LEGO #21344 - Orient Express

[BrickWild]

9 hours ago, R0Sch said:

Thanks for stepping up for me. The .io file link is the same as from my previous post. That's the benefit of Brickshelf. I keep updating it as I progress further in the build.
Sleeper and Restaurant done.

Nice! The Loco and Tender should come next!
As a side note, the centre wheels on the tender slides sideways so I think there shouldn't be a problem with standard or third-party curves or points.

[lego3057]

32 minutes ago, BrickWild said:

As a side note, the centre wheels on the tender slides sideways so I think there shouldn't be a problem with standard or third-party curves or points.

The same cannot be said about the coaches boogie assembly, which I think will benefit from some modding (at least replacement of the standard wheels with the old ones with metal axes). Probably also use of normal couplers.

Edited November 18, 2023 by lego3057

[R0Sch]

Tender done. Added a PUp Battery box too. It has a nice little hatch to reach the power button and a small door for the cables to run through.

[Lion King]

14 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

Honestly, there is no need to shout. @R0Sch only has one off the cars done anyway, so it could be a while before the remaining 2/3's is done. Patience is key! 

Maybe his full cap button is stuck…

20 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Wait 3 months and I bet they will be selling really cheap as people buy 2x copies of the set and don't want duplicate figs and others buy in quantity and start parting it out.

that’s true, thanks for your suggestion! 

[iragm]

2 hours ago, R0Sch said:

It has a nice little hatch to reach the power button and a small door for the cables to run through

You are building the actual set, right?  It kinda seems like this is designed for powered up -- I wonder what the issues will be once it's motorized.  It can't just be that it's too heavy, a single PUP train motor can handle this much weight.

[ToledoRails]

22 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Anyone have thoughts on how to power this train? Do you think one L motor in the locomotive powering the drive wheels could do it? Or would it need two L motors to reliably move?

My current plan is to throw a Powered Up L Motor in the boiler and pretty much rework whatever I have to for a gear tower down to the frame, having it connect to the middle driver, rig wire under cab to tender, battery box in there. Feels like a standard affair. As for the locomotives performance, keep the gearing output 1:1, and see what happens.

I would assume weight will play a factor into the coaches but also their length may have caused too much drag on R40 curves, but anything above that will probably be okay. Since Lego has decided to grace us with those lovely plastic clip wheels, I might keep those, file sand and mount BMR Roller Bearing sets to them just to really give them a free rolling ability. Call it drastic, but I’d rather do that than dig into what’s left of my old pile of wheels with metal wheels. I also thing it would be a smarter long term solution. I’m putting money on the theory TLG definitely got it to work, but it either didn’t have the speed or too much difficulty on their curves to scrap it. The phrase “Model is built for L Gauge and fits L Gauge track.” Is acknowledgement enough to pass the task onto the skilled modelers of this hobby.

[legotownlinz]

It's a really nice set, I like the color scheme, that there are two coaches, even the engine looks nice. I'm happy with Lego's decision to scale it down and make it compatible with standard tracks. 8-wide was the perfect choice to make the set appealing for train fans.  I'll buy it two times to get four coaches and looking forward for instructions for the motorization and how to combine the two engines into a bigger one.

Edited November 18, 2023 by legotownlinz

[Train of Thought Creations]

I started working on the engine yesterday and have finished it.
Two notes: the "Optimus Prime" faceplate was replaced with a regular 2x2x2/3 slope because I could not find it in studio. Same goes for the "Stuart" minion heads, being replaced with a simple assembly.
This was just meant for internal use to figure out the motorization, so the connecting rod piece is a quick mockup rather than a proper custom part.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ERJmkX93N7GxXnPeSiWaHY2PABW-EK7C/view?usp=sharing

[R0Sch]

21344.io All there except the minifigures (including the 1x9 Technic rods, Optimus faceplate and Minion head ).

I can see why this is not sold as ready for PUp motorization. There needs to be significant modification to fit a motor in the boiler. Too bad LEGO does not make 2x3 sized micromotors like CaDA. I could see fitting two of those inside and gearing them up to the drivers. They are powerful enough too.

[Train of Thought Creations]

@R0Sch Thanks for modelling those elements! Did you use the locomotive I provided as a base, or were we just working on yours at the same time?

[R0Sch]

1 minute ago, Train of Thought Creations said:

@R0Sch Thanks for modelling those elements! Did you use the locomotive I provided as a base, or were we just working on yours at the same time?

No, I did everything on my own the last 2 days by going through the speed build frame by frame.

[Train of Thought Creations]

@R0sch, cool! I've noticed some discrepancies between the two builds, so I'm going to re-look over the video and post the melded version of our two engines here.

[lego3057]

1 minute ago, R0Sch said:

No, I did everything on my own the last 2 days by going through the speed build frame by frame.

I thought you had the instructions! Some people have the set already. Great work!

 

Did you design the new rods and the T plate for the windows as well?

[Ts__]

9 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

21344.io All there except the minifigures (including the 1x9 Technic rods, Optimus faceplate and Minion head ).

 

Thank you for your work!

 

9 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

Too bad LEGO does not make 2x3 sized micromotors like CaDA. I could see fitting two of those inside and gearing them up to the drivers. They are powerful enough too.

I would have my doubts about that. I recently tried a CaDa MicroMotor in the drive for a much smaller project: it was too weak for the drive (ok, it was only at 4.5V), a Cicuit Cube motor is much stronger. Of course, this could also be due to the voltage of the Circuit Cube.

Thomas

 

[R0Sch]

Just now, lego3057 said:

I thought you had the instructions! Some people have the set already. Great work!

 

Did you design the new rods and the T plate for the windows as well?

No, I don't have the instructions. I am not a certified store or a LEGO ambassador. I designed the rods and T plate in Studio Part Designer myself. Don't know if it gets copied with the model I uploaded. Let me know and I'll provide them separately.

[lego3057]

1 minute ago, R0Sch said:

No, I don't have the instructions. I am not a certified store or a LEGO ambassador. I designed the rods and T plate in Studio Part Designer myself. Don't know if it gets copied with the model I uploaded. Let me know and I'll provide them separately.

No need they came together with the model, Thank you!

[Train of Thought Creations]

2 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

No, I don't have the instructions. I am not a certified store or a LEGO ambassador. I designed the rods and T plate in Studio Part Designer myself. Don't know if it gets copied with the model I uploaded. Let me know and I'll provide them separately.

Yep! They load in just fine!

[R0Sch]

3 minutes ago, Ts__ said:

I would have my doubts about that. I recently tried a CaDa MicroMotor in the drive for a much smaller project: it was too weak for the drive (ok, it was only at 4.5V), a Cicuit Cube motor is much stronger. Of course, this could also be due to the voltage of the Circuit Cube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRThAq5UDjA

Try 9V. It has plenty of torque. And as I said two of these will fit and with some gearing should provide enough power.

[Train of Thought Creations]

Here is the updated version.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yBRSrF7JldosuQLRIDjMZYQOM1JdH0EQ/view?usp=sharing

Changes made:
Connecting rods - color changed to flat silver, position of wheels changed to 90 degree offset as shown in instructions.
Benches in cabin - tops are now 1x3 jumpers
Handrails/pipes on boiler - aligned, and 4 that were missing were added in.
All changes were made within the building steps that @R0Sch already set up (thanks! Keeps building easy)
Changes considered but not implemented:
I have a hunch that the internal parts that @R0Sch made dark azure are medium blue, due to current part availability, but it's anyone's guess as to what color it actually is, so I left it as dark azure.

Seems like putting our two models together made for the definitive version!
Also, for those like myself who couldn't find the minion head, it only comes up as a printed part, and I had printed parts turned off. Whoops!

[EmeraldBrick]

Thank you both for the studio models, I wanted to see if I could modify the locomotive to address the common aesthetic complaints. I made the pilot deck and pilot a stud longer, added another headlight, spaced out the drivers, changed the domes, and a couple other small changes. It now more closely resembles a Bavarian 4-6-0, with some details from the blue S 3/6 sprinkled in. It's not complete, but enough of a visual change to discern it from the original.

 

Here is the inspiration:

 

[Train of Thought Creations]

@EmeraldBrick That's quite pretty!

[R0Sch]

22 minutes ago, Train of Thought Creations said:

Changes made:
Connecting rods - color changed to flat silver, position of wheels changed to 90 degree offset as shown in instructions.
Benches in cabin - tops are now 1x3 jumpers
Handrails/pipes on boiler - aligned, and 4 that were missing were added in.
All changes were made within the building steps that @R0Sch already set up (thanks! Keeps building easy)
Changes considered but not implemented:
I have a hunch that the internal parts that @R0Sch made dark azure are medium blue, due to current part availability, but it's anyone's guess as to what color it actually is, so I left it as dark azure.

Seems like putting our two models together made for the definitive version!
Also, for those like myself who couldn't find the minion head, it only comes up as a printed part, and I had printed parts turned off. Whoops!

Thanks for hinting out the mistakes. Corrected the model accordingly. Regarding the medium blue, you might be right. There are definitely two hues of blue besides regular and dark blue.

[Train of Thought Creations]

5 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

Thanks for hinting out the mistakes. Corrected the model accordingly. Regarding the medium blue, you might be right. There are definitely two hues of blue besides regular and dark blue.

No problem! Getting two pairs of eyes one something always makes for a more accurate replica. Thank YOU for modelling the entire rest of the train! and the parts!

The reason why I was leaning Medium Blue is the 2x2 T bracket. However, I just fact-checked myself, and it now does come in Dark Azure as of 2023, so it really could go either way. The Medium Azure could also be Light Royal Blue, but I think it's Med Azure because a 2x2 brick does not currently come in LRB.

[RedBrick1]

Any thoughts on what modifications would be required in order to fit larger Big Ben drivers?

[Space78]

I'm wondering for those on the 9V metal track system (like myself) if one could just put a 9V motor "truck" on one end of each carriage for power?  I would think two motors would be plenty of power for the train, and the carriages should supply enough weight to get goo traction in order to push the tender/engine.  Not an ideal configuration, but with 9V, you don't have to manage a space for a battery box or motor/gearing.  The non-powered truck could be appropriately modified to match the power truck in looks.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Space78