2-8-8-4 AC-9 "yellowstone"

[Ropefish]

Well I've gotten to what I'm calling version 2.6.5 of the locomotive now, there are still small things that bother me but come down to compromises that comes from building in lego ( Cylinders a tad oversized, front boiler plate is a bit off looking due to round plate used, and whether or not the fore drivers will be powered...) But im very happy that i went ahead and redesigned the entire articulated drivers but i can already see sections ill be tweaking haha! First batch of parts are coming in SoonTM so it will be nice to get my hands dirty on all its problems IRL. I have a few renders to show to, And a secondary color for the boiler front and ash pans.

[zephyr1934]

The skyline casing looks great. Any thoughts on making one of its cab forward brethren?

[Ropefish]

1 hour ago, zephyr1934 said:

The skyline casing looks great. Any thoughts on making one of its cab forward brethren?

I've given it some thought, although there have been a few versions of it already. I don't think id mind tackling one in the future if the wallet allows as making big locomotives like this is a chunk of change... i do have more forward plans to make the SP MT-4 and a Diesel SP switcher from the time period. Probably will make the switcher sooner then the others though, Much easier to make and much cheaper with its parts, but it is still a nice piece to go along with the bigger locomotives.

Edit: forgot to mention as well had some very early wip plans to streamline this model further to make it look like the Daylight, but that probably will be another project in itself.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Ropefish

[zephyr1934]

Oh, I didn't realize you were thinking of making it in real bricks (there is a range of builders on this forum from few to many, and from physical to digital), even a single large locomotive is an expensive endeavor in real bricks. My suggestion was more along the lines of a digital building tangent. Looks good regardless. (a cab forward is on my "maybe someday" list, I have an SP pacific in real bricks and am working on another steam era SP project)

[Ropefish]

4 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Oh, I didn't realize you were thinking of making it in real bricks (there is a range of builders on this forum from few to many, and from physical to digital), even a single large locomotive is an expensive endeavor in real bricks. My suggestion was more along the lines of a digital building tangent. Looks good regardless. (a cab forward is on my "maybe someday" list, I have an SP pacific in real bricks and am working on another steam era SP project)

Oh yea, i plan to build a few i think.... maybe one per year or two on these large locomotives. But it should be easy enough to make other SP locomotives with the pallete from the AC-9. I think my major problem will be if i ever end up at a con ( wich i have never been but man it would be cool ) this thing will never run on R40 as its design principle is fully made to run on R104 or wider ( R104 might still be to tight ). I could modify it but boy i hate how  big locomotives look going on R40 curves, really breaks up the look of them for me.

[zephyr1934]

Cool! Definitely build it to run on R104 since R104 is in the LGMS and you should expect to see LGMS layouts at big shows (even better R88 for a safety cushion).

20 hours ago, Ropefish said:

hate how  big locomotives look going on R40 curves, really breaks up the look of them for me.

You don't like the nose pointing in the same direction as the rear of the tender? (grin)

[Ropefish]

On 11/12/2021 at 11:55 AM, zephyr1934 said:

Cool! Definitely build it to run on R104 since R104 is in the LGMS and you should expect to see LGMS layouts at big shows (even better R88 for a safety cushion).

You don't like the nose pointing in the same direction as the rear of the tender? (grin)

Absolutely hate it lol, and it really messes up the look of the whole locomotive! And as it turns out ( spending an hour fighting with the parts designer and a .obj file of the R104 ) I'm 900% confident it will run on 104. However i do not think my current gearing design will fully work out of the box just cause there is no way to really test it in Studio.

[zephyr1934]

18 hours ago, Ropefish said:

However i do not think my current gearing design will fully work out of the box just cause there is no way to really test it in Studio.

If/when you pull the trigger to build the MOC, before you buy anything else, get a box of R104 track (if you don't have it already or have a friend you can borrow from) and the bare minimum of wheels to test the physical geometry. That way you save the investment in all of the other brick in case a final conflict derails everything else. Next, you might want to test the propulsion system.

For my build I started with testing the geometry (I'm using XL wheels and I want the loco to be able to navigate R40 curves in yards) and I just finished testing the propulsion system (it works) so now I can proceed to actually trying to design the shell. But I have the luxury of having enough parts to build a mocup without buying much.

[Ropefish]

i have some final renders i wanted to share, These include a few small tweaks as well. And yes I do plan to sell my liver to build it a display stand.

[zephyr1934]

That looks really nice!

[Ropefish]

Just now, zephyr1934 said:

That looks really nice!

Oh yea and i have like three different versions with varying structure designs as fitting in the L motor accompanied by the tapering boiler is very tricky... Also don't mind the artifact ghosts in the renders :eyes: don't get me started on using the rigid hose in Studio
 

[Feuer Zug]

Looks nice. I suggest hawking a kidney in lieu of your liver to pay for the monster.

[High_Admiral]

Holy cow! Is it bad to say I want one? I wonder how hard it would be to swap to the oil fired configuration the class had later in life? Just a tender swap and greeble changes around the firebox or something a bit more extensive?

[Ropefish]

7 minutes ago, High_Admiral said:

Holy cow! Is it bad to say I want one? I wonder how hard it would be to swap to the oil fired configuration the class had later in life? Just a tender swap and greeble changes around the firebox or something a bit more extensive?

would be pretty easy to do, just remove the tinder box over hangs ( oil fired still kept the main tinder boxes ) and some of the piping along the left side then replacing the coal tender with a oil tender. The greebling for the firebox already is hard to find any reference to outside HO and O scale models! most of the oil fired models in HO/O already just don't change the cab detail from the coal fired version. Speaking of I never did share the cab details i did.

1 hour ago, Feuer Zug said:

Looks nice. I suggest hawking a kidney in lieu of your liver to pay for the monster.

haha yea i already have a good portion of pieces from the 1.0 version sop hopefully not that much.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Ropefish

[High_Admiral]

This model looks freaking great! Now I just need to find the time to finish up the northern I'm doing and start on my own AC-9.....

[LEGOTrainBuilderSG]

On 11/19/2021 at 11:04 AM, Ropefish said:

i have some final renders i wanted to share, These include a few small tweaks as well. And yes I do plan to sell my liver to build it a display stand.

WOW!!! Engine looks real mighty. Great job on all the tiny details as well as shaping. Can't wait to see it in bricks! 

[ivanlan9]

I'm not fond of steam, but I gotta say this thing's a hulk.  Very cool.

Also:  hawking a kidney might not be feasible.  My wife's trying to donate one, and all the tests and delays and bureaucratic obstacles have dragged on, and on, and on.  She was originally planning to have the surgery in December, on Christmas break, so that she would be recovered enough to teach next semester. It's looknig more and more like it's not going to be until summer--at best!  Every time she sneezes, they say, "Oh, time for another test!"  Sigh.

[Ropefish]

 

Little update, the display base is now finished. I am going to start working on the locomotive itself Soon:TM: however I still need to get the running gear and i forgot a set of drivers on my order for them. Also still need to get some R104 Curves for testing.

[Ropefish]

Well it has been a hot minute, but i have all the core parts now, did some mild sorting but need to actually get back into the headspace to do so. Still need a few more third party bits but i should have something more to show in the coming months. For now the parts will remained packed till I get in the sortin' mood



Can you believe there is a whole train in there?

[ivanlan9]

Sorry that this is off-topic, but Audrey just had the kidney donation surgery yesterday (18 Feb), and both she and the recipient are doing well.

I'm also eager to see this loco in real brick.

Edited February 19, 2022 by ivanlan9

[Murdoch17]

Good luck @Ropefish on your journey into actually building the Yellowstone! I hope your now-real design doesn't run into any problems as digital builds can hide nasty surprises. (as I'm sure you're well aware of!)

[Ropefish]

11 hours ago, ivanlan9 said:

Sorry that this is off-topic, but Audrey just had the kidney donation surgery yesterday (18 Feb), and both she and the recipient are doing well.

I'm also eager to see this loco in real brick.

hah thank you and that's nice! surgery is always scary.
 

12 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

Good luck @Ropefish on your journey into actually building the Yellowstone! I hope your now-real design doesn't run into any problems as digital builds can hide nasty surprises. (as I'm sure you're well aware of!)

That's why i got a bunch of extra parts in-case it does get nasty but fingers crossed, i expect some changes with the main drive but i got some redundant designs to work out if need be!

[Ropefish]

I have a treat today, I have finished the tender, work is much slower on the Loco itself as even still I have made small changes and tweaks before building ontop of buying a 3d printer now to make more accurate running gear! In the mean time the tender is very solid... I am actually impressed with how brick-like it is.

[High_Admiral]

Looking Good! I can't exactly remember but is this going to be a display only loco or is she gonna be a runner too?

[Ropefish]

14 hours ago, High_Admiral said:

Looking Good! I can't exactly remember but is this going to be a display only loco or is she gonna be a runner too?

it is! I actually ended up having to do some changes to the back tender truck, but it runs on two L motors or so the plan is.... the connection in the loco itself for the motor is questionable at best in the 3d model so ill see when i get to it. I also have two designs for attaching the knuckle onto the tender depending on how strong the first deign is.