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zephyr1934

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Everything posted by zephyr1934

  1. zephyr1934
    Looks really nice.
  2. zephyr1934
    Fantastic build! My hats off to you and I look forward to seeing more of this great model.
  3. zephyr1934
    That is a crazy design in the prototype, I never knew. I retract my earlier suggestion, you would be hard pressed to make it look any closer in lego at this size.
  4. zephyr1934
    very nice indeed, though to be more surprising, you should have had an antenna on top with a string hanging "down". It would not make sense until you do the reveal.
  5. zephyr1934
    It just keeps getting better!
  6. zephyr1934
    Neat stuff! Could you do the ribs so that they fit over regular lego bricks, and thus it would be a mostly lego model?
  7. zephyr1934
    So much brilliance! The switch is a beautiful little work of art and the tricks used in the train are equally impressive.
  8. zephyr1934
    I wouldn't be surprised if the traction bands are the source of both problems- wheel slip and quickly draining your battery. The first few generations of the RC/PF motor wheels had loose bands. They improved greatly on the more recent trains, but I do not know about the newest sets that just came out. The o-ring solution works if you have the loose bands, but for others who do not have traction problems, they probably do not need the o-rings (hence this post) You could probably get replacement wheels from lego customer service and at the same time ask them about battery life expectancy.
  9. zephyr1934
    In the first video I can just hear the engine scream, "put me down! I want to RUN!" (grin) it is neat to see the valve gear moving like that. It is also impressive to see an engine this large handle the tight lego curves in the second video. An impressive feet of engineering.
  10. zephyr1934
    Wow, those are some nice builds, both the trains and the structures. A small suggestion about the steam locomotive, if the drivers are fixed in place it might be nice to get something between them and the boiler, e.g., a 1x2x2 panels to put thin vertical elements representing structural supports for the boiler (e.g, like this one- but ignore the fact that the pilot and trailing trucks are hanging down)
  11. zephyr1934
    Wow, that's a beauty! I can't wait to see more details as well as shots of the cars. Excellent. As for the lights on the running gear, I had always assumed those where there so that the crew could monitor the drivers when running in the dark (so much of running a steam engine is an art rather than a science). I bet that would make a neat video running in the dark too.
  12. zephyr1934
    Those are some great trucks with nice detailing and a lot of vintage parts well used in contemporary looking designs.
  13. zephyr1934
    Wow, great find! If you are a MISB collector don't build it. If you like running trains, definitely build it. I think someone posted that there is a very small difference, e.g., one has 1x2x2 with solid studs the other has them with hollow studs. As for the metroliner, I think the original has a door that is printed while the reproduction has stickers. I think the number of holes in the baseplates might also differ. You could compare the part inventories on bricklink or other sites. That's one of the great things about lego, you break a part or scratch it up, you just have to get a new piece. You don't have to replace the whole set.
  14. zephyr1934
    Oh wow, that is really impressive as to how much you were able to conceal while still achieving that much detail on the hood. Great work.
  15. zephyr1934
    Greetings Player, sounds like you have a good collection of official sets (including the collection from your youth). Indeed, you are bound to find all sorts of interesting tidbits around these forums (as well as contribute to them too). Certainly do not hesitate to ask questions or show off a new MOC. Welcome aboard and see you in the forums.
  16. zephyr1934
    Looks like new is $10-15 and used is $5-6 on bricklink. You can ask the seller the condition if you want to be sure before buying. If the prices ever go through the roof, you could probably take apart the connectors and replace all of the wires, or just come up with a new connection to the rail.
  17. zephyr1934
    I'd suggest replacing the 2x4 tile on the front with either grill bricks or 1x2 tile with grill to create the impression of a radiator under that hood. I personally think your forward view is okay already, but you could improve it by using 1x2x2 panels in front of the side windows on the cab, thus creating a 2 brick tall front window instead of the current 2 plate tall forward windows. Shunters typically have many rear windows too, I would suggest replacing the back of the cab with either the old style 1x2x2 windows (which are among the more common old windows and you should have a bunch if you have a pile of old lego). Or new style 1x2x2 windows if you don't have any of the old. You could even create the impression of a center door on the back of the cab using 1x2x3 window or door for the middle window on the back of the cab. Finally, if you want to go over the top, start studying how others create their illusions and borrow good ideas from them.
  18. zephyr1934
    Try perusing the works of swoofty or wardlaw for inspiration. Or just brows the flickr lego train group.
  19. zephyr1934
    I've always thought the 3677 was an update of 4512 and that 4512 was an update of 4564. Which are all very fine sets. The color matched battery box alone makes it one of the nicer PF trains. @Hey Joe: yes, it does look like a US road switcher, though with the short height of the long hood, perhaps an Alco RS2 or EMD NW5. If you added a layer of 2 bricks to the long hood any of these engines would look more like a more common GP or similar road switcher. Without this mod, it also looks like a European locomotive too... very good for a worldwide product.
  20. zephyr1934
    On the topic of sensors for trains, here is another idea for the future wish list. Rather than a touch sensor, it would be great to have a bluetooth reed switch to pick up the train magnets. Sensitive enough so that it would detect trains in the given track, but not so sensitive that it also responds to trains in the adjacent track. That would enable grade crossings, block signals, and a host of other applications.
  21. zephyr1934
    Another good job of capturing the essence of the prototype
  22. zephyr1934
    I've contemplated O gauge every now and then. I can see a few potential complications. First, you can't use the lower friction lego wheel sets. So you will have to deal with more friction drag. Second, it may be more difficult to ensure your wheels stay the correct spacing for the gauge (especially if it winds up being an unusual distance in lego dimensions). Probably doable, but just a little more work. Googling O scale lego train turns up this interesting video where they swap out the wheels on the HE... though at $25/truck it starts to make lego trains look inexpensive. Several folks have built G gauge lego models, but there are not any links off the top of my head. I even stumbled on a few HO model trains, though none that look very train like. But I did stumble on this official looking Lego ad featuring HO trains from the 1960's. Just note that BBB wheels do not have a groove for the drive band. There are ways of adding it (somewhere on EB is a thread discussing how, but I don't know where at the moment). If you plan on pulling any sort of weight, you will need that long before adding a second motor will be of any help. Also, from looking at your renderings, it looks like you are doing an impressive job with your cad from scratch. However, you should check out LDraw if you have not done so already. It might save you some time (though you will still have to cad up your custom parts).
  23. zephyr1934
    Oh yes, moving the processing to the tablet would be good and the prospect of bluetooth sensors to do so even better. Indeed you are on to some neat stuff.
  24. zephyr1934
    That's a nice looking shunter.
  25. zephyr1934
    Welcome aboard Dutch, looking forward to seeing some of your works. And don't worry about being a non-purist. Most folks around here have strong preferences for their own work but rarely do they hold others to the same standards. It is always neat to see what can be done while still being pure and it is equally neat to see what strange impure solutions can arise.
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