Duq

My mods to the Crocodile set sofar. I started at the front: 10277 MOD 1 by Duq, on Flickr The first thing thought when building the croc was: those corners are ugly! You don't need that second clip. So I cleaned up the corner and changed the headlights. In the process I dropped the flag by a plate so it's not as close to the middle headlight. Then I saw @Sérgio's wheel guards and decided to add them as well. Moving back a little I put in a solution like many have done, to fill that awful gap. Using bricks with double side-studs means that all the plates have two studs to connect to. The studs facing the cab don't bother me, you barely see them. The fact that the plates and cheese sloped sit half a plate below the top surface of the nose section doesn't bother me either. 10277 MOD 2 by Duq, on Flickr What did bother me was that the running board now stopped short so I extended that by a stud. That in turn meant a few more changes, like swapping the round studs with centre hole for jumper plates but none of that required any special parts. Finally I replaced the red ball-joint pins with black ones. The set already contains black ones (like the one you see in the photo, that I pull out of the Technic brick every time I separate the sections) so I really don't understand why the ones in the wheels are red. More changes to come....

Funny, it was actually through that colour issue that I read about the end of support. Hadn't realised that that specific issue was fixed. I started using LeoCAD in '99 or 2000, then after a while switched to MLCad.

Thorsten, 'protoype' does not just mean 'concept' or 'test' model, it's also used for 'real word example' when making scale models. I don't know if it's still the case but for a long time the molds for the Lego factory in Billund were produced in Switzerland for exactly the reason you mention: unrivalled precision. I agree with you about the conspiracy theory. Here in Ireland we'd call that a load of bollocks ;-) If Lego didn't mind producing sets that don't sell as well then there wouldn't be a problem producing train sets in the first place. To be honest, considering the profits they make I would say they can afford to produce one or two train sets per year, even if that means one or two fewer Star Wars or superhero sets. They won't lose money on train sets, they'll just make a little less profit. I don't agree with you on the Eisenschwein though. I quite like the look of the E94. If the Croc set had been dark green I would have bought one or two more for parts to make an E94 and maybe an E44.

Handcuffs for the coupling, nice!

We're going a bit off-topic but... MLCad is no longer being maintained/ updated :-( I've tried Studio and LDCad but I just can't get my head around the way you move parts in those packages. Using the 2D movement of a mouse to somehow navigate in 3D with parts jumping around to 'snap' somewhere... it's just not for me. It sucks when tools you love disappear. Smart Defrag up to v4 was brilliant but those versions are really hard to find. I still edit my images in Paint Shop Pro 7. It's now 19 years old and while not perfect I haven't found another editor that's as easy to use with enough options to do everything I want without being overloaded with a million functions like Photoshop. And despite being developed for Windows 98 it still works in Windows 10!

After looking at a good few photos it seems to me that the Lego set is mostly based on the Ce 6/8 III but for some reason they're calling it a Ce 6/8 II. The bogies (inaccurate as they are) are from the III because as you pointed out they don't have the forward crankshaft. The grille layout is is also from the III. The only thing they've taken from the II is the layout of the cab doors. Removing a door on either side should be simple, adding steps in front of the middle driving wheel not so much...

I've never liked LDD. It's still MLCad all the way for me but then I've used it for... 15 year?

From what I can make out it looks nice.... Maybe you can show two versions; one in black and one in rainbow to show how it's built.

I tried something like that a long time ago on my Amsterdam tram but it never ran very well... Love your model! Those trains are...distinctive, but I've never really found them pretty.

At first glance easily recognisable! We had those PCC trams running in the Netherlands as well (in The Hague). The perfect windscreen piece doesn't exist for this tram so I understand your choice for the part you used. However, what I think does need improving is the pillar beside the windscreen. On the prototype that's almost vertical. You can see in the photo you posted that the bottom of the windscreen touches the pillar and then slopes behind it. Can't say I see an easy solution though... One problem is that that green curved piece, while perfect along the side, has too much of a peak forward. Anyway, that's just nit-picking. It's a good-looking model that the public will instantly recognise. How does that 9V motor perform on your pavement track though? ;-)

Like people in America who bought every bottle of hand sanitiser in their county and then sold them on Amazon for a profit. It's called a free market. Sometimes that means competition will get you things cheaper, sometimes you're ripped off. @BillytheKid Yes, I have the cargo train and two Technic cars. The apps are too specific for a single model, for driving cars I much prefer joysticks because sliding my fingers on a screen gives no feedback, the fact that you can't stack the connectors and have multiple motors on a single output is limiting...

The more I find out about Powered UP the less I like it...

Here in Ireland I saw the Croc available after 11pm (so after midnight on the continent) but the freebies weren't there yet. Tried again just after midnight and the Lambo polybag was showing in my cart. Went ahead and placed the order before going to bed and in the morning the order confirmation showed both the Lambo and the 12 in 1. They must have resolved their warehouse issues because I've already got a shipped confirmation. Previous order took a few days to ship. Now I'm just hoping DPD aren't going to #### this up like they did with the Fiat...

A limit of 1 per household is not going to do the sales figures for this set any favours.

Instantly recognisable model! I can just about remember seeing them in the 80s. You might be able to do something with yellow bars for the shape that windscreen but then you wouldn't have glass. In the seventies there was a slightly curved windscreen: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=x453#T=C&C=12 That might be the best fit with the overall style of the model.

You might want to start a new topic and properly announce this competition, then ask mods to close this one. Starting the thread with some rambling complaint is not great advertising.... Having said that, I'd better but the laptop away and finish that new steam loco I've been tinkering with during lockdown ;-)

You're right, it's come up before:

Like most parts with open studs I suspect the reason is inside. They do open studs if they can't engineer the mold for the inside of the stud.

The opportunity they missed last year was Jupiter and/or UP 119 for the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike. A Big Boy would be a bit much for a set so how about something more realistic that's typical American, like a Shay or Heisler geared steam engine? And of course, since they did an updated version of the Sopwith Camel there's no reason they couldn't do an updated Santa Fe Super Chief... @zephyr1934 Make anything in sand red and it'll sell...

They certainly look fantastic but... I'm afraid to find out just how expensive.... 'cause I really want them!

With or without umlaut, didn't think they were Donnerbüchsen. Aren't they shorter, with two fixed axles, and no raised middle section in the roof?

I know it's never going to be everybody's favourite, but look at Emerald Night? Based on a UK steam locomotive but fairly popular in both US and Europe. Problem with the croc is that it's so unusual looking. Plus, while brown is the original colour, it's a popular model in dark green on model railways, and in dark green it probably would have been a more interesting parts pack for non-train fans. In dark green I would definitely have bought one or two more for parts for an E94 for example. By the way, I'm a Dutch guy living in Ireland building German train, but I have the English Emerald Night, the American Maersk and the French Horizon Express and will definitely buy the Swiss crocodile...

I'm afraid sales of the Crocodile are going to be massively disappointing, especially outside of Europe, and it will be years before we see another AFOL train. Waggons/ carriages are just not going to happen.

If that means they bring back some parts in dark green, like the grille brick, wouldn't that be good news for you?

Very interesting setup! Question though: your wrote " The Maersk train also has a downwards facing colour sensor that detects red plates on the track. This allows the Maersk train to be forced to respect a red signal." But the red plate between the tracks is fixed and doesn't change when you change the signal. Can you explain a bit more about how that works?