I'm getting back into Lego again & I'm starting off with Trains this time. 

I'll be building it with Technic Figures for scale. 

 

Any tips or references for making Trains that are essentially 2 to 2 & a half times the size of Minifigure scale? 

I have 2 60337 LEGO City Express Passenger Trains to help start me off with this project. 

Hi,

 

this would be the right scale trains for your Technic figures:

 

1 hour ago, CaL said:

Hi,

 

this would be the right scale trains for your Technic figures:

 

Thank you, this does help me out. But what If I were to able to stick to the usual plastic track, but put weights in the center of the middle to prevent tipping. 

11 minutes ago, Robo-Knight said:

Thank you, this does help me out. But what If I were to able to stick to the usual plastic track, but put weights in the center of the middle to prevent tipping. 

Unless it's a two-foot gauge railroad you're modeling, that's going to look really funny. I'm no good at math (I'm a firm believer in the school of 'looks cool' rather than scale modeling) but it seems we're talking trains quite a bit bigger than the UCS Hogwarts Express in every dimension. Trains are being built in 10 wide for minifigures as MOCs, so you're gonna want something like 16 wide or more, I think.

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by Murdoch17

18 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

Unless it's a two-foot gauge railroad you're modeling, that's going to look really funny. I'm no good at math (I'm a firm believer in the school of 'looks cool' rather than scale modeling) but it seems we're talking trains quite a bit bigger than the UCS Hogwarts Express in every dimension. Trains are being built in 10 wide for minifigures as MOCs, so you're gonna want something like 16 wide or more, I think.

I would've thought that 12 wide was wide enough since it'd be twice as wide as the average train. 

5 minutes ago, Robo-Knight said:

I would've thought that 12 wide was wide enough since it'd be twice as wide as the average train. 

Yes, 12 is twice as wide as a normal train, but you would also have to make it a lot taller and it would look funny there too. It all has to be in proportion to each other...

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by Murdoch17

8 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

Yes, 12 is twice as wide as a normal train, but you would also have to make it a lot taller and it would look funny there too. It all has to be in proportion to each other...

I'll go with 12 x 12 & go from there. I'm just trying to figure out if I'm going to have to rethink the couplers as well. 

I'm not sure where in the world you are but if you're UK based there's at least 1 builder who works in the Technic figure scale. I've seen him before displaying at Steam and at Wares The Brick. Photos are somewhat scarce and I can't remember his name - try here Newspaper, the second picture in the gallery shows some of it.

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by CastleRail

I live in the US. Thanks for the link. 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by Robo-Knight

When I saw lego technic I was snubbing the topic ...then as soon as I started watching the video I understood how much good work was behind it!

This is also a nice idea:  

 

12 hours ago, CaL said:

Hi,

 

this would be the right scale trains for your Technic figures:

 

Incredible achievement.That must be around 1:20 scale. But for normal Lego tracks one can build in 1:38 where10 studs->3meters.

Yeah, what he builds for is called IIm scale (aka “Gartenbahn”). This is 1:22.5 scale modelling. All models are narrow gauge.

2 hours ago, CaL said:

Yeah, what he builds for is called IIm scale (aka “Gartenbahn”). This is 1:22.5 scale modelling. All models are narrow gauge.

And he runs on 45mm gauge track not Lego track.

Technic figures would be way too big for 12-wide trains.
They are more than two times the size of a normal minifig, their scale (compared to a real human) is ca. 1/20. So matching trains would have to be 18-20 studs wide...
But you might want to try my procedure for modifying "Jack Stone" figures - the result fits perfectly for 12-wide trains.

Personally, I prefer 45 mm LGB track for my large scale trains, but some of them could be modified to run on standard Lego track.
Feel free to take some inspiration here...

4 hours ago, Sven J said:

Technic figures would be way too big for 12-wide trains.
They are more than two times the size of a normal minifig, their scale (compared to a real human) is ca. 1/20. So matching trains would have to be 18-20 studs wide...
But you might want to try my procedure for modifying "Jack Stone" figures - the result fits perfectly for 12-wide trains.

Personally, I prefer 45 mm LGB track for my large scale trains, but some of them could be modified to run on standard Lego track.
Feel free to take some inspiration here...

This one looks good, it's only 8 wide, but if the roof was raised by a few blocks, it'd be perfect. 

 

5 minutes ago, Robo-Knight said:

This one looks good, it's only 8 wide

Thank you, but I'm afraid it's 14 studs wide...
It's a narrow gauge locomotive (3.5 ft gauge) in 1/22,5 scale, so in this case Technic figures could be appropriate (at least if your engine crew should be almost 2 m tall... ).

5 hours ago, Sven J said:

Personally, I prefer 45 mm LGB track for my large scale trains, but some of them could be modified to run on standard Lego track.
Feel free to take some inspiration here...

It seems about the same gauge as the large Harry Potter train, so you can just run 5 stud wide frame between Lego wheels instead of 4?

38 minutes ago, Stereo said:

It seems about the same gauge as the large Harry Potter train, so you can just run 5 stud wide frame between Lego wheels instead of 4?

4 wouldn't cut it? 

Would I need to have 2 power packs to make a bigger train run properly by the way? 

2 hours ago, Stereo said:

so you can just run 5 stud wide frame between Lego wheels instead of 4?

Some of my locomotives have 4-wide frames, others have 5-wide ones.
In terms of mounting the drivetrain, 5w is more convenient as it allows vertically mounting an L-motor inside the frame, working directly on an axle with minimum frictional loss. However, engines with 5w-frames can't easily be converted to run on Lego track.

57 minutes ago, Robo-Knight said:

Would I need to have 2 power packs to make a bigger train run properly by the way? 

I run my trains with one BuWizz as power supply (only exception is the engine you showed above, it has 2 BuWizzes for extended running time) and 1-2 PF L motors.
See what one single L-motor can haul:

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024Dec 27 by Sven J

Just saw this topic, and thought I might add this. Slightly bigger than 12 wide...

That is truly outstanding, what scale is it? I especially like the detail on the trucks as I designed those on the prototype.

Dave

Looks like around 1:12 to me, eyeballing that it's around 5.5 feet long (didn't count the studs cause it's ~190)

We have this some times ago

 

 

David Tabner do it

 

 

My trys

 

The Technikfigur ( and Bellville) scale are 1/19

 

Torsten