Aaron

I meant as far as speakers go. There are two different sizes, which are M and XL. https://fxbricks.com/pfxbrick/soundfx/ I'm assuming yours is the XL, given how clear it sounds? I backed the kickstarter pledge that included the XL speaker along with the PFX brick, since I was worried that the M speaker might not be loud enough for the diesel horn I want.

What size sound brick are you using in that?

Thanks everyone! Sorry for the late response--I've been spending almost all of my free time building lately and forgot to check back on this topic. I'll eventually take more detailed, in-depth photos of the coaches, and possibly do a separate topic focusing on 10-wide streamliners and various techniques. This is just the beginning!

I'll try to get videos up as soon as I finish ballasting my layout and reworking one of my diesels for the PFXBrick. Here's a demonstration using BrickTracks R120 curves. Both coaches are around 80 studs long. Diaphragms Vs BrickTracks R120 Curves by Aaron B, on Flickr

Hello everyone. Today I would like to share a technique that I had been developing over the past few years, and that is none other than a swiveling coach corridor. Ever since I was a child and visited some of the numerous excursion trains in Pennsylvania, I was completely fascinated by their sheer size, and had always wished that I could somehow, someday replicate the coaches to scale using LEGO bricks. At the time it seemed like an impossible dream. Today that dream has come true. One of the most fascinating aspects of passenger trains is the ability to walk between cars while they're in motion, and it's a feature that has always been missing from LEGO trains. Several years ago, I vowed that I would somehow find a way to make this work. Through trial and error, and several different flimsy designs, I finally settled on my final version: the Ball Joint Coach Corridor (or BJCC I guess). Whatever you want to call it, the basic principle is that it's made possible by using the new(ish) modified plates with ball joints. You can sandwich 6-tall door frames between the 1x4 joint cup plates for extra support, 5-tall windows, or just leave them without a frame depending on how high you need them to be. Shown here are corridors on a pair of my 10-wide coaches. To simulate the rubber between the coaches and the diaphragms, I chose to wrap black rubber bands over the modified bricks with bars. I'm sure rubber tubing cut to size would be even more aesthetically pleasing, but I haven't tried it yet. Coaches by Aaron B, on Flickr Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr Ball Joint Coach Corridor by Aaron B, on Flickr Ball Joint Coach Corridors by Aaron B, on Flickr The best part? They'll work on anything, including 6-wide coaches. Feel free to use this technique at will. I'd love to see how these corridors work out for everyone! Just keep in mind that while they will work fully fine on all curves, including R40s, they'll shift around a bit on longer coaches, so the wider the curves, the more aesthetically pleasing they are. Enjoy! :)

If you add a second pin (or hole) behind the first one, you could attach one of these: This would enable those who want to attach the couplers to bogies to do so, which would center them automatically. For those who body mount their couplers, you could simply just mount the coupler to the body using one of the pins/holes so that it swivels, and then use rubber bands looped around the free pin and attached to connection points on either side underneath the train car if you want it centered. Edit: I'm also a fan of the friction pin and/or magnets. Whatever works.

This is how I ballast my layout. The light bluish gray ballast is for a double mainline, while the dark bluish gray is intended for yards. It can be done with Me Models track as well as LEGO Power Functions and 9V track, as long as you have the parts to cover up the dark bley. Google search won't show you everything. If he hadn't made this topic, I would have never bothered uploading pictures of my track in the first place.

I just use kadee O scale couplers. No modifications needed.

Can't wait to get ahold of some R120s! The nice thing about these is that I won't have to set up my whole layout when I want to run heavier trains. Sometimes I like to show people my engines but I just don't have the time to set it all up. This changes everything.

Very nice decals, and some fine-looking locomotives.

I'd just use paint. No need to sacrifice shiny new parts if you have plenty of old/discolored/ugly ones. Smiley face bricks, I'm looking at you.

I have no objections to using glue on my parts, so the clutch power wearing down doesn't worry me at all. I just wish there were more studs on these without having big flat areas so that it could be possible to lay down ties the full length of the swtich. Squeezing two studs side-by-side down the center probably wouldn't interfere with the switching mechanicism (from what i can see) and would definitely improve the aesthetics on fully ballasted track. Nevertheless, I suppose one could just solve this with some kragel though, even if it is cheating.

I've always built in 1:38 scale (10-wide) and never had any issues.

My vote goes to PF and switches as well. The only way this will get off the ground is if it offers something in high demand from the start. Offering virtually the same products as ME Models isn't going to interest enough people to get this project funded, especially since the ME Model track is back in stock now and their 9V tracks are on the horizon. If you were to initially market your company as one that focuses on switch track, and add the other products as a stretch goal, it would be a more viable business model since it taps into a market with high demand where there currently exists no competition. Relying on 9V to get this project funded is a business mistake for several reasons. Anything that 9V can do, Power Functions can do, and then some. The demand for 9V track isn't nearly as high as the demand for bigger and better switches, and the latter currently cannot be obtained. Your switches are beautifully designed, and to not market them from the start would be a missed opportunity. The only purpose for 9V track now is aesthetics, and nothing else. Anyone who is willing to drop a couple hundred dollars on 9V track can't make the excuse that it would be too expensive to upgrade to Power Functions.

Those look amazing.

I'd suggest replacing the buffers with these to hold the magnets.

Be patient. I had to wait too, but in the end I received my bearings. If you file a claim and order from someone else, you'll only end up waiting longer.

Full circle of 9V R104 here. I've been sitting on half a loop of R104 track for years now. Been waiting ages to complete a full loop, and this may finally be my chance.

Will this work just as well? http://m.ebay.com/itm/Ultimate-Synthetic-Hobby-Oil-Slot-car-Train-R-C-Car-Truck-Slot-Machine-Oil-/152020696890?var=

I'm definitely going to back this. If I have one suggestion to throw out though, it's with future molds. I love the R328 stuff you designed, and I'll continue to buy more and experiment with it despite the high cost. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that it's kind of a niche thing that very few people would buy, and might not be able to justify the cost of a mold. I was just thinking that since you plan to make R200 curves later on, there may be a demand for companion radii to that, such as R216, since many of the large clubs such as PennLUG and the Texas Brick Railroad run grand curves with similar radii. I've been out of touch with this stuff lately and I don't know if an easier method for grand curve assembly is used now, but I'd imagine it would make a lot of lives easier if they could just snap them all together like regular track instead of having to attach 2x2 plates to hold them together and hope that they don't pop apart. I think PennLUG might even have 3 grand curves now, so maybe instead of making the R328 curve and switch molds, you could do the 3 curve radii that they use. From what I recall I think the grand curve design and radii is pretty standard across different clubs, but again, I haven't interacted with any clubs in years so I could be wrong. Despite the steep costs, I'm willing to stick with shapeways for the larger more obscure stuff since I personally feel the needs of others outweigh mine, but I guess a poll would be your best bet at the later stage of this. I'm just incredibly thankful for what you've done so far, and by no means do I want to pressure you in any way to do something that may end up being burdensome, nor would I feel unsatisfied no matter which course this takes. Even R104 stuff is like a dream come true.

This has been posted already. Anyway, I wish at least one of these knockoff companies would focus their efforts on making something useful (such as bulk parts) instead of ripping off sets. Cheap tiles and plates would be nice. Baseplates would be lovely as well. I guess they just don't want my money.

And here I thought I was the only one who built in 1:38 (10-wide). I'm very impressed.

Acrylic paint seemed to work really well for the black R328 I got, though it's a bit dark. I found cheap acrylic paint at WalMart that closely matches dark bluish gray, so I'll try to paint this white R328 piece as soon as I have a day off. I'm terrible at taking pictures, but I guess I'll do my best since I promised a review.

Why buy sets in general? MOCs are cheaper and way more fun.

I'm painting the rails with rust colored spray paint. I'll get a black one for now since leaving the top surface unfinished would look best that way, and if it doesn't work out I'll go with white for the next ones. I'll probably do an in-depth video review when I receive the rail.