M_slug357

Or, if you could coax 1,000 people to release $200 each, you might get there faster? Maybe try to get some sort of celebrity endorsement? lol You should post some pictures here!

Does sun exposure still cause white pieces to get 'yellowed'? I don't know how long that process would take though, but it could be worth a shot? There's always spray painting, but color matching & consistency can be a pain.... Also, have you thought about doing a 'wartime' dark grey color scheme for another 4yg or pair of 3yg's?

This is hurting your fingers for a very good cause! Have fun!!

I think it's around 80 usd?

hahaha, I think four of them combined would be nice, but it's not really within the scope of my budget. Two copies should be enough to beef up the size of the main building as well as lengthen the main platform.

Gotta get two of these!! ((why isn't there a handcar though?))

Maybe try and have the traction tires on one side of the loco? either left or right.

They look great either way!! Any video of them in use @legoman666?

((you don't have to quote the whole block of text!)) ~These ones appear in books: Blaine the Mono, Tootle, Charlie the Choo-Choo, Sammy the Shunter (like TTTE, but with hands!), and Ivor the Engine. ~These ones appear in visual media: Von Ryan's Express, 3:10 to Yuma, Galaxy Express 999, The Darjeeling Limited, and Driver Dan's Story Train. ~".007" is a story that features talking locomotives and was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1896. This predates both the suave spy series (c1950's) as well as the Thomas the Tank Engine series (c1940's). ~And yes, LoZ = Legend of Zelda! It seems someone already attempted this back in 2015: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/12eae6ee-180d-4f37-a12f-932220bea7e5

Nice build!! Now you need a minifig holding a microfig while being held by your brick built fig! ;)

That'll be 50€ now, and another 50€ after completion of the job. lol, jk

Wow, I wish I could get my home layout up to this level!! Nice job!

((I didn't know that diesels rolled with the help of carbonation)) These look awesome! And, of course, those crisp decals make them all the more so!

I don't think the level of shine is a major issue... tbh, most of that shine will be covered with grime and dust after moderate use. Also, I'd say many customers will probably be ballasting the tracks, so the track elements will be partially covered up? Maybe, it could just be the lighting used when these photos were taken?

Not yet, but there is like HO and O scale bendable metal rails that you could (probably) affix to lego plates. Nobody has made a plastic rail version yet, maybe you could be the first? lol

Sometimes timing is important! That's why TLG kept the Voltron project on the backburner in the first place! So, maybe they shouldn't make this 2nd chance opportunity available to every project that has made it to the review stage, but maybe only 1 or 2 of them? This way, the 2nd and 3rd choice projects from each stage would potentially have another shot later on. Additionally, the projects would have to undergo whatever design changes (if necessary) that deemed them a fail the first time around. It's not a completely pointless thing to add, since business do this all the time- especially with patents & prototypes-- and the last time I checked, The Lego Group is a business.

I think what might really change the lego Ideas landscape is if they introduced a "2nd chance" option for sets that made it to the review stage, but were then ultimately turned down. For example, if the Vintage Tram idea could reach an additional 5k's worth of support, it could be put on the next review cycle (from when the 5k was reached). However, they would also have much less time to do so-- like less than 6 months? You probably should! My only suggestion would be to scale it down to where it's using regular L size wheels for the drivers? Not sure what that'd do to the overall proportions though. Also, I think it would be nifty if you could incorporate some way to transform the engine from the streamlined J3a: to the workhorse J1e: What do you think @SavaTheAggie?

SNOT and custom bits are not nearly as big of an issue as worldwide appeal and easy-to-get licensing agreements are. I think if it were possible to do a "heat map" of sorts for [texas ten-wheeler] versus [NASA], you'd probably find that more people have heard of that certain space agency more than that retired railroad equipment. Personally, i think for a serious trains' related Ideas Project, the train needs to be based on a real prototype yet at the same time be generic enough to not be too region-specific. Or, it needs to be based on a fictional locomotive that's got a metric ton of world-wide appeal (and then some!) This means that some very well known fictional trains are possible, such as: -Hogwarts Express (4th time?) -Chuggington -Wabash Cannonball -Blaine the Mono -Big Thunder Mountain Railway -The Polar Express -Von Ryan's Express -Tootle -The Little Engine that Could -3:10 to Yuma -Galaxy Express 999 -Overload -Charlie the Choo-Choo - .007 -The Little Red Caboose -The Darjeeling Limited -Driver Dan's Story Train -The Silver Streak -The Caboose Who Got Loose -#731 -LoZ: Spirit Tracks -Ivor the Engine -Sammy the Shunter *all these names where provided by wikipedia* Plz comment below which of these you've heard of vs those that you haven't! ~M_slug

hi there, just thought I'd contribute some thoughts to this idea: -If at all possible, reduce the footprint of the whole piece to a 6x8 or 4x6 stud area; gotta save space whenever possible! -On the top of the buttons, include a 2x2 studded area for tactile feedback or as space to add 2x2 tile decals -Like in cal's illustration, have the LED's occupy a stud's worth of space, but have them recessed enough to allow for a 1x1 transparent plate/tile be attached over the top (maybe inlude one red, blu, ylw, grn?) -For the power supply, it would be great if you could have two versions maybe? One that is fed straight from the wall outlet, and one that is fed via the track?

I agree with @Ludo on this; time to abandon the older style electrical connectors! I think an interesting way to connect multiple wheelsets together might be to use the 1x4 spaces that are available on the underside for electrical connectors? Arduino pins or something similar. Assuming many might make a standard 4x6 bogie (two wheelsets together), having two units be able to directly couple to each other would be beneficial. I would mainly use a product like this for internal lighting for coaches, for example.

hey @coaster! It's great to see the website up & running! Just a quick thought-- Would it be possible to feature "coming soon" items on the products' page? I'm just thinking that would definitely get more people to bookmark your site if they know more items are on the horizon. ((it looks a tad barren with the two offerings at the moment of writing this))

looks great, just 3-11 more to make a nice rake of them!

Wow, this is terribly disheartening news!! I recently purchased some elements from this particular vendor a few months back, and now feel a bit guilty that my purchases have gone to support this!! :( While I wouldn't mind supporting collaboration and idea sharing between the various 3rd party retailers out there, this clear theft of such ip should not go unpunished!! i guess what irks me the most (slightly more than the idea theft) is that there are SO MANY other switch types, turnout radii, and narrow gauge options that could've been researched and developed before any idea theft had to occur. The whole point (at least to me) of 3rd party Lego-compatible retailers should be to produce elements that have either been discontinued by TLG, or never produced by them in the first place.

A sample assortment from Lionel: (ignore that random coal tender) It's not that there's no inspiration to be had from real life trains or other toy train manufacturers, it is just a question of how to translate this into lego form in a robust and cost-effective way. Unfortunately TLG usually chooses the cheap route by making okay tertiary vehicles that can be transported by a flatbed train car. I wouldn't be as mad about this as I currently am if TLG at least provided decent ways for such vehicular cargo to be loaded & unloaded. In terms of engine colour predictions, I'm thinking either green, yellow, or orange~~ say, orange freight diesel + green passenger electric, or yellow freight diesel + green passenger electric. While I'd love to hold my breath for something steam next year, I fear that i'd pass out way before anything was even leaked online.

This is interesting, but wouldn't it make more sense to just create an entirely new receiver that's RF based, versus a plug-in to the IR receiver? For the sake of minimizing how much space is used, etc