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Carefree_Dude

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by Carefree_Dude

  1. Carefree_Dude
    The Big Boy is a very long train, with two sets of drive wheels. Say you are going to lego show like brick con. There is a train layout, and it is made of dozens of folding tables. The tables are uneven. This often causes minor slopes and inclines. Most trains don't care about this, as they are so minor that all driving wheels will remain on the track. This becomes an issue with long trains with multiple sets of driving wheels. A long train on uneven track may cause one set of driving wheels to lift off the track, causing that set of driving wheels to no longer be able to move the train. This can easily cut what the train is able to pull in half. With suspension, it allows the wheels to move up and down, allowing all driving wheels to be on the track in normal conditions so you will always have all the drive wheels pressed against the track. In a perfect system where the tables are 100% flat the suspension would be unneeded.
  2. Carefree_Dude
    Yeah, installing the boiler panels is easy. See the gap between the two springs? Bricks with holes go between those. From there you can have plates go along the body of the train. The front of the boiler has bricks with studs on side, as does the center area between the two gearbox/motor assemblies, and at the very back. Here are some preliminary photos, but keep in mind it is still a work in progress. The wheels look funny because they are the wrong size, and I have some BBB XL Drivers on their way. Also, when the train is sitting on the wheels, the suspension compresses by about a plate. Right now, the bottom of the boiler is empty, and three of the four motors are fully exposed on the bottom. I still need to add the various tubing and pipes that go between the boiler and the wheels, as well as round out the bottom. I have some concern about how visible the blue and red pins will be, and I may need to swap those out for black ones.
  3. Carefree_Dude
    Recently, I decided I wanted to do a complete overhaul on my Big Boy. One of the things I wanted to do was add suspension. I saw Jayhurst had done this with his big boy, using technic springs and a cv joint, as well as several technic bricks. I first tried mimicking this; I was successful in recreating it, but ran into many problems -The bricks came apart when the suspension was used -I ran the idea by the Technic forum, and they criticized the use of thin gears with XL motors -CV joint was a point of weakness -I had difficulty keeping everything together in general in the main model. -Only 4 studs connected the wheels to the train, causing it to disconnect while running occasionally. -was very difficult making everything work in a 4 stud space Here you can see my initial attempt. So, taking the above problems to heart, I decide dI should do the whole thing using Technic parts. For starters, I gave myself a 5 stud space instead of a 4 stud space, giving me a lot more room to work. Then rather than using technic bricks, I created a frame entirely out of technic beams. I also used thicker gears instead of the thinner ones. Thanks to the use of technic parts, I could lock everything in place so the only thing that will make it come apart is parts breaking. Lastly, rather than depending on a lego system turntable and stud clutch strength to hold parts together, I used a small technic turntable for attaching the wheels to the train. (Still designing wheelset, but it looks fairly straight forward. Below is what I've come up with, with some parts removed so you see inside. The suspension gives it a full stud of travel! Sadly I cannot figure out a way to do this without the CV joint. The reason the CV joint is needed is because it has no grip on the axel, allowing it to freely go up and down. Let me know what you thin. I imagine this could be done on a smaller scale with smaller motors as well, I just really wanted a big boy with 4 XL motors in it. I've already built two of these gearboxes, and will use more technic parts to attach these together to make it even more solid.
  4. Carefree_Dude
    You could do a brick built front like 7938; it wont look quite as good, but it is a similar nose style. https://brickset.com/sets/7938-1/Passenger-Train
  5. Carefree_Dude
    Just ask lego customer service for replacement stickers; they are great for helping with this. Heck they sent me a new sticker sheet for the original giant technic porsche because I messed mine up. As for the disney train, having stickers that were too short is a design choice. If you want full length, use gold striping tape for your lines.
  6. Carefree_Dude
    I wonder how high you could make that thing before it crumbled under its own weight or fell over (assuming each floor had something holding the 4 seconds together as well
  7. Carefree_Dude
    How would you feel about a "skyscraper" modular set? Like something 5-6 stories high, but designed in such a way that if you buy additional sets you can easily convert the main floor into an extra level, and keep building it taller. Maybe include alternate floorplans for additional floors, etc.
  8. Carefree_Dude
    I do legitimately wish public transit was cleaner and safer. That won't happen unless the homeless crisis is figured out though.
  9. Carefree_Dude
    I feel having something with one of those really long double length articulated transit bus would be nice. The big turntable in the middle would make for an interesting build as well. You add on a bunch of various minifigs, even include the fold up seats for a wheel chair, even have a deployable wheelchair ramp. Living in the city bike commuting is also a good option, but doing it in winter can be really rough. I've lived and visited many places in the united states. Many of the cities do have terrible transit systems, but the ones that really badly need the transit system don't do too horribly.
  10. Carefree_Dude
    I disagree with this; I live in a major US city, and the public transit (Bus, light rail, etc) are much faster than attempting to drive into downtown and find parking, as well as paying a lot of money for it. It's nice to just relax and play on my phone or read while the bus takes me to work. Sure, occasionally there are mentally ill and homeless people doing things like threatening you or having a wank, but overall taking a bus is a much better option than driving even for those who can afford to drive.
  11. Carefree_Dude
    You'd think they would want this out before christmas, for all that sweet sweet christmas money.
  12. Carefree_Dude
    Another thing that drives me nuts is that you can't buy these before christmas; instead just a few days after.
  13. Carefree_Dude
    I love it! And my wife will approve thanks to her book obsession. It looks a little on the small side, and also I feel a price point similar to pet store would be more appealing, but I won't complain. This is the best modular since assembly square
  14. Carefree_Dude
    At Brick Con I saw a modular strip club, and I know Lego would never release anything that adult oriented, I'd love to build one on my own.
  15. Carefree_Dude
    My son would love that duplo set
  16. Carefree_Dude
    They've done a great job at avoiding leaks. Also I hope the building appeals to me this time (though as always I'll still buy it lol)
  17. Carefree_Dude
    I love your addition of the big covered area, The arches fit really well with the building. I'm not sure how I feel about the canopy though; I don't think it matches the architecture of the building itself very well. Would it be possible to do a glass panel canopy? Or would that not fit with the time period that you are trying to meet? Also your station itself is just really wonderful. Despite it having a similar facade to the disney station, It feels like a completely different building; so far to the point that if you had them sitting right next to each other they would still look very different.
  18. Carefree_Dude
    This setup is for a Union Pacific Big Boy; the largest steam engine. The real life train can exceed 80 mph, and There is actually 4 XL motors total, with a second dual motor setup that will drive a second set of wheels. For now I'm using two lithium battery boxes, but will eventually replace with a non lego power solution. I want to be able to pull 50+ train cars with this thing; I know it can be done. The gearing I chose here is to try and have a faster train without losing too much torque. I also want it to be able to go up inclines. I see the concerns about using the smaller gears and how they may break. I had done a previous Big Boy setup that used only two XL motors, one for each set of drive wheels, and it didn't go terribly fast due to the gearing, and its load was limited. Also it had issues with uneven track where only one set of wheels would be on the track, cutting its overall power in half. I have added suspension into this new model to help fix this issue.
  19. Carefree_Dude
    This is for a train I'm building. I may be able to move the motors slightly in order to use the full thickness gears, but I'm very limited for space overall. The CV joint is necessary to make the suspension work. Preliminary test haven't shown any issues, but I've only been able to run a partially built train with no cars.
  20. Carefree_Dude
    In a project i'm working on, I have a gear connected to a motor; between the gear and motor i need a brick and 2 small bushings. Ideally, to have an axle fully into the motor, I would need a 3.5 length axle. Sadly these do not exist; So, which is better: -Use a 3 length and only have the axle half entered into the motor -Physically cut an axel or two (maybe a 7 length in half?) in order to get the length i need. I'm fairly against modifying parts, but I fear only having half a stud worth of axel in the motor may damage something, especially since it is an XL motor. If cutting an axel is the best use here, what is the best way to cut one? For those interested, this right here is my use case.
  21. Carefree_Dude
    I'm not against using other wheels, I just can't justify spending $140 on wheels for a single train.
  22. Carefree_Dude
    My plan is to put them on a union pacific big boy; is a fairly heavy engine, I decided to put 4 XL motors inside the boiler.
  23. Carefree_Dude
    I'm interested in getting some big Ben XL drivers for a project, but notice they lack o rings. Do they need anything added for traction, or are they fine naked?
  24. Carefree_Dude
    @zephyr1934, I love your work. Do you have any issues with the cylinders being weak, only attached by two studs? If so, I have a possible solution; rather than using the modified plate with the technic pin on the bottom, use plates that have the technic holes so you can have a plate going straight across connected to both cylinders. You can just have a grey technic pin in the bottom of it.
  25. Carefree_Dude
    Now you'll need to build a train car haul that big boat; and then an even bigger boat to haul that train!
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