Henry 991

Do you have any information on future availability of PFx Bricks and accessories (XL Speaker and expansion boards)? The products have been unavailable for several months now. I have not managed to reach the customer support. I am asking here because I am not the only one with the issue.

There appears to be six buttons: - arrows up and down: direction of train? - 9V and 12V switches - “Auto” and “Low”, whatever that is

The switch is great, but I had the same issue with that weak linkage. My 3- and 5-year-olds destroyed that thin part in minutes when I left the switch on a table. I was able to repair the part with CA glue. If that fix does not work, I will machine a part of brass or mild steel. Best Henry

I’d also be interested in.

I have been thinking of that As well. A game-changer would be a 2-stud long, geared high-torque motor that could attach directly into axle. In bigger engines, you could have up to 6 of them. I wouldn’t need the power pickup from the rails. LiPo batteries, voltage regular and a controller (FX Brick etc.) woul work finewith me. I have not yet found a suitable RC motor or gearing. For my own use, I would print the enclosure. Best, Henry

Same here. Even though I am fully-proficient in CAD and have a printer, I do not want to make track pieces or other elements where a small-scale manufacturer has a viable product available. It’s not just worth it if you care about where you use your time and about the quality of the product.

Indeed, I have bought Tamiya spray paints and I will use them to achieve DBG and Black surface coats. Regarding the color of the resin, the issue is mainly that e.g. green and black behave quite differently when printing. I have figured out that with Anycubic black, you can achieve very tight fit between parts by offsetting with 0.15 mm. With green, that figure must be at around 0.25-0.3 mm. The vertical tolerances are more complex. You just need to experiment to get everything right. At the moment, most of my parts come out right from the machine without any or with very little post-processing. I am indeed trying printing connecting rods with The SLA. I’m experimenting with the UP Challenger’s 1:48 scale versions. They have integrated ball bearings. The ball bearings should distribute the load quite evenly and the rods are reasonably stiff anyways. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work. I have steel axles and ball bearings everywhere so the setup is very tight. It shouldn't vibrate at all, which reduces the stress on the rods.

Hi, I have been 3D printing parts with my SLA printer for a while. E.g. wheels and connecting rods. You see images on my Flickr account below. However, I do not intend to reduce the usage of Bricktracks and BrickTrainDepot and other manufacturers for the following reasons: (1) It takes a lot of effort to get the manufacturing tolerances exactly right so that the parts clutch together. Eg with SLA, it’s down to the color of the resin which offset value you need to use (2) SLA printers use resin which is brittle and not as strong as ABS plastic that the commercial printing services have (3) Designing a part is a lot of work to get exactly right from design and functional aspects. I do respect and value the quality of the design work that’s been put into the available products from BT and BTD etc. and I want to support the businesses as they keep this hobby developing.

Thanks - this will be useful!

Indeed, this is a smart move. Thanks a lot.

Hi, I just started using the software. Good first impression, I got stuff done with almost non-absent learning curve. However, how do you draw Lego Grand Curves? Those wide radius curves using only straights?

Do the following: - select stores arbitrarily - create carts - open the carts, and review the parts and their prices individually After the analysis, you may find some ridiculously expensive parts. Eliminate them and repeat the cycle above. If there are some expensive but unavoidable parts that you want to have, better strategy might be to buy them separately from stores selling them only at good prices, and get the remaining parts though BrickLink’s automated buying. As said, a target price for a large, 1:48 scale steam engine’s parts of high quality should be $250-300. I think I paid that much recently for Union Pacific Challenger with mostly new conditioned visible parts.

I’d do exactly that. Your bill of materials is 2x what it based on my experience (4 steam locomotives with BrickLink parts) should cost. Go through the parts list manually. It might also be that the rare/expensive parts have such limited supply that you end up paying premium from all other parts as well!

Very interesting, good job! I also would have wanted to have suspension in my Big Boy and Challenger, but could figure it out. It would have limited both engines to two XL engines at max, and/or had limited structural rigidity. Have you would a way install the boiler panels yet? The Big Boys boiler diameter is 107 inches or 7.1 studs in 1:48.

It’s good to be aware of the costs. The bill of materials for the Challenger comes at: - parts 280 EUR (I live in Europe as well and use the German, Polish, Hungarian etc BrickLink stores a lot) - motors (3 x XL) ~50 EUR - FX Brick controller, lights and speaker ~120 EUR - wheels (I’m using 3D printed which are expensive) 50++ EUR - the pushrods are valvegear on top - stickers If you choose to build an 8-stud wide 1:48 scale big locomotive, it will cost you. With the plan, you also get the stickers so I consider it indeed good value for money.