished revamping Section 3! In this section I updated the water, internal supports, and also the wooden trusses. While working on the 4th section, I thought that the trusses would look better if they were a little wider so I increased their footprint. I'm really pleased with how the updated water is turning out and I'm excited to push on to new modules!

River Canyon 123 V2 by Mark, on Flickr

 

River Canyon 123 V2_2 by Mark, on Flickr

Edited May 23, 2021 by mark6399
Added image

[Shiva]

Looks nice!

[mark6399]

Hi all! I finally finished Section 4! Lots of challenges in this one. Many different slopes and angles, a bridge (which I've never attempted before), and even the rock faces were tricky. 

There are currently two more sections that I originally envisioned building out to the left. The railroad will go along the cliff face and into a tunnel.
I originally didn't plan on building more to the right, but as I've built more, I think I will build a couple more sections that direction and have the railroad go into another tunnel. That way if I build it irl, it would make a loop for trains to run on. I'm currently at 17k pieces. 😬

1234 combo_1 by Mark, on Flickr

 

1234 combo by Mark, on Flickr

 

1234 combo_2 by Mark, on Flickr

 

1234 combo_5 by Mark, on Flickr

 

1234 combo_4 by Mark, on Flickr

 

1234 combo_3 by Mark, on Flickr

[Shiva]

Looks nice!

Those 2x4 bricks etc, ain't most of those maybe a bit unnecessary? Any better option? Atleast regarding costs and piece counts.

[zephyr1934]

That simply looks amazing! All of the detailing is over the top, from the water to the rubble it all looks so realistic. If you bring it to a show everyone with a train will want to take their pictures here.

14 hours ago, mark6399 said:

I'm currently at 17k pieces. 😬

I bet... at at a conservative $0.10/brick... ugh!

[Feuer Zug]

Top notch diorama. I'd love to see trains running along this. Keep up the fine work.

[mark6399]

@Shiva Thanks! Yeah, good call. I could remove them from the back since that wouldn't be the side facing on lookers. If I build I may consider other less parts intensive options. Right now I like it because it makes the renders look cleaner.

@zephyr1934 Thanks! I would love to see others' loco's on the diorama! Maybe I'll try to start getting some pieces and building or at least moc-ing up some sections towards the end of the year. I recently moved to a new city, started a new job, and now I'm in the process of closing on a house! Hoping I'll have a little more time to breathe and for hobbies after the upcoming move, lol.

@Feuer Zug Thank you! I've got a loco in mind that I want to build. Still deciding if I want to start it before finishing the original six sections to this diorama. I'm hopeful that those will go a little bit quicker since I don't think they will use too many new techniques. Hoping to build more after life slows down a little for me!

[zephyr1934]

15 hours ago, mark6399 said:

@zephyr1934 Thanks! I would love to see others' loco's on the diorama! Maybe I'll try to start getting some pieces and building or at least moc-ing up some sections towards the end of the year. I recently moved to a new city, started a new job, and now I'm in the process of closing on a house! Hoping I'll have a little more time to breathe and for hobbies after the upcoming move, lol.

New job + new house, talk about having tons of free time (grin). Good wishes on both accounts. That is definitely an expensive build, but if you ever think about building this in real bricks, I'd suggest looking into joining a LUG first and use lugbulk to get a few thousand of your favorite (2x4?) brick for the hidden structure and backside. Keep in mind that the lugbulk cycle is many months, starting with LUG applications in the fall and typically wrapping up with brick delivery early summer. Meanwhile, if this is what your landscape looks like I can't wait to see your locomotive MOCs when you get to them.

[mark6399]

@zephyr1934 Thanks! I think I'll look to join TBRR in the coming months, so I can start contributing and get in on LUGbulk. LUGbulk is for quantities in the thousands, not hundreds, right? I need to take a look at the parts list and see where exactly the highest quantities lie. Obviously, the flower stems, 1x2 trans blue tiles and 2x4 bricks are up there. But I'll have to decide if it makes more sense to start slowly Bricklinking some of them or not.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to sharing!