zephyr1934

Ah, the maps from the respective sets... clever

You took the words right out of my mouth... still, great job on the MOC

You have expensive tastes, but it shows in the quality of your builds. You could join a LUG and push for getting the 1x4 tiles in LUGBULK (unfortunately, we are about 1/4th the way through the cycle, so the earliest you'd be able to get them is in about 1.75 cycles or 1 yr from now). The base plates have long been out of production though. What about doing something with snotted 1x6x5 trans panels to save money?

If I went larger than XXL I'd go blind... as in blind drivers, but I try to make everything I build R40 compatible. To do flanged for wider radii curves would require some experimenting. I'm sure it could be done after some trial and error though.

I think most of what you are seeing is "coming soon" in a storefront application that does not say "not yet available". As far as I know he has only released s32 tracks. I know Michael said that the first batch of s32 was a small run that sold out a lot faster than anticipated so future production runs will be larger. I believe they sold out in a few weeks, I don't know if FX has a mailing list, but if you keep checking every few weeks you'll probably be safe next time something is in stock. Meanwhile, r72 are being produced but have not yet been available for purchase. If I recall correctly, at last word s8 and r88 were the next elements in development with a target release of some time in late 2021. (I have no inside news, I've just been following the posts closely given my collection of 9v trains)

Ha ha ha, the trick is when you stumble on to a combination of parts and colors that are actually available that's a sign you need to build it (grin) I could see regular blue working with dark purple. While it is lighter purple in the Northern Rail scheme, it does kind of work,

Looking good! Creative part usage with the roof of some of the cars and it is always great to see your art nouveau station.

More insanity! My lego bricks quake in fear of your horror movies. Can't wait to see the automation project come to completion

Yeah, those were some insane builds, it even uses 12v power rails as structural elements

Compare prices, technic bricks might be cheaper in some cases, it varies for a given length. Presumably you already know this but maybe not everyone reading this thread does, since you don't care about appearances, buy used in whatever color is cheapest in quantity.

That's looking good The idea of turning curved track sideways to get a roller coaster loop has actually been around for at least 20 years. But it is A LOT easier with the roller coaster track. Those supports look great and the whole build has a great form.

So brickset noted a 1x5 plate in a Vidyio set... could this be a hint that TLG has finally recognized 7 wide builders and will be following up on the crocodile with something else this summer? Even if it isn't a hint at a train set, at least it will be a useful part for 7 wide.

Brilliant! Those would look good woven into a "serious" train at a train show. Easiest solution would be to extend "THIS" and "THAT" crs by one stud. Techinc bricks with half pins would probably work too, or worst case, I bet you could get the studs in the right place using snot. Or make "H" four wide.

The build continues to look amazing! One thought, if you are going to transport these modules to shows, make sure the support structure is robust to lateral and twisting forces too.

Looking good.

That looks great! I'm not sure this was your intention, but to my eye it looks like a massive update of set 10027 from 2003, as in, you built a functional equivalent but used completely different build techniques. Regardless, your MOC would look great on almost any layout. Both the interior and exterior detailing are top notch.

That looks great, thanks for sharing. Yeah, not a perfect replica for a real subway, but closer than a minifig is for a human (grin) so it definitely works. As for the tracks, nothing wrong with using flextrack for a display, but another alternative would be straight rails,

Oh wow! The old layout was amazing, and this new build looks like it will rival it. Good scenery like this takes as much work as the trains, if not more. Are you only building up a few meters in the area of the roundhouse, or will you have a large detailed loop again?

Looking good!

What about a bunch of pennies? The EN looks good in gray, kind of like the early days of the A1 Tornado.

So what are you thinking of for powering on/off and replacing batteries, that you would just do a minor disassembly? Meanwhile, you have an interesting plate on the front and rear of the cab that is red on one side and yellow on the other, is that a red sticker that keeps the stripe going to the font and rear of the cab while being absent on the sides?

Yes, you should have little problem with one more layer of plates around the IR receiver. When you use these in your house the IR signal typically bounces off the walls and ceiling, so even when you do not have direct line of sight the control signal usually gets in. If you ever run the train outside or in a large auditorium you might have to point the PF controller directly at the IR receiver. Another thought, if space in the cab is of utmost importance, as others have said earlier in this thread, going to PU would eliminate the need for the IR receiver altogether. But that would change your color scheme. Anyway, to clarify what I was suggesting in my last post, right now the IR receiver sticks into the cab by 1-2 studs. If you move the cab forward (to the right in the picture below) by one or two studs you get the receiver out of the cab. The trouble is, you now have the lower part of the IR receiver filling the gap behind (to the left of) the cab but a 1 wide hole above the PF connectors, e.g., where the yellow brick with a clip is in the picture. So I was suggesting that for this row of studs at the bottom you could have the cab be 6 wide until clearing the top of the PF connectors, then drop to 4 wide for the rest of the way up. If you build it this way, you could just use a train motor with an axle on one end. I think ColletArrow was suggesting use of one of these, or 40344, 6585, 48496, or 87408

This is getting interesting, please keep us updated on your progress.

That should probably be top priority for this build, more important than copying the prototype. To that end, you might want to make the cab 2 studs longer to make it easier to sit 1 or even 2 minifigs and facilitate play value. I like how you are already working with the colors of the PF components. On the short hood (IR receiver) the cab does not need to be full height, just tall enough to clear the PF connector on the given side. You could shift the windshield back from the short hood (making it longer) if you wanted to keep the cab itself 5 long.

Boxing the MOC up like a set is a great idea. For that age group I would agree with you that the circuit cubes probably is not a good idea. PF and PU are good because they both have their own stand alone remote, so no need to hand your son your phone.