fred67

So, I had an inquiry into one of the sets listed below; this thread is a couple of months old, now, and things have changed. I'm still open to offers, but I'm mainly trading on reddit lego/marketplace now. Prices for some of the older sets have gone up; some of the information below is incorrect (the 4504 is sealed, I'd opened the blockade runner to check Leia's hair), so it's OK to look and contact me, but the prices will change, and the want list is greatly expanded. I'm looking to trade/sell some of the LEGO sets collecting dust on my shelves to that I can concentrate on a smaller, but more expensive range of newer LEGO sets (like modulars, the fishing store, etc.). So here's what I offer: I not haggling - I look up prices for sets I have on BL, take the lowest BL price in North America, and then reduce it by some amount. Because I'm already going lower than any BL price, I'm not inclined to haggle. You can offer to buy one of these sets from me (paypal only, not negotiable), and that's great. I'll pay shipping in the U.S. The other option is looking at the sets I want - make me an offer of sets (MSRP value, so if you can get it on sale you save money; some places may ship for free for you, while I eat it on my end) on a more-or-less one-to-one basis. So, for example, two $50 new sets for one of my older sets valued at $100. Example: you want 10231 ($275); you send me 10255 ($280). You buy it on Amazon, with Amazon prime, and get free shipping to me. I pay shipping to you (in U.S.). Maybe you can find a combination of sets, all on sale on Amazon. Here's what I have (NISB except where noted, pictures on request): Star Wars 7754 Home One ($90) (SOLD) Star Wars 4504 MF Original Trilogy edition ($200) - box has been opened, but nothing removed - checked for smooth hair Leia. Shuttle Expedition 10231 ($325) Imperial Flagship 10210 ($550) King's Castle 7946 ($175) Robie House 21010 ($420) SEE POST BELOW FOR MORE WITH PICTURES! My interests have turned more to city/train themes; here's what I want: 31068 Modular Modern Home ($30) 31069 Modular Family Vila ($70) 75827 Firehouse Headquarters ($350) 10255 Assembly Square ($280) 31310 Old Fishing Store ($150) 31065 Park St. Townhouse ($50) You can post here, ask questions, whatever, but PMing me will actually notify me and probably get a quicker response. I have done this here before, a couple of years ago, and was pretty successful - you can check me out on the straight shooter list.

I could mention that TLG's profit margins have soared to around 25% (for a frame of reference, Exxon Mobil's profit margin is around 5 to 6%). I could whine and complain about how overpriced it is, but instead I'd like to just point out that they manage this because they know what they are doing... focus groups, sales trends... it all points to what sells better, and to be honest, from what I've heard, they have a problem keeping up capacity to meet demand (that means they could probably be charging even more). It's sad, and I feel the pain. I wish they were more magnanimous about the themes and sets for more advanced users, but they obviously know where the money is. I simply don't care about the new sets as much as I used to; I still look to city for some sets (actually, more like the creator three in one buildings) and modulars. They don't really seem to concerned with us train fans, sadly.

My apologies for this late post in this thread - as I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been away from EB for nearly a year. Now I see this thread is quite long, and haven't read it all, so forgive me if I'm repeating anything. It seems to me we could potentially all be much happier, as a start, if TLG would just release bricks in color palettes. A box of gray, a box of black, a box of brown or green. I don't see why that would be too much trouble, but I do believe it doesn't happen (they have, in the past, released smaller sets of plates in specific colors, as I recall) because then we won't need to buy 50 of a particular set to get the gray bricks we need. A second step is just releasing small sets of castle figures now and again. No need to make big sets out of them. That might be asking a lot more, because it's a specific theme, but the I think we'd all be happy - castle, sci-fi, town and other "themes' if we could boxes of particular colors.... and, as I said, I also feel that's why it won't happen.

Hmmm.... my tracks are three bricks high (I didn't have a lot of plates to use at the time), and I was thinking that using all plates, with an extra layer of offset/not offset (which makes the curve work) would be a lot sturdier.... but also a lot more costly. It depends on the goal of posting to ideas. 95% of the projects there seem to be kids saying "look at my MOC, maybe I can make money!" and have absolutely zero chance, yours is definitely a more serious project that has a lot of merit. Still, trains and monorails simply don't make it on Ideas. The one reason why you might do it is simply publicity - a way to make more people aware of this kind of project, and maybe a few of them will become interested - and that's a "win," even if you don't get enough votes.

Very cool! You should have let us guess the movies.

Looking on bricklink... I can't find any hats or helmets with or without a hole for a feather that look like that. If I start with the feather, and see which minifigures use it in ANY color, there are no matches.

If you were using this just to tape it to a wall (or upside down), and not for it's flexibility, then you could start with a large plate to get a lot of studs connected for more grip.

I see. Having worked with romex for my homes wiring, I think it's possible to slide the wire in the insulation. IOW, cut a piece that's a little too long, strip one end and pull the wire, then continue cutting to size. However, your trains look absolutely awesome. Given my budget, I couldn't possibly spend that much just for instructions, but the results are certainly spectacular.

I also often get out a bright (not "warm") LED light to help tell the difference - it becomes glaringly obvious when you have natural or bright light.

I first saw this stuff on kickstarter (or was it indiegogo? one of those fund raising sites). Now many companies seem to be making it. I haven't tried it - don't really have any use for it. I've heard it works well, but that was the original - with so many companies making stuff like this, how well it works probably varies wildly.

anothergol's picture seems to be way off - I've never seen color variations that bad. I know you know what you're doing, but it almost looks to me like the "darker" ones are LGB, and lighter ones old light gray. For the record, though, I was buying brown from the PAB wall at a LEGO store, and putting "reddish brown" plates together - these are all new from the LEGO store - and was pretty surprised at the huge, very noticeable color variations. IOW, it happens.

Why not? A simple, basic remote, but also a downloadable app (knowing TLG, it wouldn't be free) with extra features? I'm not suggesting it would or will happen, just that I wouldn't be surprised either way. EDIT: It could also be that TLG will give us IR in a set, but offer a separate BT option for purchase. Keeps the cost of the set down, but also gives people the options they want (not that TLG is particularly famous for that, either).

I was thinking about the servo motor. Granted, it wouldn't stay in a switched position, but turning one way would make one connection, the other way would make the other connection. I'm certain I've seen people accomplish things like this with one motor, but I understand if it's even possible, it would be complex and may involve some unwanted friction and require things like clutch gears.

Wow, that's looks awesome with the lights! Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I read the title, and expected a bank from the Umbrella Corporation. Nevertheless, quite a cool building - congratulations.

RE: the tanker car handrails: I'm wondering if it's not possible to just use black insulated solid core wire?

Yup... sorry. Kind of got ahead of myself.

Hey, LegoMonorailFan, so I've been trying for some time to make a smoother running monorail and, while I think I have the motor and gearing OK, I took a closer look at yours to see why it ran so smoothly (although I'd like to see it running smoothly slowly). I see what you did with the gears for wheels and the hinges you made between the motors and the carriages, which restricts the train from being able to change elevations. Is there a reason you couldn't use two wheel sets per carriage so that the motor portion doesn't have to support half the carriage? I have kind of given up on the idea of a functional four-wide (I still think about it), I might even think standard train magnets could work, and could result in arbitrary sized trains. I was wondering if it wasn't possible to somehow accomplish this with one motor.

It doesn't get any better unless you have some large space dedicated to LEGO that you use to create some cohesive organization system. I have five Akro Mills storage bins (and one stack on - the first one I bought); I have 14 thin stanley organizers for smaller parts, and 13 large (deep) ones. I have about 40 plastic sterilite "shoe box" containers for bulks of bricks and sets that are not currently on display (I have little display room, so I rotate occasionally). I have about a dozen smaller organizers for smaller bits and oddball pieces. I have two sterilite tower drawer units (three large drawers on the bottom, four smaller drawers on top), and two smaller ones (three large drawers). I have a few cardboard file boxes - two of them just for instructions. I have a large storage "tub" for Christmas LEGO. It's so bad, and I have so many specific pieces, that I still need to double or triple up (sometimes more - sometimes a LOT more) some bins in order to organize everything. Some shoeboxes have my complete colors in them, with every type of piece in it's own baggie (the worst thing is, for example, hunting for a red brick in a bill full every red piece). So here's what happens when I want to build something: 1) I start buy pulling out the Stanley storage bins with the colors I want. I open them and set them on the floor behind my chair, because if I set them on the table there's no room to build. 2) I find I need pieces of other colors. I have to pull the whole storage case out, get the pieces I want, put it back, or 2a) I go to my Akro-Mills bins and pull out the parts I'm interested in. 3) repeat step 2 a whole bunch of times. 4) hunt around for the other specific bits I want. I luckily have things like Technic separated out - two large stanely cases, two small ones, and a fifth smaller craft organizer. Sometimes I can't find the part I'm looking for and it takes me forever - in one color I might have 100s of 2x8 plates, so it's in the large bin, but for another color I only have one or two - so it's in the small bin, etc., etc. The worst is putting together a new set and having 10 little bits left over - all different colors, so it takes a relatively long time just to put them away. I take that back - the worse is you get a new LEGO piece leftover (1/4 circle tile comes to mind) and don't know where to put it. In short, trying to do anything is tedious. Everything is all nice and organized, sure, but it's not functional, and I can't think of a system that would be. The Akro mills storage is the best for looking for pieces, but the storage density is very low compared to the stanley organizers, which can be stacked or stored side by side (like books), which gives me a really good storage density. If I had a large room - a basement, for example, I'd go with all Akro-Mills that I could mount on the wall (I have a technique in mind that would allow me to store them two deep to increase storage density). Bricks that I had in bulk would remain in the shoe boxes. I would do things WAY differently if I could start over again. I like Akro mills, but they aren't even mounted to the wall, they are just free standing... if I had more wall space in my current room, I'd be displaying more sets. On the whole, I over-organized. I should be happier just throwing a lot of pieces together, but I'm not. Imagine this, if you will - you work for TLG, and you have a place for building - there's a huge wall full of bits and pieces and bulk bricks. Even with all that space and organization, how many trips to the "wall" do you make when building something... dozens? Hundreds? I just don't get how it's done.

Yes, that's pretty much exactly what I meant.

So.. I put together the track I'd made several (probably at least 4 years ago); just a loop (120 2x2 segments). I didn't bother with the engine I made before because it's why I just packed up the whole thing and left it for another day - I wasn't happy with how wobbly it was. It was completely my own design, I didn't follow Hidaka's designs, and it used larger wheels and tires. So, after looking at LegoMonorailFan's engine, I decided to try again. It's no secret I wanted a little smaller - I was hoping 4 wide (with maybe some pates on the side, which would add a little to the thickness) would be good. I mounted my smaller tires on half bushings, figured out a pattern of gearing that finally allowed me to use a medium motor to drive the train. I was not really very happy. The drive wheels (only two of them) were not under the engine - otherwise the design would have been way too tall, and so I didn't get a lot of traction, even with just the battery and IR receiver on another "car." So I recalled that a year or two ago, I bought third party connector for a standard 9v battery (the squarish kind); that helped a lot, but I had to stick it on top of the drive wheels to get any traction. Still, it ran - but was still really wobbly. So I pondered for quite a while about how I could use the larger tires and possibly make it less wobbly. I can't think of how I can keep it four wide doing that - there's then very little room to gear an axle. Still, while I was trying to think of how to make it work, I rummaged through my PF drawer and found a PF train motor and thought I might just give it a whirl and see how it faired - obviously not the solution I want, but I just used a technic chain around the gears on the outside, and it actually ended up operating pretty good... more speed (1:1 ratio), and slightly less wobbly than what I've seen before. Unfortunately I'm not sure how to realize this in a manner that will actually work aesthetically. I really wish we could have some proper track - I know TLG is not going to do this (well, I don't know what they're thinking, but I certainly doubt it), but I don't see why they don't do what they did with trains migrating to PF to amortize the electronics across multiple themes. It seems to me they'd only have to make track and perhaps a couple of new gears to make something that would run smoothly and make a lot of us happy. Like trains, a molded straight and curve, and gearing that could likely work just fine for other themes. Anyway, I am now thinking of how I can realize using the larger solution in a way that I will be happy with. EDIT: BTW, as frustrating as I find trying to make this work smoothly, this is really the spirit of the hobby, isn't it?

Yeah... I did the circle several years ago, and it was much bigger than 60 blocks (counting the 2x2 bricks)... not a big deal to make it different (or any arbitrary radius - one of the beautiful things about this technique). I may push the limits, though - I'd like a monorail to run within the confines of an oval of train track in my city (said as if it "my city" actually exists anywhere but my head, but it's closer than ever - I have the train, the track, and more than enough buildings and plates, I just need to make room). Of course, crossing over the track is interesting, too. My imagination is running wild, and I fear I will get caught up in work again before I can do anything.

Well, I've read though this thread and would like to add my two cents. First, they could very well rerelease any of the 9V trains as PF variants. I don't see why that's a problem. Sure, it wouldn't be nearly identical to ones they released before, but I don't think that matters, especially when it could be better (and I think this thread shows how some great improvements can be made, particularly the nose section, for example). I don't see why a "legendary" set can't be updated to make use of modern pieces and building techniques. Of course, I say this as the proud owner of the original set (although not one of the numbered ones). Second, it's interesting to muse about what TLG should do to sell trains, but they've been once bitten/twice shy about it, and I don't think any of us will convince them otherwise. Still, the route to go with that starts with selling really complete sets, the same kind of starter sets you get with "real" model trains. You would necessarily need several cars and at least an oval of track. One of the "standards" that I've actually bought twice (in two different scales) is the Bachmann "Old Timer" set. But since LEGO is not a traditional model railroad company, you need more - you need to show how it integrates with city sets, how it can enhance a younger kids already existing LEGO city, how even just a loop of track adds play features. When I was a kid, I got an HO set for Christmas... I didn't really much care for it at the time, but then my mom painted a 4x8 sheet of plywood with roads and grass and trackbed and stuff - just paint, no artificial grass or anything, but roads for my matchbox cars and other matchbox/hotwheels sized stuff - and then my dad fixed the tracks to it, and voila - I was a very happy kid who discovered he really liked trains after all. Ultimately, a "real" starter set would be very expensive - but a quality starter set (not the Old Timer!) is quite expensive, too. But I get it - I wish TLG were more invested in trains; they're not, and they're not going to be, so a rerelease of the Sante Fe, BNSF, or any PF set would definitely be interesting.

I'm happy with magnets, do not have very long trains to run at this point in time (rather, while I have a lot of rolling stock, I don't make big layouts, so haven't stress tested magnet couplers). However, Coaster, if these ever come to fruition at a not unreasonable price (that's always the trick, isn't it?) I will be a happy purchaser of many of these, perhaps even retrofitting all my current stock. I love what you're doing for the LEGO train hobby - I wish TLG cared more about it, but I guess we're just a fringe element to them.

Hey, I've been following this thread since I got back to EB after a long hiatus, and you've inspired me to look into this again. I'd seen Masou's work on this a few years ago - I actually still had a plastic storage bin in my closet that had the track I'd made for testing. At one point, I had a working system, I was just not very happy with how it ran (the engine was big, rather clunky, and used larger tires that have traction on them so it didn't run smoothly... also, the "car" was quite long and didn't handle curves well). So I took the bin out and started taking a look at what I had done and what I can do to make it better. One thing I'm interested in is making it four wide. I think, given the width of the track, it's a better scale. If I can seat only a single figure across - perhaps using panels so that arms will fit - I think I could make a public transport for my city and be happy with it. That makes the motor and engine harder to figure out - your design would be too tall, but my design was too clunky. I think I'll have to figure something out where the motor runs along the train instead of up and down. Anyway, that's just me musing about stuff... using the tires on the bushings will go a long way to make it work, though, so thanks for that. EDIT: I also watch the Kyushu Brick video posted above - and it seems like a lot of the problems I encountered are still there, even in Masou's work. It seems to crawl around curves, and even on straights seems to wobble. Those were things that just made me pack it up to try another day. The reason I quoted the post above is, while I certainly believe you about the radius you made the track, I picked up a 15 block section of what I made, and 90 degrees seems WAY too tight; I feel like I'm going to break some bricks long before I get there. I can't imagine any less than twice that for 90 degrees...

That's an interesting approach.... just make a sleeper capable of holding the inverted track. Something like the ME models connector pieces can be used to link it back to LEGO track. It could just start off as a 2x8 part. It reminds me of the o-gauge conversion (involved snipping off four studs from a 2x8 to tie in o-gauge rail). Could be used for both flexible and straight rail. You're still missing switches and so forth, but it's a start - a pretty simple start. Ultimately if a LEGO compatible o-gauge motor could be made (something like the traditional 9V motor, but fit to o-gauge wide), it would solve everything. We might have to switch to making trains 7 or 8 wide, but I know a lot of people wouldn't find that a problem. At the same time, if you made it even more generic.... a 2x4 where the third row of two was replaced with a track holder, then two could be put together one way for L-guage, and the other way for L-narrow-gauge.