42215 Volvo EC500 Hybrid Excavator

[allanp]

1 hour ago, lcvisser said:

It wasn’t harsh. Well written and clearly communicates what you look for in LEGO Technic.

For me Technic is a means to add motion to LEGO models, and the realism is not as important for me, also because I think it’s not feasible to make every mechanism realistic. You’d need a lot of specialized parts that fit poorly in the larger LEGO ecosystem. Construction equipment sets would all need to be pneumatic (as closest approximation of hydraulics).

 That being said, I agree with your analysis of the pricing with respect to sets with similar functionality. But I still think it’s a cool set. Very playable, although two separate gearboxes would have been better for simultaneous motion of joints. 

Wouldn't that be nice . But seriously, why I feel particularly wound up by it is that it's yet another flagship excavator moved by LAs. Every single motorised flagship since the the introduction of C+, heck since the Arocs has been with LAs. We've never once gotten a RC pneumatic flagship. If they had alternated between the two systems, one year pneumatic, the next year LA, then it would have been fine. I feel like if they had known that every other year would see a pneumatic flagship, there would have been time and effort and waves of development making RC pneumatics work and it's awesome potential would have been clearer.

 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

It is only convenient that I have 4 big sprockets and a bunch of black track links as spares. I think I'm just gonna gather the parts for this and build the version with the breaker.

[Lim CL]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

Regards the rechargeable battery box, is it possible they are using the existing "dumb" battery box with a rechargeable battery inserted into it instead of the existing 6 AA battery holder?

Hydraulics and pneumatics work on the same principles while LAs are entirely different.

Stranger things have happened. 

I don't think the integrated hub is replacing the 4 port hub. The integrated hub could continue in a long line of app controlled 1/10 scale cars. Something else would be needed to replace the 4 port hub.

 

31 minutes ago, KLF said:

Maybe the new rechergeable BB has the same shape as the old BB. ;)

Lego missing part replacement site and Brickset web already confirm.42215 dumb hub will be same as Airbus Helicopter and Lighthouse. No rechargeable ability.

[mpj]

Tracks look to be not properly tensioned. It would have been nice if there was a tensioner like in the Cat bulldozer.

The quick coupler system is a nice feature, but it's a little "big". The fourth function could have been the hummer, with a manual coupling system.

The undercarriage is very empty, so motorizing it should not be too difficult.

The overall look is well captured.

The price is high but for some reason I don't feel it too high for what I see.

[Zerobricks]

6 hours ago, allanp said:

Wouldn't that be nice . But seriously, why I feel particularly wound up by it is that it's yet another flagship excavator moved by LAs. Every single motorised flagship since the the introduction of C+, heck since the Arocs has been with LAs. We've never once gotten a RC pneumatic flagship. If they had alternated between the two systems, one year pneumatic, the next year LA, then it would have been fine. I feel like if they had known that every other year would see a pneumatic flagship, there would have been time and effort and waves of development making RC pneumatics work and it's awesome potential would have been clearer.

 

I agree, I think pneumatics with 1 motor + battery box would be a better fit here. Not to mention in this particular case pneumatics might be more efficient than driving a long series of gears and you could control several functions at once. AAAAAND there should be space left for a hidden compressor tank or two. You could still have a switch to switch between compressor and tracks for example.

[Timorzelorzworz]

A concern about this model is that the single lever has long ways to move across the yellow axle for the functions and that they are not operable simultanously. This makes it very hard to play with the motorized arm. It definitely needs one lever per function like the 42042 has.

Edited Friday at 04:21 PM by Timorzelorzworz

[allanp]

8 hours ago, Lim CL said:

 

Lego missing part replacement site and Brickset web already confirm.42215 dumb hub will be same as Airbus Helicopter and Lighthouse. No rechargeable ability.

The "dumb" hub itself doesn't need rechargeable capability. We would only need a rechargeable battery that fits in place of the 6 AA battery holder that's inside it.

[allanp]

2 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

I agree, I think pneumatics with 1 motor + battery box would be a better fit here. Not to mention in this particular case pneumatics might be more efficient than driving a long series of gears and you could control several functions at once. AAAAAND there should be space left for a hidden compressor tank or two. You could still have a switch to switch between compressor and tracks for example.

There's multiple ways it could have been pneumatic. From a manually pumped model (would be way smaller though, and we've had a couple of those), to a single motor model with a mix of gearbox/pneumatic functions (like the Arocs). But surely it's time for something to beat the Arocs. How about they release a new, stackable valve with integrated micro servo (or a micro servo that can interface nicely with the existing valve) and a new more efficient compressor for more consistent speed and power and better control. Something similar in scale and ambition to 42100 but with RC pneumatics. It might benefit from an air tank but I think the ultimate is to have a beefy enough compressor to make air tanks redundant. It would be RC so that crowd it happy. It would be fast and powerful which would make everyone happy and it would be authentic making us happy. Everyone's a winner baby! Oh, and it would have a physical remote and a new buggy motor for the beefy compressor too .

[Timewhatistime]

55 minutes ago, Timorzelorzworz said:

A concern about this model is that the single lever has long ways to move across the yellow axle for the functions and that they are not operable simultanously. This makes it very hard to play with the motorized arm. It definitely needs one lever per function like the 42042 has.

Maybe the single motor isn't strong enough to drive more than one function simultaneously? So the setup with a single lever avoids this issue.

But I consent, a multi-function setup like in 42042 would be more fun to play. I can imagine that there will be some early MODs which will provide exactly this setup.

Edited Friday at 05:16 PM by Timewhatistime

[allanp]

38 minutes ago, Timorzelorzworz said:

A concern about this model is that the single lever has long ways to move across the yellow axle for the functions and that they are not operable simultanously. This makes it very hard to play with the motorized arm. It definitely needs one lever per function like the 42042 has.

The problem is that 42042 had efficient rope winches, it didn't have to drive less efficient LAs through long and winding drive shafts and gear trains. I don't think one L motor would have the power to reliably power multiple function simultaneously with this system. It'll struggle to dig a bowl of cornflakes! If only there was a more efficient way to transfer energy to it's multiple functions!

[Auroralampinen]

37 minutes ago, allanp said:

The problem is that 42042 had efficient rope winches, it didn't have to drive less efficient LAs through long and winding drive shafts and gear trains. I don't think one L motor would have the power to reliably power multiple function simultaneously with this system. It'll struggle to dig a bowl of cornflakes! If only there was a more efficient way to transfer energy to it's multiple functions!

Hmm the 42082 was powered with one L motor. But i do remember, some kids rc excavator’s using ropes for boom movement. Because it makes sense, the ropes are the simple and efficient route. And they can be hidden in the boom, while the excterior has those fake sylinders, wich moves with the boom, to create illusion that they move the boom:). 

[steph77]

I build this functions setup 11 years ago. Interresting build but...very poor playability ...so sad.

EVEN NOT! MINE WAS ABLE TO EXECUTE SEVERAL FUNCTIONS AT THE SAME TIME!

 

For this reason i build this one,

The rc give it another value.  And it is typically the case for an excavator.

 

I do not understand how such orientation was taken by tlg. But I am really interested at understanding those choices. Just in the case tlg would justify it's own choices....for once

Edited Friday at 06:35 PM by steph77

[pleegwat]

2 hours ago, allanp said:

There's multiple ways it could have been pneumatic. From a manually pumped model (would be way smaller though, and we've had a couple of those), to a single motor model with a mix of gearbox/pneumatic functions (like the Arocs). But surely it's time for something to beat the Arocs. How about they release a new, stackable valve with integrated micro servo (or a micro servo that can interface nicely with the existing valve) and a new more efficient compressor for more consistent speed and power and better control. Something similar in scale and ambition to 42100 but with RC pneumatics. It might benefit from an air tank but I think the ultimate is to have a beefy enough compressor to make air tanks redundant. It would be RC so that crowd it happy. It would be fast and powerful which would make everyone happy and it would be authentic making us happy. Everyone's a winner baby! Oh, and it would have a physical remote and a new buggy motor for the beefy compressor too .

I don't think a special servo is the way to go for RC pneumatics. I think it should be a dedicated valve part, based on a solenoid instead of a servo.

[kbalage]

3 hours ago, allanp said:

The "dumb" hub itself doesn't need rechargeable capability. We would only need a rechargeable battery that fits in place of the 6 AA battery holder that's inside it.

It seems to be a translation error only, the English sites have a different description, not mentioning the rechargeable battery. I think it was simply copy-pasted incorrectly from the Lamborghini's description. Additionally, as @Oh_Hi_Mao highlighted, there's the text on the front of the box - "batteries not included". 

[Michael217]

Maybe it's a Lego joke, and they'll show us the real RC flagship later! Everyone forgot about the article 42216!

[Jockos]

10 minutes ago, Michael217 said:

Maybe it's a Lego joke, and they'll show us the real RC flagship later! Everyone forgot about the article 42216!

If only... I bet it's just a set delayed for next year

[McMarky]

If they didn't know how to build an excavator with a single motor, they should just look through eurobricks forum.

 

[Bartybum]

5 hours ago, allanp said:

If only there was a more efficient way to transfer energy to it's multiple functions!

Yeah it's called using both ports in the battery box lmao.

Either: A) Run two motors in parallel, or B) Split up the drive and digging functions. One motor for the drive gearbox, one motor for the digging gearbox.

3 hours ago, steph77 said:

I do not understand how such orientation was taken by tlg. But I am really interested at understanding those choices. Just in the case tlg would justify it's own choices....for once

I said this on the first or second page, but I think this was designed as an RC model originally, but then the designer/s had to pivot halfway through and weren't given enough time to make it work properly.

2 hours ago, pleegwat said:

I don't think a special servo is the way to go for RC pneumatics. I think it should be a dedicated valve part, based on a solenoid instead of a servo.

Why not just the regular valve, a dumb motor and a spring assembly like what the Lego Sports ice hockey players used?

Edited Friday at 10:16 PM by Bartybum

[msk6003]

Volvo EC500 Hybrid 굴착기 42215 | 테크닉 | LEGO® Shop KR
Korean site also mention of rechargeable battery.

Trans - Include rechargeable battery for powering lego toy excavator and need to USB-C cable for charging(not include)
 

I think eng site wrote wrong.

Edited Saturday at 06:59 AM by msk6003

[lcvisser]

The Dutch site also mentions a rechargeable battery.

Either the English site got it wrong, or all the other languages got it wrong because they all used the same wrong text to translate from.

I hope the first, I expect the last. 

[Jockos]

I suppose only the English description is good because the box mentions "no batteries included". If there was any kind of rechargable battery this wouldn't have been written on the box itself.

[lcvisser]

Oh right, I didn’t even see that @Jockos that seems to settle it. 

[Appie]

While I understand people not liking Control+'s dependency on a smartphone, I absolutely loved the Liebherr 42100 for having controls in the app to move the arm to a position on screen and the real life model would run its motors to match that position. It really felt like a step up to me from previous RC Lego models, but it seems Lego dropped such software development for later models? (I don't know if the big Liebherr crane or the Bulldozer had similar options?)

The 8043 is (no surprise) a favorite of mine and I find this new Volvo excavator a great insult. The 8043 set is now 15 (!!!) years old (happy birthday) and 6 years ago the Liebherr 42100. Instead of improving on old sets, they went backwards and that's fine for any set except a "flagship set" imo and especially one with this price tag. Even heavily discounted (like €250), it's still too expensive imo. Besides 15 years since the 8043, there have been alot of MOCs and even (non-flag) sets (42042) that did better with less parts and cost (alot) less and I am sure Lego isn't blind to this either. I haven't disliked a set this much since the 42131 Bulldozer with it's brickbuild actuators instead of being functional. That said, I like having a proper excavator bucket for once. Probably goes nicely with the best excavator set, 8043

[Oh_Hi_Mao]

1 hour ago, Appie said:

While I understand people not liking Control+'s dependency on a smartphone, 

With pybricks and powered up remote, control+ sets are immortal and very fun

[Ngoc Nguyen]

With PF Conversions, control+ sets are also immortal and very fun.