Sokratesz

I'm Sokratesz, Tim in real life. 24, study biology, currently working on my masters' thesis. Played with LEGO when I was a kid but picked it up again last year now that I have some more money to spend. I was looking for some info a few weeks ago and stumbled across this forum, so here I am. I'm mostly interested in 12v trains and technic, both old and new, and you can find my MOC's in my sig. My collection has been rapidly expanding over the past months by buying stuff second hand from ebay and other such sites, and I'm still looking. Just yesterday I got a 7745 in the mail and suddenly felt like a kid again (although my gf says she has that feeling about me all the time ). Nice to see a community like this spanning two generations, all age types and nearly 50 years of LEGO toys. - Sok.

Floating sounds much more reasonable than flying - it could even be integrated with PF but it would require a watertight batterybox and PF receiver I reckon, can't trust the kids to keep those out of the water :) - Sok.

Speaking of points, are there any known tricks to make the train base found in road 'n haul and other sets pass 12v point without touching the switchbox? - Sok.

I don't have any spares :) Will need to wait for some to show up in the ads. The original model has the frontpiece though and I kind of like it, but three front lights look great too, as in 7727. Ive got two technic fiber optic sets, but unfortunately the standard lighting set doesn't allow for easy modification. Otherwise it would be easy to add light in other parts of the train using the fiber optic cables. - Sok.

Three sets now, as I got a 7745 today (see other thread)

These old vintage LEGO city scenes make me nostalgic. Current LEGO cities are absolutely shit in comparison.

Done. So easy to forget with today's gazillion pixel camera's. I also just built this: I used black electrical tape to insulate the rear of the front lighting set - it wouldn't look good with a complete brick to cover it. Loc from 7722 - 40E for the complete set, sold motor and battery car for 15E - net cost 25E for loc and two cars! Lighting set: 15E (for two complete sets, obviously it only uses one) Black 12v motor complete with weights and accessories - 15E, was sold as broken, opened, cleaned, oiled, glued, fixed I have a lot more stuff that I'm watching on ebay and other sites, but will be gone for three weeks military training and vacation on monday. If I can get my hands on a second 7745 I could build two complete carriages out of that and sell off the rest of the parts - would have to be another lucky find though. I might try bricklink, but I have no experience ordering loads of parts from different places there. - Sok.

Yeah it was a lucky find for 160e - the tracks, power supply and the two extra cars are worth at least 80e alone! I'm slowly collecting pieces left and right. I don't have any space at my current place to build lengthy layouts but sometime in the future I will.

I'm tempted to see if I can get a third passenger carriage somewhere, a 5-car total length would look a bit better I think. Might have to add a second motor in that case though.

I bought a second hand 7745 last week, and it arrived today, I just finished building it. It's 100% complete, includes a good working 12v motor, a power supply, two manual switchpoints, 30 straight and 20 curved tracks as well as two extra cars not related to the train (this set and the railway car and containers from this set). It only cost 160e altogether although the lego is a bit dirty and the white parts have some discoloration. In a separate accident, I bought the passenger wagon from another 7745 set for 30e, so now I have this super awesome extra long 7745 sitting next to me: It has working front an rear lighting like the original but I also added two light bricks in the passenger carriages. It's sooo bad that I don't have space to build a nice track and watch it do laps in the dark. I think I'm in love - Sok.

I like where this is going :)

Yeah it looks like they gave the compressor a bit too much swing, try it yoruself, if you give it a full 3l extension its performance drops compared to 2x .5 with the engine driveshaft part. at 2,000 pieces and an assumed 150 - 170 price tag it looks like a pretty good deal, taking in account the power functions and pneumatics.

You can use these pieces from the fiber optic system to create a somewhat omnidirectional IR receiver :)

LEGO IR receivers are found in PF, some of the RC sets, and the mindstorms and scout sets. As far as I know there was no separate receiver brick for the old RCX other than the internal receiver and the external blue light sensor, and I don't think the latter could detect IR reliably.

I stick to my point, because for any of those parts to function in an RC heli they would need to be made from lighter and more expensive material than the normal LEGO ABS. They would also have to be remodeled for better performance and weight, because standard LEGO bricks are designed for multifunctionalily and these obviously couldn't. As much as I love helicopters, it just won't work for LEGO. And besides, there's a long list of safety issues with things above your head and kids :) - Sok.

Well, for 700 bucks you could buy 3 motorized excavators and a bulldozer and be able to build it in yellow with 100 bucks spare - and have thrice as many parts for your money :) - Sok.

Frankly, I'm amazed people will spend so much money to recreate something that's already been done using very specific parts that have limited use in other models.

Don't forget that a LEGO helicopter if there ever was one would be like a tamiya one: highly specialized parts that only work together correctly to form a flying chopper in one or a few very limited ways. Ergo, it would not have the customization possibilities of LEGO, so it would not be LEGO.

2: 7735 and custom motorized 7722 :) but more coming soon

Wow, that is gorgeous. How did you get all the grey technic platework though?

That would make it at least 6 studs wide excluding the wheels, and depending on the wheel will put the rotation axis outside the center by quite a bit. - Sok.

That might work if you were somehow able to get the other holding bar for the wheel mount to slide in the opposite direction.

I was thinking something along those lines but it may quickly get too large vertically. A central axle with pivoting wheel mountings sounds better to me. - Sok.

The loc is pretty :) I may have to buy one and convert it to 12v!

Sounds like a nice challenge, I'll see if I can create something this weekend.. Any other limitations? 8 studs wide incl wheels?