kieran

Number 1 is my favourite as well, really nice work

That's a winner for me, well done, really like the way the balls gets loaded and the separator works well as well. does it all hold together over time, the design is so simple I wonder if there is enough friction on some of the pin & axle connections as the wheel moves over the loader and unloader? Great work on the video as well

Just had a thought about the amount of current, the Lego 9v regulator has short circuit protection, this is needed to stop issues if a user created a loop back or some other section or track using 9v track that would create a short. I am not 100% sure but I bet this would kill the power if you did something wrong with the copper tape as well.

Cough... amazing, who would have thought that possible, I know there is a lot of non Lego in there but who cares, it looks like a whole heap of fun to get that running

Lovely job, well done. I really enjoy watching these in action

I am sure you know but the NXC offering is free and used by many people, if this is for a project you may save your self a few pounds on a short lived licence cost for RobotC

If I had the space and the cash for the bits this is what I would be doing, very nice way to spend a weekend I would say. did it all have to come down or did you break donw into smaller sections to make re-creating this possible?

Looks great, amazing skills with the camera as well, the back drop for the in doors shots works really well. are the lights PF or custom?

Hi first off we need to get things set-up right. I think you are trying to build an application on your laptop that can communicate with the NXT? if that's the case then Brixcc or robotc will not help unless you want to write a program for the NXT that will be running and expecting communications form the laptop in which case it will. Both NXC used by Brixcc or robtoc will create the appplcation for the NXT but not the laptop side of the program. So you will also need to create a new program on the laptop side. This could be written in any language that you are happy with, for me this will be C# on the winnows platform or Java on anything else. you will need to create an application that can connect to the NXT using bluetooth, that's not to hard and then send it some commands, the likes of which you have seen form the lego.com web site. You are either instructing the firmware to do something or like play a sound of execute a program or you are sending a message to the bluetooh in box. if its a message your NXT code will be able to read this message and do something use full with it. does that help at all?

"Technic for teh win" may save me a whole load of shipping cost, I really like the idea of this book and will get one after Christmas I hope, thanks to all thoes that have the book for making the decision to get one an easy one.

Nice re-work of a set I love into a car I Love, nice one msbbanl

Stickers always end up like this, I think I would go with removing and then possibly not try to replace. I like TheBrickster really don't like the look so tend to leave them off, that being said there are exceptions, like on the Maersk train with out them it juts looks too plain. I think if you have the cash and the space having more then one is the way to go, looking forward to seeing the results whatever they may be

Nice one, not for me I don't have any old track, but for those that doña really nice solution

Nice one, got mine last year used but in good nick, love the set, why oh why do Lego not do things like this anymore

wow that is a pretty heavy investment in time. Looks like it will last

Seems a lot to me, I think you could pay half that if you not too bothered about a box or printed instructions.

The locking plates is the way to go, if you look around real sales yards for this type of heavy plant or displays at trade shows and the like, cylinder locks are often visible to make sure the viewing public are safe. The ones I have seen are almost always red, I think this is so the operator of the machine knows not to try and lower the boom. One odd thing is I have the 8421 and 8455 as you do and both the boom and back how will drop over time, however, my 8862 will hold any position for as long as you like. It must be to do with the forces acting on the rams, anyway good luck

If done well I think it could look really good. The issues you will have are around the durability of the rails. Legoland in the UK has some trains running around the outdoor display but they don't run on off the shelf rails. Keeping the rials off the ground will help keep them clean of ground debris but will not help keep the from the weather, I think you may have to try a test piece of track for a few months and see what happens. Heat and sun light will work to buckle the track and make the plastic brittle, it will of course also fade. The cold if you get it in your part of NZ will also play havoc with the plastic over time. One other consideration is the control system, out doors in bright light I think your may find the IR system of Power functions less than perfect. all that said I hope it works, with some well chosen plants and other garden sourced scenery in the right sort of scale I think a railway and Lego builds will look great, good luck

Thanks for this, I am now 100% where the extra Christmas money will be going.

I agree, looks even better as a complete running unit

Whole train looks really good, can't wait for this

The other issue with changing the torque using gears all over the place is that you increase friction in the drive chain and as such limit the total machinable power delivered to the wheels, but as you say Erik this is a novel solution that may work out. In any case it will be less lumpy than using knob gears

Fair point, I wonder how much actually gets broken as a posed to being dismantled by the fight. I bet its rare to actually break the LEGO bricks them selves. scratches and dents are fairly likely I would think.

Very cool, looks to work really well, Its nice to see it almost lose control then catch it just in time and rebalance, nice one

This looks really well put together, well done. looking forward to watching the results unfold