Details: Here's a particularly strange LEGO electrical project for you. This one is far from purist, but the effect is interesting enough even if it does involve tinkering with valuable monorail track (you may think I'm kidding, but on BrickLink, a single piece of straight track can sell for over $20). If you're familiar with the model railroading hobby - or with LEGO's own 9V Train system - you know how a train can draw power from certain kinds of track that carry electricity. This is a much more efficient system than the battery-based type of trains LEGO current makes - you don't need to worry about replacing or recharging anything as long as you can hook up your speed regulator to a wall socket. Although the LEGO monorail system is fairly legendary, it too is limited by battery life. Until now! Apparently a bit of copper tape on the track and some hacking to make the motor draw power from brushes near the wheels is "all" it took!
More videos and photos are available - just follow the thread linked at the top.
Details: Seeing that we covered a rendition of the Metroliner set in monorail form, we would be remiss if we did not mention a similar rendition of the Emerald Night. There are few real flagships in the Trains series, with the high raw costs of the sets (if you think in terms of price-per-part and factor in comparable other trains, they're usually inexpensive, but that's not immediately apparent) frequently scaring off even most people who are impressed by the designs, but both the Metroliner and the Emerald Night stand out as important classics. The Metroliner was in the first round of 9V system kits, and looked snazzy with its Amtrak color scheme (slightly more European stylings elsewhere made it a tough sell to some serious train fans, but it was decidedly more realistic than other 1990's LEGO train kits). The Emerald Night is the first train kit to feature the new steam locomotive wheels, and the options for motorizing it introduce the new Power Functions system.
Which is why the both warrant microscale tributes, but doesn't say too much about this little version (I'd like to see you try writing this many words about other people's LEGO creations every day and not getting a little off-topic). This is a simple and elegant build that mimics the features of the original set fairly closely.
Have you ever wondered what the Metroliner set would look like if it were actually a monorail?
LEGO®'s Monorail system came out in the late 1980's, but last appeared in a set in 1995 (the rarity of the parts have made them are desirable collector's item among LEGO fans). The "monorails" are powered by a battery-operated 9V motor that sits in between the chassis of the two cars. The tracks that the monorail rides on have teeth pointing out horizontially on each side that are used to propel the vehicle fowards by a means of gears gripping onto them. They are controlled by small buttons on the side of the motor which can be switched with special pieces of track.
Besides the obvious wizardry of combining a 4-studs-wide monorail set-up with a more well-known 6-studs-wide train set, this model is also unique in having a third car. Extra monorail cars are not easy to come by, and LEGO never designed a way for multiple cars to be strung together (although a few builders have successfully fashioned their own ways of connecting cars.
Although this post for Wednesday's model of the day is appearing late, it's only appearing at all thanks to the work of new blog-member Brickapolis.
