SD100

My LUG attended Bricks in the Six and I've been kicking myself for not going with them. After that we have gotten shirts and badges, but even with the badges, I feel like you gotta lean in and take and uncomfortably long look at some of these to be able to read them... If it's just like yours its simple but I saw a lot of guys wearing plaques with every con they'd been too. That's probably my problem though, lol. I've heard the discussion time at BitS was good, I'd have like to have seen it, but what I'm seeing now is a few people filtering onto other peoples discord servers or forums and saying hi, and that's it. To answer your question, the conversation I'm looking for is basically to what extent individual LUGs are intending on contributing to odd shows, and if there is a possibility of collaboration. IE: if two LUGs have MILS train modules, should there be two separate layouts, or is it possible to combine the two. Also, who's coming. I'm a train guy, if there are gonna be other train people coming from other LUGs, I'm gonna bring my train stuff. If its a bunch of art stuff, I'll help my LUG but probably won't cart all my train stuff around, ya know? I'm thinking of trying to start a regional Discord just so everyone who wants to get involved has a little more insight into shows in their general area than what filters down through leadership, but I figured I'd ping this site first cause there's a lot of knowledge here. Thanks, SD

I've been on various Lego forums for around 20 ish years, starting with LUGnet and eventually ending here. A few years ago my city here in the US finally generated it's own LUG and we've been trying to grow that since, and in this past year I've started to attend shows and such with my LUG. This past weekend I attended my first multiple LUG event in at ErieCon and it really got me started thinking about how to network and realize the connections I've made online over the past X amount of years. I realized there were people I had interacted with that belonged to some of the LUGs that we were involved with that I had seen or talked with online, but there was no way of knowing who they might be IRL, cause of course we're not using names here. I mentioned a couple pseudonyms to a few different members, and they thought they might know who those people were, but weren't sure. So I've got some questions for you all... What do you do to facilitate conversations between different LUGs when you're all going to a show, or is that a rare thing? Do people generally run specific Discord servers for specific events, or is anyone one involved in "regional" servers? And if so, is any one better than the other? What are your other methods of access to Lego and LUG related discussions? IE: Everyone in my LUG is only influenced by FB Groups, and when I mention forums like this I get looked at like I have 3 heads... But there has to be a middle ground. Thanks for your input, anything you can offer will be helpful! SD

When Brickshelf started hosting "other than Lego" pics for a bit I used it for a ton of stuff... One day I got on and it was all gone. Don't trust it for long term storage. SD

Nice. Great interpretation there.

That engine does capture the essence of the fp45 very well, but I'm waiting to see that coach! SD

I have everything wired exactly as listed in the topic I posted, I am using all Lego PF wires, except when I use the 9v wires to run a RC motor, and the only change there is the 9v wire running from the 9v motor to the RC motor. So the problem does seem to be my IR reciever if I look at all the available information. I would like to find a Lego solution but perhaps zephyr's suggestion is best currently

For my LUG layouts, I've been trying to integrate the Power Functions IR Receiver so that we can stop the train from wherever instead of having someone constantly manning the 9v controller... I'm trying to follow the setup listed in: But I'm running into some problems. Using a Power Functions train motor wired to a 9v train motor, only the PF motor works... And if I wire an earlier RC motor (8866) instead to the 9v motor, they both function, but only at half speed. I can't figure out what I'm missing here... I suspect maybe the IR receiver? It does not say V2 on it so it may be V1 but they were all ordered around the time PF was discontinued, and the same IR Receivers have been running 2 PF train motors fine. I'd appreciate any insight, thanks. SD

If you search Renfe and Talgo in this forum you should be able to see the ways other people have made those kind of bodies work, I've seen a few different solutions. But when you start actually building it you'll have to refine it to your structure. That's half the fun... lol SD

That looks great, real smooth model. SD

That's an amazing looking engine right there.

Either a more rigid rod might help, or you may want to allow some more slippage. On my 3 axle locomotives I only have the center axle solid. The wheels are on 1/2 pin/1/2 axles and held in by the rods and that has alleviated a lot of friction. It also allows slightly more side to side movement in curves and switches. SD

That second picture looks awesome. I love how everything is smoothed out like that. SD

I paired the hubs and just turned the rear motor around. The cord just comes out the rear door of the loco and around the coupler. SD

While I was skeptical in the beginning of michealgale's claims, I am beyond impressed with the amount of products he is now bringing to sale. I appreciate that this is a massive undertaking to produce all of these different components for what is really a niche market. At this point, anything directly compatible to L gauge track is much better than a half baked aftermarket solution, I don't want kids messing with soldered/shrink wrapped wire connections on a layout that's not permanently attached to anything all the time. And if his motors eventually are taking more power, then I want a controller that will also power them at that level, without bastardizing multiple interfaces. Today I just made my first investment in the FX Bricks system, but I'm looking forward to making many more. I'm invested now. SD

I have a son and daughter. My son loves playing with the Friends houses... For detail and the tens of tiny accessories they come with, they blow away CITY sets in playability. I've got a whole Friends neighborhood in one corner now and both of them can play there for hours. My daughter, on the other hand, wants to know why there aren't minidoll firetrucks (I'm working on it). She likes the ambulance and the last hospital, but really wants more action/service related sets. Issues we are finding in our "Integrated" Lego town are that things like restaurants, or trains, need to have minidoll seating available, so they get converted as long as there are parts to do so. Just listening to my kids shows that there are huge areas of overlap that Lego really doesn't seem to cover. In City, you can *zoom* any number of vehicles, but you can rarely cook breakfast, in Friends, you can cook breakfast, but the vehicle to *zoom* might be 12 studs wide and not really fit in anywhere else... I feel play wise that's a little bit of a problem. I would say the reason things like CITY are popular for boys is that it is things they see every day, but the same applies to a lot of the Friends concepts, and the fact is all genders of children see the same things every day, and in splitting THAT up into gendered subjects is where Lego is missing out. SD

Unfortunately this is a problem that seems to be increasing in frequency. My Bad Batch shuttle was missing 7 parts, making it impossible to finish. this being my third set with missing piece problems I now make notes on the part list during the build process if I find anything missing. It helps to also note the 4 character factory number on the tape on the box before you discard the box, so when you call them for the new parts they can know which factory is creating the errors. After a quick phone call they've usually expedited the missing parts to me. SD

How's that video coming? I've got a bunch of the switches and that rubber band is a pain. Even a thicker one like the Lego one might help a bit, or making that pin larger so it can't slip through. I love that trains can fly through these switches, but I have to inspect and fix them all the time. SD100

You can also pry the bottom off and fix it, it's not glued or anything. SD

That's a beautiful ship there. Were your historical aims primarily the sailplan, or was the rest of the ship based on a particular design? I really like the look of the rear covered cabin and roof but I haven't seen any historical designs like that. Also, how does the tensioning system work? The rigging looks great. SD

Trying to add the latest parts pack results in half the parts group icons becoming question marks. It's a fresh install of LDD 4.3. Am I screwing something up here or is there a way to fix this? SD

That would be a cool train to see in real brick. The Obs. car has definitely given me some inspiration. SD

That GT3 running looks pretty impressive, is that running the 1:3? And are you using any type of lubricant? So far my two attempts at just running power through gears have made me simplify everything down to as few gears as possible to prevent friction or stripping, so this just looks crazy to me, but I am working on a 2 motor 4-6-4 so it's also intriguing. Now I gotta hit bricklink and see if I have anything with that differential piece in it, lol. SD

That shark bike is awesome! Great shaping on it. SD

Well if the hull is that screwed up, would it now be feasible to try and detach the hull pieces to see if there is a way to do that? SD

Those are some cool updates, love that boat! SD