42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

[hawran]

I don't want to look like a nitpicker, it's generally impressive model, but should the Earth be tilted towards the Sun on June/July, while tilted from the Sun on December? It's flipped in the instructions imho... what do you think?

[Stereo]

Northern hemisphere is pointed towards the sun the most on the solstice, June 20th or so, yes.

[Jazzlw]

On 5/9/2024 at 3:25 AM, hawran said:

I don't want to look like a nitpicker, it's generally impressive model, but should the Earth be tilted towards the Sun on June/July, while tilted from the Sun on December? It's flipped in the instructions imho... what do you think?

Notice that the month indicator is opposite the earth arm. 

[howitzer]

So I finally bought it. Here's some impressions:

It was a nice few hours build, nothing too challenging though. The print of the Earth domes was well enough aligned in my copy, though the print otherwise is a bit strange (desert in Borneo?). I decided to apply stickers which I don't normally do, but getting them properly placed was a bit difficult and I'm not entirely happy with the result. I love the complex mechanics of the set but I would've liked more aesthetic touches for it, the wheel-legs in particular look ugly. It's also a bit too lightweight, when turning the crank it tends to hop a bit unless held down but other than that it works well and is nice to look at when turning.

This was also my first encounter with the paper bags, and I like them except they're not transparent so one must be very careful so as not to leave any parts inside the bag. I flattened each thoroughly after emptying them and decided that I will keep them at hand until the build is complete in case some little part seems to be missing.

Oh and for my purchase the local retailer rewarded me with a pretty towel:

[R0Sch]

9 hours ago, howitzer said:

Oh and for my purchase the local retailer rewarded me with a pretty towel:

That towel looks cool, but it's a bit outdated since it's missing the LBG, Brown and Dark Purple Spaceman and the proper Green helmet exists now too.

Edited June 20, 2024 by R0Sch

[Lion King]

I just finished building this set this weekend. I have to say….I’m impressed by the functions it includes for all three objects (Earth, Moon, and Sun). Earth and Sun rotates while Moon doesn’t. However, I love that Earth and Moon can orbit Sun neatly.  

I don’t agree with people who think that exposed gears are “messy” or “ugly”. I feel that they are more  fun to watch gears move while turning the lever.  I don’t eed to cover those expsoed gears with something -  it’s really cool to see gears moving - both slowly and Gastly.  Also, those gears remind me of Astronomy Tower from Harry Potter movies - you know, there are some gears. 

I love that Northenr Hemisphere being tiled toward the sun while souther Hemisphere away from it (summer) and Southrern Hemisphere toward sun while Northern Hemisphere away (winter). It’s quite realistic and easy to explain to people. 

I could get it why Moon “never” rotates while orbiting Earth becuase we never saw the dark side of Moon.

This project is out fo the world (intended pun)! 

EDIT: I forgot to mention - I am a bit disappointed that stickers are included but Earth pieces are printed. I wonder if the moon phrase  should be printed… I  month labels are stickers becuase of different languages? 

Edited August 18, 2024 by Lion King

[Chilly]

Just finished building this set.

I had three attempts to get the earth/moon attached to the main module, and each time a gear fell out as I was fiddling!

Third time worked fine.  Until I discovered the earth is not tilting in the correct direction.  Looks like I need to disengage the gears from the turntable, rotate the centre part and re-engage the gears.  But.  I can't find a way to do this without removing the earth/moon module and starting again.

Does anyone have a solution to this? 

(Sorry if it's already been discussed, but I didn't find anything by searching.)

[Divitis]

Bought this today as a parts pack but couldn't resist building it.

It was a great hour and a half of meshing gears ... it's one of the sets with the most gears per parts ration, which is why I chose it in the first place.

 

Oh, and the end result is very satisfying. Recommend!

[fchem]

On 1/5/2025 at 4:14 AM, Chilly said:

Just finished building this set.

I had three attempts to get the earth/moon attached to the main module, and each time a gear fell out as I was fiddling!

Third time worked fine.  Until I discovered the earth is not tilting in the correct direction.  Looks like I need to disengage the gears from the turntable, rotate the centre part and re-engage the gears.  But.  I can't find a way to do this without removing the earth/moon module and starting again.

Does anyone have a solution to this? 

(Sorry if it's already been discussed, but I didn't find anything by searching.)

I just joined, a year later... but I noticed this same problem. The instructions don't provide quite enough detail to necessarily get this right. It is left up to chance, with only 1/3 probability of getting it right on the first go.

Of the two horizontal drive shafts within the arm, the lower one is what controls the orientation of earth's tilted axis, so those are the parts that matter for this issue. What is required in step 203 for everything to work is that the axle orientations of both sides of that lower shaft match before joining up the two assemblies. Both ends of it involve a 12t bevel gear engaged with a 28t turntable, and this results in three possible axle orientations when everything is aligned: "x" (45 degrees), "+ tilted right" (15 degrees clockwise from vertical), or "+ tilted left" (15 degrees counterclockwise from vertical).

So to fix this after it has been assembled, you do need to reverse the last five steps to get back to the beginning of step 203. (Pull off one two-pin connector, pull off one 13L beam, pull off one 3x5 L beam, and partially push out two 3L pins, then separate everything.) When separating the two assemblies, be careful that gears don't fall out (especially the 12t bevel gear on the underside of the earth assembly), because the axle connectors may not pull apart the way we would like.

Once you have it apart (or once you reach step 203, if somehow you are reading this while building it from the beginning...), inspect the axle orientations of the lower shaft, while making sure the arm and the tilted earth axis are aligned as needed. It should be one of the three possible axle orientations on each side (either "x", "+ tilted right", "+ tilted left"). And if you had an alignment problem, then there will be a mismatch. The good news is that we can change these axle orientations without any further disassembly. Instead of disengaging gears and trying to reengage with certain teeth meshed (way too fiddly to do successfully), we can simply rotate a 28t turntable, one full rotation at a time, until the correct axle orientation is reached. The one inside the base is a bit more effort to manipulate, so let's consider that base/arm side fixed, and just manipulate within the earth assembly. You can grab onto the angled pieces immediately below the earth to turn it one full turn, which will turn the 28t turntable and the axle in question. Check the axle orientation again. It will cycle through the three possible orientations with each full turn of the turntable. So you may have to do it once, or you may have to do it twice, to reach the axle orientation that matches what is on the arm side. (And note that "+ tilted left" on the arm matches "+ tilted right" on the earth assembly, when looking at each face-on. And vice versa. And "x" matches "x", of course.)

Then complete assembly as usual. Sorry this was so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter version.