Toastie

Well, as said elsewhere here on EB: I very recently did hang my Pantasy Steampunk Airship from the ceiling in my attic (using a Deutsche Bahn 4 stage glass cap insulator that I salvaged many years before), allowing it to freely rotate. Believe it or not, exactly at midnight, it rotates its stern 180° to the direction of Billund, to return to an arbitrary position just before dawn. And during the dark hours, there is St. Elmo's fire to be seen around the pointy tips of the two wires I will eventually use to actively hold in place with Cubic motors from Tenka ... phew. I believe it all has to do with tariffs.

Well, in Billund's LEGO Theme park store they can charge whatever they want: I guess many people, mostly from farther away, want something special or a souvenir/gift from the place where it "all began" ^^ are just cranking out money like crazy. When it gets closer to 5 pm, the store is literally invaded by ready-to-leave folks and families. Rides close at 6 pm, the stores/park at 7 pm. I am usually visiting the store at noon(ish) - not much traffic then, as most people ride or eat ;) This way I can get a good look at all the overpriced sets; there is (and was) never any discount on such things - people pay the Danish LEGO catalogue price without hesitation, as these sets have kissed the shelves of the Holy Place. The same holds true for every piece of Chinese merch, wrapped in a plastic bag with a LEGO sticker or price tag slapped on, or the not so high quality clothing made in India or Bangladesh. It is what it is everywhere, and the best part is: You don't >have< to buy it I enjoyed the many new “dioramas” in the Miniland for many hours; Esbjerg, Ribe and other close by Danish/Northern cities/sites were new to me (last visit was 5 years ago with the same gang). They are nicely done, particularly the gardening with real mine-trees and so on. My daughters (age 28 and 29 ^^) were doing the rides ... it is a lot of nostalgia associated with these expensive visits: 55 years ago, my parents took me to Billund for the first (and their last time, it was simply too expensive, even back then) time - in these days we lived about 100 km away form Billund in Northern Germany and 20 km away from Hohenwestedt, where TLG had their main German administration and service center (now Munich, I believe) (https://www.promobricks.de/lego-geschichte-spurensuche-hohenwestedt/) On a side note: The bricks yellow like crazy - who would have thought that, although some or many have a white paint cover. And: Stickers on vehicles have become and new trend (at least to me). Oh well, it was fun. Fun to see the Miniland and the buying frenzy. And many happy people. All the best Thorsten

Oh, well. Tariffs ... no further comment regarding Trump's tariffs. Sometimes, no comment says more than a million rants, though. On the other hand: Family and I are on vacation in Denmark, on the island Fanø, which is about a ferry ride and 65 km away from Billund. Today we visited Billund (my fifth time) - and I have to say: Looking at the price tags on every LEGO item in their them park super store, it appears as if Denmark has imposed >terrible< tariffs on LEGO goods and TLG has passed them on >>100% to their customers. Wait - did I misunderstood how tariffs work??? Did buy - nothing. No, not true, it was a heavily tariffed minifig on a keychain as a reminder for learning, how tariffs work. Back in the house, I am now studying how billions of DK flow into Denmark. It is - fascinating Best Thorsten

True. As in one day, we all have to die. But: On all the other days, we live ... as Snoopy said. Well, your timescale is a bit - uhm - stretched; it appears as if we have a couple of billions of years before things get really interesting. I guess the current scope is more like "years of protective storage in a closet" I believe the "extra" is not necessary - avoid direct sunlight even through window glass and exposure to excessive temperatures. Anything else depends more or less on ... luck. Best Thorsten

How cool is this?!!! I never ever heard of such machines - just searched a bit - it becomes even better! They look pretty cool and seem to do well. And they are memory monsters! Well then. There is a dilemma challenging-wise though: I did my all my hardware additions for a) machines I owned/programmed back then (< 1990: ZX 81, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad PCW 9512) and dreamed of back then (IBM PC, TI99/4A, Atari ST1040). That's done. The remaining system would be a PDP10 I got in touch with at my university in 1982 - we apprentices needed to program it using punched cards. As there is NO space anymore in my attic - and my wife would completely freak out when I get hold of such a system, I better leave that to others But: It is so cool to have another good'ol computer in touch with 9750! Congratulations, @amine All the best Thorsten

Heehee - this could be an issue. However: Mental sanity is WAY above any purity laws And there is an easy way out: Just replace all other pieces with genuine LEGOs (I know, there should be no s, but I grew up with the s as in "Your LEGOs are all over the place!" - which tells that it was a small "place", as I just had a small bucket of - well - LEGOs - back then) Have fun and all the best Thorsten

Ha! Brilliant - didn't think of that one. It seems that bog bodies are a strongly supporting this approach! Best Thorsten

That's absolutely OK. There is a trick though: Remove the wrongly printed 2x2 round tile and replace it with, e.g., TLG's https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=14769pb133#T=S&O={"iconly":0} These sell for about a quarter on BL ;) I know it is a pain to do so, but much better than severe suffering. And then you can still enjoy the superb quality of the rest of the 2400+ pieces All the best Thorsten

No necessary, normal glass does block UV light completely - that's why you don't get a sun burn behind a window, but slowly simmer. If any filters, I suggest blue, red, and yellow filters on top of each other . Once all light is blocked, use yellow lighting only, as the semicon industry does in their lithography cleanrooms for the same reason. That is true, however the process depends so much on the individually used monomer formulation and pigment choice and quality - which should always be the same everywhere but certainly are not and cannot be, should you want any reasonably priced ABS polymer. Some white ABS pieces yellow in the dark, most don't, some at elevated speeds after brief exposure to sunlight, some don't, some actually reach "a lifetime" without yellowing if not exposed to sunlight and so on and so forth. But yes, there are favorable, degradation process slowing conditions - as discussed: No light, as low as possible temperature, low humidity. Hmm - which results in very low playability. Best Thorsten

Just do it! I love absolutely your review on the Pantasy Workshop! So far, I purchased their 85007 "Steam Punk Train Station" - which is much more so about an elevated train - I am working in Wuppertal ;). I purchased their 85018 Retro Telephone - as I have a very close friend collecting such telephones, and I am running all the telephones I ever had live in my attic. And lastly, the Air Ship ... it is insane what they do. Insane in the sense of breathtaking. In recent years, TLG was also breathtaking. Breathtakingly bad, that is. I am saying this after being 30++ years a true believer in the brand. All the best Thorsten

Absolutely true! Well, if your judgment is a result of inspecting a picture of a print (rather than what TLG does, a sticker) then try their bricks. Maybe just on a small, totally cheap product. Inspect their bricks, plates, how they attach, detach, the colors, and then do another judgment. I just mounted their Steam Punk Air Ship (#85021) to the ceiling of my attic, held by a 4 stage glass cap insulator of the German railway (that I salvaged). It was a pain in the megablocks to do so - mounting the insulator that is - but it was a true salute to the quality and fun of building Pantasy's Air ship. TLG will never ever come to that level. BTW, there are no stickers in Pantasy sets. There are prints. Best Thorsten

You cannot get away with it. It is not solely the UV, it is everything capable of triggering (slow, very slow) chain reactions on the surface/inside the polymer. Depending on the actual formulation, sometimes yellowing occurs faster, sometimes later. And 2 ... 5 ... 10 ... 30 ... years is nothing for a slow chemical reaction. It is called half-lives in physics and chemistry. UV certainly accelerates yellowing. Without UV, it will happen as well. Best Thorsten

Tough questions ... ... however, I believe (nothing more than that) that far below top management, some folks messing around - OK, sorry, deeply analyzing "TLG profit data" - reported to top management that F1 and multiple other licenses, including Volvo and (as in logical and) hybrid generate far more profit than anything technical at all. Accordingly, 42115 may be a true shelf model, camouflaged as "Technic", as are so many other TLG "Technic" sets today. I believe it is profit - which of course includes sweet-talking, but for a reason. Best Thorsten

Isn't that nice . I am really glad about that. Best Thorsten

You can also use DC (e.g., 15V), run that through a bridge rectifier with both "~" inputs connected to the pickups (causing a voltage drop of about 1 V). This takes care of polarity changes caused by reversing loops). Then connect the +/- terminals of the rectifier to a 7809 regulator, and then feed the PUp hub from the 9V output of the regulator. Experience shows though that voltage "outages" caused by insulation for reversing loops/polarity changes = 1 plastic track piece, or sometimes bad contact between the pickups and the hub do lead to malfunctions, particularly regarding the PoweredUp hubs. Some sort of buffer (caps, supercaps, etc.) are thus required. Best Thorsten

True, today you can do anything - don't talk about the better olden days ... I guess, this discussion needs some well-defined boundary conditions, doesn't it? All 9V track, only plastic or mixed tracks? Of course, DCC requires all conductive tracks, battery operation none at all. Do you want “absolutely” secure remote control? E.g., for shows? BT or BLE may seriously suffer ... Do you want all layout freedom, e.g., "fully" powered wyes? Which requires insulation ... Are you purist? Only LEGO gear allowed? Once that is into the clear, planning may begin. For example, my case is: Layout only in my attic; 433 MHz RF is cool, BT is, BLE is - as my neighbors don't do any of that ... 9V track all over the place, 12V as well, and 4.5V and ... RC/PF = all plastic ... Wyes? Absolutely. It is "tight" up there ... My approach: Full wireless control. 433 MHz RF, modded into PF; 2.4 GHz BLE (PoweredUp) Trains are all rechargeable batteries operated - either via discrete NiMH (1.2V) stacks, or LiPo's (8878). Some have an RCX 1.0 on board ... NiMH's are trickle charged, the 8878's are directly fed by power pickups (= cannibalized or modified 9V motors) As a result, all trains can run over lengthy stretches of plastic tracks and recover on 9V tracks. Super caps may not serve that purpose, it depends on the "lost power time", of course. Track voltage is 15V DC - from an "old" laptop power supply - it can supply insane amounts of current. And 15V is nice, any 78XX with XX<=12V will give you all flexibility to power 4.5 (5) V, 9V, and 12V trains. Oh yes, this is total fun! All the best, and may the power be with you guys! Thorsten

Don't like disastrously designed LEGO construction machines of 2025, right? Best Thorsten P.S.: Vacation weeks coming up. Billund is 60 km away from Fanø, where family including me will spend two weeks of true North Sea winds. Selected members of the family, including me have tickets for Billund ... I visited about 10 times in the distant (1969) to recent (2023) past. I just want to breathe the spirit of the good'ol sections again. And browse their "super store" for ... well ... presumably nothing. Or maybe for something, but certainly not current sets. Billund does not have any discounts on current sets, of course not. But maybe for some weird stuff. And if not: Just checking out. Esbjerg is on the way back to Fanø - and there are many thrift stores ... I'll visit Billund whenever I can, as I still remember the summer of 69 ...

Yes. Plugging in maybe difficult, though, as the PUp hub wants 6 x 1.5V batteries. And “upstream” of the PUp hub's power feed, some additional gear is required, at least this is my experience, others may know better. You may want to take a look at this pinned topic: The PUp hub likes nicely conditioned 7 … 9V, as, e.g., provided by rechargeable or alkaline batteries. The “condition” of 9V track power depends on a) your track power supply and b) your power pickups. What I have done (there are several posts here on EB, I am happy to digging them up, let me know) - and this is the most expensive, but really fail-safe approach: Power pickup = burnt or modified 9V train motor. The nice things about this is that the wheels are usually in good contact with the rails, as they are sort of “spring-loaded”. I strongly recommend putting in a bridge rectifier to avoid any polarity issues. Power supply = the rechargeable PowerFunctions battery box 8878. If you are not afraid of the dark side, they sell for $10. If you are, you are looking at +$80. You feed the power pickup terminal to the charging socket of 8878. The latter accepts any voltage between <9V and 18V; even if the power feed from the rails is noisy - 8878 simply does not care. You feed the PF 9V output terminal to the PUp hub with a custom cable you have to fabricate. As a result, your train can run “forever” provided it is always on 9V track; can run over plastic track, as the battery box then still feeds the PUp hub; and simply parking it on 9V track will fill up the battery box to full, when not in use. As said, there are some references, let me know if you need these. All the best Thorsten

Well, this means, before any comparison the new instructions need to being (a) used quite often; at least this is what I did back in the days, when wanting to rebuild the original model, as the bricks were in “constant” use for other builds; and b) maybe less carefully treated when “stored” away = flying around ;) and exposed to rather diverse ambient conditions when they were flying around. But who knows; others may have treated their instructions with a higher degree of appreciation than I did. Today, they are used only once and then put into a punched plastic pocket, collected in binders for - uhm - forensic work when unearthed after I left the premises feet first . Color-wise my experience is (I am colorblind to an extent, that >is< really fun ) that instructions back then had only 4 bold colors + white/black/light gray and the background was another single color or plain white. Which made things much easier (for me). When brown and dark gray appeared, I began to best guess - brown was simply the funny color, so that went quite well. Today - well. For me, TLG's "color-coding" is rather a serious camouflage approach making everything even more interesting, as it becomes harder, but that's OK, as they also reduced the pieces per step number closer to 1. So yes, you may be right - paper may have been "flimsier" back then. I believe @Mylenium may know better. All the best Thorsten

Oh, yes. Heck, >any< instruction released before … let's say 1990 will certainly demonstrate that. Recently, I purchased a used 8485 set, which I had back then, but wanted one with functioning flex tubes, as my had deteriorated in SoCal's sun. Back in the days, this was the way to go: Multiple piece per step “pictures”, and >you< simply had to figure out where the new pieces were going — by careful instruction inspection. With sharp eyes, as there was no dimming out the last steps, crazy arrows and what not. It must have been me getting so used to TLG's "color coded 1 step per piece approach", that I got sometimes confused. Well, it could also be dementia setting in , I am old. Which made me thinking: Do we get stupider with that kind of training? Or less focused? Or less patient? Hey, you know what? None of that. Just focus, pay attention to detail, accept temporal failure, and enjoy the feeling of success. For many years, I thought this was the idea. Maybe it was, but it seems to be not anymore. Which is OK with me, as I have jumped the TLG ship. But wait, there is more — there always is! So many ships out there ... Best Thorsten

And photographed in high resolution. And the resulting file(s) put on an external file storage site, as EB does not host files exceeding a rather (very) minute size. And then, forensic EB forces will kick in! All the best Thorsten

Hmmm. Mixed feelings about this judgment here, but it is only me! We are living in a truly capitalistic world. TLG is a truly capitalistic company, just check on their pricing for their entire range of products (plates, beams, and bricks), which are (naturally) in a very mature state. In a capitalistic world, this is hell. Yes, there are the “varieties” of models, but they are built with essentially the same product for decades now, over and over again and for sure the exact same principle of attaching these products. Talk about product innovation: There is basically >none<. Get ABS, mold it, build something, make money. Over and over again. So any kind of "TLG checking on way overpriced stores on their BL site" is at best a pleonasm - TLG charges whatever they can pull off from their dear customers per default; why should that behavior not be mirrored on BL stores? On the BL site, they own? Heck, >you< decide on buying or not. It is your decision. In a truly capitalistic world, there are many options to do so - or not. Some call it freedom. Others applause the deregulation: Just let them do what they want. TLG for sure does. Is it elaborate to find the best value? Sure it is! And even more so, when using an algorithm, such as the programs making “buying lists" ... Why do these exist? To make life easier, but >certainly< not cheaper. Not in a capitalistic world. >You< have to do something = invest time to get the best value. To be honest, I believe that being still in the position of making own choices on a website owned by TLG, is absolutely favorable! As they say: Just do it. What they don't say: It may take some time to do it. Best Thorsten

Their printers are totally tied up in printing stickers. Best Thorsten

Ah, sorry, I believe you posted that already further above. In this case, I'd try another single USB2Ser adapter. The one with the LEDs on it, @AndyInTheCloud found on Amazon, would be perfect, as then you can further check whether DTR and RTS are set appropriately by the adapter, as suggested by @BrickTronic. As the PBrick was at least reacting to a 27 MHz RF carrier (otherwise it would not blink), this suggests that the RF tower TX -> PBrick RX link is "alive". But all further speculation (e.g., checking somehow the PBrick TX -> RF tower link) should be done after you tested another USB2Ser adapter. All the best Thorsten

Hi Chris, which software were you using to connect? As far as I can tell, BricxCC is a favorable way to do that. Best Thorsten