peterab

When Building a new Moc, as you've found one of the initial stumbling blocks is the scale. It's often useful to choose a critical part to scale your build around. For steam trains wheels are often chosen since they only come in a few sizes. For buildings you might choose a particular door or window. Be careful using a minifig since their dimensions don't match human dimensions very well, though you can choose different vertical and horizontal scales. I assume the griddy application allows you to superimpose a LEGO grid over a photo, which will help you to scale the rest of the building to your critical part. Many LEGO train layouts compress buildings while trying to maintain their essential features, especially for very large buildings, since otherwise they can become very large (and hence prohibitively expensive). True to scale buildings can allow for much more detail though so can be very impressive. Large blank walls can look very dull though so it can be a disadvantage too depending on the prototype. Good luck with your build, it looks an interesting building.

I actually took a look at both the inventories because my gut feel was you were wrong.[1] I think the main thing in the favour of the Holiday train was more magnets and train wheels. For me the red train doors, and many plane windows really appealed in the Hobby Train, and I think it has a better range of parts in a single color (red). It probably depends on what you find more useful to a large extent. I got my Hobby trains at half price too so I guess value wise they were pretty good, but not necessarily at full price. [1] I was going to call megablocks but it may have appeared far more aggressive than intended on an international site not familiar with the poetic regard for swearing many Australians have

When you add the second motor, both will be connected to the receiver the same way, hence they will have the same polarity. The easiest way to attach the motors underneath the train is in opposite directions (because otherwise the wire isn't long enough and with an extension it is likely to foul the train baseplate). The result is they run in opposite directions and the train goes no-where. The switch allows you to reverse the polarity of one motor so they then run in the same direction.

Each receiver can safely handle (at least) two train motors, so it depends how many you've used on your first engine. I'd recommend using two motors on the same engine because I've experienced less slippage with this than single motors, and it avoids tying two engines together. If you need to find out the maximum number of PF train motors, I'm pretty sure the Technic forum will be able to tell you both the current draw of a PF train motor, and the maximum current the PF receiver can handle from which you can work it out.

Polybags are market by TLG as promotional items, so they tend to turn up unexpectedly, if at all. As far as I know no Australian company regularly stocks them.

I too like this engine very much. I've even found details I'll copy for my BR50 (if I ever get it finished). Holger Mathis has a BR80 design on Flickr with a very clever motor design which you might find interesting. You might eve be able to adapt it to use in yours.

Hi Pulsar, While it is possible to connect 12V and PF track (you need a half stud offset between them) and convert your 12V trains to PF there are a couple of considerations which might affect the way you go. Because of the half stud offset combining the two will create problems if you want to have baseplates connected under the track (nice if you want complete scenery). The 12V wheels have much higher friction than the PF (and9V) wheels, so if you do convert you should consider changing all the wheels too. While I do have a soft spot for the 12V (and even more 4.5V blue track) trains, I think the detail in both the 9V trains and the RC and PF trains are better. I think in general the cargo trains are better (there have been some pretty bad passenger trains) and 7939 is pretty good. 7939 has its critics but it seems mostly to be non-europeans who find the loco shape to be unfamiliar. I like both 7898 and 3677 better from a looks point of view (beware 7898 has a different, not as good, remote and motor system). Since the 12V era there have been some trains which are now considered classics like the Santa Fe and the Metroliner, I don't have either but they have many fans. The Emerald Night and Maersk trains are in a class of their own details wise, since they are exclusives to LEGO stores, and are aimed at an older audience than the normal sets. Welcome back to LEGO trains. You should check if there is a Lego Train Club near you. I love running my trains on my clubs layout since I have to finnish renovating my house before I'll have a dedicated LEGO room

I'll second these comments, looking forward to some internal pictures to see how it all works. I'm sure I can find a use for a gearbox, perhaps for rack railway or the like. More uncoupler ideas are good too.

Do you have two 90 degree turns per bogie? That might be enough to cause problems. In the development of my bogies, based on Scott Wardlaw's from Railbricks I found the bogie flexed alowing the cogs to slip. Mike's (Scruffulous) looks very similar to my earlier weak ones. I'll try and put up a better pick of my bogie in a few days. This weekend I'll be at an AMRA train show :-) BTW it's odd that that's the first time I've seen Mikes bogie since he is in my LUG and train club. Instead of seeing it in person, you've linked to it from the other side of the world

Hi zidane, This is indeed a nice intro. I particularly like that your station is accessible for the visually impaired, I might use that idea myself in the future. Not only does the yellow stripe look like safety markings, it allows you to fix minifigs to an otherwise fully tiled platform. They're even a bit naughty and stand on the line instead of behind it, like real people

I use the same gearing for my BR 103, with two M motors, one on each bogie. That pulls a handful of 50 stud, 7-wide carriages quite well, though not overly fast. Is there any chance you've got a point of friction in the design? My bogie design (3 axels with centre on sliding) has gone through a number of iterations as it was flexing and coming apart under load. Before the problem became apparent the performance was pretty bad.

Yeah that does make a huge difference.

We've just changed the transformer. We had to find a plug to fit the controller (I think we cut it off from the old transformer) but otherwise it is really easy. I was told the other day that the motors were easily serviced, but I've never done it since I'm mostly a 4.5V collector and Power Functions MOCer. 9V was my dark ages. Unless the motors have obvious problems I wouldn't do anything. Some of the other forum members have had good success by opening the motors, cleaning and lubricating them. Imagine a circle of 9V track with the standard power connector to the track. If you have a second power connector you can easily make an extra track connection and at the controller end the 9V plugs just stack. Too simple. For larger layouts you just buy a bunch of 9V extension cables to get more distance.

You don't have to use more than one controller, but you will need more wire if you don't. You can just connect up extra wires to multiple places around your loop all from one controller. Some Lego train clubs do use modified controllers. Mine uses a 3A 9V supply. This allows us to power more motors at a time. Some of the original LEGO transformers can struggle with more than two motors at a time (this varies from region to region too). We still connect to multiple places to overcome voltage drop. There are also clubs in Europe who use up to 30V supplies. They do this to set speed records, and I suspect there is a higher risk of burning motors out doing this, or perhaps they modify the motors also.

Now that they have been informed of the mistake, they can either rectify it or should sell at the advertised price. If the app is still showing that price I'd be a bit forceful too.

Most clubs run extra power connectors to opposite sides of the track, or to avoid very long wire runs just connect up a second controller at the other side. If you use two (or more for really big loops) controllers it's best to try and keep them set at the same speed. When hooking them up make sure you connect them up with the same polarity or they wont work, and they'll short each other out. If this happens just reverse the connector on one of them.

Congrats to the winners. I'll probably buy Gary's book eventually. My pick would have been 343-2, the train ferry from 1968. I've wanted it for 39 years :-) since I first saw it in a catalogue. So far I have one hinge.

I don't have any specs for you but Briclink will help you find a replacement. I assume you mean This Part, if not the inventory should help.

1. castor-troy - 2 29. Kristel - 2 25. snaillad - 1

The old 4.5V trains are quite strong and can easily climb one brick height per length of track even pulling a few carriages, so the size of the spiral would not need to change. A lot of bricks for the support pillars would be needed though and building the bridge would be a delicate operation. I'd be disappointed had they added a central sleeper on blue track, as LEGO only added them for the grey track. This is truly authentic old school.

Most of these eBay listings use the original photos. Copyright remains with the author of any creative work unless contracted otherwise. In effect the eBay seller has breached the copyright of both the photo and the design. While I sympathise with those that would like to build these creations, by buying these instructions you are essentially enabling the seller to profit from the designers work without compensation. I'd love to see a scheme where the designers allowed others to create instructions and have both parties share the profit.

Fire Brigade would be my recommendation since it's the oldest. It's a great source of dark red too, which will mean it may be difficult to Bricklink it later.

I think what Venunder means is there is a red battery box cover in the 3677 set. The problem is it's designed for the 6xAAA battery box, not the rechargeable battery box, so if you want to use the rechargeable battery box a solution such as stickers must be found. Another solution is to dismantle your rechargeable battery and fit it inside the red cover. I'm pretty sure this was reported possible somewhere on Train Tech in the past.

I seem to remember the difference from 3rd year radiation lab in my Physics degree :-) I was happy to accept the dream of fusion but then apply other real world considerations. It comes down to whether a large fixed fusion reaction is more efficient than a small portable one, and if this is enough to outweigh transmission loss in the electricity grid. I'd guess so given the suggestions for the magnetic containment I've seen, and the shielding requirement. While not disagreeing with the general avoidance of moving parts, huge flywheels for regenerative brakes might bring back a bit of the steam era. Also if portable fusion were used, many steam era trains used the excess heat to heat passenger carriages. In fact in the early days of diesel and electric traction many trains had boiler cars for this purpose before electric heating became common.

Interesting start, though there is one glaring fault in your cost calculations. You give figures to fill each type of engine to it's capacity, but you don't give figures for how much each type of engine can earn with a full tank/hopper. To compare the costs we also need to see the running costs. Steam engines needed far more regular maintenance. I'm half with you on this, though a steam driven electric turbine generator rather than boiler and pistons would make more sense. And then the inevitable saving of removing the fusion generator and adding overhead wires to lower weight would lead us to modern electric trains. Far less romantic but more efficient.