Toastie

No, you got it absolutely right! Both, PTFE as well as silicone based lubricants work very well without any damage to ABS - the silicone stuff tends to sneak everywhere though, whereas the PTFE stuff remains more local after drying. I would not spray the parts directly but rather spray into a "bucket" like thing and then quickly use a brush to apply the (still) liquid onto the parts. Done that, works fine. Regards, Thorsten

Tony, It may be discouraging seeing these small support numbers on LEGO Ideas - he heck - I truly believe that there are many, many more train folks not only interested in your ideas, builds, projects, efforts, beautiful models - they give it a try. I'd take it from another perspective: Train builders are simply good, smart, and skilled. Seeing your photos may inspire them so much that they take it from there. I believe that photos and instructions(!) is what LEGO train heads get going. And I believe that this is very encouraging. And I believe that you have inspired so many uncountable people with your MOCs - it is unbelievably encouraging. Regards, Thorsten

Good afternoon, I am currently moving LT12V's original LDraw.ldr file (he has generously sent actually years ago) to an mpd version. That way I can then use LPub to generate the instructions using call outs etc., which will make everything much clearer, I believe. That takes some time though, since the building steps need to be rearranged a little. Sorry for the delay, it is all my fault. And thanks for waiting. Best wishes, Thorsten

Good evening, folks. Just to make sure: As of now, 43 replies to this breathtaking train model posted in the Technic forum: http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=120736 As far as I am concerned, this is front page stuff. All the best, Thorsten

Wonderful - simply wonderful. I am using that very train every now and then - efficiently traveling back and forth in the city of Wuppertal/Germany. Thanks a lot for sharing that great MOC! Best wishes, Thorsten

I cannot agree more with this. And I also completely agree with the amount of time that "live" interaction with blog entries, discussions, etc. etc. require. In addition, the (brilliant) magazine must have been an enormous amount of work as well. And: I also truly believe that the instructions section, and the back issues of the magazine will remain a gift to those who like to share their work. Whether or not instruction submission needs to go through an online system is questionable - I always feel a bit more responsible when things are not dumped somewhere, but rather go to a person. Given the amount of instructions published, this process still seems to be a viable approach: Send them to a dedicated email address and then wait patiently but not endlessly for a response. I also believe that a peer review process should provide two independent brief assessments of submitted material, probably return some feedback for improvements to the author before publication and then they are put online. This requires that some people volunteer to review (as many as possible that is) and a (very small) board that assigns the review to the reviewers, collects the reviews, sends them back to the submitter (i.e., "accepted as is" or "please change this and that"). These reviews need not be any kind of elaborate - the work that was submitted so far to RB appears to be of very high quality. What I like so much about the RB instructions is the organization of material: Very simple to locate, just train stuff, no things popping up here and there, just straight navigation to the instructions. Even if "outdated": I think it is still one of the best repositories and means to get nice train and train related instructions. I am not a computer/website guru- none whatsoever, but I am on some editorial boards of research journals - the peer review process works very well and if there is any demand, just let me know. All the best, Thorsten

Phew ... I am thrilled ... That photograph is breathtaking ... LEGO programmable brick (PBrick) history, right there. As Philo and others said: Yes the Spybotic is programmable and it is - in essence - a very powerful PBrick too. The thing is that it does not have any accessible outputs other than the built-in motors, and there is only one mechanical (the built-in touch) sensor. The built-in light sensor(s) are the key thing in this PBrick; as they allow very simple interaction with other Spybotics bricks as well as some sort of orientation sensing. They do speak the same language as the RCX 1.0/1.5/2.0 PBricks (the yellow one in the top row), which is even more exciting. Keep them ... and mostly the top left red one - the prototype MIT/LEGO collaboration brick ... Regards, Thorsten

Happy Holiday Season! Has been quite a while since my last post. Since LT12V has brought it up (see thread somewhere below): I am indeed "working" on instructions of his fabulous BR01. It will take some time though - actually I haven't started, but over Christmas I love to make some progress. We usually spend the time in the middle of nowhere of Northern Germany - with plenty of time. This is unfortunately not the case during everyday's life ... In the mean time, I have assembled 10 or more instructions for some MODs/MOCs I came up with over the years. My question is: Where to put them? I have sincerely tried to get in touch with RAILBRICKS folks - no answer. Nevertheless, I believe that this website is potentially the best repository for this stuff. The entries were reviewed and then they were carefully made publicly available. Is RAILBRICKS definitely dead? Just checked - the front page looks terrible - all sorts of errors are listed - embarrassing - but it is still functioning. Why not throwing out all that time consuming interactive stuff and keep it as that: A repository. Somebody has to take care of the quality of entries. I volunteer to do that. Any updates on theses issues? And: Are there good alternatives to publish >train< and related instructions? All the best, Thorsten

Well, thank you very much for your kind "welcome", LT12V, it's good to be here again!

Good evening, has been some time since I've been here ... Don't worry about the blinking charging light. The LiPo is most probably fully charged. I have the same issues - sometimes - sometimes not. Take the charger off, plug it back in: Same blinking? Or do you get a steady light? As you can see in the chart (initial post) it takes for ever to charge the LiPo with 8V. 10 V is OK, but more is even better. Best regards, Thorsten

I guess the V 1.20 firmware version of the receiver allows access to one additional bit, which was "reserved" before. This results in a total of 16 channels, if I am not mistaken. And in fact I have not seen one remote that actually sets this bit. It is possible with the HiTechnic IR link sensor and a NXT PBrick, but I guess this is getting too far, particularly since the IR link sensor has a very limited range which you need to expand by a separate booster (cheap stuff but some work ...) You could also cascade PF IR receivers. Mark Bellis has shown that quite some time ago - I believe he still holds the pictures and some text in his BrickShelf folder. @Mark: Wasn't there an EB thread as well? This is getting somewhat expensive though and you need to modify the PF supply line of the "slaves" (C1 and C2 to 9/0V). This should work rather smoothly if you run the "master receivers", which provide the voltage for the "slave receivers", on a slightly higher voltage, e.g., 12V to compensate for the voltage drops along the receivers outputs. The idea is to switch on the master receiver first on ("group channel") and then switch the slaves on/off on the remaining channels. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Conchas, that is very good to know. I completely agree with some of the folks here that the transition is not only a piece of cake but rather demanding: Studs is what LEGO was from day 1. Studs facilitate the always "TLC officially appraised Building Across Multiple Themes" approach. At least when they talk about the greatness of LEGO. I am not saying that studless is bad. In contrast I love it. But whenever I use studless stuff, it is heavily mixed-up with studded parts. Super-vehicles (cars, excavators, cranes, unimogs, ...) and studless work very, very well. Buildings, trains, (some) structures, ... do not. "Technic" may also be embedded in those though. I'd call those MOCs Technic MOCs. But this is where disagreement is around the corner ... Well, that one is very easy to solve: Continue to make studded technic pieces. As easy as that and you have the young folks (my girls do Technic as well) on board. Best wishes, Thorsten

Here is what will happen: All trains are running on schedule. KLF is on full blast: "The Justified and the Ancient". The countdown is close to Dooms Day. There is a BR23 approaching - just blowing some steam - noting else. Minifigs are coming and going. It is time to say good by. A Maersk train coupled to a GP40 and another GP38 hauls so many TTX cars RIGHT ON schedule: Christmas is coming up and Santa needs all the wonderful magic packages to be delivered on time. The bing bang hits. There is a swift change: Wham! is on and "Last Christmas" is to be heard - are we all lost? Nope. It was last Christmas things apparently went wrong - this time we made it. You know what? The Mayans were some funny folks, always good for a joke ... Have a wonderful, magic, merry Christmas time!!! Thorsten

Hi Candia, you know what the coolest thing is? Google images "Gaston Lagaffe train" and you find you really nifty train next to a copy of Gastons car. Incredible. Very well interpreted!!! Best, Thorsten

Hi Candia, beautiful! All the smooth lines, the colors, and the entire appearance make this train a wonderful Christmas train. As others said: Heavenly above what is officially sold! Have a nice Christmas time, Thorsten

Hehe, I'd challenge this - there is quite some space in the middle section - and there were some nice posts about how to realize close coupling in this forum ... - Sergio will make it happen, I'm sure. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Sixoh, it is not the dark side - it is an alternative. Who knows what comes out? Maybe you like it maybe not. As simple as that - in my opinion. Best wishes, Thorsten

Hi Annie, you know what I really like about your approach, all your posts, and the way you are talking about "it"? Honesty. Do it as you see fit - there is hardly any reason to justify what you are doing (well you know that but ...). "We" - that is this community including you and all other members - have some sort of an issue with clone brands. Granted. Hey, "we" have serious issues with TLG as well - just look at the track - hmm - stuff they are offering us right now. BBB, Me is what we are anxiously waiting for - just as one example. I am not saying that I like the way cloning is happening - seriously not at all. So I don't like the way TLG is hearing us out. But cost, availability, and simply making-stuff-people-may-find-useful is simply another world. And I am 150% sure that TB is not even considering doing anything to your avatar - which you have truly(!) earned. Ready to take the heat folks - regards, Thorsten

Hi Bricktrain, yeah saw manometer in Seepos's breath taking Peterbilt thread - for the first time. Thanks for the link! What I meant though was a switching functionality - as far as I know the manometer does not have that, right? But Alasdair Ryan has shown in the very same thread how to get that, entry 7. This is a very elegant solution - no PBricks required at all, I love it. Regards, Thorsten

... well I guess they do that deliberately. That makes them look even closer to original LEGO. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Eric, as Zblj said, air will alway leak somewhere, most probably from the cylinders directly (from the high pressure to the low pressure compartment) - the hoses are pretty much tightly sealed to the plastic enclosures of the pneumatic elements. Had the same issue - and in reality you have that as well. Re-pressurizing the system is the way out. Not straight forward to implement, but entirely possible: First you have to detect the pressure loss. Since there are no off the shelf LEGO pressure gauges you need to have a sensor somewhere. In case of your boom it could be a touch sensor mounted in a way that is pressed or released immediately after some downward movement. Hook that up to any of the LEGO intelligent bricks, attach a motor to drive a pneumatic pump, favorably feed the air into a tank as buffer reservoir and hook that up to the main pressure line. You could also build a pressure gauge from a cylinder, a shock absorber providing the counter force, and a switch. In that case you could adjust the trigger point in a way that the boom doesn't even move at all. Lot of work for just that (and somewhat costly) - but it is close to reality and fun to watch. Or use, as Zblj suggested, LA's Regards, Thorsten

Hi Paddyb98, I have a bunch of the 9V speed regulators (this is what we are talking about, right?). One is from the US - used to live there for a couple of years, the other are European style. They all have a "9 ... 12V ~" imprint close to the jack. I once opened up one - they have a rectifier along with some DC voltage stabilization stuff inside. This means that you can basically use any cheap power supply and run the regulator off from that. I tried +12 ... +15 V DC as well as +9 ... +15 V AC supplies on any of the US or European versions of the regulator. Regards, Thorsten

Hi JopieK, this would be awesome! I think this would be a perfect series for RailBricks. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Phoxtane Shoot, I saw this one coming ... but you are right of course! There are many, many up and downsides of PF and they have been amply discussed. What you said is entirely true. The only thing is that IF 9V would not have been discontinued then you would not have to pay +60€/$ for a 9V motor; track in these days was also reasonably priced, and so on. But it has been and so this is all history. I can very well live with the PF stuff as well. Actually I really like it. But as an add-on rather than a replacement. Recently baught some 9V straights in perfect condition for €2.30 a piece ... Best regards, Thorsten

Agreed. Easy: Because that system was superior to everything else coming about. (I know, I know, don't beat me up, it is simply like that - Money money money, always funny, in a rich men's world ...) Regards, Thorsten