Toastie

Worth a lot more! See, if I would work at TLG headquaters (I know, "if" ... if a had a hammer ... I'd hammer out a warning) no one would like me there. I'd be the nervous guy looking at the quality of other - well - clone brands. And carefully follow their progress of improving that quality. The moment I'd find a competitor with almost comparable quality bricks, I'd hammer off every alarm bell I could possibly find. Why? Because one of the strongest arguments (of many) is becoming ... meaningless. And then I see these competitors rendering the IDEAs initiative slow, unfair, and this and that, because they a) simply steal IDEAs ideas, b) know what it means to show stuff in the public domain (you can copy it without any serious legal threats), and c) bring these ideas - ruthless - in an apparent breathtakingly short time to market - which is only apparently so short, because all the procedures and the IDEAs idea of pumping up the jam at TLG are - well simply bypassed. And that would make me very nervous as well. How much is the share of IDEAs with regard to the overall revenue though? I'd say next to nothing. Yes: TLG should continue to do their own thing. Selling sets to kids. "Through" their parents. As they do. And this is where the money is. Nevertheless: What if a clone brand producing comparable quality bricks and pieces, because they are done with that, target the next level? Rechargeable batteries for all products (so far, TLG relies on alkaline batteries, as per their print on the boxes, and they chickened out of 8878 and still have no replacement). Oh, they have to test this and that, to eventually crank out the best possible product - but so have cell phone manufacturers as well. What if a clone brand hires builders in the public domain on a per model basis? As they do already? Not the super designers working at TLG, but the brilliant people all over the world? I know that TLG does that as well, but there seems to be always a big fuzz about that. Moving to Billund and all that. That is so old school. BTW TLG is hiring, head over to the Technic forum . I bet things will change in very short time. The pandemic is radically accelerating that, as far as I am concerned. But then again: I'd be the nervous guy - nobody likes. And is fired in no time Best regards, Thorsten

Absolutely! And there is certainly no need, none, to rush things or even go there. My motivation was very different from yours. I like that: Careful gauging, assessment, and decision. Best approach. All the best, Thorsten

And that's my point as well : I have to find out. And as said: I don't do minifigs. So far: Mould King: Clutch power better. Colors perfect. What else can I reliably say? Nothing. And: There are about 600+ LEGO sets here - and countless single/multiple items (PaB, PUp, PF, BL, etc pp.) - and >two< sets are from competitors, of which >one< I call not only competitive, but maybe better. My judgement, maybe nothing of value for others. However, when it comes to gauging competition (TLG should do, and maybe some folks around here), don't take the worst or flimsiest as the challengers. Take the best. And then arrange and instruct your defense/mid-field/offense. Best Thorsten @Lord Insanity thank you very much for clarifying that! This is exactly my point (sorry for not being clear enough!): Without that even tighter clutch, you may have a much harder time to assemble the sections. I would be very happy to show these, but I will never do that here. There are for example these one-knob connections (I called wrongly flimsy), with some bricks attached further down the line, particularly in the "mouth region" of the ship. These need clutch power at max. Also ball joints - LEGO uses them to "move" things, MK uses them to fix things at weird angles. It all depends, I guess. Best Thorsten

To be clear: I was only talking about two sets I have (so far) - the Black Pearl from (I forgot - I don't even know whether there was a company name) and the Flying Dutchman from Mould King. The former is 2 years old, mostly - well black, modded with original LEGOs, and yes still good. I am not a fan of minifigs, so I can't tell, as I gave them away to kids). The FD is only 4 and 1/2 months old. No minifigs, as tihis is meant to be a "model". Both sit part of the day in the sun during summer in my attic, but I like seasoning, so no worries. Should some bricks become brittle ... well some LEGOs do as well. On the Pearl we'll see: Maybe only the original LEGOs will survive. It is tough up here. But honestly? I doubt that. As of now it is as it was when I opened the box. Regarding the FD I can assure you that both color and clutch power are perfect. The latter for modelling, as the FD is not supposed to be played with but displayed only. Nice building techniques, which would be never be approved by TLG: Too flimsy. I don't care as I want her to part the waters up here on a shelf. What is really important: Mould King is what I am referring to as of even or maybe even better quality - for modeling(!!!). I am not the only one feeling like that. Youtube has some videos of "Held der Steine" - it is in German though - he is pretty much independent and talks about TLG sets and others as well. In an educated way, I'd say. Maybe not, I am just working here Oh well - time will tell. All the best Thorsten

Hey hey hey! Don't delete the forum! Why? It would be bad. I am fuzzy in all good bad things. What do you mean: Bad? Imagine, all life as you know is stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body is exploding at the speed of light. Total protonic reversal. That's bad. Thanks, Egon, that was an important safety tip. (Wrote this out of my head - surely not accurate, but it is late, and I need to go to bed ;) but I do love Ghostbusters All the best Thorsten

And I believe makes a BIG difference. Hearing about, looking at videos, and so on is one thing. Doing it is another. I don't want to reiterate over and over again, but the best way is to experimentally find out. Test, gauge. When I purchased the Black Pearl for $29.99, I was feeling terrible. There were discussions here at home, betraying and so on. I assembled the Pearl (no issues whatsoever) and then modded her. Used lots of LEGO bricks - will never show it here, because. The Pearl was because I love Captain Jack Sparrows - and looking on BL/Amazon/eBay told me: Get another job. And then I learned about the Flying Dutchman from MK. That model dwarfs any ship TLG has ever released and is superior in many regards (colors, pieces, building experience). It is a model. Not for play. Point is: "They" are at least getting close - with their own "ideas". From experience. Best Thorsten

I really can see all your points. There is a saying at least in research though (you are well aware of) that you can try to make your results as appealing as you possibly can, but others will earn credit because they published something less appealing - faster. As far as I am concerned: To survive with that as appealing as possible approach you need to have a customer base that does appreciate exactly that: As good as is it possibly gets. This was for sure the case in the past. Legacy. But times change. The concept of assembling bricks doesn't. Yes. But then have a look at Mould King stuff. Colors: Perfect: shapes: Perfect. Clutch power: Stronger (not good for playing(!), but very good for delicate modeling). And I bet they could adjust that, if they want to. Another thing I learned in research: Don't look at the less perfect, always look at the ones with the highest finesse (to gauge what is maybe in your way). This is sort of contradicting the above, but attempting to find a point where finesse needs to be compromised by publication date. The former is Doing and the latter is Calibrating. And these need to be well-balanced. Particularly, when you ask for input from the public domain (e.g., Ideas). IMHO that is. Best regards, Thorsten

I can see that - gone through it, just to share my experience: There just needs to pop in an idea, where you desperately need one of the "lovely pieces". Use it or them. See, all the pieces are still there. You have the instructions. Putting it back together would always work(!) if you have to do it for some reason. But the longer the parts are nicely spread out on your display/in your MOCs, the less it "hurts". Eventually you will really love the idea and feeling that the set has helped you to build so many diverse things you really like. It is all still there. In a different appearance but there. Just do it. Best Thorsten

That is a good one! Like it! Here is to feeling good! Best Thorsten

Off-topic (sort of): The good thing being an old fart, who is celebrating his 20th anniversary at that academic joint this summer, is, that I can tell the current dean to shut the f*up when he'd say something like not liking my signature block - or I may consider having a chat with the vice-chancellor for research who is of the same age as me ... about - hmm - rude manners in the School of Natural Sciences. That'd be cool. I mean the facial expression ... Maybe I should actually add that to my signature ... . Recently I was entertaining the idea of adding "Fifteen men on the dead's men chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" but that was apparently no good (one of my graduate researchers said and still was holding on to it even after I told him come on, we are now 12 months in lock down, we need to cheer up) - the youth ... Best Thorsten

Well, I don't even have a fraction of the building skills folks have here - maybe even less than a fraction = zilch. But what disqualifies me upfront - over and out - is that I like Douglas Adams very much: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." Best Thorsten

Can't agree more. And this will continue, for sure. I mean mold injection of ABS has been around for half a decade of decades - even longer. In the beginning it was unreachable for many because of the tooling and the process itself, set aside mass production etc pp. But after more than 50(!) years - competition improves. Particularly when the basic patents run out - and the garden fence of follow-up patents (falling apart as well after 30 years to be "renewed" with something else) has to keep up the defense - and in principle the same technology and processes for production is used - then competitors should be taken very, very seriously. And then imagine, quality becomes equal or better than the original and then is sold at half the price and less. Has happened to so many large companies out there. I am a loyal TLG fan, just did bad things twice. And was very surprised as I believed: This won't be even nearly as good in quality as a LEGO set. Well. Not true. In contrast. Now since that experience I frequently have terrible thoughts: What if some really bad guys with highest-quality mold injection machines (as they are out there, all over the place) do make their bricks with LEGO logo and corresponding number. That is of course criminal behavior at its worse. But you could not tell the difference anymore. Well, I couldn't. They don't do it, as far as I know. It seems to work without logo pretty well; otherwise I cannot understand how many of these companies can survive or even rapidly grow: Their products seem to sell very well. Worldwide that is. Yes. Best Thorsten

I'd want to live there. Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Best Thorsten

Yeap. Best Thorsten

Thank you @djm and @1963maniac for the updates! Highly appreciated. Best Thorsten

And "open source" either regarded as one entity or as mass effort always wins. In the long run. Best Thorsten

I don't do WIP and WHAT. But: There must be something in it for TLG. Too big the company, way too many folks dealing with this over in headquarters (well, could also be that an apprentice is running this part of the joint - I doubt that though). Yes, "some" customers taking it seriously, are p*ssed off. Is there anything though, they can gain/pull off from the "uneducated"? I mean we are talking so-and-so often about parents browsing the shelves or Amazon or Shop@Home without knowing what they want/do and then just buy. Getting something for free >always< works for the majority. Hmm. You need to know what you do, when enrolled in these programs, right? Oh well. Could it be that the some/uneducated ratio is way below 0.01? Don't know, just popped in there. Best Thorsten

The PUp hubs (all of them, even the small one) have PID control routines in their firmware. Some PUp motors (including the L version) have inbuilt rotation sensors/electronics ("tacho") which report the actual RPMs on the axles/the motor shaft back to the hub. This way the hub can change the PWM setting (power) on its outputs according to incoming RPM data. It increases power when "desired" RPMs are not actual RPMs and so on. The algorithm implemented is quite good; I tested the response with my Croc. Usually PID algorithms need to be adapted to the parameters of the object you want to control (could be temperature inside an enclosure, speed, whatever) but the generic settings in the hubs are quite good. They don't have a learning routine (this is what intelligent PID controller do: They first learn about the response time of the system and the power source making the "change") - but I may be wrong on that. Here's my own try on that from 10+ years ago (beware it is OLD); still works pretty well though, as I can change the PID parameters individually (adjust for load) - but you need a lot of stuff on the engine: With PUp it is all in the box. And even better as in my approach, as a 9V train motor is a nightmare to control via PID. Way better with a high torque (L) motor. Best Thorsten

Here is to feeling good . Same here. With one extension: For me as a brick builder what LEGO doesn't sell as set (it has to be something outstanding though) [ ... and then put the remaining text of the citation here]. Best Thorsten

That IS a nice option. Very nice actually, when you use the "Speed" settings and not the "Power" settings on the hub. Setting speed to lets call it "1" will very slowly but steadily move you engine/train with constant speed (well "1") regardless of friction/counter forces changing considerably (tight curves, s-shaped track, points, inclines ...) as long as the power does not max out (i.e., when a slope is too steep and even "full power = motor on = PWM 100%) is not sufficient AND you can prevent wheel slip (applying o-rings, adding weight). Best Thorsten

Hee hee ... well ... I thought so too ... Well, we need more conspiracy theories here. So here we go: When the forum software was upgraded the last time, a new feature became available: The "Do make Users Happier" (DUH) Forum app. This app randomly selects users with notoriously low follower count. As there are strict forum policies regarding user management, that app can create new users, but then has to keep the active fake user number count low to not get in trouble with - uhhm - lets say ... Bill Gates! After creating a new user, it waits for a random time (about days half life), then declares these as "banned outlaws". So all is good with regard to policies - and with dumb users as me - believing they are kicking butt. BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE! Win - win! Cheers Thorsten

Well said (you entire post!). And that is what I like so much. Here in Train Tech all that "dancing around" is simply not necessary, when presented reasonably. I love to see these finds of tiny LEGO compatible motors (I never heard of this, and it is opening up so many new and exciting possibilities! BBB wheels changed everything for me (back then, when I saw Ben Beneke's BR23 for the first time. I can't remember, but I believe I was hospitalized because I simply forgot to breathe and so on. I also believe that I'll get flak any minute now from another thread here on EB where they talk about patents and what not. But there is another thing I'd like to point out here as well: When accepting a certain level of quality inflow of custom pieces - "even" when they come from China - promotes the hobby. Allows expanding further. Pushes new developments. In the alien, i.e. the non-LEGO, other world called reality, such things keep things going. At least in the free market - well and in biology: Always good to have a broad mix of genes inside rather than getting told from nature, that she is sorry, but life has moved on. All the best Thorsten

This is what I am trying to understand for a long time now: The rest of the world really seem to work like this. One example is the electronics market; usually folks brag about how cheap you can buy electronic parts and assemblies in China. LED's, light panels, IC's everything. Original Arduino's start at about 20$. Chinese clones of the same type at 3$. And no one really complains (as far as I can tell). But when it comes to LEGO - wow. There is a lot of belief in this company. Seems for a good reason as they are making very nice stuff and continue to do so. But: When patents run out, either the technology is so old, that it hardly matters anymore - or it is happily and legally used by others. And then changed and adapted, improved and so on. There is also an aspect of further development in this approach. Usually things begin to get cheaper and more widespread, develop into other products, driven by competition. And I clearly see competition as one big problem for TLG. Model wise. Yes, cloning existing models is not acceptable. Period. But coming up with own designs and adding new parts really is. I believe this will not only continue but get more and more into the market and eventually accepted. But who knows. The other thing is manufacturing of "mass products" in China is almost a must to remain competitive. I have no clue, but it would surprise me, if LEGO motors are produced and the assembly is done in China, maybe not. And yes, then comes the approval nightmare (CE, tests etc.) - but this is done under contracts in China as well - and it certainly does not drive the price up to crazy levels. It is weird though: So many other items in the house/in real life come from China. Cloned or not, we don't care. Well, in most cases I wouldn't even know how to tell. Best Thorsten

Hehee ... depends. Let me see: 323 was my first LEGO train set I got in 1965 - but that does not count I guess: No track at all! Hmm - there are some trains on tracks here ... about 16 of them. 4.5V/12V blue/12V grey converted to PF. There are also RCX, PF, and PUp powered trains, most of them equipped with 9V power pick-ups. Actually this entire room up here (my home office ) is stuffed with all sorts of LEGOs . So, I believe I am not entirely new to trains. Here is to feeling good! All the best Thorsten

But we don't want to derail from official LEGO track, as if it were not existent anymore, right? I mean, there are a lot of ... well ... not so appreciated discussions about the horrible bootlegs here on EB. I am not talking about FX etc, etc pp. But: With this approach: we would wander into the world of non-TLG track, right? To be clear: For me, this is absolutely fine. But in terms of the discussion of non-TLG parts used, this is a very different story. And finally: Then I simply don't see, why "clone stuff", regardless of finesse, is buried in the Community Forum. Best Thorsten