Richard Dower

What was your most difficult building experience?

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Ahh, and i forget one:

Sariel's Leopard 2 ... redesign it with LDD just from the few pics he released ... but it is done :sweet:

Wow you reverse engineered that? Have you got any photos of it because that would have taken ages!

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Sure, here you go

Nearly 1000 hours of LDD building :sick: ... and 300 hours of real building plus some hard times to get alle the parts...

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:laugh:

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Edited by DickesC

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Definitely second building of 42009, when all the parts were in the same box, and you have to pay attention to parts with stickers :)

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I'm not as hardcore as many of you guys... (I only wish I was... :p )

My most difficult set build, was the 42009 crane. First motorized set & my first large set after my decade plus Lego hiatus, and first experience with the studless parts.

My most difficult 'creations' usually involves the following... When creating elaborate models, I build it from the perspective of my Technic figure (yes, I have and use them) as if I'm going to be operating it as a Technic figure. I've always thought the engines were neat, but its disappointing where the engine runs only when the model is in motion. I'd like to have the engine constantly spinning (like the real thing), and create a functional gearbox with a reverse which is accessible where the figure sits. Sadly, Ive never actually been able to motorize any of those creations, and also I have a mix of a lot of colors and not enough to create a completely elaborate model in a single color so my models overall look... lame.

My other challenge was when I created a working model of the human hand using the pneumatic system using 2 switches and 3 cylinders.

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There is no LEGO® set that is difficult to build :tongue:.

Mine own most difficult and head breaking moc's i created is the Kiss and SL Gabon.

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Without any doubt Akiyuki's Ball Factory... not difficult to build, but setting up the timing is a nightmare. One tooth off and the whole factory does not sync anymore...

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I'm not sure if it truly counts as difficult, but for those of us who have trouble differentiating DBG from black in the instructions can waste hours pulling models apart to replace one piece. I must have lost at least 15 hours (in ~10 incidents over various models) to this...

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for me the B-model are difficult when i use the computer monitor. i have 23inch LED monitor, but my eyes will go blur after see the instruction then find the parts, i can't continues after 30min. the mistake for DBG and BLACK Parts will happen. :blush:

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Nice that you noticed))) Sad, but this is only a render. I hope that i'll do it real somehow.

I'll do it too... with the help of Efferman and Shapeways... :DDD

Max... :)

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Building anything 'only' with LDraw, I've burned many a brain cell doing just that. :wacko:

I will admit those builds were the most satisfying over any "official Lego kit".

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I'm not sure if it truly counts as difficult, but for those of us who have trouble differentiating DBG from black in the instructions can waste hours pulling models apart to replace one piece. I must have lost at least 15 hours (in ~10 incidents over various models) to this...

+1 on this...yup, i have fallen victim to this problem myself, not only that....but old/second hand instructions fade over time and its almost impossible to tell DBG from black due to degradtion of the paper.

for me the B-model are difficult when i use the computer monitor. i have 23inch LED monitor, but my eyes will go blur after see the instruction then find the parts, i can't continues after 30min. the mistake for DBG and BLACK Parts will happen. :blush:

another +1....LCD monitors dont seem to show DBG vs. Black very well...for some reason....... :shrug_confused:

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In General i would say that no official Lego Model is a Building Challange because the BI are too good and clear. At least for an experienced AFOL...

Only exception: 8868 cause of its tricky hoses routing.

MOC with available Stepped PDF-BI: for sure Andrea grazis Tow Truck is a real challange

Building just from a lxf file can often be a big challange

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8854 Power Crane. I had to use online instructions. It was a used sets with pieces missing. I didn't have all missing parts with exact color matched in my collection. It was a slow process to get it to look balanced with some parts in different color.

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8880 and 856. Both had parts included/missing that made them a nightmare.

A pair of 14 long beams as the main bucket lift rather than the correct 12's meant the tip and lift mechanism refused to follow convention or work till much headscratching and repeated staring at the loaders online instructions let me pinpoint that there were wrong parts causing the drama. Right ones arrived 6 weeks afterward from russia. Interim waiting was character building to say the least.

8880, pulling half the chassis down after initial assembly to sub in beams in the right colour/reasonable condition once the seller had posted them was pretty crap. And it sat with no suspension or steering for a month as well which was depressing as buggery.

Rotating gears or beams on LDD is also "interesting". Happy enough to build in 3D instead to avoid that part of the program unless it requires parts i don't already own.

But by dog i still love this stuff!

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My most difficult building experiences are the 2283 witch doctor I just couldn't get the leg and arm parts right, even the second and third time I built it I still did it wrong :angry: , the 7471 mars rover, and if you really want a Technic set it is the 8263 snow groomer.

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I haven't had a particularly difficult building experience, the only one would have to be the "trouble" with getting the differential the wrong way when building. I got the rear one the wrong way when I built the 42030.

I do expect to get a more challenging or such experience when I build my 42042 towards the end of the week. There's so much gears and stuff, lol.

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I would go out on a limb and say that Lego sets can only be "difficult" for builders who fall within the stated age range. For example, I got 8862 (Pneumatic Backhoe Grader) when I was 12/13. That was a difficult set to build for a kid with young and not-very-strong hands... the pneumatics were a nightmare!

I didn't build 8880 until I was an adult and I didn't find it difficult at all... just a long process, but thoroughly enjoyable.

And latterly, 42030 is the very first technic set I've built (and indeed owned) that uses the new style of technic pieces rather than Technic bricks and plates. I LOVED it and can now understand fully why there is such a thriving AFOL community, especially for Lego Technic. The stuff is just pure brilliant!

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I don't seem to recall having any really hard moments, I have made mistakes by rushing, and the gearbox for the 42038 artic truck looked quite complex, however I was guiding somebody how to assemble it at the time, so wasnt fully concentrating, it was the connectors really not the gears themselves.

Infact the most mind boggling experiece I have had was making gearboxes, I used to get it wrong constantly and wonder why it wasnt driving a desited gear or axle, or even jamming, but now I think I have got it sussed.

Funny because everybody else seems to find it easy :S yet I can come up with complex mechanisms where as others may struggle with that.

Also I cannot seem to design a whole MOC, I can MOD an existing set to a degree as long as I dont overcomplicate it, and I can make small mechanisms such as gearboxes, spring loading mechanisms+triggers, steering and drive units, etc

Edited by SNIPE

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I cannot seem to design a whole MOC, I can MOD an existing set to a degree as long as I dont overcomplicate it, and I can make small mechanisms such as gearboxes, spring loading mechanisms+triggers, steering and drive units, etc

I can easily MOD a set, but designing a whole MOC is outside of my abilities. Partly because I tend to prefer sturdy construction over, well, the way TLG make their sets.

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Of the official sets I did not really found any super dificulty to build one - Ok some of them took hours but were build after all.

My very first Technic 8841 - I could not build the main model :) so I did some of the alternatives ones. Only after some time I had completed the main one.

Later when I was about 12 I got 8862 - build it for 5 or 6 hours :) :)

Now a days I think more dificult for me is unbuild :) rather then building :)

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It was the (boom of)42009.I made the extension of the boom and when I put it into the boom I thought that I made a mistake with the springs but I actually didn't...I was thinking of what was going wrong for an hour before continue the construction anyway to find in the next steps that all were correct....

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