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Hi everybody
I presented a “little” but really fun MOC at BricMania, July 24 and 25th, France
: two cows who watch the trains run.
If you did’nt see them, watch these videos to have an idea on what I will speak
here :
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/ea-the-smile/FreeLUG/BricMania2004/cows.mov
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jlb/FreeLUG/Bricmania2004/dscn1955.mov
The idea :
The idea is so simple that I think nobody found it before :-)
I made meadows for a little part of a train module, with the goal to put some
cows on. And automaticaly, the relation between cow and train came to me. I
should have to make cows who watch the trains run. The system is simple : an RCX
and a light sensor which detects the train, and a micromotor to turn the head.
How did I make it
The challenge was to put the micromotor (the smallest LEGO motor) inside the
cow. According to others MOC of cows, the best size is 3 studs wide. So I should
put a 2-wide motor in a space of 3 studs, keeping the skin of the cow... I chose
to use 2x3 panels. An other solution could be SNOT technique.
The space on the panels allows to put only an electric plate (for the
alimentation of the motor), the motor and there is just the space for a plate.
The electric plate is fixed with jumpers (AZMEP technique).
From this step, the second problem was to made the neck which transmits the
movement from the motor to the head. The unique solution I found was to use a
tile. But the horns aren’t fixed :-/
The third problem was to make the front of the cow. Here I used SNOT technique.
At last, the rest of the cow was easy to finish. A half day to build it...
After, I started to write some lines of code, and built a small loop for a train
in order to make tests. You can imagine my joy when I saw the cow turning the
head when the train passed :-)
After these first emotions, I read a better source for the RCX and built a
second cow, on the same time I made the instructions with MLCad.
Epilogue
I felt that this MOC would have success at BricMania, but not on this
proportion. Everybody were under the charm of these cows. And so, the cows won
the price of the best MOC of BricMania.
Today, YOU could also make your own cow(s) !
You will find the instructions on Brickshelf, and also the NQC source for the
RCX.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=93293
I’m sure you will find some ideas to motorize other animals :-)
Erik / brickerik
FreeLUG member
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Message has 9 Replies:
 | | Re: MOC: Motorized Cows
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| (...) This is officially the coolest MOC I have ever seen. Other than space and brick constraints, is there a limit to the number of cows you could rig this way? And is it possible to vary the rate of motion slightly between animals? In any case, (...) (20 years ago, 3-Aug-04, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.trains, FTX)
| | | Re: MOC: Motorized Cows
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| (...) That's exceedingly cool. But since I don't have an RCX, it makes me wonder whether something similar could be done without it. Perhaps a small lever that's pressed by the train as it goes past, which is connected by a hidden string to the (...) (20 years ago, 3-Aug-04, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.trains, FTX)
| | | Re: MOC: Motorized Cows
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| (...) snip (...) Wow Eric, Spotlighted! That is SO totally cool!!! I showed my kids and they were amazed, as am I. Truly, imho, it's MOCs like that, that will make HO modelers think twice about the "limitations of the brick". Way to go! Nicely (...) (20 years ago, 3-Aug-04, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: MOC: Motorized Cows
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| (...) An idea well worth copying. Remember, generally 100% of train show attendees have never visited LUGNET or Brickshelf, so even if every LEGO train club in the world copied this idea brick for brick, it would still be new and surprising to (...) (20 years ago, 4-Aug-04, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
| | | Re: MOC: Motorized Cows
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| Eric- What a great concept! And implementation! And effect! You cut to the heart of what makes a really cool MOC. I'm certainly going to want to put some cows in our pasteur when I get back from BF. -Ted Michon SCLTC (20 years ago, 4-Aug-04, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.trains, FTX)
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