bricknerd
Old Diesels Don‘t Die...They Fade Away.
I wanted to build a weathered engine in LEGO ever since Swoofty came up with his faded-red GM&O RS-1, back in the days.
Last year, when I was scanning the internet for pictures of NW3 locomotives to help me design my model of GN 5400, I came across a series of pictures of STSX 179 (ex-GN 179) by photographer Tim Darnell, one of them entitled "Goodbye old friend". This was when the idea for this specific diorama arose; what I had in mind was to build a scene in LEGO depicting a happier end for this old unit than the harsh reality of the torch.
So, here is Old GN 179, sitting on an abandoned repair track, surrounded by nature reconquering its terrain, and patiently waiting for somebody to come along and take care of it…
On the model itself:
- Weathering: I wanted the original GN „Empire Builder“ scheme to still be discernible despite all the rust and color fading, and therefore arranged the reddish and dark brown tones along the formerly Omaha Orange and Pullman Green stripes.
- The V12 prime mover demanded even more attention than the one on my 5400, as it is now openly visible including the exhaust stack and all its tubes and aggregates. And of course it’s seen better days, too, being partially covered with a crust of oil and dirt, and some of the maintenance lids missing.
- Trucks: the train motor deco frames being available in dark brown helped a lot; as usual, I cut off the minifig head at the center to make room for the typical Blomberg swing bolster suspension. I’ve basically kept this version for the final model.
- Numbers: the model is 7+ studs wide and 38+ studs long, built of 820+ parts (plus zillions more for the landscape around it ;-)
Credits:
Spruces: fullplatebuilds.com/2018/04/14/spruce-tutorial/
Pine tree: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLChxeCflAM
…and many thanks to Swoofty for his intriguing model a decade (yes...) ago, and for his sound advice more recently during the course of building this scene!
Old Diesels Don‘t Die...They Fade Away.
I wanted to build a weathered engine in LEGO ever since Swoofty came up with his faded-red GM&O RS-1, back in the days.
Last year, when I was scanning the internet for pictures of NW3 locomotives to help me design my model of GN 5400, I came across a series of pictures of STSX 179 (ex-GN 179) by photographer Tim Darnell, one of them entitled "Goodbye old friend". This was when the idea for this specific diorama arose; what I had in mind was to build a scene in LEGO depicting a happier end for this old unit than the harsh reality of the torch.
So, here is Old GN 179, sitting on an abandoned repair track, surrounded by nature reconquering its terrain, and patiently waiting for somebody to come along and take care of it…
On the model itself:
- Weathering: I wanted the original GN „Empire Builder“ scheme to still be discernible despite all the rust and color fading, and therefore arranged the reddish and dark brown tones along the formerly Omaha Orange and Pullman Green stripes.
- The V12 prime mover demanded even more attention than the one on my 5400, as it is now openly visible including the exhaust stack and all its tubes and aggregates. And of course it’s seen better days, too, being partially covered with a crust of oil and dirt, and some of the maintenance lids missing.
- Trucks: the train motor deco frames being available in dark brown helped a lot; as usual, I cut off the minifig head at the center to make room for the typical Blomberg swing bolster suspension. I’ve basically kept this version for the final model.
- Numbers: the model is 7+ studs wide and 38+ studs long, built of 820+ parts (plus zillions more for the landscape around it ;-)
Credits:
Spruces: fullplatebuilds.com/2018/04/14/spruce-tutorial/
Pine tree: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLChxeCflAM
…and many thanks to Swoofty for his intriguing model a decade (yes...) ago, and for his sound advice more recently during the course of building this scene!