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Quite a few of us in the community have wanted a new track radius for a very
very long time. When we were in the 9v era the argument against it given was the
metal rails would be too expensive. Now that we are in the RC era and the track
is plastic the cost is considerably less. This in my opinion is enough of an
argument to bring the idea up again.
The main issue as I see it now is the cost of the mold. We as fans could
possibly make it happen but at possibly $50,000 (A guess) for the mold the cost
per unit would be in the $5-$10 range. This is certainly doable but is the
demand there? The other option as I see it is to talk Lego into making the mold.
Lego molds don't last forever and The Lego Group will need to eventually replace
the current curve track mold. If we as a community can make the argument that
the new Radius would be a win/win for both the company and the community In my
opinion I think its possible that we might get what we need. The obvious caveat
to this argument is the current switch geometry which relies on the current
curve track.
Here's a link to some drawings of a potential larger radiuses from a 2002 thread
<http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=28054>
Thoughts?
Ondrew
P.s. If someone knows how to properly price a plastic injection mold please do.
I personally would be willing to invest a few thousand to make this happen if
the mold price is reasonable.
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In lugnet.trains, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
[snip details about alternate radius curved tracks]
> Here's a link to some drawings of a potential larger radiuses from a 2002 thread
> <http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=28054>
I'm sure this has been discussed, but would it be better to make individual
sleeper plates along with flexible rails that can be attached to the sleepers?
That way, people can make whatever radius curves they need - even
variable-radius curves. And only 1 small die would be needed.
I guess the down side would be the challenge of anchoring individual sleepers
securely at arbitrary angles and positions. With monolithic curved tracks,
that's less of an issue.
Steve
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In lugnet.trains, Steve Bliss wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
> [snip details about alternate radius curved tracks]
>
> > Here's a link to some drawings of a potential larger radiuses from a 2002 thread
> > <http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=28054>
>
> I'm sure this has been discussed, but would it be better to make individual
> sleeper plates along with flexible rails that can be attached to the sleepers?
> That way, people can make whatever radius curves they need - even
> variable-radius curves. And only 1 small die would be needed.
>
> I guess the down side would be the challenge of anchoring individual sleepers
> securely at arbitrary angles and positions. With monolithic curved tracks,
> that's less of an issue.
>
> Steve
There are a few inherent issues with "flex track". Tying it into the current
system, safety since metal rails can be sharp, Transporting the segments exc.
Making just the ties was my initial idea too (apparently for other people as
well) but it does not keep system of play intact which I think is important to
the product gaining wide acceptance with both the AFOL community and the typical
lego fan.
Your post did bring up an idea however in that perhaps we can have the rails
molded much like the 12v system with the Me-models system modifications (the
overlapping ends) and if we really want to get crazy we can use Conductive
plastic to give 9v guys the rails you want too. Conductive plastic seems to be
pretty neat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OntMOoawwjk
http://www.electriplast.com/
Thoughts?
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In lugnet.trains, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
> pretty neat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OntMOoawwjk
> http://www.electriplast.com/
>
> Thoughts?
We actually looked into that and found that the conductivity wasn't uniform
across the entire piece.
-Eric
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