Posted October 12, 201311 yr Hi again, Recently there was an offer on set number 66405 and I could not resist the temptation. Yes the box is huge, which should have been a warning, but only when I had built the engine and the three cars, and laid out all the track on the floor in our living room, I realized that I was in a spot of trouble. See, since we have only little space in our apartment, we'll only be able to have a very small track layout to play with. if it's going to be a (semi)permanent setup, which is what I have in mind. It's not so hard to design interesting small layouts, but running a train the size of 7939 on such a short stretch of mainly bends and switches does not really make sense and is not so enjoyable. The first thing in order then, was to design a small engine that could serve as a shunter loc of some sort. Since it would have to be self-contained with all the PF parts in it, and the amount of system parts in my collection is rather limited, the engine is definitely the biggest challenge to tackle. What follows is an impression of my first shot at making such a small shunter loc. I hope you'll enjoy the pictures. unfortunately, when making the construction to hold the control panel, i broke one of the very old parts in my collection that came from the 857 set (the thing that holds the headlights at an angle) :( The battery box is very easy to take out as it is not attached with studs at all. The cover for the switch is simple but effective :) Happy bricking!
October 12, 201311 yr That's a very clever way to get all the PF in such a small shunter. And it looks great.
October 13, 201311 yr nice PF shunter indeed, did you base it on an actual one or is it an imaginary model?!
October 13, 201311 yr Author Thanks for the kind remarks! As far as the design goes; while I was building I kept a picture of a shunter loc from a model railway nearby as a basic guideline, but with the limited number and types of parts in my collection it quickly became clear that the final result would be more of an archetype than something that resembles a real-life locomotive. Also the decisions to house all the PF functions in there; to be able to sit at least one minifig in it, and that the battery box had to be easily removeable were factors that dictated the looks of the model. That and of course my limited skills as a Lego designer of course :)
October 13, 201311 yr I like how you've been able to make a small shunter, almost entirely from parts of the 7939 loc that looks completely different.
October 15, 201311 yr That is a very clever and efficient build, especially given that most (all?) of it came from a single set. I like how you packed all the pf in there.
November 5, 201311 yr Author Does the IR receiver work ok, being so low down? Yes no problems at all; I think since the lightwaves reflect off walls, ceilings etc. there will always be some approaching at the correct angle. I don't have any more pictures worth putting online skriblez but I'll try to find the time to make an lxf and some screenshots in LDD.
November 5, 201311 yr Yes no problems at all; I think since the lightwaves reflect off walls, ceilings etc. there will always be some approaching at the correct angle. Excellent work squeezing it all into a small shunter body. I find that IR works well too in a room with not too far ceiling and walls.
November 6, 201311 yr Yes no problems at all; I think since the lightwaves reflect off walls, ceilings etc. there will always be some approaching at the correct angle. I don't have any more pictures worth putting online skriblez but I'll try to find the time to make an lxf and some screenshots in LDD. Thank you :)
November 6, 201311 yr That's great, the IR receivers are extremely good, I placed two inside the cabs of steam locos, one even behind glass and it still works from a couple of feet away. Cracking job! (and I even butchered it to power a 4.5v motor and it still works :) ) Edited November 6, 201311 yr by dundarach
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