jtlan

That won't work; the converter cable only passes the C1/C2 control lines, and not the +9V/0V power lines: (Image from Philo's page on PF).

I think I saw one but it was cutting foam, which is super messy. The main issue is that ABS is not particularly suited for cutting anything except maybe soft wax, so the tool would have to be made out of something else.

I currently do use McMaster O-rings on my official Lego "L" size wheels, but I believe I chose a ring with too small an inner diameter. That doesn't seem to affect the traction although I do see some small marks on them after many months. Primary advantage over the Lego traction bands is that they blend in on black wheels. I suspect round profile and square profile will perform similarly in pulling power, and so round would probably just be better because it's easier to seat evenly. Time to dust off my copy of Mechanical Engineering Design and find some properly-sized O-rings...

The correct verb there is "turn" ;) Confusing, I know. That would be my preferred solution, and I could probably pick the right size of O-ring from McMaster-Carr for a given wheel/groove, but the issue is that I don't trust myself to turn the groove into wheels consistently without destroying them (it's not clear to me that the BBB medium mold would support a deep enough groove). I have a mini-lathe of sorts in storage but I don't trust its accuracy.

The adapter uses a pretty common size plug -- it's possible you already have one in your house from some old electronics (usually modems and the like). Anything that fits and produces 9~12V should be fine.

Some time ago this thread appeared, talking about a substance called "Bullfrog SNOT": After some initial confusion (is this some sort of new building technique?), I learned it was some sort of substance model railroaders could "paint" onto their wheels to add traction. I was pretty sure that it would just be worse than an actual traction tire, and forum posts reviewing the substance seemed to agree with me. The train wheels Lego makes both feature a groove for traction tires already anyway. However, I had been considering a couple things I wanted to model where the correct wheel size is closer to a Big Ben Bricks medium wheel. I didn't trust myself to cut a groove into the wheels without access to proper machine tools, so I thought I'd try the "painted on" traction tires. One key issue, however: I'm kind of a cheapskate, and didn't want to spend $25 on a tiny container of stuff to find out how well it worked. Furthermore, if it did work, and I posted about it, forum members who aren't from the only country to put men on the moon might have difficulty accessing the substance (although Tenderlok seems to have managed somehow). Time to find a substitute. Whatever I found needed to have the following properties: Increase friction (adds traction). Can be applied in a uniform layer. Transparent, so it doesn't affect the appearance of the wheel it's applied to. What has these properties, and is readily available? Urethane caulk from a hardware store! However, caulk is far too thick to apply evenly in a thin layer. The packaging bears the words "easy soap and water clean up"; I took this to mean that I could thin it by adding a small amount of water: I then used a small brush to apply this onto a clean spinning wheel to get an even coating: I left the wheel spinning for about half an hour for the thinned caulk to dry. Here's what it looked like afterwards: I built a small test vehicle and ran it on a figure-eight for about half an hour (so as to test it going around turns both ways). This was the result: legoman666 is remarkably prescient... Pressing down on the test vehicle suggested that the painted-on tire had a bit less traction than an actual traction tire, but traction seemed to remain reasonable after a half hour of running. I wanted a more thorough test though, so Commander Wolf installed the modified wheels on his QJ and had it pull some long cars for most of a BayLUG meeting. The result: This stress-testing caused the tires to wear off. I'm not sure if that's a property of the substance (did I thin it too much?), or perhaps the underlying surface being too smooth for the caulk to adhere well. More testing is in order...

Originally I just designed this in LDD because I was inspired while doing research for another MOC. I'm not sure which Märklin set the other LUG member was referring to. It is! I bought a whole bunch of them on Bricklink because I thought it would come in handy.

Apologies for the bump, but I finally got this together in the brick: I switched from dark green to regular green for convenience (a single dark green 1x3 brick costs over $5!). A fellow LUG member remarked that the model resembles the typical coaches that come with a Märklin starter set...

I suspect this design will have a lot of friction going around curves -- you'll need to articulate it somehow (or have the center axle slide). I was going to suggest looking at Railbricks #6 for an example of a 3-axle bogie, but the entire site seems to be gone. You could also try some variation of the design I posted in this thread.

I see you're driving the BBB wheels directly, but those don't have a groove for a tire. Are you getting enough traction?

That is correct, although it is in a different position on the M driver.

I flip the normal drivers over. The hub of the BBB XL driver is the size of the flange of the L driver, and the flange is 1 plate thick. This is true of the relationship between all BBB wheels -- each size is 2 plates larger in diameter than the previous one. The crank hole is in the same position on the L and XL drivers (but not the M!). However, I highly recommend ordering some XL wheels to experiment with -- there are some problems that can't be reproduced in LDD, such as the interaction between certain driver setups and switch tracks.

In the past I haven't posted models I've made in LDD before I build them in brick, but I realized there's no good reason not to. Therefore, here's a model of a two-axle German passenger car: This model is "free-built" (compare "freehand") without a fixed diagram as a reference, but is based on this coach: This vaguely resembles a Donnerbüchse, but clearly isn't (it's much shorter). If anyone here knows more about the prototype, I'd be glad to hear it. The model has a removable roof and features a simple interior: Again, this wasn't intended to be an accurate model of the prototype, just a simple build that captures the spirit of it.

I can't tell if you've already done this (since there's no shots from that angle), but looking at the prototype you should use the taller window on the left front side of the cab. Now, the million-dollar question: is it motorized? :D

You can use the wedge belt pulley and tire as mockups-- I used them when CAD-ing up my narrow gauge single fairlie (the only drawback being that the pin hole is in the wrong spot). Since the diameter of that wheel is 24mm, you can use longer cranks when doing an outside-frame loco without the cranks hitting the track.

Looking decent. Are you against using BigBenBricks' medium drivers? Those might give you some more flexibility. Also, I'd suggest turning on "show outlines on bricks" in the LDD preferences -- I feel like it gives a more realistic depiction of what the model looks like in real life, and it's easier for us to see how you've put it together.

Unless your local library is really rolling in cash, the print quality is going to be pretty poor from the types of printer that they have.

I'm using silicone-based shock-absorber fluid for RC cars, which comes in a variety of thicknesses. I apply it with a cotton swab to the inside of axle holes and whatnot, but it takes a little while and sometimes gets into places where it shouldn't (a problem currently affecting my DD1). I suspect that's a problem with all lubricants though. I'm considering trying the Labelle oil, but I'm skeptical that the oil can be both thin and stay in place. Maybe it has better surface tension? I'd like to hear from folks who have tried it. Other things I've been meaning to try: wax (as something solid and less-messy?), teflon.

From ALCO's previous posts I infer he's building an 8-wide model, but 8-wide is not a scale. An 8-wide American locomotive would be about [15 inches : 1 stud], which scales the prototype's driver size of 52" to somewhere between the hub size of M and L drivers. I would suggest using M drivers, because the flange increases the apparent size of the wheel. In LDD I use two wedge belt wheels and one tire to mock up BBB medium drivers. This gives the right flange/hub diameter, but not the right flange thickness or location for the connecting rod holes.

Seriously, this is way too many motors. All that torque will be rendered irrelevant because your wheels will slip before then. My Franco-Crosti was 80 studs long with two M-motors and that was already quite enough. Put two XLs in the middle section and enjoy using the leftover space to model interiors.

A similar technique was used for the water tank on 10246 Detective's Office, using the old wide technic chain links wrapped around a 24-tooth gear, and the tiles plugged into that.

Depends on what size you want. I use the following SNOT design for my Single Fairlie and Lombard Log Hauler: Also, pretty sure that the cheese-wedge boiler you posted is the same as the Emerald Night boiler, but with cheese wedges instead of curved slopes.

8W PF design. Co-Co trucks are a real pain to make. class47_bogie.lxf

Hey everyone! Normally I post in the Train Tech forum. I wasn't sure if this MOC belonged here, but Commander Wolf insisted that this was the correct forum. The Lombard Steam Log Hauler was the first commercially-produced vehicle to use caterpillar tracks. They were essentially a small saddle-tank steam locomotive mounted on a frame with a transmission driving a short pair of treads. The front of the vehicle was supported by a pair of skids or small wheels, which were steered to turn the vehicle. Operating the vehicle required a team of three: the engineer, the fireman, and the steersman, who sat on the small platform in front to steer the vehicle. This model uses the same general SNOT-based boiler as my narrow-gauge single Fairlie locomotive. As was the case for that model, I mostly freelanced the design while looking at reference images (this one in particular), rather than scaling an engineering drawing as I usually do (engineering drawings for both vehicles were hard to come by). The end result is approximately the same scale as my other models. Another angle. The interior of this model is identical to the Fairlie. I'd like to have a crew to operate it, but I don't have any lumberjack minifigs! Full Brickshelf gallery here (pending moderation). Let me know what you think!

Simply opening up the motor, shaking the thermistor out, and putting it back together should be sufficient. Disagree? Battery box should fit in the tender, receiver in the cab, and the PF train motor under either of the two trucks or in the tender.