The Train

 

 

 

The train was a very tough choice. The only trains we could find that we liked were no longer available and most didn't provide for a motor. We did take a look at the Lone Ranger train, but again, it was discontinued, had no motor (though it can be added) and no usable passenger cars.

 

So we took a look at this High Speed Lego train which comes with everything you need. I decided, with some modification, that this just might be what we were looking for. And in the future, if I can get a steam train, this one can become an elevated monorail! It lists for about $150 but were able to do some Amazon price matching at Toys R Us for a much better price :)

 

 

 

At 610 pieces, this one really isn't hard to build at all. Book one (of four) has you starting out by building the people, bicycles and train stop.

 

 

 

 

One of the first modifications we made was to not put the Lego City decal on the window of the announcement board on this piece. Actually, if our train ever has a "backstage" area, this will become a cast member crossing.

 

 

 

Now it's time to build the engine. Pretty straight forward, but once again, we decided not to put on the transportation decals as it made the train look too much like "city transportation." Eventually we want to make our own decals and add them to our scenes.

 

 

 

The Engineer watches as we begin to install the engine's windows and motor area.

 

 

 

 

And speaking of motor, here it is. It was critical to me for the train to run smoothly. I wanted it to be able to smooth start and stop and be able to run slowly as well as faster if need be. This train does exactly that. And it is remote control. Perfect for what we need.

 

 

 

With the motorized wheels in place it is time to add the back wheels.

 

 

 

The battery box and infrared control ride on top hidden in the back of the engine. And now we start to build the train's nose piece.

 

 

 

Our newly hired engineer checks out his seating space. With a thumbs up we continue with the work.

 

 

 

 

With windows installed, we attach the front body. This shows another alteration that we made. We did not add the electric hookup rails on the top of the train. No electric trains in this park!

 

 

 

The front of the train moves out onto the test track for a few solo runs.

 

 

 

 

Next up we build the passenger section. And then the final car is pretty much just like the front.

 

 

 

And here we are with our brand new train, taking a run on the test rack. The train is ready! 

The K'Nex Raptor's Revenge

I got a call from my wife a week ago asking me if she could bring me home a K'Nex Raptor's Revenge roller coaster. How could I say no?!

 

I figured it would be worth a try to build it and see if it would fit in with the look of the Legos.. Besides, rumors have it that in a year or two Lego will release a coaster, but that's going to be a while. So while we wait, we can use this one. It cost about $35 at Walmart. I found it to be well worth the money. But I had to get over the hump of building it first.

 

 

 

I found K'Nex not to be as easy to build as Legos. Some pieces fit tighter than others and sometimes pieces would fall apart as I built the structure. But the worst part was the instructions. Imagine trying to illustrate a 3-D coaster make of sticks onto a 2-D set of instructions. Not an easy task and I found it very difficult to try and decipher which bar was getting what pieces. Especially as the project got more involved.  I had to download the pdf instructions and blow up the pictures as large as I could  to try and figure out what connectors they used and how. Some were more obvious than others and others you just had to guess.

 

 

After a while I started getting the idea and it started coming together.

 

 

It didn't take long before it began to reach into the sky. When completed this coaster is 3 feet high.

 

 

This is when things started getting really crazy. And it wasn't long after this picture was taken that I was taking the entire thing apart. Two days work gone. But I figured, from what I had learned, I could rebuild it much better. So I tore it down and started again the next day.

 

 

 

 

Next day I went back to it, rebuilding everything from the ground up. Sad thing was, I still ran into the same issues as I started to lay track.

 

 

The model sat this way for a few days while I fiddled with it and tried to work out the kinks. Stay tuned to find out what happened next!



 











More Building on the Lego Mixer

 

 



The gears in the back of the truck bed are beginning to be installed. These gears will make the Mixer spin.

 

 

See the two yellow pieces pointing up? When you push those down it levels the attraction onto two small wheels. When hauling the ride you bring these back down.

 

 



Safety is always first, even in the land of Lego. So here is the safety gate, ready to be assembled.

 

Here is the main mechanism that will hold the seats. There are three arms of them. This folds for easy storage on the truck.  

 

 

 

Believe it or not, there are a lot of little bricks in this piece making it heavy and solid. Now we just need to add seats.

 

 

Each of the three sections have different colored seats. The yellow seats are ready for installation.

 

 

Now all we need to do is finish up the last seats and we will be ready to install the ride onto the platform. Stay tuned to see the finished product! 







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Lego's Mixer

A new Lego Store had opened at our local mall and this was the first piece I came across. I just knew I had to have it!

 

 

The Mixer is a Lego version of The Scrambler. Out of the box, when cranked by hand, the ride moves its seats around and around. But you can also buy a motor for it.  It has 1746 pieces and currently costs about $150 on Lego's website. It consists of two trucks, the Mixer attraction built on one of the truck beds, and lots of fun carnival games. Let's build it!



 

 

 

Yes sir, that's a whole lot of building to do. Aside from the Millennium Falcon (which was 7964 pieces), this is the largest Lego model I have built.

 

 

 

 

We haven't even started building and already the people are "piecing themselves together" to come to the fair. The set includes 12 minifigures to populate your scene.

 

 

 

 

The first thing we build is the smaller of the two trucks. This truck will carry all of the carnival games.

 

 

 

 

This one is ready for hauling!

 

 



 

 

Then we build the games. Use a mallet to hit the striker and watch the marker go all the way to the bell! And you can even drop a minifig into the dunk tank!

 

 

 

 

Next up, we built the big semi truck that will carry the Mixer. The base of the Mixer is actually the back of the truck.

 

Lots of building. When we return we will work on the ride itself!

 











Yes.....we are still here!

I do believe it is time for an update.

So..........the models finally got moved out to the garage and I am happy to report that we have more room now than ever. But we still aren't quite ready to build our main table yet.

With all of this down time I came to a realization. Trying to build this whole idea with Faller models is not helping to get my family involved in the project. Faller models are delicate (as you have seen) and difficult to build.

And then a new idea hit me:

It started when I found Lego's new Mixer model (above). It recreates a miniature carnival ride and even packs back up on a semi to go to the next location. Very cool!

And then Lego released a Ferris Wheel. And I started thinking about how much Autumn and I love to build Legos (and my wife loves the mini-figs) and how sad it is when we finish our models and they end up falling apart in boxes.

So, after some thought, we have decided to build our theme park out of Lego bricks (using some of Lego's boxed models and some originals we will build) but still using real hills and roads and grass, etc.

So get ready for some updates to see what we have so far. It's time to get excited again!