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Let me start by saying that this is a big project. In fact, if you got a moment, it's a twelve-story project with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof, saying 'This Is a Big Project'. Therefore, it will take quite some time to finish. But let´s start at the beginning.
There comes a time in every man´s life, when you ask yourself: What is a better than a truck ?
- Two trucks ? - A monster truck ? - Truckasaurus ?
No, the correct answer is: A train engine. A big train engine. A big steam train engine. A big nuclear powered steam train engine (possibly with guns).
Something like a cross between these two:


I have taken it upon me to build such an engine in 40K scale. This is the work so far:


Now, the (well, one) problem with scratch building vehicles is getting the scale and the proportions right. I think my next step will be to build a driver for the engine, to get a better feel for the size of the cab and its doors and windows.
But before that, I´d like some more opinions on whether the boiler should be longer (the diameter is fixed) and whether the wheels should be larger.

okay, first the driver "seems" to be in proportion to the wheel. i'm eyeballing you're image compared to the two souce photos you provided.

you could go a little bigger, but not much.

i think the boiler is fine as is. i'm affraid if the engine gets much bigger, it wouldn't be as easy to field. no if it's just for show, then you

could go as big as you want.

whatever you decide, good luck.

great Idea. I guess you could always get bigger.
I'm looking forward to some updates

Nuts I got the wrong answer, I said Truckasaurus, that thing kicked ass.
I like this idea, its always good to see new stuff from ESDK.

Gorgeous! I can't wait to see where this goes.

For further inspiration (like you need that?), check the Privateer Press forums, and look under terrain; there are a lot of train projects there
Some good, some bad, some appalling, but all inspirational.

Toot-toot!

Ah the Battle Angel Alita (Gunm) train, good pick.

IIRC O scale model trains are about in scale with 28mm stuff, you might find some cars or bitz by looking at those lines.

Looks good so far.

Confirming KK's post: O scale is 1/50 scale (I believe), which is not 'true' 28mm (whatever that means), should look fine with 'heroic' 28mm.

And KK, I THOUGHT that train looked familiar!

Wow, unbelievable. If you want some examples, I'd check out www.ironhands.com for a good example.

My question though: Why are you scratchbuilding trucks? It seems like a big hassle. You could just use a larger scale, perhaps G gauge?

train ahead!
Looks good so far,long time no see either!
I would make the wheels bigger and with tires.i dont know why but a road train with truck tires seems mucho more appropriate than tracked
I would shorten in from the back,add a huge V shaped plow on the front and perhaps make it more bulky.
You just started it though so keep us up to date!

Do not question ESDK (or any man) on his trucks: his 40k deuce & a half is legend on this board.

"Why are you scratchbuilding trucks?"

Why do we do anything? I remember ESDK's truck, it was an amazing amount of work just to reproduce essentially a vietnam era truck (with suspention and everything) but it was GOOD work. There's an old Chinese (or Japanese) story, the King asked a painter what is easiest to paint and the man said demons since no one knows what they look like, and what's hardest? dogs, because everyone knows what they look like. In modeling I respect a historical paint job or scratchbuild a lot more than a fantastic (in the literal sense) one.

Course ESDK delivers both so there you go...

I'm not criticizing his scratchbuilding. It looks really nice. I'm just suggesting that he could cut out a lot of time by kitbashing some pieces.

ESDK: Where is the first picture (I know the second example is from FSM) from?

It´s from the manga "Battle Angel Alita", namely Volume 6, "Angel of Death". It´s a good source of inspiration as it takes place in a very Necromunda-ish world.

as long as you call it "Blaine"

Blaine! Oh creepy, will they have a riddling contest???

I´ve been very busy this week, so I hardly made any progress. The engineer is starting to take
shape with his lead apron and visor to protect him from the nuclear fire:





The boiler has received its outer plates and the cylinders are in their mock-up stage:



I´m also in the process of building another, slightly bigger wheel.

I'm a fan, the mock up parts are looking good.  I'm liking the enginer although there my desire to see a mingle between Shining Time Station and the dark future of Warhamer 40k is not satisfied.

Keep at it.

"I am Thomas, and my Engine is Tank!!! MUAHA!!!"

I really like the guy with the lead apron, an idea that I'll be yoinking for my long planned(but probably never to be accomplished) Adeptus Mechanicus manufactorum militia.

    This is great work, but why styrofoam? Seriously? You want this thing to be around for awhile, right?

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

The styrofoam parts in the first pictures are only there to get a sense for the size of the real articles. Same with all the cardboard, it´s only there for test fitting etc. However, the main structure carrying the boiler is in fact built from plasticard-reinforced foam board. It would simply be to wasteful to built these large parts completely out of plasticard.

You know what would look great on the front of your engine? A big Adeptus Mechanicus symbol! From the Citys
of death box set!

I dont know if you looking to make a Adeptus theam to it?

-MR.B

Oh yes, I´ve got my eye on the Manufactorum sprues. These will certainly come in handy during the detailing but first I must complete the wheels etc.

Ive been look ing at this thred for a wile what is this for

This is just for fun, a diorama or scenery project basically.

And continuing at the usual snail´s pace, the next update:



The first set of wheels is done and the cylinders are nearing completion. The wheels aren´t cast all that well since the Omnissiah is testing my faith with inferior material, but at least the size looks about right. :



Our brave engineer is now equipped with his tools for handling fuel rods:



With the engineer finished, I´ll turn my attention towards the cabin. The mock up is a bit too large, now the whole thing looks like a smaller locomotive in a bigger scale rather than a huge one in Wh40K scale. I´ll also attach the boiler and the cylinders to the carrier beam for good to finalize the overall dimensions of the engine.

Excellent work on the engineer but he's no Mr. Conductor.
I agree that the cabin is big looking and making it smaller is a good idea.

Keep up the good work as always ESDK

Alright, finally making some headway:







That H-beam will extend through the rear wall of the cabin to the engine tender, to carry the fuel rods into the cabin and the reactor. The bulkhead still needs some details.





The other wall of the cabin. I´ll add more pipes and bits to the cabin over time.



The proportions are much more balanced now. Initially I wanted the cabin to extend over the sides of the boiler to get some room for forward facing windows. But this simply didn´t look good. And you know why ? Because I wanted to use windows where a true follower of the Machine will use cameras and monitors (that these will be easier to build is of course only a secondary benefit).

I´m awaiting a shipment of resin this week, so maybe I´ll have the wheels done this weekend. The resin I used for the preliminary parts apparently only has two states of aggregation: 1) Still soft and sticky after three days; 2) Brittle as sugar glass
Working with was...unsatisfactory.

Um... not to split hairs... but the engineer wouldn't be messing with fuel rods... he'd be messing with CONTROL rods. Control rods are made of either boron or halfnium (the 2 most used control rod materials) and it's their insertion or extraction that controls the fission process.

Just thought I'd clear that up a bit.





Like the model though.

No, this engineer will definitely handle the fuel rods. Of course this means that he won´t be particulary busy as these things tend to last some time but he makes up for it by absorbing extreme amounts of radiation each time he actually does change one.

You wouldn´t want to use this crane-and-guy-with-a-big-grabber setup to mess with the control rods. Let me show you what I have in mind:



This is a cutaway view of the reactor. The fuel rods (green) are inserted into the reactor via the revolver drum in the middle (I´m not sure yet if I will actually build that part). The control rods (yellow) are arranged on top of the boiler. And why do we put them there ? So that in case of total system failure the rods will be driven into the reactor by good old reliable gravity, without any need for hydraulic, mechanical or electrical systems which would be out of order at this point. You certainly wouldn´t want to have to rely on human personell to make sure your reactor doesn´t turn into a bomb.

Like what happened at SL-1?




Sounds like you know more than a little about nuclear reactors. Ex Navy Nuclear operator here. You?

Mechanical engineer with emphasis on energy production