As CircuitCubes are making smaller components, and there are many improvements to be made, there will be a future iteration of this! (Perhaps taking on a different form... :)
Looking at 17:25 the distance between the axles is probably too long for narrow gauge track [with curves and pointwork]: Looks like ~10 studs on the powered van versus 3 or 5 studs on all the other models-a ratio of 3x times the track gauge (~3 studs for 4-stud track). Is it possible to move the wheels (axles) inwards towards each other? Second problem is that the track tyres (rubber bands) can only be on one side, because of the through axle one wheel necessarily has to slip on curves (no differential like a car!), so the powered van is going into 4x4 mode and climbing off road (off the track).
2:26 The wheels aren't the only problem. The worm can't be moved on that way, it is physically impossible, it is a gear specially enginered to transmit the movement to another gear by spinning itself. But the movement only goes on thet direction, if you try to spin the gear to move the worm, it blocks. Thats how many gear actuators works on real life.
@@LarrysLego you can put the worm gear on the output of the motor and make that drive a regular gear, but not the other way around. There's also small rubber bands that you put around the wheel to give it more traction.
Fun fact: the 4th season of Thomas and friends had the narrow gauge engines to small so they made the running motor into the backs just like what you made
As someone who not only loves legos, but model trains, it's fascinating to see the relationship between weight, friction, and power here. I KNOW that tiny models can pull surprisingly large and heavy loads, because I've dome it. But those model locomotives are made of plastic _and_ metal, running on smooth metal rails. And they more efficiently use the space within, with higher quality motors. So seeing someone attempting to the same thing with so many more design and material constraints is super interesting.
I have spent many years attempting motorisation of almost anything, so I can confidently say well done! Small train wheels have a lot of friction, so that would be putting extra unnecessary strain on the motor. I haven't seen it done anywhere else but I use a silicone spray to lubricate the axles which removes almost all friction and can more than quadruple the distance rollingstock can roll. It also gets rid of the annoying squeaking that it sometimes makes. It might not be the biggest issue or make the biggest difference for you because you use custom track and your models are quite light, but at the scale I build things it makes an insane difference.
Thanks Max! And oh that's good to know. I'll have to try lubricating the axles :) And yeah I can't imagine how needed that would be with how big and heavy your creations are!
@@LarrysLegoIt's possible to drive all four wheels. Use a Lego Technic cross axle to connect opposite train wheels and mount a bevel gear on the cross axle. Position the bevel gear to interlock with the bevel gear on the shaft running along the length of the box(car). Maybe that'll let it go over points without (a) problem(s). Also ask Circuit Cubes to make a smaller train motor brick to motorize narrow gauge locomotives. Worth a try.
Graphite powder for lubrication. Always on the lookout for new project ideas, might have a go at making some motors. In the mean time I might play with my old lego shuttle monorail
The music and sound effect choices are a delight to hear with the matching visuals. Everything from the Mario Bros Wii select and cancel sounds, to the music just having such a wonderfully light tone with the trains going around. It’s like a fun side game of trying to remember where each song and sound originates from
What an amazing build! Truly shows anything is possible in Lego. It was quite cool to see the live footage and the troubleshooting to fix the problems aswell. If I could suggest, would be cool to see decals made for it in the style of the van you based it off, or ever considering it’s size, maybe express coaches? All in all great video! Very fun and incredibly satisfying to see it running in the end!!
The music choice is always on point. The world 1, lvl 1 theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii but its been remixed to fit the Thomas n Friends theme, dude that's awesome. Then the sonic R soundtrack for the end is great🥰
I never understood the Lego 4/6 Stud concept. Did you ever look at a real train and see how narrow the wheels are compared to the actual body of a train? In Germany, we have 4ft 8½" tracks (1435mm) but the trains are 9 ft 3¼" (2825mm). In studs it means: 4 inch wide track allows 7.8 stud wide train! A Shinkansen is even 3380mm meaning almost 9.5 studs wide on a 4 stud track!
Glad you got it working; it was fun watching you in live streams and trying to figure it out. I learned quite a bit from you because I am looking at doing something similar in the near future.
If you wanted to make it into something like the tv series it could work really well as a sodor mail van and it would have the benefit of looking better with passenger trains
The bad news is that the mail van design is so complex that that would just not be possible. But the good news is that I know this because I am building a mail van ;)
cool stuff! one suggestion: if you want it to push and pull more reliably, try looking into weighted bricks (metal or something heavier). It will push the carriage down more giving it more traction
I love how you made the battery part of the structure to make it stronger! Thomas and his friends look so good moving under their own power! Beautiful video! Those big wheel are not fans of those junction are they.
I have noticed with my set of circuit cubes that they often loose the bluetooth connection with the device that controls them, and I was wondering if you ever had that problem. I also noticed that your motor looks very fast on the narrow gauge track (faster than it looks on standard gauge). Very well done! hope you can work out the bugs, and maybe fit it in a LEGO Gordon or Henry.
Oh right, I had that but only if I left it alone for a long while. And thank you! :) It's worth noting that in the final montage with it pushing trains I sometimes sped up the footage for it to sync with the music
I've actually been making small Lego trains four studs wide recently, and placing them on roller coaster track, which allows them to roll surprisingly well I might add. Good to know I could motorize the little engines if I ever want to. Thanks for showing us your process of making this!
Thanks for taking my suggestion^^ and glad it worked! I plan to use circuit cubes for my standard LEGO engines (that are also Thomas) so glad I could help u with it
I think the word you used for Torque you need is Tractive Effort. They are very different, as tractive effort is an Indicator of pulling power. Basically, weight and amount of powered axles are good if they are higher
yup, there was loads of torque (torque is a rotational 'strength' , the wheels were often spinning despite the lack of forward motion) but that was not being translated into a tractive ( a linear 'strength') force. A bit of additional weight on tractor unit * might* have helped.
Circuit Cubes is game changer for Lego builds, because more smaller option for motorised sets or MOCs, example Speed Champions sets or train sets(City). Lego will make smaller option for motorised sets, because they actual have oversize parts(example motors and battery boxes), if you don't want use old Power functions system with micro motors, maybe older Lego System Electric system(interesting solution for Lego City sets).
new to the channel- just want so to say this video rocks! I love all of the Thomas and Friends narrow gauge you've made, as well as motorizing a basic box car at the same scale! I am curious about two things tho- why narrow gauge, and are any of your files on patreon (will be subbing here in a minute) set for standard 6 wide track, or just narrow gauge? Also, food for thought- if you want to motorize any of the locomotives, hide the battery in the coal car and use the wire as the chain connection under the cars to connect to the motor inside of the engine, so it all stays hidden. Thank you so much man!
Thanks so much!! Glad you like it all :D Why narrow gauge? I don't know! I'm just drawn to working in a smaller scale and I find it cuter and more satisfying :) I have one MOC that is 6-wide but the rest is all narrow gauge. I really appreciate the pledge! And thanks for the food for thought :)
You were so close to your solution so many times in this video!! In parts designer, you can select 2 parts and subtract one from the other. you could have cut the axle's contour into the small train wheel, export as .obj, and have it 3d printed! Same with the example of the PF M motor inside the bricks
Amazing job! I’ve been working for the past year or so trying to get a good motorization mechanism for my Disney inspired monorail. Definitely some food for thought!
Have you heard of circuit cubes? It’s a third party brand that has way smaller motors and batteries, they work just fine with legos and even do Bluetooth controls. Might be good to look into if you ever want to lighten this one or motorize the warthog
@ oh strange, my phone glitched. I was trying to comment on someone else’s short and I accidentally commented on your video. I had to go back to yours to see where I learned about them!
Model railway enthusiast here. If you really want to see some tiny trains, look up T Guage. It’s three millimetre wide track and you need special tools to put it on the tracks.
I had a thought. If you were building a full size steam engine, you could put the motor in the tender and run a drive shaft to the locomotive. The large wheels will actually enhance the look of the engine. The catch is making the engine heavier with some more non Lego components.
Lego have a lot of small motors. But you still need battery box. Also you can use lego bars (that can fit in minifigs hands) for making wheels smaller.
That was a lovely video. It looks like you learned a lot from the process. The final (for now) powered van is very neat. I wonder if there's scope to move the wheels closer, which would help with points.
Thank you! I sure did I should have more directly mentioned in the video that I didn't *want* the wheels to be so far apart, it's just that putting the components between them seemed to be the only way to fit it all in and that forced them to be exactly that far apart.
You might be able to get it to fit into a standard train by swapping out the battery box with a small pouch cell li-on and having a discrete switch to turn it on and off. Also you could add some weights to give it some extra traction.
Good work! Thanks for the mention - very cool! I found that problems going over points and around curves increases with increased wheel base length. I reduced my wheel base on the locos to 8 studs total, which is the shortest I can go using the 20 tooth bevel gear mounted vertically driving a 12 tooth bevel gear on an axle powering both set of wheels. (I hope that all made sense.) My narrow gauge rollingstock is based on that used in Queensland on sugar plantations and our local amusement parks - 2’/610mm industrial tramway gauge, so rollingstock is disproportionally wide, often at or more than twice the track gauge itself. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!
No problem! Ah yes that makes sense - don't worry, it all did Oh that's cool! I did not know that loco had a basis, nice one :) That also explains the disproportionately wide loco Thanks Coaster Blocks, likewise!
An idea for a locomotive design challenge: put the motor in the engine with a dedicated coal car behind to house the battery. Cool video - It was nice to see you learn along the way.
Maybe having the battery in a separate wagon (coal cart ?) connected to the main locomotive which holds the electric motor inside may make the design possible. My father used to build electrified train models and had, over the years, made a huge table with full decors and many train tracks / train types and stations. The locomotive engine / coal cart battery trick is used thoroughly in that hobby. You just have the wires exposed going from the loco to the coal cart, and the coal cart is a bit heavier than the loco, but it works great. A second problem I see is that the wheels are getting caught up on the junction tracks because they can't rotate to adjust to the high angles of the junctions, leading to them running over the inner guard rails and frogs. This is really where it gets complicated, as making the wheels mechanically powered and able to pivot is difficult. Usually, in miniature scale trains, the front wheels of the loco are the ones that can pivot but aren't mechanically powered, they're just directing the front part of the loco. The rear ones (multiple pairs) are getting power from the motor itself and carry the load. That way, the train is aligned by the time the static rear driving wheels cross the difficult junction part. This way, all of the difficult tasks are spread out over multiple mechanism: The free spinning front wheels direct the locomotive, the static rear wheels carry the engine load, and the coal cart has the battery. The coal cart should also be adapted to have fully pivoting wheels too, as it is not motorized, so that it doesn't get caught up on difficult junctions.
8:26 Lego make a steering wheel that you can put on stick pieces, and they look vaguely similar to the small train wheels. Plus, sticks can pass through and hold in the gears' keyhole. Added bonus, resistance makes the gears slip on the stick like a clutch.
I wonder if you can put really small o-rings/rubber bands on the flats on the outside of the wheels? Something to add a little more traction, and maybe handle track seams on points a little better?
I got a idea! so because you have to use larger wheel on the motor. You could possibly and motors to bigger engines like Gordon or Henry and still use the large wheels
13:50 Fun fact: The original model series modified its rolling stock to account for mismatched bufferbeams all the time, like how in 'Down the Mine' where you can see the truck's buffers are placed lower to compliment the buffers on Thomas' dipped front bufferbeam for when he bumps them. Once you start to notice it you can't unnotice it!
Wow, I can't believe how far it's come since the first livestream! Always thinking outside the box! 😄 Pity it doesn't explode anymore though, would have been so TV series accurate 😢🤣
Thanks QP! Indeed it has, especially with how fragile it was... which I feel doesn't come across as clearly in the video! And haha, yeah a real shame that it doesn't detonate randomly 😢
Very well made! I think your problem with the points may be with the guard rails or possibly the frog, in the video it looked liked the flange ran up and over the guard rail?
I like the extra lower-able buffer beam reminds me of how, since Thomas' buffers were lower on the front and higher on the back, they had to give Annie an extended bufferbeam so the bufferbeam heights would match.
You can always remove the shell of electric components to save space. I did that with a technic controll plus hub to only be one brick high instead of 5-6.
I might recommend giving a try at designing interesting facades for this motorized car, such as having it be the fuel car for the train, an oil tank, a passenger car, and more. I bet working from a "naked" base would help let the creative juices flow.
im suprised on how little of an audience youtube is reaching your channel to. I love this type of content! also I swear that yesterday you had 5k and now you have 12k
Lovely build. If you want to make it fit in with rolling stock, then making it a red express brake coach with printed decals on the side could be a good idea. It could also double as thomas' special coach from the missing coach
Could you make the battery fit in a 4 block width by rotating it sideways and attaching it to the inner wall of the train? Edit: I typed this only part way through the video lol, nvm
Move the wheels closer together, this will help on the points. A 2-4-2 design would be cool. Design it like an 18 wheeler truck with the drive axles close together. You can the use the smaller wheels front and back with the four larger driven wheels in the middle.
I bought their tank kit off amazon after watching your video. So 2 motors and a battery. Surprisingly 1 motor is enough to move a fairly big 6 wide train. Also because i have more space, playing with gear ratios you can get them to go fairly fast.
What about Lego micro motors? The little red ones. I don't know how you'd power it, it needs the old conductive stud system, and soldering would melt the plastic. Conductive glue maybe? It would make it permanent though.
11:45 I don't think it's just number of wheels, but also weight of the pusher- your first design was so light that it didn't really have much pulling/pushing ability before the wheels would spin without traction. The second design did add an extra traction axle, but also added a lot of weight (via other bricks) to help the wheels grip
the mini models are 4 wide means u can fit a hobby motor and a battery in there if you wanna do some diy wiring it would be pretty simple to modify the design, may need a second car but that's simple enough
the motor spinning just fine indicates a lack of grip, not a underpowered motor. To fix this you need more weight on the drive wheels or possibly rubber bands on the wheels?
Great work, did you use traction bands/rubber bands on the wheels for extra grip? Could you put the motor in the engine and the battery box in the tender or box van, having the wire run between the two?
Your bevel gear alignment should be on the same vertical stud, not a plate separate from eachother. I think a way to fix it without getting in the way of the rails would be to use those 2x2 under-slung pin connecter plates or whatever they're called
Hey have you considered making the battery box a seperate thing that you could add to power the loco? What Im trying to say is only fit the MOTOR in the engine and the battery box in a car if available.
If the switches had a different frog design it probably wouldn't derail on switches as much. Not really much that can be done about that though, aside from shortening the wheelbase of the car. Not sure if that's possible with that design though.
As CircuitCubes are making smaller components, and there are many improvements to be made, there will be a future iteration of this! (Perhaps taking on a different form... :)
i cant wait for gordon to be done!!
@AadamOmar148 oh yeah
That's cool! l was wondering if you could make the small wheels fit bigger axles and make it really compact? have fun with it!
Looking at 17:25 the distance between the axles is probably too long for narrow gauge track [with curves and pointwork]: Looks like ~10 studs on the powered van versus 3 or 5 studs on all the other models-a ratio of 3x times the track gauge (~3 studs for 4-stud track). Is it possible to move the wheels (axles) inwards towards each other? Second problem is that the track tyres (rubber bands) can only be on one side, because of the through axle one wheel necessarily has to slip on curves (no differential like a car!), so the powered van is going into 4x4 mode and climbing off road (off the track).
Do you play spl
2:26 The wheels aren't the only problem. The worm can't be moved on that way, it is physically impossible, it is a gear specially enginered to transmit the movement to another gear by spinning itself. But the movement only goes on thet direction, if you try to spin the gear to move the worm, it blocks.
Thats how many gear actuators works on real life.
I was hoping to see someone else say the same thing.
Ah wow! It was doubly impossible then haha
@@LarrysLego you can put the worm gear on the output of the motor and make that drive a regular gear, but not the other way around.
There's also small rubber bands that you put around the wheel to give it more traction.
@@LarrysLego Hi may I ask what Lego peace is the rail?
i mean its not completely impossible but there is way too much friction
Fun fact: the 4th season of Thomas and friends had the narrow gauge engines to small so they made the running motor into the backs just like what you made
Later seasons had an entirely different scale done. Basically, they made the narrow gauge crew the same size as the standard ones.
As someone who not only loves legos, but model trains, it's fascinating to see the relationship between weight, friction, and power here. I KNOW that tiny models can pull surprisingly large and heavy loads, because I've dome it. But those model locomotives are made of plastic _and_ metal, running on smooth metal rails. And they more efficiently use the space within, with higher quality motors. So seeing someone attempting to the same thing with so many more design and material constraints is super interesting.
If you retheme it as an caboose, you can use it to pull trains, and then reverse the footage to make it look like the other end is pulling the wagons
17:06 "Outta the way!" *Knocks Annie over* "You're all mine now, Blue boy!"
That van has a mind of its own... :0
RIP Annie 😂
Don’t need you useless coach anymore
Thomas: Aaaaaaah
@@LarrysLego o: what if you made a ww1 armored train thing
I have spent many years attempting motorisation of almost anything, so I can confidently say well done!
Small train wheels have a lot of friction, so that would be putting extra unnecessary strain on the motor. I haven't seen it done anywhere else but I use a silicone spray to lubricate the axles which removes almost all friction and can more than quadruple the distance rollingstock can roll. It also gets rid of the annoying squeaking that it sometimes makes. It might not be the biggest issue or make the biggest difference for you because you use custom track and your models are quite light, but at the scale I build things it makes an insane difference.
Thanks Max! And oh that's good to know. I'll have to try lubricating the axles :) And yeah I can't imagine how needed that would be with how big and heavy your creations are!
@@LarrysLegoIt's possible to drive all four wheels. Use a Lego Technic cross axle to connect opposite train wheels and mount a bevel gear on the cross axle. Position the bevel gear to interlock with the bevel gear on the shaft running along the length of the box(car). Maybe that'll let it go over points without (a) problem(s).
Also ask Circuit Cubes to make a smaller train motor brick to motorize narrow gauge locomotives. Worth a try.
Graphite powder for lubrication.
Always on the lookout for new project ideas, might have a go at making some motors.
In the mean time I might play with my old lego shuttle monorail
@@LarrysLego🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🛤️🎱🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🕶️🕶️🕶️🕶️🕶️🕶️🕶️🇺🇸 Union Pacific RR
@LarrysLego I might be able to design and print a 1X4 brick with a 6mm planetary gearbox motor, power and control would have to be a different brick.
The music and sound effect choices are a delight to hear with the matching visuals. Everything from the Mario Bros Wii select and cancel sounds, to the music just having such a wonderfully light tone with the trains going around. It’s like a fun side game of trying to remember where each song and sound originates from
Thank you so much!! I put lots of thought into the music and sound and it's so nice seeing it appreciated 😄 Glad it can be a "fun side game"!
The ultimate Larry's Lego video.
Glad ya think so 😁 I think it might be my proudest yet!
@@LarrysLego It's cool to see the truck/car pushing the engines and rolling stock, it fits in extremely well when used in a goods train.
Imagine having a few of these specifically to make LEGO recreations of different Thomas scenes/episodes! Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Totally!
What an amazing build! Truly shows anything is possible in Lego. It was quite cool to see the live footage and the troubleshooting to fix the problems aswell. If I could suggest, would be cool to see decals made for it in the style of the van you based it off, or ever considering it’s size, maybe express coaches?
All in all great video! Very fun and incredibly satisfying to see it running in the end!!
Thanks so much, Geoh! Glad that was all interesting to see and that the end was satisfying 😁 Ooh, who knows, express coaches might not be impossible!
The music choice is always on point. The world 1, lvl 1 theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii but its been remixed to fit the Thomas n Friends theme, dude that's awesome. Then the sonic R soundtrack for the end is great🥰
Thanks so much! :D (Outro is the theme of Sonic 3D (Saturn/PC) recreated for Sonic Generations). Nice to see the choices appreciated!
Fun fact: there was actually a Thomas the Tank Engine game for the Wii
This is very good! i love that you’re solving the narrow gauge train problem!
I never understood the Lego 4/6 Stud concept. Did you ever look at a real train and see how narrow the wheels are compared to the actual body of a train? In Germany, we have 4ft 8½" tracks (1435mm) but the trains are 9 ft 3¼" (2825mm). In studs it means: 4 inch wide track allows 7.8 stud wide train! A Shinkansen is even 3380mm meaning almost 9.5 studs wide on a 4 stud track!
The lego trains strangely seem to be close to UK loading gauge (ignoring the scaling issues in comparison with the minifigs)
17:07 the van really said “only I can have Thomas. Get out of here coach”
this has got to be one of the most wholesome videos ive seen in a long time, and i love it
I'm glad to hear it :) 💚
This design is genius!
It's amazing that you got all the components that compact
Thank you so much!
Glad you got it working; it was fun watching you in live streams and trying to figure it out. I learned quite a bit from you because I am looking at doing something similar in the near future.
Thanks Bricktrician! You really helped me out there haha. I'm glad you could learn from me, too :) I'd be interested to see what you'd make!
@@LarrysLego You would have figured it out sooner or later.
This is amazing! I love seeing the whole process of trial and error that led you to the finished model. Keep it up!
Why thank you Jessica! Glad to hear that was all fun to watch 😊 Will do!
If you wanted to make it into something like the tv series it could work really well as a sodor mail van and it would have the benefit of looking better with passenger trains
The bad news is that the mail van design is so complex that that would just not be possible. But the good news is that I know this because I am building a mail van ;)
@@LarrysLegonice
Every mini rolling stock you build is somehow outstanding, Larry! I can't wait what's coming next.
Thank you so much! :D Cant wait to show you
cool stuff! one suggestion: if you want it to push and pull more reliably, try looking into weighted bricks (metal or something heavier). It will push the carriage down more giving it more traction
I love how you made the battery part of the structure to make it stronger! Thomas and his friends look so good moving under their own power! Beautiful video! Those big wheel are not fans of those junction are they.
I have noticed with my set of circuit cubes that they often loose the bluetooth connection with the device that controls them, and I was wondering if you ever had that problem. I also noticed that your motor looks very fast on the narrow gauge track (faster than it looks on standard gauge). Very well done! hope you can work out the bugs, and maybe fit it in a LEGO Gordon or Henry.
Oh right, I had that but only if I left it alone for a long while. And thank you! :)
It's worth noting that in the final montage with it pushing trains I sometimes sped up the footage for it to sync with the music
I've actually been making small Lego trains four studs wide recently, and placing them on roller coaster track, which allows them to roll surprisingly well I might add. Good to know I could motorize the little engines if I ever want to. Thanks for showing us your process of making this!
That's really cool to know! No problem at all. Glad you can now motorise them if you wanted to 😁
Your Thomas MOCs looks absolutely amazing!
Oh my goodness hi! Thank you so much!! I absolutely love your videos, man :D
You continue to impress me with these wonderful models!
Glad to hear it, Horsewoodtrains! 😊
@@LarrysLego 😄😄
This build is so cool! I am very impressed by such Lego masters! It is straight up beautiful!
Thank you so much!
Thanks for taking my suggestion^^ and glad it worked! I plan to use circuit cubes for my standard LEGO engines (that are also Thomas) so glad I could help u with it
Thank *you*! That's really cool, hope it goes well 😄
@@LarrysLego me to!
@@LarrysLegohey I was just thinking that if you make a express coach you might be able to make a motorized one with how you made this
This is a feat of engineering in of itself! Great job with it. Will definitely build one in the future.
Thank you :) I hope that goes well for you and you enjoy it!
glad i made it in the livestream. This was sick!
I think the word you used for Torque you need is Tractive Effort. They are very different, as tractive effort is an Indicator of pulling power. Basically, weight and amount of powered axles are good if they are higher
Ahhh!! I meant to fact-check that I was using the right term there... Oops 😅
@@LarrysLego Don’t stress, it still communicated the point well. Also very well done with the build, it seems very useful indeed
@@zacharykoplin6543 I'm glad. Thanks for informing me! And thank you :)
yup, there was loads of torque (torque is a rotational 'strength' , the wheels were often spinning despite the lack of forward motion) but that was not being translated into a tractive ( a linear 'strength') force. A bit of additional weight on tractor unit * might* have helped.
It looks so good pushing the trains because if you don’t know it’s motorists you think their driving on their own❤❤❤
Glad that's the case :D
You can use those big wheels for Gordon & henry
Could also hide the circuit cube in the tender
I might do indeed!
Circuit Cubes is game changer for Lego builds, because more smaller option for motorised sets or MOCs, example Speed Champions sets or train sets(City).
Lego will make smaller option for motorised sets, because they actual have oversize parts(example motors and battery boxes), if you don't want use old Power functions system with micro motors, maybe older Lego System Electric system(interesting solution for Lego City sets).
new to the channel- just want so to say this video rocks! I love all of the Thomas and Friends narrow gauge you've made, as well as motorizing a basic box car at the same scale! I am curious about two things tho- why narrow gauge, and are any of your files on patreon (will be subbing here in a minute) set for standard 6 wide track, or just narrow gauge?
Also, food for thought- if you want to motorize any of the locomotives, hide the battery in the coal car and use the wire as the chain connection under the cars to connect to the motor inside of the engine, so it all stays hidden.
Thank you so much man!
Thanks so much!! Glad you like it all :D
Why narrow gauge? I don't know! I'm just drawn to working in a smaller scale and I find it cuter and more satisfying :)
I have one MOC that is 6-wide but the rest is all narrow gauge. I really appreciate the pledge! And thanks for the food for thought :)
You were so close to your solution so many times in this video!!
In parts designer, you can select 2 parts and subtract one from the other. you could have cut the axle's contour into the small train wheel, export as .obj, and have it 3d printed!
Same with the example of the PF M motor inside the bricks
Amazing job! I’ve been working for the past year or so trying to get a good motorization mechanism for my Disney inspired monorail. Definitely some food for thought!
Thank you! That's cool :D Hope this helps you
The BT on the circuitcube is crazy, the amount of uses of it!
Have you heard of circuit cubes? It’s a third party brand that has way smaller motors and batteries, they work just fine with legos and even do Bluetooth controls. Might be good to look into if you ever want to lighten this one or motorize the warthog
I used Circuit Cubes in this very video...!
@ oh strange, my phone glitched. I was trying to comment on someone else’s short and I accidentally commented on your video. I had to go back to yours to see where I learned about them!
@@devinlawson7447 Ohhh! Haha that makes sense!
I learned a lot from this video as someone who was planning to build a lego set in his room, thanks for this video
No problem at all! Happy to inform/inspire :)
Appeared in my recommendations for NO REASON, and I watched it fully. Amazing build, now it's time to make 2x2 moving train >:D
Oh shoot :0 Thanks! Glad it ended up being interesting to you! :) Haha, next up, a 1-stud-wide motorised train...
Model railway enthusiast here. If you really want to see some tiny trains, look up T Guage. It’s three millimetre wide track and you need special tools to put it on the tracks.
Best build so far! I like how the end results turns out
Thank you!
I had a thought. If you were building a full size steam engine, you could put the motor in the tender and run a drive shaft to the locomotive. The large wheels will actually enhance the look of the engine. The catch is making the engine heavier with some more non Lego components.
I believe it's possible! Would take some major work, especially with somehow driving multiple wheels
@@LarrysLegoua-cam.com/video/J-ohpzpcWzw/v-deo.html Here's how Bachmann did it.
Lego have a lot of small motors. But you still need battery box. Also you can use lego bars (that can fit in minifigs hands) for making wheels smaller.
That was a lovely video. It looks like you learned a lot from the process. The final (for now) powered van is very neat. I wonder if there's scope to move the wheels closer, which would help with points.
Thank you! I sure did
I should have more directly mentioned in the video that I didn't *want* the wheels to be so far apart, it's just that putting the components between them seemed to be the only way to fit it all in and that forced them to be exactly that far apart.
12:44 WAS THAT A ONE PEICE REFRENCE!? "THE ONE PEICE IS REAL" famous last words from whitebeard
You might be able to get it to fit into a standard train by swapping out the battery box with a small pouch cell li-on and having a discrete switch to turn it on and off. Also you could add some weights to give it some extra traction.
Good work! Thanks for the mention - very cool! I found that problems going over points and around curves increases with increased wheel base length.
I reduced my wheel base on the locos to 8 studs total, which is the shortest I can go using the 20 tooth bevel gear mounted vertically driving a 12 tooth bevel gear on an axle powering both set of wheels. (I hope that all made sense.)
My narrow gauge rollingstock is based on that used in Queensland on sugar plantations and our local amusement parks - 2’/610mm industrial tramway gauge, so rollingstock is disproportionally wide, often at or more than twice the track gauge itself.
I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!
No problem! Ah yes that makes sense - don't worry, it all did
Oh that's cool! I did not know that loco had a basis, nice one :) That also explains the disproportionately wide loco
Thanks Coaster Blocks, likewise!
i have never really been a fan of lego trains or trains in general but for some reason i found this video enjoyable
Wow! Well I'm glad you did :)
An idea for a locomotive design challenge: put the motor in the engine with a dedicated coal car behind to house the battery.
Cool video - It was nice to see you learn along the way.
Maybe having the battery in a separate wagon (coal cart ?) connected to the main locomotive which holds the electric motor inside may make the design possible. My father used to build electrified train models and had, over the years, made a huge table with full decors and many train tracks / train types and stations. The locomotive engine / coal cart battery trick is used thoroughly in that hobby. You just have the wires exposed going from the loco to the coal cart, and the coal cart is a bit heavier than the loco, but it works great.
A second problem I see is that the wheels are getting caught up on the junction tracks because they can't rotate to adjust to the high angles of the junctions, leading to them running over the inner guard rails and frogs. This is really where it gets complicated, as making the wheels mechanically powered and able to pivot is difficult. Usually, in miniature scale trains, the front wheels of the loco are the ones that can pivot but aren't mechanically powered, they're just directing the front part of the loco. The rear ones (multiple pairs) are getting power from the motor itself and carry the load. That way, the train is aligned by the time the static rear driving wheels cross the difficult junction part.
This way, all of the difficult tasks are spread out over multiple mechanism: The free spinning front wheels direct the locomotive, the static rear wheels carry the engine load, and the coal cart has the battery. The coal cart should also be adapted to have fully pivoting wheels too, as it is not motorized, so that it doesn't get caught up on difficult junctions.
8:26 Lego make a steering wheel that you can put on stick pieces, and they look vaguely similar to the small train wheels. Plus, sticks can pass through and hold in the gears' keyhole. Added bonus, resistance makes the gears slip on the stick like a clutch.
I wonder if you can put really small o-rings/rubber bands on the flats on the outside of the wheels?
Something to add a little more traction, and maybe handle track seams on points a little better?
I got a idea! so because you have to use larger wheel on the motor. You could possibly and motors to bigger engines like Gordon or Henry and still use the large wheels
You should build two and have one pulling and one pushing
13:50 Fun fact: The original model series modified its rolling stock to account for mismatched bufferbeams all the time, like how in 'Down the Mine' where you can see the truck's buffers are placed lower to compliment the buffers on Thomas' dipped front bufferbeam for when he bumps them. Once you start to notice it you can't unnotice it!
A troublesome truck face on this would help it blend in I think.
you should make it look like a carriage or a brake van or something that will not look lifeless compared to the rest of the fleet. interesting build!
Wow, I can't believe how far it's come since the first livestream! Always thinking outside the box! 😄 Pity it doesn't explode anymore though, would have been so TV series accurate 😢🤣
Thanks QP! Indeed it has, especially with how fragile it was... which I feel doesn't come across as clearly in the video! And haha, yeah a real shame that it doesn't detonate randomly 😢
12:45 Thank you for using Franky for this meme, that was absolutely *_SUUUUPEEER_* of you!
Never have i been happier to see a grey brick moving down a track
Lol!
Very well made! I think your problem with the points may be with the guard rails or possibly the frog, in the video it looked liked the flange ran up and over the guard rail?
Thanks! Yeah I think you might be right
I like the extra lower-able buffer beam
reminds me of how, since Thomas' buffers were lower on the front and higher on the back, they had to give Annie an extended bufferbeam so the bufferbeam heights would match.
Some of the engines could probably fit just the motor! An idea to play with 🤷♂️😁
i love your trains, theyre so awesomeeee!!
Thanks so much :D Glad you like em!
i'm not a lego expert but i thought about sanding all of the track pieces with some sandpaper to give the rail surface a tiny bit more grip
You can always remove the shell of electric components to save space. I did that with a technic controll plus hub to only be one brick high instead of 5-6.
If you want more traction, you can also put rubber bands around the wheels where they have contact with the rails
I might recommend giving a try at designing interesting facades for this motorized car, such as having it be the fuel car for the train, an oil tank, a passenger car, and more. I bet working from a "naked" base would help let the creative juices flow.
Interesting idea! Thanks
im suprised on how little of an audience youtube is reaching your channel to. I love this type of content! also I swear that yesterday you had 5k and now you have 12k
Haha, well, I'm surprised how much of an audience I AM reaching! I'm glad you love it :)
Lovely build. If you want to make it fit in with rolling stock, then making it a red express brake coach with printed decals on the side could be a good idea. It could also double as thomas' special coach from the missing coach
Could you make the battery fit in a 4 block width by rotating it sideways and attaching it to the inner wall of the train?
Edit: I typed this only part way through the video lol, nvm
love it! I have a driving narrow gauge double fairlie that is very fun but I simply don't own a complete loop to drive it around on
I liked the faces of the cab falling off, it resembled the Thomas breakdown scenes with how imminently it destroys itself
Move the wheels closer together, this will help on the points. A 2-4-2 design would be cool. Design it like an 18 wheeler truck with the drive axles close together. You can the use the smaller wheels front and back with the four larger driven wheels in the middle.
You could make a Big Boy steam engine and use the motorised carriage as a coal tender.
Add little elastic bands around the tires for extra grip so it doesn’t slip on the track
Awesome work mate!
Thanks so much mate! 😄
That satisfying mario bros wii cross percy theme really suits this lovely video🙌
Glad you thought so! Even if there's no Percy (yet...) it was too fitting not to use 😄 S.A Music is so great
3:25 ayyy that me! (i made one out off scratch, but being a poor dutch person i never bought circuit cubes. sooo i scraped it)
ik snap je
I bought their tank kit off amazon after watching your video. So 2 motors and a battery. Surprisingly 1 motor is enough to move a fairly big 6 wide train. Also because i have more space, playing with gear ratios you can get them to go fairly fast.
Nice one! Hope you are having fun with it. I know some use them for 6-wide trains too :)
Cool
What about Lego micro motors? The little red ones. I don't know how you'd power it, it needs the old conductive stud system, and soldering would melt the plastic. Conductive glue maybe? It would make it permanent though.
1 of my 2 cats were very interested in this video (same with me)
Aww!
11:45 I don't think it's just number of wheels, but also weight of the pusher- your first design was so light that it didn't really have much pulling/pushing ability before the wheels would spin without traction. The second design did add an extra traction axle, but also added a lot of weight (via other bricks) to help the wheels grip
tryna watch a lego train video and got jumpscared by franky one piece, might be the best YT channel of all time
Hahahahaha
the mini models are 4 wide means u can fit a hobby motor and a battery in there if you wanna do some diy wiring it would be pretty simple to modify the design, may need a second car but that's simple enough
Something you could possible do to give it some details, is get some custom stickers printed for it.
Maybe something like a sliding door?
Where did you get the straight narrow tracks? According to brick link LEGO never made them
They're from Trixbrix
the motor spinning just fine indicates a lack of grip, not a underpowered motor. To fix this you need more weight on the drive wheels or possibly rubber bands on the wheels?
Hey u should make it into a troublesome truck face to go along with the other trucks
17:49
you should make some stickers to put on to make it look like a carrige
Nice work on this! Also, shoutout to using the Sonic CD OST and Peggle sounds.
Thank you! And haha, glad those are appreciated :p
Great work, did you use traction bands/rubber bands on the wheels for extra grip?
Could you put the motor in the engine and the battery box in the tender or box van, having the wire run between the two?
Your bevel gear alignment should be on the same vertical stud, not a plate separate from eachother. I think a way to fix it without getting in the way of the rails would be to use those 2x2 under-slung pin connecter plates or whatever they're called
Hey have you considered making the battery box a seperate thing that you could add to power the loco?
What Im trying to say is only fit the MOTOR in the engine and the battery box in a car if available.
If the switches had a different frog design it probably wouldn't derail on switches as much. Not really much that can be done about that though, aside from shortening the wheelbase of the car. Not sure if that's possible with that design though.
mayhaps try putting a rubber band of some kind around 1 - 4 of the wheels to increase traction
You could also put a long 2 wide plate across the whole of the bottom to help with strength