Rodinal Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Some time ago I was so lucky I found a brand new 8455 in a local shop here in Italy. Immediately bought it, and now I'm here to post a picture-heavy AAR of the building experience, for me the first time building a LEGO set including pneumatics. The box. It is huge! I like the old yellow boxes more than the recent black-silver ones; as you can see, the box is in pretty good condition, there's only some shelf wear on the back and on the lower side: The contents: several polybags; two long tubes and the bigger parts (wheels, scoops) are loose in the box: The two instruction manuals: I'm planning to build the main model only. Notice the very useful foldable first page, with the centimeter scale that helps in cutting the tubes the right length. The polybag with the pneumatic pumps and cylinders inside! I love them In this pic you see the cylinder privates all lined up, reporting for duty to the two pump sergeants: All the needed tube pieces have been cut; luckily, as you can see, there's still a lot of spare tubing (the knotted one in the pic) so in case of errors or damages I'll have more than enough even for the longest piece to be replaced: Starting the building: the back frame and the skeleton of the outriggers, and the first two cylinders mounted on the outriggers! Don't they look good? Is this a nest of snakes or a tangle of pneumatic tubes? My fingertips: they're really sore after all this tube plugging Being vewy caweful in plugging the wight tube to the wight switch! The backhoe slewing actuator is in place: Construction of the body of the loader is a bit awkward, with all that tubes and stuff. The instructions aren't very clear about where the tubing must pass, and one has to perform several tests to be sure that the switches are correctly linked to the actuators: The pumps are in place, the body is almost done: Building the loader frame: four cylinders are needeed to make this beauty lifting and pivoting the right way! AAARRGGHH!! OMG WTF BBQ! I need two #6 axles, but there aren't any of them in the box! In their place I found two #4 axles... And I'm away from home, so I can't get them from my collection... Why oh why? HA! Solution! A couple of months ago I've bought the 8256 Go-Kart: it was built, judged crappy and immediately torn down: luckily, I have its pieces where I am now, so I go scavenging and find the much-needed #6 axles. I'm happy: Almost done: the last part to build is the backhoe: it's pretty simple and straightforward, so after all the mindblowing tubing work inside the body, the backhoe flows like a breeze: Finished, finally. It's a beast, and it's beautiful The pneumatics work! I've correctly linked all the cylinders, switches and pumps! The only thing I don't like is that, when there's pressure in the system and I want to lower the jib, it falls down heavily while I would prefer a more gradual lowering. Apart from this, it's a fantastic build and it's very playable. I love it! ...and the pics, I hear you asking? Well, I took hundreds of them while building, and managed to... lose the memory card! So you'll have to rely on your imagination, because it couldn't happen that I rebuild it for your eyes only! Hope you enjoyed the AAR L. Quote
DB24 Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Sucks that you lost your pics i've got a photo of my one, anywho Maybe you'll find your card? Quote
Rodinal Posted April 30, 2009 Author Posted April 30, 2009 Sucks that you lost your pics i've got a photo of my one, anywho Maybe you'll find your card? Doubt it. But I enjoyed making this AAR nonetheless L. Quote
Brickthus Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 my fav lego set Best supply of pnematic parts - 10 cylinders and 7 switches. Almost enough to build models like this (it has 8 cylinders and 9 switches). Bring back serious pneumatics in kits! Mark Quote
CP5670 Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Some time ago I was so lucky I found a brand new 8455 in a local shop here in Italy. Wow, great find. This is one set that has gone up heavily in price on ebay and BL since it was discontinued, and it's easy to see why. I only wish I had gotten a second one when they were still available. The polybag with the pneumatic pumps and cylinders inside! I love them default_cry_happy.gif That bag was a thing of beauty back then. We were used to seeing 2-3 pneumatic pistons per set and the 8868 with its 5 pistons was thought to have a load of pneumatics. 10 pistons and 7 switches would have been unthinkable in an official set before this one. It was one of the few instances of TLG really going all out with a Technic set and adding in every function they could think of. The only thing I don't like is that, when there's pressure in the system and I want to lower the jib, it falls down heavily while I would prefer a more gradual lowering. You can mitigate this by moving the pneumatic switch carefully so that it's only partially open and lets out the air gradually. AAARRGGHH!! OMG WTF BBQ! I need two #6 axles, but there aren't any of them in the box! In their place I found two #4 axles... And I'm away from home, so I can't get them from my collection... Why oh why? You probably accidentally used the 6s instead of 4s somewhere earlier. That happens to me occasionally too. Quote
green dewback Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) I have one too and I use the leftover long piece of tubing to extend 1 of the pumps out of the chassis to pump with 1 hand. In normal configuration, the downward pumping action puts stress on the wheel axles and I don't like that. Edited May 6, 2009 by green dewback Quote
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