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cgarison

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by cgarison

  1. cgarison
    Nice details! The stair case is sweet!
  2. cgarison
    Sorry that I did not meet you at BrickFair, but I was nursing Peter Morris's space train and Nate Brill's monorail with Mike MacLeod on the DelVaLug Moon Base. I also moved this MOC to our parking lot on Saturday and then did not operate it because I had an issue where the main plate that supports all the super structure developed a bow and caused the walker to come apart when I attempted to operate the power functions (grrr!!). This means when I returned back home, Ver. 1.45 of the MOC emerged with a modified structure to support the top ship and the front ship. I will have this MOC at Philly BrickFest (I know that event is a dirty word with the majority of the community at this time but it is in my back yard and less than 15 minutes from my house) in the next few weeks and it should be running then so I should get a video of it. I have plans to build a second drive unit to demonstrate how the Power Functions work. Thanks for the feedback and I would love to see more Galaxy Squad MOCs from the space community. I loved the colors in the theme.
  3. cgarison
    Well, if we cannot get Dr Spock's Turbo Train, my second choice of the era would be the GM AeroTrain. I also would not mind seeing a different version of the 60051 that more closely resembles the Bombardier Acela that we have running along the Northeast Corridor of the U.S.
  4. cgarison
    Great work! I just saw three details on your train station that will increase the cost of my next build by (about) 30%. My wife will love you, but hopefully the crowds will "squee" when they see it at the AFOL shows. Oh, and one word of advice for anyone building the "well wagon" car (or drop deck as we called them when I was rigging) is to make sure the final car has the clearance to not rub its belly on the track as it passes around a layout due to uneven table surfaces and the like. I typically build my cars high enough to where this is not a problem but some builders in my clubs try to lower the cars as much as possible to get that "sleek" look and it can cause a lot of heart ache on a layout.
  5. cgarison
    This is the best advice that I have read. Considering that I just stepped into trains about a year ago (running the train and monorail on the DelVaLug moonbase) and made the full jump this past spring, I opted to wait for the 60052 diesel because I wanted the North America style diesel locomotive for my tracks. The yellow train is also an awesome set and I like the accessories with it better than those with the 60052, but I chose the style of the locomotive over the balance of the set because I knew that eventually that I would build my own accessories and train cars to go with the train. Yea, that is also good advice. I am not telling my wife how much I have spent on my latest train MOC as it has well exceeded the amount that I normally spend on my modular buildings. But compared to the price of other model railroad scales, Lego is still very competitive.
  6. cgarison
    Well that did not take long..... I found my problem and I have a bad motor! And now that I compare the symptoms of my latest MOC to those with Peter Morris' SpaceTrain at BrickFair, VA (where I killed 3 motors in one day) they were exactly the same. Lesson here, don't build a MOC around a reconditioned motor. (sigh)
  7. cgarison
    Same here. I learned about the magical Eneloop batteries when I was getting ready to shoot my first wedding in 2007 and I resisted purchasing them until 2011. Now, it is all I will run in my flashes and my Lego (PowerFunction or Mindstorm) MOCs. Plus I have them for all of my flash lights if we get another storm like Hurricane Irene in the Delaware Valley. Great battery! On the downside, 6 AAA Eneloop batteries weigh more than the rechargeable Li-Ion battery packs from Lego, so if weight is critical in a MOC, then the rechargeable battery pack has an advantage. Otherwise, the Eneloop/AAA battery pack option gives you the same battery performance for less money.
  8. cgarison
    I am having the same issue on the V2 receiver with the overload resistor getting tripped after running 2 sets of batteries in a train. The third set of batteries will light the receiver and battery box, but the train will not move. After 15 to 20 minutes, the train takes back off. I have switched that train back to the V1 for testing this weekend because a couple of members of my LUG think I might have a bad battery box. By Monday, I will have either found my bad battery box or proven that I am tripping the overload. If prior experience holds true, I am going to trip the V1 after 4 hours of running the train so about halfway through the life of the second set of batteries. I will have more information in the next 72 hours. I do not think I have a new problem with the V2, just a different manifestation of the same problem in the V1. The solution for our displays is simply have more trains available to run and change them out every two hours. Good news for me because I get to build more MOCs.
  9. cgarison
    Nice station!
  10. cgarison
    That looks really nice.
  11. cgarison
    Very good work in completing the look of the buildings. These will be nice in any layout.
  12. cgarison
    For our train layouts, we use the Panasonic (Formerly Sanyo) Eneloop rechargeable batteries in our triple A battery packs and we can typically expect 3 to 4 hours of running time for our trains. The trains that run more than one motor are closer to three hours while single motor trains get closer to 4 hours of running time. The reason for the Eneloop batteries is that they function more like the Li-Ion battery packs and usually run strong up until the last couple of laps of our circuit where the speeds drop off considerably. The Energizer rechargeable batteries that we ran last year would lose power gradually over a two hour span and barely have enough power to move as the trains approached their third hour of running. I feel your pain on issues with Power Functions as I have been fighting an issue for the last six months where every so often I will take a battery box filled with fully charged batteries and plug it into the train and I have no power. I have marked all my battery boxes to see if one of them is causing the issue as well as marked the batteries to see if their is a particular group that might be the issue. I am also changing up my receivers to make sure that I do not have any V2 receivers powering train motors and M motors and only my L motors are connected to a V2 receiver. This weekend I plan on running a couple of my trains in a loop to see if I can fix the issue prior to my next display coming up in mid-September. I have my fingers crossed. And yes, I have horrible wheel spin with the power functions train motors when running them on smaller track layouts. The Railco o-rings will make a huge difference in stopping this. Before using the o-rings, I also doubled up the motors on my Horizon Express and the increased tractive power on the single locomotive which made it possible to run 2 HEs without spinning the wheels. (Note the second locomotive has no power functions.) On the 60052, I have not had any of the issues that I have had with the HE or my MOCs with the train motor. Best of luck with your issues.
  13. cgarison
    Nice monorail. And this type of locomotive can work on the same track as the Japanese monorail system. Very cool!
  14. cgarison
    Very nice build. I like the fact that you were bold enough to gear up the shunter to get more speed. Great Work.
  15. cgarison
    Really nice work on the locomotive. Based on the video you uploaded of the engine going around the track, my L-motor mule is running at the right speed as I prepare to build my latest MOC. Thanks for all the wonderful information in the thread.
  16. cgarison
    Very nice design. I really like the trapezoidal plate detail on the trucks. The plow is also a nice detail that would look nice on the sci-fi trains that I am building for the our moon base. I can't wait to see this in real bricks.
  17. cgarison
    The facade reminds me of some of the buildings in town when I was growing up in the 1970's. Old early 1900's architecture was wrapped with a cover of modern plastic and fiberglass in the late 60's and early 70's . Windows were covered and the buildings looked very similar to this with the striping and the like. Nice build! Thanks for reminding me of the past. Oh! And those plastic facades have been removed by the end of the 20th century after a couple of fires showed the community that plastic is flammable and covering the windows keeps the fire fighters from gaining access to the upper levels of the building.
  18. cgarison
    Wonderful detail! Really nice work.
  19. cgarison
    Really nice detail. I expect this could become a new standard for flatcars in the community!
  20. cgarison
    I count myself lucky with all of my train bases not being warped. The 60052 is a very nice locomotive, but it needs a second engine to pull behind the first. Maybe the answer is on Bricklink as I do not feel like splurging on another full train set although I can always use extra wheels and the power functions receiver. I never seem to have enough of those in my collection. And the cow is also worth a good amount on brick link..... Please stop me from talking myself into another 60052 set! I still have my Ghost Train MOC to finish.
  21. cgarison
    I agree on the brick built doors being very nice. The wheel chair ramps is also a great feature often forgotten in our builds. Nice Work!
  22. cgarison
    Very impressive and I look forward to seeing more pictures as well as the book.
  23. cgarison
    I like this MOC a lot. The main thing that catches my attention is that you capture the essence of a moon base without incorporating all the "space" standards that have been lingering around for more than a decade. Nice original work!
  24. cgarison
    (sorry for the late post) I love the broke down stair truck. It almost makes me think that it should be the Bluth travel agency. Great Clouds! And I agree that a minifig needs to be perched in the cupcake shop sucking down the free WiFi. Great work as usual.
  25. cgarison
    Now you have me singing The Self Preservation Society. Very nice little cars!
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