roamingstop

I plan to do Buzz Lightship - the larger one - as I did not see it listed on the official thread. 7593. I might then also do some of the other TS3 sets... EDIT:Buzz Lightship Completed.

Thanks for the hint. B&N have small discount on White House and Empire States building, provided also a $10 welcome discount, and I was able to get cash back via ebates.com... (let me know if anyone wants ebates recommending - i'd share the dividends). So 1x Fallingwater, 1x White House and 1xEmpire States on its way to Switzerland. I know i will get stung for tax... but it will be a lot cheaper than my flying to USA for it.

Battery fits at the front - closes to you in the image. Just. It is tight but the space is there. Motor replaces the front bogeys - use the PF ones from the Cargo Train. IR unit fits the other side of the cab... before the 6 valve EMD unit.

A few people in this thread had their products recalled during delivery. If the Ebay seller is a 'front' for a warehouse then perhaps the same thing happened.

My bad. 1x5x4 arch.

8043's are also being returned to sender from official websites. Bearing in mind the issues with the LA's & Gearing it is perhaps the reason. Certainly wholesellers get the Lego at pretty hefty reductions; and if they can shift in volume then the reductions can be large. E.g. buying via online shops in Switzerland can save me 50 CHF (on a 250 CHF product) including shipping and credit card tax. There is often nothing dodgy about these enterprises; they are just massive warehouses with a business model of scraping a few % off the the final sales price; using cheap shipping firms (who are also working in bulk). Shipping a 100 units, with a profit margin of 5$ is not small... I would have chased the reason for the recall first.

Thanks. Yes I did put the M motor in behind the train driver (I have video somewhere). I needed the motor extension cable - but it would pull two cars fairly easily. I agree with the problem of not being able to see it... and the diarama idea is a good one. Thanks. It is just a pity the portholes in light grey are so expensive (around $20 each). Then you can see (and hear) the movement. The other alternative I did in my Swiss AM 843 concept is to have motorised bogeys, driven with battery, with rear bogeys driving the EMD. Side doors / removable roof enabled the elements to be seen. I also am tried out leuvred elements (i.e. long plates stacked with small 1x1 plates to make a grill). But it did not look too good. Edit: Added the LDD version of the EMD Unit with the greebling. And of course; it fits inside the B Unit (Massive credit to James Mathis for the original design) . However the V8 version of the EMD fits better. .

As part of this thread on designing a working EMD Unit, I had also designed a version of the Swiss Railways AM 843 unit. Currently only in LDD until some more bricks arrive (always the way) - but there is sufficient space to also fit a motorised bogey, IR unit and Rechargable Battery.

Recently someone mentioned in a post that Lego Diesel engines are typically just 'Boxes on wheels', and dont have the play factor that something like the Emerald Night affords. I had heard a similar comment from a friends son back in March, and so during the late spring I had designed a small EMD unit which can fit into existing, or new, Lego Diesel Engines. These designs had formed part of my portfolio submission to Lego Product Designer - and now I have decided to share some of the design aspects online. First up though, I will paraphrase some of the information added into my portfolio. Background Model steam locomotives easily capture a child's imagination. They can provide Fun, Form, Functionality, and tactile feedback. In particular they have Push along, and play Moving wheels, connecting rods Shape, iconic form, easy to handle So how to improve Diesel Locomotives? One option is to include a working Electromotive Diesel (EMD) unit. In real life the EMD drives a generator which powers electric motors on the wheels. Unfortunately the normal Lego Technic engine parts are not suitable for including into Lego trains (too big, out of scale). Images of typical EMD engine units can be found online. E.g. Other alternative images can be found on Google, and modern variants like the H-Engine. Design Features Replicate the form of a working diesel engine (pistons etc) Allow pistons to move when Locomotive is pushed (play factor) Fit inside a typical Locomotive body (4 studs wide, 4 bricks high, max 12 studs long) Be easy to assemble Provide inspiration for future models I wont go into all the design details, suffice to say I eventually worked out how to make a V6 EMD unit which could be fitted inside the Santa Fe body. The crankshaft is driven by a Bogey unit inspired by the many great models listed on Railbricks. And does it work? Of course. A teaser video is available (it would not embed). And of course Hand of God Mode And there was sufficient space to fit a M Motor, to power the Diesel engine and Locomotive. Testing showed the design could run for 6 hours at different speeds.

Good luck to everyone over the next three days! My meagre attempts at a portfolio can be found here Online Portfolio

You can fit plates into the underside of the 4x4x1 half-arches; and get something similar - although im not 100% sure for this technique.

For any interested... Amazon UK just shipped mine via Amazon Germany. It had been ordered just before I heard of the problems... Never mind I will enjoy building it... and the repairs.

Spider Mini Crane-Crane Or how about a diarama made up of all 24 creations?

LEO does not have a direct translation - so searching (in meine schlechtes deutsche) I found the following PDF - which indicates a picture of 'Hundegung' in the bottom. My link. Same as Crab Steering. Basically 4 wheel steering in the same direction - so allowing diagonal movements, with a wide turning circle (e.g. when dragging other objects).

Looks like a great modification of the original; and whilst these tracked extension cranes are not common, they look great. Did you have to use additional pieces from the original excavator set? This could easily have been a nice B model for the original instructions.

If they do an LA design perhaps they should also consider some form of back-drivable / harmonic drive system. With good design they can drive quite high loads - but also provide 'free movement' without damaging motors. I guess it will take some time to resolve - if a new LA design is needed that would not be quick (unless one was already in the pipeline). If simple changes to transmission then it could be released in a easier way. But for me, the beauty of the model was also the technic gear trains / transmissions and functionality packed into a great superstructure. The model could provide a lot of inspiration - just a pity it needs a bit more development time. And I hope it does not scare TLG too much - but who knows for the future.

Toy Story: Construct A Zurg 7591. LXF File is here Missing Bits Hands (same for Construct a Buzz) Alien Head + Decorations (same as Buzz) Error with 8L axle with stop (replaced with 8L axle, but poor body alignment) Flicking Gun made from alternative parts (for asthetics only) 6x6 dish inverted (radar) does not fit properly on top of 6x3x6 cylinders (boundary error) 3x3 Disk with Axle hole will not fit onto an axle (boundary error) No flexible tubing of right length / curvature. No cape... how naked? So not complete until we get LDD 4.0; but better than nothing! (oh and all sub-elements are grouped). Edit Partial update to LDD 4; but not all components could be fixed (yet). LXF File is here

Depending upon how much new stuff gets released into LDD 4.0 Technics, it may not take too long...

Hi Technic are the answer. As are Mind Sensors (but out of stock)

Perhaps it is a fault - more likely it is a combination of a series of small errors; e.g. high torque / loading from the boom --> M Motor, and a bad batch of motors, some minor tolerance changes on bricks / axles and together they form a 'bad boom experience'. Collectors items? maybe. Depends upon what modifications might be happening. But as this is a flagship product just when the new catalogues are produced, I suspect there will be a lot of urgency to get it fixed before the Christmas rush.

And it seems to have been pulled from the TLG S@H websites. So too late to buy the early version one unless you get it from other sources...

Part Name: PF-IR Receiver Colour Part Description: IR Receiver with Red / Yellow or Interchangable housing (on the upper portion) so that it can be better hidden in small MOC's. Part Name: Small PF Motor Part Description: Small PF Motor like the old Micromotors. It would come in handy in many technic models / situations, and powering LA's directly. However it was not done for the new motorised excavator so might not be feasible. Part Name: PF Servo Part Description: A Small servo mechanism which is operates over a limited range (but with high torque). C0 = 0, C1 = 0. Servo is off (or returns to neutral). C0 = 1, C1 = 0. Servo goes to max counter clockwise position (e.g. -90 degrees over 2 seconds). C0 = 0, C1 = 1. Servo goes to max clockwise position (e.g. 90 degrees over 2 seconds). Part Usage: Easily modified to work with train points, provide steering mechanisms in cars, trucks etc. Can also be worked into smaller mechanical systems. When combined with the Pneumatics system could also provide remote control of pistons. Part Name: 1x2 Technic Brick with transverse hole Part Description: A normal 1x2 brick but with the hole running through the long axis (not in the front face). Could be considered as 2 1x1 technic bricks with holes aligned. Part Usage: A lot of MOC's and Creator designs make use of axles through brick elements, e.g. for holding wheels / gears etc. However putting two 1x1 bricks with holes side by side can lead to problems if the bricks are not perfectly aligned; binding upon the axles and causing added friction. Such a brick would reduce this and enable interesting Lego designs. E.g. using technic elements to build digger constructions. Part Name: Smaller Train Wheels with Connector Holes Part Description: Similar to BBB Medium wheels, and the current train wheels with technic axles, but with the added advantage of a technic connector point to add rods etc. Part Usage: Improved train designs for smaller steam / electric locomotives. Can also be used in conjunction with Lego Pulley Wheels to provide alternative driving mechanisms. Note in BBB wheels the offset between axle and hole is less than 1 stud, unlike the pulley.

In case too much of an Enigma... is it related to the subtopic line of this thread. Im just remided of Rolf Harris who regularly asked (about his Cartoons and Rolf-A-Roo) "Can you guess what it is yet"?.

Toy Story: Construct A Buzz 7592 A bit of fun finding all the bits for this one; and with the official colour palette. Construct A Buzz LXF file Whats missing? No Hands (could not yet find them) Proper head (replaced with 2x2 cone) Proper Glass Bubble (replaced with 6x6 cockpit) Stickers Edit Updated to LDD 4 Construct A Buzz LXF file

Id like to give a try to the Toy Story Construct a Buzz and Construct a Zurg sets. I hope it gives me inspiration for Construct A Woody and Construct A Jessie.