SavaTheAggie

Unfortunately the sound system of the RC trains is contained only in the remote control unit. There's a button on the remote that when pressed, the sound comes out of the remote. The train itself makes no sounds outside of what the electric motor makes. You'd be just as well off to make 'choo choo' sounds. --Tony

The Santa Fe sets are some of the most gorgeous sets LEGO has ever produced in my opinion. I like them so much I've gone just a little crazy in buying sets, and it doesn't seem like I'm done, either. (Oh yes, soon I shall have myself a B-unit) :-D On Bricklink this type of color in 'waves' is refered to as a 'pearl' color. So Pearl Silver, Pearl light grey, Pearl gold, etc. Bricklink recognizes the Pearl color in the Santa Fe cars as "Pearl Light Grey". --Tony

Nothing at all, except the RC is impotent in its' ability to pull load. The new RC train cars and locomotives are full of larger pieces or use very small cars to reduce weight. The more recent 9v trains and cars are much much heavier, especially the Super Chief. IIRC, one of the first people to get an RC train tried to pull three or four Super Chief passenger wagons with an RC locomotive and was unable to do so. --Tony EDIT: Three Santa Fe Coaches: http://www.iltco.org/library/articleShow.php?articleid=51 Or one MOC passenger coach added to the whole RC train set and sent through a switch http://www.iltco.org/library/articleShow.php?articleid=52 Is capable of stopping the train entirely.

Because any Classic-Town website should really be called 'Classic-Emergancy and Transportation' ? :-D I think there are really two reasons behind why there isn't a call for a Classic-Town.com 1. The town theme, as it exists today, really isn't set-based, but more MOC-based, like the Mecha theme. The vast majority, at least as far as I can tell, of LEGO town sets are either firehouses, police stations, or transportation related. There really are only a handful of houses and commercial buildings that were ever available. Most town builders seem to build their own stuff, so its hard to build a website around a theme with no real set foundation (I'm not saying impossible, Mechahub seems to be doing well). 2. Town and Trains have become more-or-less connected. The big town builders seem to belong and build for train organizations, so they tend to stand together as a single theme. And a lot of them still hand around Lugnet, too, so they have no desire to leave (pretty much got the place to themselves, now ;-) ) --Tony

Posting a private email between two people publically without the consent of the author is VERY bad form. I'm rather shocked that this was not only done here, but repeated in another thread. Also - why would Classic *CASTLE* advertise a pirate contest on the main page? That seems a rather odd notion to me. And I would especially be against advertising your contest if you dislike castle so much as not to even be willing to sign up for an account. Dirty pool. You ARE aware that many members here at Eurobricks are also members at C-C, right? 'They' don't hate Eurobricks. 'They' are a large group of people with diverse opinions, and no one person speaks for the whole. --Tony

If technic liftarm pistons aren't your thing, there are a few alternatives. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=970255 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1386923 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1806104 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1900655 Though I like liftarms, myself, especially when mixed with a technic plate and a tile: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2371103 But that's just me. --Tony

I would never have built a steam engine without using BBB wheels. And since all I ever seem to build are steam engines, I probably would have never built a single train MOC had it weren't for them. Here are my steamers: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=174415 (I'm working on another one, but I've only posted pics to my Flickr account thus far) Yes! Some people complain about the small wheels having problems negotiating points, but I've never had that problem. I have more problems with LEGO's small train wheels. As long as you position them correctly, use blind drivers or adequate spacing, in my experience they run flawlessly. Yes! The whole point in building a steam train is to have the pistons chugging along while it goes down the tracks, otherwise its just a crummy diesel. :-D They're expensive, but they're top notch quality and in my opinion worth every penny. I don't know, but Ben charges a flat $5 shipping to anywhere in the world regardless of order size, which is REALLY hard to beat nowadays (unless you just buy one wheel, I suppose). --Tony

The caboose (set #10014), however, not only doesn't fit in the Train Engine Shed, but also won't fit under the overhead crossing in the Train Level Crossing (set #10128). I use the caboose to judge a good tunnel height whenever I build one. --Tony

My opinion doesn't seem to matter much, but if you want it, here it is: Three point lighting is the best option, but don't use a flash. Use a light box. But most of my creations are too big for a light box. The solution? I built three of those for $75 - $15 for each lamp, $7 for each bulb, and the remainder going to everything else. I bought three identical clip-lamps that have a metal guard over the bulb area, and I covered it with a white pillow case, using rubber bands to hold it in place. I used normal PVC pipe (very cheap) for the stands themselves, and replacement furniture feet for the ends to make them stable on any surface. I didn't glue them, but you could certainly do that. The pillow cases help diffuse the light, creating very uniform lighting, and the metal bulb guards keep the fabric from touching the bulb. The bulbs I used, and this is extremely important, are flourescent bulbs, the curly ones, NOT incandescent. This is important for two reasons - 1) flourescent bulbs don't heat up like other blubs do, so there's no risk of fire with the cloth so close to the bulb. 2) the bulbs I bought are 5500K in color - this is the ideal color for a bulb. Most incandescents look too yellow or reddish, and most flourescents look too blue. 5000K or 5500K is just right. You WILL find it difficult to find this color of bulb, but they are available if you're willing to look. You will probably have to look on the bulbs themselves, through the packaging (hopefully its clear). Most 'daylight' bulbs are around 6500K, which is way too blue for my tastes. Be sure to read the packaging and the text on the base of the bulb carefully. So far I've only found them at the Home Depot. The clip light can be adjusted to any angle and any height, and when you get three of them together you can get some really great results: Notice the three points of light reflecting off the red domes on top of the train's boiler. But of course your mileage may vary. --Tony

I asked Steve Witt about why LEGO was making the IR trains when the 9v trains seemed just fine, and he explained it to me this way: 9v trains plug into the wall. You cannot, at least in the US, target a toy to a child under the age of 8 that plugs into the wall. Because of this, LEGO could not target nearly a third of their target audience, the 6-12 year old set, with 9v trains. By removing the plug in the wall and going to full battery operation, LEGO could target the IR trains to 6 and 7 year olds. I have other personal theories concerning IR Trains, but this is why, in my understanding of what I'm told, LEGO created the IR trains. --Tony

It really isn't as noticable if you get in to MOC trains. Once you get into trains with 7, 10 cars behind the locomotive, the speeds decrease considerably, so the increments become less noticable. Of course you can always add a second regulator to make up for that, but that's neither here nor there. I can't answer your question though, I've never tried fiddling with the internal workings of anything electronic, at least not in that way. --Tony

The trick, as far as I'm concerned, is to find a seller that has the most parts you're looking at his shop. The less places you go, the better. Sure, you might have to pay a little more for the parts you want, but you'll save on shipping for not having to buy from multiple sellers. So what I like to do when building a MOC using Bricklink is to find a part I *HAVE* to have, like some rare black thin train window, for example. So I do a search for all sellers who are selling the thin black train window, and then I start examining each of their shops. I also start by skipping all the sellers outside of my own country, simply because shipping will be cheaper. Hopefully I will find a seller who has everything I'm looking for. If not, or if the seller has something else I'm looking for but at too high a price, I do a second search. This time I not only look to see if this second seller has what the first seller doesn't have, but I also look to see if the second seller has lower prices on the stuff I already found. If I'm lucky, I've now found all the parts I need between the two sellers, maybe three, and I place my orders. It usually takes an hour or two to find everything I'm looking for, but it's worth the effort. On really big MOCs that I need to order most of the parts for, it's good to write things down or print out your shopping cart so you can keep track of everything from each store. --Tony

Here's a little Ant Farm I threw together last night. I eventually want to put this on a train car and run it around TexLUG displays... cause I think it'd be fun. --Tony

If you don't mind me hijacking/adding to the thread topic... Here is a slightly more advanced design http://www.flickr.com/photos/savatheaggie/330679435/ This design is for Pacific and other types of wheel arrangements where the pony truck has four wheels, and you don't want to have to alter your pistons or use smaller wheels for the pony truck. The rear pair of pony truck wheels have been fixed to the rest of the locomotive, so that the locomotive turns on one flanged pair of drivers and the one pair of small wheels. --Tony

Be careful, though. Spreading your flanged drivers as far apart as on the 0-6-0 example and the BBB wheels may begin to act funny when going through switches, hitting the rail guides and whatnot. Any further apart and they'll definately start having problems. Also be careful with that 0-10-0, I call that the 'daisy cutter' configuration, since any part of the train beyond the blind drivers will cut down anything along the outside of curves. :) --Tony

Post Mod Gallery Here is a mini version of my #805 I built this afternoon. I've been wanting to build a mini-scale train to ride on a small flatbed car for a long time now, but I never really got the gumption to try to build a MOC of my own instead of copying someone else's work. I think I did a pretty ok job. As always, comments and criticism are welcome. --Tony

I plan on buying this set to learn 'from the masters', as highland said. Buying the set not only gives me more parts, but also gives me all the parts I need to build all 30 models (just not at the same time). However, I will be buying or searching for the parts necessary to build all of the models I like most from this set, and in different color schemes where possible. That way I can have my cake and eat it, too. Plus I need a lot more rolling stock... I have just as many locomotives as I have rolling stock. :-| --Tony

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. You know I didn't start building trains till this time last year, so you never know. Thanks for the reply! Thanks! As soon as I can afford to go, I'm taking my family on a trip to the TSRR. I'll be sure to put some pics up somewhere. Thanks for the reply! --Tony

Thanks! The 500 seems to be popular, its the favored train right now over on C-C, too. As for the Pere Marquette - the wall of the tender are still reversable, so its easy to switch. To tell the truth I don't have much reason to ever switch it because no one in TexLUG builds 8-wide trains so aside from the Polar Express coaches, I have nothing for the 1225 to pull! I'll return to castle soon enough. Most of my spare parts are locked away in Ulmaris, and I can't take it apart until I finish the next chapter of Ikros (or abandon the story altogether). Someday I'll get to it all. --Tony

I wasn't able to finish them 100% in time for the recent TexLUG meeting, but my Texas State Railroad steam locomotives are finally done. I've also updated my other two steam engine MOCs, so I took pictures of them as well. TSRR #300 Post Mod Gallery Consolodation type (2-8-0) Built in 6-wide I'm especially proud of the way the stickers I printed turned out. They add a LOT to the plain black tender. The drive wheels on this locomotive are too large compared to the locomotive itself, but I'd rather use BBB wheels than try to build my own. TSRR#500 Post Mod Gallery Pacific type (4-6-2) Built in 7-wide I wasn't able to match the green in the stickers as closely as I was with the Polar Express' passenger cars (I was using a different printer), but I think they don't look too bad. Since they aren't waterslide it's easy enough to replace. If you will recall, this is the locomotive that uses the really great idea of including the rear pair of lead truck wheels with the driving wheel set, which allows the engine to manage curves without using smaller wheels or pistons. Sava Railways #805 Post Mod Gallery American type (4-4-0) Built in 6-wide This is actually my American 4-4-0 but with a few updates. The biggest update is the addition of stickers and a number. Ever since he was born some 7 months ago, my son has been drawn to this locomotive, so I decided to number it after his birth day, August 5th (8-05). Pere Marquette #1225 Post Mod Gallery Berkshire type (2-8-4) Built in 8-wide I finally took more pictures of my updated 1225. As always, comments and criticism are welcome. I'd also like to thank Ben Fleskes for his amazing BBB wheels, without which, or his patience and support, I would never have been able to build these MOCs. --Tony

I didn't know where else to post this, so forgive me if this is the wrong place. Post Mod Gallery TexLUG was invited back to the Healthy Baby and Child Expo in San Antonio, Texas, this year, and I think it was a pretty successful event. Our display featured a single main-line train loop traversing four different distinct areas - moonbase, winter/vikings, Harry Potter, and town. We also had a wireless camera set up on whatever train was on the main line sending a signal to a TV on the display, giving visitors a train's-eye view of the layout. On a personal level, this was a great event for me because I was able to see all four of my steam train MOCs running on a huge layout. The Polar Express was by far the crowd favorite, with my little 4-4-0 being more popular with the older 'kids'. Plus- no train motors died this time! Woo! --Tony

Dangit, and here I thought I was going to have a new kindred spirit on the forum ;) I've seen the videa before, I wish I could have seen that display in person. I would have loved to have had five minutes to run one of my locomotives through it. --Tony

I'm currently working on steam locomotives. You can see my progress here: http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...?showtopic=7725 Also scroll down to the last post to see my plans for future MOCs. --Tony

I usually blame my lack of good MOCs or the inability to build anything on MOC burnout. This has happened to me several times, usually after I build something I'm extremely proud of. I liken it to my brain saying 'Well, I've done the best I'll ever do, time to quit." Of course I know its not true, I can always improve, but the motivation to build just ceases to exist. I found the best remedy is to switch themes. After I built my red dragon, I had no want or desire to build any more creature MOCs, something I had been doing for a long time. I turned to building medieval buildings. When I built and reworked my windmill, I had no desire to build medieval towns. So I turned to building castles. When I built my huge castle, I lost the desire to do any more castley things. And now I'm building trains. And throughout all of it I've learned that not only does it help recharge my batteries to build in different themes and genres, but my skills improve as well, and I think in ways and bring in ideas to my older themes that I wouldn't have before. Just my 2 cents. --Tony

Heh... yeah, and I'm not entirely sure I could build it, either. I'm not sure, since I don't own the set, but I don't think even LEGO's engine shed when it's opened up to be one long set of tracks could hold both the 1225 and its tender, and that's a pretty big building. I've thought about building a round house (for the other locomotives), but I'm not that into trains yet, and TexLUG doesn't usually have the sort of display setup to support one. --Tony