Spitfire2865

An HO model of it has been constructed. Was a rather intensive process if I remember correctly as almost all the pointwork had to be constructed in one or two pieces. It mustve been the smallest prototypical continuous run track work in the world.

I dont have any ideas for this, but most coaches dont have doors in the middle. Especially not the Super Chief. What kind of coaches are you trying to build?

Honestly, for the Jupiter, you need to use the XL drivers. The L drivers are too small for the early American types. And there are plenty of photos online of the Jupiter. Theres even a film on youtube about the restoration of the locomotive. The way you say "what the loco was based on" doesnt really help. Many early American types were varied in design, so for the Jupiter, you need to look at the Jupiter alone. It will not be hard to find say the wheelbase, the length, the height, and all that, and from there and good photos, you should be able to build an accurate model.

You have the carrying wheels wrong. Its a 4-6-2 not a 2-6-4.

These are very nice. Would look good in the LIRR lettering, though that may be a little influenced by where I live...

Youll have issues with the wheels. Since theres no axle, theres no quartering. Id take out the inside valve gear to keep proper quartering. You wont see it anyway.

I can tell you with the double crossover you will not be able to run two trains at once.

If you could gear it to the drivers and somehow hide it in the boiler, it might make for a fast loco. Though how youd fit it I dont know.

Nope. None. Even before America adopted the knuckle coupler, all the inter car forces were through the drawbar.

All that bothers me is that it has buffers. Though it is nice, and with the pf motor, it will be fast. My General had it and it was fast and hard to control.

One of my favorite Lionel animated cars is the Shooting Sheriff car. I always wanted to make one in Lego but I cant work out the mechanism in Lego. Your car looks great. If only the moving bits could be done.

You just keep making awesome things.

If you really want to be ambitious (and want to murder your wallet), you could do 8 motors, 2 in each unit. Would be interesting, and you would get lots of power.

First, the name of those rods is coal rails. Second, its hard to implement the lego motor without altering the length. If you want accuracy, then the motor would either go in the loco, or a trailing wagon to push the whole thing. The wheelbase seems about right, but I think the wheels are undersized. I believe BBB's smallest drive wheels make good tender wheels. Lengthening the body of the tender may help get rid of the front footplate which isnt really there. In final, the rear shouldnt push out that much. Looks odd in Lego.

You will need one more string for the bucket tilting. You should build a simple stand to keep it stationary while you test string motions. Your video shows the difficulty with doing this if you dont have a steady base. Hard to see whats in tension or not.

I wouldnt say its common to find missing pieces. In my entire life, of probably close to 150 or so sets, Ive missed one piece on one set, and had one damaged piece on the tower bridge set, though it was a common piece so I just replaced it. It was bent in half... Sucks to get an incomplete set, but I dont think packing it all up and giving up fo 3 weeks is the answer. Surely it isnt such an important piece that the rest of it cant be partially built without it. If its to join two parts, then in 3 weeks you can just connect them with the missing piece. Also, extra pieces are common. The usual is a stud or two, a cheese wedge, technic pins(if needed), droid arms(probably due to fragility), or little small parts that could be deemed very lose-able by small children. If you think about it, its a miracle more sets done have missing pieces. In a set of even just 100 parts, you have so many chances for just one to get stuck somewhere or fall out of place.

Interesting concept. Double cupola on a coach. Brings a new meaning to 'tank' car. Haha

That is true. You could still add a magnet under the hook to match with normal magnetic couplings. That would work for a fixed rake, and would allow hands off coupling.

I designed a non purist buffer and chain coupling. Although the wire I used for the chain loops wasnt ideal. Thin piano wire would work. It requires a modification of a pirate hook, but is fairly strong if the train is designed around it. The hook is pushed into a flex tube which is in 3 bricks with cross axle holes, but if the tube ran the length of the wagon, it would resist pulling out, much like the drawbar works on the full sized ones. The only issue with this design if done right is buffer locking, but thats due to the curve radius, not the design. Chain coupling by Trevor B Young, on Flickr

Sales tax is a percentage of the price tag. Its different per state and even between neighboring towns in some areas. And if youre going for the Simpsons house, avoid big toy stores like TRU as they probably jacked up the price. I believe there is a Lego store in Rockefeller Center (Where the huge annual Christmas tree is, if you know about that). Dont quote me on that though, its been a while since Ive been to that part of the city. If they are there, and they dont have what youre looking for, then TRU is your next best bet. I know nothing on USA exclusives. Sorry.

Most likely cost issues

Well... you have a figure of the same species as Greedo.

If these bands are the small round white ones, I have a handful of those, some since i believe 2007, and still in good shape. The newer bands are much more durable than the old black ones.

Thats really good. Im surprised theres not more ghibli mocs around. Ive seem some castle in the sky gliders over on flickr somewhere.