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As we near the release of LDD 2.0, I offer the following tale...
Two weeks ago, I was visiting the Tyson’s Corner LEGO Store. Although the
store still sells 9V track and motors, they no longer carry 9V train sets, which
number only a few these days as LEGO transitions to the Hobby Train model of
train operations. I happened to overhear a parent in the store ask what must be
an increasingly common question these days:
“Where can I find additional cars for my child’s LEGO train set?”
I did not catch the clerk’s reply, and perhaps it mentioned the LEGO Factory
website. However, the Factory website makes it difficult to locate high-quality
models that fit well with existing LEGO trains. It does not have the feel of
an electronic catalog of quality MOCs but rather a hunt for needles in a
haystack of very small pictures. For the AFOL and the advanced young hobby
train builder, the Factory website does not meet the bill.
In response, I have designed trainbase, a website that (in my opinion) makes
it easier to locate quality train models,
http://jordanschwarz.com/trainbase
Presently the website features the models of seven builders whose galleries on
LEGO Factory encompass both quantity and quality of train creations. The
website describes each builder’s key models and styles of building and links to
each builder’s gallery. There are already over 150 train models linked from
this website presently with just seven builders. The difference is that now,
one need not sift through pages and pages of models to find good ones.
My hope is that the next time someone asks where they can find
inspiration and new cars for their LEGO train, they can check out the UTB set
and visit the websites for trainbase,http://save.9vtrains.com and, of
course, http://news.lugnet.com/trains. Although there is some redundancy among
these websites, I hope that since information is presented in different ways,
this will help LEGO Trains to appeal to broader and more diverse audiences.
I welcome your constructive comments and suggestions of additional builders to
be listed on the website.
-Jordan Schwarz
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In lugnet.cad.ldd, Jordan Schwarz wrote:
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As we near the release of LDD 2.0, I offer the following tale...
Two weeks ago, I was visiting the Tyson’s Corner LEGO Store. Although the
store still sells 9V track and motors, they no longer carry 9V train sets,
which number only a few these days as LEGO transitions to the Hobby Train
model of train operations. I happened to overhear a parent in the store ask
what must be an increasingly common question these days:
“Where can I find additional cars for my child’s LEGO train set?”
I did not catch the clerk’s reply, and perhaps it mentioned the LEGO Factory
website. However, the Factory website makes it difficult to locate
high-quality models that fit well with existing LEGO trains. It does not
have the feel of an electronic catalog of quality MOCs but rather a hunt for
needles in a haystack of very small pictures. For the AFOL and the advanced
young hobby train builder, the Factory website does not meet the bill.
In response, I have designed trainbase, a website that (in my opinion)
makes it easier to locate quality train models,
http://jordanschwarz.com/trainbase
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Nice site Jordan. There is also the LEGO
factory hobby trains page, which currently features some great models by James
Mathis.
I’m not sure if that will be expanded to include models by other AFOLs.
ROSCO
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"Ross Crawford" <ross.{mylastname}@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:JF4Do6.9FG@lugnet.com...
[ ... snipped ... ]
>
> Nice site Jordan. There is also the <http://factory.lego.com/trains/ LEGO
> factory hobby trains> page, which currently features some great models by
> James
> Mathis.
>
> I'm not sure if that will be expanded to include models by other AFOLs.
>
> ROSCO
I believe it will. I expect things to change quite a bit as LDD 2.0 and an
updated LEGOFactory.com roll out. It may not happen immediately next week
but I the difficulty in finding quality items is recognized by the
LEGOFactory.com team.
Mike
--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://blog.carolinatrainbuilders.com - My LEGO Blog
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club
http://www.carolinatrainbuilders.com - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=mpw - CTB/Brick Depot
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In lugnet.trains, Jordan Schwarz wrote:
SNIP
SNIP
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I welcome your constructive comments and suggestions of additional builders
to be listed on the website.
-Jordan Schwarz
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Hi Jordan,
I like this idea. I’d recommend adding Chris Masi’s work. He seems to have two
usernames, “masithebuilder” and “acjmasi”, not sure which he’d prefer you use.
I’ve build-tested both his covered and open hoppers. Both are solid and run
well.
Thanks,
Paul
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In lugnet.trains, Jordan Schwarz wrote:
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As we near the release of LDD 2.0, I offer the following tale...
Two weeks ago, I was visiting the Tyson’s Corner LEGO Store. Although the
store still sells 9V track and motors, they no longer carry 9V train sets,
which number only a few these days as LEGO transitions to the Hobby Train
model of train operations. I happened to overhear a parent in the store ask
what must be an increasingly common question these days:
“Where can I find additional cars for my child’s LEGO train set?”
I did not catch the clerk’s reply, and perhaps it mentioned the LEGO Factory
website. However, the Factory website makes it difficult to locate
high-quality models that fit well with existing LEGO trains. It does not
have the feel of an electronic catalog of quality MOCs but rather a hunt for
needles in a haystack of very small pictures. For the AFOL and the advanced
young hobby train builder, the Factory website does not meet the bill.
In response, I have designed trainbase, a website that (in my opinion)
makes it easier to locate quality train models,
http://jordanschwarz.com/trainbase
Presently the website features the models of seven builders whose galleries
on LEGO Factory encompass both quantity and quality of train creations. The
website describes each builder’s key models and styles of building and links
to each builder’s gallery. There are already over 150 train models linked
from this website presently with just seven builders. The difference is that
now, one need not sift through pages and pages of models to find good ones.
My hope is that the next time someone asks where they can find
inspiration and new cars for their LEGO train, they can check out the UTB set
and visit the websites for trainbase,http://save.9vtrains.com and, of
course, http://news.lugnet.com/trains. Although there is some redundancy
among these websites, I hope that since information is presented in different
ways, this will help LEGO Trains to appeal to broader and more diverse
audiences.
I welcome your constructive comments and suggestions of additional builders
to be listed on the website.
-Jordan Schwarz
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Wow, if AFOL’s continue to provide stuff like this site, LEGO will not have to
do any work. Get AFOL’s to design them, get AFOL’s to help people find them, get
help from AFOL’s to market them--just provide the parts. And even that is now
outsourced. Good business model by TLG if you ask me. lol
Don’t get me wrong, resources like this could really be valuable to the average
consumer. And it would be a good idea for the LEGO Company to have a list of
these resources to provide to their customers--either through handouts for their
stores or in magazines (such as perhaps BrickJournal) available at their
outlets. After all, it just points them back to the LEGO website. And it is also
probably in the interest of the AFOL’s to help them out so they continue to
provide the parts. I am constantly amazed at the passion of AFOL’s to help out
“Their Company”, a company in which they cannot even buy stock.. Not many other
brands engender such a passionate “help” attitude. Which is of course a credit
to the quality, adaptability, and philosphy of the “LEGO System”.I even find
myself telling people, “You really ought to buy your kid a LEGO kit”
When people want more of something, such as the lady Jordan overheard, it is the
first sign of being hooked. And you definitely want to keep a customer on the
hook. For there are a lot of other shiny lures out there vying for their
attention.So you need to set the hook firmly and reel him in, or he will shake
it loose, lose attention, and go feed somewhere else. lol
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In lugnet.trains, Mike Walsh wrote:
> I believe it will. I expect things to change quite a bit as LDD 2.0 and an
> updated LEGOFactory.com roll out. It may not happen immediately next week
> but I the difficulty in finding quality items is recognized by the
> LEGOFactory.com team.
This is good news. I've emailed LEGO about this problem myself. Simply being
able to filter by 'Trains' and 'Cool Creations' together would be a big help,
but it seems they couldn't achieve that.
It's a shame it takes such a major overhaul for these changes to come through.
From past projects I've worked on I know this is an unreliable strategy as there
are always things that get missed or untested, then you have to wait ages to get
them looked at again. Still, we shall wait and see.
Commendable as this website is, it's still not going to be something that gets
recommended by LEGO themsleves. Factory is a brilliant scheme, and I suppose
it's inevitable with something like this that the fans should take it on and get
a few steps ahead of the company itself. But it's a shame LEGO can't divert a
few more resources to keep up.
One thing I will note is you aren't necessarily solving that lady's problem.
What you've linked to are collections of some pretty big and expensive models
(admittedly by some very skilled and prolific designers). I only have the one
wagon on mine ('jjrailton'), but I do try to keep the size and affordability of
my models down.
I'd like to try some more things with the 10183 palette, and whatever we see as
a palette in LDD2. However, I haven't actually bought even my own hopper wagon.
I'd love to see if anyone else has. I'd also be interested to hear how many of
the builders you've linked to have actually bought any or all of the huge
numbers of models they've submitted.
Jason R
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