Brickworld 2017 Event Report

Brickworld 2017 has come and gone, and I’m almost caught up on all my sleep from the event. If you’ve never been to it, Brickworld is one of the largest, and one of the premier LEGO® fan events in North America. It draws some of the best builders in the country, and even a few from over seas. It is also the largest gathering of LEGO train fans, and train clubs in the US. If you love LEGO trains, you’ll be in good company at Brickworld.

Michael Gale’s excellent model of the A1 “Tornado”.

Continue reading Brickworld 2017 Event Report

Railfanning, June 2017

Hello dear readers. Yes, I know our regular train content has dropped in recent weeks. Preparing for a major convention, Brickworld, and launching our new store has monopolized much of our time. But we’re back from Brickworld, we’ll have a full report later this weekend once all our photos and video are sorted through, and the store is now going. So lets get back to LEGO® trains.

Nothing too serious today. But I wanted to take the opportunity to spot light some nice LEGO train models that have appeared on line lately. So let’s do some LEGO Railfanning.

Ludborough Signal box with a 455. Models and photo by Gareth Ellis.

Continue reading Railfanning, June 2017

We’re Rolling Out!

It’s Friday, June 16 at 3 PM EST, and that means that the Brick Model Railroader Store is open for business!

Please read the following post for some important information.

Shipping (for premium instructions ONLY)

Shipping inside the United States will be $13.60 via flat rate box. This price was determined by the USPS website, and is comparable to a Brickmania kit of similar size.

Orders with multiple copies of premium instructions will be sent via larger box. Email glenn@brickmodelrailroader.com for more information.

Shipping for other items

Decals and stickers will be mailed via envelope  with $1.50.

Components such as wheel assemblies will be mailed via padded envelope for $2.50.

For international shipping inquires, please email glenn@brickmodelrailroader.com for assistance.

Shipping for combined orders will be determined by the largest item ordered. For example, if you order the premium instructions and the decals, we’ll only charge you shipping for the boxcar. If you order wheelsets and decals, we’ll only charge for the wheelsets.

I would like to make everyone aware of the following disclaimer about our premium instructions:

By purchasing these instructions, you agree not to sell,  reproduce, or distribute these instructions. You also agree not to sell or distribute the model made from these instructions.

My partner in crime Cale is at Brickworld as I write, and I know that several people there have expressed interest in buying premium instructions, so I expect them to go fast. Grab one while you can!

If not, no worries! We’ll be accepting back-orders for our next run. Once we run out, the store should automatically go into “back-order mode,” and you should receive a notification of some sort stating that the product you have requested is on back order. We’ll work on fulfilling those sometime after Brickworld is over.

Pen-ultimately, I would like to ask the community and fans to bear with us – we’re really figuring this out as we go along. Please keep in mind that the premium instructions and store are facilitated by two people who have little experience with running a store, but are trying their best. We’re really grateful to be a part of such an understanding an awesome community.

We’re finally moving with these instructions, and Cale and I are both extremely happy to be able to do this. It represents a long period of thought and effort on both our parts, and we think you’ll be really happy with the result.

Glenn

 

Coming Up This Week: A General Update from BMR, and Premium Instructions Release Date Set!

Hello to all once again.

First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of informative articles on the site lately. Cale and I have both been busy with respective projects, obligations outside of BMR, as well as getting ready for Brickworld Chicago, which begins this week. Normal service should resume sometime after the convention is over.

First off, I’m pleased to announce that Brick model Railroader will be represented by Cale Leiphart at Brickworld Chicago! Cale and PennLUG will be joining forces once again with the Texas Brick Railroad for another epic collaborative layout. If you’re going to Brickworld this year, be sure and check it out. It’s always a great layout packed with some awesome trains.

We’ve also been finalizing plans to release the BMR Boxcar Premium Instructions (finally!) and we have been working to get an in-house store set up. This means no need to go through Bricklink to buy BMR products, all sales will be made on our own site.

You should now be able to access our store from our home page, or by clicking here.

We will have four items for sale at launch, detailed below:

  1. Pullman Standard PS-1 Boxcar premium Instructions

Yes, it’s true – we’ll finally be releasing our premium instructions for sale very soon (official date and time below). No changes have been made to the product, it includes a labeled box with serial number, printed instructions with history of the prototype and some notes on the instructions, as well as the custom elements and pre-assembled ball bearing elements to be used in the trucks.

We have 20 kits for sale initially. Once they are sold, the order page will be in “back order” mode, and you should get a notification of some sort if the instructions are on back order.

Price for the premium instructions will be $30.

2. BMR 3×3″ Logo Sticker

We have some stickers available for you too. They’re a great way to show your support for the website and the Lego train hobby in general!

Price for the stickers is $1 each.

3. BMR Boxcar Decals

As shown in one of our recent YouTube videos, we’ve teamed up with Andrew Mollmann (a fellow BMR contribuotr) of OKBrickWorks to produce a decal set that can be used on your PS-1 Boxcar. The decals are printed vinyl and very good quality. You can see the decals tested on one of our boxcars in the video above. Buyers will be sent two identical sheets, one for deacaling each side of the boxcar.

Price for the decals will be $10 for a set of two.

4. Wheel sets with bearings

Everything you need to get rolling with ball bearings.

We will have an assembled option, which will include 8 wheels, 8 bearings, 4 axles, 8 washers, and 8 technic bricks, which is enough for one four axle car.

We will also have a single disassembled option, which will include 2 wheels, 2 bearings, and 1 axle.

Price for the assembled set is $12, disassembled is $2.

We have enabled the back-order option for the Premium Instructions, Boxcar Decals, and wheel sets. Once Brickworld is over, we will begin fulfilling back-orders. This will allow us to produce only as much as we need to.

By now you’re probably wondering when all this will be available for purchase. The new official release for all items listed above is Friday, June 16, at 3:00 PM EST. All transactions will be made through our on-site store, NOT Bricklink.

We are also donating a premium instruction kit to the Brickworld Chicago charity auction! BUT, instead of donating a regular instruction kit, we are adding something special. Included in this special edition is all parts needed to build the model! We’re glad to have such a cool item to put towards a great cause. If you’re at Brickworld this week, you’ll definitely want to bid on it.

That said, we’ve already selected our next model to produce premium instructions for. Based on the poll we created earlier this week, we seemed to get more of a response for the USRA 55-Ton Hopper! They will not be out for some time, but we would like to have them out sometime before the end of the year. And for those who would have preferred the tank car, no worries. We’d like to (and plan to) release that one as well.

And lastly, I’d like to thank the community for their patience. We wanted to work out the bugs first and deliver a quality product, and we finally feel we’re able to do so.

Be sure and check back to our store this Friday to pick up a set of premium instructions!

Thanks for the continued support.

Glenn

Community Feedback Poll (Please Respond)

Hello fans of Lego Trains and BMR…

As you (hopefully) know, we have started creating model/instruction kits (premium instructions is what we call them) for BMR’s mascot boxcar, which is a Pullman PS-1 40′ boxcar, lettered to advertise BMR. We almost have every problem solved, and therefore we’ll be ready to roll out and set a sale date soon, so stay tuned for that.

Looking a little farther down the road, we plan to release more premium instructions, and eventually sell a full kit. But we have to get there first.

So, we’re looking for your feedback. We have two models that are planning to be sold as premium instructions, but we want to hear back from you, the community, fans, and builders, what you want first. So, here’s a quick poll for you:

  1. Which premium instruction model would you like to see from us first?
    • USRA 55-Ton Hopper (Standardized design used by many railroads. An example model can be seen on the PennLUG layout.)
    • United States Railroad tank car (Undetermined design as of now, could be 8000 or 10000 gallon model from various railroads)
  2. In a general response, what kinds of premium instruction kits would you like us to produce?
  3. Would you be interested in a locomotive kit, provided all parts, electronic components, and custom parts were included? Price could be expensive (up to $1000 USD).

We’re really excited about producing more premium instructions and kits, but we want to make sure there’s interest from the community.

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL RESPONSES AS COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE, OR AS COMMENTS ON THIS FACEBOOK POST.

Thanks for your time and response!

New Video on Our YouTube Channel!

We just posted a new video!

Cale brings us a timelapse video of the construction of a BMR boxcar, as per our instructions.

We needed something to try out the decals we received from Andrew Mollmann at OKBrickWorks, and what better to use than an actual BMR boxcar! We’re really happy with the decals and how well they fit on the model. And, for those who are wondering, we WILL officially be selling these decal sets for use on your own boxcar.

We’re really excited, and we are getting ever closer to finally releasing the boxcar premium instructions for sale. We’ll continue to keep everyone updated on our progress.

 

 

PFx Brick Returns!

The PFx Brick is back on Kickstarter!

After an unfortunate end to the previous Kickstarter campaign, the PFx Brick is back, and they’re already more than halfway there! The new goal is $50,000. The new model has bluetooth compatibility for use on devices, and is also easily customizable from the computer program. As before, the brick supports light, sound, and motor controls with ease, with a WIDE range of options and cool features. The new Kickstarter campaign also has a wider selection of backer rewards.

Long story short, the community gave their opinions, and the PFx guys listened.

Hopefully you’ll consider supporting the campaign!