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> I'll see what I can do about modeling it.
It would certainly help my slow mind ;o) Though I think I got it through your
explainations.
>
> > And BTW, did you see this:
>
> I had not seen that. It's ... it's ... it's gorgeous! I'm stunned. I've been
> staring at it all morning, dissecting it, and ithcing to get home and build a
> version. I think this would work better than my cog-and-pin method, and I'm
> dying to try and implement this right away. I love the aesthetics of its
> functioning.
Very elegant and parts savvy, but I am not sure it would provide a design as
compact as yours.
>
> Thanks for the link! I expected a longer downtime before Rev. 2.0, but I don't
> think I can wait.
Sorry to disturb you ;o)
Philo
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
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As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
--snip (as is my own tendency ;) )--
Wow. I imagine if I had a clue how to build technic there’d be a few more wows
but you can tattoo me impressed as is.
Tim
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Tore Eriksson wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev, Michael Heidemann wrote:
> > The new version of LETGUI (http://letgui.mikeheide.kilu.de) is now available.
> > Also the updated version of some tools (mentioned here
> > http://news.lugnet.com/cad/dev/?n=10902) are in the installer. Some improvements
> > also to LETGUI. Also Edger is now included, some default values for Coverer and
> > Intersector are changed and the list of tools is now sorted to better find the
> > required tool.
> >
> > Have fun!
> >
> > cu
> > mikeheide
>
> Looks nifty! Is it possible to set it up towards other than your tools, like LDS
> and MFHead?
>
> /Tore
At present all supported tools are hard coded. So I can add also other tools if
needed. The idea of LETGUI was to have a starter for little command line tools
like those from Philo and some others. I never have used LDS but just have had a
look on the webpages (http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-20413/lds/lds.htm) and I think
I will add it with the next release if you want. Do I have your permission to
put also the files in the installer?
For MFHead I can not found any information how to use, so I am unable to put
that into the next release.
cu
mikeheide
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
Interesting. I thought this might be interesting to use in our displays...until
I read that it binds up in reverse. When we lose a car for whatever reason
(often some young kid’s hand straying where it ought not to), we usually
recouple by running the train in reverse to pick up the stragglers. Perhaps
your next iteration could have a slip gear system that disengages in reverse and
engages when going forward?
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As Dave Eaton likes to point out, the length of the outside rail on a
circular train track will be longer than the length of the inside rail. This
same effect holds true with nearly all train layouts that are seen in shows;
the length of one of the rails will be longer than the other. So the
question becomes – what do we truly want to measure? The distance the train
has gone around the outside rail? The distance along the inner rail? Or
some distance in between?
|
I would think it would measure the outer rail at high speeds and the inner rail
at slow speeds. The reasoning is that at slow speeds, assuming the motor bogey
is pulling rather than pushing, it will pull the train against the inside rail
so there will be more friction on that side of the bogeys. At high speeds,
however, momentum comes into effect, and if you’ve ever watched a LEGO train
moving at significant speed, anything but the most lightweight of cars will heel
over a bit when it slams into the curve, so the inner wheels will actually lose
contact with the rails for a bit as they lift up, while the outer wheels will be
pressed into the rail.
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Dinner, this Friday, August 8th, 7 pm, Swiss Chalet... be there with bells on,
or at least with something on.
Bring cool lego, or not, bring your partner, or not, bring an appetite or not
but for the sake of all things abs, at least bring yourself.
And yeah, I know this isnt my job, but since I'm driving 3 hours to see you
lovely ppl, I thought I would post about it.
Cant wait to see you all, take care,
Cheers,
Janey "Reddish Brickish"
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In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
> California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
>
> Is it a good one?
>
> Would you attend? Non-Californians?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
>
> I look forward to hearing your comments.
I'm in. Call me if you need someone to coordinate castle. :)
--Brendan Mauro (San Francisco)
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A nice explanation and reading. A better MOC.
Also intend to return later and read it more carefully. It is extensive, to get
everything at first. ;)
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted a new MOC here but it’s never too late to
pick up an old habit again. In a Dutch railway
magazine I saw an ad for MK Modelbouwstudio’s with a
picture of two hoppers. They seemed a nice prototype to do a model of so tried
their site for more pictures and found
these. From their site I also
learned that a Dutch heritage railway has
two of them. On their site I found
a picture of the prototype.
That was enough to get started. In what for me was a record time of one evening
I had a set of two. Quite happy
with the result. I might change the odd detail before showing them in public but
it won’t be anything dramatic.
These hoppers were built in the late 1940’s by Allan, a Dutch factory of rolling
stock and furniture. The company folded in 1959. The hoppers were kept in pairs
with fixed couplings and no buffers between them. They were in service for
nearly 40 years until they were replaced by
these in the mid 1980’s. Four
sets are still in use today; two are with heritage railways and two are with
Amsterdam public transport for tramway maintenance.
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> Right now both venues we like are hotels in Santa Clara and Foster City.
Santa Clara?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Boys>
Clara / Carla, whatever. I sir, am in.
Grandpa casually gets a root beer from the refrigerator and remarks, "One thing
about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach... all the damn vampires."
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Shaun,
Impressive work, both in construction and the write up! Welcome back to the
fold of trains (at least for a little bit)...did you know that the next National
Train show (that ILTCO has been particpating heavily since 2005) will be in
Hartford for 2009?
I can’t say enough about your MOC.. in fact, I don’t have time to read (or
comprehend it) while at work, so I’ll have to look at it more in detail later.
Ever think about doing an article about this for BrickJournal?
Scott Lyttle
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
Your “LEGOdometer” is amazing! I especially liked hearing about the design
process and the fact that the final product is purely mechanical. I’d never be
able to design something like this...
-Bryan
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In lugnet.technic, Ronald Vallenduuk wrote:
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
snip
Great idea! Tempting to build something similar for our next show...
The only disappointing part of the story is that it took a number of days of
computing power to come up with a solution that doesn’t use computing power
;-)
|
Tom Atkinson pointed out that same thing ... it’s something that never even
struck me while I was working on it. The irony just makes it all the more
ridiculous, in a fun way!
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In lugnet.technic, Philippe Hurbain wrote:
> Very impressive! I don't know what is the most amazing: the odometer
> itself or the extensive write-up ;o)
Thanks! Both were fun ;)
> Would you have more details (MLCad?) of the gearing/ratcheting between dials?
I don't yet, though I can easily do that. The 4-spoked technic joiners, when
turned, rotate the 16T gear at the opposite end of the dial. That gear then
connects to two idler gears which drive a 40T gear; that 40T gear then connects
through the framework to the next dial.
The ratchet mechanism is simply a rack gear on a loose technic pin that
interfaces with the 40T gear to ensure that it only rotates in one direction.
I'll see what I can do about modeling it.
> And BTW, did you see this:
I had not seen that. It's ... it's ... it's gorgeous! I'm stunned. I've been
staring at it all morning, dissecting it, and ithcing to get home and build a
version. I think this would work better than my cog-and-pin method, and I'm
dying to try and implement this right away. I love the aesthetics of its
functioning.
Thanks for the link! I expected a longer downtime before Rev. 2.0, but I don't
think I can wait.
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
Insane. Amazing. Shock. Awe. (and Spotlight.)
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
snip
Great idea! Tempting to build something similar for our next show...
The only disappointing part of the story is that it took a number of days of
computing power to come up with a solution that doesn’t use computing power ;-)
|
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Shaun Sullivan wrote:
| |
As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the
development of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
|
-- Major Snippage! --
Awesome MOC! It was interesting reading about the process you went through in
developing this vehicle. Thank you for sharing this fantastic work with everyone
here.
Cheers,
J.P. Manalo
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In lugnet.build, Timothy Gould wrote:
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Hi all,
Of late I’ve noticed a resurgence in the use of ‘minifig scale’ as a term.
Being a mathematically inclined pedant I tend to take issue with this term as
minifigs are so deformed it strikes me as impossible to define a single
‘scale’ to them.
As an indirect result of my pedantry I decided to try something out and do a
silhouette comparison shot featuring a person (me in fact) standing next to
minifigs at differing scales.
--BROKEN LINK--
For further fun I calculated another example: a Toyota Landcruiser. This has
a bonnet width of about 2m which translates to (rounding up) 7.2 studs
(1:35), 6.3 studs (1:40), 5.7 studs (1:44) or 5.2 studs (1:48).
Anyway, I hope this helps/annoys/amuses/entices/etc. someone else. I got a
giggle.
Tim
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Apologies for the self-response. I realised my original image was in error (ahhh
irony) and changed it on flickr. Unfortunately this means the link is now wrong
so I include the correct one below.
Tim
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In lugnet.starwars, Thomas Garrison wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Aug 2008, Kyle Beatty wrote:
> > How can one tell the difference?
>
> In the Type I version the rods are slightly longer and have a different
> position vertically. I can't remember if they're higher or lower than
> Type II. I thought Clark had an illustrative picture in his BrickShelf
> gallery, but I can't find it.
I don't know about the handle length issue, but the Type A plate has handles
that are centered vertically on the plate, and which do not meet flush with the
bottom of the plate. The Type B plate has handles that are slung lower and
blend into the bottom edge of the plate. You can see what the underside of the
Type A version looks like in the alternate photo on Peeron, here:
http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/3839a?img=19650
And I agree that it's probably an inventory error, probably of the "eh, looks
like the right part" variety.
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As is my tendency, here’s an absurdly long treatise describing the development
of a LEGO Train Odometer Car (a.k.a. the “LEGOdometer”).
A Little Background.
After religiously attending them for several years, I stopped going to LEGO
train shows in 2003. At that time I had reviewed my work-life-play balance, and
opted to focus my club-related LEGO commitments on the regular NELUG meetings
and Brikwars games instead of train shows. While I continued to build train
MOCs regularly I let my attendance at these great events lapse.
But when NELUG decided to participate in a small train show a mere 20 miles from
my house, I couldn’t resist. So I spent a couple of weeks repairing and
refurbishing all of my old trains, and finishing up some new offerings that
hadn’t been shown before.
The show itself was fantastic. The setup and teardown was smooth, the layout –
though significantly smaller than NELUG’s standard offering – looked great, and
all of the people we encountered were extremely pleasant. It was a wonderful
reintroduction into Train Shows, and I’m looking forward to reintegrating them
into my LEGO life.
While at the show I quickly remembered how much I enjoyed the audience and
participant enthusiasm, the gorgeous aesthetic of a full display … and the
inspirations that seem to come fast and frequently over the course of a Train
Show weekend. At one point during the weekend I asked myself, “Self, how far do
you think that train has gone this weekend?” I did some quick calculations and,
based on the size of the loop and its approximate speed compared to spectators
walking alongside it, came up with a distance of about 16-18 miles over two
days. An impressive achievement for a little toy running in circles! Still, I
thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to actually have an odometer to measure the
distance travelled … ?”
Well, we all know where that leads.
Some Objectives.
I had a couple of objectives in trying to design and build a working odometer:
- I wanted to it be compact enough to fit in with most trains. Ideally it would fit in with a 6-wide train.
- I wanted to optimize the accuracy so the measured error was as small as possible.
- I wanted the readout to be easily and instantly readable by a layperson. That is, I didn’t want to incorporate any conversions or esoteric displays that would require any explanation or extensive interpretation.
- I wanted the design to be robust. This train car was to be transported to and from shows, pulled around in a layout for hours on end, picked up and displayed for demonstration purposes, and all without skipping a beat. This meant it shouldn’t be fiddly, either.
- In general only standard LEGO components would be used. One notable exception was that I knew from the start I might end up using BBB wheels. Another was that I was willing to make custom labels for the number readouts. Those aside, I intended to use all official parts.
- No RCX or NXT! For some reason I get a kick out of solutions that incorporate old-school mechanisms to perform relatively complicated feats – especially if the same task could be achieved relatively easy with a microprocessor. Plus it drives Joe Comeau crazy that I refuse to use the power of computing, and that’s just sheer bonus.
How Should the Data be Displayed?
As I began to attack the problem, I came to the realization that there were two
elements that would inform much of the subsequent design: the distance display
scheme, and the measuring wheels with their reducing gear train. Of these, the
latter turned out to be the greater challenge.
In keeping with the robust design philosophy I quickly settled on using the new
technic tread links in the display. Besides linking together strongly, the fact
that they could accept technic half pegs ensured that numerical indicators could
be attached securely.
I initially envisioned using a simple gear reduction between the various dials;
that is, a constant mesh between the tenths and the units, and between the units
and the tens, and so on. As long as the gearing ratios were correct, this would
work fine. But it’s not how a mechanical car odometer works! The smallest unit
on an old fashioned car odometer rotates continuously, but all of the other
dials “click” into place, from one digit to the next. This makes it easy to
read, in that only the last dial needs to be interpolated between the digits. I
decided to try and emulate this functionality. This would entail some sort of
periodic engagement to advance the next dial the correct amount – more
challenging, but more in line with the design aesthetic I was after. Besides,
it was important that a layperson could read the results, and most people would
not want to try and interpolate the mileage off a series of 4 or 5 “in-between”
readings.
My initial display attempt used the small technic link gears and a belt of 20
links. Every other link had a small brick block attached to it on which a
number label could be attached. A technic pin on one link could easily engage
with a three-bladed propeller tied to the next dial and turn it 120 degrees with
every revolution. Coincidentally, 120 degrees on the small link gears is 2
teeth, which corresponds to two links – perfect! This would advance the next
dial exactly one digit for every complete revolution. Unfortunately, this
20-link belt ended up being quite large. When assembled, my train car was much
too tall. There was no way it would fit in with a 6-wide train, so it was back
to the drawing board.
The large technic link gears, on the other hand, were also appealing in that
they had ten teeth – just right for a 10-digit display. Using these, my display
assembly could be much smaller. In order to advance the next dial one digit for
every full revolution the reduction between dials would have to be 1:10. I
opted to use a spoked interface to achieve the periodic dial-advancing
engagement; the readily available small spoked pieces I could find were
2-bladed, 3-bladed, and 4-bladed. Of these, the best combination I came up with
was the “Technic Pin Joiner Round with Four Bars 1L” (which during the
engagement that occurs with every revolution will advance 90 degrees, or 1
blade, for a 1:4 reduction), plus a 16-to-40 tooth gear interface (for an
additional 1:2.5 reduction – for a total of 1:10!).
Brickbuilt “panels” were attached to technic chain links wrapped around the
10-tooth link gear. Labels were made using a Casio EZ-Label Printer with 9mm
white tape.
Which Drive Wheels Should be Used?
This question plagued me right up to the end of the project. Clearly the wheel
needed to be compatible with LEGO track layouts, and it had to accept an axle so
it can interface with the rest of the system.
On one hand a larger wheel – like a BBB wheel – provides a larger moment around
the central axis when running. This larger moment could help overcome any
friction in the gear train and prevent wheel slipping, ensuring a high level of
accuracy. On the other hand, it’s not an official LEGO part.
Alternatively, the new LEGO Power Functions drive wheel – with its rubber band
for additional friction – was an appealing option. Besides being an official
part the rubber band promised a no-slip advantage. Even after I had built the
entire design using BBB wheels, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe I should use
the Power Functions wheels instead, so I started working on the analysis
required to incorporate them. I needed to know the “official” running diameter
of the wheel for all subsequent gear train calculations, so I enlisted the
assistance that greatest purveyor of LEGO-related trivia, minutiae, and detailed
information, Dave Eaton. While he sought out official word, he conducted some
bench tests in his own kitchen. During these tests he noted that the rubber
bands, while they themselves never slipped against the track, did at times slip
against the wheels. That is, the rubber bands could rotate independently of
the wheel axle – which is an unacceptable feature when rotational integrity is
paramount! Suddenly my choice was much easier – official wheels were off the
design board, and the BBB wheel design could stand!
Coincidentally, the larger wheels have another advantage. Because they rotate
fewer times per linear distance traversed, the required gear reduction is less.
This generally equates to (a) shorter computational times in the optimization
program, and (b) fewer gears in the reducing gear train, which is easier to
package and introduces less lash into the system.
Calculating the Gear Train.
This was really the meat and potatoes of the exercise. To what level of
accuracy could LEGO gears translate a wheel’s rotation into a real-world measure
of distance? This calculation starts at the beginning; the drive wheels. Using
a pair of calipers I took a series of measurements of the BBB wheel diameters.
Not-so-coincidentally, my measurements matched Ben’s cited 30.4mm drive diameter
extremely well, so that number was confirmed to my satisfaction.
Based on my initial estimates of how far a train might travel in a show, I knew
I wanted the readout to have a display range greater than 10 miles. At the same
time I also wanted to ensure that an astute viewer could actually see some
change in the odometer as the train travelled. The former requirement argued
for pushing the readout into the higher places, while the latter argued for
pushing it into the lower places. Between these two competing philosophies I
settled on a range of 99.99 miles. That is, the highest dial would display the
tens, and the lowest dial would display the hundredths.
The next step was to figure out how many rotations the wheels would make if they
were to travel the distance represented by one full revolution of the
smallest-place dial. As I had settled upon hundredths as the smallest increment
of measurement, a full rotation of that dial represents one-tenth of a mile.
Therefore the target gear reduction could be calculated by determining how many
times the drive wheel would rotate, n, over the course of one tenth of a linear
mile of travel; this then becomes the target gear reduction 1:n.
In order to obsessively optimize the accuracy of the gear reduction, I left
nothing to chance. I wrote a Visual Basic program that would semi-brute-force
through all of the possible combinations of gear reductions that can be achieved
using standard LEGO parts, and continuously retain the combination that produced
the smallest error as compared to the target gear reduction. I refer to the
method as only “semi-brute-force” in that the program utilized several criteria
on the basis of which it would rule out various combinations. For one, the
program was limited only to “clean” gear combinations, or ones that would
interface smoothly; no 14-tooth bevel gear meshed to a 24-tooth spur gear. For
another, the program would skip combinations that were getting progressively
worse; if an additional 1:8 reduction overshot the target reduction by more than
the current error, the program would automatically skip 1:12, 1:16, 1:20, 1:24,
1:36, and 1:40.
With the BBB wheels and a reasonably small target distance (one-tenth of a
mile), the program would run through all of the possible combinations and come
up with a solution within about 15 minutes. I also tested the design envelope –
using the small BBB wheels and a 1-mile distance increment, the calculation took
just over 2 days to cycle through all of the allowed combinations!
At the end of this exercise, a gear train with the greatest possible accuracy
was identified. Even so, this was not necessarily the exact one I would
incorporate. Because there are often multiple combinations that can produce the
same reduction using standard LEGO gearing, I would manipulate the results to
maintain the same overall ratio but optimize the actual part selection. For
example, I might replace a 12:20 and 20:36 pair of reductions with a single
12:36 or 8:24, or vice versa. Various design considerations informed these
substitutions. In general, it was preferable to reduce the number of gears, so
as to minimize lash. Similarly, I tried to minimize the number of 8:x gear
reductions, as I’ve never been pleased with the amount of lash when using an
8-tooth gear. Furthermore, the 40-tooth gear could only be used sparingly, as
it would have to be aligned near the center of the car body in order to keep the
overall car size down.
Still, the final results were impressive and pleasing. Given the assumptions
that went into the calculations (no slip on the track, all gear lash taken up,
and accurate wheel diameter measurements) I was able to achieve an actual gear
reduction that had an error of 0.1423% from the target – or better than 8 feet
per mile. That is, when the dial on the odometer reads 1 mile, the actual
distance gone by the car is 1 mile and 7.5 feet. Not bad! This was
accomplished using a gear train consisting of 1x1:24, 3x12:20, 4x16:24, and
1x8:24 reductions.
And that, as they say … was the easy part. Next came packaging.
One of the original goals was to keep the design as compact as possible. I knew
this would entail packing the gears in as tightly as possible, and that I would
end up going mad if I tried to sort out the optimal design in real brick. I was
not limited to studs-up construction, and I was willing to use offsets as small
as half-stud and single plates. In fact, I might have even tried to do some
fancy SNOTwork to incorporate half-plate offsets if there were a demonstrable
advantage, but fortunately it never came to that.
Instead of going mad, I opted for virtual layouts using MLCAD. I can’t
recommend this process enough – especially when working with gear trains in 2 or
3 dimensions. It is much easier to move a gear virtually and check alignments
that to do it in real life, with all of the axle and technic brick rearranging
that entails. Still, my computer shows 39 separate and unique variations on the
gear layout design as I went through the process – and even most of those
represent some evolution as I worked on them.
As much as possible, the large gear reduction pairs were frontloaded toward the
beginning of the entire geartrain. This was an intentional design choice, as I
wanted to make sure that the system developed as much torque as possible as
quickly as possible. This would then allow the friction from the relatively
smooth rolling contact between the BBB wheels and the rails to overcome all of
the gear friction in the train, plus the significant force needed to rotate one
or more of the higher-denomination display wheels.
For the few designs that I did build, the actual construction was
straightforward. Using an MLCAD layout as a schematic, I could assemble the
framework and build the entire assembly from scratch within an hour or so. To
summarize the geartrain design process:
- Determine the contact diameter of the measuring wheels
- Specify the smallest increment size to be displayed
- Run the VB gearing optimization program to determine the best gear reduction
- Manually evaluate and substitute equivalent gear combinations, while retaining the same overall gear reduction
- Use MLCAD to virtually arrange gears into a compact and robust package
- Build real-life gear train according to MLCAD design
This process was repeated many times before the final arrangement was
determined.
Clearly this design uses a large number of gears meshed in series. In order to
reduce the effect of lash in the gearing, all of the dials have a progressing
ratcheting gear; they “click” into place as they advance, and cannot swing back
with vibration or motion. The only exception is the smallest-denomination dial,
which is geared directly to the wheels.
As a direct result of this ratcheting feature, the train is unidirectional; it
will bind up if run backwards. There are a number of arrows on the car to
indicate the proper direction of motion. One benefit of this unidirectional
design is that the slack in the gears should never be a problem. Once the
system has taken up all of its gear lash in the forward direction there is never
any more slack.
What’s Not Ideal?
As Dave Eaton likes to point out, the length of the outside rail on a circular
train track will be longer than the length of the inside rail. This same effect
holds true with nearly all train layouts that are seen in shows; the length of
one of the rails will be longer than the other. So the question becomes – what
do we truly want to measure? The distance the train has gone around the outside
rail? The distance along the inner rail? Or some distance in between?
As implemented right now, the LEGOdometer will measure some distance that lies
between the outer and inner rails, but exactly where in that range cannot easily
be determined. The current design has two outer wheels linked by solid axles to
the two inner wheels; these two axles are then geared together so that their
rotations are tied together. Because the outer rail is longer, some of the
wheels will have to slip when the car goes around a curve. In one extreme case,
it would be the inner wheels that always slipped; in that case, the outer wheels
would remain in perfect contact with the outer rail, and the measured distance
would be that of the outer rail. Conversely, if the outer wheels always slipped
to accommodate the different lengths of the two rails, the measured distance
would correspond to the length of the inner rail. In actuality it is likely a
blend of both inner and outer wheels slipping at different times, creating a
quasi-averaged value that lies somewhere between the two.
A secondary effect to this actually occurs just as the truck enters or exits a
curve. Because both wheel axles are geared together, the leading wheel pair is
forced to rotate at the same speed as the trailing wheel pair. But when the
leading pair has entered the curve while the trailing pair has not, one of the
two pairs (or a combination of both pairs) is slipping. Conversely, the same
thing will happen when the car exits a curve. In theory these effects would
cancel each other out, but if they don’t they could introduce some error to the
measurement.
Ideally, I like the idea of implementing a differential between inner and outer
axles. This would average the length of the two rails, giving a “centerline”
distance traveled. I have assembled a couple versions of a differential
wheelset, but have opted against using it so far since the trucks that house
them are significantly wider.
So How Well Does It Meet the Objectives?
On this score I am pleased! To address each of the objectives in turn:
- Size: having this as a consistent design goal produced great results. The overall dimensions of the “final” design are 10-3/8 L x 2-3/16 W x 4-7/8 inches H (~33 studs L x 8 studs W x 1 5 studs H). Although the car is about 8 studs wide at its widest, much of the body is actually between 6 and 7 studs wide. All told it is small enough to fit in with many 6-wide trains. It is, however, relatively heavy! Even after swapping out all of the regular bricks for lighter technic bricks, it weighs in at 1.47 lbs! This could be an issue if it were part of a long train, but on a moderate length train the motors should have no problem. On the other hand that mass ensures good contact between the wheels and the rails, such that the gear resistance does not induce any unwanted slip in the system.
- Measurement Accuracy: Accurate to within 7.5 feet per mile while measuring a distance that lies somewhere between the inner and outer rails! With an option to swap out the truck for a differential version that specifically measures the mid-rail distance!
- Readability: I’m mostly pleased with this. It’s not quite as intuitive as I’d like, but once someone is told where to look (“read the numbers along the orange markers”) the digits are legible and clear, easy to pick out. The decimal point isn’t quite ideal – in fact, as I’m typing this I’m realizing that it would probably be better to make the decimal dials in a different color for clarity. Still, with about 10 seconds of instruction anyone would be able to make out the reading, even as it goes by as part of a moving train.
- Durability: Success! I’ve moved this car around all over the place, taken it to show people, brought it into work on multiple occasions, and never had a single piece fall off. It requires one calibration during construction to ensure that all of the gears between the dials are aligned correctly, but from then on it’s simple to reset. I really like that the design is not at all fiddly!
- Standard LEGO only: The exceptions that I’ve made here – BBB wheels, and Tape Labels – were ones I anticipated going into the project. I sleep okay at night with the choices I made.
- No RCX or NXT: Ha! Mindstorms is for cheaters ;)
The total build time was about 2 months, 6 days a week, about an hour a day. So
that comes out to … about 50 hours of actual build time? On top of that, there
were about 10 hours of VB programming, and probably close to 20 hours of MLCAD
geartrain layout work (39 iterations!). Add to that a couple hours of Bricklink
order compilation, various technical investigations, photography and a 3700-word
write-up, and the whole effort tallies up to about 100 hours. Roughly.
Other images are available
here.
So Let’s See it Work!
Done! For the purposes of demonstration I threw together a simple drive stand
that will set the wheels spinning. Here are two short videos: the first shows
the straightforward rotation of the hundredths dial. The second shows the
engagement of all four dials flipping over when the LEGOdometer passes any value
of the form X9.99.
Video 1
Video 2
x-posted to .trains, .technic, www.trains-n-town.com, and www.nelug.org
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In lugnet.cad.dev.mac, Joseph Gonzalez wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.mac, Jim DeVona wrote:
| |
Hi folks. Here is a little model loosely inspired by the Vipers of
Battlestar Galactica. As with some of my other models, it is built with a
single copy of the B-Wing Fighter (set 6208).
|
terrific model, jim.
the benefits of such a posting are compounded by not only posting the (very
professional-looking) instructions but by the fact that it’s an alternate
model. a fan can buy the one set and have all the parts for the model right
at hand (no scrounging through a huge pile of parts or having to order
individual pieces to make the model).
keep up the great work!!
..joseph g
|
Thanks for the compliments.
I agree with your point about the appeal of alternate models. In fact, you’ve
nearly uncovered my master plan:
- Build alternate models
- Make instructions
- ?
- Profit!
Here’s a bonus:
Jim
|
|
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.mac, Jim DeVona wrote:
| |
Hi folks. Here is a little model loosely inspired by the Vipers of Battlestar
Galactica. As with some of my other models, it is built with a single copy of
the B-Wing Fighter (set 6208).
|
terrific model, jim.
the benefits of such a posting are compounded by not only posting the (very
professional-looking) instructions but by the fact that it’s an alternate model.
a fan can buy the one set and have all the parts for the model right at hand (no
scrounging through a huge pile of parts or having to order individual pieces to
make the model).
keep up the great work!!
..joseph g
|
|
| |
In lugnet.general, Brian Kendig wrote:
> I remember when Lego polybags were everywhere - you know, the little crinkly
> plastic bags that hung on racks on endcaps in Target and Walmart and even
> grocery stores, that contained a twenty- or thirty-piece set, usually with one
> minifig, for three or four dollars?
>
> I realized it's been years since I've seen a polybag set anywhere! I was looking
> for Indiana Jones sets and decrying that the cheapest set is $10 and the prices
> ramp up sharply from there - if anything was the perfect opportunity for a
> little polybag set, it's Indiana Jones.
>
> What ever happened to polybags? What was the last polybag set released?
If you count the sets included with a Brickmaster subscription, then polybags
are still around, though those sets are a little larger, perhaps 60-100
elements. And you can still find some of the Creator polybag sets at LEGO Brand
Retail stores.
The Indiana Jones Jungle Cruiser set (a jeep) was included with Brickmaster
around the May issue.
-Jordan Schwarz
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I remember when Lego polybags were everywhere - you know, the little crinkly
plastic bags that hung on racks on endcaps in Target and Walmart and even
grocery stores, that contained a twenty- or thirty-piece set, usually with one
minifig, for three or four dollars?
I realized it's been years since I've seen a polybag set anywhere! I was looking
for Indiana Jones sets and decrying that the cheapest set is $10 and the prices
ramp up sharply from there - if anything was the perfect opportunity for a
little polybag set, it's Indiana Jones.
What ever happened to polybags? What was the last polybag set released?
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Ride-Share / Room-share
Looking to share a ride to BrickFair? Or to share a room at BrickFair?
Check out the message board: http://www.BrickFair.com/travel/RideShare.asp
Watching Your MOC
New to the LEGO fan festival experience? Worried about your MOC? There’s
little need to “guard” your MOC. AFOLs are a largely friendly community.
Public hours may be a small concern, but stanchion chains discourage visitors
from touching.
Program Guide
The print-date for our program guide (hopefully with your name in it) has been
backed up to August 11th. Register and pay by August 10th to be included in the
program guide! We want your name in there for posterity!
See you at BrickFair this Labor Day!
Todd
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On Mon, 4 Aug 2008, Kyle Beatty wrote:
> In lugnet.starwars, David Simmons wrote:
> > While composing some HTML related to the variations of part #3839a, Plate 1 x
> > 2 with Handles Type 1 (a Classic Space part), I was shocked to discover on
> > Peeron that this part was {apparently} made in dark bley in this set!
> >
> > This seems to me to be an error of some kind, as #3839b, Plate 1 x 2 with
> > Handles Type 2, has been the replacement for years.
> >
> > Can anyone who has purchased this set set the record straight?
> How can one tell the difference?
In the Type I version the rods are slightly longer and have a different
position vertically. I can't remember if they're higher or lower than
Type II. I thought Clark had an illustrative picture in his BrickShelf
gallery, but I can't find it.
--
TWS Garrison
http://www.morfydd.net/twsg/
LEGO: CA+++ SW++ GA+c #++++++ LS+++ P+++++ YB77m
Remove capital letters in address for direct reply.
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In lugnet.starwars, David Simmons wrote:
| |
Hey all,
While composing some HTML related to the variations of part #3839a, Plate 1 x
2 with Handles Type 1 (a Classic Space part), I was shocked to discover on
Peeron that this part was apparently made in dark bley in this set!
This seems to me to be an error of some kind, as #3839b, Plate 1 x 2 with
Handles Type 2, has been the replacement for years.
Can anyone who has purchased this set set the record straight?
Just curious!
Dave S.
|
How can one tell the difference?
In any case, here is what is in my Trade Federation MTT™
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| |
Hey all,
While composing some HTML related to the variations of part #3839a, Plate 1 x 2
with Handles Type 1 (a Classic Space part), I was shocked to discover on Peeron
that this part was apparently made in dark bley in this set!
This seems to me to be an error of some kind, as #3839b, Plate 1 x 2 with
Handles Type 2, has been the replacement for years.
Can anyone who has purchased this set set the record straight?
Just curious!
Dave S.
|
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Here are instructions for a trio of popular starships you can build with pieces from the
7657 AT-ST set: the Battlestar Galactica,
the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, and the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. You
can build all three at once.
The models aren’t terribly accurate, but given the constraints I think they’re
recognizable.
If anyone actually builds these, I’d love to see pictures of the results! Let me
know how the instructions could be improved, too.
Jim
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Thanks for sharing. Great MOCs.
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In lugnet.build.military, Magnus Lauglo wrote:
> A while ago, I also built the Shark stealth attack boat:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/78224984@N00/sets/72157605504828674/
>
>
> The Shark is built on the police boat hull, and has various hidden weapons that
> pop out to deal with various threats. It has a crew of five and can carry
> different weapons systems, depending on the mission.
I really like that boat. The pop-out weapon systems are impressive and look like
a lot of fun, too.
Jim
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Hi all,
I haven't posted my MOCs to Lugnet in a while.
My newest military vehicle is the Griffin heavy lift helicopter:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78224984@N00/sets/72157606526384720/
It has motorized rotors and interior lights, retracting landing gear, a side
door, a rear ramp, and side guns for defense. It can carry a wide range of
paylods such as 18 fully equipped soldiers, or two light armored vehicles.
A while ago, I also built the Shark stealth attack boat:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78224984@N00/sets/72157605504828674/
The Shark is built on the police boat hull, and has various hidden weapons that
pop out to deal with various threats. It has a crew of five and can carry
different weapons systems, depending on the mission.
I've also recently taken pix of my Skylifter tilt rotor that I built last year.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78224984@N00/sets/72157605504623086/
The Skylifter was obviously inspired by the V-22 Osprey. It can carry twelve
soldiers in the cabin, or alternatively jettison its cabin completely in order
to pick up a light armored vehicle.
Thanks for checking them out!
Magnus
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In lugnet.starwars, Kyle Beatty wrote:
...
| |
The alternative nose art is a hoot.
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Bonjour
Voici la lettre d'information du site "FreeLUG : French Enthusiast LEGO(c)
User Group" (http://www.freelug.org).
Cette lettre recense les articles et les brèves publiés depuis 1 jour.
Nouveaux articles
--------------------------
** La construction de structures **
par Eric "f1tvf" Létang le 2 août 2008
La construction de structures est souvent nécessaire pour la réalisation
de grands et gros modèles comme des immeubles, montagnes, personnages à
l'échelle 1 et bien plus encore !
-> http://www.freelug.org/article.php3?id_article=773
--
Erik Amzallag
FreeLUG - French Enthusiast LEGO User Group
http://www.freelug.org/
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In lugnet.cad.dev.mac, Jim DeVona wrote:
| |
Hi folks. Here is a little model loosely inspired by the Vipers of Battlestar
Galactica. As with some of my other models, it is built with a single copy of
the B-Wing Fighter (set 6208).
What I’d really like to share, however, is my appreciation for the great
LDraw tools we have today. In particular, I think the quality of the building
instructions we can create is just phenomenal. I used
Bricksmith 2,
LDView, and
LPub 4 to digitize the model and create
these instructions. Some steps could certainly be organized better (and I
welcome your suggestions), but the truth is I’m quite proud of how sharp
these instructions look:
|
snip
| |
It wouldn’t be possible without the hard work Allen, Travis, and Kevin have
put into the continued improvement of their wonderful programs. Thanks, too,
to the part authors and everyone else who has contributed to the LDraw
system.
One reason I am enthusiastic about this is that I see quality instructions as
a link between the LDraw community and other LEGO fans. Instructions make
LDraw models accessible to people who are not LDraw users - and the prospect
of documenting MOCs with nice instructions could certainly interest more
builders in LDraw.
Thoughts and comments?
Jim
|
A really good-looking model. I second your thoughts about the value of nice
instructions to go with MOCs. I appreciate your expression of generosity by
doing all that work. You play well!
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| |
In lugnet.events, Scott Lyttle wrote:
> Russell, This non-Californian would definitely be open to it, depending on
> dates. (So far, I figure you can knock July 10-18th out, as that's NMRA
> national in Milwaukee).
>
> I would figure locating a convention somewhat near a LEGO store is also useful,
> as you may be able to work with a store manager for potential "convention
> discounts".
I already have the support of one Northern California LEGO store manager, as
well as support from a few other notable people.
Russell
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|
| |
In lugnet.events, Tommy Armstrong wrote:
> Of course I could research all this on my own, but if I was flying from North
> Carolna to Northern California, I would definitely like to at least have a brief
> visit to San Francisco. Is it relatively easy to get there--is the BART going to
> where you are planning on having it. Just curious and of course not a deal
> breaker, but there might be a few of us souls who have never seen SF and would
> want to tag a little sidetrip to it. Kind of spread the airfare out over LEGO
> and sightseeing. As I said, the last time I was there the BART was in its first
> or second year--I think.
Not necessarily BART, but CalTrain is relatively close to both sites.
> Of course a tour of Google and Apple would be interesting also.
That is something I can look into, but I doubt it would be fruitful.
> I really do not think a LEGO store should be an overiding requirement. But maybe
> by that time there would be some mechanism for LEGO, if it wanted to, to
> discount heavily some special Shop at Home items only for the registrants.
There are two LEGO stores in Northern California, one in Santa Clara and one in
San Mateo. Both cities are being checked for venues.
> The weather there in the winter is nice--so that is the time to have it. A
> relief from the cold for a great number of people.
We are looking at mid-Spring 2010.
Russell
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Indulge your LEGO fantasies at Schaumburg’s Discovery Center
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=224256
Once you pull into the Streets of Woodfield, it’s nearly impossible to miss the
new LEGOLAND Discovery Center.
The first Discovery Center to open outside Germany, the Schaumburg site is
marked by an enormous giraffe made entirely of LEGO. And the feats of building
with the blocks only get more impressive when you head inside.
Lots of the features in LEGOLAND were imported directly from Europe, but the
first attraction is pure Chicago. The center features a scale model of the
city’s skyline and most famous landmarks, including Buckingham Fountain and Navy
Pier complete with a spinning Ferris wheel. The display rotates from day to
night about every three minutes with the room darkening and illuminated only by
miniature lights on the building.
Along with the automated changes, the skyline also has some interactive
features. A touch of a button will push a fire engine out of a building with
lights and sirens blaring while another button triggers perhaps the most
signature image of Chicago, vehicles moving around a construction site.
Visitors then pass into a LEGO safari. The jungle room features block tigers and
lizards, moving monkeys and a fountain pool where hippos and ‘gators lurk among
LEGO lily-pads. Walls are lined with questions for kids to answer on quiz cards,
which they receive at the beginning of the expedition.
A full-sized LEGO statue of Indiana Jones marks the transition from jungle to
the LEGO Hall of Fame. You can pose next to Darth Vader, R2-D2, Harry Potter,
Hagrid or Batman. It’s a major photo opportunity.
After getting your fill of pictures, head onto the Dragon Ride. The slow tour
through a medieval castle might be creepy for little kids, with LEGO skeletons
hanging from walls and a giant steam-breathing dragon resting on a horde of
treasure at the end.
Some designer apparently had a serious thing for LEGO rats, which infest the
ride and also have a home on the shelves of the cafe. The cafe itself is a
little like a primary-colored Starbucks, with lots of comfortable chairs and
couches along with larger tables for groups. It provides a spot to rest your
feet a little, while snacking on a salad and Vitamin Water or a hot dog and
cookie depending on your tastes.
The Starbucks comparison stops at the noise level. The open area also houses the
most interactive parts of LEGOLAND, where you can actually play with the blocks.
You can build a LEGO car and race it down the speed ramp, where a clock will say
how long the trip took, or construct a tower and put it on an earthquake table
to see how much shaking your creation withstands. The same open area also
features a climbing play set and a pit full of DUPLOs for younger kids.
LEGOLAND’s second floor hosts its two timed attractions. The “4D” movie was
directly imported from Germany, which works out fine because there’s no
dialogue. That doesn’t keep the 3D film from being both adorable and funny, with
one of the more clever parts involving a man tending to a horse discarding
several normal looking shoes before finding a square one to actually fit the
LEGO animal’s foot. The fourth dimension - spoiler alert! - comes from water,
air and even snow sprayed out at the audience as the movie follows an adventure
to save a kingdom from a wizard and his skeletal army.
The other big attraction is the LEGO Factory, where enthusiastic employees in
white lab coats show how the signature bricks are made, with bright colored
granules heated up into a liquid and then shaped into blocks that move along a
conveyor belt. At the end of the fun there is, of course, a large LEGO store.
The one part open without admission, the store lets you indulge any newly
rekindled LEGO mania by browsing play sets and even individual pieces in a
variety of shapes and colors before heading back out to the rounder world.
LEGOLAND Discovery Center
601 N. Martingale Road, Schaumburg, (847) 466-1312;
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Admission: $19, $15 for kids, $17 for seniors. Annual passes available.
http://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com
|
|
| |
Indulge your LEGO fantasies at Schaumburg’s Discovery Center
Once you pull into the Streets of Woodfield, it’s nearly impossible to miss the
new LEGOLAND Discovery Center.
The first Discovery Center to open outside Germany, the Schaumburg site is
marked by an enormous giraffe made entirely of LEGO. And the feats of building
with the blocks only get more impressive when you head inside.
Lots of the features in LEGOLAND were imported directly from Europe, but the
first attraction is pure Chicago. The center features a scale model of the
city’s skyline and most famous landmarks, including Buckingham Fountain and Navy
Pier complete with a spinning Ferris wheel. The display rotates from day to
night about every three minutes with the room darkening and illuminated only by
miniature lights on the building.
Along with the automated changes, the skyline also has some interactive
features. A touch of a button will push a fire engine out of a building with
lights and sirens blaring while another button triggers perhaps the most
signature image of Chicago, vehicles moving around a construction site.
Visitors then pass into a LEGO safari. The jungle room features block tigers and
lizards, moving monkeys and a fountain pool where hippos and ‘gators lurk among
LEGO lily-pads. Walls are lined with questions for kids to answer on quiz cards,
which they receive at the beginning of the expedition.
A full-sized LEGO statue of Indiana Jones marks the transition from jungle to
the LEGO Hall of Fame. You can pose next to Darth Vader, R2-D2, Harry Potter,
Hagrid or Batman. It’s a major photo opportunity.
After getting your fill of pictures, head onto the Dragon Ride. The slow tour
through a medieval castle might be creepy for little kids, with LEGO skeletons
hanging from walls and a giant steam-breathing dragon resting on a horde of
treasure at the end.
Some designer apparently had a serious thing for LEGO rats, which infest the
ride and also have a home on the shelves of the cafe. The cafe itself is a
little like a primary-colored Starbucks, with lots of comfortable chairs and
couches along with larger tables for groups. It provides a spot to rest your
feet a little, while snacking on a salad and Vitamin Water or a hot dog and
cookie depending on your tastes.
The Starbucks comparison stops at the noise level. The open area also houses the
most interactive parts of LEGOLAND, where you can actually play with the blocks.
You can build a LEGO car and race it down the speed ramp, where a clock will say
how long the trip took, or construct a tower and put it on an earthquake table
to see how much shaking your creation withstands. The same open area also
features a climbing play set and a pit full of DUPLOs for younger kids.
LEGOLAND’s second floor hosts its two timed attractions. The “4D” movie was
directly imported from Germany, which works out fine because there’s no
dialogue. That doesn’t keep the 3D film from being both adorable and funny, with
one of the more clever parts involving a man tending to a horse discarding
several normal looking shoes before finding a square one to actually fit the
LEGO animal’s foot. The fourth dimension - spoiler alert! - comes from water,
air and even snow sprayed out at the audience as the movie follows an adventure
to save a kingdom from a wizard and his skeletal army.
The other big attraction is the LEGO Factory, where enthusiastic employees in
white lab coats show how the signature bricks are made, with bright colored
granules heated up into a liquid and then shaped into blocks that move along a
conveyor belt. At the end of the fun there is, of course, a large LEGO store.
The one part open without admission, the store lets you indulge any newly
rekindled LEGO mania by browsing play sets and even individual pieces in a
variety of shapes and colors before heading back out to the rounder world.
LEGOLAND Discovery Center
601 N. Martingale Road, Schaumburg, (847) 466-1312;
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Admission: $19, $15 for kids, $17 for seniors. Annual passes available.
http://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com
|
|
| |
A Unlicensed Lamp that looks like a LEGO brick.
http://technabob.com/blog/2008/07/31/lego-lamp-is-blocky-and-bright/
These clever desk lamps get their inspiration from classic LEGO building blocks.
Designed by Japan’s 25togo, these LED illuminated acrylic block lamps look just
like a giant-size version of the popular plastic playthings.
The blocks have a snap-off top layer that’s designed to hold pens, pencils and
other office items. Each brick measures in at appx. 6”x 4” x 2.4”, making them
about 100 times larger than a 2x3 peg standard LEGO.
While they don’t actually show multiple lamps interlocked, I don’t see any
reason why you couldn’t stack a bunch of these lamps to create large,
illuminated sculptures.
At this point, the lamps are available only through 25togo’s online shop, and
sell for just Yen 1600 (appx. $15 USD) each.
25togo Design Store
(Japanese store link)
http://www.25togo.com/store/Product.aspx?pc_id=00001&prod_id=0000019
|
|
| |
In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> In lugnet.events, Adrian Egli wrote:
> > My question right now is where would you hold this? Convention center? Hotel
> > w/ convention facilities?
>
> Right now both venues we like are hotels in Santa Clara and Foster City.
>
> > Last thought- Think Google could sponsor this???
>
> I know they like LEGO...
>
> Russell
Of course I could research all this on my own, but if I was flying from North
Carolna to Northern California, I would definitely like to at least have a brief
visit to San Francisco. Is it relatively easy to get there--is the BART going to
where you are planning on having it. Just curious and of course not a deal
breaker, but there might be a few of us souls who have never seen SF and would
want to tag a little sidetrip to it. Kind of spread the airfare out over LEGO
and sightseeing. As I said, the last time I was there the BART was in its first
or second year--I think.
Of course a tour of Google and Apple would be interesting also.
I really do not think a LEGO store should be an overiding requirement. But maybe
by that time there would be some mechanism for LEGO, if it wanted to, to
discount heavily some special Shop at Home items only for the registrants.
The weather there in the winter is nice--so that is the time to have it. A
relief from the cold for a great number of people.
Tommy Armstrong
The BrickEngraver
|
|
| |
Hi folks. Here is a little model loosely inspired by the Vipers of Battlestar
Galactica. As with some of my other models, it is built with a single copy of
the B-Wing Fighter (set 6208).
What I’d really like to share, however, is my appreciation for the great LDraw
tools we have today. In particular, I think the quality of the building
instructions we can create is just phenomenal. I used
Bricksmith 2,
LDView, and
LPub 4 to digitize the model and create these
instructions. Some steps could certainly be organized better (and I welcome your
suggestions), but the truth is I’m quite proud of how sharp these instructions
look:
It wouldn’t be possible without the hard work Allen, Travis, and Kevin have put
into the continued improvement of their wonderful programs. Thanks, too, to the
part authors and everyone else who has contributed to the LDraw system.
One reason I am enthusiastic about this is that I see quality instructions as a
link between the LDraw community and other LEGO fans. Instructions make LDraw
models accessible to people who are not LDraw users - and the prospect of
documenting MOCs with nice instructions could certainly interest more builders
in LDraw.
Thoughts and comments?
Jim
|
|
| |
Hello All,
I've put the definitive 1.0 version online.
Bug fixes, some minor new features and a new sample called "escape". I
am quite proud on this new 'action movie' so I hope you like it.
You'll find the release here:
http://www.ld4dstudio.nl/downloads
It's release notes are here:
http://www.ld4dstudio.nl/downloads/releaseNotes
You can install this one over any old one, an uninstall is unnecessary.
I'm also working on the 1.1 version with Povray export support and many
more new features. I'm not sure when it will be done, it will be several
months at least. In meanwhile no more 1.0 versions will be released
unless there is a major bug found.
Greetings,
Roland
|
|
| |
In lugnet.trains, Robert Gurskey wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Scott Lyttle wrote:
| |
NMRA 2010: Milwaukee WA July 10-18 (NMRA 75th Anniversary)
|
Scott, I assume you mean Milwaukee WI. I hate to think that people might be
going to the wrong state.
|
Whoops, yeah.. MI... and that date posting did not post the way I wanted it
to...
scott
|
|
| |
In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
> California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
>
> Is it a good one?
>
> Would you attend? Non-Californians?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
>
> I look forward to hearing your comments.
>
> --
> Russell Clark
> President/Co-Founder, BayLUG/BayLTC
> http://www.baylug.org/russellc/
> Fire Chief, PCFD
> There is a very fine line between
> "hobby" and "mental illness".
Russell, This non-Californian would definitely be open to it, depending on
dates. (So far, I figure you can knock July 10-18th out, as that's NMRA
national in Milwaukee).
I would figure locating a convention somewhat near a LEGO store is also useful,
as you may be able to work with a store manager for potential "convention
discounts".
Scott
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http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/lifestyles/1081876,3_5_EL31_LEGOS_S1.article
Block party
Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg is first in the US
July 31, 2008
By MIKE DANAHEY Staff Writer
Had Led Zeppelin recorded a song called Whole Lotta Legos instead of Whole Lotta
Love, it would be on Dan Morey's iPod.
Morey, a carpenter by trade and graduate of Nequa Valley High School in
Naperville, is a master builder at the new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre on the
Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg. He will be busy showing children what they
can create with the plastic blocks.
Morey also will build his own objects of art.
"With it (almost) being football season, I'd like to make a model of Soldier
Field," he said. "I figure it would take about three to four months working by
myself."
The Soldier Field replica would fit nicely in the "Miniland" cityscape of
Chicago, an impressive display of downtown architecture.
Morey's first creation -- a jumbo Chicago-style hot dog (mustard, no ketchup)
made from more than 700 LEGO pieces -- greets guests entering the
30,000-square-foot fun town. To get to the hot dog, guests must pass through a
giant Lego giraffe standing over the doorway of the first indoor amusement park
of its kind in the United States.
It's a LEGO lovers dream.
There is a Hall of Fame with LEGO models of Batman, Darth Vader and characters
from the Harry Potter saga; the Dragon Ride through a castle replete with LEGO
bats, knights, damsels, a chef in shackles and a fire-breathing dragon; a Jungle
Expedition of LEGO animals; and a faux factory where guests learn how LEGOs are
made.
There even is an old man made of LEGOs sleeping on a park bench, a Lego bust of
Albert Einstein and a store selling LEGOs to take home.
The center will change exhibits every three to four months, said attraction
manager Mike Pastor of Joliet, who also said there will be special events for
certain holidays.
Pastor said LEGOLAND also is working to partner with another attraction, the
joust-and-dine Medieval Times, and will offer educational outings for schools.
LEGOLAND has a movie room, too, currently showing Spellbreaker, a 4-D flick
about a medieval blacksmith who, with the aid of his lady, a jester and a
friendly young dragon, saves his land from a band of marshmallow-headed ghost
skeletons. The fourth dimension includes simulated wind, rain, snow and more.
On the center's second floor is the Build and Test area, where children can play
with LEGOs on a speed ramp, on an earthquake table or wherever their
imaginations take them.
It all went over well with Schaumburg's Campanelli YMCA campers, who visited
Friday in advance of today's grand opening.
"I liked the race cars and Batman," said Logan Caro, 6, of Hoffman Estates.
The race cars, Batman and the LEGO version of Chicago topped the list of fellow
campers Rohan Pathak, 9, of Schaumburg, Ajai Rajeev, 9, of Streamwood, Nikolas
Pohlschmidt, 8, of Hoffman Estates, Harshita Kumbham, 8, of Schaumburg, and
Julie Pallas, 8, of Elk Grove Village.
The two "Golden Brick" winners who received a free tour were Claire Strother, 8,
and Garrett Strother, 10, who both enjoyed the jungle area.
"I liked the Indiana Jones," said Garrett.
"And I liked all the animals," said Claire.
Taking it all in, wearing a big smile and a bright red golf shirt, was Joseph
Tiesch of Frankfort, who works at the center as an entertainer.
"I've always been a big LEGO fan," said Tiesch, who studied broadcasting in
college. "When I saw a pamphlet that they were hiring, I applied right away.
What I like about the job is it's great to see kids having such a good time, to
see that they liked LEGOs as much as I did when I was a kid."
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In lugnet.loc.se, Anders Isaksson wrote:
> Mikael Sjöstedt wrote:
>
> > * Jag skulle vilja spendera en timme eller så med att vi snackar om
> > SweLug och vad vi kan göra i Sverige för att öka intresset för LEGO
> > och hur vi kn hjälpa varandra.
>
> Jag visste väl att det var något jag hade glömt :-)
>
> Vi borde nog formalisera SweLug så pass att organisationen åtminstone
> existerar - just nu är det väl så att skriver man här på loc.se så är man
> med i SweLug :-)
Se bara till att föra protokoll eller liknande. För vi(jag!?) som inte kan vara
där kommer kräva en redogörelse efteråt. ;)
En fördel med att vara en faktiskt förening är att det förmodligen finns pengar
att ansöka om som kan användas till att sprida LEGOismens trosbekännelse i
sverige. Eller bara sponsra tävlingar eller träffar som är mer publika som de
ute i Europa och USA m.m. och inte bara en "nördträff". Fast å andra sidan har
jag väldigt dålig koll på hur mycket MOCbyggande som pågår ute i stugorna.
Själv har jag för tillfället NADA att visa upp och kommer nog inte ha något det
närmaste ett/två åren.
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Benvenutooooooooo..
Ciao
Fabione
"samurai74" <baldi_nospam_@venus.it> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:K4wKqz.Goy@lugnet.com...
> Ciao a tutti,
> alle 4:05 è arrivato Matteo :-)
>
> ...Preferiamo il brick blu, invece che azzurro, perchè è un colore più
> classico.
>
> Luca, Laura e Dino Baldi
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In lugnet.loc.se, Anders Isaksson wrote:
> Jag har inte Lego som räcker för en träff, Olof skrev i den andra tråden
> att
> han kanske hade det...
Utmärkt ursäkt till frugan för att börja shoppa då! :-)
> Förläggning
>
> Kan jag ordna här hemma för i alla fall 6-7 personer (beror på hur tätt
> man
> vill ligga),
Den senaste veckan har jag sovit i ett 3 kvadratmeters tält, så jag har inte
så höga krav.
> Aktiviteter (Fyll på med egna förslag, kritisera det jag föreslår!)
>
> - För den senare kvällsunderhållningen kan man ju ägna sig åt tärningslego
> el. dyl.
Härom veckan råkade jag hitta orginalreglerna till tärningslego från den
första
träffen. Kan ju ta med dem. :)
/Tommy
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samurai74 ha scritto:
> Ciao a tutti,
> alle 4:05 è arrivato Matteo :-)
>
> ...Preferiamo il brick blu, invece che azzurro, perchè è un colore più classico.
>
> Luca, Laura e Dino Baldi
Evviva! Congratulazioni felicissime, soprattutto a Dino che in questo
modo riuscirà ad allargare ulteriormente la collezione di Duplo... :)
Alex
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MOCshow ( http://mocshow.com ) is a free gallery for LEGO related images.
Paid memberships are available and gives you more space. Lot of features,
like comments, keywords, rating, multiple galleries and more...
You can win a Gold Membership (value of $50) by uploading images to the
site until August 31st. Gold Membership gives you a lot more space for your
galleries.
We draw up to 10 winners.
See the details here: http://mocshow.com/index.php?file=minicms/cms&id=2
--
Leg Godt!
Carsten Straaberg
MOCshow - free picture and files gallery.
http://mocshow.com
Contact: webmaster at MOCshow dot com
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In lugnet.trains, Jeremy Rear wrote:
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Hi All-
Later today, Saturday August 2, 2008, GPLR will be
featuring a small but well detailed display at the 8th annual
Fun In The Park community festival in
Wilsonville, Oregon.
This is GPLR’s 3rd year displaying here and we always look forward to this
event! It will be an all-day venue, and feature many fun-spirited activities
for kids and adults alike!
Stop by and check out our display if you’re in the area...We are booth 105,
and on the south end of the event area, adjacent to the parking
lot...Here’s A Map.
If you can’t make it, but would like to see what we’re up to, we will be
posting photos of the display, and event during the day wirelessly, on
jeremy’s WebGallery:
GPLR @
FITP.
-jeremy
proud gplr member since 1998
visit: gplr
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I forgot to FUT...
-jeremy
proud gplr member since 1998
visit: gplr
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Hi All-
Later today, Saturday August 2, 2008, GPLR will be
featuring a small but well detailed display at the 8th annual
Fun In The Park community festival in
Wilsonville, Oregon.
This is GPLR’s 3rd year displaying here and we always look forward to this
event! It will be an all-day venue, and feature many fun-spirited activities for
kids and adults alike!
Stop by and check out our display if you’re in the area...We are booth 105, and
on the south end of the event area, adjacent to the parking
lot...Here’s A Map.
If you can’t make it, but would like to see what we’re up to, we will be posting
photos of the display, and event during the day wirelessly, on jeremy’s
WebGallery: GPLR @ FITP.
-jeremy
proud gplr member since 1998
visit: gplr
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MOCshow is a picture gallery with voting, comments, build in slideshow and
it is free to use! Paid memberships are available.
You can find it here http://mocshow.com
Until August 31st 2008 there is a draw running - total value of $500!
I give away 10 Gold Memberships (with more space). To qualify for the draw,
you have to upload some LEGO related images to MOCshow before August 31st.
Details here: http://mocshow.com/index.php?file=minicms/cms&id=2
You can contact MOCshow on this email address, if you have any problems:
webmaster (at) MOCshow.com
The sale runs from August 2nd until August 31st. Take a look in the store:
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=cstr
--
Get your LEGO parts from
Straa-Vald Parts
International shipping - speedy delivery
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=cstr
MOCshow - free picture and files gallery.
http://mocshow.com
Contact: webmaster at MOCshow dot com
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In lugnet.trains, Benn Coifman wrote:
| |
In lugnet.trains, Mathew Clayson wrote:
| |
I had spotted the Daylight while researching long passenger train consists a
few years ago,
...
And what better “California” (where I live)
passenger train after completeing my CZ.
|
Hey Mat,
You completed the CZ??? Please share photos. I saw the D&RGW Alcos in the
background, but no cars.
|
Yea, I’ve had the CZ for awhile now, And I didn’t think to take pictures at the
show. I’ll see about doing so if I can ever get unchained to my desk at work.
So Far I have a baggag car, two dome cars, a diner, a sleeper, a chair car and a
dome observation. As well as a WP F3A/F3B/FP7A lashup. And of course the Rio
Grand ALCO pair are also accurate for pulling this train.
| |
Now jumping to your reply to Cale...
| |
I am planning to finish my GS4, but Iââââ‚
šÂÂ
âââ‚
žÂ¢m
tempted to build a E7 pair as well.
|
At least with my first steam engine I found it was nice to have a pair of
diesels for shows. The Hiawatha ran great on the flat floor at home, but man
it still isn’t too crazy about the wobbly tables at shows.
|
That’s part of it. The steam engine would be unpowered if I made the wheel
spacing proportional to the prototype. I’d then use a pair of motor in the
tender. That with the motor as the shared truck on the twin chair car. should be
eneough to pull the train, but pushing a large engine tends to make is picky
regarding track.
But mostly I just haven’t gotten around to building my own E7 yet, and this is a
good excuse. Although it should be paired with a ALCO PB unit!
Mat
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Mikael Sjöstedt wrote:
> Dina förslag låter kul, jag gissar att ni kört rätt mycket av detta
> förut.
Om du inte redan har gjort det, så kolla in här:
http://news.lugnet.com/loc/se/traffar
> * En speedbuild av ett stort set, ev kan jag fixa fram en 10188 Death
> Star.
Kan fungera, beror kanske på vilka åldrar vi har närvarande. Det vara svårt
att genomföra en sån aktivitet om man samtidigt skall hålla reda på barnen.
Nu är ju inte mina så små längre, 21, 18 och 9, så de kan jag väl hålla på
avstånd...
> * Diverse små tävlingar, jag fixar ihop några, så hemliga än så länge!
> * Jag kan nog fixa fram lite priser & freebies, jag ska jobba på det.
Kul! Bra!
--
Anders Isaksson, Sweden
BlockCAD: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/proglego.htm
Gallery: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/gallery/index.htm
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In lugnet.loc.se, Andréas Rootzén wrote:
> Önskar lite senare än sept- okt...okt eller senare om det är möjligt men
> inte i
> dec för där brukar det vara fullt iaf.
Det är givetvis inga problem att lägga det hela lite senare, men inte gärna
längre bort än v:a 45 (min åsikt).
Skall jag lägga upp en Google Calender för SWELug, så får vi fylla i vilka
helger som passar, och så tar vi den där flest kan komma?
Jag behöver era epost-adresser i så fall, eftersom jag inte tror det är så
lämpligt med en helt publik kalender (än?).
> Hade varit kul att ha något sorts utmaning eller något tema att bygga på
> och ta
> med och se andras lösningar på samma grej i Lego.
Jag föreslog ju GBC (Great Ball Contraption) -
http://www.teamhassenplug.org/GBC/ , det är modulariserat och kan vara
ganska roligt att titta på även om man inte har byggt något själv -
förutsätter förstås att man har minst ett tiotal moduler att länka ihop.
--
Anders Isaksson, Sweden
BlockCAD: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/proglego.htm
Gallery: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/gallery/index.htm
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Mikael Sjöstedt wrote:
> * Jag skulle vilja spendera en timme eller så med att vi snackar om
> SweLug och vad vi kan göra i Sverige för att öka intresset för LEGO
> och hur vi kn hjälpa varandra.
Jag visste väl att det var något jag hade glömt :-)
Vi borde nog formalisera SweLug så pass att organisationen åtminstone
existerar - just nu är det väl så att skriver man här på loc.se så är man
med i SweLug :-)
--
Anders Isaksson, Sweden
BlockCAD: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/proglego.htm
Gallery: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/gallery/index.htm
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Hi happy builders and collectors,
I've just cleaned my storeroom and placed a few mini sets in my shop
for the cheapest prices on BL!
Get them while you can: they'll fly away :-)
Daan Bargerbos
(owner of) The Flying Dutchman
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Hi Eric,
you are welcome as always. I’m happy you enjoyed my work.
Hope to see something new from you soon.
Cheers
Marco
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In lugnet.loc.se, Mikael Sjöstedt wrote:
> Hej alla!
>
> För er som gillar nya Coast Guard serien rekommenderas ett besök på närmaste
> SF-bio där den ingår i "Kids meal:et" med läsk & popcorn. Jag är osäker på om
> den kommer att släppas i affär.
> Här kan ni se en liten review som jag gjort:
> http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19781
>
> MVH Micke
Jag var SF-bigrafen i Skellefteå igår och kassörskan där hade de aldrig hört
talas om detta. Så jag undrar om kampanjen är slut eller om den är begränsad
till bara vissa SF-biografer? Är det någon fler som lyckats lägga vantarna detta
set? Och isåfall var?
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In lugnet.trains, Mathew Clayson wrote:
| |
I had spotted the Daylight while researching long passenger train consists a
few years ago, when working on my Caifornia Zephyr train. The DL was
beutiful, but seemed impossible to do justice at the time, how would I get
all that orange, and the red texured 1x2s. And the that articulation would be
impossible n LEGO! Then a few months ago I spotted the photos and consist
data I’d saved while rebuilding a computer and sifting though the backups. It
had to be done. And what better “California” (where I live) passenger train
after completeing my CZ.
|
Hey Mat,
You completed the CZ??? Please share photos. I saw the D&RGW Alcos in the
background, but no cars.
Wow, them were some impressive trains. I like the 2000 era show photos.
Now jumping to your reply to Cale...
| |
I am planning to finish my GS4, but I’m tempted to build a E7 pair as well.
|
At least with my first steam engine I found it was nice to have a pair of
diesels for shows. The Hiawatha ran great on the flat floor at home, but man it
still isn’t too crazy about the wobbly tables at shows.
Benn
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Hey Russell, I'd be interested in making the trip!
Ray Silva
socalray@cox.net
-----Original Message-----
From: news-gateway@lugnet.com [mailto:news-gateway@lugnet.com] On Behalf Of
Russell Clark
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:05 PM
To: lugnet.events@lugnet.com
Subject: California LEGO Convention?
Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
Is it a good one?
Would you attend? Non-Californians?
Any thoughts?
The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
I look forward to hearing your comments.
--
Russell Clark
President/Co-Founder, BayLUG/BayLTC
http://www.baylug.org/russellc/
Fire Chief, PCFD
There is a very fine line between
"hobby" and "mental illness".
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I think a Northern California LEGO fest would be fantastic. Provided that the
event organizers seek out feedback on what has worked and not-worked at previous
conventions, this could be great. I have found that first-time conventions tend
to attract many new fans, attendees and new perspectives.
Ashley
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Ciao a tutti,
alle 4:05 è arrivato Matteo :-)
...Preferiamo il brick blu, invece che azzurro, perchè è un colore più classico.
Luca, Laura e Dino Baldi
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Peter Edwards wrote:
WOW that is amazing! Did you buy it through LDD or just use the cad function &
piece counting abilities? Great form & colors!
Jeff
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I went to add a reminder to RACHAL in the LDraw Flickr group today and
discovered that the latest one was completely hidden on the site. Sorry about
that, I must never have finished off all the editing on the LDraw site.
Anyway, as a reminder to you all if you like raytracing LEGO you might want to
check it out
http://www.ldraw.org/Article476.html
Cheers,
Tim
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In lugnet.trains, Kerry Raymond wrote:
> Having spent 3 days on the Indian Pacific last December, I'd probably argue
> for the use of dark blue rather than the normal blue and some kind of orange
> rather than the yellow, based on my memory and my happy snaps:
>
> http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/Photos/2007-11-Perth/2007_12_03/
> http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/Photos/2007-11-Perth/2007_12_03/
>
> but obviously there's an issue of getting all the parts you need in that
> colour. I'd be less concerned about swapping the dark red in the bird motif
> on the side though.
>
> But overall very well done.
>
> Kerry
Hi Kerry,
Yeah dark blue might be a better choice although my eyes read it as about half
way in between from the photos but I trust your real life memory. It's probably
possible to do in dark blue but I've certainly not got the funds or inclination
to try it. An alternative to yellow seems impossible.
Am I correct in thinking that the passenger rake uses a wide range of 50s era
cars? I seem to have found various pictures of quite different cars and I know
The Ghan does this.
Thanks for your comments,
Tim
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In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
> California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
>
> Is it a good one?
>
> Would you attend? Non-Californians?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
>
> I look forward to hearing your comments.
>
> --
> Russell Clark
> President/Co-Founder, BayLUG/BayLTC
> http://www.baylug.org/russellc/
> Fire Chief, PCFD
> There is a very fine line between
> "hobby" and "mental illness".
Am out of state, but used to live in Nor Cal and So Cal. Mid Jan in 2010 works
for me. ALways nice to get away from the cold in January. Cheers.
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In lugnet.robotics, David Laswell wrote:
> In lugnet.robotics, Claude Baumann wrote:
> > * Jurgen Leitner and David Leal Martinez' REEL-E : this is real research !
> > But please explain the name.
>
> Surely you've heard of WALL-E by now...
Not necessarily. WALL-E has not been released entirely worldwide. Much of Europe
is still waiting for its release.
Joe
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Hey Russell,
I might come from Hawaii, tho for long-distance travelers I can see having it
closer to LLCA would be a big draw. Having live in both the LA and Bay areas, I
could see the benefits of having up north!
Roy
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In lugnet.robotics, Claude Baumann wrote:
> * Jurgen Leitner and David Leal Martinez' REEL-E : this is real research !
> But please explain the name.
Surely you've heard of WALL-E by now...
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In lugnet.robotics, Brian Davis wrote:
> (evidently driving around like a fool holding the payload outside my
> car window at 35 mph isn't the same thing)
Brian do you have one of these near you?
http://www.airkix.com/pix_flix/flix_advert1.asp
This just happens to be over the road from my local LEGO shop. (local being 85
Miles, needless to say I dont go there that often!)
Mike.
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The idea of a California LEGO convention was discussed
(some of my thoughts) a couple of
years ago. I still think a convention near Legoland and including excursions
to the park would make my answer a definite YES.
|
Being that I did attend the Brickswest a few years ago that was connected with
LEGOLAND California I would whole heartedly endorse a LEGO Convention in
California. I’m in Southern California (near LEGOLAND actually), but as I am
already making the trip up to Brickcon in Seattle, a trip up to the San
Francisco wouldn’t be that far for me.
Mariann Asanuma
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In lugnet.events, Adrian Egli wrote:
> My question right now is where would you hold this? Convention center? Hotel
> w/ convention facilities?
Right now both venues we like are hotels in Santa Clara and Foster City.
> Last thought- Think Google could sponsor this???
I know they like LEGO...
Russell
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In lugnet.robotics, Thomas Atkinson wrote:
> I hope ALL your data will be published.
A couple of folks have asked me about that. Trust me, anything I can will be
free for anybody who wants it, but I'll have to figure out a way to put it up.
Brickshelf is really for pictures, and I push it by posting images of data
graphs... but here, I think some folks want the actual program and actual data.
> The nerd in me really wants to know what the terminal
> velocity of a box of Styrofoam filled with Lego is...
The nerd in you is not, at all, alone :).
I know it was dropped from roughly 80,000', and made the trip to the ground in
under 23 minutes (perhaps as fast as 13 minutes). That's an average speed of
between 40 and 70 mph, but that's average - it should have been much higher in
the high, thin atmosphere, before parachute deployment. Lil' Joe was programmed
to take care of its own 'chute deployment: it timed how long it was going up,
assumed an ascent speed of at least 14' per second (data already recovered shows
it was closer to 20 ft/sec), and uses that to calculate an assumed altitude. It
then assumes a "hard deck" at 15,000', calculates a maximum drop distance, and
bases it's "free-fall" time on an average descent rate of 900 ft/sec (613 mph, a
very safe overestimate). Based on knowing all that, the free-fall time should
have been somewhere between about 40 to 70 seconds (depending on when it "turned
on"), leading to pulling 'chute at an elevation between 54,500' (likely) or as
low as 8,200' (ulp! But a drastic overestimate). during a true free-fall of 40
seconds, Lil' Joe would reach close to 870 mph, again almost certainly an
overestimate, so treat that as an upper limit.
For comparison, the main payload (coming down under a large parachute) seems to
have hit descent speeds of about 160 mph shortly after the balloon popped,
decreasing smoothly to a ground impact velocity that looks to have been around
14 mph if not less.
Where this gets interesting is in figuring out what Lil' Joe's potential impact
velocity was. The entire trip down took no more than 13 to 23 minutes, but
without any parachute the first 30,000' or more whips by in a few minutes at
*best*, even with air friction. That means the bulk of that time was spend
descending from below 54,000'. A little more math implies a ground impact
somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 mph.
Think of driving your car at slightly below highway speeds into a concrete
bridge abutment, with about an inch of stiff Styrofoam and a little bit of soft
foam as your safety system. Ouch.
And yeah, I figured all this out before the ground team had found the final
payload. This sort of thing really matters to me if I can predict things *in
advance*, rather than just casual observation after the fact. A product of my
education (physicist).
> And pictures, I'm assuming the ground recovery crew went crazy
> with pictures of the cras.. ummm landing sights.
See for yourself. I'll grab some of these for Brickshelf later on, but Eric has
started a gallery:
http://gallery.me.com/lego.professor#100014
In particular there's a picture of Lil' Joe "in situ", with the bottom blown out
(along with the tether, anchor pad, and black foam insert that should have been
inside the shell), but the NXT & SPOT not visible through the breach. From some
hasty analysis of the pictures, I think Lil' Joe actually *bounced* hard enough
that the payload shell ricocheted up while the internals were still coming down
to do that - its the only explanation I've come up with that seems to explain
the crash/landing site.
> Again, congratulations on a successful mission.
Thanks. I can't wait to see what else worked (& what didn't).
--
Brian Davis
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While parting out a 5481, I noticed that the lime green hat on the child fig (BL
calls it a 47205pb002) rotates. Is this typical for a Duplo fig ?
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In lugnet.trains, Scott Lyttle wrote:
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NMRA 2010: Milwaukee WA July 10-18 (NMRA 75th Anniversary)
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Scott, I assume you mean Milwaukee WI. I hate to think that people might be
going to the wrong state.
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Having just driven through your lovely state for about two weeks I have to say a definite maybe.
Probably
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Would you attend? Non-Californians?
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Maybe (From BC, Canada)
The idea of a California LEGO convention was discussed
(some of my thoughts) a couple of years
ago. I still think a convention near Legoland and including excursions to the
park would make my answer a definite YES.
I have attended two BrickCons in Seattle (and already registered for a third)
and the last BrickFest(PDX) but those were both within a single days driving of
my home (app. 4.5 and 8 hrs travel time respectively). As I said I just drove
from your neck of the woods to my home and I think that is not too far which is
why I might attend a SF area event. I may not be your target attendee but I hope
these thoughts help.
p.s. Having missed the opening of the new Sea Life area at Legoland by a matter
of weeks may have something to do with my eagerness to have an excuse to go back
to the park. :)
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Think you have the fastest thing on two rails?
Come put your bricks where your mouth is!
I’m pleased to announce that Rail Racers is coming to BrickFair!
That’s right, test your building mettle with a souped up Drag Racing Rail
Racer!
BrickFair is will be hosting 2 (two) traditional classes of Rail Racers
(according to the rules found here - http://www.railracers.com/):
1) Stock Single Engine Division (SSE)
2) Stock Multi Engine Division (SME)
Additionally, I’d like to introduce a new class, the Cave Racer.
Essentially, it’s a Cave Racer that you’ve designed, and mounted on a train
motor (single motor - the motor would be covered to look like a floor cave
rock). Your Cave Racer should be able to sustain rapid acceleration and
deceleration. Your “pilot” must stay “on/attached’’ to your Cave Racer and
the Racer must start and end with all pieces together, (no parts flying off
mid-race).
Considering the amount of new parts that are available, I’m excited to see
what the community will come up with. Will we see Speed Racer in his Mach 7
Rail Racer vs. Racer X’s Rail Racer? Steam Punk Racer MOC’s? Exo-Force
Keiken vs. Mecha-One? The Sith vs. the Jedi? You decide, and bring them to
BrickFair!
Hope to see you there.
Have Fun!
C-Ya!
Rich
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Hi all,
It’s been a long time since I built anything train related but I was in the mood
last night and managed to build this baby. It’s one of the locos of the
Indian-Pacific
(link) which operates on the East-West trans-continental line in Australia.
Since I was building with parts at hand there’s a few things which need
changing, the 1x2 plates with vertical bar should be yellow and the side logos
should be dark orange (like the front). The wheelset is for display but a
standard motor is easily substituted. At present that’s the only picture.
And while I’m dusting off my MOC posting skills I may as well add a little boat
used by the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard.
Comments and crits welcome,
Tim
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In lugnet.trains, Mark Assi wrote:
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Hello,
I just recently completed my new Rio Grande grain hopper and Santa Fe freight
car MOCs. The grain hopper was easily my most challenging MOC, but after
much head scraping and rebuilding, it finally came out as good as I could
have hoped for. Though I prefer Santa Fe, D&RGW was eventually acquired by
Santa Fe, so it’s all good. I hope you enjoy the MOCs. Thanks, Mark
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The Hopper looks sweet. Lots of great detail. The boxcar looks good too.
Cale
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In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
> California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
>
> Is it a good one?
>
> Would you attend? Non-Californians?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
>
> I look forward to hearing your comments.
>
> --
> Russell Clark
Well I absolutely would attend if you could negotiate cheap hotel rates at 4
and 5 star hotels like BrickFest, BrickFair, and Brickworld have and have it in
San Francisco. lol
Count me in if I am still alive. The last time I visited San Francisco was when
Haight Ashbury was in full swing and the Grateful Dead was a local group.
Still remember that place. Berkeley was awash with flower children and the first
Whole Earth Catalog was the best seller.
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In lugnet.events, Russell Clark wrote:
> Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
> California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
>
> Is it a good one?
>
> Would you attend? Non-Californians?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
>
> I look forward to hearing your comments.
>
> --
> Russell Clark
> President/Co-Founder, BayLUG/BayLTC
> http://www.baylug.org/russellc/
> Fire Chief, PCFD
> There is a very fine line between
> "hobby" and "mental illness".
I like the idea. Sure, southern California has LL-CA but it doesn't have that
"in the middle" quality that northern California has. There are various LUGs &
LTCs in the far south and far north of the western US but northern California
has a midpoint feature about it. It would mean some travel but not too bad for
those living at the far north/south ends of the west coast.
The fact the bay area has several airports certainly gives those from the east
flying options.
My question right now is where would you hold this? Convention center? Hotel
w/ convention facilities?
Adr.
Last thought- Think Google could sponsor this???
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In lugnet.events.brickfest, William R. Ward wrote:
> Is BrickFest dead or sleeping? The Web site still thinks it's 2007, and there's
> been naught on this newsgroup in months. Will there be another BrickFest ever
> again? If so, when? Will it be in Portland, DC, or somewhere else?
BrickFest is not dead nor sleeping. Just on a very long vacation. That's how I
see it. I can't speak for the people who handle the website or run BrickFest.
I believe it was mention on LUGNET last year,there will be no BrickFest in 2008.
That's why there is BrickFair 2008 in DC, this year run by both old and new
people.
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Is BrickFest dead or sleeping? The Web site still thinks it's 2007, and there's
been naught on this newsgroup in months. Will there be another BrickFest ever
again? If so, when? Will it be in Portland, DC, or somewhere else?
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Thank you thank you thank you!
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Hello all. I have been challenged to organize a LEGO convention in Northern
California. I wanted to send a post to gain some feedback on the idea.
Is it a good one?
Would you attend? Non-Californians?
Any thoughts?
The proposed date is sometime in 2010.
I look forward to hearing your comments.
--
Russell Clark
President/Co-Founder, BayLUG/BayLTC
http://www.baylug.org/russellc/
Fire Chief, PCFD
There is a very fine line between
"hobby" and "mental illness".
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Jag och äldste sonen kommer såvida det inte blir helgen v39 för det är nog det
enda som jag inte kan flytta typ.
Önskar lite senare än sept- okt...okt eller senare om det är möjligt men inte i
dec för där brukar det vara fullt iaf.
Föreslår helg v 41, 43, 44, 46, 47,
(37, 38, 40 funkar i nödfall och övriga utom då v39 bör gå att flytta, jobbar
var tredje helg men de brukar kunna bytas)
Tycker definitivt att vi kan behöva diskutera våra lilla LUG...
Administrator här och hur vi vill ha träffarna bland annat.
Vad gäller aktiviteter så kan jag ta med två st http://guide.lugnet.com/set/9797
om intresse finns.
Robotwars var väldigt kul även om det tar lite tid att få ihop en men kul även
om jag fetförlorade.
Blindbygge på tid med en enkel men hemlig modell skulle jag gärna ha på
programmet.
Hade varit kul att ha något sorts utmaning eller något tema att bygga på och ta
med och se andras lösningar på samma grej i Lego.
Har lite folk som jag mejlat med när jag sålde av Jonheimers Lego och lite andra
kontakter som jag kan mejla.
Kul att det är på gång och att det faktiskt postas och läses en hel del på samma
dygn för en gångs skull...jag tror vi är en hel del som läser här lite då och då
även om man kankse inte alltid svarar om det inte är något speciellt.
Leg Godt
Andréas R, Jönköping
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