michaelgale

@Eki1210 @dtomsen Thanks guys! Glad to hear you received the track and that you're happy with it! :) @supertruper1988 @legoboy3998 @bricks n bolts The standalone pickup wheelset will be part of our product system. However, it will come *after* the motor bogie. We believe the motor bogie is the most important component to close the loop on our metal track system since it will have immediate benefit for the majority of train fans. We've got some exciting news on this front which we'll share in greater detail in future; suffice to say we have partnered with a major global model train manufacturer to expedite the development of the motor bogie! There's still a lot engineering and commercial terms to work out, but we're so thrilled that we can combine expertise to bring a next-level motor system never seen before in the Lego train hobby! Furthermore, we are also mocking up some designs for a 3-axle integrated motor bogie with an extended wheelbase. It is 12 studs long with an extra 2-studs added to the wheelbase of the outer wheelsets. We're trying to see if we can have common mechanical elements for both a 2-axle and 3-axle bogie--TBD! @fhurlbrink Yes, both variants of motor bogie will include metal wheelsets for power pickup. In terms of RailCom, it is not an open standard and is covered by trademarks by Lenz. There are some difficulties with the patents/proprietary status of RailCom in the DCC standard. We do not anticipate adding support for RailCom anytime soon. If RailCom support is critical to some users, they can always buy a Lenz RailCom decoder and connect it to our standard motor bogie.

@Duq The new motors will work comfortably with either 9V or 12V (they're rated to 12V). However, 12V operation is preferred since you get more torque and power. In reality, even the old LEGO® 9V motors will work fine up to 12 V as well. The limiting factor is power dissipation. As long as you can get the heat out or do not sustain long periods of operation at heavy load, any motor will be fine. We're actually considering putting vent holes along the top side edges of the new motor bogie for better thermal management and to sustain heavy load operation.

@fhurlbrink Our design goals for the motor bogie are more or less exactly as you describe. We aim to offer a minimum of two motor bogie variants: 1. Standard - pickup terminals and motor terminals will be available on a discrete connector for "hacking" or testing. A switch will let you isolate or jumper the pickup and motor terminals together. In "jumpered" mode, the motor bogie behaves exactly like the LEGO® 9V motor with the power pickup connected directly to the motor. In "isolated" mode, you can place an external controller between the power pickup and motor. This can be a DCC decoder, a PFx Brick, etc. 2. Smart - The smart bogie will have a DCC compatible version of the PFx Brick core integrated inside the motor bogie. This gives a motor bogie capable of operating as standard DC voltage controlled bogie or a DCC controlled bogie. Unlike a OEM DCC decoder, ours will be much easier to configure. You simply configure it using our existing PFx Apps (desktop) via USB. You can also use other DCC command stations and solutions for configuration if you want. Furthermore, we will have a small connector available to connect lights and a speaker for the total sound-decoder operating experience. We've already started to design our Speed Regulator unit. It will be USB-C powered using an external power brick or battery source capable of delivering 65-100W. You can use any USB-C power source as long as it can offer 9V and 12V at 3A. Most laptop type USB-C power bricks support these modes. The advantage of USB-C is the vast eco-system of cables and power sources available. Furthermore, it will let you easily select between 9V or 12V output voltage mode: 9V for legacy LEGO® 9V motor support and 12V mode for our new motor bogies. It will also have many more goodies all enclosed in a pretty injection molded case with a similar form factor to the legacy LEGO® 9V speed regulator. More details will follow soon--including our plans for the power feeder and electrical interconnect. One hint we can offer is that we're leaning heavily towards reviving the awesome classic 9V 2x2 connector plate! We absolutely love its design and versatility! We think it is worth rebooting and extending it further!

Thanks all to our early adopter customers and for the kind feedback--we really appreciate it! We're happy to see that some our EU friends have already received their track. We've finished packing 90% of our received orders in our Canadian store for USA/Canada/RoW and they will be shipped tomorrow (Mar 17, 2021). We'll send out notification emails and tracking numbers (if applicable). We're still waiting for firm schedules from our manufacturing partners--but early indications suggest we should expect new production batches in April to our Hong Kong office. We then need 2-3 weeks of inspection/packaging/distribution to Canada/Germany. As soon as we have a firm delivery commitment, we will start pre-order on new inventory. We've dramatically increased our manufacturing quantities given the encouraging demand and response from you guys. Stay tuned to our website for updated info.

@Vilhelm22 As you can imagine, the switches are definitely the most expensive item to make--both due to the size of the mold and the number of components required in both plastic and metal. If we make another switch, it will likely be a Y-switch. However, before we consider making other switches, we would want to make crossing elements such as the 90 deg crossing and the diamond crossing. I guess we will have to see how this product system grows and listen to all the feedback from you guys. The switches that we would consider for the future would be a Y-switch and P32 switches--similar geometry to the P40 switch, but only 32 studs long.

Well done Scott! You should be proud of all the hard work it takes to bring a quality product like yours to us lucky train fans! Even though I'm a committed metal rail fan, I'll probably pick up a few of those switches because they're just so good and can always find a home on a layout!

Since the launch of our Fx Track system on Mar 1, we have been truly blown away by the response and support of you guys! We have nearly sold out of our first production batch of S32 straight tracks in both our Canadian and EU inventories in less than 3 days! We expected a positive response, but we did not expect such a rapid sell out--thank you so much! There are still some small remaining quantities in both the Canadian and EU stores, so if you're still on the fence about placing an order, time is running out before our inventories our completely depleted. We are already getting our next production runs setup with our manufacturers for much larger production batches of not only the S32 straight track, but also the R72 curve track. We are also going to try to expedite the introduction of the R88 curve and S8 straight track into the product catalog. For those of you have bought the S32 straight tracks, we have confirmed that they have shipped from Hong Kong to both our inventory locations in Canada and Germany. Once those shipments have cleared customs and have been delivered, we will do our best to get orders packed and shipped as soon as possible. We will ask for some patience since it will take some time to process the large volume of orders. Lastly, a huge thanks to Benn @zephyr1934 for his amazing and comprehensive review. I am so impressed with the level of detail and disciplined methodology that he brought to the review. His feedback has been truly valuable and we've already absorbed some of his observations into our future products. Once again, thank you so much for your confidence and support of Fx Bricks and our new Fx Track metal track system. We are so proud of the product and can't wait for you folks to get it into your hands into your layouts! In the meantime, we are doing are best to make more tracks and get them to our stores as soon as we can!

Gorgeous! I'm a big fan of Japanese trains, and this is one I've been wanting to make as well. You've captured the E231 superbly!

@High_Admiral In response to your question about motor channel reversal, it's all explained our video here (scroll ahead to 05:15 for the specific discussion on a two channel/inverted configuration):

@legoboy3998 Ultimately, the market will decide the fate of our track products one way or another. We believe our product is fairly priced for what it is. One key thing to remember is that comparison's to all-plastic track on the basis of price is somewhat a false-equivalence. The incremental increase in price for metal track corresponds directly to the increase in value you get. Both the value in literally getting more than just ABS, but also precision metal components; and the value derived from a better operational experience from energizing and controlling trains from the track. One could also make the economic argument for all the accumulated savings derived from not using batteries anymore. Based on the anecdotal feedback received from the market so far, there definitely is an appetite for our product and a recognition of the upside value it offers.

@legoboy3998 Thanks for your comments. The numbers shown to explain why producing the R40 curve was not sensible were merely representative and simplistic. The idea was to show the order of magnitude of what it required to make these type of products. As you can imagine there are many other factors which determine not only the cost to develop and manufacture these items but also where we set our MSRP. Our decisions about MSRP are different for every product. Sure, the quantity produced is a big contributor, but we don't have to make the lifetime quantity of each element all at once. Our molds and tooling are good for many 100000s of cycles and therefore support a long production lifespan. Furthermore, we take the long view on cost recovery, recognizing that our overall goal is to offer a complete *system* of products--each contributing to the overall health and sustainability of our company and the hobby we serve. We believe our price is very reasonable considering the overall size of the market, the quality of the product, and the challenges we face with manufacturing and logistics. Sure cheaper is better, but then again, some things are just worth paying for!

@fhurlbrink Thank you for your comments. From our perspective, producing the R40 curve would really be commercial suicide. Let's look at the economics of producing a R40 curve product: Capital Costs: - Mold tooling: $10k USD - Inner rail metal tooling: $4k USD - Outer rail metal tooling: $4k USD Sub-total: $18k USD Production Costs: - Per unit production costs: $1.50 USD - MOQ production run: 5000x units Sub-total: $7.5k USD TOTAL: $25.5k USD Number of product SKUs (8 units per box SKU): 625 Breakeven retail price: $40.80 USD Note that these numbers are representative estimates and actual costs will vary; however, even errors of 50% won't change the outcome. The BREAKEVEN retail price for a box of 8x R40 curves would be about $40 USD. Even with a thin retail margin of 25%, there is no way anyone would pay $50 USD for a box of 8x R40 curve tracks--or more to the point, there is definitely not 625x customers who would pay $50 USD per box ($6.25 per unit). Remember, we're competing with a plentiful supply R40 curves on Bricklink which sell for $1-$2 ea. We have a limited amount of time and money to invest in making products. Therefore, we have to make choices based on what people want and what we think will recover enough revenue to not only pay back its capital investment but also fund future investment. Choosing the which products to make and what order to make them is a very strategic decision. The wrong strategy will kill us. The product release plan we have announced to date has the simple goal of building enough momentum in revenue to help sustain on-going product development. The ONLY circumstance where we would make a R40 curve track product if if someone else commissioned us to do so. We have CAD models for EVERY possible track element in the system already developed. Thus it is theoretically possible for us to make the ENTIRE Fx Track system of 19x elements TODAY if we had the money. It really would be like turning on a light switch with money!

@zephyr1934 @Vilhelm22 I can't say if the UK will be eligible for flat rate shipping from JB Spielwaren or indeed if any duties etc. will be payable. UK customers can compare shopping from us directly vs. JB Spielwaren. Shipping from Canada will be quite expensive. In terms of duties, Canada and the EU have a free-trade agreement (CETA) which the UK no longer qualifies for due to Brexit. The variables of duties, shipping costs, and currency exchange rates makes it difficult for us to recommend which shop UK customers should use. I suspect it will still be preferable to use JBS. We're looking at the relative merits of a UK based reseller, but it its early days yet and we need to focus on getting our primary sales channels running first.

@SD100 Yes, customers in Canada and the USA can buy direct from our website since we will have inventory based in Canada. Shipping rates to the USA are not unreasonable and we're looking at about $20 CAD ($16 USD) for tracked shipping to the USA for shipments under 3 kg.

@Nosnibor56 Ah, I almost forgot to mention: JB Spielwaren are adding English to the site currently with French and Spanish in the pipeline. The errors you're seeing are just the result of the fact that they are in middle of adding these new multi-lingual shopping tools to their site. When complete, JBS will be a multilingual site with flat rate shipping for all of the EU!

@Stoffer70 Yes, we still do intend on offering a standalone power pickup wheel set. However, we have prioritized the development of the motor bogie first. We think it is better to offer folks a "plug and play" solution first. The development of the motor bogie will contribute two components which we believe can be simply re-used for the power pickup wheel set: 1. a metal wheel and 2. pickup metal tabs. What we are not fully decided about is how to electrically terminate the pickup wheel set. We have considered all options including: LEGO-style 9V, PF, our own proprietary stud-based contacts, etc. Everyone will likely have a different preference, and that will oblige us to offer "adaptor cables" etc. This will impact the cost and therefore you can see the dilemma we face when designing these products. Furthermore, any decision we make on the electrical termination will impact more products than the pick up wheel set. It impacts our power feeder, motor bogie termination, power/speed regulator output terminations, etc. Therefore, we have to consider our design very carefully since we will have to live with the consequences of a bad decision!

Hello folks, thanks for the great comments! Let me say a few words about the retail price: 1. Comparing Fx Track to all-plastic track products simply does not work. There are two components of the product which we have to pay for beyond the plastic mold: the metal stampings (even more expensive for curves, since we need 2x) and the labour to assemble the plastic and metal together. Metal track will easily be 2.0x+ the cost of plastic track. 2. Extrapolating LEGO's 9V track price in 1991 to today for comparison misses one key aspect. LEGO's production runs for track were likely in lots of 10000x or more. Our first batches have been in lots of 1000x. They could also amortize the cost of the track production since much of the track was bundled inside higher margin train sets. 3. When we compared our price to the Bricklink market, we analyzed both what's available now and what has sold. We also weighted the average prices against both new and used and those elements in old gray and dark bluish gray. This allowed us to establish a "window" of price. We set our price at approx -33% below. Independent of how one chooses to compare, there will always be some variation, suffice to say, we offer a new-in-box product which we believe is a quality standard at or above 1990's LEGO track. 4. The lovely box and the environmental FSC status costs money. We shouldn't admit this, but the box alone is almost $5 USD each! We could have chosen inexpensive plastic packaging or generic cardboard boxes but we felt it: 1. did not match the quality of the product and 2. we feel that protecting the environment with responsible packaging is important and we are basically insisting that you the customer share some of the responsibility for this. Besides, did you know the box's inner dimensions are a multiple of LEGO studs and can be used as useful storage! :) 5. Our retail prices today are not cast in stone. They are subject to change based on many factors such as our costs from manufacturers, sales volume, etc. Also, we have to leave margin in our price for wholesale/retailer margin and for future discount schemes for LUGs and train clubs. We realize that we're going to benefit from the generous support of existing 9V train fans in the beginning (Thank you!). Convincing established plastic track users to switch would be silly of us to expect until we can offer the complete solution with motors and metal wheel sets.

More news about Fx Track! Blog post here: https://www.fxbricks.com/fxblog/?post_id=44&title=welcome-to-the-future-with-fx-track

We have an awesome solution for European customers--a German based reseller with service and flat rate shipping across all of the EU! Details on Mon Feb 15 as well as pricing...

Selling products globally is not easy. We have more than enough work with design, production, support, etc. that you'll have give us time to roll out these products. We can't be the amazon of the Lego train hobby on the first day. First, we'll start selling and distributing out of our existing shop and then we'll build our distribution/reseller partner network. We're already talking to folks in the EU to help us, so please stay tuned!

@legoboy3998 Thanks Sal for your comments! We did think a lot about the switch mechanism and in the end we went for the simplest solution and one that is common with many model train switches in different scales: a latching tie bar. We decided that making a latching tie bar without any attached mechanisms was the best approach. This lets builders decide which method is best for them. Also, it allows the actuator to be placed on either side of the switch. Most of the time, our switches will be actuated manually and our simple latching tie bar is a easy to operate with your fingers (we have tested many 3D printed prototypes). We can imagine mechanisms which use "rods" and "cams" to actuate the switch as well as electrical actuators with motors. I'm sure once the switch is in use by you folks, there will be all kinds of clever solutions for remote control! The tie bar mechanism is terminated on each side with a technic hole (1.6 mm deep / half plate). The tie bar travels 5 mm between each switch position. Each position is "latched" with an over-centre spring. This ensures each route is "locked" like a real railway switch. The force required to overcome the spring tension is quite mild (much less than a Lego switch) and therefore, it will be easy to make a mechanism to operate it.

BAP already has support for the PFx Brick. I helped out Vince (the original author of BAP) with the integration. The BAP implementation is not complete, but is functional for key operations. I know some other folks are trying to expand its support for more PFx Brick features. @Duq Ha ha, yeah, go refresh those skills! I must admit Flutter's docs are pretty good. I have a very flimsy skeleton of dart package for the PFx Brick which I started. I should probably put it in our GitHub repo and basically make all future mobile apps for the PFx Brick totally open source. We could probably open source some or all of our iOS app if that would help seriously interesting developers. And now back to our program! I just received this from my colleagues in HK... I'm already thinking about some new layouts to build :)

@Duq A bit off topic mate! :) But you're not wrong about our Android app. I probably shouldn't mention, but I have toyed around with Flutter a few months ago as a proof of concept to build cross-platform Android / iOS apps. I did get a working prototype to do basic discovery over Bluetooth but no further. I think it has promise for future mobile apps. Our idea for future mobile apps is not to have just one, but perhaps a family of "applets" for specific functions. For example, there could be an app just for lighting control, another for driving a diesel locomotive, another for a steam loco, another for a RC car/truck, etc. etc. I should probably put out a "bounty" to the community to write a cross-platform PFx Brick app--we have more than enough developer docs and sample code to get someone started. The prize/reward: "Lifetime supply of PFx Bricks!!!"

Guys, I hear you! I wish we better at making more frequent updates and regular blog posts etc. It's something we're going to work on. It just seems that every precious hour/day/week is consumed by getting our products manufactured and getting them to market. There are so many challenges and obstacles behind the scenes (especially in these turbulent times) which we'd rather spare you guys the details of. When we post an update, I want to ensure I've got something meaningful to show and say. Fx Track has taken longer than I would have liked, but it is happening. We're getting manufactured S32 straight tracks arriving by the carton load at our offices in Hong Kong. Folks are busy inspecting them and putting them into lovely retail boxes. I'm busy getting ecommerce and distribution sorted out. Other folks are analyzing our P40 switch CAD models for manufacturing readiness. In any case, I've recently blogged a status update on our website here: https://www.fxbricks.com/fxblog/?post_id=43&title=happy-new-year I appreciate the kind words from you folks and from the messages we get. I also appreciate the patience and support offered over the past few years towards Fx Bricks--it really motivates us. We'll get those tracks to market very very soon--we'll keep you posted (maybe!) Michael Fx Bricks

Hi, this is Michael from Fx Bricks! Sorry we haven't been more clear about explaining the speed dependent sound effects of the PFx Brick. This is because we're constantly improving this capability and because there is more than one way it can be done. In fact, the PFx Brick has 3 ways it performs speed dependent sound effects: 1. Pitch modulated This is the simplest method and one we do not use for train sound effects. It is more suitable for simple machinery or engines. To use this method, you load a sound file which can be looped reliably to make a constantly "droning" engine sound. This sound represents the engine at idle or lowest RPM. Then you activate a sound action called "Motor Pitch Modulated". When active, the PFx Brick will loop the sound file and when a desired motor channel changes speed, the PFx Brick will automatically pitch "bend" the playback of the sound file to simulating increasing engine RPM. This method uses a simple DSP algorithm to change pitch in realtime and as such it ok for simple machinery but not convincing enough for distinctive prime mover sounds of trains. 2. Gated Playback This method is suitable for simulating the "chuff" sound of steam locomotives. This sound effect periodically plays a chuff sound (or any sound for that matter) as a function of the applied motor speed. As the motor speed increases, the interval between consecutive playback of the chuff sound decreases. Furthermore, there is an adjustable "gain" parameter which controls how much influence the motor speed has on the playback interval. This can be used to "fine tune" the motor (or wheel) rotation and its correspondence with the playback chuff sound. Ideally, you want a relatively synchronized relationship. This can be tricky since not every model is the same, but the gain parameter lets you get very close. Lastly, there is a firmware update coming soon which will improve this sound effect. Currently, the same "chuff" sound file is used for every interval. This can make the chuffing sound flat and robotic. In the next update, we've allowed users to designate up to 4 sound files for the chuff sound. This can be useful for simulating duplex or multiplexed steam drivers which tend to have a different sound for each driver's steam cycle. It is also useful for conventional steam drivers since you can designate sounds for each phase of its steam cycle too. When coupled with random playback of steam release valves, continuous playback of boiler simmer, etc. the overall effect of steam locomotive simulation can be quite convincing. We'd love to spend more time optimizing pre-built profiles of sounds to achieve this effect, but at least end users can customize and tune the sound playback themselves and perhaps build better sound profiles than we can! 3. Indexed Playback This is the most sophisticated method and the one we use for diesel locomotives. It basically involves the automatic queuing playback of multiple sound files to simulate engines, motors, prime-movers, etc. This requires specially prepared sound files which can be reliably looped and/or sequentially played without gaps and acoustically transition smoothly. A motor sound will typically have different acoustic properties depending on the speed or load of the motor. For example, as a motor increases or decrease speed or rpm, its pitch will increase/decrease proportionally to its speed. In order to simulate the sound of the motor, the PFx Brick can loop up to 8 different sound file loops representing the sound of the motor at each speed or power level called “notches”. In the PFx Brick configuration, the number of power notches can be specified as well as the speed level between each notch. Additionally, for maximum fidelity, the sound of the motor transitioning between each power notch (accelerating and/or decelerating) can be represented with a dedicated sound file for each transition. Lastly, dedicated sound files for a motor startup and shutdown sound can also be specified. The combination of these sound files can represent the entire range of operation of the locomotive with the playback seamlessly and automatically performed based on the motor speed. Our predefined "profiles" which you can download from our website representing a diesel or steam locomotive etc. are basically a "bundle" of sound files and configuration settings. You can use them as is or customize them to your preference. For example, you can substitute the horn sounds with one more suitable to a different locomotive. You can change which motor channel changes the sound. And so on. Our diesel locomotive profiles typically combine a few sound effect actions. We use "Indexed Playback" for simulating the prime mover. We use one or more "Random Playback" effects to randomly inject compressor noises or air valve release sounds. The combination of these sounds give the rich and realistic impression of the real thing. For steam locomotives, we will use "continuous playback" of a loop representing the ambient boiler sounds. Additionally, the "Gated Playback" sound effect will be active to simulate the "chuff" sounds. Lastly, one or more "Random Playback" actions will be configured for steam release sounds or air compressors, etc. The power of the PFx Brick is the ability to combine all of these sound playback behaviours to make a rich soundscape. Its polyphonic sound engine combined with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) make all kinds of sound simulation possible. These sound effect actions are configured as "Startup Actions". That is, actions which activate automatically every time after power-up. We recognize that we need to document these capabilities more. We are missing out on the ability of community to make all kinds of amazing sound profiles and to share them with others. Our profiles on our website are only scratching the surface of possibilities!