bricks n bolts

With one of the yellow things attached, it will be pointing towards the track on the turnout (I think?), taking out about 1.5 studs, so there might be an issue on some models. Will the axle hole mechanism still be an option or have you had to ditch that idea? Also thinking using the 'current official' mechanism with only 4 studs leaves little room for automation.

Yes, I think moving the switch mechanism to the other straight side is the best solution. Only issue is the minor 'edge of table' one as far as I can see.

Fantastic! Will you be adding lighting? Really would show off the snot work on the windows.

Fantastic work as always Ashi. You really know how to make the best use of snot. Love the windows, pantograph, and coupling system :wub:

Wow, colour choices are spot on! So clean looking.The camera makes the teal look either more blue or green just like the real thing!

Wow, that's a really impressive rake! Great colour on the engine too.

yeah, they don't seem up to copying Maersk blue, Ausini version also bad..

You can find most Ausini and GBL/Kazi trains at Aliexpress. The Horizon Express one is here at only £49.49. Other GBL/Kazi links I found are here and here. From the pictures it looks the same apart from the arrows on the side of the train, GBL sticker, the battery/sound pack, motor, extra track and dodgy minifigs. What I'd want to know is the quality/compatibility of those orange bricks... Edit: GMB=GBL

For me they're great resource for 'missing pieces', for example, from Ausini you can get the red motor sidings and light grey track Not sure about that brown track though, I'd try to be careful and only target sets that have 80% corresponding/compatible Lego colours. Anyone bought the GMB Horizon Express knockoff? That one looks so damn close to the real thing it must be infringing something..., would be interesting to hear from someone who had that and the original next to each other.

Yes, but I think the 9V end goes to the PF pins for output rather than power in, so are meant for 9V motors rather than 9V power sources. So best option would be to make your own cable, splicing PF and 9V cable ends.

Fantastic work LT12V, another great BR project completed Great you got so many axles motorized and included so many lovely details. My question, how did you get the small front wheels to rotate left and right, I see they can move left and right on the curved track but can't clearly see the pivot mechanism in the diagram?

Hi Udo, Congratulations, a fantastic build. Great work getting all the rods connected up, look so much like the real thing! Have to ask, which motors are you using and how did you get 9V power in? Is pickups from the tender or somewhere else?

The parts list is here on Ben's Brickshelf, not included in the Railbricks instructions. I have also built it but keep tweaking it, the model on eBay looks complete, pity Ben not mentioned, a true classic

Fantastic, and your Mallard looks like normal blue? You have so many great builds in your collection.

I'd second that. Although I know I would torture myself trying to motorise the main locomotive. What variant of blue colour is that? Bet I have next to zero bricks of whatever shade it is.

Hi Andromeda, Could you possibly rescue your images, even when I click download on the link through page I get a 404? Thanks in Advance

That's a great rendering. Are they large or extra large wheels?

Thought I saw something on Shapeways recently which will allow you to group items. A new feature they are implementing. Annoyingly, I can't find any of the details now. For the convertors I just took the STL file from Thingiverse and uploaded it into Shapeways to print in the Polished Metallic. Clutch power is good, size is spot on, haven't had any issues. I have tried 3 different convertors, and these are definitely the best, better than the ones already on Shapeways, the others have issues with the bumps in the track transition and on top of that with this version you only gain one stud to a standard length track piece.

That's great, how much is it saying then for the Metallic Plastic, dare I ask? Think if you do split it up into 3 or so pieces the polished option may help with the friction issues you mentioned. For example, if it helps, this track convertor was printed in the polished metallic option :

Thanks for looking into it. Your last but one design reminded me of them, with the technic axle hole coming straight up, they are very nice with servo motor and remote options. Just looked up the Shapeways bounding box sizes, seems 'metallic plastic' is 230 × 180 × 310 mm and what we really want (well maybe me anyway) - 'polished metallic plastic' is 150 × 150 × 150 mm. Seems surprising you went outside the bounds of the first one, did it fail one of their other tolerance checks with wall size of something?

Yes, but was thinking more of the 80's grey era ones as they had the detachable switch motors which does away with the need for a spring : Personally I don't require the whole thing to be electrified (but would be nice) as now have supercaps to get over non-powered sections. But I still have an issue with the pickups colliding with the side tracks. Could be fixed in two ways, either by adding ramps, which has the advantage in that they could be printed separately as an extra or secondly by adding additional gaps and rail supports to the side tracks which I think would look nicer... I also like the ability to be able to print in light grey (or 'polished metallic' is the closest Shapeways colour) as opposed to the current bley.

Is it just the springs or something else you're having trouble with? I think having it working without a spring would be fine and then the user could either lock it with plates or install their own servo motor. Could even copy 12v switch motors, think Andromeda here on the forum managed to swap out all the internals. Certainly not much to look at. It's more of a programmer's tool then a designer's. What you could try is importing the end STL into it as a polyhedron and then use difference and union functions to add or cut away custom objects from the original model. Fair enough, was just thinking about not full 12v switches but adding a feature to the ABS version which would allow 12v pickups to cross without hard-colliding with the edge of the rail, particularly on the turnout. So like on real world switches where there is a middle rail, you would have to flatten off two sections half way through the cross track and have two additional side rail supports. let me know if this makes no sense at all and I'll draw a picture.

Would love a progress update on the switches, did you work out the mechanism details? Also, wondering for the all ABS version, will it be open source, so possible to make customizations via an STL or even Openscad?

Congratulations, what a beauty

This is true and very exciting but think there is still a use case for the supercaps, considering most people will have a large quantity of plastic track still if they are transitioning to the new 9v system that ME offers. Supercaps are perfect for this as you can easily jump from powered to non-powered sections as long as you have an onboard controller (IR receiver, sBrick or Brickster module). Edit: Here is a great real world example : You can use the same concept for Lego trains and use stations as a super-charge point.