[MOD] 10277 ... and on and on: Another Crocodile MOD …

[Toastie]

Dear All,

after so many modding activities regarding the Crocodile it is hard to believe to be able to add something new to it. Don’t know whether this is any “new” – if not, moderators please remove this thread.
(Also, please excuse my crappy photography - I am not good at this nor I believe is that tiny camera I have. Also, the LDView screenshots were made without much passion ...)

Here it is though: I don’t like blind drivers.

(I know that in many cases they are simply mandatory – steamers with more than four driving wheels attached via connecting rods and there we are, particularly on TLG's original curved track. I know only one exception from that: Ben Beneke’s BR23 LEGO replica: This one features 6 driving wheels; they are all flanged and each pair of three wheels is connected using LEGO Flex system parts. In addition, a split center axis is used so that the corresponding center driver is moving inward when going through curves – it is a brilliant solution)

With the Crocodile though, the “noses” feature only two drivers connecting via one rod that in addition allows some articulation at the wheel - rod joint. So all-flanged drivers could have worked – unfortunately though, the pivot point of the bogie is not in the center but far out between cab and nose. Blind drivers are thus used accordingly for the pair of drivers closer to the pivot point.

And I don’t like them. Particularly because my LEGO layout is rather crowded. So I decided to put some track up the sloped wall – with some curves to see the crocodile meander about – I mean this is what crocodiles do when preying … and then you just see it all the time: The blind drivers are “leaving” the track.

Solution: Moving axles, as has been demonstrated in countless contributions here on EB and elsewhere. I decided to articulate the axle close to the cab, which requires narrowing the 4 wide frame – I used a two wide base (three would work as well, but I simply could not figure it out).

(Note the red drivers on the side facing away from my chair - will try to get the black ones some other time - do they exist as separate part at all? Need to check)

Here are some LDraw screenshots:

Also, as friction leading to upward pointing forces goes up quite a bit, I made some room for some "weights", which are required to counter these additional forces. So there are 10 x 1 Euro cent and 4 x 50 cent Euro pieces in each nose, considerably increasing the value of my croc. Without the extra money, each nose weighs about 145 g (not including the pony truck) – with modifications plus the money 210 g. The values of my crocodile is thus retails price + 4 Euros and 20 cents.

(Well, I had only 7 50 cent coins that day - the one in the photo is a Swiss coin of almost the same size ...) 

Further modifications: I simply did not like the coupling offset between noses and cab, tilting the nose downward to the front. This maybe intentionally. But when you look directly at the Crocodile's noses in front of your own nose all day – I had serious sleeping problems. Solution: Not using the 4x4 Technic brick + pin (popping off all the time drove me crazy as well …), but 1x2 plates with tow ball, which conveniently came with the extra 40411 set. That required some modding of the cab frame as well – in addition to the flanges of the new drives close to the cab needing more space for pivoting. So the slopes had to be changed.

The color of the axle pins (whatever that color is - sand something) of the pony truck wheels also got me mad. They are partly hidden by the bley 1x2 plates with ladder, but again my eyes are level with the Crocodile … plus I also noticed that on most pictures I found on the web of the II version the “ladder” is missing at all. So I redesigned the truck as well, now featuring a 6L black axle and no ladder.

And in addition many of the implementation of previously reported mods: @Sérgio's greebling (soo nice!!!) very slightly modified, and @Sérgio's solution for closing the gap between cab and nose (plus some very minor additions, see pictures above and LDraw files, link below).

Want to add the wheel guards as well, as @Sérgio and @Duq have demonstrated. What is that "plate"/slope called, you are using?

What else? Ahh – changed the frames to black, as suggested by others. Not entirely because the contrast between the black wheels and greebling is then gone. So I left a few parts in dark bley – simply to show (and: because I did not have them in black). And: I removed all but 2 rubber bands on the cab. None on the wheel of the noses.

So here she is:

 

That was it. As usual, I really learned a lot from you guys. Thank you all very much for letting me again dive into the LEGO world of bricks!

Forgot: Yes, it negotiates curves (S type) very well. No idea about switches, but my crocodile will only drive back and forth "on the wall", disappearing behind books and magically reappearing … that needs some BLE programming – we will see. In that regard, a lot is going on in the Mindstorms Forum!

(Here are the links to the LDraw files (really very rudimentary, just for my documentation. Deep linked - as the folder is not moderated yet
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/ThorstenB/9VTrain/Crocodile/LDraw/nose_bogie.ldr
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/ThorstenB/9VTrain/Crocodile/LDraw/ponytruck.ldr)

All the best

Thorsten

[Duq]

You mean this:

It's called Wedge 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Right (Item No: 29119). You would think that it's part of the slope, curved family but no, this is Bricklink/ LDraw, there is no logic in part names.

I also didn't like the tan axle pins - I replaced them with 3L axles with stop in brown with the stops in the middle - no worrying about the axles moving plus the front wheels can still rotate at different speeds.

[Toastie]

8 minutes ago, Duq said:

You mean this:

Thank you very much!

If I am correct the McLaren Senna set (75892) has both 5 of the left and 5 of right parts in dark bley, which would fit me perfectly well. LEGO's site is down at the moment, will check tomorrow morning and then off to Smyth's.

Best
Thorsten

[aawsum]

13 hours ago, Toastie said:

 

So I am following all modifications a lot, main reason is that I am still doubting to buy this train. I usually build my own instead of buying them ;-) Thanks although for the detailed thinking proces and its description.

I do have a totally different question as I am intrigued by the system you have that supports the shelf where your crocodile is standing on. Can you show something of this or share a link to what you have used?

[Duq]

12 hours ago, Toastie said:

Thank you very much!

If I am correct the McLaren Senna set (75892) has both 5 of the left and 5 of right parts in dark bley, which would fit me perfectly well. LEGO's site is down at the moment, will check tomorrow morning and then off to Smyth's.

Best
Thorsten

That's exactly where mine came from ;-)

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Duq said:

That's exactly where mine came from ;-)

Just picked one up at Smyth's - and made in time to the next teleconference. Cool. Thanks again!

Best and have a nice weekend!
Thorsten

Edited July 24, 2020 by Toastie

[zephyr1934]

Great work, it is neat to see how many different directions people are taking this set

[Toastie]

4 hours ago, aawsum said:

I do have a totally different question as I am intrigued by the system you have that supports the shelf where your crocodile is standing on. Can you show something of this or share a link to what you have used?

Absolutely yes - but this is no system or the like - I just made it from scratch. The idea was to have something as light as possible but sturdy enough to securely support the crocodile on its journey. All material is from a local hardware store:

The horizontal supports attaching to the sloped wall are cut from 2x2 cm2 2,4 m long pine tree strips, same for the vertical wall mounts. The wall angle was a bit tricky but it worked. The vertical bars are cut from 5 mm diameter 2 m long anodized aluminum rods. The short vertical wood mounts have 5 mm, 25 mm deep blind holes receiving the Al rod; the horizontal supports have 5 mm holes where the Al rods can go all the way through. Both ends of the Al tube are secured 16 mm long 2 mm diameter wood screws; After alignment, I drilled a 2 mm hole accepting the screw in the wooden part all the way through the mounted Al tubing, but not further into the wood at the other end - this then allows to secure the screw well enough in the wood. The Al rods were initially longer than required; the entire was support mounted, adjusted and then the rods were cut to length.

The board stripes are cut from 10 mm laminated poplar boards (1,2 m x 60 cm) - each 15 cm wide and are attached together with 2,6 m long 10 mm U-shaped Aluminum profile - these were available in the store in white. All wooden parts (supports and boards) were painted with white acrylic paint.

The whole thing is surprisingly sturdy, I was absolutely not sure about that.

When you need more info feel free to ask, I can also make detailed photos of course.

Best
Thorsten

   

[aawsum]

Thanks for the detailed description. No questions, it is clear to me :-)