Szubi

Michael Gale has said before that and I do appreciate that bringing the motor to market is a challenge and also not the first thing that the market wants. I understand that you need track to run on first. However there is simultaneously a part of the market that would gladly take a pickup or a motor over track. First. pickup; lighting the cars, or feeding power from the track to a PU motor. Let THAT motor get toasty in shows ;) Second first. Motor; revitalize those old 12/9V era trains for occasional use, MOCs etc for those who don’t necessarily run them day and night, with the certainty that they have 0 mileage (stud-mileage? Studeage?). I’d much rather have a high quality new FXbricks motor than tear into the bottom of a used Lego one, ruining the casing. oh. Annnnndddd DCC capability. That’s my end of the spectrum. In fact, I’ll be shopping right after this for 4 9v motors today to Power my double length 7745, a heavy 7740 and power a 4561 based moc. What I get is a bit of a lottery. ps. I got plenty of track for my small layout.

Phew! I guess I’m not the only one thinking it got very quiet on the topic of bogies and feeders :) The Lego bogies aren’t getting any younger and clips and pins don’t grow back ;)

I’ll piggy back on the motor bogie question - any updates on that?

As happy as I am with how the engine came out, I did come across some issues that stem from the fact that LEGO used that unusual 6x16 train plate with an incorporated inverted wedge; It is very difficult to have a swiveling front bogie and a functioning light - the 9v 2x2 connector brick pushes the bogie back so far that there is a gap just behind the inverted wedge of the plate, which is hard to mask with period correct pieces. I'd have to use more modern pieces, and they still wouldn't sit flush. So I started thinking, what if this locomotive was a little more 'loco'? (sorry) I mean the design is crazy enough originally as it was by LEGO... Perhaps it could have been a super high speed type of train? 2 Motors? A bendy loco! A Loco loco! I used 2x 2x4 hinge plates top and bottom to fix the engine and 'tender', so it is sturdy enough and can pivot nicely around a track, but still have to come up with a way to colse up the space. It could remain open though. The nice thing here is that I'm really maintaining the original front, with the bogie fixed to the 6x16 train plate as in the original, as well as without the need to raise the whole thing by a plate so the bogies swivel freely. The only alteration is the buffer+magnet, which is moved from the back of the engine to the back of the tender. Oh, and since I've learned to render, here are the original ideas from the top of the thread, in a more pleasing form. Enjoy :) @Murdoch17 I did enjoy your attempt so much that I actually researched the Metrolink on wikipedia. Suggestion: make the top half of the cars black?

@Murdoch17 Thank you for your kind words! Your stepdad must have splurged getting you not one, but two sets! My parents always thought of LEGO as a purely educational toy forcing me into Technic early on so I never got any trains as a kid... Now I'm revenge buying I'm still curious what changes you and other forum users would make... If only a LEGO designer could give pointers or insight on the way these were designed back in the day and chip in, I'd be over the moon! Not looking for company secrets, just criteria etc.

Hi! My friend and I have been debating for years now on the design of late 1990s LEGO and trains in particular. The debate usually touched upon the 4560/4561, how akward it was in the engine department and how it was never going to be on our collector radars. One day though, I got a decent deal on a couple of trains, including 4561 so I pulled the trigger and a few missing pieces later I started putting the train together and started appreciating the design that went into it. It isn't half bad! What still irks me despite my new affection for it is 1. how short the locomotive is and 2. how it 'jitters' down the track under the load of two rather heavy cars. So I thought to myself, why not modify the engine to look a little more decent? Of course, I had the following assumptions: 1. Make it like LEGO would (even though I'm no designer after 25 years of dark ages). 2. Use only period available pieces. 3. Make it more realistic. 4. Maintain the entire engine as original as possible and add only behind the two columns/rows of 1x2 Fluted bricks. This is what I have come up with so far: I apologize for the crudeness of the pictures and the design. I know it is akward whatever I do to it, but I'm wondering, what are YOUR thoughts? What would YOU do to make it better, more like something that LEGO would release that year after a little more design effort? As a bonus, I had a go at creating a Club Car, inspired by the famous 4547. Same question: How would YOU modify it? Roast me :D

I would tend to agree. Just today I hacked my 88005 leds and successfully hooked up a 12V motor from set 7740. I must say, I am rather pleased with the fact that this method works! That said, I noticed that the motor lacks oomph, which on a heavy train like 7740 is not great news. 9V is not the same as 12V… Once again in my life I’m learning that factory solutions work best. I’m sticking to a complete PuP system even though I’d love to see classic bogie wheels and connecting rods like on 7735.

Agreed; the plan now is to firstly get my friend’s set back to original by buying a new hull, one that hopefully isn’t as yellowed on the deck as his was. It was his childhood original set so I’m keen to give him an undamaged piece back. After all, I need to deliver on a promise, so I hope it is a fair deal; better deck, unoriginal (to him) hull. As for the damaged one; i am really curious to see the way it was assembled in the factory, but it is still in one piece so rather than destroying it completely, I think I will indeed spray paint it with a matching color and go for a vintage correct MOC, design wise. Also, I did try to use a technique where heating up the plastic brings back the oils within for a new like look, much like on car door trim, but that didn’t work. The plastic is not the same though also ABS… I think. Before I do a new paint job, I’ll go ahead and see if it can be polished. Some plastics ale good for this to bring back color. Still. I’m really saddened to see this damage. It annoys me to no end.

Well… KIDS, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! After two days at 40’C and soft light, I just peeled the tape and to my horror and dismay the red plastic faded badly in odd places - especially where the tape let go likely from warm and H2O2. The gray came out beautifully though… :( I now owe my friend a red boat hull. So… gray, white, some blacks; OK Red, blue, yellow; be careful they will probably fade.

Likewise, it’s funny to read that we came to the same conclusions. I taped up the entire hull, inside and out with electrical tape as it is easily formed around some of the bends and curves. I then extended the sides a little upwards and I poured H2O2 inside the hull and stuck the whole thing in the oven at 40’C for two days with the (incandescent) light on. So far this seems to be doing the trick. to minimize the amount of H2O2 used, I put two small jars inside the hull so the level of liquid went up covering the top/front deck nicely. I would agree from previous attempts at prying the hull sides away that the decks are in there for good, so is it’s better to leave them there.

Definitely no screws there... I really do wish it was that easy though. Thinking this over, I am probably going to try and tape up the red hull and submerge the whole thing or part of it in the hope that H2O2 needs UV and hear to work. Take one away (taped up surface > less H2O2 and UV) and it won't be affected. I would prefer to have the decks come off somehow - it would make managing the liquid in a container + pieces that much easier.

This is my first post on this site, so hello everyone! I’m Szubi and I’m an architect coming out of my long lego dark ages... yay! :) And I come looking for help. Quick context; Seeing some of the successes I’ve been having with retrobrighting recently bought vintage sets, my friend has asked me to retrobright a ship hull deck for him. Whereas the police boat 4010 was easy as it only needed pouring hydrogen peroxide into the hull to cover the deck, his fire boat 4031 is difficult in that it is a stepped deck design, it is much larger and it’s… red. A color which will be affected by hydrogen peroxide, unlike the black hull of 4010. So, pouring hydrogen peroxide into the hull as well as partial submersion are really out of the question… I think. Here’s the Question; Has anyone attempted separating the gray decks from the hull? It seems to be either glued in or snap-locked in. I’m really hoping that it is only snap-locked. I tried delicately prying the hull sides being very careful not to damage the hull or give it stress marks, to see the fixing method, but can’t see anything. Thanks in advance for any input!