BusterHaus

I'm digging the custom drive sprockets and matching tracks. It's a very creative approach to duplicating the original model.

Congratulations to all participants, the winners have really earned their spots.

Glad you've beat the latest health setback, and I'm very happy for you for finishing the CAT. It was a very ambitious project, it looks massive. Enjoy the next build!

Flat gear boxes like this one should be the standard in Technic sets. They show much better what happens when gears change, as the whole path of power is visible for each gear. Instead, we get "magic" gearboxes hidden deep within a car, with two layers of gears. Very little is visible and the user is left to guess what's happening inside. Hardcore Technic fans would probably complain about the lack of realism, but we complain about the current gear boxes. Each supercar has its own improvement thread and could be modified from a flat gearbox to a more realistic one. You have a nice experiment here, and it's still a mix of realism with a flat layout.

Merry (belated) Christmas to you and yours, I wish you all the best and lots of health in 2025.

This multiplexer looks like it would work for motors. I haven't used it, so I can't vouch for it: https://www.mindsensors.com/home/32-multiplexer-for-nxtev3-motors.html A full list of available multiplexers can be found here, most of them are for hooking up multiple sensors to one port: https://docs.ev3dev.org/projects/lego-linux-drivers/en/ev3dev-stretch/muxs.html

Hopefully a Space Shuttle remake.

Yeah, it's often a compromise between strength and looks. It's still a great model, nice work.

The mechanism for the wings and most of the shape look really good, but I think the cockpit would have been better if it were made from angled connectors. The limiting factor might be the color availability, but it would let you make the big window in the roof.

It's a great looking model. The rules allow one battery box, are you planning to remove the second one?

Why not use System slopes? https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catString=31&catType=P

Hi Grum, all the best, speedy recovery, and I hope you get to build soon. Glad you're out of the hospital and that the miracles they performed worked.

Diff locks on a manual model would generate a lot of user complaints. "Why is there so much rolling resistance?" "The car doesn't want to turn." I would be very surprised to see them in this set.

Lots of great details in this model. I know it's not the same type of ship, but it reminds me of 4015, the first Lego set I got. Wonderful work.

@amorti Are you talking about the instructions for the Hammerhead?

Those crop circles in the snow are mesmerizing. Looks like a very fun toy. The body looks awesome, too.

Hi Grum, I missed a whole bunch of updates, just got caught up. I don't remember any project of yours having some many mishaps, I hope you finish it without many others. By the way, don't be too hard on yourself for making assembly errors, they're unavoidable when you are excited to finish the build.

I'm very impressed with this, the 4 jaw chuck is my favorite feature. Does the tail stock have a live center? Does it work well?

This is a very good looking set. I think they missed an opportunity by not putting "batteries not required" on the box.

This is great, old school building. The speed of the functions is just right, quick but controllable.

I have to agree, it was very fun to see the amount of talent and fantastic results. It even got me out of my current mini dark age, I started shrinking 9398 but never got around to finishing it. Congratulations to the winners and kudos to all participants, and a big thank you to Jim and Milan for running this contest.

Excellent work Mr Jos, I really like that the solution allows controlling the "on" timing of the valves and the amount of pressure built up before the next valve is open. Would you have a picture of the horizontal travel mechanism? It looks very smooth.

That looks great. I guess the shrinking factor is dictated by the tracks (3:5)?

@aminnich Maybe it's a software solution, instead of a mechanical clutch? You can detect motor stalls using the position encoder.

Keep in mind that thicker parts would weigh more, erasing the advantage of their additional strength. They probably found a sweet spot between the strength of the parts, their weight and the size of the crane.