Thomas & Friends — Powered Up and Acting (Up), Endo(o)rsed, Suspended, and Taking A(ir) Br(e)ake

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

At the end of last year, our dear customer presented us with a winter outfit. Needless to say, we wanted to present ourselves in it immediately, but patiently waited for the snow.

Please note that we are only a product idea and still under development.

We wish you all a wonderful time.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

Thomas just got a new face that combines some of the most important building techniques of the previous versions. In addition, it features a mechanism for moving his eyes (360 degrees continuously) which is elegantly operated by rotating his chimney:

The new face is not easily interchangeable like the others, which means a small modification is necessary before they can be reattached. In particular, the chimney was moved half a Lego unit forward to optimise the gearbox, which — according to our dear builder — looks almost better.

The gearbox is smooth-running and nearly noiseless. In fact, it was the biggest challenge during construction, as there is very little space between Thomas' face and his elaborate water tank construction.

The eyeballs are attached to Lego Technic axles with knob and can therefore be easily adjusted or twisted against each other so that Thomas can also squint (which he did several times during construction, unnerved by the numerous failed attempts of our dear builder).

The eyelids are loose and can still fall out if Thomas is held upside down. Otherwise, however, they move very naturally when the eyes are turned, which is why our dear builder is still undecided as to whether he should attach them further. One simple way to keep them in position is to attach a semi-circular forehead tile horizontally in front of them (instead of vertically in between).

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas

Dear all,

 

Thank you very much for your kind support!

This update improves some details that have been bothering our dear builder for a long time.

First and foremost, Annie's and Clarabel's hubs can now be easily switched on via power buttons that are almost invisibly integrated into their roofs:

And just in case you're wondering, the 3 hubs/4 motors of the coaches can still be easily lifted/clicked out of the compartments (and used elsewhere) after the roofs have been removed. 

a) a new set of stairs (see first picture and third picture below). While waiting for the wall elements in dark azure, our dear builder nearly made friends with the temporary solution of tiles modified with bar handles (see older pictures). However, the new stairs not only come much closer to the look of Thomas' alter ego and the original LB&SCR E2 class, but also reduce his width by 2 plates.

a) more robust and decorated side walls that harmonise her appearance with that of her twin sister Clarabel:

a) improved duckets with a more authentic negative curvature towards her bottom:

b) red highlights on her suspension (see first and third picture), mirroring the auxiliary motorisation highlights on her twin sister Annie's axles (admittedly only minor detail but a rather neat one).

Last not least, our dear builder is constantly replacing Lego parts (e.g. in medium stone grey) with Lego parts of the same shape in a matching colour (e.g. pearl gold) as soon as they become available. Recently introduced pearl gold pieces have provided some long overdue embellishments to Annie and Clarabel's window frame structure (see second picture), and for that we would like to extend a special thank you to a golden Lego robot from another franchise.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

Originally, our dear builder just wanted to showcase our lighting. Then he remembered a particular piece in bright orange. Then one piece led to the next:

Please note that two additional Lego lights were used for the special effects and therefore the compressor and whistle had to be disconnected for the picture.

Finally, a big thank you to all the kind Lego sets who lent us pumpkins, leaves and all the other marvellous props.

We wish you all a wonderful autumn.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas

Dear all,

Thank you very much for your kind support!

There have been many improvements to our little project, so this update can only serve as a brief overview:

Our train now uses 4 Lego Train Hubs (with 4x2=8 connections) to run 

a) a new switchable face that relies equally on built and printed details and complements the previously presented versions.

b) a new chimney, which is more realistic in its overall proportions and its negative curvature along the vertical axis.

a) a new twin auxiliary drive for both axles (instead of just one drive for the front axle). Above all, this increases the driving performance of our train and also perfects the symmetrical shape of Annie and the symmetry of both coaches with respect to each other (see last picture). The two Technic Large Motors can be clicked in vertically (after removing the roof) and turn with their running gear.

b) a new remote-controlled air whistle whose valve is opened and closed by a Medium Linear Motor. The centre compartment wall can be easily removed before the motor is clicked in vertically between the hubs (after removing the roof).

a) an improved compressor whose Technic Large Motor can simply be clicked in horizontally (after removing the roof).

b) a Lego pneumatic tank that supplies Annie's air whistle via an air hose

Annie and Clarabel have been given completely redesigned floors and running gears made from a combination of Lego Technic and Lego System parts. The floors are more robust, lighter, they merge more beautifully into the side walls, especially at the front and rear (e.g. the lower warm gold panelling now goes all the way around the coach) and can be connected via a working air hose (like on real railway carriages from this period). They have also been given bright red highlights to indicate their Technic functions (and can easily be changed back to black).

The following picture shows the air hose connection and some of the Technic features highlighted in bright red, i.e. Clarabel's pneumatic brake rod mechanism and the suspended (front) brake, which mirror Annie's air pipe housing and (rear) auxiliary drive:

Unfortunately, our dear builder does not yet have the brick for the left cheek in medium stone grey, so this cheek was recreated with photomontages, as were most of Thomas‘ face prints.

The interaction of the compressor, brake and whistle is controlled by Powered Up programming (so that the whistle can be triggered at the touch of a button and then recharges automatically). Please note that the hose ending and the whistle chamber (bright red) must be precisely aligned with each other. Once this has been done, the configuration is quite stable. The number and duration of the whistle signals are of course limited by air pressure and air volume. At the moment, Clarabel only accommodates one air tank, which is emptied very quickly — but there is still room for more tanks. The susceptibility of the brake is lost when whistling, as the compressor first has to rebuild the pressure. There are ways to remedy this, e.g. by decoupling the whistling system before depressurising. The pneumatic valve has an unused output that could be used for this purpose. It could also be used to connect to the locomotive. Our dear builder is still undecided about this and has also asked us to apologise on his behalf for the blue pins. This is only the first version.

Now, brick length adapters largely decouple the construction of the coach side walls from the floors, which previously had to mediate between tiny displacements of the walls through a complex brick tessellation. Our dear builder had originally discarded the adapters for what he calls philosophical reasons (and others may call snobbery), but eventually came to his senses.

Take care,

Annie, Clarabel & Thomas