Toastie

Like always ... and then in black/red/gold (yellow) Thank you very much for sharing! All the best Thorsten

@ChrisXY Did you see this video? The big ugly like stone blob is actually nicely aged solder ... it would be good when you take a look at the underside of the PCB to decide what to do next. Best Thorsten

Huh? Hey, the lorry completes the MOC! - the farm scene is so lovely; reminds me so much of my youth. Which brings me to the lorry (the autocorrection thing tells me to use "truck" - but this is a lorry!) - which completes in its beautiful design the scene. And there we have it: Violation of the second law of thermodynamics! I love all of the scene. All the best Thorsten

Oh yes ... "There are unsmiling faces in fetters and chains On a wheel in perpetual motion" Certainly not from me, but from Alan Parsons ... Car on, guys, and have fun. Just now I am totally fed up (yes, bold and italics! DAMNED) figuring out how to get a decent loan for a PV installation on our roof ... man. All the best Thorsten

Thank you for the flowers, I really appreciate that! Heehee - it wasn't the analytic gang - my colleague in Analytical Chemistry is equally regarded as would-be chemist - the really tough guys are (in this order ) synthetic organic chemists followed by hardcore inorganic chemists. However, we all get along quite nicely. And it's OK, as anyone knows, there is nothing physical chemists cannot accomplish . All the best Thorsten

As far as I am concerned, exactly this is the case. (I am a chemist, but according to my colleagues not a real chemist - I am a physical chemist , and even worse, work at a university). The starting or activation step though needs to be bond breaking. So sunlight is certainly a very good candidate. And sometimes it is just some “residue” in the ABS formulation that may be responsible. Metal atoms are always good candidates for starting or promoting catalytic processes. Being self-propelled does not mean it grows all over the place. With a microscopic region, the activation begins and then will slowly lead to yellowing. Light may very well initiate this process, but as you all know, a white brick does not yellow within minutes of sunlight exposure - it is rather a process that takes months or years and is spatially limited to the “activated” area. And which is really slow. But when activated on a surface area, that area may eventually yellow - even in the dark. All speculation, however, literature suggests that this may be the case. We had some discussions here on EB with ample of literature citations and references. As said: I like it. All the best Thorsten

Hmmm - don't think so . Since decades now, “BFRs” have been of environmental concern. Many of these compounds (there are myriads) have been phased out since long. I don't believe that TLG takes the risk of using remaining halogen/bromine containing flame retardants - if that becomes public, all hell would break loose. Furthermore, since many years now, non-halogen containing self extinguishing ABS formulations have become available, just type into Google "abs flame retardant halogen free" and you'll get access to numerous data sheets, sources, particularly filaments for 3D printers and so on and so forth. As @Mylenium has said, there are so many sources regarding the "break-down" mechanisms out there. As far as I am concerned, it all begins with the initial breaking of remaining C=C double bonds. Sunlight is certainly a secure route for initiating degradation, but also all other means of chemical activation may come into play. ABS tends to absorb H2O to some extent - and thus certainly other chemicals as well. These may also be involved in starting the processes, even in the dark. After all, cosmic radiation is everywhere. Once initiated, the degradation process is indeed of self propelling (chain) nature. As ABS formulations are so diverse (clutch power is one aspect, there are many, many more), the extent of remaining double bonds as well as the 3D-structure of the final polymer may intentionally or unintentionally change during production. How the 3D structures of the polymers actually look like after production in country X on machine Y in an environment Z is really a good question. Yes, there will be very strict process and quality control measures but ... It simply happens. And as far as I am concerned: I like it. It gives a very special touch to MOCs and models, particularly when they are decades old. As I am. All the best Thorsten Absolutely true! Just enjoy the special weathering touch to it. It makes it unique!

Yeah - for whatever reason. OK, impressiveness it is. Oh my. I am pretty sure that ... (many come to mind) Pantasy is impressive as well. But then - who cares. @Paul B Technic: You should have posted that review here anyway (in other words, it is your fault ) - the only reaction you usually get anywhere else here is: Fake, bootlegs, terrible, rip-off, etc. pp. Regardless of what you paid and so on. I am on the “who cares” route. For many reasons, but mostly concerned with - ambiguity: This is "good" but that is "bad". I am happy to post here - nobody reads these posts, but I feel good. There is nothing better to feeling good . All the best Thorsten

Hey, count your blessings But OK, with your overhaul: Just scale the thing linearly up, make it from steel - and boom, you have the exact same real locomotive. Man. How do you do this? Congratulations!!! All the best (I am in awe) Thorsten

You made this absolutely crazily stunning and phantastic MOC using only the pieces of the very LEGO set??? Sorry, I don't believe that. I'd say: From 4+ of these LEGO sets using only the required pieces with only a few pieces as leftovers. Yes, that seems to be accurate. What are you saying? Not accurate? Only the original set pieces were used? OK. Well. Wow. In direct comparison, the LEGO design looks like ... what simply stuck, when arbitrarily attaching pieces ... Congratulations. For me, your creation is simply from outer space, from a creator living far, far in the future ... Wow. All the best Thorsten

That is really a very nicely designed (both, technology- and aesthetically-wise!) and powerful compressor station! The building looks like a "tech-building" - with mighty machines inside. The love to detail is simply fascinating! And then the lighting; outside, inside, the operational lamps in/on the cabinets - wow. Congratulations on achieving the perfect combination of very "good-looking" and "fantastic technology inside"! All the best Thorsten

Dear All, @mahjqa very recently opened a thread in the Technic forum showing his "Train-compatible Friends-style container crane". As he did not want to cross post, I am taking the freedom of posting the link to that beautiful and so functional crane here. @Zerobricks frontpaged it, but as there was no photo available - without photo. I am browsing the Technic forum frequently, as of course the TrainTech forum (but wait, there is more, of course there is ) Should you not browse the Technic forum frequently, here's the link - should you, please forgive me. All the best, Thorsten P.S.: @JopieK - please close this thread if inappropriate!

Yes - I should read before I write. Sorry for that! However, without picture it does not really “show” - I guess a brief hint (= new brief thread) in TrainTech would not hurt, would it? I agree with others that this is of course Technic, but the beauties making it shine it are all tracks, trains, and wagons - and it does really work well in such a setting. All the best Thorsten

Dear all, again (yeah, happened before): This topic is tagged as “featured” but it is not appearing on the main page. If this is just a temporal issue (someone tagged it, the machine has a slot in a couple of hours to check for new tags), fine. But if it is not, I will just create a new thread in the TrainTech forum, with the message: Look here. As this is relevant there as well. I am browsing this forum regularly - but train heads may - or may not. @mahjqa has selected this forum as target, but here, there are too many cars drowning everything not car related ... All the best Thorsten

Yeap, and as @XG BC said, the modern switching power supplies are even better; efficiency (= heat generation) wise. It's simply a matter of taste. I simply like the hum of, e.g., the original LEGO power supply for 9750 (or that of my 99er which sits on a 230/110 voltage converter, again I chose a transformer - transforming 230 to 110 to transform 110 to whatever the TI needs ...) It will all work out. Best Thorsten

I also believe so. BTW, the larger the amperage of a transformer is, the closer they are producing their labeled voltage. I have a 9VAC, 300mA transformer here, which spits out 14 VAC without load (and breaks down to 9V when loaded) - but my 12VAC/10A transformer puts out 12VAC independent of load ... it's the physics behind the Maxwell equations Furthermore, the incandescent lamps TLG was using in their 4.5/9/12V lineup can really tolerate some “overvoltage”. The lifetime of the lamps goes considerably up, when running below nominal voltage. So 12V +2V (- makes it even better) is really not that big of a deal. All the best Thorsten

Thank you very much for pointing this out!!! I tried it yesterday - to no avail. Now, all the content is back! Yes, user login not (yet?) allowed, but that is for the future. All Brickshelf linked pictures/content should work again ... this is so nice! Whoever made that happen (maybe others know, I don't, da force or whatever happened) - I'm on my knees. All the best Thorsten

That is a nice layout! I would for sure take this route. The lights seem to be a permanent and quite demanding load for the LEGO transformer, otherwise the barriers of the crossing would not change their behavior. If you are not a purist, you should just get any cheap but powerful 12V DC thingy; even modern/semi-old/old computer power supplies (not laptop stuff, desktop supplies) usually have a good amperage 12V power line. There are so many other 12V DC solutions available. When these are all incandescent LEGO lamps, 12V AC will also work fine - no need for rectification. 230/12 AC transformers come in really cheap, just make sure you have good amperage, maybe 5 or even 10 A. These were used for old outdoor Christmas lighting quite often - yes I am old, and yes, I have assembled a good amount of old stuff. These devices hardly break even after +30 years of usage. If you tend to be purist, just get another 12V LEGO transformer for the lights. These are also comparably cheap even on BL ... And then use your current 12V LEGO transformer for the delicate instrumentation you have going! All the best Thorsten

Well, to me, it looks like you can rather easily attach 10+ of these slices to one big station. This is then one step further than with all the other halves of buildings/train sets etc. TLG is selling. Now you need 10+ ... Best Thorsten

Welcome to the right side of happy computing! And welcome to the board. (@Jurss I believe that thread is for 9751, Interface B) Sure enough, there is a plethora of things you can check out regarding LEGO Interface A. A good starting point is Evan Koblentz' (@evank) website: https://www.brickhacks.com/ Lots of links to be found there! Here on EB are also a couple; here is one: It depends on what you define as "more modern computer". I use Dosbox-X on my win11 laptop running QBasic/QuickBasic, USB2Serial or USB2TTL converter; on the other side, you'd need a serial2parallel converter, or a TTL2parallel converter, see thread above. Here are a number of QBasic programs (and other languages) here for some LEGO interfaces: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Toastie I also made programs for “era compatible” computers such as the TI99/4a, Atari 1040, IBM XT, Amstrad PCW9512, Sinclair ZX81, and Sinclair Spectrum … see Evan's site. Here is another cool project: https://wiki.lvl1.org/Lego_Interactive_Interface-A_Driven_via_Arduino But there is more, there always is: Here for example: Tom's page https://lgauge.com/ Have fun! All the best Thorsten

Hi Dave, once again: Thank you so much for providing this information. On my computer under LEGO > PUp > Documentation, it is "The ultimate PUp Reference Guide.pdf". I also have a txt readme file in that directory: It says. "Sinnlos, bessere Dokumentation für PoweredUp zu suchen!" All the best Thorsten P.S.: I also wish PUp will live much longer ...

That is my take as well, 100%. I believe that to the targeted audience the looks really matters - and as others said - these hardly look brick-built. They simply look good. I believe that is the point. For true brick heads, a model not looking brick-built is ... not a brick-built model, and thus considered bad The Technic brick-built supercars, with their thousands of machine gun holes - I'll never get it. I would just get a good-looking not-brick-built car, should I like such cars, which I do not. And yes, I know, the functions. Hmmm. Why are there more and more “wall-hanging” cases for these? Certainly not for the functions, rather for collecting dust, I believe. BTW, Pantasy (and Cobi, and others) is going (very modestly) into the same direction: When you e.g. take a look at their retro telephone (for $60 ), the dial long with the number plate a totally just for this model - they have nothing to do with traditional LEGO pieces. Which makes all the difference: I have that phone on my desk (which is stupid, as it does nothing other than standing there and collecting dust); but these two elements are just fantastic and render the thing very close to a retro telephone. We'll see. These alternative companies do not seem to go bankrupt by making new elements whenever they see fit, even for niche products such as a retro telephone. All the best Thorsten

Smart nice Smarts! I like both - yes the 4 wide version is familiar, a black/white and a white/white from LEGO is wondering about my layout. And your 4-wide version is really a nice update! However, I also like the 5-wide version, surely for it "uniqueness" at least it is to me. Thank you very much for sharing! (Is your Smart an electrical version?) All the best Thorsten

And that button/these buttons does/do something else, like throwing a switch point, right? If so, that is totally normal as the invoked "action" needs some current to work, voltage may then temporally drop, once the action is over, voltage is back to normal. It would happen upon operating a motor or such. I initially thought you switch the lamps, but it sounds as if you are having the lamps hooked up directly to the transformer, and something else is turned on/off, correct? Best Thorsten

Thank you for sharing here, Evan! Yes, I believe this is some "true Technic" (4.5V TC ) and truly deserves its own thread. As this is "just" the mechanical part, there is so much more: The electrical control, the program control - all from the 1980s ... I find this truly fascinating. Yes, I am old, nostalgic, old schoolish, etc. pp. but - this is technical and artwork combined. Really looking for updates! No problem, as long as the Department of Education does not remove the converters! Let's see: This should correspond to about 17.5 x 11.6 Prussian Zoll. Easy ;) Best wishes Thorsten The A*S Police caught this one! They never catch French; "merde" is allowed, as well as "cul". But kick-cul vertical pen plotter sounds a bit lame. Kick-butt sounds better, but is less a*s, more bottom or bum ... kick-bum ... no. Lets see, Google's AI says "Arsch" is the best translation of a*s into German - so a Kick-Arsch vertical pen plotter is meant here, right? Oh my - yes, this is an adult forum. Best Thorsten