bonox

May I just send out a great note of thanks to Gerger and afol1969 for the design and instructions, plus efferman for the superstructure mod. It's thrilling to be able to put together something like this and your assistance for the mortals amongst us is greatly appreciated. As you may notice, i'm still waiting for efferman's custom parts to be manufactured, but since when did that stop anyone from having fun :) It's certainly more purposeful than the TLG units, however none of them have 4 figure pricetags nor the build experience of this MOC. That said, the red one does add a special touch of colour.

the control centre is the controller - you don't control them. A train doesn't control the regulator. Presumably the request is a heavy fixed version (like the old CC) of the 7 step IR remote. bit pointless though - you can use the old controller to voltage control (rather than PWM) the motors, which really isn't that much of a deal, and the advantage of being able to use wall power would be diminished by hoping for an IR version (because that already exists). That's where the third party stuff like SBrick is going.

Heat is work and work's a curse And all the heat in the universe It's gonna cool down as it can't increase Then there'll be no more work And they'll be perfect peace Really? Yeah, that's entropy, man! Are you saying edison called a motor a perpetual motion machine?

all hail the new overlords. On an unrelated note, when is the new cinderella minifig due out?

what does your personality tell you about running out of space? Would you go for a bigger drawer, or split the parts of one type into multiple drawers by colour for example. If the former, fewer larger drawers may be better. For the latter, more smaller drawers. I generally find smaller sized ones easier to work with since I can pull them out and put more on the desk at one time compared to a few large ones. How do you like to build? Answering that question may drive your choice of storage. In general though I hate mixed drawers by type. Colour is fine, but if I want a particular widget, I don't want to have to sort through large bins of bits looking for it. The downside of that is having lots and lots of small drawers with very few parts in them.

that's the fun of a real spaceship. No point in folding stuff away.

definately reminds me of my earlier rainbow warrior years when you built using just what you had. No waiting around for parts deliveries of the right colours :)

good luck with it. It'll be a tough act to follow rebrickable though, with pretty common mobile data access. Are you accepting MOC's, or just factory sets for other factory sets?

that sounds like it's crying out for a minifigure blacksmith to be pulling it out of a forge :)

build a themed scrapyard and use the broken bits as working material.

Didn't seem to be a concern for the original

Cheers - good to know. I've already been cutting parts for this model, so more fabrication will fit right into the theme

Thanks for the reply. I've just placed an order, so i'll let you and the group know my feedback on it for this model.

you mean this one? http://www.bricksafe.com/files/afol1969/Instructions/GMK6400-MK3.pdf it's primarily gerger's crane, with a bunch of extras added by others along the way. Efferman has a pdf of his superstructure and the larger counterweight, (earlier in the post) but I find it unreadable - too much translucent stuff - so used the oberwagon.zip file from effermans bricksafe folder.

The point as I see it is threading - ie putting the giant loop of string around all the pulleys in the first place. Nothing at all to do with operation once it's threaded. I found the link helpful.

even then, a zero clearance insert for a saw would be a very good idea. If you don't know what that is or why it would be important, I suggest you stay away!

Thanks - I guess the next question is how does one go about buying one of your actuators? I'm guessing it's this one: http://www.shapeways.com/product/42LB4DBXF/xl-linear-actuator-18-studs-stroke-v1-1?li=user-profile&optionId=43806408 That one says Beta - if it's the one in question, do you think it's ready for use, or would you expect further development?

in that case, it uses an LM317 linear regulator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LM317 The variable input to the regulator is provided by voltage drop over fixed value resistors from the reference value. You'll need to change the regulator chip for a higher Vout model and may also need to adjust the 7 resistors to suit. I'd suggest starting with the chip and see what the result is before hacking the board apart too much.

Hi Efferman I've used these to build your cab and counterweight, but i've got stuck at the final installation. Is this model for a third party actuator only or have you an original hidden somewhere for TLG actuators with limited range of lift? Am I also right in saying there are two working spools - one on the main structure for lighter lifts and the one on the counterweight for heavier loads? The counterweight is a stunning addon - beautiful design.

perhaps, but why? What application for general use would possibly warrant that kind of device? Most motors built like that aren't intended to be coupled to a slow load (ie direct couple to a cutting tool for example). The speed alone requires great bearings and lubrication, neither of which exist in lego and the noise is terrible!

it is capable of taking a DC input as well, and they're generally much easier to find these days. If you have your heart set on it, try a general HO or similar style power controller. You should be able to find plenty of 12V units. According to philo, the 9V (and PF motors for that matter) will run happily at 12V with considerable speed boost, with unknown change to their life. eg http://www.hobbiesplus.com.au/electrical.htm or grow your own http://home.iprimus.com.au/nuggles58/Making%20A%20Basic%20DC%20Controller.pdf

Are you going to try and surprise/scare people with it at the show?

it's amazing what you can do with a bit of gearing, even in plastic!

have a look in this forum for the general "axle design" thread. There's also a recent one on front wheel drive, which covers the same thing you want.

depends on whether you're aiming for top shelf realism or something playable.