dr_spock

The Sea Rats Nickname: Pirates Colors: Black, Yellow, Medium Blue Quick Glance: The Sea Rats are a rag tag group of scoundrels and rogues, who have found true freedom on the open sea. United under the common cause of self-determination, and defiance of Imperial rule, these folk heed no laws but those of the Pirate Code. (Which is really more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules, rather loose-like, you know.) These men and women are pirates, smugglers, con-men, and any kind of lawless scallywag which you can conceive of, but there are also rebel leaders, defectors from decadence, dispossessed traders and explorers, members of conquered nations, and any who find themselves disenfranchised from their societies. There are those who take advantage of the lawlessness to conduct crimes with impunity. well, actually that later category would likely count for most people. Membership: Sea Rats is open for members. Any man, woman, child, or what-have-you can be a sea rat! You needn't make your den in the Nest of Thieves, nor need you affiliate with other sea rats at all! We're the scourge of these seas, and swear fealty to no nation! If you'd like to captain a pirate ship and pillage and plunder, and riffle and loot the trade routes of the Empires, then join the Sea Rats! If you wish to take your crew on a roaring rampage of revenge against those nations that betrayed you, or perhaps your Quartermaster who led a mutiny against you, then join the Sea Rats! If you wish to swindle and connive, and con your way up in the world, then join the Sea Rats! If you've tired of oppressive reign of Kings and Queens and wish to make your own way in the world, then join the Sea Rats! Have adventure in your heart, a sword in your hands, and the salt wind in your hair? Then you're a Sea Rat, me hearty! To join, just sign up in this thread with an introduction post that shows your sigfig. A little background goes a long way, so we appreciate any backstory you would like to present with the fig! Reasons to Join: Sea Rats have a number of unique rules that other factions don't, some which are centered specifically around player piracy (known as 'black flagging'): 1) Under the Table: Sea Rats only pay 70% of a ship license and 50% of land property costs (except mines and forts). 2) Looters: Sea Rats are always managing to scrounge up valuable bits to sell for a coin or two. Upon capture, Sea Rats receive 20 DBs per cargo point of the captured ship as loot. Players from other factions do not gain any value for a capture beyond the ship itself. This replaces previous looting rules. 3) Results Driven: The black flag pirate crews of the Sea Rats often find provisions and supplies by... alternative means. Sea Rats pay no upkeep for black-flagged ships.  4) Underground Economy: All un-MOC'd ships captured by NPC Pirates and Black Flag players can now be condemned (i.e. sold) to the Prize Court for a value of 50%-75% of their regular license value. The rules for non-black flag players selling to the prize court remains unchanged. 5) Sea Rats earn an extra 30% yield on Artisan businesses. <- under review 6) No taxes! For those still uncertain of what faction to chose or how to sign up in a minute, we have some simple instructions here, which pretty much sum up everything Index A Detailed Look at the Sea Rats (this post) Settlements (second post) Membership (second post) A DETAILED LOOK at the SEA RATS 1. Leadership Susieh Cheng (@dr_spock, Co-Leader) Susieh Cheng loves sharp pointy objects. She doesn't like talking about her past like that incident with her eye. Rumours have it that she was kidnapped as a child by pirates. Having been raised by pirates, she developed a taste for gold and booty. Whatever you do, do not cross her. Those who do end up as shark bait after seasoned with 14 spices and stuffed with stale bread. Doctor Thaum - (@Professor Thaum, Co-Leader) The Pirate Council The Pirate Council is a group of influential captains and business folk, and here they hold their kangaroo courts. There is a certain honor among the thieves, and the most prominent business owners and pirates meet to discuss how best to conduct business and keep the people happy. Whenever there are enough issues the Council reconvenes to discuss them, but apart from that everyone does their own thing, and the most notorious pirate amongst them (currently Captain Reynard le Roublard) collects tithes for the greater good of them all... incase Corrington or Oleon comes knocking at their ports and they need a show of force to defend their freedom. These are the free folk, bound to no master but those they chose, and they do as they please, when they please to whomever or with whomever they please. Kind of anarchic-like. 2. Landscape The Port of Bastion MOC by Commander Red Hat Bastion is a town on the rocky shores of the Nest of Thieves populated by vagabonds and rogues, as well as the staunchly independent and dispossessed, the chaotic town is where the pirates have free port and may sell their ill begotten loot. There is not much of an organized structure to things on The Nest of Thieves, so Bastion grew without ordinance, leading to shoddy construction in some parts, and a lot of crime in the streets - but the people are tough, so they don’t really mind all that much. MOC by Darkdragon 3. Military Army: Sea Rats have no uniforms, so they wear whatever they see fit in the morning or nothing. It is recommended that you sail under a black flag, but if that is somehow not possible any other color will do the job! Navy: The Sea Rats have many ships in their fleet, which they rent out to their members for dastardly activities on the high seas. Apply for permission to use them in the Sea Rat group PM. Active Faction Ships Are: Corporal Milton - Class 5 warship Misfortune's Doom - Class 5 warship Hades' Tuba - Class 5 warship HMS Pendragon - Class 5 warship Godfreed Faulk - Class 2 trader MOC by Captain Braunsfeld 4. History and Culture Brief: The Sea Rats are a mixed bunch, but for the most part they consist of pirates, rogues, and thieves. Discovering the island soon afterwards to be known as The Nest of Thieves, the Sea Rats settled down and made its rocky shores their home, building the stronghold of Bastion on its nearly impregnable rocky eminences. Since then the Sea Rats have thrived in their new home, and piratical and other business is at its finest! Detailed: Unlike the Kings and Queens of the old world, Pirate leadership is dynamic, and mercurial – it is anarchistic, not dynastic. The top pirate or individual with the most personal influence gets to boss the others around until they themselves are deposed. The Sea Rats are comprised of a true hodge-podge of peoples from a variety of Nations, all of whom have forsworn their prior allegiances in favor of a free life of self-determination and self-reliance. Many of the original Sea Rats were those dispossessed by their nations during the first great rush for the new world. These betrayed sailors, clinging to the promise of wealth and glory, turned south from the closed gates of Nelissa, and, along with many old rogues who had earned their salt in the old world by piratical activities and such-like, settled the rocky shores of the island that would become "The Nest of Thieves." The city of Bastion was founded here on the skeleton of a former Eslandolan fishing village. With the great diversity of newcomers, no one nation could hold dominance here, and instead, a council was formed of the most prominent captains amongst them, many former Privateers and pirates of the Old World. This was the first Pirate High Council, where they determined that Bastion would remain forever free of the influence of the tyrannical empires, and that no one person could be their master! This pact laid the groundwork for Bastion to become the wretched hive of scum and villainy it has become, and united the Sea Rats as a people. In the absence of law and order, the streets of Bastion are in a constant state of chaos, with infamous pirate lords freely roaming the street, and pickpockets on every corner... but the people are a tough, resolute bunch, and despite the anarchy, business booms from the riches brought in by the pirates, and a healthy – if you like that kind of healthiness – economy of pirate raids, and smugglers has formed. Diplomacy: The Sea Rats are pretty indifferent when it comes to other factions. Of course, this type of indifference means something more like, "They see a ship and attack, without bothering to check whose flag waves from the mast head," rather than an indifferent kind of indifference. Neither do the Sea Rats particularly relish the idea of hanging by their necks until they be dead, so they naturally study to avoid any such unappetizing contingencies resulting from getting caught by a different faction which they had been preying on. (Note: Relationships are judged on a 1 to 5 scale; Very Friendly, Friendly, Indifferent, Unfriendly, Hostile) Sea Rat's relationship with: Corrington: Indifferent Eslandola: Indifferent Oleon: Indifferent Other nations relationship with Sea Rats: Corrington: Indifferent Eslandola: Indifferent Oleon: Indifferent 5. Membership To sign up, post a post a picture of your signature figure. You are welcome to include a bit of a description or backstory. Your signature figure, or sigfig, will represent your character throughout your MOCs within Brethren of the Brick Seas. (That does not mean that your sigfig has to be in every MOC you make). Within BoBS there are many possibilities. Build your own story, and since you're a Sea Rat, feel free to plunder and search the seas for treasure!

You could try ev3dev. It boots off a micro SD card. It doesn't alter the EV3 firmware. You can still boot the original EV3 firmware and the original EV3 software will still work with it. https://www.ev3dev.org/

The safety data sheet for Kontakt-60 says it contains IPA as one of the ingredients.

Years ago I did something with SG90 servo motor and 3D printing. The trick was setting the angles the servo motor to turn to. It could probably be made to take up less space with shorter arms.

It's so fluffy. Nice work.

It could be they put lower voltage rated motors in those clone L motors. Running them at the higher LEGO spec voltage would make them spin much faster and burn them out eventually. The dummy battery would take the place of one or more of the real batteries in the battery box. You can make them with a wooden dowel cut to length of a AA battery and running a wire from one end to the end of the dowel.

I use a soft makeup blush brush. It works pretty good without scratching the plastic. If you have an air compressor, then a blow gun works great too. Be mindful of the PSI it is set to. :-)

Are those genuine LEGO PF L motors?

60800a were used as bathroom doors in the 41374 Andrea's Pool Party set. 41374-15 by DrSpockFriends, on Flickr

Maybe a collar with an active radio like keyless entry system for cars would be simpler. If the system detects the collar nearby it can send a command to the mindstorm to open the cat door. When the collar is not detected, a close door command can be sent. Infrared sensors could be used to determine if it is safe to close the door. Or activate the water gun if they detect something and collar radio signal is not present.

Nice. Dark pink and neon yellow works really well. Some times industries paint some of their equipment pink in support of breast cancer.

It could be that the PU connectors have an active patent and may need licensing agreement with the TLG. Also PF is no longer produced or sold by LEGO so there is an easy niche market for 3rd parties to fill. I don't use 3rd party. Much cheaper and simpler to 3d print them and reuse old CAT5 wires. It is kind of fun learning to make your own stuff. PF train motors were cheaper than PU train motors and PU remote doesn't need line of sight to control like PF IR.

Canadian 1980s sets have number of pieces listed on the bottom right hand corner.

You could also try to glue shims under your baseplates so that they matches up to the height of the regular plates.

LEGO light bricks are bright enough for low light conditions. Those little button cells won't last very long if left constantly on. The batteries can go bad and leak from sitting in storage too. Measure the current draw of your lighting system, determine how long you want the light to last, and size your power source's amp hours according.

I mainly build MOCs for my LUG's events and shows.

Soldering is not required if prewired 9V battery connectors and 3rd party PF connectors are used. Put the wire in the correct pin and press hard. Those components can be found on AliExpress.com. Several could be made for the price of a Green geckos If the 9V connector comes with pre-stripped wires, they can be cut off before putting in the PF connector to avoid short circuits.

NiMH rechargeable batteries. Recharge them as needed. Multiple trains as in several trains at the same time? Or two or more locomotives in the same train?

Nice work. I think those 9V Li-Ion batteries should last enough for a truck trial run. I was puling at most 1.24 Amps on my WIP truck with 2L motors using an EBL battery. Those 9V Li-Ion batteries are not so expensive that you can't have a couple to swap out. Beats having to recharge in the woods.

Cute. Looks like it could run year round at a tourist railroad in New Hampshire.

Sounds like the lithium cells may have dropped below safe voltage to charge. Is there warranty?

Merry Christmas!

Nice. Do they allow for traction tires?

Depends on your application of the part. If it is decorations, you could get away with regular resins. Gears and drive trains, you could use something stronger. There are ABS-like tough resins available. They are kind of pricey.

A mice got into the house. It liked the CAT5e network cable near the LEGO. It didn't seem to go for the hard ABS pieces. I think soft LEGO flexible tubings could be at risk if left out.