Cumulonimbus

I promised I would share my experience if I ever bought an alternative for the Lego cord. I just received a spool of black 1mm braided nylon chord (not waxed) which I ordered from amazon (click here for the Dutch listing), and these are my observations: I compared it to two original Lego cords from my inventory, unfortunately I don't remember in which sets these came originally so I don't have part numbers. On the left a soft 0,5mm cotton(?) cord on the yellow spool often found in City sets. In the middle a more rugged 1mm* braided nylon wire typically found in Technic sets. On the right the 1mm amazon braided cord. This wont be a very scientific comparison with bending radii and yield strength comparisons, but it may give a bit more information to anyone considering a similar purchase. The flexibility of the new cord is somewhere in between the two original cords. The quality of all three is very similar. Let's zoom in a bit, so the differences are more clear: From top to bottom: the amazon cord, the "Technic" cord and the "City" cord. Although the top two wires are about the same thickness, the Lego version looks thicker due to the coarser braid. This also the reason why the Technic cord is a bit stiffer. *Maybe this is officially a 1,5mm cord, but this is difficult to measure accurately. In conclusion: although it is not an exact replacement for the Technic cord, the new cord looks and feels as if it was a thinner version of the official cord. For me this is a good alternative for the official cord to finally finish my Technic crawler crane MOC. I hope you have found this useful.

Since the B-model looks like the Oshkosh M1070, I think than the A model is likely to be a Derry Special 15C-177 Oshkosk HEMMT. @efferman Any idea when the reveal might be?

I'm excited for your upcoming CADA set. Is DBG the final color? If so, then my money for the A-model is on a military 8X8 truck, perhaps a MAN SX or KAT1? I like the scale and I'm curious about the functions it will have. As the song goes "If you like, put a crane on it" so I'm hoping for a recovery truck version:

No, unfortunately I have no first hand experience but these polyamide (aka nylon) braded cords are often described as very flexible. I might order some soon, but no promises. When I do, I'll share my experiences here. By the way, after some googling I learned that this type of strings are often used for home made jewelry and is then called macramé wire or jade draad in Dutch. I thought this might help somebody finding a suitable string.

To the best of my knowledge the current Technic string is 1mm braided nylon cord. I haven't tried it myself, but there are several sources for this type of cord, for example this amazon link or this ebay supplier.

There are rare multiple ways to compensate for shrinkage and warping during and just after the injection molding process, even for thick-walled components. However, these measures increase the production time (and thus the cost) per part significantly. On the other hand, it appears that TLG has made the decision to excluded metal parts (like hooks) years ago and obviously TLG is very experienced in the finesses of injection molding, just look and the increase of dual molded parts recently. Therefore, it is very likely that these weights are solid ABS parts. I wouldn't be surprised if the underside of these parts are very uneven and bear major shrinkage marks. I agree that it is a pity that these parts lack any way to interface with other parts, they look like Playmobil parts. This might be a consequence of the fact that they are solid. The accuracy required for a pin hole might not be feasible due to the aforementioned shrinkage. As for the set itself, I agree with many others here: The representation is not accurate enough for my taste, I (still) don’t care for RC in general and for Control+ in particular and I can think of dozens of other ways to spend €700 which give me more joy that this thing ever could. But I have no doubts that it will sell anyway because of the sensational value and the new parts which will appear on Bricklink very soon after launch. Do not underestimate how well TLG knows its market; they know big licensed sets sell well. It is time to face the fact that we, children of the eighties, are not the most important target audience for new Technic set anymore.

Aha, you have a good eye sir, I missed that part of the mechanism.

I Agree. It wouldn't be so bad if TLG would make wheel covers for these rims to hide those spokes. It should be possible, since they make all kinds of covers for the Speed Champions product range. @efferman designed some a while ago for the 8110 and 42030, you can read more in this topic. I bought, painted and installed a set of both and I find that they transform the looks of those sets. These are some images I made back then of the 8118:

I was wondering the same thing. My best guess is that it only possible to apply proportional steering with the HOG knob in the normal drive mode. Once the lever is tilted, the HOG can longer rotate since the gear is blocked by the orange flower thingy. The four steered wheels turn to the zero radius position when the lever is moved from one mode to the other. EDIT: I was too slow, I didn't know the Sariel review was already online. It is not that easy to see in the video, but I think it confirms my theory.

Great work again, impressive build. I don't fully understand why there are two motors; I expected the movement of the axles and the hitch assembly to be coupled via a linkage. Or did I miss something?

I have checked your rev_1 instructions and they look good. The two errors have been fixed and the other issues have been greatly improved. For the record: I understand the limitations Efferman has when making these instructions, so any builder will still need to follow the original instructions for guidance for the stickers, cables and strings if needed. Great work as usual, thank you very much! I look forward to your custom helicopter build.

For the first time in a very long time, I have bought myself a new Technic set. A new Technic helicopter with realistic pitch mechanisms was really tempting, despite the high price tag. The modifications @efferman presented here won me over. So I recently finished the Efferman V1 MOD of this set and I thought I could share some experiences and tips for anyone who considers this MOD. Disclaimer: I have not built the original set, so I can’t really compare the two. Also note that the following is not meant as critique to the excellent work of Efferman but is merely my feedback for anyone who might find this useful. The following images should help illustrating my comments: Instruction errors I found two errors in the manual which could be confusing or cause frustration: Step 173: The black 2M axle connector should not be added to this sub-assembly, it is already present In the main assembly. Step 267: the 3L pin is upside down. In its current position, parts of the next steps cannot be mounted correctly. Manual unclarities The manual is a bit unclear in some places. I do not consider these as errors, but it will require some building prowess to understand the building step correctly: Strings, power cables and stickers are not shown in this manual. Referring to the original manual will help you here. The one thing I did struggle with was threading the motor cable through the build in step 423. I also needed to remove the door to be able to insert the connector to the battery box. Step 428 shows a grey 5M axle, while a black 6M axle is noted and needed. Step 442: The correct orientation of the ball in the swash plate assembly is not that clear. Since the image is a bit simplified (the black half is also shown as grey) it could be confusing. The original manual helped me here. Step 460: When assembling the rotor head, care must be taken to correctly orient the swash plate, starfish piece and the vertical beam. The parts have some arrows for orientation, but these are not shown in the new manual. When in doubt, look to the original manual. Step 633: the cover sub-assembly cannot slide in its place because the rail holder at the end is already in place. Simply turn the white connectors out of the way before adding the sub-assembly. Other note Maybe it's obvious for others, but it wasn't for me: You will need a number of parts which are not included in the original set, including three examples of the new 1x2x3 panels (sorry, I'm not familiar with all the part names). I will need to order some parts in white, since I did not have them in my inventory. In conclusion, I’m very happy how this set turned out with this mod. The movements feel very positive and some of the proportions issues have been solved, I really appreciate the hard work Efferman has put in to design the improvements, making a manual for the complete build and providing that manual free of charge. It is definitely a strongly recommended MOD, but remember that it will require some building experience and extra parts to finish it.

I once had the privilege to see a Sikorsky Sea king rotor head up close while a highly knowledgeable aerospace professor explain all the different mechanisms. It was an eye-opening experience, the complexity is just mind-boggling. Especially the different self correcting mechanisms, all purely mechanical are very impressive to see and learn about: One of the mechanisms which I will never forget is the spring loaded flapping hinge, which allows the blade to cope with sudden vertical gusts during flight. The amazing thing about this is the fact that there's another spring loaded subsystem, blocking this movement until the rotor speed is high enough in order to avoid hitting ground object while spooling up the rotor. When the rotor speed it high enough, the centrifugal force moves the locking mechanism in such a way that it frees up the flapping hinge to move. Add to this equation six rotor blades, a blade folding mechanism and very high safety factors ... simply stunning. The best image I found online of something similar to what I saw that day is this (from a Super Frelon helicopter): The said locking mechanism is the upside down T-shaped bar under each rotor blade.

Nothing is sure until the model is reviewed by someone, this is all speculation based on the available images. I know the arrow on top is confusing, maybe it is meant as an indication of the rotation of the whole rotor. Anyway, you can see that the swash plate in that image (the LBG part just above white body) is clearly tilted and the axis of rotation (the vertical beam) is still at a right angle with the body. Even the red cover still sits in line with this beam. Only the rotor blades are pitched, as it should.

No, this set actually represents a a real helicopter mechanism quite good. The vertical axle remains vertical and the plane of the rotor head remains horizontal (in relation to the helicopter body) at all times. Only the angle of the rotor blades (this is called the pitch) changes depending on a combination of the collective and cyclic control input. A real helicopter rotorhead is an incredibly complex mechanical system, since it must automatically compensate for all sorts of undesired physical effects by pitching, lagging, flapping, etc. It is inevitably that a modeled version simplifies the mechanisms, so my question was in what degree this set has tuned down the realism.