Toastie

Nice!!! So what did you change or add to it? It really is very intriguing! Best Thorsten

Hi Emanuele, nice, nice and even nicer! As - well always. Plus: This thread pointed me to Emanuele's chemical plant thread [I missed that - Merde (ha! The Big Brother here never captures any other than English). Thank you very much for sharing! All the best, Thorsten

@Edwin Korstanje It truly is a masterpiece. No doubt at all. All has been said. There is one aspect, I like to carefully add - I may be wrong. "Showing" is one thing. "Loving" a beautiful LEGO model is another. Integrating the very model with lighting and a display that one can see from every angle in that room is - a different level, well, it is for me. Still, one can argue it is "showing" ... not so for me, in contrast. The model, as far as I am concerned, does not show - it "is" in itself. It is a piece of art in the setting. Which, again for me, makes a very big difference. It goes beyond being a master of building who did accomplish that ... towards an artist of creation and imagination. Well, again, to me. I am enjoying the photographs with the ship in its "final" place the most. The whole thread was a miracle, but seeing the outcome: Slight bow, tipping hat. And all beyond belief. All the best, Thorsten

Hehe ... yes they are: 23 years and counting. But so are LEGO bricks. They have been around since more than 60 years - and we still don't buy the more recent Chinese bricks! But hard to use on modern computers? Hmmm: Win10 64bit: Get the Bricxcc software. Get a USB to serial adapter. Plug it in. Run device manager, click on connections (LPT&COM), find the USB to serial adapter, assign it to a COM port < 9 if it is not already, otherwise Bricxcc won't find it. Get a serial LEGO IR tower, probably from a BL site which also sells the RCX'. Turn on the RCX, startup Bricxcc, do an auto search for an RCX or RCX2 brick (depending on your firmware). Done. Or get RobotC for the RCX. Get the firmware for the RCX. Startup RobotC. Turn the RCX on. Download the RobotC firmware to the RCX. Done. OK, now comes the thing: Programming at this point is Not Quite C which a bit of C or Robot C which is even more so C. And yes, it is much less of a hassle when using the LEGO serial tower with a USB to serial adapter than using the LEGO USB tower, which, although it looks like it should - it doesn't. Summary: It is a bit annoying. But I would not call it too hard, is it? Best Thorsten

Shhhhhh!!! Man - keep it low. RCX' are one miracle - particularly when you flash the RobotC (or other free operating systems/firmwares). So we keep this to ourselves and all is good Best Thorsten

Done? We had the not so nice experience of talking >indirectly< to each other before. Why on earth don't you call me out? Why just the sneaky approach? Do I have to read between the lines? The not so between lines? Just that, and I am trying to stay very calm: Maybe some people have experienced other challenges in their life - and maybe they have a different perspective on being stabbed by a such a thing, that >clearly< should not happen. But you know what: I simply don't like "hype" - never. And before any of that goes into a direction that may cause more harm than just keeping calm, thinking about it, I tend liking to suggest that. Maybe in a wording that a native speaker as you are may find inappropriate. And maybe that is another thing to consider before going nuts: I am German. And I don't know all the things you can express in English. Try that: Talk to me in German. There is by the way no need to call me a super macho man. I was expressing a perspective. No macho, no cigars, no nothing of that >utter< nonsense. But hey, I do like rum. There you are spot on.

You know what? Shit happens. Yes, tell them. They may want to know. And track down what happened. But all that frenzy ... jeese. Get the piece out, build your Colosseum and enjoy the nice building. Best Thorsten

And maybe consider that getting old naturally causes some seasoning. Which is an entirely normal thing to happen. There was a time, when I searched for the "really white" white bricks in my white brick box, same with the old (=nice) light gray bricks. They also changed color over time - now replaced with bley. Seems that bley lasts much longer - and to be honest - is much more boring (for me), because of that. Maybe the perspective on changes changes over time. Getting older and older, I do enjoy the changes in the colors of my beloved bricks. They never seem to lose grip - but they - season. With me. Reminds me of Jethro Tull's "Heavy Horses" ... Best Thorsten

All has been said - maybe just that to add: As you know, in Ancient Egypt the pyramids of the type you are trying to recreate with bricks were almost seamlessly surfaced with slanted blocks of highly polished white limestone. So that would nicely fit with the white type. When you go with tan, then steps should be visible, as this is how they looked after the surface was (and this is terrible) "removed" to be used elsewhere. And as they still look today. Best Thorsten

It really depends on the glue used. "Superglue", when based on cyanoacrylate comes in varieties. As liquid, gel, etc. When using the liquid, it really bites into ABS and things become a bit "difficult". Here is a German website explaining how to remove cyanoacrylate from various surfaces - I am not promoting them at all, but they know how to make glues of all types. There is an English translations as well, but I could not find the "remove glue" section: https://www.pattex.de/de/ratgeber/sekundenkleber-entfernen.html Water + heat seems to be good. But don't go over 60 ... 70 degrees Celsius. That will begin to change the structural integrity of ABS. I don't know, what salt would do, but it can't do harm. Give it time though. ABS never suffers from water, some glues do. Also, what really accelerates any "dissolution" (it is more than that) process is using an ultra-sonic bath. They are available for cleaning of glasses etc, so maybe someone around you has such a device. Isopropyl alcohol, as already suggested, is also good. The important thing is to get the solvent in contact with the glue. I would really dump the glued pieces into 70% IPA, sonic it for 10 sec and the inspection. Nothing happened, go to 20 sec. etc. It is trail and error. Most importantly because the type of glue is not konwn. Good luck and all the best! Thorsten

Depends on the carrier - when travelling across the big pond, I sometimes have the impression, some folks do carry serious landscape sections in their "check-in" luggage ... Best Thorsten

Excellent review, really nice photography, and very good assessment. With regard to the road plates: I find them way too shiny. It looks like everything is either wet, polished or glazed over with some sort of super shiny glossy protective layer. All things on the surface actually mirror on the surface. Which - for me - renders the whole display much more "static", "unreal" or whatever I should call it - don't know. Which means I like the old ones better. Best and thanks again for the review! Thorsten

Believe in your builds. Simulations are fine. But they remain to be simulations. No simulation has real value without experimental anchor points. I don't believe Stud.io has a database of such experimentally derived "foundations". Best Thorsten

This is so nice!!! Thanks for sharing! I am currently restoring my old ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. They have tan RF modulator on board, which is essentially useless today, but what goes into the modulators is composite video (OK, the ZX81 is really doing it ... in a special way). So: They are alive! I have a cool LEGO Moc of an ZX81 as well - so along with your analog TV - it is a perfect match! All the best Thorsten

Irregularly here - I guess an order or two per year since almost two decades (joint BL 2003). Ordered mostly electric/electronic stuff and 9V train track :-))) Never more than 100€/order - the better part of me is carefully overlooking the family budget. I am very happy about that - otherwise we certainly would be in financial trouble. Best Thorsten

All clean, all nice, and much faster here! Thank you all for the hard work! Congratulations to you (and all the fun to us)! Thorsten

I believe it was more of concern for folks ordering from outside the UK. As of Jan. 1st this year every item coming from the UK to Europe arrives at customs and is treated as if it were from outer space. Just because it is how it is. Then they check all these items from outer space and find the one from UK. After quite some time of course - as there are so many parcels arriving from outer space. In case of outer space parcels they apply duties and so on, and then you are busted as that parcel is not delivered to you but to the nearest customs clearance office equipped with a cash register. The usual crazy stuff. As of now though, who knows what happens in the coming months/years, the UK parcel is cleared and then handed over to the postal delivery service. At that point, you'll have to wait for a day, max. two. Before Jan. 1st, a parcel from the UK was - handed over to the postal service, Royal Mail or whatever company you were dealing with, was cooperating with. Which I found very reasonable. Because a day or two after that you had it in your hands. The moment they will send parcels from the UK via customs to a German Zollamt, I will never order from the UK anymore. Not because of the UK, but because a German Zollamt is - for me - a place of a time in space, where I simply don't want to be, not for a second, not in the 21st century. Best Thorsten

Hi @mderie, what about more contrast? A white ball on a gray background may not be easily recognizable by the sensor. Also, is your erratic reading from static situations, or from a ball swiftly moving? What is the temporal resolution of your code and what is the required resolution (speed of ball) to distinguish from "it is there" or "not there" and then more importantly "almost there", as the flippers, when operated with finesse, need to know all that. Best Thorsten

And that was the result of a multi-million R&D effort - not to mention the cost for the marketing campaign. [Along the line "record-breaking lower switch contact resistance in 'on' position using completely newly formulated high-performance group ten and eleven transition mental alloy formulations plus unprecedented high resistance in 'off' position using an ultra-high-vacuum switch enclosure (optionally filled with SF6 for strongly enhanced contact life-time (order 'Dumb-PuP-BBox/SF'). Completely redesigned and dramatically improved cable sockets. Uses powerful 6-wire PuP cables, where only 4 wires are required!"] Best Thorsten

@Duq and @dr_spock, I believe we have almost completely derailed this topic. Well. How about opening a thread in the Mindstorms & Robotics forum on vintage computers/ing and LEGO? Best Thorsten

Mine came in today (16 16k x 1 bit and 8 64k x 1 bit dyn. RAM chips, @Duq knows what will happen now, the soldering iron is heating up). Total time in transit: 13 days; of these 8 days time to mature in German customs. Caused by a) Brexit of course and b) the speed of German customs of course (so Covid needs not to be involved here at all: The moment a package falls into German customs hands, praying to the Gods of Customs and Speedy Release, wherever they reside, is a very good idea). As long as the UK was part of the EU, Germans did what they were told to do: Just get it delivered without even looking. Since 1.1.2021 the UK is not EU and Germans do what they have been told to do: Hand it over to German customs. And then - see above. Oh well, the package has surfaces from deep waters of German customs - and I am very happy. All the best Thorsten

This is totally crazy. It is, as if you were building the original. No welding though - no nuts and bolts. Just studs, pins and so on. Crazy. But totally cool and fascinating. You must have very very detailed plans of the original, right? (On your post from January 1st, 3rd photo down, on the very left: That glass is used to have a nice sip of Whiskey, when you call it a day, right ) I am looking so much forward to enjoying this ship once finished! Best wishes, Thorsten

Entirely missed this topic as well (nice one, @Lego David!!!) Would this be the right place to talk about a 160€ Pirate Ship Model from BlueBrixx? It's Mould King's Flying Dutchman. Which you can get even much cheaper, when let's say digging in (which I do not like at all). No idea whether they stole that design from somebody or from LEGO Ideas or designed it themselves. So this is why I am reluctant to brag about it. But I don't want to go up in flames here ... it is a true clone thing. Best Thorsten

I am not sure about the "messed up" issue. It all depends on what postal service the goods from the UK, beginning 0:00, Jan 1st. 2021, are "handed" over to in foreign territories. I ordered some computer vintage stuff just before Christmas, and it arrived here without glitch with DPD a couple of days later, even within the pandemic situation. Same happened with Deutsche Post. Ordered some other items on Jan 4, 2021 from the UK. The vendor let me kindly know that he has sent off the envelope on Jan 5 via Royal Mail. They in turn told me via tracking that the item "had left the UK" on Jan 8 and that it was handed over to Deutsche Post. And then it was gone for good. Today, Jan 13 (as every day the past week, 100€ will always be a lot of money to me) I tried to track the envelope again, and the Deutsche Post website said: "As this is a Non-EU parcel, it is waiting for inspection at customs/Frankfurt airport. Be patient." This is the usual stuff happening now; I guess there is a serious disruption in many regards. And surely as expected. I also believe they all have to sync extensively software etc. pp. with customs. It is what it is. Best Thorsten

Hi @jeffery With regard to Mindstorms, visit the Mindstorms forum, with regard to Technic, visit the Technic forum. Best, Thorsten