-The Hyphen-

She is pretty small. 13 studs/10.3cm/4in Long, and 11 studs/8.7 cm/3.4in High is what MLCAD tells me. The cylinder is just one of these: with the axle/driverod run through the hole and attached to a technic brick/w hole using one of these: It works, in that the driverod moves in and out and the cylinder rotates freely. It may not look great, but nobody's going to see it behind the skirting anyway. Thanks for the comments so far!

Greetings. To those that don't know me (and that wouldn't be surprising, seeing as how I tend to lurk more often than I post) I am -The Hyphen-, and I am crazy. I've been working on this design for a week or so, and since it's about finished, I decided that I would get some feedback on it before I chose the colors and started ordering the parts. This was more than somewhat inspired by the first locomotive from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which was in turn probably based off of Stephenson's Rocket. I plan to eventually power this locomotive by means of a tender built around a 9v motor, or by power functions built into a train car. Lastly, here's a bit of in-universe backstory. This locomotive comes from one of the less technologically advanced nations in my 'verse, and as such, was designed to be extremely simple in construction. These trains had to something that could be built and repaired in a blacksmith's shop, without access to advanced machining tools. As a prime example of this simplification, the locomotive uses an oscillating cylinder rather than the traditional locomotive valve gear. In spite of (or perhaps due to) these limitations, the resulting design was reliable, efficient, and nearly bulletproof. This locomotive and others like it quickly became the standard for the nation that created them, and more than a couple were exported to other railroads. So, assuming my ramblings weren't too much to read through -- what do you think?

I concur. Cool, so we'll be getting the new piece in black as well!

Okay, here's my two cents. As-is, I would give this set a pass. The train seems incomplete without a tender, the carriages are too short and too tall, and I have no use for the long-limbed maxi-figs other than to resell them on Ebay or BrickLink. However... If the price/piece ratio is right, (I'm hoping for a piece count of somewhere around 700, though 600 might be a closer estimate), this set could have great potential for modification, or at the very least as a parts pack. For example; the locomotive. Reduce the height of the cab, add a tender and some proper running gear, and you could make a decent, if a bit caricatured, little 4-4-0. I really like the sloped roof on the passenger car. (By the way, are the windows supposed to be green, or dark green? Due to the lighting, I can't be sure) As The Brickster suggested, the only things keeping this from being a nice little coach are the insane proportions. At a casual glance, I can't find any parts that wouldn't be useful in some way. (Ooh, is that a crate full of dynamite in the boxcar?) Having only six axle/wheel assembles is a bit disappointing, but we're also getting the new cowcatcher piece and -- red train wheels! For me, it all comes down to how many pieces it has, and/or whether or not I can find it on sale.

They should have tiled the road surface. It must have been a rough ride for that family in the car. Okay, bad attempts at humor aside, I noticed in the "making of" video that they put (what is presumably) the company's logo on the studs where the Lego logo should be. Nice find, thanks for sharing!

Listing these in no particular fashion... Gears -- All shapes and sizes. I don't build in Technic, but I'm always looking for way to incorporate them into MOCs, not just as decoration, but with some sort of functional purpose. I can't really explain why, (this is a thread about unnacountable fondness, after all) but there's something mesmerizing about them... spinning, meshing, little mechanical entities, their movements represented perfectly by mathematics and ratios... I digress. The single rail pieces. I've been a bit obsessed with 4-wide narrow-gauge trains lately, but I've only got six of these, and they're the only way to make 4-wide track. Palm Tree Trunk Chains... Ice cream scoops. If I can get my hands on any... (preferrably in white) Lastly, any sort of interesting printed piece, especially tiles.

I'll sign, but I'm afraid I share a bit of KimT's cynicism concerning online petitions. *scribblescribblescribble* -The Hyphen- There you go.

I saw these on There, I Fixed It (epic kludges and jury rigs) a long time ago, but didn't want to create an all-new topic to post them. But now, the floodgates are open, so enjoy. (Link to original page) (Another one.) (And, my favorite...)

News from the Licensed forum. Apparently, the Harry Potter theme will be returning in 2010, and included in the lineup is a new Hogwarts Express. No pictures yet, but this means we will be getting a total of four new train sets this year!

I think I remember someone doing this for a SP3 review. I'll see if I can find it. *edit* Here you go. Credit where credit is due: the pic is from Oky Wan Kenobi's review of Freeze Ray Frenzy.

All of your work is great. It's neat to see people thinking outside the box and incorporating stuff like this into Lego. This I'm particularly intrigued by. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that essentially a Lego barcode and reader? I can't tell from the video what your layout is built on, but the standard model railroading method for hiding wires is to drill a hole through the tabletop and route the wires under the surface. If you're not adverse to "modifying" your bricks, you could use a dremel to hollow out a few pieces (or even glue together a few bricks, then hollow out the resulting structure), to hide your components in.

After some consideration, I can say I only have two criticisms for this line. Number one: the price of the train sets. ... Okay, not really. Assuming Macoco's projections as to the US price are accurate, and assuming a piece count somewhere in the range of 1000-2000, plus the addition of the track and the PF components... It seems fair.. I guess. It's expensive, but that's due tp the Power Functions parts. Number Two: The use of this train motor. I can't speak from experience, but I've heard they're not that powerful. I would rather have seen a brick-built truck/bogie, something along the lines of this, driven by a medium PF motor. But, I guess that's nothing a couple of BrickLink orders can't fix.

I've been keeping all my boxes. I cut the tape/glued edges, flatten them, put the smaller pieces inside the larger pieces, and then throw them all into a garbage bag which I've stowed in a corner somewhere. I really don't know why I keep them, I guess it really wouldn't make a difference to recycle them, but I just can't... Maybe I'll end up cutting out the bits of artwork, framing them, and hanging them on the walls for inspiration.

Actually, such a conversion would be a lot easier than you might think. I ran across an article, (link), that showed how to disassemble a cannon. The only (mechanical) difference between the two types of cannons is that the non-shooting cannon has a white plastic collar where the spring is on the shooting version. Replace the collar with a spring from a ballpoint pen, or somesuch, and you'll have a shooting cannon. I hope someone can get some use out of this information.

Now that we have concrete proof of these sets' existence, all of my skepticism as to this fact has vanished. All and all, these look great! The freight set really stands out in my mind though. A big yellow European diesel, at least three frieght cars, an overhead crane, AND a truck? Um... Yes please. I was wondering that as well.

So Lego really did change the name of Castle. Somehow, I saw it coming... That being said, I really like the looks of this new theme. For one, there are two human factions, rather than the human vs. skeletons/trolls/whatever conflicts we saw in the Fantasy theme. From what I can see, the sets look good, and the minifigs looks even better. (the one faction almost reminds me of the Crusaders or the Royal Knights) And both factions get their own castle! Yes... This just might be good.

Oh my poor nonexistent wallet.. And that's only the first wave! Since we won't be able to tell the figures apart without opening the boxes, do you think that we could start a trade/swap thread on the forums? That way, no one will be stuck with multiples of the same fig and everyone will be able to trade for the ones they really want. Does anyone concur?

Great review! It's a pity that official Lego ships of this size are so rare. (the only ones I know of are this, the 'forementioned Sea Serpent and the ship from the Imperial Trading Post) But that's what MOCing is for, right? There's one thing from the box art and instructions I've never figured out: How's Lord Sinister supposed to pull the trigger on his revolver if he's holding it in his hook hand?

We're using something similar in my engineering class as well. Is this what you're thinking of?

Though the thought of some new train sets delights me, I will remain skeptical until further evidence surfaces. However, assuming this is real, the lineup seems to be almost an exact duplicate of what was in the RC line.

Oh, why must you make me choose? All of them are excellent, in fact, the only one I wouldn't mind having is #6, if only because I'm going to get more than enough divers from the Atlantis sets I buy. I really like #s 4, 8, 12 and 14, but if I had to pick just one... I'd pick the spaceman.

Wait a second... Correct me if I'm wrong, but could it be assumed that the density of ABS plastic is consistent throughout all Lego pieces? If so, then one could merely weigh the pieces in question. If the density is consistent, then the mass of the piece should be directly proportional to the volume of the piece, and therefore it's "size". Does anyone concur? (Though this would require a scale more accurate than any I have access too... )

Hmm... If we're trying to measure the pieces by volume of ABS, a simple displacement test could be used to determine that. Simply place a measured amount of water in a vessel (say, a graduated cylinder), and then add the part, making sure that it is completely submerged. Then measure the new water level, and from that determine the volume of water displaced, which will equal the volume of the part! Merely debating the issue will only get us so far. If we wish to solve this mystery once and for all, we must employ empirical evidence!

Hang on a second, I've just got to get this out of the way first. *ahem* Muahahahahahaha! AAHHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ahh... Gotta love the evil laugh -- don't knock it 'till you've tried it, folks. Right then, the MOC. To put it simply, this is brilliant. All of it. The beautiful color scheme, the jets, the details (nice use of the display sticker from Robo Attack in the control panel), not to mention the freakin' lazer beams! The shape of the locomotive's nose is perfect, much smoother than the Santa Fe you based your design on, and your use of the printed "T" tile is great. From a functional standpoint, I can see that with the weapons systems deployed, clearances might be a bit of an issue.

Brilliant work! My favorite details are the arrows sticking out on the firing range and the fungi underground. One question: How did you make the skid marks for the bumper cars? Are they custom decals, or something else?