Subject:
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Re: Creating a GBC for a train layout
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.laflrc
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Date:
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Wed, 4 Jan 2006 00:06:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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1412 times
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In lugnet.org.us.laflrc, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
> John Brost wrote:
>
> > In my mind, a dropped or missed ball does NOT count against [mil-spec]
> > so long as it doesn't cause the module to break.
Agreed.
> > 2. As for making the modules look like they work in a factory
> > or city setting, I think a minimum would be for a "control
> > room" for the module with a minifig or two "controlling" the
> > module.
Yes. I've got this on most of my modules, but would develop it a lot more for
a train layout. At ChiBots I even had one minifig who had fallen off of the top
level, and was being held over the roiling ball stream below only by her
desperate rescuer above (sorry, Janey, yes, it was a heroine being saved by the
heo - I'll work the gender the other way next time ;-).
> > Most of us don't have the required number of windows, doors, [etc].
Although I've got enough "junk" (for me) to probably do a semi-reasonable
job. Although that's another reason I was thinking "industrial zone". It will be
a lot easier for me to landscape a small chemical processing plant than the
outside of a factory building.
> > I like Dave K.'s idea of painting the soccer balls grey and
> > making them look like rock chunks,
I'm liking the idea of using horta eggs, but I really have to prototype
mil-soec sorting first. The main thing is, we've already *got* a bunch of soccer
balls. Visually, they may not be perfect, but I suspect watching things move
will work for the first attempt.
> > 5. Above grade-- This sounds like it would be FANTASTIC,
> > but pretty tough.
>
> I'm thinking you can build a hill in your module, if you want.
> That's up to you... :)
I was imagining a more ambitous version where the *train* comes in at 10
bricks above the table/baseplate. This means we'd need space around the "hill
top industrial complex" so the train could transition from the base level to the
raised area, but this might also serve to seperate the GBC industrial zone from
the neighboring train layout. It would visually be much nicer, I think, but...
yeah, it does take a lot more work, and a lot more bricks. Where do the train
clubs get the bulk greens from? I wonder how many PaB cups I'd need...
> There would be a few automated stations where the train(s) would stop,
> unload, load, and move on. At the station would be a predefined
> set of GBC modules.
Technical Q: Steve, the cylinders bumping the train width out to 8-wide work
great for detecting. Would they still be acceptable to the train clubs? Needing
an 8-wide track limits us some, but... it works so well. The sensors to actually
distinguish when a GBC train is passing by could be somewhat hidden, again, if
sections of the track had a "rolling hills" motif. Or, do we need to go to a
pure 6-wide solution (reflective targets)? Anybody from a train club watching
this exchange?
> > it has been discussed having some sort of force-feedback joystick
> > controlling a GBC crane module of some sort so passers-by can
> > control the action to some extent.
>
> I like this (and want to do it), but it's the kind of thing that
> may end up in the "GBC" section, not the "Train" section.
Even a button to push to turn on or off (temporarily) a module would be fun
for kids. Or a visible switch that could be controled to shunt balls from one
descending path to an alternative (I've been playing with that idea for a while
now, making a game of "how to get a ball into slot X" by throwing various
switches... from a fondly remembered 2-story-tall "digital ping-pong logic"
display at the Toronto Hands-On Museum (do they still have that?)).
--
Brian Davis
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Creating a GBC for a train layout
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| (...) Some clubs build 8 wide trains. We could be one. :) Actually, many the trains have decoration that sticks out that wide. I've had to make changes to the engines I'm using so they don't trigger the train sensor. That won't be a problem. (...) (...) (18 years ago, 4-Jan-06, to lugnet.org.us.laflrc)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Creating a GBC for a train layout
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| We were talking about this off line, and I'd like to continue this discussion on-line. We're trying to figure out how to make a GBC that looks like it should be part of a train layout. (...) Right. (...) The problem is actually getting paint that (...) (18 years ago, 3-Jan-06, to lugnet.org.us.laflrc)
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