Have you ever thought about owning a 1:5 (more like 1:2 if you read Glenn’s post on scaling, thanks for  pointing that one out Matt) scale Garden Modelrailway? You know, like the ones you sometimes see in parks that can actually pull carriages with actual passengers? But you, just as me, don’t have the finances, nor the will to build something like that? Thanks to domel, you can now make this dream come true! Not for you ofcourse, but your minifigs!

Yes, we are talking here about a true ‘cuteness overload’, some great building techniques (cheese slopes that are actually attached to something! telephones!) and some proper Lego inception.

Both models are based on locomotives once build for the Hungarian State Railways, better known as the MÁV. Even though only 20 were exported to Hungary due to the Iron Curtain, the Nohab got a cult-following in Hungary, mainly due to it being the “Holidays Locomotive”. The V43 on the other hand (and this I can tell you from first-hand experience) is the main workhorse for the MÁV, even today. In this scale, they are a great rendition and have managed to use selective compression in such a way, that they actually look like 1:5 scale models that could be used in a Garden Railway. Also, due to the fact that they so small, I think everybody will have the bricks laying around to build them, making these models highly versatile.

The only critique I can come up with: They lack wheels to have them run on the narrow-gauge tracks of Lego. But this shouldn’t be all to difficult to fix… Because what’s even more awesome, is the fact that domel has decided to share the building instructions for both models. Told you this was great, didn’t’ I?

By the way, if you need more inspriration regarding Garden Railways in Lego, check out the TexLUG layout of co-contributor Tony Sava. Thanks to Cale for bringing this one up!

Update on the eve of the 9th of January: added some links, and “fixed” the scaling issue.