bonox Posted February 12, 2015 . In reality, there is a rigid metal construction everywhere around the steering. They have practically no backlash. Having driven a couple of link rod steered B model Mack's I would beg to differ. Even freshly rebuilt with a new steering box and all bushes replaced you could get nearly a quarter turn of the wheel either side before taking up all the slack. Do any of the euro trucks use rack and pinion steering? The link style steering of this model is always sloppy compared to cars. Not as much as the model appears to display, but significant none-theless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nicjasno Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) Rack and pinion is used in the new volvo trucks with independent front suspension. Live axle trucks all use one form of recirculating ball steering box with linkages. Edited February 12, 2015 by nicjasno Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rishab N Posted February 12, 2015 229 seems like a good bargain for a set this large with new parts and a license Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Osuharding1 Posted February 12, 2015 The PR news wire article listed the Technic range of prices so I assume that highest at $229 was the MB. It's hard to image it would be the crane. Here is the exactly wording from the article, "Advanced builders will love the challenge of new LEGO Technic sets such as Motor Bike and Sea Plane that offer technical elements like gears, beams, pulleys, actuators and pneumatics. Sets range from $12.99 to $229.99." Given the mention of Pneumatics, I think $229 is the price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrPaulo23 Posted February 12, 2015 Less than the Volvo Wheel Loader? This is indeed Good News! I always felt the Volvo was overpriced. It was overpriced because of the power functions on it. 42043 packs more parts so $229 for me seems a fair deal for this big guy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrJB Posted February 12, 2015 ... you could get nearly a quarter turn of the wheel either side before taking up all the slack ... Most Vehicles do have 'by design' a dead-band in the middle to make sure the vehicle does not steer erratically due to small driver inputs. However, +/- a quarter turn seems rather excessive. Typically, and for road vehicles, the faster the vehicle can travel, the smaller the deadband, as such dead-band affect 'perceived' vehicle handling (e.g. how fast the vehicle responds to steering inputs). I know in construction machinery, steering is typically done by hydrostatics via an orbitrol valve, and there, because such vehicles move slowly, steering is almost instantaneous. Unless for trucks, we do not want them to be zig-zaging on the highway (dangerous) and the dead-band is large on purpose. It was overpriced because of the power functions on it. 42043 packs more parts so $229 for me seems a fair deal for this big guy. I have yet to see a consistent/coherent price model for Lego. A recent discussion we've had on here suggests that the price correlates best with the total weight. Yes, PF are expensive, but they're quite heavy and weight-wise, equivalent to several plastic parts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdsforprez Posted February 13, 2015 Most Vehicles do have 'by design' a dead-band in the middle to make sure the vehicle does not steer erratically due to small driver inputs. However, +/- a quarter turn seems rather excessive. Typically, and for road vehicles, the faster the vehicle can travel, the smaller the deadband, as such dead-band affect 'perceived' vehicle handling (e.g. how fast the vehicle responds to steering inputs). I know in construction machinery, steering is typically done by hydrostatics via an orbitrol valve, and there, because such vehicles move slowly, steering is almost instantaneous. Unless for trucks, we do not want them to be zig-zaging on the highway (dangerous) and the dead-band is large on purpose. I have yet to see a consistent/coherent price model for Lego. A recent discussion we've had on here suggests that the price correlates best with the total weight. Yes, PF are expensive, but they're quite heavy and weight-wise, equivalent to several plastic parts. I have run several correlational models between weight and price with Technic sets. Since the 2000's the coefficient has been over .9. What that means is there is actually a pretty good relationship between model weight and price. Not perfect... but nothing ever is. And any error left over is probably only due to just rounding error. Or at least a good portion of it. No one wants to see $229.43 or 231.67 as their price. They like to see whole numbers. Despite what we might think, in the big picture, I think TLG group actually has a good pricing model. High... yes ......but at least more or less consistent Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrJB Posted February 13, 2015 I have run several correlational models between weight and price with Technic sets. Since the 2000's the coefficient has been over .9. What that means is there is actually a pretty good relationship between model weight and price. Not perfect... but nothing ever is. And any error left over is probably only due to just rounding error. Or at least a good portion of it. No one wants to see $229.43 or 231.67 as their price. They like to see whole numbers. Despite what we might think, in the big picture, I think TLG group actually has a good pricing model. High... yes ......but at least more or less consistent That sounds interesting. I'm guessing you ran a regression analysis and the correlation coefficient was over 90%. Now, do you recall which sets were outside of the 90% band? Outliers sometimes have their own story and could shed more light on the pricing model. For example, I would run two different regressions, one for models with PF/motors, other for models without PF/motors. I bet the separate correlation coefficients would get even higher. After that, we can simply 'reverse' engineer Lego's pricing structure. Of course, one can also extend to non-technic, but the outliers there are the painted minifigs as those tend to push the price up. But ... I'm digressing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdsforprez Posted February 13, 2015 Exactly.... I once did a whole write up.... I can search for it. The PF functions complicate things, and really it is only fair to compare apples to apples... i.e. those with PF functions and those that do not. I do not remember which one fell outside the 90% band. I used a data set containing LEGO sets as a whole, and there were differences between genres (Technic, Friends, SWs, etc) with Technic being one of the more consistent. The least? I remember it was SW I think TLG realized the could charge more, and more, and more and more with their SW line. Also.... for what it is worth... there has been speculation that LEGO set weights have decreased through time (weight per piece, not weight overall, because as we know sets in terms of piece count are getting bigger) and yup, that was confirmed. TLG is using less and less plastic in their molds. At least that is what the data I looked at suggested. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ComMix Posted February 13, 2015 If you refer to StarWars sets, you should have in mind that TLG has to pay for the license which adds to the Price. I don't think that Counts for Technic, City e.g. even if they make a Volvo or merc model. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Epic Technic Posted February 13, 2015 If you refer to StarWars sets, you should have in mind that TLG has to pay for the license which adds to the Price. I don't think that Counts for Technic, City e.g. even if they make a Volvo or merc model. It does count for technic. They need to get a license or else some bad things might happen. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ComMix Posted February 13, 2015 For sure they need the OK from Volvo or Merc but i dont think they have to pay for like they have to for the SW Theme. I think TLG wouldnt do an Technic license model if the had to pay for and in additon in my opinion these copanys think more of an good tradeoff to have a good PR for free. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anio Posted February 13, 2015 For sure they need the OK from Volvo or Merc but i dont think they have to pay for like they have to for the SW Theme. I think TLG wouldnt do an Technic license model if the had to pay for and in additon in my opinion these copanys think more of an good tradeoff to have a good PR for free. Couldn't agree more. Licenses for Technic line must be close to 0$. The difference between a 42043 with and without license can be sum up to the MB logo, and, maybe, the shape of the calender... A 42043 without license would not be an Arocs 3245 but a big truck with big crane and big tipper. Which is about the same. License adds no value to the product. I can not imagine TLG paying for such a license. Nor the customers paying a premium for that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdsforprez Posted February 13, 2015 I know that we are going a little off-topic here, but quickly just wanted to add..... paying for a license should not matter in the topic of discussion. I was comparing SW sets with SW sets. So... every SW sets should be subject to the same fees and therefore the prices should be consistent. Unless... the fees were becoming more and more expensive through time b/c the Lucas Films (disney now) found that that they could charge more and more. But this all seems very unlikely. It is not just that SW sets in the data that I looked at were consistently higher than in other sets, the amount of variability in their prices was consistently higher than among other genres. The variability was higher, in addition to the higher prices. If the prices were higher but variability lower or the same, we would not be having this discussion..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brickthus Posted February 13, 2015 The change in oil price has more effect on the transport cost of LEGO sets than on the price of the plastic. The price of the plastic is a very small proportion of the set price. If you take out all the Power Functions and other elements costing more than £2 each from Technic sets, then re-do the price per piece calculation, it should work out similar, with a factor for larger sets being a bit cheaper than smaller sets. The proportion of PF for the Volvo loader is high. For 42043 take out the motor, battery box and pneumatic parts. The proportion of panels is also significant these days - allow £1 each (less than the single-piece RRP). Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrPaulo23 Posted February 13, 2015 I called Lego customer service and asked when in Summer it's going to be released just to know if they have a set date, the lady just said by tradition it's going to be sometime in August as most 2nd half year sets go by, I'm just excited about this set and the 42042 Crawler Crane, sure it can just another set (42043) without the MB logo but what adds I think to the set's overall look is that it carries the official license from MB plus those details that (I think and believe) Lego has to go by upon conception of this set, I hope this big guy will be super heavy since it doesn't pack a bunch of PF motors and just plain heavy because of the 2,793 parts it has. One thing though, the shock absorbers are they the old ones? A stiffer set of springs can compensate the truck's sheer weight, same thing with the 8110, I had one of them outfitted with both the plough and crane and its height remained just about the same. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdsforprez Posted February 13, 2015 ................ it should work out similar, with a factor for larger sets being a bit cheaper than smaller sets. Okay now were getting way off topic.... but yup Mark great comments. An interesting article regarding what you just mentioned can be found here.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12381294 Generally, larger systems are more efficient in the use of their resources. In terms of LEGO, the ratio of individual elements to unique elements is greater, meaning TLG needs to use less molds for the overall total amount of pieces in the set. A set that has 1000 pieces yet 200 molds (200 unique elements) is not nearly as efficient to make as a set with 3000 pieces with only 150 molds. One of the most efficient sets of all time was 3450. The Statue of Liberty. Tons of pieces (like nearly 3,000) but very few unique elements. Unfortunately it was make all out of relatively large bricks, so very heavy and somewhat reflected in the price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrJB Posted February 13, 2015 Since we're off-topic, and the MODs may opt to split this thread, there are outliers that totally blur the picture. The best example I can think of is 9398 vs. 41999. Both sets had the same MSRP ($200.00), and yet 41999 had more/unique parts. Unless its price was offset by the marketing/advertising group. vs. = $200 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted February 14, 2015 Since we're off topic, doesn't mean you need to continue off-topic. Back to the Mercedes please! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Good old Lego builder Posted February 14, 2015 (edited) Don't know if the question has been answered yet, but I saw a video and yes, the doors do open..... And clearly it was a 6-cylinder engine, although that was allready established. This is such a cool set..... Edited February 14, 2015 by Good old Lego builder Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmi Posted February 14, 2015 (edited) Great video, this confirms everything we've been asking for. doors can be opened 6 cylinders pneumatic system v2 works very smooth he finally showed all functions of the crane arm All in all best LEGO Technic set in years! Great job. Edited February 14, 2015 by Emmi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kumbbl Posted February 14, 2015 can anybody calculate if the slightly bigger wheels/tires of the legendary black cat 5571 could fit on the arocs? i own two of them so i could replace all wheels - IMO the size of the black cat wheels would perfectly match the look. Thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jantjeuh Posted February 14, 2015 Yeah, I'm loving how smooth the new pneumatics seem to work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Askan Posted February 14, 2015 I saw the Arocs today at Lego World in Copenhagen and must say that it looked impressive. But the best surprise to me was that the B model looked even better in my opinion. Two crappy pics: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
paul_delahaye Posted February 14, 2015 So to clarify, is the rotation of the crane on the Arocs PF or Pneumatic? I'd convined myself it was PF, but it looks like it rotates very smoothly like pneumatics? especially the way the LEGO guy demos in the above video, he just pulls the crane back round to the side at the end of the video, I'm not sure you could do this with PF, surely the Cogs would not allow this? But I only see 4 pneumatic switches, and I count 4 pneumatic functions on the crane arm itself. So PF it surely has to be? either way, I'm looking forward to this one for Christmas 2015, and the B model is just as nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
