JimDude

According to the box, the cabin is motorized. What else, other than turning, could it do :)? Above the counter-weight, there are some exposed gears, so I guess the model is ready for front-attachments as well, which was to be expected, but it's still cool that it is really there. I see no B-model reference though...

The BWE was always going to be ugly since the real machine is ugly (I don't care, it fits a purpose, and it sort of becomes cool through it ugliness), but surely the color-vomit is a prototyping thing? Surely the large superstructure 'bracket' will become dark-blue (or whatever the official colour for the conveyor-belt is) as well? The VOLVO looks astonishingly good, from what we can see. I would have preferred full RC and LAs - and the heftier price-tag that would have brought - to play with it operate it next to the 42030, but you can't win 'm all, and aparently one or two AFOLs like pneumatics, or so I'm told ;)… The wheels on the VOLVO will probably disappoint a few people (myself, potentially, included). If the BWE is supposed to load that mini-loader (and if that is unchanged from the previous set, colour aside, then that is pretty lame), then we're missing the ~really good picture-angles~ on the BWE, with the ofloading belt. Speaking of which, that loader comes in Yet Another Colour, namely white. ***please let the BWE be a prototype*** PS: Who's taking bets on B-models :D?

I am trying to send a PM to a user that registered in 2013 and has >300 posts. I assumed therefore that it would work. However, the PM failed since said member 'cannot use the messaging system'. I'm protecting the innocent here :), but a mod can ask me his name via PM if needed. What could be going wrong? Regards, J.

According to the Dutch/Flemish Club magazine, Flama is Moltors twin... brother.

"ramblings of a madman" is not mutually exclusive with " a good book you just cannot put down" Impressive work you're doing, BTW. Literally as well as figuratively. ("figuratively" was not a Jack Stone reference )

This is probably the only reason (for TLG choosing to provide an asymmetrical sticker), but looking at the sticker sheet, I also believe they simply didn't have the space on the sheet for a symmetrical solution. A symmetrically stickered panel could have more (re)uses for the MOC'ers. On Lego's own B-model, they handily camouflage it with the exhausts

I'm loving all of the reviews - and even some of the sets (*) - you are doing, but, as always, it is the negatives that get posted . You state above that "The Race Kart consists of 185 parts". That should probably read "Police Interceptor", no? As mah mommah always used to say: "If you ain't got nothing nice to say, use smileys". (She must have been a visionary since Al Gore hadn't yet invented the internet at that time) This PI set has gotten some hate, which is weird because I ~really~ love the look (or rather 'stance') of this nifty little car. It just screams "business" (no jokes on noise from pull-back engines to be found here). It - obviously - nicely complements the getaway racer, but that has a weird thing going on at its back-end. Too open, a bit unfinished, really. Almost as if they tried to fit in a '50s style lowrider trunk but didn't have the circular pieces to really pull off that look. But anyway, that should go on its own thread. (*) The helicopter has gone from "Yuck; what ~were~ they thinking?" to "How can I smuggle it inside without the wife finding out?".

Quite. This must be the worst box-art ever. It ~totally~ does not capture the proportions of the actual model, which actually isn't half bad (I mean when you take into account that it is modelled after exceptionally ugly cars in drag dragsters). OK, there's the inset in the upper right corner, but that doesn't really help. Concerning steering: there's a gear under a 45* angle sticking out of - what would be - the boot/trunk, no? The mining truck will be a must-buy by for my 5-yo. He's technically - ha! - too young for Technic, but he manages to complete 50% of the steps without my help, and he plays with them until the gears are worn out. (Then daddy rushes off to buy more gears - I'm really not doing this for myself such a weakling ) The mining truck also just happens to have a really fair price-point.

speaking of errors on the 42009: I make one little mistake - the 9L liftarm in the middle of the window frame, by using a DBG i.s.o. a black one - and of course that just had to be a piece that took a sticker I find my error when the DBG liftarm is - obviously - missing for the boom construction, but I do find a spare black one. The funny thing (I mean after plenty of valium coz of the wasted sticker) is that a black liftarm works better than a DBG one in the boom, since everything else is already black.

Too cool! My son would play with that for hours on end. (I would operate it for hours on end. Yeah, operate it, that's what I'd do...)

Just amazing. Mesmerizing, also. It feels wrong to be critical about - a part of - it, so please take this in good spirit, but did you misalign one of the grey bricks on the counterweight?

I ~like~ that the outriggers are slow (they're still ten times faster than on a real crane). It does take tinkering at every step to keep the friction under control, but, isn't tinkering the whole point of Technic LEGO? The B-model is astonishingly ugly, but the gearbox on the container-arm is pure genius, and the self-centering containergrabber is purer pure genius. I kept staring at it for hours wondering why I'm so stupid if I'll ever come up with anything that clever. Do note this is only my second after-dark-ages-set, with the VOLVO being the other, so perhaps I'm still easy to be blown off my socks. The VOLVO has unmatched playability (read: my son does not want to give it back), but the MkII has… "Technic". Written all over it. Literally, even. (I've studied the 8043 instructions until the point where I think I know them by hard ;) , and I do think that set was even better still from a functional point of view, but there's just something inexplicable about >2600 pieces staring at you)

No matter how hard I try when looking at the box-art of the Fortrex, I can NOT stop seeing the "Creation of Adam" from Da Vinci's Sistine Chapel roof painting in the lava from the volcano. I'm sure that's just me

Ouch, that's very Leprechaun Plop / Lutin Plop / Kabouter Plop, or whatever he is called round your parts. This being from Studio100, it's probably trademarked too. http://subsites.studio100.be/plop/

I wonder how many people (outside of Belgium anyway) are going to get the handthrowing Vader :). I shall be bugging my 4yo-old son to take me, if the weekend is still free.

There are black 2L axles - with the "nail-grabber-indent" - in the cherry picker set. I'm certain I have 100s of 2L black axles somewhere on my parents' attic with bitemarks that resemble the nail-grabber-indent, but I digress. Anyway, I just wanted to say those axles in black are still in production.

Are the four XL's still interconnected (via differentials)? If not, won't they be fighting eachother, due to different friction and/or voltage and/or different motor power? It looks as if they are still connected per 2, but I can't really make it out from the pictures.

I've done pretty much the exact same tour way back in '96, except for the "HW1" part - we got as far as Carmel, then the motorhome broke down. Oh well, better there than at the start of the trip. BTW, do not ever break down in Carmel coz we had three cop cars circling us within 5 minutes. I'm not kidding. (OK, 2 out of 3 were private security). It was actually a good thing since they arranged a tow truck and all that (can't have broken down cars unsettling the views in Carmel, now can we?). By the time it got fixed we had about 12 hours to spare to catch our flight out of LAX, so in stead of taking one or two days to complete HW1 which was the original plan, we plummeted as fast as we could along HW5. Even with the prospect of missing our flight (or getting locked up with the key thrown away for outdriving sportscars in a 6 tonne motorhome on an HW ), that could only have been more boring if we had taken valium in illegal amounts. We did get to see a trillion cows though… We did also sneak in some time in Moab, mainly for Canyonlands and Arches NP. TBH I wasn't expecting much (I mean when compared to Bryce, GC and Yosemite and all that), but it turned out to be one of the most fun parts of the trip, mainly because literally nobody else was there - which ~really~ makes you appreciate the size of it all - but also because we rented a Jeep to drive around the parks, which have plenty of legal offroad paths. Now I want to go back. I hate you . (don't forget to sample a Double Western Bacon and Cheese burger at a Carls' Jnr. I'm again not kidding. And now I really want to go back).

Final update: in the printed manual, the position of the dipswitches is indeed marked with Big Fat Green Arrows, but they're not half as fluorescent as in the online copy, making it very hard to spot. OK, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it! (Yes, I should have paid more attention) That said, I am indeed asked to also swap polarity of the liftarm control. That, IMHO, is wrong. And there is as Jim suspected some inconsistency between the pictures (all dipswitches face upwards) and the one page where the settings are, well, set (both dipswitches of remote '2' face downwards). Anyway, the cool thing is that you can do as you please (once you learn about the existence of these switches ), it being LEGO and all that, so no critcism from me here.

Oh man, being the electrical engineer that I am, I didn't even spot those dipswitches… (I did try reversing polarity on the battery box - at least I think that is what I tried since the button slides in two directions and I've read some stuff about other sets where this is a required feature - but much to my surprise that didn't change anything). I'll give it a try tonight, but it definitely sounds like the solution to my problem. Weird that the manual did not clearly point this out - they ~do~ point out the channel numbers and all that, but not the dipswitches. And if there's no Big Fat Red Arrow, I don't see it (at 1:00am). Lessons learned: . I can drive my son nuts by toggling the dipswitches; . mum will be hearing more crying; . You guys are fast! . I'm still an idiot. [ETA] - I had a look at the instructions online (no guarantee of course that they're the same as my printed manual), and it turns out the position of the dipswitches is signalled by Big Fat Green Arrows . Interestingly enough, the instructions also ask me to swap polarity of the liftarm, but I feel that may not be right as 'up is up' on that one. Maybe the switch was 'accidently correct' in the box, I'll check tonight as well. Dipswitches? Dipswitches! (Yes, I'm really not good at obscure references)

First post! Hello all! This may not be the place/correct thread for this specific question, but then again, starting a new topic for just this question seemed over the top as well. So I've chosen the Volvo to get me out of my Dark Ages (that ran for more than 20 years - I'm both an idiot as well as a slow learner). OK, technically, that is not correct (I mean the part about my dark ages), since I also assisted my 4yo son last year with assembling some of his City-sets (read: I pushed him out of the way, then assembled some of his City-sets while he went crying to mum). BTW, I've also chosen the next sets to keep me out of my dark ages, except the wife doesn't know yet, but I digress… Anyway, the Volvo. Wow, and all that. But I have a bit of an issue with the servo. I think I 'reset' it properly according to the manual (it would have helped if the manual actually stated that that was what was going on, because if I had not read about it online beforehand, I probably would have skipped the instructions for the 'dummy-hookup' of this motor - had I already mentioned I'm an idiot?). And I don't think it is possible to hook it up 'wrong', since the cables are keyed. Anyway, when I turn the wheel on the remote counter-clockwise, this to me means 'turn left' (with 'left' just being another way of saying counter-clockwise), but the Volvo swivels to the right. And vice versa, of course. This feels wrong. All the other functions, ehr, function as expected, "UP" moves forward, "UP" lifts the bucket, and "UP" also tilts the bucket upwards. But the servo is wrong. WrOng, I tell ya!!1! Sorry, I'm getting carried away (usually in a straight-jacket, and with copious amounts of valium in my system). So, did I do something wrong, or is it simply supposed to be this way? Should I "look" at the steering wheel on the remote 'from the inside' - which would not be intuitive - instead of looking at it 'from the outside'?