7706 Hero Tank Picture Review

[gerkenz]

So here is my first Picture Review - of course an Exo-Force Set *sweet*

First of all - the boxpictures:

First impression:

- nice big stickers, new kind of bulldozer-chains with very nice wheels!

more comming soon...

[natelite]

cool. are you going to do a review of 7709 too? i'm really anxious to see that one. if you can do the alternate of 7706 that would be great!

[Kikuichimonji]

Hello orange parts pack... :-D

[Lost Viking]

I actually quite like it.

[natelite]

i'm not sure that this set actually supply that many orange parts. from the looks of things it's a few of the 6 x 4 wedges and two 12 x 4. not that many actually but is actually enough to maybe make 1-2 orange stealth hunter or so. still need a few of them 2x2 bricks. :-D

[UltraPrime]

Can you take a pic of the parts list?

[Darth_Ewok]

I can't wait to see the review *wub*

[gerkenz]

Second impression after building:

- I spend about 1h20min ( with stickers ) to buid the hero tank.

- Everything look realy realy cool *y*

- there are a lot of tiny technic-parts

- only a few orange system parts - 2 very big technic parts *n*

- the chains are not flexible enough to move by pushing the tank on a carpet or whatever *n*

- the chain-wheels are realy awesome! *y*

- the "little-slicer-shooting-thing" is a good idea - but if you pulling to smooth -> they won't fly - just dropping out - and if you pull to hard - some of the others stocked in this "thing" will pop out off the top. *n*

- it is possible to vary the height of the tank - but the chains won't be horizontal to the ground if you do so *y* *n*

So - I think it's a realy great set for collecting exo-sets...but without modification not very playable.

pictures comming soon...partlist, too. :-)

[xenologer]

From the Photos ive seen so far, I was worried that the 'hubcaps' on the sides of the tracks were kinda loose looking. how are they attached?

It's too bad that the tracks are connected with click hinges, It would be nicer if they actually had working suspesion with springs or balance levers, so they could shift as the tank rolled over hills. Like the Scorpion tank from Halo....

[natelite]

going a little off topic here... i think lego just made a terrible mistake by selling the exo-force at the same time as star wars. with batman, star wars AND exo-force competing for our money it's not hard to see which set will take a back seat to the more popular sets. i just tried ebaying and bricklinking for the three new exo-force sets and no one is selling them. on the other hand the two new star wars sets and the batcave are in the top 30 list of EVERY SINGLE country. not only that, but the two star wars sets were like top 1 and 2 and with the US sold out until June (mostly because of the crazy pricing in germany, luxumberg and finland - i bet the fans there are buying from ebayers or bricklinkers).

also in direct competition are the new spongebob and avatar (and the lesser creator) sets. right now lego sets are saturating the market and this will have a negative impact on the exo-force line. if exo-force's debut is received too coldly - when the market began to cool down (after the initial rush to buy the new exiting sets/lines) they will be forgotten and relegated to the status of "has-been".

[xenologer]

going a little off topic here... i think lego just made a terrible mistake by selling the exo-force at the same time as star wars.

I'ts not a problem for me, since I disagree with 90% of the SW sets (I'm only buying a VWing or 2 for the parts).

Between the two, ExoForce is definetly getting bought first. Tho the Creator Mythical Creatures set might go first of all....

On that note, how much is the Hero Tank supposed to cost in USD$?

[natelite]

i was thinking lego was gimping its own line. considering that they are actively marketing this line it just seems so odd they decided to kick themselves in the hiney.

the set should retail at $30. SV at $50 and sentai at $99. it may change +/- $10 or so. ;-)

[gerkenz]

... 'hubcaps' ...how are they attached?

...working suspesion with springs or balance levers...

on "7706_detailed_06" you can see how they are attached...looks a little loose - but isn't. infact of that "driving" this tank is impossible that's the smales problem you'll have to worry about :-D

So - and here are the pictures:

you'll find some more on my page at exo-force.net, although the inventory.

I like the design of this giant tank so much that I'll mod it till it moves ! I've got some Bionicle Manas with IR-control .... maybe the'll fit and I'm able to drive this tank remote :)

[sam89]

Thanks for the pics. I'll probably get this to go with my Striking Venom.

[prateek]

kool i might get this instead of the SV *wub*

how many pieces?

[gerkenz]

355 pieces said peeron/lugnet ;-)

Here is something to discuss:

the "moving"-problem:

if you got a normal tank ( chain drive ) with one chain on each side and you want to "turn on the point" you'll do it in forward the one and backward the other chain.

-> the center of rotation is nearly in the middle of the vehicle ( depending on the chain-lenght and position and shifting of weight...etc. )

But is the "hero tank" with 2 chains on each side able to turn ? :-|

I thought about it...and tested it with 2 IR-Mana's ( some kind of tanks with 1 chain on each side ) by connecting them.

And the result is that each Mana or each pair of chains ( the front pair and the back pair ) have their center of rotation in their own middle ! - So the are working against each other during turning the whole vehicle. :-(

So I think the only way to turn the "hero tank" is an intelligent hinge between these pairs of chains.

That problem will increase if you're having more space between the 2 pairs of chains ( longer vehicle ):

====~~~~~~====

~|ooooooooooooo|

====~~~~~~====

==== chain

ooooo vehicle

~ "nothing just spaces" ;-)

what do you think about it ?

[xenologer]

the "moving"-problem:

what do you think about it ?

(BTW, this is called 'skid steering' when you use the forward/reverse on diff sides to make rotations)

Yes this is true. This is why real tanks are not long; it puts tremendous stress on the tracks. (I always thought the SW Clone Tank was ridiculous because of this, it has wheels but its the same idea)

To help the problem you can widen the body, so the tracks are farther apart from each other. Basically the closer the track/wheelbase is to a circular shape, the less stress there will be with rotation.

You could also do what you suggested, and put a hinge in the center of the body, then steer the tank like a car. So rather than turn in place, you would move in curves as you drive forward. Lots of Front Loaders and Dump Trucks use a body hinge like this.

You could also do what the very cool Mars Rovers do, give each track it's own swivel joint at the tip of each 'leg'. So you can either turn like a car. Or rotate all the tracks to make a circle and turn in place.

You'd definetly need lots of technic pieces and some kind of gears linking up all the 'foot' joints for this. pointing them by hand would be no fun at all.

-okie... I am seriously starting to consider building a tank like this myself now... I dont have the Hero tank in the USA yet, but I do have Digger and Excavator So I have 4 tracks... Hmmmh I think I know how to add a HOG style steering wheel to a skidsteer tank....

[gerkenz]

many thanks for your great reply :-)

To help the problem you can widen the body, so the tracks are farther apart from each other. Basically the closer the track/wheelbase is to a circular shape, the less stress there will be with rotation.

You could also do what the very cool Mars Rovers do, give each track it's own swivel joint at the tip of each 'leg'.

I thought about the circular shape before - and the Mana's I've mentioned have wide bodies.

I made a video of my Manas both controlled with one IR-controller:

2 Manas turn around - divx5 avi

I think 2 swivel joints ( one for each pair of tracks ) instead of 4 will do just fine. 4 swivel joints are shure very cool instead. ;-)

Please, let us know what you tank looks like if it's kind of ready to show...

[Toa Max Nuva]

Why would you need to use both Mana. One Mana is more than enough to propel the tank. Just place it in the back of the unit to beef up the mass of the drive assembly. I agree with what I have seen so far the tracks for this set look very stiff unlike the flexible ones with the Manas. It is easy to get the Manas to turn in unison. They have a three (3) channel IR system. Set both to the same channel and they "dance" very nicely.

[puffdaddy]

Ooooooh, sweetness! I really wan this set!