locoworks

i'm like James, i have 5 inch gauge, bits of O, OO, N and Z and also some OOn3, OO9 and Nn3 narrow gauge stuff. if you want BIG in a small space then narrow gauge is the way to go.

good idea, remove all the electrics from the models and fill the tank with water and have a pet piranha, that will keep your lego safe.

you fly it inside the aircraft where there is atmosphere/air at a pressure sufficient to prevent the pilot/astronauts blood from boiling. i don't know what the pressure is, but i suspect it is in the 'normal' range. even if it is a pressure like you'd get at 10 -12000 feet where a pilot would be looking at needing oxygen in a non pressurised aircraft?? or even higher? where they could use a higher concentration of oxygen at lower pressure levels?? but before blood boiling levels of low pressure, there would still be a 'gas' that the moving rotors would create a pressure differential in. at a certain height/distance the gravity would be low enough for the pressure differential created by the rotors to lift the lego.

worked out how it could be done with true flight taking place, i.e. NO tethers, counter weights, helium balloons, etc etc. you ask NASA to take it into the upper atmosphere/space to a point where there is very little gravity acting on the lego, just enough to let it fall slowly. the underpowered lego motors would then be able to produce lift greater than the gravity effect on the lego and voila. down here on earth though, wont happen unless lego go into really powerfull brushless motors in their kits, at whioch point the rest of the plastic won't take the strain.

i don't think anything made solely from lego would fly. the motors don't have enough power to give a suitable power to weight of any contraption. and with the power needed the lego itself wouldn't take the strain.

is there room in there to fit a micro DPDT change over slide switch of the type used on PCB's?? this would make it easy to switch it back and forth depending on which direction you wanted the bogie to travel. also why not just butcher a power lead to reverse the polarity?? perhaps lego should make a proper one a different colour to the norm for those that want it?

and by 'push' the train, you need to push the tender and not the loco. if you push the actual loco you effectively add pressure or weight to the loco increasing the friction between the wheels and rail. as what is locking the motion up will be very slight friction somewhere ( probably the piston rod locking at an angle if you haven't modded the cylinder ) and you will force the piston rod ( if it is that ) through the sticky patch due to the iuncreased friction at the wheels and rail.

in theory things would bind up, but in reality the wheels would just slip slightly. the rear axle on 99% of quads is 'live', like a go kart, and it just means there is some skating/slipping on tighter corners. the knack to turning sharply at slower speeds is to shift your weight to the outer edge so the inner wheel can slip more easily. it does put more strain on the motor and driveshafts, but they are built to take it. with tractors as you say there is a diff front to rear that needs to spin, but quite a few more modern tractors actually have the same size wheels all round so any central diff just needs to be limited slip.

i got most if not all of the early star wars stuff released after episode 1, i also got the collectors darth vader tie fighter and the big X wing. all the pod racer sets and the large figures along with the mindstorms R2D2 and the yoda statue thing. in the end the amount of new lego coming out made it too expensive to get everything ans i also collected town and train stuff back then too.

why not make a second narrower diff for the rear with the same gearing??

i was going to suggest this route with the tiny wheels under the front legs of the horse and articulating the horse to the cart. but i would go for the two horses side by side as they would be in real life which should give you the opportunity to hide the wheels under the front feet of the horses??

could you make a lego quadrant with lego levers??

maybe get the instructions for the 9 volt version would help in motorising?? is the PF motor block the same shape as the 9V block???

nothing you can do really, old horby stuff did the same. the issue is that the resistance/drag of the axles and wheels puts a larger strain on the train the longer the train is. as the curves are very tight in railway terms the physics dictates it is easier to lift the wagons off the rails towards the inside of the curve than actually pull the train round them. adding weight as you did sorts this. putting the heavier wagons at the front with the easier to pull lighter wagons at the rear may help if the weight issue and excess strain is marginal.

i would suggest they replace it a system that doesn't use IR, what they have now with radio signals instead would be an upgrade.

LOL, know the feeling, my 5 year old niece came round who is a toy story nut and i happen to have the lego train which she has never seen before, i was squirming away as the trapdoor latch came off and then the side doors, the funny thing was the guilty look on her face as she tried to fix it.

you sometimes see whole coaches on ebay.

i'd be using the finest 'gariflex' block, it is just a large version of the track rubbers used on conventional model railways for track cleaning.

it is a pity with the newer train sets that you don't get 'alternative' buiding instructions in the box for a different loco. i'm sure a different GP or SD loco could be built with 95% of the bits plus a few others.

i got one of these hiding somewhere too, chore having to build 4 engines though. any reviews of the technic space shuttle to be found??

to be honest there is not enough stock for one engine to pull in the set anyway. if you want two loco's to double head a train then it will look even more ridiculous with just two cars to pull.

going back to the kitty, it looked on the vid like its legs slipped from under it?? maybe try it on a carpet or rubber mat so it can't do bambi impressions.

LED's need resistors that are suitable for the voltage they are supplied with unless fed with the very few volts they need. 12 volt and 5 volt LED's just have a suitable resistor built in so they operate on those voltages. all that is needed is a stock bicolour white /red led ( available from specialist normal model railway electronics suppliers ) and the appropriate resistor fitted inline. but a good job by the OP, come on LEGO, fingers out....

good point about the cars in this set having little need for duplicates on a layout. they should bring out extra cars for the EN.

my local shop had the cargo set on order for me for 3 months, i decided late to get one, a month ago they said it was no longer on the ordering system, and last week they said my backorder would not arrive. thankyou ebay. i won't be so slow with the maersk and maintenance sets.