roamingstop

Large Migros superstores will have Lego; but not all range. Coop City will also have Lego. But dont expect cheap prices. Most independent toysellers dont get to sell much Lego as the prices of the supermarkets undercut them too much... but some find it still works (especially for more hard to find sets). If you live in CH - use toppreise.ch to search for the model and get it cheaper online. Usual suspects are gameworld.ch bol.ch And currently, Swiss Post Shop which offers low prices + 10% reduction with the right code. Most of these places are pretty good to send the items within a week or two.

I have used a version of Oxy-Vanish (oxyclean not available in Switzerland) plus 5% Hydrogen Peroxide... for whites and light greys it worked well. For some blues and reds, I have colour fading... not good. I have had some printed pieces fair in different ways. Some printed icons cleaned well (the tail fins of some older ambulance planes), others rubbed off on touch (some older numbered tiles), and others had a backing sticker which peeled away. Moral: if the Lego piece is not rare, sometimes cheaper to purchase replacement parts on BL (especially since HP is expensive here), but if it is an older, rarer piece then it can work well. Just be careful with the coloured bricks.

Once I had this... Package: Cost = 70 Euro, plus 10 Euro shipping. Swiss Customs charge for opening parcel (to find the invoice): 6 CHF. Swiss Customs charge for doing an import charge 20 CHF Swiss duty fee 13 CHF (the 80 euro was converted into CHF, import etc)... So it was an expensive parcel. But to be fair, most of the time the Swiss customs are nice to me, and I dont mind when the exporter has not charged me VAT.

You have got some nifty solutions to allow the off axis movements of the 'hydraulics' - something which has always been difficult in Lego stud lengths. It looks great... and as you write, provides good design ideas for Efferman lift-arms.

This link lists (most) of the 4.5V train sets. Yours could be part of 119 Super Train Set Year 1968 The image is the link. Took about 1 minute...

ME Rails are compatible with the ToD / IJ track (I tried it), and some people (in Train Tech forum) have made working points for this kit... but I agree what happened to their us for roller coasters etc? I suspect the customer pull for more moulds was not sufficient, and the Alien Mothership was an easy way to reuse an existing mould... Since Carousel also did not sell too well (but better than the fairground wheel) then it might also be something on the sidelines....

Debox... buy some ziplock bags... make sure it is packed with clothes and other critical items... I know someone who managed two Grand Emporiums and a London Bridge like that... Dont forget USA sales taxes though.

And there was me hoping that toppreise would be my saviour.... I guess a couple of S@H and resold elements.

Depends upon how nice the 'seller' is. Sometimes they will declare the full value, as they are some form of legal business, in which case expect charges above about 40 GBP (Swiss customs even include the price of transportation in the final calculation). Customs / post office also like charging an admin fee.... ;-) However some nice sellers will put a different value upon request. It is worth checking with them. However sometimes even the hit from customs is worth it! (just make sure they are not charging you sales tax / state taxes as these are not easy to remove). Good luck...

Just look about 10 posts below yours in the topic index. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=56886

The solution presented (via Dluders) is pretty nifty and would definitely get my vote - both in Embassy and in Caruuso (if only the English version was possible). When 9V track was produced, it broke the rules with existing 12V / 4.5V track; but still people loved it (because of shinny metal tops). With the RC track it seems that the mould was only changed slightly, so it could interconnect with the 9V... but not going back to the older 12V / 4.5V. The same rules could easily apply tor monorail, much to the discontent of (some) AFOLs... A regular lookof the Train Tech forum shows that actually most people are happy with the more modern track style (albeit no shinny tops, no wider radius etc, but ME Models will solve that), and some aficionado's clearly enjoy running their old 12V / 4.5V models at the same time. There is room for both.

Great idea... and would help me a lot with a model I am doing... im glad there is a working solution and then it can be further improved. For now... know as the AussieJimbo Steering.

There was a good article on shared bogeys Google: "A Close Coupling Technique for Shared Bogies" by Jason Allemann This would allow you to place the motor element (including PF one) between the tram elements, which is more realistic... and allow many other parts to be hidden.

If you want an ugly cable sticking out one way... then no. But if you want it looking neat and tidy one of the motors has to be in reverse. Or you make some motorised bogeys (see RB) and mount the XL inside the body (on my list to do). The cheapest option is to cut a cable and switch the central pins... so that it is a 'reverse'. Or put a long cable between two semi-pernament linked engines (A-A).

Looks great... was that a Bley Santa Fe carriage in the middle?

Great layout... do you have any better pictures of the water tank you built for the steam engines. It looked good... and is about the right size for something I am planning. Thanks, RS

Having bought the Railbricks printed copies... it would be a bit of a pity to have an effective reprint... but at the same time a good book would be great. Some examples: I often use the Maerklin catalogues for some inspiration. So a book which compiled a variety of pictures for 'inspiration' and showed techniques on how to do the correct scaling would be useful. Lets say.. a couple of pages devoted to 'tankers' with some good photos of real life versions alongside some great Lego renditions. I could think of the same for other systems... But in the end the book would be out of date quickly if this was the approach. The other alternative would be something which shows some good building techniques (like Ideas Book) - but also showing (as in RB) how to correctly pitch the wheel alignments of locos... (Sava could fill many pages I think)... or how to use Swoofty Snot work to make nifty solutions for common problems. Coupled with great pictures would really help inspire the audience. Which brings me onto the final question for you - audience? AFOL? / KFOL? To be honest I think sticking with (printed) RB would be for me more valuable... so perhaps the book should really be a compendium?

And public transport remains... good.

And dont forget BL also offers the use of 'wanted lists'.... For example I have 4 projects in progress, each with a 'wanted list' of items. When I visit a BL store, I can also see what else they have in my wanted lists; and purchase them to minimise the shipping costs. You can also search BL stores based upon how many items match the contents of one or more of your wanted lists; which helps reduce costs. This means you may not be paying the cheapest price per item; but on average you will be paying less shipping and getting better value. Oh and you also discover it is addictive.

Yeah I agree; they are nice... and Ive been watching them a while.

Damn... I bought all the bits to make this and then went travelling in USA... and you beat me to it! Looks great as well!.

Increased length does look better - the white base plates are a little bit too short... although making the bogeys a bit higher may not work so well for the motorised section (unless you plate a technic plate underneath). It was the same dilema I had with making the LRZ Fire Train (also on EB) - make it longer, but then have the bogey's foul the plate. However as with most models, I feel that either keep to Lego proportions (6 wide, 28 / 32 long) or upscale to the next logical... 7 or 8 wide and 44 long. These can look fantastic!

Actually... I was thinking that putting the rotation point here might help... but it would need to be at an odd stud width. Of course it would not be ideal for some turning circles, but would make the visual effect work (if functionally it is not ideal).

I know what you mean... but designing an eccentric turning mechanism (so both wheels work without 'scuffing' when the model turns) is not going to be easy with existing parts. Superkalle - is this so that you can make scale minifig models in 8 wide? I know the 'model team' steering is too large, but it might be the only way... For small radius you might be better off having 'fixed wheels' with the whole assembly (including wheel arches) pivoting in a subtle way underneath the body of the vehicle (and not the in simple cart mechanism). Could you use some of these to offset the wheel pivot point? 88072 Coupled onto some of these... , perhaps with some of these

What about wheel size and height restrictions? The problem with wheel rotation is that the rotation axis is not aligned with the wheel... if you made a L shape lever arm you could place the rotation point over the wheel - but of course it would obstruct the nice Lego wheel trims... I could see a use of the eccentric technic CAM's 6575 laid flat across the top of the wheel to provide a different rotation point.