zephyr1934

It was one of the best things at the time and pretty much opened the door to long rollingstock, but it had many problems. Most people eventually had to glue it together. It has been eclipsed by Brick Tracks.

Amazing stuff, your cinematography puts many a Hollywood director to shame. And insane, I don't know how many times I've said to myself, "I need to take this train to the top of the world!" (grin) Though that other video where you used 9v on a similar mountain hike was one notch crazier (where did you find an extension cord long enough?)

The CincyLUG folks had something like R152 9v track at Brickworld this year... Same stuff but wider than you can find at BrickTrainDepot Well, the discovery centers and legoland parks don't even use lego track or motors. From an AFOL standpoint the transition mostly sucked, but there are some nice things about PF that have emerged. From the perspective of a toy company selling to children it make perfect sense- way cheaper for them to make.

Great build!

The PUP battery compartment definitely looks like it was designed to have a LiPo insert to replace the AAA holder, which is one of the things I hated about the design- if you have to take the batteries out, why buy a $50 insert? But now we'll never know.

I think the LiPo are allowed in ground mail but not air mail, which is particularly bothersome for international mail. The last time I ordered a LiPo from Lego (last fall?) the box arrived with a "do not put on airplane" sticker. I wouldn't be surprised if they just decided that the extra hassle of making sure that the batteries never went by air, e.g., if a customer ordered next day delivery, was just too much of a hassle. That and/or their logistics chain relies on shipping by air. I also believe the restrictions became stronger a couple of months ago, so that probably pushed them over the edge. If they were simply phasing them out, they would have gone on sale, or at least listed as "out of stock" instead of "unavailable". I just wish they had given a little warning, I would have bought a few more. Oh well, from now on I'll have to figure out how to build my models to come apart.

Well, there are two problems, the loss of the LiPo battery, which was the starting point of this thread and I was merely commenting on the fact that PUP does not solve that problem. Then there is the lack of backwards compatibility, which is potentially a worse problem brought on by PUP.

I got the impression that Lego discontinued the LiPo's because international postal regulations changed. PUP won't help, it is just another AAA battery box only it's supped up with built in bluetooth.

More than still, it is rigidly fabricated with the frame. The fake wheel is a few mm above the rail and the fake flange is further back from the rail. I did a brickbuilt version of this on a motorized PF truck almost ten years ago (gulp). The middle wheel is high enough not to get in the way. In talking with someone offline about that motor side I have an idea that might bring the price down... but more on that if it works.

This is all excellent feedback. To be clear, this shapeways venture of mine is in addition to my existing bricklink shop, NOT in place of it. As long as a customer prefers the service I provide directly through bricklink that is unchanged, it doesn't matter if they are international. The international customs probably isn't pleasant for anyone. For each package I have to spend 5 min filling out a form and then a minimum of another five min standing there in the post office watching the postal worker enter the data in. But I figure if an international customer has to suffer through the higher postage and potential customs fees, it is the least I can do to absorb the impositions that my government puts on the shipping. I will probably just upload a couple more common configurations like the EN mod, and then just add other configurations to shapeways as people ask, which could include unusual rods and custom orders (asymmetrical, 1/2 stud offsets, etc). The fact that you could get Shupp's wheels and my rods in one spot is a bonus of the shapeways option... but their only gray is dark gray and Tenderlok indicates that the consistency isn't great, often being closer to black. The fact that a customer can get red or black rods on demand is nice though, since I do not stock those colors (well... I'll be stocking the red rods for Holger's two sets of locomotive instructions here soon). There is one mail clerk who keeps telling me that FedEx and UPS are aggressively lobbying congress to get the US Post office out of the business of international shipping. If that ever happens, the international shipping costs could go through the roof and then having a foot in the door at shapeways would be beneficial.

Thanks all... So the within EU VAT is essentially balanced by the customs duties for a similarly valued order that was shipped from outside the EU? Or is there a net tax+fee+duty benefit from purchasing such parts that are fabricated within the EU? Even if the net fees are about the same, I already know that purchasing from Shapeways in the EU (rather than direct from me in the US) would save on postage and greatly expedite the delivery time for EU customers. It's just a rod for a diesel, right? (grin) Seriously though, thank you. The motor sides are more expensive than I would like, but if in spite of that fact there proves to be sufficient demand I could see adding other variants.

I'm starting to explore the possibility of selling my custom rods on Shapeways. This would be in addition to rather than in place of my Bricklink store. My main reason to explore Shapeways is that it might save European buyers on shipping and duties. Do any of the Europeans on this forum have any insight, e.g., would $50 of parts from Shapeways (fabricated in the Netherlands I believe) be a lot cheaper in terms of shipping, VAT, customs fees, and any other supplemental costs compared to the exact same value of parts shipped from the US? The biggest thing I don't like about the Shapeways venue is that I cannot do quality control on the parts, so customers would have to be prepared to drill out the holes as needed. The other thing I don't like is their gray, it is expensive and dark (closer to dark blay than my material that is closer to light blay). Anyways, consider this a pre-opening test run, I have three lots up, all exclusive to Shapeways at the moment (but I can fabricate any of them through my normal process too). Two are for Holger's locomotives, and an exploration into the post-steam era... Thanks for any feedback on Shapeways in the EU. And for those interested in seeing my Shapeways store in its current configuration, you can find it here.

Great looking engine with tons of details, clearly shows all the time that went into the design.

Great stuff and now I see why you needed that long station platform. What about the TEE running on the other track in that first video? I did not see it in the last video with most of your trains, is that just a tease?

Looking good! Only thought would be to try to embed some images of the MOC in the original post rather than having viewers click through.

Just to be clear, I do not know if they will offer true DCC or "similar to DCC", and of course, all of this is "as planned", "as stated in the presentation" and "as recalled by me" so there is lots of room for garbling. In any event, the motors are at least 1.5 years off and presumably contingent on the success of the track system.

I was also at BW and was fortunate enough to see Michael's presentation. If I recall correctly, he has an insanely flexible system in mind for the motors- direct drive standard 9v style control, PFx control by IR or bluetooth, or a second generation PFx brick that would allow DCC style control via the tracks. I don't think he said he any plans to build a battery of his own, but since the PFx is already compatible with a PF battery, I would expect there to be some form of battery adapter available. So this system does not mean all users have to go to 9v land. There is a bit of a golden opportunity here, PUP as it stands is deficient (connecting multiple motors, limitations of motor types, limited power supply from 6 AAA batteries, no "keep going when losing connection," and bluetooth connectivity issues at busy shows). So as was agreed upon in the room, it doesn't matter if you are a 9v-er or a PF-er, none present was in love with PUP. Personally, my mind is still bending around the idea of going back to 9v only now with wide radius curves. It was so nice to just slap a motor bogie under a locomotive and run without having to figure out how to stuff a battery and receiver inside a 4 wide hood or what not. A couple of people in this thread complained about the PFx app. While I do not yet have a PFx brick, I was shocked at the show. I have a couple of SBricks for my heavier trains and the bluetooth interference at BW rendered my SBricks helpless, I was lucky to get 1/2 a loop before it would drop connection. Others were saying that was typical of any bluetooth control (PUP, PFx, etc). Meanwhile, another participant took out his PF controller, pointed it at his PFx equipped train and it happily ran without any problems. So the PF compatibility looks to be a big plus in that regard. And you do not have to build the unit so that it takes up a 2x4 area on the top of your locomotive, the PFx has an extension wire to put the sensor away from the brick and discretely put it just about anywhere you'd like.

For the old time track solutions, ME gone, BBB had a promising idea but pulled out before getting to market. The bricktracks rails are top notch, more detail here in a long thread, I THINK they are still working on a 9v compatible design. Bricktraindepot is selling 3D printed track that is 9v compatible. I haven't seen it yet but sounds promising. More detail here. 4DBrix and TrixBrix sell all sorts of crazy 3D printed geometries, both strictly in plastic I believe. 4D also has monorail. If you are into monorail, you should also see some of the amazing brickbuilt solutions in this thread. I think there are also a few examples of the new roller coaster rails being used as "monorails"

Brilliant! That makes curves so much more efficient.

Well, @Barduck has instructions for the cars too, others probably do as well.

Could be anyone, instruction sets are out there...

Hey, I think I rode on that tourist railway (grin). Seriously though, very nice looking steamer. Great phrasing

Those look fantastic! The colors and the build are great. Now thinking about all of the wonderful locomotives you keep building you don't by chance have more locomotives than cars, do you?

What a wonderful mix of old school (classic 1x and 2x windows, first gen technic connectors, etc) that looks totally new school. Great build!

4mm, but you could cut a little less than that and then iterate between testing the fit and sanding off a little more of the axle. Worst case, you have to toss the axle and start a new one