zephyr1934

As far as I know nobody makes them for sale but at least a few people have made them by drilling the train motor wheels. A few people have also used technic crankshaft parts, e.g., 2853, but they are long and don't have much clutch.

After removing the traction bands yesterday, I ran for over 30 min today on my 9v loop and had no derailing problems. You're too kind, thank you

It is in part due to the 9v track and in part due to a stupid design flaw that is easily fixed. (BTW, after the fix, today I ran for over 30 min on 9v track without any derailing). You can see my short answer a few posts back in this thread right here. Or follow the link in that post to my own thread on modifying the set.

That's a great build on a very tricky prototype. Interestingly enough, the tender shrouding was designed to be a faux Budd car and blend smoothly with the rest of the train (but the cars were never placed in service and instead were sold off to other railroads)

I might have solved the 9v track problems. See this post in my MOD thread for details but here's the bottom line,

I posted in the main 10277 thread about derailing when going counter-clockwise on 9v track. As per Railbricks 7, the rail joints provide a climbing opportunity when going counter-clockwise. I'll go back and test it clockwise later After playing with it for a while I got to thinking about the unpowered axles and that the traction bands are going to be fighting each other on curves. You want one band to ensure the drivers keep spinning, but you do not want two of them because the drag. Thinking further, when you are running the engine going counter-clockwise through a curve you want it to drag on the inside track to pitch the outer wheel away from the rail joints. So that lead me to this solution, I tried it on my 9v loop and it went fine either direction without any derailing. I only ran it for 5 min, but so far so good. (and it ran fine for over 30 min the next day) =========== I've heard of a few folks who want to use the model as a dummy engine that is pushed from behind. If you do that, make sure to remove the crown gears from the two axles under the cab so that you do not wind up with all four of the cab wheels fighting with each other on curves. Also remove one or both of the red traction bands from each of the axles under the cab if they are unpowered.

Yes, I had this same problem. My main loop is 9v and it derailed like crazy on the curves, but I was going counter-clockwise around the 9v loop. I did not think of that now until after seeing the other posts, but I bet it would run better clockwise on 9v track, as per railbricks 7, the rail joints provide a climbing opportunity when going counter-clockwise. I'll go back and test it clockwise later I then tried it on a loop of plastic track with a lot fewer (but more than zero) problems. Ultimately it turned out that one of the small wheels on the axle pins was not pushed all the way on. It took a while for me to find this simple, stupid error. Still, I do not like the idea of pushing through two ball joints on essentially two single axles. It seems a little unstable. I was glad I read the reviews and knew that I would not need the cab interior. I think they should put a warning at the start of the interior section to look ahead to the motorization. Had I not known, I would have been irked to build up the interior to then set it all aside. All of my complaining aside, I must say, this is probably the best AFOL train set yet. The design is top notch. Lots of well thought out tricks: the way the driver flanges hide under the hood, the cab walls with door rails and tiles, and even the "I'm a set" features like the way the motor slides in and the interior for the non-motorized version (even if I think needs a warning label).

I'd like to present version 1.0 of my rods for the Crocodile Locomotive set 10277. After seeing the first leaked images of this set I designed a new set of rods for the model. I recognized that the end of the jackshaft was a technic disk and wanted to create the illusion that this disk was tied into the rod without having to actually connect it mechanically. Fortunately I guessed correctly at the length. Having not been familiar with these locomotives I did not realize that the rods on the prototype are far more complicated, but there are several other obstacles to creating more realistic rods for this locomotive. So those challenges are a thing for the future. Anyway, the actual modification is surprisingly simple, swapping one brick and one plate on either side of each hood. Full instructions for the MOD will be available here once moderated on brickshelf. The rods are up for advance purchase here. They will be going into my next fab and will not ship until it is completed, after which point they will be a standard stocked listing. I will probably be putting the designs up on Shapeways too. ========== Other links: For great ideas to improve the look of this model, see these links: Dirk1313's MOD Phil B.'s MOD Sérgio's MOD JopieK's MOD (lights, camera, action... well... okay, just lights) AWildP32 forgot to read the care label, put the model through the dryer and discovered it shrunk Toastie's MOD <will add more as they appear>

I'm sure there are folks on this forum who would be willing to be beta testers for building/verifying the models work, especially if they got the instructions (or simply digital files) for free while the finished versions would be pay to use. You probably will not get rich doing this, but you probably would make enough that you could build some of the models in real bricks.

Great job with the tricky curves on this locomotive. Are those half plate increments on the side of the nose?

It's too good to be a set, great work!

Okay, cool, thanks to both of you. I'll probably build the wheels as originally specified then. Though for now I will be swapping the plate and technic brick for the jack shaft to bring it in line with the wheels. With only 1 plate offset I'm not seeing any way to squeeze a second rod in there and make it look good.

I have never had luck with PayPal and S@H. They reserve the funds but never take them out and eventually cancel the order

For 2x MSRP

Sure thing, pink = new parts not in the set. In this case the pink at the rear of the hood is simply changing the color of the existing bricks. Then in the drivers, I moved the 4x8 plate and the left pair of 1x4 technic bricks over one stud, pulled the tiles you can't see, and moved some of the bricks around to clear the axles.

Thank you thank you. For my own build I've gone through and incorporated much of Dirk1313's MODs, while adding some of my own small improvements that I mentioned in the MOD thread.

Having now played with ps1flyer's stud.io file I've come up with a couple of small improvements on your MODs. For the running boards on the side of the hoods, going from end to cab I'd suggest 1x3, then 1x4 then 1x8 tiles. For the parts semi-visible on the end of the hood, I'd suggest replacing the random colored parts with brown bricks. Meanwhile, from looking at the instructions, I don't like how close the tiles come to the technic axles for the drivers under the hood. Have you found any evidence that the axles are rubbing on the tiles? I've come up with an easy mod to eliminate the tiles under the axles, but it is only beneficial if there is rubbing.

I'm open to design suggestions for the rods on this loco. For the stock set with minimal modifications you will forever have the loss of the third wheel. Taking the two driving wheels that remain, to my eye it doesn't look like there is sufficient room for the triangular rod. In real life it would to to a counterweight ahead of the front driver wheel, but that space looks to be unusable due to the swing of the pilot axle. After making a small modification to allow the jackshaft to rotate I am thinking a three hole, one piece rod (designed to look like two separate two hole rods). I will try to capture the essence of the triangular rod while being limited on how far I can go beyond the lead driver axle.

Heh heh heh, when I started on this design I set out to make sure the one feature I got correct was the windshield with its distinctive widows peak in the middle. So I think that is hilarious (and well deserved) that that was the first thing that everyone noticed. First I gave up on the widows peak, and eventually I tossed in the towel on all of the brick built ideas I came up with. I definitely agree that the windshield is wrong, but I don't think the train windshield is the right answer either. The end pieces on the roof would be hard to improve upon in 6 wide, especially the way it captures the curve between the yellow and the green on the side. But it does come at a cost of the front, the missing destination sign is the biggest feature I feel I'm missing and the top down shape of that part definitely limits the windshield solutions. But in the balance, I still think that roof piece brings a lot to the model, enough that I'm keeping it in spite of the secondary compromises it requires. I think the front of the prototype is asymmetric, with the driver's side closer to the 1x3x2 arches that I used on the nose and the passenger side having a shorter curvature to accommodate the door, being more like the 1x3 curved slopes. Ultimately I went with the arches to both match the (aforementioned incorrect) shape of the roof and to provide a corner-less transition from the front to the sides that I think is a critical feature to capture the essence of the prototype. Ultimately any lego model winds up being a caricature and I wanted to make sure this one was easily recognizable. When I was gathering the photos for this post I did notice one part substitution I need to do. The notched curved slopes did not exist when I built this, but now I need to add those on the bottom of the front. As for the other side, its so boring, looks like a bus, but I'll post a photo of it soon.

I'm glad I placed my order right after midnight. This must have been a VERY limited first run due to COVID. I called my local Lego store yesterday and they had not even heard of the set beyond seeing it was on brickset. In spite of my temptation to buy two, I was a good citizen and only ordered one. I'll come back for the spares once it is off backorder. At least they've posted the instructions, so I can start working on my MODs before the set arrives. Oddly, it includes the black pulleys that you would need to convert the... ugh... forgot the name again... the power take off wheel to be able to take a rod. Unfortunately it is one plate higher than the driver wheels so it will require a very unusual rod length to do so.

PCC streetcar - TCRT 322 I would like to present my take on the PCC streetcar. These streamlined streetcars have some very tricky angles. My specific car was modeled on a restored streetcar running in Minneapolis, a quick google for images of Twin Cities Rapid Transit (TCRT) 322 should turn up many photos of the prototype, e.g., My build has a lot of tricky twists and turns, with studs pointing in all directions, e.g., the front truck is the actual motor and to provide low clearance it is set in upside down 1x2 panels that just clear the wheels while hiding the top of the motor. Away from the motor most of the bottom is studs forward or studs rearward to get the narrow band of green on the bottom and associated shrouding around the wheels. The two inset doors made the build trickier to get everything in to the 6 wide body. Of course there are also a couple of "easy" elements too, like the 8x6x2 windscreens on either end of the roof. You can even spot the fare box inside the windshield. The stickers provided the necessary pop to define the individual windows, give the characteristic rounded window at the rear, and chrome chevron on the nose. These photos show the first incarnation of the model with a 9v motor on my brick built track (lego gauge). It was designed to fit a PF battery box since PU did not exist when I first built it, but I did not want to try to squeeze an IR receiver in the model. Then PU came out and my PCC became my PU laboratory. Early on I put the PU Hub in the rear and swapped out the motor, which then allowed me to test PU at shows. This rebuild required redoing the roof for easy access to swap batteries, but the appearance did not change. About half a year ago I rebuilt the streetcar once again. There was just enough room between the motor and the rear doors to squeeze in a color sensor. Amazingly, the exterior appearance did not change after any of the rebuilds. With the light sensor I am now able to automate the operation on a single track line. This video shows the car going to the end of the line, detecting the red plate (after correctly failing to detect the green plate there to simulate the return from baseplates under the track), backing up to turn on the why, and then returning the way it came. I'm also entering this model in the Brick Train Awards, which gave me the umph to make the time to post the images. Some day the Brickshelf gallery will be moderated and you can find all of these photos there. Oh yeah, here's a shot of the car from BW 2019, with a few more shots available here. Thanks for looking, questions and comments are welcome

If you are thinking of making and selling instructions yourself for this model those questions make sense. If the model were ever accepted via IDEAS, Lego would completely redesign it anyway.

That is an amazing build! And welcome to EB Train Tech, you make quite the introduction, hope to see more of your work here in the future.

I think you did a great job capturing the essence of this locomotive. It might be worth attempting the running boards studs up instead of tiles out. I bet 3 or 4 plates would get the height right. Of course for the experiment you don't need to make it structurally sound, just a quick mocup to see if it looks better. You might even want to try it in dark red or reddish brown. A close look at the above comparison, it looks like the front of the smokebox on the lego model is to the right by 1-2 studs of the HO or O gauge model. I wouldn't worry about lining up the pilot as you did since the lego wheels force one to distort pilots etc. Also, don't assume that the model is 100% accurate, they might have altered features to meet their needs, e.g., the large gap between the loco and tender. Anyway, looking good.

Great work, so is the track starting a curve here, and if so, is it just crossing the river or doing a 90° bend?