nerdsforprez

It has been a long time since I posted anything.... I have degenerated into a "lurker." Took a view this morning holding out for some positive news. While I agree the set may have some upsides, the price is indefensible, and that is someone who defended Lego Technic pricing from 2010-2020. Just can't do it anymore. The Technic genre has lost me. Too much redundancy, boring sets.... too high of prices. On to other genres I go....

Beautiful. I love build that focus on the idea of parsimony. Efficient, beautiful use of parts. Thxs for sharing...

Oh goodness. I also didn't know there was such a thing. What a treat of a build! Hard to find such a unique build nowadays. I will be following this. Great job so far.

Thxs for the response. I am in the US so we don't get all the deals you guys do on amazon in Europe. But, that being said, I really don't mind buying from Lego.com or stores. I like the points program and I always get several little goodie sets along with it. I know alot of folks like the discounted approach, but the GWP on a 200 plus set usually end up worth 25-30 bucks and the points add a few more.

Not to mention when you are just building the official sets you really aren't a builder. Not a creator. You are just an assembler. They are different. Assembling something gets boring over time. It could be the most complicated machine in the world and it would still get boring over time.

I find all the comments about money somewhat amusing. We just had another thread talk about paid vs. unpaid instructions from AFOLs, and it was obvious there folks were reluctant to pay AFOLs for instructions created. Pay even a fraction of what Lego sets costs (I get it is for pieces only) . Again, they complained about $$. Hobbies cost money folks. And I dare say Lego is one of the cheaper options for adults. Sure, there are cheaper ones. I hunt for fossils along with building. Costs me pretty much nothing other than gas and other travel expenses. But there are much, much more expensive options. Seems to me that part of the issue, is us. We should, along with all our skepticism towards TLG, look internally. Here is an idea. If you don't like official sets, and you don't feel you have the time, talent or abilities to build amazing builds then go to rebrickable and find a MOC from an AFOL to build. Sure, you have to build up an inventory of parts... and yes, that still costs money, but serious AFOLs often already have a good parts selection. I find it somewhat contradictory that many complain about the costs of sets, but you can get the instructions for much better builds on RB for 15-20 bucks USD (I get it not a direct comparison b/c one must have the collection) and people then complain about the instructions not being free. Amazing to me. Are we as AFOLs too cheap? Not a popular take... but I'm afraid it must be asked.

Very cool crane and idea. I think the "mini" title fits perfectly. Even though it is >1000 pieces it is mini to scale of the actual beast. I have several builds on my to-do list right now but I wouldn't be surprised if I return to this and build it sometime!

If this is the case, which I and many others agree with, then the more appropriate question to this thread would be "What is happening to the Technic audience" rather than "what is happening to Technic" Just like the fan of any sport or hobby, we tend to think our needs and desires is what the team or company is targeting. When in fact, it is not. We are small fish in a large pond, and I think that most who gripe about Technic trends forget that....

Agree with everything you said before, however, this is the point that I see things differently than others it appears. The Technic team is putting in A work IMO. Here is why. They understand the assignment. The assignment is to sell sets. Not to produce the most mechanically sophisticated sets. Most are confusing this distinction. That is why we have all these complaints. I don't care for the sets at all. I like the parts. If I want a mechanically sophisticated or accurate builds then I build them. And that is not some weird flex or something. I am one of the LEAST talented or knowledgeable builders on here. But honestly, even I understand this distinction. We get pages and pages of complaints on sets that are like <500 pieces, where the advertisements are done with 14 year olds, and we here as adults are on this site griping about them? I dont mean to be insensitive, I get there was once a heyday where more sophisticated sets were built, but com'on, this simply does not make sense to me. Agreed. Many of the new elements are for show. Not necessarily for mechanical or technical aspects of a build. But wouldn't you agree some are? The new flip flop beams open an explosion of possibilities alone. Almost like a punctuated equilibrium model. This piece alone could afford a re-do of many sets in completely different ways. Last few years we have seen an explosion of transmission parts as well. So many opportunities. Also the swashplate from the Airbus H175 set. It is not 100% accurate, granted, but such an interesting element(s) that I don't even think the AFOL community has fully tapped into yet.

Lego sets are becoming worse, but Lego is pumping more and more novel elements out. And the crappy sets are selling better than ever allowing us as AFOLs to have collections tens of thousands of elements large. Upshot, sets are becoming worse while MOCing opportunities are improving. If you build to have shelf queens, then yea, the hobby is degrading. If you are building to actually build and not just assemble then the hobby is on the up and up. Honestly, I don't get why everyone is so upset.

Don't mean to be the jerk here but why create a post for this? Anyone who answers is just going to go and do what the OP should be doing. Open your preferred web browser and research.

Yea, mine was also needing more weight than the ~336 grams recommended in the book. But if you replace the 16T gear with a 24T gear you get the added torque and therefore can keep the weight ~ 300 grams. I found this to be the best solution. Less weight and stress on the overall clock mechanisms. WHen I did this the whole thing ran just fine...

TY for the reply. I tinkered with it all last night. I finally found that changing the gear that holds the chain from a 16T gear to a 24T gear, thus increasing the torque, I could decrease the weight a bit. Placed less strain on everything. Worked perfectly. Ran it for a whole hour not with a single stop. Works great now. Eager to play with things more and try some of your other mechanisms out.