locoworks

deleted!! i just needed to READ.

i think the key part is the little actuator on the point. the box and switches is nicely done, but could be extended or done more compactly to have as many switches as you have points. job well done. as some folks would likely run out of colours it may be an idea to use numbered tiles instead.

you had the idea to copy someone elses idea then??

yes the emerald night can be motorized.

the big wheels don't really matter as you could gear the motor down and have a slower train, which may not be a bad thing.

i've been waiting for my local toy shop ( toy master, so a national set up ) to get 7939 in and i ordered it back in NOVEMBER!!, i went in last week to find out what was the story, and i was informed the set had been taken off their ordering system now, but my back order 'ought' to still turn up??!!!. they have got the first release of the 2011 stuff in so i'm starting to think they will never get 7939 back in at all. they have 5 sets on order, one of them for a member of staff! if they don't have them in by the end of Feb i will be cancelling my order and trying to find one on ebay at a reasonable price.

i think i'm responding ton how to get a low gear ratio?? the part would do it perhaps??? while googling to find it i found pictures of some sets i used to have 857,854 and 952. memorys. the gearbox i'm thinking of is the one matched to the 870 motor, set 872.

if you want a low gear system, what about the inline gearbox used on the first technic motor?? as i recall it stacked onto the motor and was a similar size without electrical connections. i don't know what the actual reduction was, but i was considering trying to redo the BIG blue motorcycle and sidecar and using that gearbox to drive a rack and pinion to do the steering. this gearbox i'm on about must be around 30!! years old by now cos i was still at school when they came out. i have no idea of their 'strength' either as i never gave it much grief.

cheers, thanks for the help.

on the subject of duplo, i wish they would shrink the zoo animals range down to 'normal' lego size. a lego zoo would be great. i realise some animals are already available, but giraffes and elephants and big cats would be nice too.

2011 police series just in at the local shop, got the dog unit and prison van thing to get built now £41 for the articulated lorry/command centre. they hadn't unpacked the station and priced when i was in, but they were in the box.

i didn't give pictures chance to load, i read the non military post and thought 'wrong' but they aren't technic which was in the original claim so it was sort of right. i didn't read the previous pages either, have i missed something else??

they have made military items, though not 'technic', they produced a couple of WW1 aircraft i think?? a sopwith camel and a fokker triplane they called the 'red baron' , both models displaying their respective military insignias.

the only reason the second tender was added to the flying scotsman was so that in preservation it could run on mainlines that had long since had water towers and the water troughs for filling on the move removed. two tenders was not the 'norm' during the recognised steam era as they weren't needed. the extra tender is as far the the flting scotsman is concerned a modern add on.

more like 'baby deltic'?? that was a BO-BO loco, google baby deltic or class 23

nobody's perfect.

2nd that question, is it powered and can it make the curves?? i would very much doubt it can make the curves, in fact i doubt the tender alone would? but an awesome model all the same. lots of hours in there aswell i bet.

i can't find my first building, but it was a police station way back in 1975 ( +/- ) i'm sure it was when i still lived in England and i left there 35 years ago. i seem to recall a helicopter with it. i bought it from a toy shop on a hill in castle donnington, i was a regular there as a kid as my uncle lived just up the road. i had the trains with the blue rails too. edit; FOUND, it was the police heliport from 1972 560-2

thanks for that, been a long time since the cartoon network or nickleodeon has been on in my house..

i would guess there may be copyright issues with this???

yes i did mean the blue alien type of avatar, having only just watched the last airbender movie, i had never heard of 'avatar' in that context before. as the film is reasonably recent, what prompted the lego sets years ago??

i have that set up the loft with most of my stuff from that era. not had much over the last 7 or 8 years but back into it but only certain themes. can't wait for the cars stuff to come out, i would imagine an avatar series will be in the planning too??

could be 'croft manor'? perhaps lego should do a tomb raider theme??

with an iron core and a DC supply i think the electromagnet will soon become a permanent magnet courtesy of the magnetised core??

it won't work because the magnets can rotate and it would just make the touching magnet spin round and recouple. another option, though not remote in the sense of can be uncoupled anywhere, but just specific places hands off, would be to use a completely different coupling system. 'O' gauge 'kadee' couplers from the 'proper' ( sorry folks ) railway modelling world could be fitted and used as on 'normal' ( sorry again ) model railways. some enterprising bod may come up with a specific lego compatible moulding to fit them easilly at a suitable height and distance from from the stock ends?? maybe even the 'G' scale coupling one for a real chunky look??