1974

In short, we make more money reducing quality. Anyone who can counter that cliam? TLG .. anyone .. ?

Not true, white and (old) light grey will EASILY detoriate due to ABS composition used. It's been discussed in countless of threads on various LEGO fora over the years. Sunlight and smoke will make it worse, but it's inevitable .. yellowing will come sooner or later

Be patient and join your local LUG. I got two 6991s and a bunch of extra track/motors that way. Paid about 200USD for the lot. Forget about 6399, it's really way too expensive and you can MOC something just as nice with pieces in your stock, imho The moulds may have been destroyed or not (if never seen a really good source for this quote), but Mark Stafford have said that TLG did _not_ make money of that system. IF they made a new one, it would probablty be in 400USD range and thus only targeted to AFOLS. Who does not buy enough LEGO So, it's a no go for TLG Also, it's not really kid friendly. It's large, very expensive (even back in the day, _I_ did not have one, my friends either and we sure had shitloads of LEGO and parents somewhat willing to pay) Lastly, you do not buy a monorail and drop into your city/train layout. You _design_ your layout around the monorail as it is extremely unflexible and commands it's place. And that is in three dimensions Really difficult

An LED directly to PF would explode, yes. LEDs need about 3V/10mA, meaning you'd need a resistor : (3V-9V) / 0,01 = 600R (this varies with the type of LED - but it's in the ballpark) I can help you with the electrical parts, but wouldn't it be more fun just to do it with LEGO parts? Even it's more coslty .. you can always to it in steps, one signalpost at a time And yes, no problem in just cutting of one PF light, but I'm sure you can find good use for it else where. Got two tracks parallel? Then you could have green light at one side, red at the other. Switch over and it's red/green

Thanks ES

I'm thick too. Should I make a new thread, or post it here? I can have few designs more or less ready in 1,5 month Ah, do we? It's just for the fun of it

Oh, the symbols for resistors/capacitors/inductors/tubes have not really changed for a hundred years (diodes/transistors/ICs came 10-40 years after), but what you're looking at is 'integrated building blocks' containing many parts. When you look af PF elements, you look at these 'blocks', the wiring in between is simple enough and could be read by an engineer 150 years ago (allthough he'd _probably_ not understand their functions) It's really nice that TLG have made a design that can run on 4,5V, allthough I doubt they actually designed it like that. Afterall they just use cheap 'off the shelf' parts and nothing custom made so it's more a tribute to the actual IC designers Sorry to go off tangent I really like your signalpost! But as you have probably allready figured out, doing this the old school way with 9V (non PF), get's pretty expensive fast with multiple signalposts ..

It's meant to be used with a motor to switch direction (polarity)

There will be NO new monorail featuring the old system. It_is_dead_. However, there are plenty of ways to MOc a new one (or just buy the old system as I have) But the old lightgrey tracks are a thing of the past The poster is just a shoutout to AFOLs, nice as it is, as Crackerjack noted I see prices have have really skyrocketed recently I was able to buy a couple 6991 for less than 120euro just a few months ago

That's because LEGO pneumatics are really very poor constructions and not implemented well. LAs are much better for this purpose. I've had the same problems as you I'm off to bed and will read the shitstorm tomorrow

Ahh, most complex _book_ .. I get it Gary, sorry I luv you posts, but it makes me quite sad knowing I had a shiiteload of those old sets + 1:87 vehicles as a kid that's now down the drain. Could have been a nice retirement plan for me as I really do think those cars, trees and stickered 1x1 round bricks are quite worthless to my current LEGO mood

Actually, you don't have to EVER worry LEGO (that is TLG) going bankrupt as Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen has a fortune of about 42 billion DKR (7,3 billion USD) (which makes him the number 158 on the list of you know who, and btw number one on the danish list) TLG got problems? Kjeld will sort it out That is also why TLG will never hit the stockmarket But Kjeld, could you please sort out the colour problems (especially yellow)? Thanx in advance, 1974

If you need to switch between red and green you need two of those darn switches. You can then mechanically couple them with two 24t gears Looking forward to pics

Cool Yeah, you can get the LEDs in a two pin type (change direction of voltage changes colour) or three pin type (need a seperate wire for each colour) I wish TLG would make something like this again

Great book, but complex building of all time? As a kid I could build all that if I had the bricks. There where several constructions in later Idea Books that I couldn't figure out though .. Noah and his stereo animals would surely be a nono today

Top notch! Studs ftw

The battery in those selfcontained lightbricks will not last long, about a day (12 hours?) : http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=37471 And quite cumbersome to change Let me know if you got more questions. I'll show some of my custom lightbricks in the near future ..

Hrw-Amen, what you have is this : http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=4771 In one direction it's constant light, flip it and it's blinking light. Not good for your project You need this : http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=6035 The old 4,5V bricks can be used with 9V, but you'd have to put two in series. Again, not suitable for you project (you also need to source those hard to get/costly connectors) I have actually done exactly what you want with 9V light bricks and switches (allthough they're somewhat costly) : http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=6551 I don't think you should dable with the coloured 4,5/12V lightbricks, but just use 9V lightbricks with a coloured front tile/plate whatever Really, it's just easier to stick with 9V (and that can be connected to PF at then with an official cable) My custom lightbricks are just really an extension of that idea .. Another idea is to use selfcontained lightbricks : Yellow : http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=54930c02 Red : http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=54930c01 And then mechanically couple them as you please That is the 'problem', yes it would work, but you need non LEGO switches and a bit of soldering. Easy and doable, but not very LEGO. Imho that is What non LEGO elements we like to use is _highly_ personal, though. I'm an electrical engineer and allround wiz. I could have trains controlled from outta space running at 600 miles per hour with buildin flatscreens, running water while twittering to your grandma all controlled by an app build into my eyelid .. But it wouldn't be LEGO would it?

Well, he is _a_ crowkiller, allthough he never actually killed one Fun and good story here : http://www.technicbricks.com/2012/09/tbs-techtalk-9-with-paul-boratko.html (Be sure to read part II as well) Seems like a sweet guy and quite talented, imho (allthough I'd luv to see him design something that doesn't use panels, and go full brick Model Team style) I guess Holodoc doesn't hang out much in this forum? Three cheers for PB and his efforts

But but .. he's naked! Yeah, I'd luv to see them introduced again. Also, I just bought a minty 8660 which I haven't even broken the seals on Should I do a review?

Because the world (and TLG) have changed, internet and all that. Also, frankly I didn't give a beeb who designed what (even in my teenage years), it was all done by *LEGO* (didn't even know what TLG was) Also, see this : http://askalfan.wordpress.com/?s=who+are+the+lego+designers

Not those, they're UV. Seller has other colours in his shop allthough I do not think a battery solution is a good idea That would be very simple indeed, but too easy and not enough LEGO for me

All this can be achived with (single) 9V lightbricks, cables and switches. You'd need one switch for red and one for green though. They can be coupled through a few gears so you only need to flip one lever. If you want to use a PF batterybox, get the conversion cable I prefer using lightbulbs over LEDs anyway. Don't like the cold white light and I find the old 4,5/12V lightbricks charming and fun to build with, but 9V surely is the easiest (and cheapest) to deal with. I also use 'grain of wheat bulbs', fits snugly into Technic bricks and comes in all sorts of sizes/voltages (some a good deal smaller than LEGO LEDs, but of course does not have an equal light output) If you need some, let me know Some even comes prewired And if you like I can show some examples tomorrow

There are several interviews on technicbrick.com with current designers. Maybe shoot Mark Stafford an email as he has done a few interviews (I think?) for Brick Journal with the old Castle/Space and minifig designers .. and he also seem to have a keen interest in TLG's history. Also, Joe Meno (Brick Journal) might have this info as well But if these old geezers actually wants to be interviewed (or is allowed by TLG) at all, I dunno Really would like to hear some stories though