Being a Model Railroader and AFOL in one, it’s always difficult to make sure a model looks like it’s prototype. As AFOL, you are always trying to use exactly that one piece of Lego that corresponds with a certain greeble, angle or form of the prototype, even though it might not fit 100%. As a Model Railroader, you always want to make sure something fits 100%, meaning that not always you can use a piece of Lego, but for example using stickers, 3d printed rods, or custom track. This difficult trade-off is what makes our little niche hobby (at least for me!) so great. On the other hand, it does mean a lot of extra hassle. Even more, because most of the time both solutions tend to be possible.

Therefore, we thought it might be interesting to look at two amazing renditions of the same prototype, which are build in exactly those two styles: The Model Railroader and the AFOL. The prototype that we chose is the MÁV M40, a Hungarian Diesel Locomotive build in the sixties with a lot of strange lines and greebles. It looks like this:

So, how does this look like when two Hungarian Lego builders, lantlant and Rob, both try to re-build this beast in Lego, the one with emphasis on Model Railroad Realism, and the other with emphasis on Lego Railroad Realism?

First of, let us look at the Lego Railroad Realism:

As you can see, Rob has tried to solve all difficult corners and angles that the M40 has with brick built solutions. He has even done some very effective weathering by using dark red, dark grey and even black pieces to illustrate the grease and dirt that these Diesels most probably will be covered in during most of their active duty. However, no stickers means no stickers, so there are no identification numbers, no logos and nothing that explains which exact locomotive this is. For a true Model Railroader, this is of course not done. For an AFOL, this is – with good reason! – perfectly fine, because it’s not about that identification of the one loco, but the rendition in Lego of a whole class of locomotives.

Now, let’s look at the Model Railroad Realism:

As you can see, lantlant actually tried to solve quite a lot of parts by using brick-build solutions, but for example the cab and smokestack, plus the diamond pattern warning ‘stripes’ on the front of the loco are all done with high-quality stickers. It gives this loco a bit less of a Lego, and a bit more of a Model Train experience. Also, by some subtle stickering, lantlant has been able to give the shrouding of the wheelsets a bit of extra depth. On the other hand, it does, mostly with the windscreen, feel a bit ‘lazy’ that he didn’t go the Lego way. It does give you a stunning rendition of that windscreen though!

So, what do you, our readers, think about this? What do you think is more important when building, Model Railroaders Realism or Lego Railroaders Realism?