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Phil B

Eurobricks Citizen
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Everything posted by Phil B

  1. Phil B
    I have used these, with a custom adapter made of a 9V battery adapter (from my local electronics store) and part of a PF extension cable as a battery pack, and they last remarkably long: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BT4D99D
  2. Phil B
    What kind of spending limit do you have? Curved track is $1.50-$2 per piece on BL, full length straight is $1.50-$2.50, half length straight is $1-$1.50. This is all pricing for sellers with 20 or more in stock of each. Sounds like for $50 you can build a decent starter track.
  3. Phil B
    I think you can make them look really good, even with 2-wide sleepers: Ballasted R120 Curve Instructions by Michael Gale, on Flickr
  4. Phil B
    This is one tricky build! As @ColletArrow already mentioned, the nose is too low. Specifically, the sideways mounted 4x1 curved slopes should be at the same height as the baseplate used for the rest of the train, which means you need to move them 1 stud higher somehow, without changing the rest of the nose too much. The windows could be more slit-like, for example by placing 2 trans-clear 1x2's on top of eachother instead of the side-ways build you have now. That would give you additional vertical space to use for shifting the nose up higher.
  5. Phil B
    This is EPIC. Wonderful model. I love the detail on the engine, but the coaches are the star(s) of the show for me. Absolutely awesome.
  6. Phil B
    Paste using the BBCode sharing link on Flickr: 20200403_163655 by Torsten Wernecke, on Flickr
  7. Phil B
    To add to that - the Schwerer Gustav this thing is supposed to pull could only fire a very limited amount of ammo before its barrel had to be rebored .... the engine should be heavy on wear too :)
  8. Phil B
    That is wonderful, and it works! Love to see one of your large layouts fully automated with this! Fantastic.
  9. Phil B
    Next Q: Have you checked if a PU Color sensor in a moving train can activate the IR receiver on a static track-side PF setup? Might be cool to interact that way (and no, I have no way to test this out myself).
  10. Phil B
    is there a minimum distance between the sensor and the IR receiver, or can you butt them up without any gap? Thinking about how to use this in trains :)
  11. Phil B
    Or turn the logic into a formula: Y=aX+b and then just calculate the power level from the battery level in a single variable assignment.
  12. Phil B
    Having built Mk1's myself recently (see my Hogwarts Express threads in this forum) I think this is pretty much spot-on. Great job. Almost too bad you called out the use of minifig chairs - it looked great when I saw the pictures, but now that you've told me about the chairs I cannot help but seeing them all the time. Still, love the overall build and shaping.
  13. Phil B
    Forgot to mention: container instructions are on Rebrickable: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-36402/BrickAcademy/modular-standard-size-shipping-container
  14. Phil B
    Check out https://www.bricktracks.com/product-page/metal-train-axle-x50. $19.95 for 50.
  15. Phil B
    No plans as of yet - these are the same width as the well cars that come with the Maersk, so 6-wide fits fine for now.
  16. Phil B
    Using part 87058 in black as a base, I built two sets of 2 articulated TTX well cars. Loaded them with a custom container design I published on Rebrickable last month, which uses the profile brick (1x2 and 1x4) as the base for the walls - seems to give the right corrugated steel look. Decals are from OKBrickWorks. Looking at the pictures I might need to raise the end trucks/bogies by a plate - did notice this all the time I ran them on my tracks, but on the pictures it seems the cars are not fully level. TTX Well Car with Containers by Phil B, on Flickr
  17. Phil B
    Parts intensive, I know, but if you stay clear of the 1x8 plates in orange, all pieces are cheap ... EDIT: Dang ... didn't read good enough, you said you already tried this and there were stability issues. I did notice that the 1x8 plate with doorrail is not as expensive .. $0.24 average as per Stud.io.
  18. Phil B
    Those are good suggestions, thank you - will try them out over the weekend. Unfortunately I cannot switch to BFF because the flanges would hit each other. I might try LEGO's Large drivers to see if the issue goes away (my design is compatible with both LEGO Large drivers and Big Ben XL drivers). In an earlier push-only test on a left-hand switch I did not have these derailment issues, but on a powered run through a right-hand switch they happen every time. Maybe this is related to your points 1 or 4 ... Will check and report back.
  19. Phil B
    That's what I have - a rigid FBF XL wheel base. There is some play on the wheels because the cross-axle holes are not a tight fit on most of the drivers, allowing them to slide on the axle pins. But if derailment on R40 switches are common with this setup, I will not spend hours trying to debug the issue, but rather accept it for what it is and run my Hogwarts Express on my main line only.
  20. Phil B
    Masao-san, I really love your Monorails. Since the track is covered with tiles, have you experimented with the PoweredUp Color sensor yet? I think that by switching to PUp you could add a whole level of automation to your monorail layout - adding colored tiles to make the train automatically stop at stations, and to operate your excellent track switches for example.
  21. Phil B
    From the single track side to the branch track. Going straight is not a problem. The flanged drivers are separated only by the blind driver, and pretty close at that. See this thread for pictures: I think the reason for derailment might indeed be the flanges hitting the guide rails. Pushed. Yes. Plastic. Not sure what you mean here but the driving wheels are rigid, the leading truck swivels (2 axis).
  22. Phil B
    Iā€™m battling an issue with switches right now ... my Hogwarts Express MOD derails on them. At first I thought it had to do with the pilot truck, but after resolving a small issue where the drive rod touched the pilot wheels ever so slightly at the maximum extend of the switch curve, Iā€™m left with random derailing where the XL Big Ben Bricks drivers (FBF) jump the track on a regular R40 switch. Before I debug this further and descend into insanity, is this perhaps a common issue with XL drivers and R40 switches?
  23. Phil B
    Thanks for this - learned something new. Indeed, Pick-A-Brick online counts towards free shipping and towards GWPs. Pricing is completely different from Bricks-and-Pieces, some stuff is way more expensive, some is cheaper. But, the limit in PaB is 999, whereas in BaP it is 200 :). I picked up 700 various leaf elements (big and small "Limb" as LEGO calls them) - the big 6x5 one is >$0.22 in bulk on BrickLink, $0.38 on BaP, but only $0.18 on PaB. Small one similar - $0.25 on BaP, $0.10 on PaB. Qualified for the double-dip that is going on right now - 40370 plus the little DOTS photoframe. And free shipping (saves $2.95 over BaP).
  24. Phil B
    Like this? (Different tire than the one you linked - this is the tire that fits around a plane wheel)
  25. Phil B
    In the past BAP orders did not count towards GWPs for me. They only count for 2x VIP. I had postponed buying the ISS so I added some speed champions to that order to get 40370 (I collect LEGO cars as well as Trains). For my second copy I picked up the Fiat 500 with another Speed Champion. One to build and one to keep new.
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