bricks n bolts

Excellent, a very clean install in that wagon and great video! Is the train running off that Lipo now as well, looks very small, how many studs is it? Can you still recharge from the power rails?

Hi Tree, Currently, without Alainneke, I think disassembling the pickups from one of these is your best bet : http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?S=1151-1#T=S&O={} All 'new in bag', cheapest is 12 Euro. As a community we really need an alternative source as disassembling other rare parts isn't really a long term solution.

Love the proportions, very clean lines All the thinking about snot work has definetly paid off with the door and windows. Let us know when you get the bricklink estimate!

You're welcome kzv I got mine from here : http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/7215109277.html Not seen any half lengths by Ausini, ME models do some but not in light grey (perhaps we could ask them to consider it as an option?)

Was checking out clone brands recently for any useful train parts not made by Lego and noticed that Ausini have made fully compatible RC track but in light grey rather than bley or brown like the Enlighten track. Another difference is the sleepers are spaced differently. This got me thinking it would be perfect for working with 12v grey era power rails as not only is the colour very similar to the power rails but it might be possible to fit the 12v curved power rails onto the track without modification due to the sleeper difference. Would be great to properly update the grey era rails seeing as the old ones discolour easily, are bad for traction and get brittle with age. Note, as recently mentioned in another topic, only grey era straight power rails fit RC track without modification, curved grey and blue era straight and curved power rails need to be modified at the bottom by filing away extra bits of plastic that get in the way, not that difficult but a bit of a tedious... hopefully the Ausini idea provides a way around this colour dilema without having the hassle of filing. Anyway, so I went ahead and ordered two loops of the grey Ausini track (just track from aliexpress.com, not the Ausini trains themselves) to see how this craziness would pan out... So the track arrived without issue, again, like Lego RC track, the straight power rails fit fine, the curved rails didn't fit exactly but I found that if I offset the power rails by one stud than I could easily fit them nice and snug and without tedious modification. This is the result : Looks pretty good! So what to do about the one stud mismatch? Either you can carry it all the way around a closed loop, just use Ausini straights to avoid the issue, or you have to deal with the offset for a pure 12v solution. (Neither is this a problem if you just want the power rails to surve as a battery recharge station. ) So for the end missing a stud, perhaps a ready made track isolation piece, like with this modified blue on bley piece? : Thinking maybe the light grey for the intercity and the blue on bley as the cargo track The added cheese slices are important to prevent the 12v pickups from slipping on the hard edges of the power rails. Surely the over one stud is more of a problem, so what to do about this? Even here there is an answer, to operate 12v switch points, or if we needed more track, we may need to convert back to the old track system. There are converters that have been 3D printed available from Shapeways, one is the size of a flex track piece, and the other smaller one still extends the track length by two studs, so both too long... luckily there is a converter on Thingiverse (at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:832183) which only extends the the track length by one stud! So I downloaded the stl file from Thingiverse and uploaded it to Shapeways and got a couple printed in polished metalic (the closest thing they had to light grey) : And here it is giving us the extra stud (looks a bit more glittery than average due to the camera light) : Now to put it to use with some classic switch tracks : Hopefully this tutorial helps extend your track options, happy track mix'in... The transition between track styles is smoother than on the other conversion piece I've used. If you look very carefully at the picture above you'll see the join to the Ausini track is tighter at the top compared to the bottom, this is the fault of the Ausini track rather than the converter, it gives that very slight gap against Lego RC track also, but not with two bits of Ausini track. Only other thing to mention is Ausini don't seem to do a switch point set of their own in case anybody was wondering. There are however left turning switch points in some sets, but no right turning switch points anywhere as far as I can tell. However all reports on these left turning ones show that they are missing the actual centre piece to turn the track, so maybe best avoided... There are also tantalising pictures of other colours for the track in some sets but haven't been able to confirm those.

Wow, very cool and compact design , congrats. Let us know how the battery performs and how much traction she can take. Is that an sBrick in there?

Yes, it's only possible without modification for straight grey power rails, curved grey and both straight and curved blue require modification. The modification isn't difficult but is a bit time consuming, as you basically have to file the additional plastic bits away on the underside - makes for no visual difference when attached to the track and doesn't affect gripping power.

12v is great fun. All the electronics are still good.The transformer, remote switch motors, train crossing and traffic lights that stop the train are great, but don't bother with the automatic decoupler as it doesn't work well. The only thing I don't like about it is the outer track as it can discolour, becomes a bit brittle with age and is not as great as 9v/RC track/wheels for friction. So my current system is more of a hybrid with RC track/wheels/motors but still on 12v middle rails, works for most things apart from switch tracks where there is no alternative but to use the original outer tracks. I'll make a post soon about how I add the curved rails. The switch track turns are also very tight compared to 9v/RC switches, wish I could think of a simple alternative / way to to use the RC switches

Very nice idea It's cool you have a method to control the train and recharge the batteries at the same time. For the ramps did you try using cheese slices? Something like :

It's a fantastic crane. For the long term goal though I would personally like someway to run the trains untethered by Mindstorms NXT and EV3 bricks.

Yes, I must to do something like that.

That's great Steve. I'll buy some! Have you done any more on the prototype? e.g testing for slippage / grip

Just for 9v power pickups you could try to PM Alain for one of his packs if he's still making them (see http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79145). Although noticed his BL store is closed.

Congrats on baby, and try to resist the Duplo urge Although if you can't I have a tub of second hand Duplo trains and track you can have for free.

Nice work, gorgeous coaches for not too many bricks. Worth noting for anyone building this with some Enlighten bricks - make sure you replace the wheels and inner magnets with offiical Lego ones. Easy to not realise the additional friction caused by the Enlighten wheels, but after four coaches there will be a huge difference!

Have really enjoyed watching these tutorials, very informative and excellent production. Also excited to hear at the end of the last tutorial you may well be looking Powerfunctions and bluetooth later. Arduino for track side sensors and automation, and bluetooth to control trains using a hybrid system is an interesting avenue to explore.

Is a cute shunter, can't beat those the old train doors, Lego should start making them again, or a close replacement... I'm sure they help with the playability (they're primary market, etc.)

Which brand/model batteries do you use? Good to know which you can trickle charge safely. Will be interesting to find out what 3.3F does, I'll keep you updated. Hoping to at least make it through switch points, although an R104 90 degree turn would be awesome..

Yes, that works for me too.

Yes! Definetly worth testing, may fit as a better use case in this situation than a Lipo. Not sure normal electrolytic capacitors would give you enough run time though, could try super capacitors. It all needs testing! To reach the correct voltage for a super capacitor solution you need to run three in series (as each super cap is rated either 2.5v, three gives you 7.5v, exactly the same as the Lego Lipo). However, then it's hard to find the right ones without size becoming an issue again as it's very hard to find a prebuilt series with 3, they nearly always come in 2s or 6s, so might have to build the series manually which could lead to balancing issues without the right protection circuit. Have to start somewhere however, so have ordered these - http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pc-7-5V-3-3F-Farad-Electric-Double-Layer-Capacitor-Super-Ultra-Capacitor-/371172857388?hash=item566ba0562c:g:UpcAAOSwI-BWJ8CL - the only 3 series I could find pre built with the amps output at about the right level but we're still talking 4 studs wide... So worth investigating alongside looking at smaller Lipos.

Udo's pickup solution / video is here : http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63596 Another 9v pickup solution from way back that may also interest : http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=461894 And my 12v pickup solution is here : http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63535&hl=pickup Howard

Ow, wow, that is beautiful, congrats. Great how you've found the positions to put the brushes and utilised the 2 PF outputs that were free. Might be worth building up the brush contacts with alainnekes' bushels and springs (http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79145&hl=pickups) for smoother running wheels but that will have it's own issues as the axel there is the standard RC train wheel one (metal - insulated by the bushels) and too narrow. Then next problem, now you've solved the 9v motor and track issues...., is we need a smaller rechargeable battery to act as an UPS, so we can run on both powered and RC track. This also impacts back onto the motor, because if we had that solution we would need only one pair of 9v pickup wheels, which in turn would help with any slippage issues. And ultimately we need a 'universal pickup' that can get power from either 9v outer or 12v inner rails in a mixed 12v/9v/RC layout.

Almost forgot, you can check out page 41 of Railbricks 6 for tips and tricks on how to cut the shaft to the right length and get the gears on. It's an example using an old 4.5/12v motor casing, but the principal is similar and the replacement motor he is using is the Motraxx263. Obviously leave the shorter shaft intact for the RC/PF motors as you'll need both.

The PF/RC ones. They are better than RC but not sure about the PF ones, couldn't really make my mind up and I don't have the gear to measure the difference scientifically. I also did this for my 7740 As said as a guess I don't think they will do better than PF if both run off their respective voltages. I have one Motraxx263 inside a PF casing running my 7740 with 3 carriages. However, there is one key advantage, the gearing on RC and PF motors looks to be about the same. So you can use the Motraxx 263 to replace the weak RC motors and you get the advantage of the RC casing which has the nice 9v electric pickup points as compared to the PF bulky wire.

Congratulations Duq on the magnificent build. That's seriously tricky stuff getting the BRs through points and the like, I'm about two years now into my BR35 build and am still not satisfied.