engineermax

Option 1 is good because it's stronger and less fiddly. However you'll need to make sure you have the clearance for the wider gears. I also don't know what gears are in there going to the axles themselves but Option 1 gives you more options for choosing gear ratios to get either more torque or more speed. (Use http://gears.sariel.pl/ if you don't want to do the math yourself.) Option 2, unless there's more I'm not seeing, won't change the ratios and you'll have the standard speed and torque of the L motors. I also like option 1 better because if the drive trains aren't connected one set of drive wheels can slip slightly if one motor runs better than the other. In Option 2 if one motor is slightly faster/ stronger it will stress the gears and the axles unless you have a differential in there. Of course either way if you have the motors facing each other they'll have to be running in opposite directions to make the train go the same way. In option 1 the wheels will fight each other while in option 2 it will simply eat your gears or just rip itself apart. Personally I'd try to have the motors facing the same way with the gearing from 1 and set to drive both flanged wheels. (It looks like you should have room for that but I obviously don't have the whole picture.

Well it looks like LEGO reserves the right to choose one of the top three themes which is why everyone gets to vote for three. Everyone gets to vote for one of the three but that just determines which is most popular. I do have a feeling that classic castle, even split into different groups as it is will triumph but who knows. As long as we can signal that trains are still popular.

I have no idea how any of that works, but I'm following becuase it sounds promising. I'm always interested in ways of making Lego trains more high tech.

The cutting of things like pneumatic tubing always interested me. On the one hand its cutting, on the other LEGO has asked you to do it in the past so I don't object. I also maintain that third party elements like Brickarms are OK since you don't modify the LEGO and the LEGO company doesn't make guns like that.

My advice is relatively simple. Buy sets that look like they may have interesting parts or techniques. This allows you to build your general brick collection and you will learn techniques by building the sets. (I always build every set I get, it helps) Find a real world thing that inspires you and try to MOC it. Try try and try again. Look at what other people have done; borrowing techniques isn't bad. (If you post it it's nice to reference where you got ideas or techniques if it was someone specific). As other people have said, try to design with what you have, but don't be afraid to buy specific parts either. The best way to become a good builder is by practicing...

This is amazing. I love the attention to detail; I could spend a long time looking at this. The combination of WWII and trains is great. Apart from the minifigures and their equipment, is it purist?

This is good. I like a good LEGO stop motion, especially when its about one of my favourite games. The scenery in particular really does The Zone justice I think.

I loved Railbricks, for a while I wondered what happened. Now that I know. I can wholeheartedly say that I would love to get a LEGO train magazine. One thing that I see as potentially valuable would be that if this took off, maybe someone could finally convince the NMRA that L-gauge is a real thing. I really want to see this happen. I don't think that the LEGO train community is dead, but sometimes it seems that way. Let's bring it back and introduce LEGO trains to a new generation. Because, while I am 18, it seems to me that the vast majority of the people in this community are middle aged. I want to get more kids into scale lego trains and a magazine like Railbricks (which is what brought me into LEGO trains) is a great way to do that.

Probably too late to link it here. But I realised that I never did. My entry from a while ago: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=119413

It seems like spying to me. Stealing a sample of a chemical is stealing valuable information. Piracy for me at least is more along the lines of taking something that isn't of strategic value.

In my eyes they are clearly wearing some sort of steel protective helmet that could be semi-historically accurate. It is interesting to note that helmets that look medieval were used as late as WWI. http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/dp-nws-evg-wwi-helmets-20151219-story.html Though with those bodies they do look a little bit too medieval for me but hey, everyone builds with what they have. My soldiers look too modern.

Thanks, I've been reading up and using a better camera.

Location: E02 Time: 0900 hours Tags: Land Vehicle, Spying Octan has decided to transfer highly sensitive information by a fast and lightly guarded speeder. Fortunately MANTIS Secret agents knew this and were lying in wait. The MANTIS agents laid a trip wire to flip the speeder. As an extra precaution, the trap location is surrounded by additional armed MANTIS agents. [imagine that this now is the other side of the wire.] The speeder flipped over the wire, broke apart and caught fire. The orders were clear: eliminate all enemy units. MANTIS HQ never said we couldn't set the jungle on fire, though. Agent Sally takes the suitcase with highly sensitive information. The valuable information is of course the whole reason for this trap.

"el coronel no tiene lo que escribe" I like it.