coaster

Ultimately, you'd be able to buy them separately. They would be a separate tool from the switches.

The R104 switch Kickstarter is now live! Go check it out and help bring these to life! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bricktracks/bricktrackstm-r104-switch-tracks-for-lego-trains In other news, I have the first samples of the R56 curves. They came out great, just a few minor tweaks need to be made to the tooling. Exciting times around here!

Thanks klausn! You'll get an email notifying you when they ship. Right now, we're still on track for July 1st. It's a function of weight. There is a max shipping charge though, where anything above that I'll eat the difference. Unfortunately, shipping to Austria is rather expensive. I've been trying (without any luck though) to find a Bricklink shop in the EU to partner with, which will help cut down the shipping and import duties. But for now, if you have any friends or LUG members that want some too, it does make sense to put a combined order in.

R56 curves are now available for pre-order! Tooling is just about complete, so we'll be starting a production run soon. Estimated ship date is July 1st. We'll also formally announce the R104 switch Kickstarter this week, the launch of which will coincide with Brickworld Chicago. This looks to be a busy summer!

@FiliusRucilo That's outstanding work. Well done!

Won't work. There's a connecting rod that crosses the centerline of the turntable. Sorry.

I actually don't have a good supplier for those. I think most people have been getting them off ebay with mostly good results. @Cale might have a source for them since they use them for the BMR kits. At worst, he might sell them to you.

After my last plans for 9V rails fell through, I'm not building my hopes up too much, but I have had some positive conversations with potential suppliers for the rails, so we'll see. Fingers crossed. In other news, I now have axles available if anyone needs them: https://www.bricktracks.com/product-page/metal-train-axle-x50

That is an interesting idea. I hadn't considered something like that, but next time I get a chance I'll sketch something up. Thanks Ludo! The switches will be just PF for now. Since I'm unsure how the final design for 9V will look, I can't preemptively build it into the tooling. The tooling could be reworked though in the future if needs be. However, some 9V portions, such as the alternating rail power that gets passed through the switch arm, will get built into the tooling now, so we'll be able to install stamped pieces if/when we get it figured out.

Haven't had an update for a while, so figured I should let everyone know our project statuses: The 9V rails had some more set backs. The way I was confident would work (and was initially told would work) only sort of works. To get it working properly, once again, requires about $100k in die tooling. Have a couple more ideas to try though, but they'll take a little while to realize. R56 tooling should be done in the next few weeks. We'll start taking pre-orders sometime in May. Hope to have these released in time for Brickworld Chicago. I will have an announcement shortly regarding a Kickstarter for the R104 switches, so stay tuned on that. We are holding off on the R72 and R88 tooling pending the outcome of switch Kickstarter. It's not a question of IF we will do this tooling, it's just a matter of when. If the Kickstarter is successful, we want to make sure we have some cash on hand in case something should go sideways. No ME-type excuses for us. We've had a number of people ask about train axles. Yes, we do make them for BMR for their kits. They are specially ground to be .0005" (.01mm) smaller than the current LEGO ones (the old version from LEGO was this size) to work with off-the-shelf ball bearings, but they do still work just fine in the normal wheelsets, too. We've refined our process, and are currently waiting on material to come in, but we will start selling these as well. So if you are in the market for a lot of axles, please keep an eye on here and our site. The Coupler and Wheelsets projects are still active, just haven't had time to work on them. So much to do!

Yeah, same here. Thought I had it figured out, and it ended up getting into ridiculous tooling costs again. Trying to pin down some metalformers for some solutions. Have some ideas though, but worried it may get into expensive tooling again.

Try these: https://www.mcmaster.com/#95630a241

Hi Ragni, send me an email at info@bricktracks.com. And 9V is in the works. :)

Heh, no, I haven't had a chance to work on it at all. Had some other projects occupying my time.

None at all. The PF version will look exactly as you expect it to and be uniquely different from the 9V parts, just like what LEGO has produced. Everything I've been talking about is behind the scenes stuff.

Was hoping to have them done sooner rather than later, targeting a May/June release right now. We've had good reason to delay them though: knowing how we want to do the 9V versions, we want to integrate that into the tooling, allowing us to produce either the PF or 9V version at will. There are just some additional details that need to be worked out for that. We are actively working on them though, so you will be seeing them soon.

@3797 Did I miss something? I'm doing quite a bit of marketing via Facebook, but Twitter, Pintrest, and Instagram are still new territory for me, and have only been dabbling in them. If I missed a message, please send it again. I get quite a few messages everyday across several platforms, so my apologies if something slipped through the cracks.

@pirzyk You have this on one of your corners, right?

Sure, message me, I'll send you one. Oh, it's awesome. :) You too, shoot me a message and I'll send you one.

Hi Gregory, welcome to EB! This project is still active, but it's one of several I have in the works at the moment, and there's only so much time in a day. Definitely not being abandoned!

I saw that. Certainly not going to be a problem for me. The curve formation is part of the manufacturing process.

Still working on the EU distribution, have a few discussions in process, but I have established a LUGbulk/distributor pricing structure. Email or message me if you need a big pile of track.

Working right now with the mold maker on the R56s and 1/2 and 1/4 length straights. R72s and R88s will be a little later this year. Both have been slightly delayed, but for a good reason: I've figured out how to do 9V, and need to work both PF and 9V rail inserts into the tooling. Also working on reworking the R104 and R120 tooling to accommodate 9V. This a fairly lengthy process, so it will probably be April/May/June before you'll see any more progress, but there's some great stuff in the works.

While this is neat, couldn't you just use the polarity switch to reverse it?

I am indeed based in the USA. I ship and sell already all over the world; US, Canada, Australia, UK, the EU. It's not a matter of excluding anyone; the reality is not just that shipping is more expensive (I actually eat some of the shipping costs overseas to help out), but the EU taxes the daylights out of it as well. We can all discuss various ideas of how to avoid those taxes, but come the end of the day, it's simply more expensive for our European friends. The best solution I've found is to find an EU store that's willing to buy in bulk at a discount and let them sell it locally. VAT would still have to be paid, but shipping costs would be reduced, albeit at the additional cost of adding a middleman.