Toastie

But that is the result, the crawler recorded, back in the days, isn't it? Best, Thorsten

This is what you wrote on April 3, 2023, in this thread, @evank - but I don't know whether you paid him anything? As far as I remember, you got copies of manuals from Daniel Schmatz that you put onto the Internet Archive, didn't you? Man, time goes so fast. For those of you interested, here is a link to his "museum's" website: https://kinderkram.eitle.at/?zeige=detailsaus&sprache=englisch All the best, Thorsten @Gunners TekZone - hey, no reason to apologize! Simply too much information at a time, plus all this insider talk ... it is tough to recall all the stuff discussed in a thread. I just do because I created this thread! Link to Daniel Schmatz' museum is above - again, I am too stupid to insert a quote into a post I am editing ... EDIT #2: Ha!!! The auto merged function of the forum software does what I wanted ...

Well, +40 years old 5 1/4" disks are sort of delicate, not necessarily common anymore - and Daniel may have paid some money for getting his hands on some unobtanium. Maybe not - who cares. Plus he is running a >very< nice place oriented at kids/families ... that me be not in the focus of governmental support - times change as you certainly know better than me. Chipping in some money for all what he is doing seems to be - for me - a natural thing to do. I'll certainly volunteer to cover the entire "cost" - knowing it goes into his operation. I wish I had the time to do such things. 4 more years and I am retiring. Maybe then ... Best Thorsten

First, thank you very much for your lead on this!!! Second: I am 100% in. Best Thorsten

Unfortunately no. We are still at this point in time: 2024-12-1 (two pages back in this thread, post from @maehw I am too dumb to quote from a post two pages away ... ) Daniel Schmatz from Austria may have the DOS disks. But I am not sure if he is willing to copy or lend them for copying. I am happy to do so, as certainly others as well. That is all I know. All the best Thorsten

Tricky ... this will take some time, but there is an answer ... Hmm - what I would do is opening a thread entitled "The history of Y ...", "Y - the event that ..." (did not want to use X for obvious reasons) - than telling a story and then fill the thread, maybe on a weekly basis with your MOCs. It depends on "Y" where to launch it. If any trains are involved, it TrainTech (we love everything remotely related to trains, such as ... flowers). If not, then well, it depends on "Y". No idea whether this makes any sense, as I don't know what "Y" is. Good luck + all the best Thorsten

Hi Sven, I thought, die-cast models go into the Community forum ... This is another masterpiece - as per usual. The wheels (along with the dish + round plate) really make the difference - this looks so good! I still do have a couple of these from back in the days + never knew what to do with the Disney minifigs got as a present = now I know! Thank you very much for sharing + all the best Thorsten

@Wildcat01 and @AdaStephen do you guys mean "sets to build" or do you want to do your own creation? Well, in both cases, I suggest posting that question in the Technic forum. This Community forum is for weird and otherwise forbidden stuff belonging to the dark side or nowhere (I post alternative brick related stuff here). I don't believe that many - if any - Technic experts visit here. I for myself started some 20 years ago with these small "generic" Technic sets <$20 (back then), just to get into it. Even poly bags did it for me. And then things got bigger, but I never ever made even close to "experienced level" - because I like System so much. Just my 2 cents, but - ask over in Technic, you'll get better advice for sure. All the best and good luck Thorsten

Hmmm - true. However ... there was the 4.5V/12V system, which is really of highest flexibility as you can plug and play as you see fit. Then the possibility of wrong polarity became a bad thing - and out with it, 9V was here. Compatibility: Zero. 9V was a really nice replacement and used all over the TLG universe. But: No semi-smart devices, "just" power, so PF came in. Yes, there was compatibility with 9V, that was really nice. However the CodePilot/Cybermaster/RCX/SCOUT folks became a little upset when 9V was not replaced with PF plugs but - uhmm - these telephone jacks, having a proprietary "position" of that little thingy making it TLG specific. And safe of course - as time progresses, people become more and more stupid, so they for sure would have tried to hook up a phone to the NXT brick, to call-in for help. And yes, the footprint of the telephone cables was much smaller than 9V terminals, and smarter! The more wires one has, the more data can flow. PF was more a muscle thing, the Technic freaks love so much. And train folks were happy with the adapter cable. But then came PUp - more data needed to flow, 6 wires required. TLG did BLE to communicate with a smart device as "controller", but solid 6 wires to connect to the actuators and sensors ... So what's next? 8 wires? Or wireless? If the latter, 2 wires for powering are good enough ... which brings us back to ... 4.5/12V or 9V (two wires). Using a bridge rectifier, at a cost of < $ 0.01 when mass-producing, would even eliminate the danger of electronic destruction. As they say in Ghostbusters - the possibilities are unlimited ... Hey, Dean Jaeger ... I am sure that there will be a new connection system. It is 2025 and there is this wheel in perpetual motion. (I have fully reverted to 4.5/12/9V, and I am happy) All the best Thorsten

100% agreed - I believe it is simply a business model. Once the market is partially "saturated" and things slow down, they jump to another system, so that the next frenzy breaks out. Some will wine and tell it is the worst electrical system ever, some will clap and call it the best electrical system ever, and TLG will stuff the new system into their sets, regardless what the customers reactions are. As you said: Their typical behavior, has always been like that. Best Thorsten

Wow! What a wonderful project! All the complexity, all the challenges, the way you tackled these, the many partial solutions, attempts, retries. This project is a perfect example of how research, serendipity, clear analysis, persistence, documentation >certainly< would have eventually led to a working prototype. You decided to stop the project, because the sum of issues, at this budget level, told you to do so. That is totally fine. However, I don't like the term "[Failed]" in the title, this is so not true: "Did not work as envisioned", "Budget (< $20) was not matching the needs", "Lessons learned", is much more in line with all you have accomplished. Which is a lot! Using a 5 mm screwdriver (and not cutting the handle off): Brilliant - it worked they way planned. And: You can now still use it for other tasks (such as driving screws ;) - Allan key: Brilliant, EV3: brilliant, LEGO parts: brilliant. I love every aspect of your approach. I bet that with a more conservative budget, you could get this going without hassle. Not only that; I just googled a few Arduino/EV3 communication solutions - seems to be entirely possible for a hardware person like you are - after all, you successfully programmed all the other stuff successfully! This was a multidisciplinary hard/software project and the lessons learned are incredibly valuable - who knows now what for. Well who cares? In your next crazy project (that you hopefully will post here) you can rely on your (further) accumulated experience and knowledge. When in doubt whether that new crazy project is appropriate for this forum, just hot glue a piece of LEGO to it, claim it does not work without, and take a video along with some text explaining what you tried. And don't use "failure". I am so much looking forward to that one! Congratulations on how far you came! All the best Thorsten

Oh - my - goodness ... This is incredible. This is fantastic. This is so creative: A "quite solid construction with nothing loose" and (>not< but) taken over by nature - a true symbiosis. "This is wrong" - I love antonyms (as this passenger wagon is so right). They often point to ... the true meaning. 2025 is surely less than a year that flows - with all the disruptions screaming out loud. For me, your creation is a piece of art. Industrial art. Contemporary art - as graffiti is (to me). It is the entire artwork that strikes me; the idea, the realization in bricks and paint, the art discourse, the request - or maybe (?) better - stimulus - to think ... it made me think, dream ... Wonderful. Thank you so much, Sérgio, for sharing, both, the pictures, and your explanations. Artwork works for me best, when there are some hints ... All the best Thorsten

@Hod Carrier I believe something went wrong with embedding the pictures ... Best Thorsten

... and is sort of "spring-loaded", which almost guarantees good contact to the rails. Best Thorsten

It is truly amazing - the looks alone prove that the olden days were better . What a tremendously nice display and layout. So many memories ... and: The best colors ever!!! Congratulations on assembling such a beautiful world! All the best Thorsten

Ha, same here: First Picture. Upon further inspection of the other pictures, I noticed that even then, no miniature circular hand saws were used in tubes Then I tried to find out Stud.io or real - concluded after some time: Real. Then I looked for non-LEGO pieces (I could not care less if there were, but now I was in full alert mode): None. This is so nice ... I had to reply again ... Best, Thorsten

Wait - that has become normal with LEGO sets, hasn't it? Simply buy a second set and fill it up - money is no object Best Thorsten

I was literally waiting for @LEGO Train 12 Volts reply ;) All you said - so nicely done. And then look at the scale - incredible! You really made excellent use of pieces and then created the touch of "Italy" - I love it. Wow. All the best and congratulations! Thorsten

This is really nice - and very well done! It looks so authentic, although I have never seen anything like this. All the best, Thorsten

But it is not, is it? There is a tag "Featured" - but I don't see it on the main page/Portal? Is it just me screwing up? Best Thorsten

@n8walker I believe the links are not correctly pasted? Best Thorsten

Dear All, in these days, I am listening to this over and over again ... Let us share this moment, Let's enjoy this night, Get the world connected, Though you one of a kind

I am not into cars, nor any of this business you guys are in - but I am totally impressed here. I rarely dive into "another" BUWIZZ or off-road, or trial truck or whatever post - not because of disinterest, but mostly because of not comprehending what you guys accomplish. I take a peek, take a deep breath and then think "another league", what I want to reply will sound stupid. Same thing with regard to your post - but the elegance, the "light" feeling of the build, the power, the functions just blew me away. This is such a nice model you created, I am in awe. Congratulations - and all the very best Thorsten

That will be very nice visit!!! Please let us know when you go there. Also, nice to read that you'll be in touch with Daniel. I shall try your code soon. Thank you very much for polishing it up! All the best Thorsten

As other have said: Cute and lovely - but also accurate and very nicely done! Oh yes, WD40 ... the magic stuff. Well, what to expect from a product manufactured by the Rocket Chemical Company ... These Circuit Cubes are so nice, aren't they - did you use the Cubit motor cube from them as well? Congratulations on another fantastic creation, Emanuele! All the best Thorsten