Berthil

Exactly what I was thinking too, exit the balls on top onto a bridge, don’t have one at the moment.

Looks good. You can use any color you like for the yellow parts as that isn't visible when finished (also stated in the description on Rebrickable).

Use the Pybricks, take my program, flash to the City Hub (tutorial on Pybricks.com) and you're ready to go. No device needed, train keeps running, 2 speed steps, emergency stop. It's always possible to go back to the original LEGO firmware on the hub, very easy.

Thanks Thorsten for your excellent answer. It did not cross my mind Billy is trying to use the out-of-the-box (dis)functionality of the remote with the hub and without device. On Rebrickable I have posted the Pybricks program with power stepping at the time of publishing.

I don't know if the 88008 can do that as I didn't try that yet. Sometimes it can help to read all the posts in a topic. I expect it will run at different speeds with the 88008 In any case, this train will be a battery drainer because of its size, probably also with the 88008. You could try to switch to PF and use the rechargeable 8878 battery box if you have those lying around. When I have more time I want to add a UP SD70 to my setup to aid the Big Boy. The plan is to have them controlled by one PU system with Pybricks that will work together at lower and higher speeds for smooth running like in real life.

@BillytheKid This is because of the limited torque of the PU small motors unfortunately. It has trouble to get moving so it seems only one speed is possible although the motor is running on the different speeds. see the earlier remark of Toastie, I wan't aware of this. It's on my to-do list to see if I can get two PU L-motors in, they have a lot more torque.

The idea is to create a Ferris Wheel GBC where the outer ring is held together by 128 strings of 41L. The wheel has a diameter of about 1 meter and has 64 pods that can hold a ball. I've build a small section and results are promising enough for me to continue. On the below picture at the left a Stud.io render of the full wheel. I expect that if the diameter of the wheel is correct it will create equal tension on the strings all around thus keeping the primarily brickbuild ring together. To help that I use 3mm rigid hoses on the inside. I know not all strings will have equal length for which I think I have a solution by twisting the string, and/or turning the string stud in the pinhole, or even add a 1 x 2 plate. It will be very fiddly to build and I expect a few tedious rebuilds but I think the end result will be worth it. A real eye catcher visible from far for my GBC lineup at events. I know this is not so much an intricate Technic build but I plan to use new mechanisms for the ball preparation if time permits. I know of the Ferris Wheel by Tom Atkinson, this is a very different concept with the strings. The idea of the strings comes from the 3,5 meter Ferris Wheel by Tomas Kašpařík (not a GBC). Next step is to complete the wheel and design the wheel supports. After that ball preparation and ball exit.

Great start and looking forward to the progress reports. Are you planning on using the tracks as carrier or may be a carrier of own design?

Very interesting and will be fun to see the progress! In the GBC rules 3rd part PF motors and 3rd party cables are allowed as these are hard to get. I'm sure the cables and case is not a problem but may be @Jim can comment after his holiday. As for the Raspberry Pi, why use that to control and not an EV3 or other Mindstorms unit?

@GerritvdG Many use the Quercetti balls so perfectly fine to use them.

We are very much looking forward to see what 'GBC novices' come up with bringing experiences from area's they are familiar with and translate this to a GBC :)

Please let me show two 'extremes' as an example, the first is from Rimo and relies on almost studless only, the second from JK Brickworks and uses a lot os System bricks and splat gears but has some Technic. Both are GBCs. @Jim, something like the one from JK Brickworks would qualify for you?

Minimum of 30 balls at once in the Inbox. Machine runs at 1 ball per second. So theoretically after 30 seconds inbox is empty. If you have a large module where balls stay longer than 30 seconds just add more balls to the inbox. The 30 at once in the Inbox is a minimum, a larger Inbox that can have 100 balls at once is also okay as long as it adheres to the Inbox ball entry rules. Size of machine is up to you but the machine should pass on at one ball per second rate or at the maximum batch size of 30 to pass on but then every 30 seconds. Or something in between but end result is one ball per second. These 1 ball per second and maximum batch of thirty rules are there so a machine behaves when put in a circle with other machines. Although there is no 'reliability' rule, the machine only needs to adhere to the rules in the video and not e.g. for 2 hours. About the spilled balls. generally this does not look attractive and makes it hard to achieve the 1 ball per second rule as spilled balls are not counted. There is no rule about spilled balls, I expect a machine das spills a lot of bals will get less votes as it basically fails at being a good GBC machine. I hope that answers the question.

Sure, if it follows the rule of 1 ball per second and max 30 balls as well as the minimum of 10 studs wide inbox and maximum of 10 bricks high. So it can be wider or can be lower, it cannot be narrower and not higher. Here are is an example of and Inbox so that it is clear. The entry height and width is important here, and that it can hold 30 balls at once. This example is mostly out of System and Technic Bricks but 100% studless is also no problem. As you can see the sides are higher but the entry point is 10 studs wide (leaving a gap of eight studs) and 10 bricks high. This example is wider that 10 studs, no problem as long it is not higher than 10 bricks. This example is both lower and wider, no problems here: The goal of this GBC compliant inbox is to be able to put multiple machines in an endless circle or straight line.

I had the same issues but couldn't get it right, fiddled with it for quite some time with changing angles and rerouting tracks. At some points on the track there is too much speed causing the ball to fly off the track. That's why I created my Marble Run with shooter. All balls enter the track at the same speed with the ball catch at the beginning and ball speed is consistent throughout all tracks. Adding a ball catch for constant entry speed at the beginning of the Akiyuki Marble Run might help. Removing the ball drops also. By the way, Mould King will release the above Marble Run as a set very soon.

Great design! Since I have the most important needed parts for some time now and was waiting for a great design like this, I will build this. An order for the missing parts just went out. I have good experiences with Pybricks and will control this with a Pybricks program I will write myself. With Pybricks no device is needed and control is done with the remote only. Unfortunately, since this is a commercial MOC, I cannot make the program (freely or commercially) available when finished. I must admit I have a bit of concern on rigidity with the brick-build design, especially the special plates with pin holes at the end of the Lime lift arms (unfortunately not available in Lime). I will know when finished building.

The purpose is entertainment and technical challenge in making it as complicated as possible moving balls from left to right :)

It returned safely, even without Dutch decals for 'fragile' and 'this side up' :)

I feel for you. Some years ago I was invited to appear in a well known Spanish TV show with Eva Longoria to show three GBC machines to her in a live broadcast! My part was moved last moment from Thursday to Tuesday. if it would have been Thursday I would have been in the show with Vin Diesel and Charlize Theron! I carefully packed all three GBC machines in a big sturdy box with lots of 'handle with care' stickers and 'this side up', also in Spanish. The journey was from Amsterdam to Madrid, the box seperately checked in at a 50 Euro rate as special cargo. I could see the box being loaded in the plane during boarding in Amsterdam and all looked well. At arrival in Madrid I saw the box being unloaded and all looked well. I rushed to the luggage hall, to the 'special items' belt. The box did not arrive yet. Through the flaps I saw something coming, a baggage handler was about to put the box on the bagage belt. I saw him pick up the box and to my utter disbelief, he turned it sideways and smacked it on the baggage belt! Man!!!!! The result was three destroyed GBC machines of which one very badly and probably beyond repair in the limited time I had until the live broadcasting of the show. Only through very hard work without any breaks I managed to repair the marble run, at the right in this picture with me and Eva :) In the video of the broadcast you see I had to help the Marble Run because of the damage but all the rest went very well! Backstage i also met with three Harlem Globe Trotters that were also there but did not make the live show, had very nice pictures of that meet. Later that night, while having some well deserved beers in downtown Madrid, my Canon D5 was stolen, no pictures and limited insurance (I found out later). Thank you Madrid for this wonderful experience!

@BillytheKid Impressive train layout on PandaCity of Bricks, just subscribed to your Youtube channel and looking forward to see the Big Boy running there :)

Finished this one in three days including free instructions, a reliable module based on my Rainbow Stepper and Switchback idea by John Sherman.

Put the tape dispenser under the same angle as the tape applied and the end result might be much smoother?

@Toastie thank you for your feedback! I'm using Pybricks (without device) and am just setting the power from 1 to 100% in either 10 or 5 steps. I've used the medium and large PU motors in my Load Zone project with advanced programming through Pybricks where the last reply is yours :) I can try with the medium motors, this might solve the torque problem anyway. Also Pybricks has a nice routine available to keep the speed of a train constant under different load as you describe. But I actually like the idea of adding a diesel to aid the Big Boy as in the video of the real thing. I know the real Big Boy is strong enough to do everything by itself and the diesel was only added to aid in braking (to avoid too much wear) and to save on water and coal as not every town where it stops has the needed amount of water and coal available. It would be a nice setup to experiment with together with Pybricks programming. If all fails I will drop in one or two medium motors.

As stated it is 100% LEGO and runs on all standard LEGO tracks including R40 as visible in the Youtube video.

The lighting kits are indeed too expensive for what they are, have visible witring and use mostly batteries for power. All not an option for my 40 modulars. So I did two modulars with cheap LEDs and thin wires with the aim to blend in the LEDs, have no visible wires and still be able to take the levels apart without a hassle. I would like to do all my 40 modulars but have no time for it. May be when I'm a pensioner and get to be 90 years without going blind and with steady hands :) Where there were no light fixtures I created them with LEGO (like above the bar and table in the Diner). The 0,2mm wires fit between tiles under the tiles. There are thinner wires to fit even between bricks but these wires will break very easily. I used rigid hoses to hide wires where needed and used thick copper wire as attachment points between levels. May be copper nails with large heads would work better there, if I do more modulars I would use these. Other than that I'm very happy with how they turned out. Little modification of bricks so the whole thing is reversible into standard modulars. For the lights outside I bought enough old type of lanterns as they are thicker. I drilled a hole in the center for the wiring with a drill standard. The newer type of lanterns are to thin for a hole for the wire. I've used one resistor for the whole house with all leds hooked up in parallel. I calculated the resistor to use the LEGO 12V train power supply and wires to keep it all LEGO. This also has the nice side effect that all LEDs are dimmable with the train power supply. Since LEDs are not power hungry, one train power supply suffices for the two modulars and I expect I can attach more. Using batteries was not an option for me. Not sure what I would do if I do more modulars. With only a ceiling light in every room or again use existing light fixtures or add light fixtures to blend in the LEDs. A few LEDs on the sealing would be enough for the nice effect of a street of lighted modulars in a dark room but there would be no outside lighting. May be a kind of modular system with a few LEDs on the back of a wired LEGO plate with a plug to stick under the floor of every level would be a quick way to light up modulars without too much hassle. Here's a video and Flickr album of the two modulars. Flickr Album: