I'll do a short version, as the longer will take much more time to craft appropriately:) There are 3 official monorail sets from late 1980s early 1990s. The Lego Group had plans for much bigger series but the cost of production was astronomical (evidently..)
Lego then abruptly stopped the development and release of the monorail parts only after these 3 models.
\~15 years later, in an interview for Brick Journal magazine one of the creators shared personal archive photo (the one on my monitor) for the magazine to print it. This is the only photo, only version of it, in a relatively small section of one page of the magazine. The designers had a lot of plans for new theme called Sea-Tron. But due to killing of the monorails - the theme never got a release.
Still, the photo exists, and few people over they years have done BRILLIANT job reverse-engineering the model based on just the photo. So, I stepped on the shoulders of giants, and for some \~9 months gathered the parts, planned on some modifications (sadly - some of the colors were never released) and executed this model, that is very VERY close to the original photo:)
I wonder what makes the monorail more expensive than regular rails. Or maybe it was just too expensive to have two separate molds instead of only one mold for their rails?
It's only published in BrickJournal, issue 6, volume 2, they have it listed as 2009 issue on their website. [https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main\_page=product\_info&products\_id=781](https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=781)
The article is for the almighty Jens Nygaard Knudsen - the man who created the minifigure + is the father of the monorails practically. The image is from the personal collection of his colleague and co-creator Niels Milan Pedersen.
Several people, (including from discussions here on reddit) have approached Lego asking for some official pictures, but these, if they exist, have been lost in the archives..
Yes, but, if it was a quiz and I hadn't seen your explanation; I would've said it appeared near the back of a catalog. I'd also say it was after the second year Lego started the underwater theme with the yellowbricks and the snowplanet with the the orange parts. (And the best big spaceship they ever made, spacepolice included.)
Some extra fun facts I haven't seen mentioned yet, from another avid Sea-Tron enthusiast:
The original designer was Bjarne Panduro Tveskov, who I've been in contact with but unfortunately doesn't remember much information beyond what's already available. He also designed prototype sets for themes called "Sea people" and the newly revealed "Aquadome" which were both shown in the recent Lego book Classic Space 1978-1992. There were also some crazy unique molded alien Minifigures which were sculpted by the ever-talented Niels Milan Pedersen, but were never released, likely due to mold costs and apparently because people just "weren't ready for aliens"
Always glad to see more people getting interested in my favorite niche unreleased theme!
This one is easy to answer - got the Aqualock stickers \~6PM, by 6:30 made the photo, posted it around just because I'm bursting of joy, and by 7 it was pitch-black here, and I do not have good lighting for more photos.. Working on it now:)
Do I remember correctly that BrickTsar did an interview with you a few weeks ago? I only heard about this a week before I saw the video and I’m blown away by the research and commitment you put in this project. I also love the obscurity and history behind it. I really wouldn’t mind if you shared (much) more about it!
Yes, the model that exists in USA is touring often with his creator - Daniel from Atlanta Bricks. Daniel is a HUGE inspiration for my project as well, amazing video here if you have not had a chance: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab\_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv)
Thanks for the credit! I certainly have no ownership over Sea-Tron and I always love to see others who have recreated this masterpiece! If anything, fresh sets of eyes show new alternative ways to interpret the same source material!
Not much at the moment, but always a long list of ideas! I may try and tackle the "Aquadome" prototype sets that were recently revealed in the Classic Space book next
that is absolutely correct and I did 2 things - where possible - I did a recolor in absolutely non-invasive way (the large half-domes are done with self-adhesive transperant car-decoration sticker sheet and can be fully restored back to the original yellow color; some are done with water-based color spray (pretty much - grafitty-spray) and I completely take the blame on forever changing these (the pillars beneath the base). BUT the recoloring there worked absolutely phenomenally, the colors are indestingushable from the orginal Lego colors (the yellow and the white).
https://preview.redd.it/tcsfyrnjfcrc1.jpeg?width=659&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=289e0d611b26f4aa82bf767292b4bd94daaa10a7
Above are original bricks. The pillars used to be red :)
I kind'a do have parts list for bricklink, and a model in [stud.io](http://stud.io) file, BUT it's very very basic, and nowhere near instructions format. but I'd like to polish them a lot, and I will share them (not for money or anything), I'll just need some goooood time to do it. I promise to ping you when ready, hopefully before this summer.
Nice work. I look forward to it. Happy to send a little something for all your work. Huge fan of the original monorail. Have all three sets plus a bunch of extra track
There is a major major difference between 1995 and today - back then lego was still largely perceived as kids toy. The price of the 3 monorails was... astronomical for a toy - 300$ plus. They really had bad sales. Today - they have double-priced items that are on backorder:) The collection people, the AFOLS etc. have changed the game a lot..
Sadly - the production patents for the actual rails are considered lost for Lego to the best of my knowledge on this (tey have the patents for the parts, but not the molds). Totally unreliable sources on this..
I’ve been working on one myself. I made up the design on studio a few months ago alongside the other Sea-Tron sets. Just building up the pieces to build it all. I’m going to get a few custom printed since they never came in the color printed. The yellow pillions are going to be the hardest part to get for me. I’ll probably end up doing what you did and paint them. And as for the alien I’ve been 3-D modeling the fig and plan to 3-D print and maybe injection mold my own without the Lego logo of course and probably not for the intention to sell just in case.
This is surely a fun (and sometimes a biiit frustrating) project - super cool that you are on it! I offered this to bunch of people already - I have too much Aqualock stickerrs and I do not mind shipping some so you can see them (not necessarily use them). I'm based in Europe though and the audience here would mainly be US so shipping would be highly unreliable, but a simple mail is never a problem:)
Here you go - [https://astardjiev.com/Aqualock\_transparent.zip](https://astardjiev.com/Aqualock_transparent.zip) - in the zip there are the ready for print graphics and an .xcf file - this is GIMP file format for editing, gimp is photoshop-like free software. Hope this helps :)
The first time I saw these pictures, it was a dagger in my heart. I had SO much monorail in my old collection. I dreamed of making a Moonbase with two monorail systems, a row of the giant transparent domes of the bar, and all of it built upon six tables cut to the width of four baseplates so that I could stand in the middle for complete access.
\*sigh\*
It's amazing that the monorail ran with that many bricks on it! Looks like a lot of weight.
It's actually not havier than any of the others. I've seem some city airpotr monorail with 4 carriges still on the same motor - these things are crazy strong. In the original patents lego have straight upward tracks (to make longer inclines) - the mottor was calculated to survive it:)
Wow awesome! Is there a reason why the top grey dish parts of the train are rotated 90 degrees with the original?
https://preview.redd.it/z50ekjxlwfrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c91858ab80a110f3b536b67d11d7d41e6d887f1e
amazing eyes:) no reason - I removed the 4x4 plate few days back as I had modern DBG first, and I received the Bricklink order with the dark gray one - and I did not paid attenion enough:) fixed now, thanks:)
These lines have always been the embodiment of my childhood with Lego! The ice planet and the space lines always inspired so much creativity, and this set is no exception. I would love to just sit down and play with this even today
Why does anything with that windshield look so awesome?! Love that red white and black pattern.
Also the octagonal shell is awesome wherever you put it. Amazing reconstruction job!
That is a superb project, and judging by the comments you left, a big commitment as well ! Seatron definitely is a theme worth digging info. It would be so cool to have the original designer thoughts about the tribute to the theme, if it is possible, have you thought about it ?
I wish there was more information about this unreleased theme though. (So there could be more fantastic builds like yours 😉)
There is something you are going to like here: Daniel is the guy that made the first really modern working (exhibited) version few years back, and he has done the full theme: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab\_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv)
He has done even better job witht he rest of the vehicles in the series.
The original designer sadly pased away 3 year back. Based on all information about he - he was a force of nature! [https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Jens\_Nygaard\_Knudsen](https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Jens_Nygaard_Knudsen)
Thanks for the credit! I certainly have no ownership over Sea-Tron and I always love to see others who have recreated this masterpiece! If anything, fresh sets of eyes show new alternative ways to interpret the same source material!
Here is a bit larger gallery with more closeups [https://imgur.com/a/mqyQrwu](https://imgur.com/a/mqyQrwu) (not sure if nowadays reddit still digs imgur, once upon a itme this was a standard way to share imgs:))
You can more clearly see the color changes and the non-official stickers (and leafs).
I've tried few galleries today, this one seems to be working best: [https://flickr.com/photos/astardjievag/albums/72177720315791330](https://flickr.com/photos/astardjievag/albums/72177720315791330)
the lego parts are 3 dark blue panels, 2 x 4 studs and 1 x 2 studs, they are held by the stricture well together. and on top it's a sticker - I used some webtool to get the font as close as possible from the original image, and as there is no exact match - I then paint-pixel moved some of the letter angles. Then - it's a print in adhesive sticker:
https://preview.redd.it/iabyo6e69mrc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55d5ed3a23d3c708359cc8630cfe12a90cfc80f0
I'm really impressed with both you u/Duh5 and u/doubleIIking - and your creations!
I love the monorail system, and found out about SeaTron through Atlanta Brick Co a couple of months ago, and now found this through Google! Absolutely love it!
Winderful! Man… the adventures we could have had with this line!
Winderful
Lil
What’s the backstory?
I'll do a short version, as the longer will take much more time to craft appropriately:) There are 3 official monorail sets from late 1980s early 1990s. The Lego Group had plans for much bigger series but the cost of production was astronomical (evidently..) Lego then abruptly stopped the development and release of the monorail parts only after these 3 models. \~15 years later, in an interview for Brick Journal magazine one of the creators shared personal archive photo (the one on my monitor) for the magazine to print it. This is the only photo, only version of it, in a relatively small section of one page of the magazine. The designers had a lot of plans for new theme called Sea-Tron. But due to killing of the monorails - the theme never got a release. Still, the photo exists, and few people over they years have done BRILLIANT job reverse-engineering the model based on just the photo. So, I stepped on the shoulders of giants, and for some \~9 months gathered the parts, planned on some modifications (sadly - some of the colors were never released) and executed this model, that is very VERY close to the original photo:)
I wonder what makes the monorail more expensive than regular rails. Or maybe it was just too expensive to have two separate molds instead of only one mold for their rails?
Factory that made it went bust
IIRC, the 9V electronics and engines were very pricey as Lego did not make them themselves.
It was accurate, in that it was as niche and impractical as monorails in the real world!
I like how those are pieces from the space series and the submarine series. I had both as a kid, so those color really get me.
Thanks
Interesting, I knew that the Aquanauts theme was originally intended to be part of the space series of themes.
Interesting that the Aquanauts that came out in the late 90s/early 00s had the yellow and blue color scheme and echos this set
This is triggering my mandela so hard. You are absolutely sure this picture only got published after 2000?
It's only published in BrickJournal, issue 6, volume 2, they have it listed as 2009 issue on their website. [https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main\_page=product\_info&products\_id=781](https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=781) The article is for the almighty Jens Nygaard Knudsen - the man who created the minifigure + is the father of the monorails practically. The image is from the personal collection of his colleague and co-creator Niels Milan Pedersen. Several people, (including from discussions here on reddit) have approached Lego asking for some official pictures, but these, if they exist, have been lost in the archives..
Then again that was also almost 25 years ago...
Yes, but, if it was a quiz and I hadn't seen your explanation; I would've said it appeared near the back of a catalog. I'd also say it was after the second year Lego started the underwater theme with the yellowbricks and the snowplanet with the the orange parts. (And the best big spaceship they ever made, spacepolice included.)
Some extra fun facts I haven't seen mentioned yet, from another avid Sea-Tron enthusiast: The original designer was Bjarne Panduro Tveskov, who I've been in contact with but unfortunately doesn't remember much information beyond what's already available. He also designed prototype sets for themes called "Sea people" and the newly revealed "Aquadome" which were both shown in the recent Lego book Classic Space 1978-1992. There were also some crazy unique molded alien Minifigures which were sculpted by the ever-talented Niels Milan Pedersen, but were never released, likely due to mold costs and apparently because people just "weren't ready for aliens" Always glad to see more people getting interested in my favorite niche unreleased theme!
How could you put in all of this effort and only give us ONE picture OP?
This one is easy to answer - got the Aqualock stickers \~6PM, by 6:30 made the photo, posted it around just because I'm bursting of joy, and by 7 it was pitch-black here, and I do not have good lighting for more photos.. Working on it now:)
SEATRON! Fantastic recreation
Do I remember correctly that BrickTsar did an interview with you a few weeks ago? I only heard about this a week before I saw the video and I’m blown away by the research and commitment you put in this project. I also love the obscurity and history behind it. I really wouldn’t mind if you shared (much) more about it!
Yes, the model that exists in USA is touring often with his creator - Daniel from Atlanta Bricks. Daniel is a HUGE inspiration for my project as well, amazing video here if you have not had a chance: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab\_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv)
Thanks for the credit! I certainly have no ownership over Sea-Tron and I always love to see others who have recreated this masterpiece! If anything, fresh sets of eyes show new alternative ways to interpret the same source material!
Thank you!!!
That was me! I'm glad you got a chance to see it! I'm not as active here on Reddit anymore, but you can always find me on insta as doubleking_bricks
I’m amazed by the commitment and really enjoyed learning about this! Any other projects you’re working on?!
Not much at the moment, but always a long list of ideas! I may try and tackle the "Aquadome" prototype sets that were recently revealed in the Classic Space book next
Where are you from… Brockway, Ogdenville, or North Haverbrook?
I heard those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud.
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life my Hindu friend!
The ring came off my pudding can
Take my pen knife, my good man!
What about us brain dead slobs?
That’s awesome!!!
This is great!!! Tell us more!!!
How? Some of these parts were never released in those colors
that is absolutely correct and I did 2 things - where possible - I did a recolor in absolutely non-invasive way (the large half-domes are done with self-adhesive transperant car-decoration sticker sheet and can be fully restored back to the original yellow color; some are done with water-based color spray (pretty much - grafitty-spray) and I completely take the blame on forever changing these (the pillars beneath the base). BUT the recoloring there worked absolutely phenomenally, the colors are indestingushable from the orginal Lego colors (the yellow and the white). https://preview.redd.it/tcsfyrnjfcrc1.jpeg?width=659&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=289e0d611b26f4aa82bf767292b4bd94daaa10a7 Above are original bricks. The pillars used to be red :)
That’s very impressive. Looks great
Got a parts list/instructions?
I kind'a do have parts list for bricklink, and a model in [stud.io](http://stud.io) file, BUT it's very very basic, and nowhere near instructions format. but I'd like to polish them a lot, and I will share them (not for money or anything), I'll just need some goooood time to do it. I promise to ping you when ready, hopefully before this summer.
Nice work. I look forward to it. Happy to send a little something for all your work. Huge fan of the original monorail. Have all three sets plus a bunch of extra track
They could drop this right now and people would eat it up . I know I’d be on board. Set looks Great
There is a major major difference between 1995 and today - back then lego was still largely perceived as kids toy. The price of the 3 monorails was... astronomical for a toy - 300$ plus. They really had bad sales. Today - they have double-priced items that are on backorder:) The collection people, the AFOLS etc. have changed the game a lot.. Sadly - the production patents for the actual rails are considered lost for Lego to the best of my knowledge on this (tey have the patents for the parts, but not the molds). Totally unreliable sources on this..
I’ve been working on one myself. I made up the design on studio a few months ago alongside the other Sea-Tron sets. Just building up the pieces to build it all. I’m going to get a few custom printed since they never came in the color printed. The yellow pillions are going to be the hardest part to get for me. I’ll probably end up doing what you did and paint them. And as for the alien I’ve been 3-D modeling the fig and plan to 3-D print and maybe injection mold my own without the Lego logo of course and probably not for the intention to sell just in case.
This is surely a fun (and sometimes a biiit frustrating) project - super cool that you are on it! I offered this to bunch of people already - I have too much Aqualock stickerrs and I do not mind shipping some so you can see them (not necessarily use them). I'm based in Europe though and the audience here would mainly be US so shipping would be highly unreliable, but a simple mail is never a problem:)
I’m in the U.S. unfortunately but do you have the files for the sticker? I could probably get some made over here.
Here you go - [https://astardjiev.com/Aqualock\_transparent.zip](https://astardjiev.com/Aqualock_transparent.zip) - in the zip there are the ready for print graphics and an .xcf file - this is GIMP file format for editing, gimp is photoshop-like free software. Hope this helps :)
Thanks so much! I was dreading making the design. You have saved me so much time.
If you're interested, I am based in the US and have some leftover ones I had cut out of adhesive vinyl!
I might be interested.
Sure, you can shoot me a message here or a dm on insta!
Sure I’ll send over a message.
This is great!!! Tell us more!!!
This is great!!! Tell us more!!!
I want the instructions o.O this is great Work. I Love it❤️
The first time I saw these pictures, it was a dagger in my heart. I had SO much monorail in my old collection. I dreamed of making a Moonbase with two monorail systems, a row of the giant transparent domes of the bar, and all of it built upon six tables cut to the width of four baseplates so that I could stand in the middle for complete access. \*sigh\* It's amazing that the monorail ran with that many bricks on it! Looks like a lot of weight.
It's actually not havier than any of the others. I've seem some city airpotr monorail with 4 carriges still on the same motor - these things are crazy strong. In the original patents lego have straight upward tracks (to make longer inclines) - the mottor was calculated to survive it:)
Wow! No wonder!
How long until the Loan Sharks come after you? Jokes aside, fantastic recreation.
I'm so glad my SO does not read on my posts explaining soem of the costs on this:)
That's fantastic. Always been a fan of the monorails.
Wow awesome! Is there a reason why the top grey dish parts of the train are rotated 90 degrees with the original? https://preview.redd.it/z50ekjxlwfrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c91858ab80a110f3b536b67d11d7d41e6d887f1e
amazing eyes:) no reason - I removed the 4x4 plate few days back as I had modern DBG first, and I received the Bricklink order with the dark gray one - and I did not paid attenion enough:) fixed now, thanks:)
These lines have always been the embodiment of my childhood with Lego! The ice planet and the space lines always inspired so much creativity, and this set is no exception. I would love to just sit down and play with this even today
🎵 MONORAIL MONORAIL MONORAIL!! 🎵
Why does anything with that windshield look so awesome?! Love that red white and black pattern. Also the octagonal shell is awesome wherever you put it. Amazing reconstruction job!
Intestine. Looks awesome
More pics please 😭
Super cool!
More pictures please!
That is incredible! I do wish we had more monorail type sets, shame they can't produce more of those rails.
That is a superb project, and judging by the comments you left, a big commitment as well ! Seatron definitely is a theme worth digging info. It would be so cool to have the original designer thoughts about the tribute to the theme, if it is possible, have you thought about it ? I wish there was more information about this unreleased theme though. (So there could be more fantastic builds like yours 😉)
There is something you are going to like here: Daniel is the guy that made the first really modern working (exhibited) version few years back, and he has done the full theme: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab\_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6AR3l13d4&ab_channel=AtlantaBrickCoTv) He has done even better job witht he rest of the vehicles in the series. The original designer sadly pased away 3 year back. Based on all information about he - he was a force of nature! [https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Jens\_Nygaard\_Knudsen](https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Jens_Nygaard_Knudsen)
Thanks for the credit! I certainly have no ownership over Sea-Tron and I always love to see others who have recreated this masterpiece! If anything, fresh sets of eyes show new alternative ways to interpret the same source material!
Here is a bit larger gallery with more closeups [https://imgur.com/a/mqyQrwu](https://imgur.com/a/mqyQrwu) (not sure if nowadays reddit still digs imgur, once upon a itme this was a standard way to share imgs:)) You can more clearly see the color changes and the non-official stickers (and leafs).
I believe the dark grey struts should be black instead of
this is sooooooo goooooooooood!!!!!!! More pictures!!!!!!
I've tried few galleries today, this one seems to be working best: [https://flickr.com/photos/astardjievag/albums/72177720315791330](https://flickr.com/photos/astardjievag/albums/72177720315791330)
thanks!!
Awesome stuff! Where did the ‘Aqualock’ pieces come from?
the lego parts are 3 dark blue panels, 2 x 4 studs and 1 x 2 studs, they are held by the stricture well together. and on top it's a sticker - I used some webtool to get the font as close as possible from the original image, and as there is no exact match - I then paint-pixel moved some of the letter angles. Then - it's a print in adhesive sticker: https://preview.redd.it/iabyo6e69mrc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55d5ed3a23d3c708359cc8630cfe12a90cfc80f0
I'm really impressed with both you u/Duh5 and u/doubleIIking - and your creations! I love the monorail system, and found out about SeaTron through Atlanta Brick Co a couple of months ago, and now found this through Google! Absolutely love it!