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!

BMR Box Car Instruction Kit Update and other future kits.

It’s been some time since you last heard an update on the BMR Boxcar Instructions. We do have some news, and I wanted to share that with you and, also talk about about future kits we are considering.

The BMR Boxcar

For those new here, we’ve been working on producing instructions for the Pullman Standard PS-1 boxcar that we adopted to carry our Brick Model Railroader logo. The boxcar got a lot of positive response, with several of you asking for instructions. So we decided to do it.

Box cover for the boxcar premium instructions.

Continue reading BMR Box Car Instruction Kit Update and other future kits.

Next Stop, Main Street USA

Disneyland, Main Street USA Trolley by John Rudy

I’m a well known steam fan, but as a railroad fan, a very close second in my heart is trolleys. I’m a fan of any good trolley, tram or streetcar.  Builder John Rudy brings us this lovely model of the horse drawn trolley from Disneyland’s famous Main Street USA.

One of the horse drawn trolleys from Main Street USA at Disneyland.

Main Street, USA is the first “themed land” inside the main entrance inside Disneyland and the many ‘Disneyland’-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world.

Continue reading Next Stop, Main Street USA

The Name’s Blond…Jim Blond

Introduction – The Golden Era of LEGO Advertising:
The period of the 1980s-1990s was  arguably the golden age of LEGO advertising. With handmade scenery and practical effects, advertising photographers were able to do wonders. Back then, flipping through the catalogs and brochures that accompanied each set was always a treat.

Outside of loose brochures, LEGO frequently placed colorful advertisements within the pages of popular comic books. In Europe, Donald Duck comics were quite popular. In fact, the ad featured in this article came straight out of a German Donald Duck comic book.

Enter Jim Blond:
Different regions often produced different types of advertisements, and this one was certainly unique. This 1995 ad was designed to promote LEGO’s 9-Volt trains by sponsoring a special contest in which kids could win a t-shirt, roller skates or a mountain bike (the grand prize).

LEGO gave special attention to this ad, going so far as to paste a special brochure which featured comic-book style illustrations. The artists blended together hand-drawn artwork with photographs of actual LEGO sets. The end results were often bright, colorful and fun to look at.

The story in this ad follows the exploits of action-adventure detective, Jim Blond. Who is Jim Blond, you might ask? Mix together James Bond’s name with TinTin’s hair, and add a splash of Johnny Quest…That’s the recipe for a perfect Jim Blond.

In the “comic,” Jim Blond is tasked with safely delivering a special microchip to Cape Canaveral. Those spaceships don’t fly themselves, you know! After being handed the chip, he boards the iconic Metroliner (set #4558). Little does he know, he is not alone…

Turns out, some dude named Karl Kralle has been following him the entire time. Having caught wind of his persuer, Blond attempts to escape by jumping on a passing Freight Rail Runner (set #4564). Kralle manages to catch up with him, but Blond is always one step ahead.

Sets 4555 (Cargo Station) and 4552 (Cargo Crane) also make brief appearances. In fact, Kralle’s cronies use the Cargo Crane to blow out a bridge. However, the missing section of track proves to be no match for the mighty Freight Rail Runner, which makes like E.T. by flying over the gap. The final panel consists of Blond watching a successful shuttle launch on TV. THE END

International Man of Mystery:
When I attempted to research this piece of advertising, I found surprisingly very little information on Jim Blond or if he appeared in any other LEGO advertising. It is possible this may have been his first and last appearance. If any of our German readers have any information on the elusive Mr. Blond, we’d love to hear from you!

Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range “Yellowstone”

It been a while since we’ve seen a big articulated steam locomotive from LEGO® train builder Anthony Sava. But the wait is over as Anthony’s long planed model of the Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range class M4 “Yellowstone” is finally completed.

Powerful Brute

Continue reading Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range “Yellowstone”