alainneke

What happens if you mix LEGO, black Delrin and some 0-gauge railroading stuff? Well, with the right tools you can make custom power pickups (no LEGO modification necessary). Here's how: Custom power pickup (parts) by alainneke, on Flickr From top left to right bottom: steel 0-gauge wheel, custom made insulated flanged bushing (which fits the steel wheel to a standard 2mm LEGO train axle), ball contact (rubs against backside of the wheel), spring (pushes the ball contact against the wheel), custom made flanged bushing (holds both the ball contact and spring and fits in a Technic hole), Technic brick, miniature connector. The steel wheel is manufactured by NWSL, the ball contacts come from a German website specialised in 0-gauge stuff and the connector is a standard Marklin connector cutted in half. The bushings are machined from an 8mm rod of Delrin on a mini-lathe (for the curious, a picture is in my photostream) and made to be a friction-fit to the wheel and Technic brick. Custom power pickup (partial assembled) by alainneke, on Flickr Putting these parts together, you get a train axle with steel wheels (both insulated from the axle) and a spring-loaded ball contact. Custom power pickup assembly by alainneke, on Flickr Combining these two, add a wheel holder and voila: a custom power pickup. Custom power pickup bogie by alainneke, on Flickr After soldering on some wires, I've fitted the pickups to one of the bogies of my Emerald Night tender. Emerald Night tender with steel weels by alainneke, on Flickr The diameter of the 0-gauge wheels is the same as the standard LEGO train wheels, but the flange is a lot smaller. This gives a nice clickety-clack on the turnouts, but can also lead to derailments. It turns out that the manufacturer of the steel wheels also makes 'pizza cutter' style wheels, and these have already been ordered... Emerald Night tender with steel wheels by alainneke, on Flickr The wires can be connected to the LiPo battery, a DCC chip, a PF motor, lights, ... The pickups actually work better than the ones on the original 9V motor: the wheels make contact with the railhead using the tread instead of just a little part of the flange. Please comment!

Awesome work! The curves on the locomotive look great, and the interior lights are a nice touch. Congratulations on adding this masterpiece to your layout!

Wow, your layout looks pretty impressive! The open construction looks really cool, and the Plexiglas is a clever solution. You even found time to paint the whole thing :) I'm eager to see the videos!

Hi all, ever since the original 12V motor of my 7760 burnt out, I've been looking for a suitable replacement motor. I could have fitted a PF train motor, but my wishlist made it a bit more complicated: - power pickup from the 9V tracks, as all my trains run on DCC - 3 axles - moving siderods - minimal modifications to the original locomotive I decided to fit BigBenBricks medium wheels with custom-made aluminium 'tires', and use Zephyr's custom rods for the finishing touch (I haven't had time to apply the stickers yet, but they do look great JopieK!). The part holding the wheels is essentially plug-and-play: it has the exact same shape as the old 12V motor bogie 7760 with BBB medium wheels by alainneke, on Flickr The locomotive is powered by an old-style 9V engine (http://www.bricklink....asp?P=43362c01), which was the only motor I could squeeze in without rebuilding the whole thing: 7760 with BBB medium wheels by alainneke, on Flickr 7760 with BBB medium wheels by alainneke, on Flickr (the missing brick on the back allowed for an external power source, which is no longer needed: I've fixed it since taking the pictures) Power pickups by alainneke, on Flickr Here you can see one of the pickups. The locomotive is equipped with 4, so it can cope with the dead spots on a switch: Power pickups by alainneke, on Flickr ... and to show you that it really runs: EDIT: now with stickers applied: Finished! by alainneke, on Flickr Thanks for watching!

I used a Zimo MX645 (the wired version), which I bought from digitrains.co.uk . It came pre-loaded with the Flying Scotsman sounds.

Hi Ludo, (Sorry Zephyr1934 for hijacking your thread!) Thanks for the kind words! I've done some additional mods since taking the above picture: LEGO Emerald Night by alainneke, on Flickr Apart from visual changes, I managed to source a sound decoder with the Flying Scottsman sounds. I'm also particularly proud of my custom made nickel silver wheels on the tender The Seuthe smoke generator used is a number 7, as my track voltage is about 18V. Thanks for the invitation for Maldegem! I'll surely stop by and take a look.

Manual mini lathe, on the kitchen table :) Sorry, I'll try to explain better. With sliding contacts, I mean thin copper wipers which rub against the backside of the wheels. I used some sliding contacts from ESU (model railway manufacturer), but they didn't work very well. Lots of power interruptions and stuttering motors. Maybe when you make them yourself, they will work better. Use thin material! I now use 'ball contacts': metal pins which push agains the backside of the wheels. You can buy them from Schnellenkamp or AMZ Munz (both German, search for 'Kugelkontakte'). Traction on the tires is not bad. My 7760 is able to pull 3 coaches. Put some weight on the loco, and it will perform better. The price: aluminum is cheap. Machining a set of 6 tires took me an afternoon, but I had fun making them. I don't have experience with "slot car" style pickups. I don't expect them to damage your tracks.

Here is the current and final design of my modded 7760 (with tapered treads and 'LEGO-friendly' flanges; the actual pickups are spring-loaded and push against the back of the flanges): 7760 with aluminum tires by alainneke, on Flickr The decoder has been replaced since taking this picture; it's now sound-equipped and I was also able to squeeze in a capacitor, too: 7760 wire mess by alainneke, on Flickr @BrickTrix: no O2 for me this year, but feel free to PM me!

Not at all professional, but fully self-educated I use a 2011 alloy myself (contains copper), but I've read that 6000 alloys are also easy to machine. You could try to ask your friend if any of the listed alloys have specific characteristics which are better (or not) for model railroading. I have some 'Neusilber' on order, which I was told was the material LEGO used on their 9V train motors. On one of my locos, I used some commercially available copper sliding contacts. Unfortunately, they proved to be too unreliable for feeding a DCC chip; they are good enough for wagon lighting, though. In any case, I would say thinner is better. I saw Mireks work on Brickshelf some time ago. His wheels look great, and he told me that he had them custom made on a CNC lathe. The only 'issue' I could see, is that the wheels are not insulated at the axle (I.e. you cannot use the train wheel holders, because the axle has to be split). For my trains, this would limit their usefulness.

Great work, all 3 of them!!! The smoke effects on your Class 37 look very cool; what smoke unit are you using?

Hi Udo, from my personal experience, I would use aluminium tires. They do wear (slowly), but machining replacement ones is easier than making new pickups or new tracks. What grade aluminium are you using? As for the geometry, I've had success with a 5 degree taper on the tread, and a 22,5 degree angle on the flange. If you use a DCMT insert (55 degree), you can get both these angles without repositioning your cutter. Good luck!

Try this document (http://www.brickish.org/members/files/whoward/MonorailSwitchAnatomy.doc)

For a pure LEGO solution, you can also use flextrack @kieran: DCC (with 2 rails) won't solve the issues with tracks looping and short circuits, so you still need to think of something to detect approaching trains and reversing polarity accordingly. DCC trains will however continue to move in the same direction when you reverse polarity

The shipping on my last orders took about 2 weeks. Be aware that you'll probably have to pay VAT and 'formalities' on orders of €25 and above!

I've had some success printing it myself using plain white sticker paper (comes in size A4) and a cheap inkjet printer. The hardest part is getting the colors right: the color on your screen will look different than the printed color, which again will look different than the actual color of the LEGO bricks. Good luck!

I think you can get the part of the train covering the RCX to 7-wide (and leave the rest 6-wide), by using (vertical) tiles instead of bricks: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=90498. You can cover them with printed stickers to match the colors/lines of the train. Mount them with 1x2 brackets (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=99780): this way, you can easily remove the plates when you need access to the RCX' buttons

I see that you removed the battery cover to make the RCX slightly smaller. Why don't you try to separate the whole battery compartment from the rest of the RCX to make it even smaller: http://www.mralligator.com/rcx/ ?

Adding a 3rd axle to the PF train motor: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=64090 (scroll about half way down to see some pics)

To be able to climb inclines, the Duplo locomotive uses a cog railway-like system with teeth on its (rear) wheels which mesh with the racks of the bridge elements. Problems can occur when the racks are damaged; i.e. when some teeth are missing or deformed. Can you share a picture of the bridge?

You're welcome! It's sad to see that you're being ignored, just because you pointed out a problem with your purchase. I'm still waiting for 200 wheels (ordered early September) to be shipped ; let's just hope the diameter is correct... Be sure to wear safety glasses when you're trying to shave them down!

I recently bought set #10508 for my little daughter (she really likes the bridge!) and noticed that LEGO actually uses both the 'new' and 'old' curves in the same set... You can tell them apart, because: a) the old ones obviously don't fit next to each other on a plate b) the old ones still have the 'Duplo' marking on the bottom, whereas the new only have a '© LEGO Group' marking on the bottom

Congratulations on owning this beautiful locomotive!

Nah, your mail car is probably equipped with some fancy mail-sorting-machine which needs a lot of power :) Very nice to see this beautiful train come to life! For the stickers, I would also recommend those made by JopieK

If you're not against using hot glue on your LEGO, may I suggest using these: http://www.haertle.de/Modelleisenbahn/Spur+H0/Beleuchtung+Spur+H0/ESU+50707+Stromabnehmer+fuer+Waggons+fuer+alle+Spuren+geeignet.html (ESU 50707; I use these for my wagon lighting). To accommodate wider gauges, they can be separated by cutting them at the black part. Don't forget to solder on the wires before glueing them into you model!

Hi codefox421, I haven't come across this problem (yet). The specs of these O-scale wheels (http://nwsl.com/uplo...3_web_10-28.pdf) show that they should measure 17,48 + (2 * 2,8) = 23,08 mm. I measured one of mine to be 22,75 mm, while the LEGO wheels are 23,15 mm. Your 23,75 mm wheels seem to be out of spec; you could give NWSL a call and ask for replacement wheels. I'm a bit worried myself now, because I ordered 200 of these wheels some time ago (which are still to be shipped, sigh...)! Just curious: how are you going to mount the wheels in the LEGO train wheel holders, while making sure they are electrically isolated from each other?