DarkShadow73

Problem with that is TRU's, at least the 4 close to where I live in a major metro area, still have tons of 2013 stock left, and with the sheer amount of new Technic releases, I am rather sure they won't carry them all, or maybe any for a while, too much real estate is taken up by the older sets. I have seen the smaller 1H2014 sets there, but not the medium to large sets that I want to buy, mainly the 42030. I picked up the 42023, 24 and 25 from Amazon. Paid too much but I wanted them and they were available from sellers importing them to the USA. Are there still a lot of 2013 sets in stock at your store in Green Bay? I know the stores in my neck of the woods still have a lot of the larger sets from 2013 like the 42009, 42008, 42006 and 9398 making it nearly impossible to stock any new sets. I keep checking one of them nearby, but the other 3 stores are a ways away. And it seems like every time you call a TRU to check stock, it always seems like an inconvenience to the cust svc staff, and since they aren't up on the TRU website yet, you don't have their SKU# so its easy for them to check on their intranet whether they are on the shelf, in the stockroom or coming at all. When I checked on the status of the 42009 last fall, all I got was 'Huh' when I tried to describe it, and another time they said they had one at 1 store and it ended up being a City crane so I drove thru heavy traffic some 20 miles to find just that, not the Technic MKII crane...sigh

Anybody else have any ideas?

Wondering if there was ever step by step instructions made for the tipper MOD somebody from the UK designed to enclose the bed. I had a link to the youtube vid on it, but unfortunately I moved some time back to a remote area without cable internet, only have DSL, so any vids play jerkily and virtually unusable. Any help appreciated, thanks.

Rockbrick- Yes, I remember this topic from long ago, but it contains mostly links to youtube. I had the videos saved but I can't open them because of the slow DSL. I had planned on modifying 1 of the truck beds and the roof of the cab while repeatedly watching the vid through cable internet, but that was spring of 2012, just never got around to it. Now in a pickle cause I have 1 built and want to utilize that MOD.

Downloaded the dozer yesterday from Tomik's site, excellent C model, he is a real genius to build MOC's 99.9% out of a stock set. Check out his Forklift from the 8052 as well, nice smaller lift, the 8416 is a bit large to go in nice with medium scale setups. All you need to add is 0.5m of string outside the box and that's it. Real friendly guy too.

Thanks guys...I didn't realize it was for bales of hay..I'm a city guy. I didn't know how small or large the 42028 was going to be, haven't even seen a pic of it yet. Hopefully they release it in the US as we got passed by on 1H2014 sets for the first time ever. Got another question concerning the 42006...I realize it was designed to be a grabber instead of a true excavator, but its like a mini-me of the 8043 and goes well scale-wise with the 8294...but it would make a perfect bucket excavator IMO. Since there is a mini-LA powering the grabber feature, I wonder is it possible to retrofit it with a bucket? Unlike the 8294 it would then have all 3 functions instead of just the 2nd LA on the 8294 doing the work of both swinging the bucket and scooping at the same time. Any ideas there? Thanks as always. Paul - this is excellent, exactly what I was envisioning, thanks for the pics and the links...seems to me this designer took pieces from the 8052 Container Truck and made them into a telehandler MOC.

I was at a local TRU store a few days ago (in Michigan, USA) and they have the 42020, 42026, 42027 and the snowmobile (can't recall that set #) on the shelves, just not the bigger sets like the 42023, 42024 and 42025. Agree on that Lyichir...all the smaller toy chains used to have some good Technic, now only TRU seems to stock Technic. What I've always wanted is a largescale road grader, possibly RC but at least with included PF items. That is one thing Lego hasn't made. I see that 42024's 'b' model is a grader, but too many colors, looks odd. Would be ok if it just had one color, and most road graders, at least here in the US are yellow. That would be very dissapointing, and of course other sources like ebay, Amazon and BL will be a lot higher than MSRP...

Several pics of both the box art and it finished sitting on a table, they we're in the first post of the topic. So Im guessing that possibly either Lego put it together and somebody snagged the pics (like I said they we're several in the first post) to send to this website, or alternatively it could have been a top reviewer that was able to purchase a set before release. I don't I just asked cause I was wondering. Also @ Tommy S., I don't see any hint of rear suspension. In my experience with Technic since 2000 I haven't seen one construction vehicle (well maybe the Unimog, but that's not really a construction vehicle) that had suspension, Lego was focused more on the design and functions, whereas you see suspension on most of the large cars and off-road trucks. Sure wish I could get my hands on a 41999, but the price gouging is ridiculous on Amazon, eBay, etc. I hope to see it become a regular item that Lego sells instead of just producing a limited qty of 20K units.

I see 3 vehicles, the front loader, dump truck and excavator (which actually looks very good, as compared to the same scale I believe as the 8419). What I am wondering per the topic heading is the set worth buying to those who have it overseas already? Just curious. Thanks, Eric

Very nice looking indeed, and finally a model comes with authentic decals showing the make, in this case Volvo. Hope they don't make the USA wait for it like the yet unreleased 1H2014 models which are available overseas but no in the US or Canada, wonder what the deal is... I sort of wondered the same thing since there are pics of it already assembled. I assume it is full RC from the remotes showing in 1 of the pics I viewed?

I'm interested in knowing exactly what is on the back end of the b model of the 42006 Excavator? In the description on the S@H site it says you can put a dozer blade on front, but all I can see is the axles sticking out the front, and the mechanism on the back makes me scratch my head as to what it is. To compare the 8275, that set had a ripper on the back but this odd looking rear end comes out at an angle. I was looking to possibly buy a 2nd copy for the b model, but I am tossed up about it...

@Erik Leppen- I bought 3 8649 Nitro Menaces back in 2012 at a reasonable price, all MISB. 1 for myself to build, 2 to resell for a profit which I listed in my BL store. Decided to build one of them a couple days ago. Funny thing, 2 sticker sheets which I thought odd and also 1 poly bag had broke open so I figured I best inventory it using BL's parts list. I ended up missing nothing from the bag that had opened, but was missing some key lime color parts, and unfortunately in that color, I don't have any extras, got plenty of every major Technic color except I have very few lime parts. Going with another color looks funny anyway since the shell and fascias are all lime. I was seriously po'ed. Not as much as the one I wanted to build, but also at the fact that I have 2 I wanted to sell. I can't in good faith do that now. I decided tonight to open the 2 other sets and just upon cursory inspection of the poly bags they are missing some of the same parts out of 1 set, but had 1 of 2 of one part in the other set. I bought them all from the same seller on Amazon at the same time. Normally if you sell sets and find a good deal you hang onto them for a while to let them increase in value, you don't want to break the seals, but this really sucks. Sure, I could probably find the missing parts through BL but since I opened them I can only sell as used sets now as I would have to inventory both completely, and from what you said in your post, I could be missing more in the other 2 sealed sets I opened. Eric

Alright then, thanks guys for the input. I got that info from a review on Lego S@H or an Amazon review, can't recall, but if the L is fine that's great. Thanks again.

I am sure this question has been asked and answered, but I don't have the time to do an extensive search. After a long hiatus from buying Technic I recently picked the 42009 Crane. However, I have heard from a friend at TexLUG that the L-motor is underpowered and that the XL-motor having a lot more torque would be a better option. Is it possible to install the XL in the L's place when assembling. I haven't assembled it as of yet, so wanted to ask the experts here their opinion and if it is possible before I 'bury' the motor when putting it together since it is such a massive kit. Thanks in advance, Eric

Kinda looks like the the B model pickup (with the exception of the trailer crane that was present w/ that version) of the 8258 Crane Truck from '09...not real interesting IMO. I'd put my money into the Crawler if I was interested in just plain pickups as you get RC with the 9398.

Another great, detailed review! Thanks for that, I found it online and ordered it just due to your in-depth pics and the detail of the review.

Excellent review of this set! It doesn't appear to be available in the USA along with the other 1H2014 models which I thought was really odd as they are usually available around Christmastime, but Amazon.com has a couple of sellers that got it somehow. After reading your review, I believe I will order it, its kind of nice having a small loader and excavator again. Been a while on those, too many backhoes released in the past 3 yrs or so. Did order the 42024 Container Truck last Thursday(4-10), thanks for that review as well.

Hi all - just got my 8428 Turbo Command/Concept Car back from my fiancee, however her kids kind of messed it up, rear diff doesn't even have the main driveshaft to it, along with the option of raising the rear up via the shock absorber, something's missing there too. Something is missing. I plan on taking it apart and reassembling after doing an Inventory from Bricklink, but I clicked on the instructions entry on the site and nothing came up. Are these instructions available anywhere on the web? I checked Lego S@H, but their scanned instructions only go back to 2002, this one came out in 1998. Any help or redirects appreciated. Thanks, Eric

I bought 2 8109's at the last TRU BOGO 50% off sale. I am thinking of building it, but of course there is that matter of lots of paper and ink. Anybody built it yet? Is it worth it? It looks interesting enough, I just don't want to waste the ink and paper if its subpar...

How could you build it if it hasn't been released to mass public yet? If you type in 42005 in S@H's site it says Sorry, no matches, or something to that effect.

- sorry, meant to reply to this post, but my computer won't let me get down under the quote...BTW - when are the 2H half models being released. As in the past, TRU usually has them first, but I keep checking but nothing yet. I want the 42009 Crane. Seems like in the past years, 2H models usually come out in late June or early July...if anybody has any info on this, please let me know. I didn't look at the pinned postings, too many posts.

I have 2 of the 9397 Logging Truck and was intending on building the 'b' model plow/dumper. However, Lego does not have them available on their S@H or Technic Alt. Building Instructions websites? Anybody have them posted anywhere? Thanks, Eric

Hi - I am wondering why the 8288 Crawler Crane has substantially increased in value both on Amazon and BL in the past year or so. What is so special about this particular crane, its really nothing special IMO, its all manually operated with the handles and retailed at $50 MSRP in 2006. Glad I bought 2 of them, 1 is still MISB. Most models like the 8285, 8421, 8275, etc have have had huge increases as well but they are all large models, high piece count, and are all really eclectic models. But, a lot of mid-size models like the 8288, have just had modest increases, but this one exploded in price. But I guess I'm more than interested in why this particular model has risen so much in the past or so. Just my thoughts and questions.

Funny you posted this crane, even though its in the City theme, I have 2 of them and they use a lot of Technic parts. It looks like Technic and adds another crawler crane to my worksite. I did a bit of modification behind the cab and took off the jib (why do so many cranes have jibs instead of hooks nowadays?) and put on a black metal hook instead. Both mods didn't detract from the crane's look at all, and much cheaper than the 8288, though this one's retired too and rising in value as well.

Hi DLuders - maybe so since Technic hasn't really produced a mid-sized crawler crane. First thing I did with mine (after the release of the larger crawler tracks a couple yrs ago) was remove the way undersized tracks and put on larger 16-tooth gears and some pulleys and the larger dk grey tracks from a parted out 8294 set on the superstructure to make it more stable, it looks a lot better and has no issues of it tipping sideways, only issue is the tracks partially touch the bottom of the 'box' that contains all the string pulleys and such. I personally like the tower crane the best. But, man the upcharge is unbelievable. I thought at buying another, but when I saw the prices, that was that, no way. Hey, btw, do you happen to have a pic of the crane coming out this summer? I hate to go through the many pages of the threads on this to see it. I don't know if TLG has officially released a pic, but thought I'd ask, thanks in advance if you have it, since you are like the God of this forum, you seem to have all the answers and are in touch with Lego a lot about issues with things. You definitely have my respect, and always have.