Toastie

Regarding the colors: I cheated (asked my daughter, they are used to that - when I am asking random people for a color, they at first have "this" look in their face) Regarding the resistance: That are the 22 Ohms causing the voltage drop. I'd try something around 3.3 Ohms initially (a value of the "E12" Series). The thing though is the wattage, the resistor needs to dissipate as heat. The resistor you used seems to be of the 1/4 W series. I'd go for something like these: https://cdn-reichelt.de/documents/datenblatt/B400/5WAXIAL_9WAXIAL_11WAXIAL_17WAXIAL%23YAG.pdf The can dissipate 5W easily. If that does not work (still too much voltage across the XL even at medium load), I'd increase the value to 10 Ohms or so. Thing is: Just one part, clocking in at about €0.50 ... But there must be somebody around here who for sure knows much better than we two 7/8 blinds (electronically-wise). Have a nice day! Thorsten

Was it the XL motor or that poor 1/4 W resistor? When the XL motor tries to push the EN over the track, it will draw some serious current, wouldn't it? Philo's page says the XL motor draws 1.8 A at 9V when stalled - and about 0.1 A at 9V freely running. As I am color-blind, I can't really get the resistance from the rings in your picture; it sure is 5% tolerance and the third ring is black. Let's assume the first two are red/red = 22 Ohm? And then we assume 0.3 A current going through the XL/resistor line. W=I^2 R = 2 W. That should give some nice smell - but from the resistor, right? Also the voltage drop at 12 V would be more than 6 V ??? Hey, I have learned my electronics wisdom from trial and error as well! I sure know the smell of burnt resistors, transistors ... virtually from everything, the electronic industry is providing for dummies like me! Where is @dr_spock when we need him? All the best! Thorsten

I believe this is the core of the matter. Plus: The set is beautiful, breathtaking, lovely, touching, with all you want to see in it. When it arrives though, it is a pile of plastic ABS bricks - in plastic bags. We should also remember this - in the hard times we live in right now. The "freebie" is maybe and hopefully a bit less important - in the hard times we live in right now. What I find so incredible is, when the pile of bricks (do it: just throw them all onto one pile and look at them, at some distance) turns into a miracle - dreamed up and realized by - people. I wish all of you lucky people who got the set, all the emotions, the fun and pride, you deserve! And maybe there is a second or two of spare time - within all that joy! - to think about the people who try with their best to save the lives of the unfortunate - who were doing their jobs at 0:00 release time of the set, who tried to order other stuff with priority mail, and weren't getting anything. These people >are< unfortunate. We may be just missing out a LEGO set. All the best, be careful and stay healthy! Thorsten

Ahhhaaaa - thanks guys! You are ingenious! So what about a let say just one 3 Ohm/5 W resistor in series to the motor? No resistor: Let's say the 9 V motor draws 1 A (that is just for simplicity) at 12 V (=> full speed) with some average load - and everything goes nuts. With 3 Ohm resistor: The voltage drop across the resistor would on the URI-order of 3V isn't it? The behavior would be a little off, because when the motor has more load, the voltage drop increases of course. However: All that circuity vs 1 resistor. Are you guys sure that the 7809 is actually regulating below its nominal input voltage? Or is there some current dependent behavior on the output (as with an e.g. 3 Ohm resistor?) I am a chemist, and I just work here so I don't know much about electronics.

You are a lucky man! Told my wife about this way earlier than yesterday: Wife order limit: 0 But you know what: Earth is still spinning - sun came up this morning - first coffee from the what are they called - wait where is this Google thing when you need it; are here - fully automatic coffee maker (sounds stupid) I repaired last night was really good (phew, that was a four hours work until close to midnight, its an Italian machine - was not too expensive 7 years ago (about the value of the website limit), and the spindle nut of the brewing unit was worn out. Ordered a new one (€10) and: It works!!! Unfortunately not even that worked towards the limit (I mean a new one would have been, as said, the website limit amount) It's so nice to see all the folks here in the house grabbing their coffee again. Plus: I am the local coffee machine repair hero. Priceless. Have fun building and stay healthy!!! All the best Thorsten

Well - at GMT -2 only of course. Sorry that you guys live in the past - or future? I am always fuzzy about that daylight savings business ... it will come though - that message will come

5 more minutes here. You know what will happen? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM ... IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM TLG-CONTROL - IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM TLG CONTROL Due to the >totally inconclusive< and really weird "I know better than you" series of posts - this test will now be concluded. To all participants: This was a test. Please build your own set suiting you best. OVER AND OUT. And then ... silence. Beautiful, calm silence. ... "Brrrrppppp mememememe chrrrrr - sorry? The colors suck ... it was 10k votes for this this this and that Brrrpppppp. And then it begins all over again ... 0:00 its April Fools' Day!

Hi Emanuele! How's life - and more importantly how is the family? I sure hope you are all doing well!!! Cross my fingers and hope and wish the very best! Phew. Why am I so slow ... I think I am still missing something. All what you are describing makes perfect sense, but only when the the track is permanently powered with 12V and then lets say a PF receiver does the work of adjusting motor power, right? I mean, a 7809 does really not know what to do with - lets say 6V DC applied to the track as input voltage from the LEGO 12V Transformer/power supply? Wasn't it as with 9V? The speed regulators (12V or 9V doesn't matter) apply 0 - 9/12V to change speed. An onboard 7809 makes only sense when there is > 10V input voltage. Or do you use the 7809 to max out the voltage applied to the track? Best Thorsten

I am confused. You have a 12V layout, with a 12V DC power supply feeding the track, correct? If so, the 12V DC power supply has a dial that goes from -12V to 0V to +12 V, correct? You have 12V power pick-up from the track feeding a 9V motor, correct? If that is true, then I do not understand how that should work, as you would need to proportionally convert the 0 to 12V to 0 to 9V. Why don't you use a +/- 9V speed regulator then? The ones for the 9V train era with the big yellow dial sell rather cheaply. Or do you want to run many original 12V engines on the 12V track and you just want to individually address that problem you have on each "new" train? Best Thorsten

Showing one of the best beers in the world ... Nice! All the best Thorsten

When I saw the picture of the "box" I thought oh my, what a nice box - upon scrolling further down, when all the little plastic bags showed up, I fainted - when I "woke up", I thought "what a wonderful dream", saw the bags again - and fainted. Since then, I am in an indefinite loop - which is very nice during these times! All the best Thorsten

Oh yes, how nice, happy birthday! Best wishes and I sure hope that you'll get your hands on this beautiful set! Thorsten

Never heard of Arthur Spooner ... but "Sarcastic, brash, and always scheming, Arthur lives in the basement of Doug and Carrie's house" (Wikipedia, what else) - wait can't find the keys on the board due to Nice! Have a good one, Thorsten

Wow. Twenty-four pages of is it or is it not, what was submitted - to IDEAS. And not to the High Court of the Blessed Bricks of Earth. TLG not officially being here anymore begins to make sense - to me. The world out there is falling apart - in here, within this femto-cosmos of folks who care about LEGO - even much fewer folks caring about right or wrong, so that makes that an atto-cosmos - are 24 pages of arguments. Well not all are. How can that be? Maybe Corona - I hope that all this comes from being locked down. What I am missing is a bold (in every single post): In my opinion ...; I feel ..., I believe; I have the impression ...; I think ...; and that's it: There is NO universal "it is" or "it is not". All the apparent "logic" here ... do you guys actually believe in that? Observations can be made, shared ... but then: Over and out. Even when only briefly looking at a set, there will be instantaneous feelings about it. Colors, shape, functionalities. And for each individual looking at it, there will be as many feelings and reasonings why it is good, average or bad. IDEAS ... are ideas. Voting for it means that: Give support for what TLG will make out of it. End of the story. And when the idea makes it: Wait for the decision. And then for the outcome. And then post why >you< as single individual like it or not and because for what reason. I am personally thrilled that there is a new Pirate ship. I believe it is really nice. I have seen so many people bragging elsewhere that Pirates and Castles need this and must be that and TLG is missing out BIG TIME. Now there is a ship - and 24 pages of arguments why that is. I personally also believe, that the creator of the idea shoud be praised for what he or she has accomplished: TLG jumping on Pirates. And making a set that - well - was an idea into an IDEAS set. All the best, stay home when you can, be careful, and stay healthy!!! All the best, for all of you, Thorsten

Weird times And it is >not< sarcastic or negative. This song always meant "dancing like there is no tomorrow" for me Best Thorsten

HUH? It is all the contrary!!! Thank you very much! Best Thorsten

Hi Davide, nice!!! I wouldn't go for the cheapest motors though. 4.5V is a fine LEGO product line from a very exciting time. It deserves the highest quality replacements parts Keep on the (very) good work!!! Best Thorsten

I believe @Paperinik77pk is the true LEGO 12V era designer. I like all the models you create so much. I "grew up" with 12V but my parents never had the money to buy any of these wonderful creations from TLG. When I was making enough money to buy a few train sets it was 9V time. But honestly? 12V it is for me. The shapes - the use of bricks, not necessarily the track. The track is fine, but so is 9V - even with some advantages - and not sacrificing the true LEGO look. You need to be so experienced and smart, full of creativity and imagination to recreate the iconic trains - engines and cars - using the rather clumsy bricks of that wonderful time. And this is what you show us here - again and again. Thank you very much for sharing. I keep all the pictures of your models in one folder on my laptop called: "Paperinik77pk" All the best Thorsten

Scroll all the way down on the forum that makes you unhappy (e.g. the main page), click on "Theme", select "Test" and all beauty is gone and replaced by a color I can't distinguish well, but text is crystal clear on that background. At least for me.

... throughout the world! A salute to all of them! And I sure hope that every "administration" - mostly looking at >profit making< - realize what these people do and accomplish. With a salary that is - frankly - a joke. A very very bad joke. Very nice idea of true symbolic power! Thank you for sending this positive and encouraging message - build in the bricks I love so much. All the very best, Thorsten

It really is. All the round plates - very nice and smooth sun light - and the little crab seems to catch the waves. Very calming, indeed. Thank you very much for sharing! All the best Thorsten

@AnonymousStone, Scroll all the way down on the forum that makes you unhappy (e.g. the main page), click on "Theme", select "Test" and all beauty is gone and replaced by a color I can't distinguish well, but text is crystal clear on that background. At least for me. Best Thorsten

Well this is the reason I cancelled their service that updated on "what is going on" on LEGO ideas. With all that reached 10000 votes and then no because of this this this and that - with all that chit-chat just for nothing ... I just dumped it. But I believe this set is truly amazing. Ideas or not. I love that ship - not so much the shipwreck. But as @Lyichir said - it is not a complete rebuild from 1 to 2. Very, very nice. Best Thorsten

That was the intention of my question - why would one then use XLs? And why two? Best Thorsten

When does that clutch gear kick in? Would it tolerate the full torque of an XL motor? Man I like this beast very, very much. Best Thorsten