zephyr1934

Oh wow, I got a very courteous PM back from Mike within an hour after posting my anxious and perhaps not as courteous as it should be post. It sounds like my plastic rails should ship on the next business day. For anyone else anxious like me (or simply curious about their status, or postage [i think they said European postage was wrong on their site]), definitely try the private message first. Apologies for my haste. I certainly appreciate having these options that Lego simply will not provide and I also appreciate that ME models probably has way too many orders from everyone else anxious to get their hands on these tracks.

The photos of your locomotive look really really good (ah, look at that daylight slipping in under the boiler just like so many real locomotives). And the dark red just ads so much more to it. However, compared to the real photo, it does seem a little too short (but perhaps that is due to the angle that shot was taken from???). The one change I STRONGLY recommend is to replace the pin connector on the stack with the older version that does not have the slit. Probably not worth a special order, but put it on your wanted list and add it to your order when you are buying something else from a store that happens to have it in stock. As for the rods, I personally think the axle+connector are the best pure lego design, e.g., as in this moc. I just packed the locomotive with a 1x10 brick and used it to ensure proper spacing before each run... that and I think I only powered one axle and did not have any bands on the other wheels to ensure there was as little force as possible on the rods. If you have a lot of patience, you might be able to stuff just the right amount of plastic from a polybag to both make the spacing perfect and keep it pure lego.

Another great tank engine, you are building a nice little collection

That's a great little build with some very clever tricks to work around the difficulties of hiding anything in such a small MOC (and aw, look at the classic space air tanks tossed in too)

Wow! I'm envious, lots of great detail and putting the building at an unconventional angle really has a nice effect.

That's a nice build, even some of your simpler tricks have great impact, e.g., the red stripes on the boiler. On a side note, if the UK is anything like the US, the Thomas locomotives are trucked in rather than one of the host road's locomotives (I think there are two standard gauge and one narrow gauge in the US that go from show to show).

That is a great build. The tiles for siding and the built up doors add a lot to the moc

Hi Mike, as per earlier in the campaign and most recently in October, Eric had promised that because the metal track was delayed, those who ordered both metal and plastic would have the two items ship separately (see here). Your recent note suggests that that point has changed once more and that you are giving preference to orders of all plastic. Since ME Models has said that the two would ship separately for those that ordered both, I would assume the plastic portion of my order would be in with the "all plastic" no? Otherwise, as I said back in October, if ME can't ship the two separately, is there a way to cancel the metal track from my order and be refunded just the $17? Or at the very least, issue a coupon good for a free metal sample pack in a future order? Then ship the plastic track from my order as soon as it is ready to go? I do not want to wait for the metal track to be ready. BTW, I ordered gray sleepers and have yet to see a tracking number from you, so I am completely in the dark as per the status of my order. Thanks much, and in spite of my grumbling, at least from the pictures I do think you have a wonderful product here.

That is a fantastic build of a neat little engine. You scored a double play with this one- got so much of the details and crammed so much of the PF in without it being noticeable. Very impressive!

Excellent review and I am looking forward to my set of rails with all the more excitement.

Oh yeah! They look great and a definite must have for steam engines. Can't wait for mine to arrive.

Wow, that thing is huge! Though that is what UP was going for when they got them in the first place. The details are top notch. If you have time, it would be neat to see a shot of how you concealed two train motors in those detailed trucks and how you made them work together. Does it do standard curves at all, or does it need wider radius? With all of the weight in that build and the long span, you clearly did a good job engineering the frame. I see no trace of any sagging.

Yes and no. A good idea book is very demanding to produce. The market is probably too small for lego to do it and the demands too large for hobbyists to do. Rather, if/when it is confirmed that there will be no Creator train in the foreseeable future then I think it will be time for a new hobby train designed by AFOL's, independent of the Lego company. If we want this hobby to continue we need some gateway to encourage others to take up the hobby. There are many builders in this forum who could produce a train that is better than anything that will appear in a lego set. While the lego designers are very talented, we are not constrained to part counts, the lego design requirements, or to make it friendly to children under 16 (yes, the Creator trains are marked 16+, but there are many 6-8 year olds who have built them). What I envision is starting with the blue cargo train set 60052, bring in (mostly) common parts and expand it into several creations that would appeal to AFOL's around the world. That means N. American designs, Euro designs, etc. Then produce instructions so that new and experienced train builders can purchase the set and quickly MOD it into a train that is even more appealing to the given buyer. Using 60052 to get the train parts and common parts for the rest means that new builders will not have to scrounge around for too many new parts. Probably the best way to do so is to have another competition, similar to the recent RailBricks competition; but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Very nice layout and great MOCs. The steamers and boxcars are real standouts.

Yes, there are several alternative control systems that can set the speed directly, but lego actually included the protocol to do it but never built a controller. It would be nice to have an all lego solution that is compatible with the IR elements so that you do not have to be a heavy duty MOCer to get the functionality... but probably most people who want that function are already MOCers and they are frustrated by the other limitations of the stock PF system.

That is a clever combination and a great result.

Greetings new friend, while indeed there are all sorts of interesting bits in old threads like this, please do not bump an old topic just to add a small comment or ask a quick question. Few of the readers will remember the original discussion and it just becomes confusing for the regular readers. If you have questions for the original poster you can try sending them a private message. You can also start a new thread if you have a related topic that is not a direct continuation. Of course if you do have a substantial follow up to an old thread it is sometimes appropriate to do a bump like this, e.g., "I finally built this and found...."

If the HE sold below expectations, perhaps it was because the set had few unique parts or rare colors, and those it did have were fairly specialized. I'm sure a large number of EN and Maersk were simply parted out for the rare colors. So like the hobby train that had no rare parts (since all of the parts were simultaneously released on P@B), the HE had much fewer sets parted out.

Oh yes, that would be fantastic if they ever did that.

Heh heh heh... oh... wait... I mean Ho Ho Ho. Very nice work with a lot of great details. You are a brave man to put such detailed work within the path of a crawler.

Anybody receive their track yet? (to keep the chatter down please only post back if "yes")

Oh wow, I love this shot. Looking over a range of passenger cars all below a massive terminal. The great thing about Amtrak cars through the 1980's is that you can also mix in whatever pre-Amtrak equipment as well and the rainbow train will not look out of place. That new Amtrak train you are working on is also great. Two things come to mind, first, I think the chevron always pointed towards the front of Amtrak locomotives even though the logo always pointed to the right on promotional material. Second, I have heard a great trick to make homemade stickers blend in with lego shine- use a layer of packing tape before you cut them out. In any event I am looking forward to seeing more.

Thank you for the kind words. I've just uploaded an exploded image of the diaphragm design, and linked below. There were a few minor variants to get it to fit in different configurations and I think I grabbed left and right halves from different variations. Sand green is on the bottom, although not completely clear, the bracket lines up with the right hand side of the sand green 2x4 plate (shown in the exploded view on the left but accidentally omitted in the assembled view on the right). The bracket then holds the assembly on and it presses against the wall of the car from the inside. For the ends with doors, the 1x2xn door assembly is built one stud in from the end, in line with the pink 1x4 tile. It is supported from the inside of the car because the bottom touches the jumper plate assembly. The door is 5 plates wide while the opening in the diaphragm is 4 plates. I then top it all off with a stacked pair of studs up door rails (not shown). I think the design on the right attaches on the high end rather than the low end due to an internal conflict with the low mount somewhere in the model. For the car ends with the window in line with the 1x4 tile, I use a slightly different assembly to keep it from obstructing the window, but the basic principles are the same. Thank you for the kind words as well (and I agree), of course credit for the color scheme goes to Raymond Loewy. I just translated it to bricks.

A fantastic build with your usual attention to detail. Of course everything is better in dark green (grin).

That's a nice build with a classic 12v look to it. I've heard rumors of a good place to find locomotive rods (grin... see my sig). Though there are a few nice examples of home built rods cut out of various material. At least one example I've seen used 1x16 bricks for the donor source, but it is probably a lot cheaper to find a non-lego source, especially since you do not have to worry about matching any gray on the locomotive.