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Pendra37
Eurobricks Vassals
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I decided to fully update my son's 60227. New exterior, new interior, way more internal space and properly accessible module internals. Also made a heavy transport that can mount entire modules or can haul a lot of stuff around. The station has six modules: the usual pizza kitchen a two doors airlock that can hold some EVA gear a 3 beds sleeping module with a shower/bathroom capsule a green house module to grow lettuce and tomato a mobile lab module with a separate door which can be mounted onto the heavy transport the usual geology lab The hub has a com and a recreation station with plenty of space and a cupola to look around. I modified the modules so that not only the roof comes off but the entire side as well. It is much easier to manipulate the figures this way.
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After the minifig scale Terminator HK Tank, I finally got around to build another iconic robotic bad guy from the '80s in Minifig scale, of course. 98 pieces and 7 USD total cost.
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Finally went around and built it for real. It is a massive beast! 750 pieces and 50 USD in parts. I quite like it. The doors are weak points now, I will have to improve them a bit. Also make the internals more spacious and add clips to hold weapons. It definitely goes to Rebrickable after the improvements :).
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There are several ways to get the concept out in a more effective way. Rebrickable is a pretty good start. You create the instructions, make some good images and text, get the word out and you will get likes, comments and if the stuff is good, sales. Etsy and Ebay can also do that to an extent. You can also share designs and get comments on Bricklink but it is very bare bones. If you are really sure of the thing, you can actually make the box set sale happen. Create a box, print the instructions, source and pack the parts. Then sell it as a set on one of the above sites. You can put something like 100% original Lego parts inside if you feel like it. You just need to make very sure you do not put Lego logo or trademarks anywhere. As long as it cannot be mistaken for an actual Lego product, you are good. Remember, you can sell Lego parts as you see fit, but you cannot infringe on Lego owned copyright, trademark or patent and pretend you own it or are affiliated with it. Actually the Bricklink Ideas redux program is kinda like that. They get the parts, create a fairly simple box and release it for sale. Thou Bricklink is Lego owned now, you can consider that as Lego light or something because it is kinda, sorta official Lego. If it is good, people will get it. If it is not, people will ignore it. However, imagine you get 10k likes and Lego selects to release it. You will not know if people bought it because it is good or because there is a Lego logo on it and there are plenty of people who buy anything because there is a Lego logo on the box.
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Sorry, I didn't mean to de-rail the thread. He asked for feedback why it is a failure as an [IDEAS] thing. If it was, say, a [MOC] thread, I would like it much more because it is a really nice [MOC] with neat play values and write nothing related to [IDEAS]. I actually wanted to write something more positive at the end but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with a IP that would fit this in any way. Placing this on Rebrickable, er heck even selling it on Etsy or EBay, would be much more beneficial to everyone than placing it on [IDEAS].
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Let the Lego decisions speak for themselves. Out of 44 ideas sets, about 8 had play values. (Barracuda bay, Blacksmith shop, minifig Ecto1...) 16 were blatant IP licence cash grabs. (it resulted the shittiest Lego set in a long time, the Delorean) 16 purely display pieces (guitar, piano, typewriter, ship in bottle, starry night, NASA sets...) 2 SJW minifig sets, which they actually have rules against. So bring up a possibility lucrative IP or make something that will be assembled once and never touched again (save for dusting it off) and you are a winner. A generic play set? Though luck. Lego long since abandoned the 'kids toy' image. It is all about riding the MCU, SW and other IP hype trains and crank out movie tie ins by the dozens. Also cater for the crazy show off ones who have more money than actual brain cells. "Like me, I just spent 3 grands on lego boxes I don't even plan to assemble, send the likes and subscribes to see more of my crazy lego boxes" Some don't even bother to take out from the brown cardboard box. Just put up a picture of the box and a picture of the manifest. I lost all my faith in Lego and AFOLs around the plastic flowers, bonsai fad. Talk about pointless junk yet people celebrated like they were the best sets ever. Regarding 9V, as discussed in the other thread, Lego trains use batteries and battery boxes due to various reasons. If it comes with a battery box then why the metallic rails? Use plastic. Metallic rails are shunned by Lego.
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This https://circuitcubes.com/collections/cubes seems more affordable and available then those fabled FxBricks. Some caveats thou. - 3 outputs seems a bit sparse if you want to operate lights and sounds and stuff. It seems 1 channel can do fine PWM motor control, the others have a few preset values. - Can you somehow access the controls on low level? If they made the commands, the brick accepts and sends available, you could construct your own code to control. - Assume they do and you can create a controller on code level then you may have a problem with battery capacity. You would need to remove the battery from the brick and replaced that by a voltage converter. And in general make a cable conversion because those cables are not compatible with Lego. - Assume you did that (the battery box should have plenty of space to house such circuit), now you need sensors. It is not clear to me if the BT cube can take input data and transmit that back to the controller. If not, then it is a big issue because the train will not be able to sense Signals or other trains for that matter. I'm pretty sure the chip itself inside the brick is capable of doing that. Also I'm pretty sure the outputs can be used as inputs. The question is if the firmware inside is doing any of that. If not, the firmware has to be updated. Say connector C is input from now on which is transmitted to the controller every once in a while. - If that works, you would need to place an RFID reader into the train as an input. Also some RFID readers to parallel tracks entry points to sense when the entire train cleared the switch. Using that input the controller would control the Signals. With all that, you would have something very similar to a DCC system.
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The problem with the Mindstorms/NXT is that the central unit is ****** enormous. You can get actual Win10 PCs that are smaller than that thing. I don't think you could hide that in a train effectively. Smaller issues are that the sensors are also on the way too big side. Finally, the price tag is like the size, crazy huge. Anyhow, if you don't mind that weird boxes are sticking out of your trains and it is also not a problem to pay a few thousand USDs for multiple NXT bricks and sensors, you could construct a reasonable DCC system.
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One thing is what Toastie said. This forum is mostly for genuine Lego stuff. I suspect this topic is pushing it a bit because we set out to do something that is flat out not possible using real Lego parts. This thread will inevitably devolve into discussions of various non Lego parts and solutions. I don't know how well that will sit with the moderators. The other thing is more philosophical. Apart from being kid's toy and stuff, I consider Lego as a 3D puzzle game or a logic game. You have a predefined set of parts and something you want to create from said parts. You need to figure out which part goes where using what technique. The limited set of parts are one of the challenges of the system because you need to work around that limitation to get good looking results. The better you are at it, the better your MOCs are and the more praise you should get. However, from this point of view, using non Lego parts is kinda like cheating. Instead of finding some nifty workaround and technique to achieve your goal, you cheat and invent non existant parts and/or use illegal build techniques. If you build this DCC and someone says, "Wow, how did you build this from Lego", you need to say that, "No, this is not Lego, it has some Lego elements but you can't make this using all Lego parts". This defeats the whole idea of Lego MOCs. Still, the idea is interesting and you are absolutely right that this is your hobby and you should do your hobby the way you like it. This is not a Lego religion or something where you get chastised if you deviate from the norm and use the unholy bricks of the devil.
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Is it still considered Lego? Normally Lego is supposed to be stuff that you can do using original Lego parts. Here we are talking about 3rd party off the shelf solutions with IR and BLE. Also low level DIY options. Is that Lego? I mean If you take a stock VW Beetle, completely gut the internals and rebuild it with all aftermarket tuning parts, can you still call the result a stock VW Beetle? The side paneling may be stock VW, but the important parts are not. Same here, you take a Lego product, completely gut it and rebuild it around aftermarket tuning part, will that be still Lego? The side paneling is Lego, but the important parts are not. If I make a build where, at one step, you you would need to glue two plates back to back is that still a Lego build? I find these questions kinda important because if the rules are so that you can use whatever you want, then the logical solution would be to use O gauge model rails and locos, remove the superstructure and bolt Lego plates onto the chassis. Then take a readymade DCC solution and be done with it. Simple, easy, minimal hassle. Everything is bog standard and still looks Lego. I mean Marklin did it. H0 rails, H0 chassis with Lego compatible plates so you can build your Lego (4 wide) superstructure. So where is the end? What is accepted within the boundaries of "Lego train" and what is too far? So if I 3D printed some bricks that can interlock with Lego and place motors, driving electronics and battery boxes inside, would you accept that as a viable option?
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I'm not saying a small train can't be fun. I built several 4 wides but mostly in the cargo variant. Cargo transporting, loading and unloading adds a tangible play value. My trains also turn and are compatible with Brio wooden rails my kid can play with them on his wooden railroad. I made a passenger train but it is mainly for show and obstacle for the cargo trains to pass. DCC is cool and all but in Lego perspective, it is not working very well. I mean plastic rails are not very useful for DCC. However ESP works without problem so using ESP, you can digitize you plastic, battery run rails just fine. And as an added bonus, they will also work dumb DC rails. BTW, when I say dumb, I don't mean they are stupid or useless. They are dumb, power only, as opposed to the smart system that is DCC (power + commands). As for stopping at stations, it is pretty simple. Put an ESP into every POI in a transmitter role. Then you can code your trains to stop when the POI signal strength is higher than a certain level. You can even play with the signals this way. When the signal POI is supposed to be red, it changes the SSID to RED. If the train senses a RED SSID over a certain signal strength, it stops. If it senses YELLOW it slows down etc. If it passes a GREEN SSID, it can send a message to the central unit that it passed a POI so your controller can send a command to the signal POI to wait 2 secs and then change the SSID to RED etc. Sensing the location is not overly complex with ESP.
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I've seen some marketplace ads for this micro train set. The sellers mentioned everywhere that the train is not motorized, meanwhile the made no remarks for the other sets the sold. This makes me suspect that this question came up not once not twice. And after the negative answer, the prospective buyer was not interested anymore. As a display piece, it is a big boring white brick. As a souvenir item, it is too big and totally bland. The assembly is as boring as it possibly gets. For an adult, it has absolutely no redeeming quality. For a kid, the assembly may be fun but the play value is non existent. A passenger train without passengers? On top of that, it can't make a turn.
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