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Hi
Would it be possible to have someone buy something from S@H and send it to me?
Sets are cheaper in the UK and they don't ship to Estonia anyway...
WBR
Sonnich
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Sheffield man’s love of LEGO lands him with debt problems
Written on April 14, 2011 by Nathan Cameron
An autistic man from Sheffield has found himself with relatively serious debt
problems after over-indulging in his favourite hobby – LEGO.
Christopher Royston, 32, has a large collection of LEGO models and sculptures in
his house in Heeley. He spoke to the Sheffield Star newspaper about his debt
problems, explaining that he had continued to buy LEGO and other puzzles to
alleviate his anxiety. However, his excessive spending resulted in Mr Royston
falling behind with his council tax bills and months of rent payments to
Sheffield Homes.
After realising that his hobby was out of control, Mr Royston sought debt help
and arranged for his rent to be paid directly out of his Job Seekers’ Allowance
to Sheffield Homes. At this time, he owed £129.76 ($212 USD).
However, it seems that the payments Mr Royston was making through Job Centre
Plus were not enough to cover his debt. Sheffield Homes took the case to a
Sheffield county court, claiming that his debt had built up to £159.71 ($260
USD). He was ordered to pay this amount, plus £169.50 ($277 USD) in court costs.
Speaking to The Star, Mr Royston said:
“I was told that if I did not pay, I could lose my home.
“I don’t understand why they took me to court as I was already addressing the
issue and all it has done is meant I have a bigger bill to pay.”
A spokesperson for Sheffield Homes said that Mr Royston had informed them that
he had autism but had said that it wouldn’t affect his ability to make rent
payments. The company has waived around £25 ($40 USD) of unpaid council tax and
now considers Mr Royston’s debts to be repaid.
Chilterndebtmanagement.co.uk
-end of report-
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I’ve posted a new video of the MOCs
in my loft:
- PF trains and testing, including the first showing of my Class 14
loco working, and a new brake van.
- Flexi-track ballasted, canted and sloped
successfully at wide radius.
- Scenic modules.
Channel: http://youtube.com/mbellisbrickmocs
Hope it inspires you!
Mark
Mark J E Bellis 8mm:1ft scale LEGO Trains, Scenery, Power Functions and Technic
My Brickshelf Gallery
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In lugnet.general, Abner Finley wrote:
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Posted on BBC website on Thursday, 4 February 2010.
BBC News
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Very nice! I especially like the LDraw bits, good stuff from Chris Dee.
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There is a video 3:50 long. (just under 4 minutes)
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Be sure to watch the video -- there’s a neat bit at the end about how they used
LEGO for a conceptual model of the Falkirk Wheel, not included in the text.
Steve
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In lugnet.technic, Jetro de Chateau wrote:
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In lugnet.technic, Mark Bellis wrote:
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To celebrate, here are the pictures of my latest pneumatic system.
It allows the cylinder to be commanded to any position.
• not just the two ends
• not just two ends and one position in the middle
• yes, any variable position within its travel!
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Thank you for sharing this. Next up: implementing this in an automated
system...
Jetro
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Here’s a video tutorial that explains how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mbellisbrickmocs#p/u/0/9jv73J8-4Zw
The demonstration model is an automated system in itself. It is the inner loop
of a control system. The (optional) outer loop would use feedback from a driven
device to move the red beam, but not all applications need an outer loop. The
cylinder pictured can be the cylinder that drives the model function, or
parallel cylinders from the same hoses can do that. It could be most of the
system or a building block for a larger system. I like the fact that few enough
pneumatic elements are used that it should be accessible to more people.
I thought of a few applications for the system:
- Truck suspension including centre lift or tag axle (redistribute the force to
the non-lifting wheels)
- With higher feedback gain, a show car bouncy
suspension or monster truck jumping function.
- Anti-roll suspension, putting
more pressure to the outside wheels when cornering.
- Power steering (add an
axle across the system, to keep the wheels in sync with the steering wheel).
-
Robot leg force balancing or body weight distribution for a biped.
- NXT
precise control of pneumatics. The NXT motor with its shaft encoder can tell
the position of the red beam if driven by a worm and rack. Therefore the NXT
can know what the cylinder position set point is and can use open loop control
with a suitable delay for the actual cylinder position.
I have a few more ideas for multiple applications in one model, which I will
think about further. A smooth drive steam engine should be possible, varying
the pseudo-steam pressure and hence implementing a real steam loco reverser
speed control function. The levers in the demonstration model do a similar
thing to the valve gear in a steam engine, adding together the piston position
and the reverser position. The gains of input, dither and feedback would be
adjusted for each application.
Hope you like the video, and find it explains things OK. I didn’t write a
script first, so a few “um”s and “er”s crept in. I was surprised it ended up
being 10 minutes long. Glad I found some free software to convert .mov files to
.mp4 as it cut the file size by 80%.
Enjoy!
Mark
======================================================================================================================================
Mark J E Bellis LEGO Pneumatics
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=82736
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In lugnet.technic, Jetro de Chateau wrote:
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TechnicBRICKs has just received official confirmation from TLG that the
1H2010 set 8049 will include pneumatic pistons and has posted some
preliminary pics. That means Pneumatic elements are back!
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A big Thank You to TLG for listening to AFOL requests for pneumatics and
producing set 8049 for 2010.
To celebrate, here are the pictures of my latest pneumatic system.
It allows the cylinder to be commanded to any position.
• not just the two ends
• not just two ends and one position in the middle
• yes, any variable position within its travel!
The variable input is at the red sliding beam.
The variable output is the position of the turquoise lever.
Techniques:
• dithering of valves (with the motor crank) overcomes their hysteresis and
stiction
• offsetting the valve levers removes most of the deadband in the
middle
• feeding back the output allows closed loop control of cylinder
position
This uses no more pneumatic or PF parts than the contents of sets 8049 and 8293,
so the parts will soon be quite accessible.
How it works might take a little
more understanding!
More detailed description / info
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Technic/Pneumatics/cont-var-pneu-ctrl/2_cvp_info.txt.
Folder http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=405269
You could say pneumatics has just gone analogue!
No longer is it a 2 or 3-state system.
PLMKWYT
Mark
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Everybody is welcome at Scotfest.
In case you haven't been before, Aberdour is in Fife, just over the Forth Bridge
from Edinburgh, and is not too far from Edinburgh Airport, its also has a
railway station on the east cast main line. It is a small seaside village.
People have come and made it a weekend holiday, bringing their family. The
village is interesting with castle & beaches and various walks. Some have
visited Edinburgh, last year some partners went on a boat trip to Inchcolme
Island to see the birds & Abbey.
Of course there is LEGO, we always have a "show & tell" which is very popular
where everybody has a chance to talk about what they have brought. There will
also be a few short games, a chance to chat and buy, sell and swap LEGO.
The event will take place in the Boat Club, which is in a fantastic location and
accommodation is available at local hotels & B&B's which have had very good
reviews from past AFOL's. I will post details of Hotels & B&B's, you may have to
book soon as it is the holiday season. The Forth View Hotel is always popular.
It would be on the Saturday starting at 10am, lunch would be provided and finish
at 5pm then we normally go out for a meal in the evening.
This years theme is Scotland, as it is the "Year of Homecoming" so you may want
bring along your LEGO kilts, haggis, shortbread, tartan (I shouldn't be giving
too many ideas).
David
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After going to a railway exhibition last Saturday (23rd May), and buying some
books, I was inspired to build some new wagons.
I added working features, such as opening doors, as well as SNOT lettering.
Most are real UK wagons but I also did the Awdry character “Scruffey”.
The new plate modified 1x2 with bar on end is quite a useful piece for
drop-sided wagons. Black droid arms are useful for supporting the tubes
underneath. The tubes represent parts of the brake gear and supports, but
working brakes might have been overkill :classic:
More technical info here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Trains/Wagons/New-Wagons-May-2009/2009_wagons_info.txt
There are 4 wagons, the first picture of each here:
“Scruffey”:
Grampus 12ft wheelbase drop-side wagon:
LMS 5-plank open wagon with lime load and opening side doors:
SC coal wagon with opening side and end doors:
Folder when moderated: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=385528
Includes some open-door and underneath pictures too.
Hope you like them.
Mark
Mark Bellis 8mm Scale LEGO Trains
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=62749
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In lugnet.trains, Mark Bellis wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Dave Sterling wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Jonathan Wilson wrote:
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We all want new larger radius curves and other things. Also, Big Ben
Bricks, BrickArms and others have been able to successfully mold and sell
new custom parts.
Has anyone ever considered extending this and doing some kind of molding of
new track pieces ourselves? Has anyone ever done some investigation of how
much it would cost for a mold for a larger radius curve or other new track
shapes?
Would people (and e.g. train clubs) be willing to donate towards the
(potentially high) costs for producing such a mold? (my guess is that once
the mold is made, the actual costs of producing the parts would not be huge
in bulk volumes)
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I think some people have investigated this in the past for 9V and found that
the cost was to great to warrant proceeding. That said, it is probably more
feasible for the ‘RC Track’ since you would not have to deal with the metal
rails.
However, it appears that LEGO might be fixing the track geometry issue with
this nifty new element.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jastermereel08/3335067544/in/pool-legotrains
Only time will tell though.
-Dave
ToT-LUG
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With a little modding to the internal curves of the parts shown in the
picture above, it might be possible to support ballast from underneath the
track like this:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Trains/Ballasting-Track/ft_ballast_m_bellis.jpg
Mark
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Here is a further picture, showing 64 flexible track pieces in set 8867.
The gaps between the two halves of each track piece are smaller than in the
previous picture, and there are fewer studs for attaching ballast:
http://www.aquazona.cz/smf/download/file.php?id=1729&mode=view
To ballast it means either a bit more modding (4 holes punched per piece, a bit
laborious for 1000 pieces in a layout) or a compromise on ballast width. Take
two 1x4 plate hinges per track piece, one black and one bley or dark bley. Swap
the halves so that each hinge is half black. Attach the hinges to the two studs
in the middle of each track piece. It’s better if the hinges face the inside of
the curve because the hinge can be opened a bit in some cases. This needs two
curves on the layout, each curve using the left halves of one hinge colour and
the right halves of the other colour. This will provide alternate black and
grey stripes to represent sleepers and ballast. Unfortunately the ballast will
not be the full width between the rails but it does have the advantage of not
needing any support from below the track.
I first used bi-colour hinges in ballast on the crossover:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3277249
Unfortunately the hinges are not yet available in black, bley or dark bley in
PaB online.
Alternatives with clip plates and rods might work, giving a wider ballast
between the rails, and perhaps enhancing the randomness because grey and black
colours would merge more. It might not be quite so easy to show clear sleepers
though, unless grey clips would look like a small ballast spillage on top of
them, which is OK in the middle 2ft between the rails.
Mark
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For the sixth year I am organising a LEGO Show in Petersfield, South Hampshire.
When: Sat May 30th 2009
Where: Main Hall, Community Centre, Petersfield, Hampshire, GU31 4BW
Entrance: Free (public 11:30am to 2:30pm, others 9am to 5pm)
Like before, the plan is to have several larger display areas interspersed with
smaller display tables and seller tables. Unlike last year, this time I have
booked the other large room in the centre, so we'll have more space to spread
out! I will arrange main sellers to attend, but all exhibitors are encouraged
to bring sets/parts/etc to sell/trade and there will be no charge for this.
Pictures from previous shows can be found here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=28000.
Petersfield is on the main A3 between Guildford and Portsmouth and the A272
between Midhurst and Winchester. It is also easily accessible from the A27/M27
South Coast road. Rail connections are good as it is a major station on the
Waterloo to Portsmouth line. The Community Centre is just outside the town
centre and has ample free on-site parking. It is about a 10 minute walk from the
railway station (allowing for carrying heavy LEGO bags). The Community Centre is
on the corner of Ramshill and Tor Way (top right on the map). Click here for
more details. (Note: the red circle is wrong as the Community Centre is at the
top of the first left off Love Lane. Also note that there is no left turn from
Ramshill into that road, you must turn left into Tor Way, then left into Love
Lane, then left to the Centre).
Information for exhibitors/sellers The hall is available from 9am for
exhibitors/sellers to set up, and we must be gone by 5pm. The show will be
advertised locally and open to the public from 11:30am to 2:30pm.
Once again, entrance will be free.
William Howard - Show Organiser
Supported by the Brickish Association - http://www.brickish.org/
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Blimey, it's a bit quiet in here recently :-(
Not been around for a few years...glad to see lugnet is still going
though! Thought I'd post the url to a friends blog where he is showing
progress on his project to build a model of Canterbury Cathedral. Still
got a lot of work to do but it's looking impressive so far. Might also
explain the lack of grey bricks about the place recently...
http://blog.jstott.me.uk/2009/02/15/canterbury-cathedral-in-lego-update/
I'm sure he would welcome comments,
Cheers,
Darren
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This truck was my first attempt to merge Technic and Model Team into one MOC:
I built it quite a while ago but only recently took the pictures. Since I make
more concept models and not many finished Technic MOCs I thought it would be
good to post it.
As well as the usual steering, differential, opening doors and motor drive, the
truck features an automatically-raised centre axle, which drops when a trailer
puts weight on the 5th wheel. The 5th wheel is sprung in a way compatible with
the 8872 transporter trailer pin scheme (a bush trapped by a latching lever).
There are 12V headlights but I hadn’t yet wired them up inside.
I admit that few trucks have a centre axle that both lifts and steers, these
being mutually exclusive options for real trucks, but the idea was to put lots
of Technic functions into a more realistic looking truck. It’s not modelled on
any particular type and the sleeper cab may be longer than a real European one.
A shame some of the bricks have faded in the few years it’s been built. It’s
not been anywhere near a window sill!
I’d really like to see TLG put many Technic functions into Model Team models and
make new Model Team sets with more “play value”. It might be more commercially
viable than a full 1:13 scale truck set (a real pipe dream!).
Mark
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After some intensive building over the last 2 weeks I have completed 20 modules
of a new 8mm scale British railway layout to a reasonable standard. The layout
features track slopes of up to 1 in 30, varying by 0.5 plate/12 stud length.
All the points and the double crossover are pneumatically controlled from behind
the backscene wall on the left of the picture below (hence .technic cross-post).
Each point took about 3-4 hours to build a baseplate, ballast it, add a
mechanism, get the support heights right and add all the control panel
connections in a way that makes maintenance easy. Modules measure up to 48x48
studs and have removable air connections. Using mostly rigid 3.2mm tubes to minimise the
balloon effect, the points farthest from the control panel need 5-6 pumps of the
pump cylinder to operate.
I’ve put in a few of the scenic features I prototyped earlier, like point heater
cubicles and conduits. The ballast colours vary according to how fast trains
will be going and where they would stop. There’s more foliage and track
furniture to add, but that can wait till I’ve built more modules and finalised
signal positions. I’ve tried not to make the layout too busy but rather to aim
for the look of a real British railway.
More detailed description of features
Brickshelf Folder (39
pictures)
Please let me know if anything about the layout inspires you.
Mark
Mark J E Bellis 8mm Scale
LEGO Trains
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In lugnet.general, William Toenjes wrote:
> Hey Brickish folks,
>
> Saw a story 1:42PM BST 23 Sep 2008
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3066876/Biggest-private-collection-of-two-million-bricks-of-Lego.html
> "Biggest private collection of two million bricks of Lego"
> A toy-mad collector and Star Wars fan has amassed Britain's biggest private
> collection of Lego - containing over two million bricks.
> "Darren Smith, 32, started collecting the colourful building blocks aged five
> when he was given a set by his parents as a Christmas present."
> "He has more than 2,000,000 bricks in his incredible collection - eclipsing the
> previous British record of 500,000."
>
> According to http://www.brickish.org/news.aspx
> Brickish member Phil Traviss on ITV Tyne Tees, 29 Jan 2008
> See Phil's collection, the largest in the country! Scroll to 23 minutes in for
> the start of the LEGO news story.
>
> OK, who has bragging rights?
> --
> Bill
> (TooMuchDew)
> G.M.L.T.C.
Hi Bill,
Yes, Darren went a bit mad at the 'tent sale' and overtook me.
(But my collection's better quality than his anyway ;-)).
Phil in Yorkshire.
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Hey Brickish folks,
Saw a story 1:42PM BST 23 Sep 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3066876/Biggest-private-collection-of-two-million-bricks-of-Lego.html
"Biggest private collection of two million bricks of Lego"
A toy-mad collector and Star Wars fan has amassed Britain's biggest private
collection of Lego - containing over two million bricks.
"Darren Smith, 32, started collecting the colourful building blocks aged five
when he was given a set by his parents as a Christmas present."
"He has more than 2,000,000 bricks in his incredible collection - eclipsing the
previous British record of 500,000."
According to http://www.brickish.org/news.aspx
Brickish member Phil Traviss on ITV Tyne Tees, 29 Jan 2008
See Phil's collection, the largest in the country! Scroll to 23 minutes in for
the start of the LEGO news story.
OK, who has bragging rights?
--
Bill
(TooMuchDew)
G.M.L.T.C.
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LEGO trains at Cupar Model Railway Show - The Corn Exchange, Cupar, Fife,
Scotland. 27th & 28th September
A LEGO train layout at this friendly local show where the children can operate
the trains. Everyone is welcome to come along, bring a train, a building or just
watch.
Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm, Sunday 10:00am - 4:30pm.
Charge: £3, Concession £2, Family £8 - free parking in the 'play ground' of the
old school adjacent to the hall.
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In lugnet.trains, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Scott Wardlaw wrote:
> > > The real broblem with the 7996, wether you metalize it or not is the linked
> > > switch controls. My next project is to split the controlls and add solenoids for
> >
> > I wish that I had read this a few months ago (when I should have). I just
> > bought a 7996 with the intention to convert it to 9V.
> >
> > I am very disapointed that you can not have both of the parallel straights
> > switched to go straight at the same time. The switching only allows for one to
> > be straight and the other must curve.
> >
> > I'd be happy to know if you have a good method of splitting the controls and
> > adding solenoids!
> >
> > Does anyone else have experience with splitting the 7996 controls, or adding
> > solenoids to a regular 9v switching point?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Scott
>
> splitting the controls for the doubble crossover can be done in a couple of
> ways. as soon as i get my hands on a set i will write up some instructions for
> everyone.
>
> as for selenoids there really is no need. automating 9v/rc switches is fairly
> straight forward. see:
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=109777&n=47 see photos that
> start with a "z" also there are literaly probably 100+ solutions to automate
> all you have to do is look.
> ondrew
I have altered the crossover controls to provide for an all-straight state by
tweaking the springs in the switching rails.
I have also motorized the crossover in such a way that it can be set straight,
TL-BR or BL-TR with two switches (both pneumatic!).
My solution needs just 8 plates below track level in order for there to be no
obstructions above ground, so that larger rail vehicles (8+ wide and 8mm scale)
can use the crossover without grounding or hitting the mechanism.
I ballasted the crossover while I was at it, so that it fits with my layout
ballast scheme.
Pictures here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=147934
Instructions for building it:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Technic/Pneumatics/Pneumo-Switch-Points/crossover_info.txt
Mark
=============================================================================
Mark J E Bellis 8mm scale LEGO trains
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Saturday 7th June 10:00am to 5:00pm
The Aberdour Boat Club, Aberdour, Fife, Scotland.
Aberdour is just over the Forth Bridge from Edinburgh. By air, there is now a
bus to Edinburgh Airport. By car, the Forth Bridge Toll has just been abolished
and at last the road linking the bridge to the Motorway has been built. By
train, Aberdour has a station, trains from Edinburgh etc.
This years theme will be "999" (police, fire, ambulance) and there will be the
ever popular "Show & Tell". Bring anything, it is not a competition. There will
be a monster dino 'battle/race'. There will be a few other fun competitions.
Everybody is welcome, Brickish members and non members.
See www.Brickish.org for more info
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