Roadmonkeytj

Very nice ... I bet a small arbor press would have made short work of all them lol! Seems to be simple enough... Could you not mount the bearings further out and save from cutting those tabs? Did you get any mushrooming of the axles from hammering?

Its aweful nice of that man to feed the hungry shark a bit of wood ... Im sure he needed a bit of fiber in his diet to help with his digestion.

Love the ... Birds? Lol

I really like the palm tree! Are those brickarms guns?

@Henry 991 X2 i agree ... Can we get a short clip with sound?

Would love to see more detailed pictures of your pick ups

Haha i actually thought of that. Ive been playing with a way to hide a air tank as a old fuel tank. I want to stay battery powered so im not limited to where i can display it. But adding a power adaptor would be prudent for shows with power.

Well after seeing this linked in train tech forum for an option to use air to control switches and after finding out that this fits in the first floor of my switch house. Im wanting to use it to run my switching layout at shows ... Seeing as the public might not let go of the button when the switch motors grind ... With air they can only travel so far lol. I was just trying to guage how many changes of battery i needed to bring lol.

That is trueI remember the first one i got ... It was the old style big and bulky. I built the whole set and was like where does this wierd brick go? Now ive got a bin just of seperators lol

It amazed me how much of my childhood bricks had teeth marks on them ... I understand now watching my boys with their legos ... I think its human instinct to use your teeth lol.

Im sorry for resurrection of an old post but i was wondering what ever happened with this project Mainly how many run hours this runs as compared to just running the pump?

Thanks I look forward to it! Im concerened about the "structure" holding together under strain of the pneumatics. The mechanism seems to work (although im not testing in a operational sense ... Just a couple boggies on the build bench). Another concern I have is weather the "locking tabs" will fold out far enough to not hang up low hanging grab rails and pistons on steam. As for the pulling apart it will be part of a switching puzzle so the most cars it will be splitting is 3. And worst case a little hand help from me while they operate the controls Thank you ... I was insipred ... I was concerned with this originally but it seems to hold as (part i dont know the name of either) red part. Is almost the same height of the center of the axle. Perhaps with longer trains there might be more vertical lift of the cars Im well aware of limited time myself ... I have a 4 and 3 year old ... Both boys and both love legos ... However are still not able to play with daddys bricks as they are still working on treating theirs right. Couple that with 60-70 hr work week and time is scarce. Thanks! Ive seen your decouple design and do like the way it works ... I am trying to keep all the mechanicals at or below track level (track is elevated 4 plates) In my original designs i was using a 4L arm to do the same from between the track ... However you can over torque the arm movement if you dont shut it off quick enough. And since im dealing with general public i dont want to rely of the "clicking sound" to trigger them to shut it off.

So with the recent posts in THIS thread it got me thinking - I came up with this decoupler idea that blocks the wheels. It runs off an air cylinder (hopefully) however I have a slight issue with testing this concept … I have no air cylinders at all to test it with. So instead of spending money on all the different legths of air cylinders to test this (to possibly fail) I come to my fellow trainheads as I have limited budget for "new" lego currently … perhaps one of you with access to the cylinders could assemble the decoupler and test its operation and get back to this thread with what worked/didn't work.? I dropped the idea into LDD tonight to make it easier to replicate. I am trying to keep the 4 plate elevation of the track. Also I am aware that I have installed a shock in the LDD file … this is to represent the cylinder LDD File: https://bricksafe.com/files/Roadmonkeytj/train-related/decoupler.lxf Update: Ive tested this with the small air cylinder and it works quite well. (Still need to update the ldd to reflect changes) See this post for operation pictures!

I like the idea of the picture of the train. That way when its running in the layout as opposed to setting on the siding it can still be credited. Only issue with my LUG's layout is we rotate where trains are parked several times a show and sometimes rotate trains on and off the tables completely. Our layout usually changes (minifigs, vehicles, trains) throughout the day. And we always have something that wasn't there the day before so if you come multiple days you can still see new stuff! So perhaps a centeral sign would work.

Ive thought this same myself. I have two trains i intend to build that I did not design. The one will be a staticly place kenetic model ... I intend to have a small poster next to this train with the history of the real train and a mention of the designer. However as with the shay I have reworked. I plan to verbally tell any who ask as it will be constantly in motion on the layout. Plus its easier to verbally say what changes you made to their design and what elements are your own design.

Great looking train well done indeed. I love the rear lamp!

This is soully my opinion with no hard evidence to back it up other than personal experiences. From my experience its creativity. The majority of americans (excluding people I've met here) they want it now or "feel as if theres no possible way they could build it" Yes the market is larger but I've noticed something. Europe this is a hobby with emphasis on furthuring the hobby. Here in the states the culture is a service industry. People dont learn how to fix the toilet they call someone and pay them. My personal experience is that people feel they cant build legos without instructions ... My own wife included! Lol. The attitude in the states is give it to me now. Saying that ive only bought one set of instructions. And that was because after several months of trying i could not reverse engineer and wanted to know lol I think a good line of British engines and rolling stock would "sell" although perhaps not as well in europe but in the states (thanks to the Thomas the tank)

This is beautiful both in RL and bricks! Well done i love that you used the yellow brick to simulate the tag.

oohhhh this is briliant ... Im seriously leaning towards making the whole layout pneumatic now. Thanks ... I was thinking to adapt your design to my needs off your pictures but i wont complain if you want to come up with a design as well lol

Well right now the track is elevated 4 plates so the manual decouplers fit ... Perhaps i could convert them to air Any pictures of your fully hidden setup?

Longer would be a bit of an issue ... The back of the rowboat is where the cabin door is lol. The idea was a "rowboat" that looks as if it were a large pirate ship so im glad that she "looks" bigger. Perhaps I'll crew her with little people to keep the mind game up! movies wow... thanks I will take that compliment!

Theres a great tutorial on swapping the leads on the 9v somewhere on here lol

I love it ... I am unfamiliar with lego pneumatics ... (Not of the existance but of function as it was come and gone in my Dark Ages) I know these have lego pumps, but could it be run off say a fish tank airerator? Also do you have to protect from over pressure if the switch is left thrown as you do with electric? I love the way this looks and could easily hide beneath the landscaping for my switching layout. Can the cylinder be set below the track level to just have the levers exposed above? Similar to the old manual thrown switch houses that were set back from the track?

I can only echo what has been said already. As far as budget plan to send 80 - 400 per train ... Seems thats the average price (usd or £) ... Alot of that will depend on amount of details length of train ... Also what system 4.5v, 12V, 9V are all a little more expensive as they are retired systems. Since your starting out you may wish to stick wit PUP or PF so the track is cheaper. Although you may find some difficulty if your modeling industrial switcher units as you have to fit a hub and the motor as where 9V you would only need the motor. Dont try to build the layout overnight. Set monetary and physical goals. That are reasonable. For example ... Instead of balasting and insalling road ties all at once why not do 4 peices of track a month until its done? Unless you have unlimited cash flow and bricks a train layout can be ahefty investment. Also look at space. For example i have 0 display space so i rely on anything I display to be done so at one of the events my LUG participates in. So i look at the fragility and ease of transport in things i build.

@Bregir @Ross Fisher Its built on the large rowboat base. Realistically i could only get 4 or 5 minifigs in there lol I as well was thinking no bigger than c2 but wasnt sure if it was a c1 ... The idea when I built it was a villans boat similar to rocky and bowinkle lol that would "take out the competition" so the "prechosen boat would win" as bets had been made on the race. However i dont see me finishing the build on time. Been working too many hours lately