Sokratesz

What's a good way to buy a load of (grey/greyish) bricks for bridges and tunnels?

Don't you get any trouble at the point where the motor is connecting the two circuits? - Sok.

That's bullcrap. I used to get 'electrocuted' all the time by my LEGO trains when I was like 5 years old. I also got hit by 220v multiple times when I was a bit older and it never left anything permanent. I would also definitely pick LEGO for the reasons listed earlier by others: - Cheap, easy to get by - Easy to build and tear down - Easy to keep in a smallish area - Can endlessly build and rebuild

I keep mine on the shelf - a big shelf

I'll probably do that when I build a hill - motors suck a lot of amps going uphill so a separate power supply for the ascending parts should help in not slowing the other motors down. - Sok.

What kind of an answer do you expect to get here?

The old micro motor was smaller than 2x2x2 studs (1.6cm boxed), and it's almost 20 years old now. It shouldn't be hard to find a suitable, similarly small new motor for the PF line. One thing that could help in keeping it small is changing the way they are mounted - by not putting giant pinholes in it, for example, but instead making them half-depth or even putting a .5 or 1 length fixed axle on the outside to allow for fixed mounting. - Sok.

Yes, it would be consistent, but it wouldn't be very small. The axle doesn't need to be in the middle, it could be on the side or on a corner, with mounting holes next to it. There's many different ways to go about it. Ideally, it should be even smaller than the old 9v micromotor, because the cable is attached directly and it thus foregoes the large 2x2x2/3 connector. - Sok.

I'd want it to be smaller yet, 3x3x3 is more than twice as big as the red micro motor was. 2x2x2 is more like it, it doesn't need much speed. - Sok.

No idea, but I've got one that works fine and when you shake it you also hear something heavy moving inside :) - Sok.

What about using an offbrand power supply that can provide a lot more amps? - Sok.

Oh that's good to hear :) I have a bunch of them but not had any issues yet, although I only have a very small layout as of yet.

Some pics: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/294334

I'm gonna cut up a few more so I can vary the layout better, otherwise you'd always need symmetrical switches :) - Sok.

It works fine..and eah it was really simple. Just use a very fine saw so you don't lose too much material. I used some aluminium foil to make sure the electrical connections were okay and the train runs fine :D - Sok.

Points are just for illustration ;) You're still left with 8 offset even if you do it the other way around. I cut up one piece of track just now, will have to see how it works. - Sok.

If you want to put a turn-in a turn you always end up with a half-length (8 stud) offset so you cannot connect the two with a switch point while keeping the parallel turn idea. Has anyone tried modifying a single straight (cutting / sawing / etc) into halves to fill this gap? - Sok. Like this:

Except the public now is a lot less forgiving and a lot easier bored than 40 years ago :)

It would probably look better if you made the portholes trans-clear instead of empty.

Maybe my wording wasn't exactly right, but when I put up a set that's on 70 people's watchlist, do a 'notify' and get +40 views to my store in the next few hours but no order or mails with questions it makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong. Shipping can be expensive indeed but on the European mainland it's quite doable, and that's where most of the BL public seems to be located. - Sok.

It will definitely damage the axles.

If they want to know who I am they just need to put my nickname into google, I am every single one of those hits except the guy on last.fm :) - Sok.

I've got a question about selling on bricklink. I have a number of highly sought-after items in my store for very competitive prices, however are there other factors that people use to judge whether they want to buy? My feedback score is 100% but still low (25 atm), and I don't charge anything other than the real shipping cost. - Sok.

8421 has a boatload of studless parts including some pneumatics and a very powerful RC motor, and when you search carefully, can be had for less than 100€. Fairs and flea-markets are also a good source for cheap (incomplete) sets and lots. Older studded sets like 8868 and 8462 are also great for (old) parts as they can be found cheaply. - Sok.