XG BC Posted October 14 Posted October 14 6 hours ago, Ashi Valkoinen said: That's a long river, and the biggest river in Hungary. Last weekend we had a show, narrow gauge only layout and the small mining locomotives did really great. Circuit Cube components are small, very flexible items, I am glad that it allowed me to make my 4 studs wide and 4 studs+1 plate wide locomotives motorised, without adding a constantly couple freight car for batteries. Some really nice photos coming soon! will look forward to those! Quote
Toastie Posted October 15 Posted October 15 On 10/14/2025 at 12:33 PM, Ashi Valkoinen said: Circuit Cube components are small, very flexible items, I am glad that it allowed me to make my 4 studs wide and 4 studs+1 plate wide locomotives motorised, without adding a constantly couple freight car for batteries. Oh yes, these devices are really cool. As are >of course< your mini and maxi trains, as per default! How do you control the BT Battery Cube? With the Tenka app? I believe another design challenge is sometimes the location of the USB charging port. When I began using the Tenka Cubes, I did not think about that much, but when I needed to recharge them for the first time, I did some design changes :D All the best Thorsten Quote
Ashi Valkoinen Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 (edited) 1 hour ago, Toastie said: Oh yes, these devices are really cool. As are >of course< your mini and maxi trains, as per default! How do you control the BT Battery Cube? With the Tenka app? I believe another design challenge is sometimes the location of the USB charging port. When I began using the Tenka Cubes, I did not think about that much, but when I needed to recharge them for the first time, I did some design changes :D All the best Thorsten I used their original application to control the cubes. Since they added the option to connect to two cubes at the same time via Bluetooth, for me it is quite viable to use it from this app, I never need to control more than two small locomotives at the same time. For the "Babycroc" locomotives, charging can be done just removing the roof with the pantograph, to turn on or off the cube must be lifted and rotated out. Basically, I don't turn it off while charging, so it needs no turning on after charging is finished. The small 9ton locomotive's 1×4×3 panels can be easily removed (they are not part of the structure), the charging port is behind one of the panels. The turning on/off bottom is underneath, and nothing covers it so really easy to access. And as I promised, here is the video of the running locomotives with their freight trains. A few notes, problems, I faced: TrixBrix switches are pain when it comes you go straight one them - the lack of second moving rail giving support for the wheels is really bad when you have a locomotive with such small weight and such small axle distance. TrixBrix track vary a lot in quality unfortunately - there were some tracks bended from the beginning, and wheels were is to start spinning at these sections. The smaller loco's weight distribution is really bad, having the battery in the cab, it required some small magnets put in the cavities of the front to balance it, but without careful driving it may leave the track when the small nose part is leading the train. The big "BabyCroc" locomotives worked well, but quite slow, I managed to put only one CC-motor inside, and due to the overall shape of the locomotive, there is not so much weight at the only driven axle. Both locomotives and freight trains were able to handle R36 - I wish no more. The minecart-train, with that small wheels, small axle distance, it is really pain when it comes to push such a train. Edited October 15 by Ashi Valkoinen Quote
Toastie Posted October 15 Posted October 15 34 minutes ago, Ashi Valkoinen said: Basically, I don't turn it off while charging, so it needs no turning on after charging is finished. Wait — does that mean, you can charge the Cube while it is, e.g., running a motor? I never checked that on my Cubes. This would mean, that you can charge them on the fly, is that so? 36 minutes ago, Ashi Valkoinen said: Since they added the option to connect to two cubes at the same time via Bluetooth Missed that as well, nice! Well, I am using the Cubes always in combination with the LEGO PUp remote (and an ESP32 “in between”). Thank you for the heads-up! Best Thorsten Quote
Ashi Valkoinen Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 33 minutes ago, Toastie said: Wait — does that mean, you can charge the Cube while it is, e.g., running a motor? I never checked that on my Cubes. This would mean, that you can charge them on the fly, is that so? No, not. But there is a small switch to turn the Cube ON (left), OFF (middle) or BLE (right). If you leave it ON, or BLE, you can charge it. When you connect the charger, the green light (turned ON) or the blue light (BLE) will turn off, red will turn on to indicate charging. After charging finished, red light turns to green, but still no output while the charger is attached. If you remove the charging cable, you get back your Cube charged and in the state you left (turned OFF, ON or BLE). So basically I don't need to reach the turn ON/OFF/BLE button during showtime, I turn the locs to BLE at the beginning of the day, I am charging if necessary and turning locs OFF at the end of the day. But I can confirm you can charge while BLE is on, I didn't try what happens when the Cube is turned ON (continuous outputs) and I start charging. Quote
zephyr1934 Posted October 16 Posted October 16 6 hours ago, Ashi Valkoinen said: And as I promised, here is the video of the running locomotives with their freight trains. Wow, another great looking layout, lots of attention to detail. The trains are also great, so now you've worked your magic in narrow gauge too Quote
Asper Posted October 16 Posted October 16 Wonderful narrow gauge layout! The level of detail packed into these small trains is amazing. The design of the coal waggons is brilliant! Quote
Ashi Valkoinen Posted October 21 Author Posted October 21 On 10/16/2025 at 3:28 AM, zephyr1934 said: Wow, another great looking layout, lots of attention to detail. The trains are also great, so now you've worked your magic in narrow gauge too On 10/16/2025 at 1:14 PM, Asper said: Wonderful narrow gauge layout! The level of detail packed into these small trains is amazing. The design of the coal waggons is brilliant! Thank you guys! The layout was made by Nándor Mészáros, András Pécsi and me, but actually my part was just a quick improvising putting my houses, trees around the small two-track station. I just joined narrow gauge at our LTC, but I plan to make Sátorkő station of the Sand Railway network based on old aerial photos to figure out the track plan and it will include more details and will be better built. I really love the coal waggons, too, they are the smalled train MOCs I have ever made, the good quality (SKF) ball bearings under each waggon cost more than all the LEGO pieces, including the old and quite rare container lid I used upside down. On 10/16/2025 at 5:49 PM, XG BC said: nothing short of awesome! i love it! There is more to come as I will make my own narrow gauge layout. On the long term I plan to make a hill where trains can go up - with total height of 51 plates (17 bricks) to climb! But I estimate the full project approx. 2-3 years! Quote
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