Friends Second Wave #5: Emma’s Horse Trailer

Today we take a look at LEGO Friends Emmas Horse Trailer 3186.

Friends #3186: Emma's Horse Trailer

The car and trailer are almost a perfect copy of Lego City Limited Edition Set #7635 4WD With Horse Trailer which came out a couple of years ago (sold by LEGO from 2008 through 2011, but you can still get it on Amazon at that link). The trailer is pretty much identical except for the color, and the truck is very similar but without the roof. But I love the new colors! The dark aqua for the walls of the trailer has got to prove useful somehow, and all the pink and dark red parts on both trailer and truck are great too. And as seen in Fortnight of Friends – Day 8: Stephanie’s Cool Convertible we get those cool panel pieces that can fit a minidoll’s feet and hold her in position for driving, since minidolls can’t sit on studs. The truck comes with the base for a treasure chest in tan, but there’s no corresponding lid, making it somewhat less than useful…

This set also includes one of the new Friends horses, previously seen in Heartlake Vet, only this time the horse is white instead of brown. But it’s still not possible for a minidoll to sit or stand in the horse’s cutout. At least now we get a saddle piece, which can fit into the cutout and can accommodate a minidoll rider. As with some of the first wave sets, there is an assortment of ribbons and bows and grooming equipment included in this set. There’s also a little hurdle for equestrian jumping and some extra haybales to raise it up for higher jumping.

Finally there is a little tack station, with an apple and carrot to feed the horse and a place to store the saddle. It has a flower which uses the regular LEGO green flower stem, but instead of the usual sprue with four tear-off flowers it comes with the 1×1 round plate with petals. I don’t recall having seen that combination used in a LEGO set before…?
Friends #3186: Emma's Horse Trailer (Tack Station) Friends #3186: Emma's Horse Trailer (Car, Trailer, Horse) Friends #3186: Emma's Horse Trailer (Stickers & Extra Parts)
Overall it seems like a really good playable set for kids … not having kids myself, I can’t really speak too much to that. I’m disappointed that instead of printed parts, this set includes stickers – but by mistake it seems I got two copies of the sticker sheet! I’m more interested in the parts, and we get some lime green 6×6 plates, a yellow box for the food in the tack station, dark tan tall slopes, and a bunch of dark red and pink pieces. I’m sure that the curved panels in dark aqua on the trailer will be useful for something too…

RoadRailer Trailer

This cargo trailer is both a railcar and a trailer for a truck. The rail wheelsets are removable, and the road wheels are then available to be towed down the road. I built this many years ago and it’s been on numerous BayLTC train layouts, but I never put pictures online until now.

Train car Road trailer

I first learned about these interesting hybrid vehicles on the PBS television show Tracks Ahead. They are a real thing made by Wabash National. Each trailer has permanently-attached road wheels, and can have railroad wheelsets attached for use in a train. The trailers are hitched to each other, with the wheelset mounted on the rear of the trailer, and a special wheelset is attached to the front one.

See the Flickr photoset for detailed pictures from various angles, or click for a slideshow.

By the way, when I posted my Gondola car, I said that was my first train car MOC. Technically I guess the RoadRailers are, but the Gondola is more of a “train car” in the traditional sense, whereas the RoadRailers are more road trailers that can be carried as a part of a train in my mind.

Isuzu NPR Delivery Truck

My latest model is one of the most common trucks in the world today, the Isuzu NPR.

Isuzu NPR Delivery Truck

This one is configured as a delivery van, with roll-up door in the rear. Notable details include the cab with sloped windshield, fuel tank, sloped driveshaft, mud flaps, and 6 wheels.

I originally had the idea for this at one of the BayLUG meetings in conversation with another member, Brooks. He and I experimented with the geometry to see if the windshield design was doable at that meeting, and after many iterations this is what I ended up with.

Land Rover

I just finished building my newest vehicle, a 7-wide Land Rover:

Land Rover

It’s a little bigger than most minifig-scale vehicles, and at 7-wide (really 8 if you include the fenders and bumper) it’s a bit big for standard LEGO roads. But I think it has all the elements that readily identify it as a Land Rover from the 1960’s-70’s era. Hope you like it. Click the picture above for more, or view them as a slideshow.

Old-fashioned Fire Truck

This old-fashioned fire truck Old-fashioned Fire Truck was built in July, 2004 for the display that my LEGO club, Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group & Train Club put on at a museum in Pleasanton, CA. Since the 4th of July was during that exhibit, we added a parade to the layout, and what’s a parade without an old-fashioned fire truck? So I built one.

More pictures of the model can be found on Flickr and on Brickshelf.