MusicaRibelle

Yes, thanks again for the insightful answers. I've worked my entire career in computer science, but always a layer above any OS, embedded or not, so I never really considered those design challenges. I suppose that the process works fine is there's a train motor connected to the hub, since there are no warnings or instructions for the train sets either, and those were the first application of the new Pup system. Anyways, the Croc runs fine, still a bit tight on curves when towing other cars, but it's nice. I am not in a hurry to convert the rest of my stock, though. Lego Crocodile freight train (sm) by Federico, on Flickr

OMG, it worked! Thank you so much! But.... why didn't they explain that anywhere?? There are no instructions in the hub packaging, no FAQ about this in the app or on lego.com - I looked through their troubleshooting info several times. I always think computer-like electronics should behave like a personal computer, but they don't (to flash / upgrade firmware, I don't need to disconnect phisically all peripherals..). I feel a bit like an idiot, but I'm glad I got it to work

Hello everybody, After thinking about it for a couple of months, I've decided to invest in the new PoweredUp tech and bought Hub and L-motor for my Crocodile locomotive.< So far the process of using the new tech has been.. terrible. The hub, when turned on, shows a blinking pink light (firmware update needed). The app finds the hub (from the app, I choose the Croc, shows the interface to run the train, and the BLE icon shows a few colors) - I suppose it starts the download of the firmware: it shows full screen a picture of the Hub with a big 0% - I suppose that it is meant to show progress and go to 100%.. except it doesn't. It stays at 0% for a few seconds, then it shows a list of connected hubs. The list has only one element "Lego bootloader", the app is frozen, the hub is "off", meaning it shows no light, and pressing its green button does nothing. The only way out is to restart the app, restart the hub (open and close the lid, disconnecting power). Nothing changed after repeated attempts, I tried on two different smartphones, one Android, one Apple, in case it was a phone problem - it isn't. I don't know what to do. Calling Lego is an option, but their traffic volume is high, I am not expected to speak to any human for hours... Any useful suggestion?

Thanks! To be fair, skates as trophy cars are not my original idea, you can find them in the original set (75889).

Without magnets, you can't pull, only push, so you can't change the position of any train car. You can build an uncoupler (mechanic, manual, without servo-motors) and still have a simple yet complete setup. The Inglenook Sidings requires 2 switches and 1 uncoupler -- and a simplified version for shorter trains should fit comfortably on a 4 ft. table. (ref. http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/SPL-operate.html )

In my current layout, (250x100 cm, or 10x4 bp) I have a switching yard that can be considered an Inglenook Sidings representation: SwitchingYard by Federico, on Flickr And the reversing loop makes it possible to solve any puzzle, i.e. any composition of cars in either direction (forgive the poor lighting in these pictures) CurrentLayout2018 by Federico, on Flickr That said, operating manual switches and especially manually decoupling cars is not particularly fun -- and it's not well suited for an exhibition. I had previously built a mini version of that, with only the shorter 16-stud wagons, just as a shunting puzzle to show students as part of a 'computational thinking' class. That thing is more useful, as a teaching tool, and for that I don't even bother to use a motorized locomotive.

Hello, a few months ago I purchased the Ultimate Ferrari Garage set, mostly because of the cars. In fact, primarily for the F1 312 T4-ish, and secondly for the 250 GTO. I built the 'garage' part but didn't like it. So I set up to build an actual garage building, as a 32x32 modular. Full album is here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmkb4o3j modular Ferrari garage by Federico, on Flickr I've researched a few actual garages in Italy that are official Ferrari repair shops or that cater to Ferrari clients. Lots of them have a paint pattern of red at the bottom, with a yellow stripe towards the top, and white above that. Fitting two Speed Champions size cars doesn't leave space for an actual office in the garage, so the interior is quite minimalistic: garage floor by Federico, on Flickr The main garage door slides to the right -- making the left part of the garage fully functional, and the right part more of a showroom space. caring for the T4 by Federico, on Flickr Upstairs there could be a small apartment for the owner and his family -- again, inspired by real garages around Europe. I've instead made the upstairs into a cozy sitting room adorned with trophies (from the original set), where Michael Schumacher and Gilles Villeneuve are both alive and well, and having a drink together. Gilles and Michael by Federico, on Flickr If things went differently, Gilles would be 68 and Michael is 49, and they would probably enjoy a celebratory drink at an official Ferrari event. The upstairs is small, half covered by simply the garage roof, as I wanted as much light as possible to fill the interior and to have the cars visible from all sides. As for the GTO, it is roaming the streets of my Lego town, and for now it doesn't need any visit to the garage ;) Ciao!

Yes, you can look for cloth for 'cards table' at a fabric store. That's what I use, it works pretty well. The cloth tends to be slightly darker than classic green baseplates. Alternative to baseplates: that's tough. There are products out there, but the only one I tried did not satisfy me at all: studs were probably a fraction of a mm wider, so bricks or plates on it fit too tightly, making it hard to detach and reuse. I stick to bricklink or the occasional local garage sale, for genuine lego baseplates.

Probably the most effective thing we could do is to pick a project on Ideas and get the required 10,000 votes. Any other initiative requires lots of coordination among people who are located far away from each other and with different taste in trains. Possible, but difficult. For example, it would be nice to have lots of LUGs build a train with the same set of pieces -- a custom hobby train set of sorts. First, someone would have to propose a set of parts with some possible designs for a locomotive and cars (passenger cars?). Then we refine the design with contributions and opinions from people in this community, perhaps inviting or attempting to involve members of as many train LUGs as we can. Then we attempt to agree on a timeline for each LUG or individual to order the parts and schedule an event for a given month, and collect videos and other media from the event showing off all the many different MOCs built from the same 'hobby set'. Thoughts?

Try the Inglenook Sidings design -- and use a small oval as the mainline. That fits is a 3 x 4 baseplate space, and many hours of entertainment, especially if you build decouplers.

Get another 60050, and then add on to the pair with your own pieces. I think the best station ever released is 4554 metro station -- and we've seen some moc/mods here in different color and size that confirm that in my mind.

What suggestion do you need about the powered bogie? I.e. what problem do you have? If you show more pictures of the bogie and its connection with the motor, it'd be easier to understand the issue and to help.

I am afraid you're 100% right. The truth hurts sometimes :) From my point of view, I really don't care if new trains or new modulars appear frequently on the market, as long as the theme remains alive.. alive enough to supply the fundamental parts to bulld MOCs. TLG has given us basic pieces and LDD. The rest is built by the community. What I would like, honestly, is a technology upgrade for the controls. I don't have time or patience to study Arduino and make my own board, and the Lego robotic sensors and related pieces are too bulky and expensive. I would like to see a set of components that are for adults, adequately miniaturized and available to purchase as a solution. I.e. a few light, speed, track sensors the size of a 2x4 brick, and controller board with usb plug, and a simple basic program that runs on smartphones and pc, and that can be complemented with custom code. Don't worry about putting out more horizon express trains, we'll build our own. ..though once in a while a nice complex steam engine would be nice, I arrived too late for the EN, and I'd surely buy the next similar thing.

Get the 'research institute' set. It's all interior, no building.. and them have fun build an actual 'research institute'. Look for 'lego furniture' online and find ideas to build interiors. The 'Lego Ideas Book' has several pages with nice examples of varying difficulty. Have fun :)

What Exa said. Emerald Night and Horizon Express need about 6 studs of clearance from other trains. Now of you put any of them on the outer loop, you don't care, you can keep your inner loop 4 studs distant from the outer, and you'll be fine.

Cool. If one day you manage to gain an extra 10", the length of two straights, you can 'double' your outer curve. I.e. where the curve starts, insert a switch instead, on each side. You'll gain another line to temporarily store another train, which can join the track or return to 'parked' curve in either direction. Of course it's more realistic to do that with a long straight, but finding space there may be more difficult.

Good ideas.. and interestingly enough, this web page itself is suggesting the thread http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=107661 as one with the same tags, and it's a tire repair shop, with a speed champion Porsche, so I think I now have the idea I need.. thanks all! I'll be back with pictures :)

Hello, I have nothing to present here, but I have a bit of bricker's block, same as writer's block but in front of tiny bins full of lego parts :) I have space left in my train+town layout for a 16 by 32 base and building, facing the main (and only) street of my town. I had an 'emergency services station' there, part police, part fire station, but I've just dismantled it: too tall. I want a short building -- max height should be 13 bricks from base plate. The back faces a straight railroad, the front faces a main street. The back needs to look good, because I'll be looking at that most of the time :) It has to be short, because of perspective : I want to be able to see well the façades and details of the modular buildings on the other side of the street. Next to it there's a station and a small freight loading dock, so no more of those :) Ideas? I saw the small 16x16 adorable toy store posted this week, it's really neat. I initially wanted to build a store / exposition center for speed champions cars, but they're really too large for the space. What would you build? A one story bank? A library? A rambler i.e. one story house? A post office?

I have a soft spot for Ghent, it was basically my first trip abroad, and I loved the city and the people I met. Do you have links to pictures of the real dock, and then I want to see more of your green shunter locomotive, it looks great. Fantastic work of patience on the cobble stone pavement with the 1x1 round tiles...

Welcome, Dries. You have a huge space, though I understand half of it is not very wide. That said, I would try to optimize for more trains, both more trains concurrently (given the space, three instead of two) and more trains parked on the track -- to make a station scene nicer or as part of a shunting yard. For example, instead of the long straight at the back of the space, make two connecting loops, and them one more inner loop on the right side of your plan, where it is wider. The yard may go on the left side, to accommodate two extra trains. Of course that's just a personal preference. I prefer six trains of four cars (loco + 3) than four trains with six or more wagons each :) And you'll want them too .... you have high speed passenger train and an american freight train. Soon you'll want a steam train, maybe a european freight train, then something else.... they add up fast :)

Ok, the Porsche is out :) I think I will eventually build a 911 with some BL orders. I also think I want the McLaren, and then I need a Ferrari to beat the McLaren ;) Now, I'll have to decide between LaFerrari and 458.. thanks everybody for your reviews and suggestions!

Hello, stupid question: if you had to but only two of the four cars, which ones would you get? Lego, of course, not the real ones ;)

excellent job, good to see many suggestions and improvements on the maersk and a nice customization overall. You should really be proud of your decals, you've done an excellent job and the loco pair look fantastic. Now we'll want to see the actual complete freight train on the ME large radius curves.. Brick on!

Or treat it as an unnecessarily aerodynamic streetcar ;)

in one word: inspirational. Great work on the facade, the proof is seeing it side by side to DO building. And great interior details. Love the fencing theme and the hipster shop and Café. Almost too close to home [shudders]. Good job, next weekend i'm going to try an open back modular with the same footprint, to see how it looks in my layout. Thanks for the inspiration and for the neat execution. Brick on!