stevenhalim

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Everything posted by stevenhalim

  1. stevenhalim
    The 360d viewer not working on my Chrome or Firefox. For those who have the same problem and wants to see them, you can use direct links at Jim's folder below, just replace the file number from number 091 sequentially to number 119. http://www.eurobricks.com/jim/42069/IMG_4091.jpg all the way down to http://www.eurobricks.com/jim/42069/IMG_4119.jpg
  2. stevenhalim

    21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V (LEGO Ideas)

    stevenhalim replied to Blondie-Wan's topic in Special LEGO Themes

    Finally got a copy after waiting for 1.5 months, after watching "Hidden Figures" and "Apollo 13" movie, and reading 200 pages thick moon missions documentary book :O. Now just need to delay opening the box and prolong the build as slow as I can...
  3. stevenhalim
    @arshialQ, I have been trying to RC this and currently have this conclusion that 4 gear ratios, no matter how you configure it, are currently too much for the current Lego Technic system. On the lowest gear 1, most likely the torque is too much and something will likely break (the weakest link) in the drivetrain, usually cv joints, diffs, center diff (I feel the older diff is structurally weaker than the newer one). On the highest gear 4, most likely the speed is too much and torque is too low and the ~2kg model cannot move at all. In real life vehicle, people normally start with lowest gear, move the vehicle, and upshift when the vehicle has attained sufficient speeds. But that means you will need another servo to toggle the gear shift mechanism (additional IR receiver and additional controller, or you have to use SBrick). I have tried all that and currently not satisfied with the playability, so, still thinking.
  4. stevenhalim
    I am done with the build (non RC at this stage). I use (Porsche) orange as the secondary color as my car base is the sacrificed Porsche set, so of course I have orange color as the most available color during the build. I substitute (various red) parts that I don't have with black or LBG/DBG parts. Somehow manage to build this with my current sets without bricklinking a single part. Some connections are not as strong as the original but it "works" fine for my liking. Currently what I like the most from this build is the suspension system. Very low ride height like stock Porsche is like real supercar but it won't work on non-flat surface and stock Porsche cannot be rolled over your own finger. This one has ~2 studs ground clearance, anti-roll bar system (both axles) and torsion bar (rear only), the first Technic supercar that I build that has these combined features. In the attached picture, I am turning the front wheel (to the left) and the left front is over a bump (Porsche orange bag), the Ackermann steering effect is visible with the left front turning more than right front (and exaggerated due to some slack). As soon as it past the bump, all wheels quickly want to be flat on the ground again, restoring the ~2 studs ground clearance. The 4-speed gearbox seems to have the fewest number of total gears used to achieve 4 speeds :O (esp when compared with my attempt to motorized the Porsche last year) so I have a feeling I can put (real) motor(s) in place of the (fake) v8 engine and through the gearbox this time to drive the whole car. For steering, the natural placement of servo motor will be around the HoG section. I am also planning to put servo motor on the gear shift system too (sacrificing the right passenger seat) to see if RC gear change when this car moves is possible (or not). As the body is very closely integrated to the chassis, I will have to do major surgery to mod this to RC so let's see the results in the next few days.
  5. stevenhalim
    Thanks Didumos for the model and Blakbird, Busterhaus for the BI. Btw I got this message from PayPal when I tried to donate: "If you came to this page from another website, please return to that site (don't use your browser's Back button) and restart your activity." As I don't think I will buy official Technic set 2017, I treat this as my current (non official) flagship model of 2017 and a real modern version of 8880 :). I have cleared the build of the chassis and starting the body now. Currently struggling to substitute parts to make the body visually coherent with the parts that I already own (no budget for Bricklink...) I initially want to keep Paul's Scorpion CK-R built, but after halfway through the build of the chassis, I realised that I have to destroy it (only have 1 set of Porsche wheels and #23801 wheel hubs) AND also destroy many of my other built models to cannibalise mostly their DOG BONES (have 12, lacked 10 :( have to improvise with two #63869 and one (or two) #32184 to make it dog-bone like structure whenever possible) and #44809 (there are 16 blacks, 8 LBGs, 4 reds of these :O). The overall build experience so far is very positive. My first Technic supercar with anti roll bar. The ruggedness is real, survived abuse from my 3 years old boy during day time :). As it seems that nobody has tried (publicly) RC-ing this and I like RC cars, I may try RC-ing this Rugged Supercar and report when done.
  6. stevenhalim
    I am sad because I put high hopes on 40 years of Technic :(... For the first time since 2013, I probably will not buy any Technic set this year :(. Color scheme: I don't like the color scheme of the supposedly flagship 42070 and 42069... Unlike some of us in this forum, I don't like having small amount of parts in rare colors because I will have too many color vomit when I try to build other sets (that I cannot buy, as my budget is limited to buying 2-3 big flagships/year -- wife rule). So I am actually hoping for something big that either red/white... or orange (because of 42056). Function wise: 42069 does not look like it is RC and I have 42038 set... that 4 tracked wheels won't likely drive/steer well on flat surface that have minimum friction like my house floor (I already tried it with 42038). 42069 SHOULD have something like the RC tracked racer 42064 (that I built using 42055 BWE bag 1-2 parts + PF parts from other sets :O). That one works (very well) as the tracks are driven by motor. I see HOG on top of 42069, so likely it is meant to be played like 42038... manual... :( 42070 seems to have lots of PF functions. I already have 9398 so all terrain drive is not that new anymore. The red crane functions seems to be up/down, rotate left/right, and winch... it has appeared many times before: 42008 has it (but no rotate), 42009 has it, 42038 simple crane has it. Outrigger system. Again looks standard with many tried versions in the past: 42009 outriggers (2 mode), 42043 outrigger (only extend, manual second step), etc. Is it because I have so many prior Technic flagships and sets between 2013-2016 (and especially last year's 42054-42055-42056) that I don't feel this year's version that attractive anymore :(.... law of diminishing return perhaps? For the 3 sets-combined-into car chassis, I have built Paul Boratko's recent version of 8860 http://www.bricksafe.com/pages/Crowkillers/8860-revival. I agree that it is a very nice set for 40th anniversary but since I already have enough ~95% parts to build that (based on 42057/61/63 parts list), I will not likely buy the 3 separate small sets either and will just hunt for building instruction for it when it is available... If there is no hidden 42067 or secret 42071... year 2017 will be the year I switch to Modular Building (on its 10th anniversary) as I am considering to switch from All Technic since 2013 to buy 10255 Assembly Square (or maybe older modulars) in 2017 :O.
  7. stevenhalim
    The cabin on 42061 telehandler uses a new? halfbeam curve 5x7 (to make a bigger cabin). What I have since collecting Technic sets since 2013 is this halfbeam curve 5x3 frame http://brickset.com/parts/4128554, I am not sure if this part has appeared in other sets outside Technic.
  8. stevenhalim
    My prediction about 42066 (but I never said this in the forum before) is somewhat correct. When the rumours says that 42066 will be a Jet, I suspect it will be similar to 2015's creator http://brickset.com/sets/31039-1/Blue-Power-Jet, two vertical stabilisers, and it will be blue... Just that the wing is only one instead of big+small in the 31039 creator set. Not enough data to say that there is a correlation, but I have seen a few examples that earlier Creator sets end up Technified in latter years, e.g.... http://brickset.com/sets/31028-1/Sea-Plane (2015) -> 42040A http://brickset.com/sets/31045-1/Ocean-Explorer (2016) -> 42064
  9. stevenhalim
    B-model video from the designer himself (Milan). Will try to destroy the crane part of my 42043++ to re build this (95% according to rebrickable).
  10. stevenhalim
    Alright. After several days tweaking the setup, I think I will stop at this RC MOD version for a while. The entire transmission of set 42056 is... unfortunately taken out and displayed as static separate sub-model... because powering the rear wheel through all those gear train is impossible as brunojj said either in this thread or some other Porsche thread. The setup is still the same as my previous posts: 2 BB to 2 IR receivers (set to the same channel) to 2 hard coupled L motors directly fed to rear differential. One IR controller (from 9398 set verbatim) controls this thing. Gear ratio is currently 1:1. - I tried L->20:12 (rear diff):20<-, but too slow to move at the beginning and too fast afterwards to be controllable by me in corners - I tried L->12:20 (rear diff):12<-, slow at the beginning and remains slow afterwards to my liking Short raw video from my iPhone, not edited to show that this thing can move reasonably fast and steers quite well (I used didumos's 'partial ackermann' steering solution and that somehow helps the turning capability a bit). Ultimate tester is my 5yo daughter. She can navigate this kind of terrain with minimal crashing, so that is playable enough for now :).
  11. stevenhalim
    Somebody else has done a simple but quite effective locking door mechanism (see this ).Initially I thought the door handle should be pushed downwards to open the door but after Googling further, I see that in Porsche 911 car, you pull door handle upwards to open the door, so this mechanism looks correct.
  12. stevenhalim
    Wew, sorry to hear that your excellent entry is not allowed :(. Your work for these set 42056 improvements is clearly beneficial for this community judging from the high number of views in this and the mods/improvements thread. I personally thank you for that. And enjoy your holiday.
  13. stevenhalim
    Ah this is what I basically did too with the rear axle. I will copy your second shock at front axle (that push rod idea) :).
  14. stevenhalim
    Noted brunojj1. I will keep that U-joints solution for rear axle then. Agree, I hope you win one prize of the Porsche contest. Many people will want to apply your list of modifications to their 42056. The positive rake angle at latest photo is good enough :).
  15. stevenhalim
    Good presentation video, clearly showing the manual play-ability of your modifications so far :). PS: I know you have invested lots of time modifying this set, so just apply the stickers... I don't think you will disassemble it anytime soon. Yeah positive rake should help. This one (yours) looks flat (and that rear wing is too aggressive at that angle.): This one has positive rake. My PF mod doesn't look like this as mine currently back heavy (2 PF battery boxes + 2 XL there ><), but I have modified the rear suspension so that the back still about half stud higher than front. And regarding your other question about gears that only have half-stud axle to support them popping out from its place if I do 2*L through the gearbox... I haven't do any other bracing around those gears, but I guess even after I brace that, another weak point(s) will appear under heavy torque. Another weak point that I have spotted is the CV joint at rear axle. This CV joint will pop out from at rear axle under heavy torque (of 2 * hard coupled L motors, without white clutch gear) Currently I replace those with universal joint which appears to be stronger That same CV joint does not pop out from this though, and I need the second CV joint for some play when rear suspension is compressed/not compressed: as this part helps protect the connection So my setup is 2 hard coupled L on 2 BB (it is crawling with just 1L and frequently stall if just 1 BB -> 2 L motors) --> differential --> U joint (the CV joint here breaks under heavy torque) -> CV joint (so far fine) -> wheel After few nights of running on dummy race track using chairs and dining table (using 9398 PF controller style -- hence my 2 * L setup), this U joint part hasn't break yet so I am currently at this solution.
  16. stevenhalim
    After reading Rebrickable's review and Sariel's video, it seems that the truly new parts are those 14 quadrant gear racks (not sure what is the official name). The rest of the parts (if you don't care about colors) can be found by rebricking parts from previous sets (if you own lots of other sets so that you have >= 53 5x7 frames of course, which I don't). As I don't think putting a BWE as display on my guest room will be a good attraction point (compared to Porsche, which does attract attention from my kids and guests), think I will eventually get this set, build A model once, play with it for a while, build B model once, play with it for a while, then probably destroy it for 3900+ parts so that I can build many other past/future smaller sets :)
  17. stevenhalim
    Didumos69, isn't the original Porsche has positive rake angle? I look at the original pictures (as mine is already heavily modded, mostly with your suggestions) and it has positive rake angle too. So rear ground clearance HAS to be more than front ground clearance so that the Porsche nose is pointing downwards (as the floor of 42056 is perfectly flat). Currently I tweak the rear suspension about half stud from the stock version as I put 2 heavy >< battery boxes at the back. My front clearance is 1 stud, back clearance 1.5 stud.
  18. stevenhalim
    One review is just out at rebrickable. Not that many new parts apparently for a 3927 parts set but it has lots of common parts that can be used to (re)build lots of other smaller sets :). Put to wish list (need to wait as I just spend a fortune for 42056...)
  19. stevenhalim
    @garymak/others who want to try: I have tried putting 1L through gear train after applying most mods from didumos69 collection. If the rear wheels are off the ground, all is well and you can see the differences of speed (and torque) between gear 1->4. You can see this in Jim's and Sariel's review. If the rear wheels are on the ground, basically the car won't move at all due to its weight :(. I tried 2L (hard-coupled) through gear train, no major improvement to make the car moves other than gear 1, crawling on gear 2-3, really no hope for gear 4 (torque too low). After a while, the strain is too much and battery box protection kicks in and the entire system dies. I tried 2L, on two battery boxes... This makes the car heavier, it is more usable, but now the torque causes problem with some of didumos69 mods, especially the area where two longer axles that pass through red gears are split into four axles, each of these shorter axles only go 1/2 stud inside the holes. This area will break under heavy torque... so can't be used for RC :(. Changing gear midway when the car is running frequently jams the entire system :(... Or maybe I did things wrongly. I initially want to make an RC gear shift system so that after rolling the car on gear 1, I can progressively make it faster to gear 2, 3, 4... This idea is put on hold for now. At the moment I give up channeling the 2L on 2 battery boxes through the entire gearbox :(... I now put the output directly to the differential and now it can move the entire car with reasonable speed :). So basically, my 42056 is now a very very expensive medium-speed RC car :O. Didumos69/Daywalker suggestion to make partial Ackerman Steering (can be automated with Servo motor) helps with steering though. It is currently one of my smoothest Lego Technic RC in terms of turning capability. Maybe the new wheel with positive offset also helps too. To make this set's original feature (PDK gearbox) usable on RC system, need to wait for more mods involving PF to start appearing. Hopefully there are more people who can come up with such PF mods :). Bonus: We can also put PF light under the iconic 911 front light. It is cool :D.
  20. stevenhalim
    Didumos69, thanks for all these hard work (or play) to compile all these mods. I am following your ultimately playable thread and have applied some of those to my own 42056 set. Since I purposely built the original version first to see 'how bad it was', I can say that the modifications so far have made this set much more playable.
  21. stevenhalim
    I just got 42056 set from an LCS in Singapore last Friday, 2 nights ago, thanks to them for notifying their members about early arrival. What I can report to the Eurobricks community are these: -. The set that I got are still sealed with "do not put on shelf until 1 June" label, so this must be the early shipment intended for 1 June LCS release but because Singapore is far from Denmark, it took 20+ days to arrive. -. The LCS notified its members last Friday midday about the first shipment and told us that no next shipment until August++, each person can only buy 1 physically from the store (for now) and they somewhat implied that if you didn't come (that night), you would not get one. -. As I already committed to buy one, I arrived at the store about 6pm after work that day and what I saw was this scene: ~5 person in front of me, all buying the same thing: 42056 and 1 after me, yes wanting to buy the same thing too, and this thing is not cheap in Singapore: 549.9 SGD (365 Euro/406 USD). -. The store staff told me that they expect their stocks (estimated ~20 copies seen when I arrived) would become out of stock again (by the time I post this) as the number of members reserving the set > the available stock. -. I only come out of dark age in 2013, so I didn't know much about the history, but I feel this can be one of the most anticipated set recently. Personally: -. As of now, I have reached box 3... this thing is incredibly huge, dwarfing my 42009 and 42043... My wife says it is beautiful (without box 4 yet) and my two kids are putting their Duplo stuffs on the two chairs and luggage area. -. I can't say I am a Technic expert at this stage but after building box 1 "as carefully as I can" (using default settings as in thick booklet, just to get a feeling how bad it is), that gearbox indeed stalls a lot and only neutral mode is 'smooth' :(, many younger kids will have problems making this set works out of the box with the default building instruction... -. Soon, I will spend some time re-reading the 42056 MOD thread and try the expert suggestions over there :). For those wanting the set but haven't got it yet: -. I was there... Hang on, August should be soon :).
  22. stevenhalim
    Good C model :). I like F1 cars. Will try to build this from my spare parts. Rebrickable says I only miss the 4 wheel covers of 42048 set so this is buildable.
  23. stevenhalim
    Hi @Blakbird, The instruction can be more helpful by giving a link to a usable "postcard" file to be printed, I am also puzzled for a while before finding the correct picture. I have tested that the main picture shown in http://www.lego.com/en-sg/technic/, i.e. this one below, can work with the ultimate app, you can try pointing your phone camera on this picture below using that ultimate app. But of course if you point your camera to computer screen like that, the 3D object will not look nice, that's why they ask us to print this picture and put it on the table, so that we will see the 3D object top-down realistically. I think the real 42056 front box art should also work, that is, no need to print the postcard, just put your 42056 box on the table and view it with this app. If this is the case, then it is a good marketing strategy for future set release, you can download an app, point to box art in a Lego shop, you can see 3D model of the box content popping up in front of you :O, and then you decide to buy :O... The app works like a QR code scanner, but this time it looks for orange car-shaped object behind black dotted background, so there must be some kind of "code" in this box art picture. A simple black background with orange oval shaped object won't work. http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/technic/-/media/franchises/technic%202014/home/may2016/porsche_mainstage_opt.jpg?l.r2=1476644835 Update to my previous post: Lego has launched several other apps for Technic set before, e.g. the pull back racer set, but the one that pops up 3D model like this is the first if I am not wrong.
  24. stevenhalim
    Maybe there is another reason why the price of this set is higher than normal. First time there is an additional official app other than building instruction app :O. There is this app (Google Play/App Store) where you can scan a somewhat black background against the orange of 42056 set, then a 3D model of this Porsche appear :O. http://www.lego.com/en-us/technic/apps/lego-technic-ultimate-app There are 5 buttons, all virtual :O: 1. Opening luggage area and doors, 2. Opening engine door, 3. Showing special id, 4. Steering demo, 5. Gearbox demo. Nothing much that you can do with it though and I prefer to play with the actual thing...
  25. stevenhalim
    I build each of my sets at least 3 times: Build the A model first, (dis)play it for a few days, rebuild it to B model, (dis)play it for a few days, then decide if it is for (dis)play or for parts. If for (dis)play, I will rebuild it to A model again (unless 42040, I like the B model better) and try to make it "the ultimate form" using my spare parts and leave it as it is until I feel the urge to destroy and rebuild it again. If for parts, then I will sort the parts into various boxes, waiting to be used for future sets/mocs (usually found via rebrickable.com) that can be build with 90% of my (spare) parts and will try to build those (ignoring colors and missing parts) :). So far, my big sets that survive as (dis)play models are 42000 (with RC), 42009 (Jurgen's ultimate version :D), 42040B, 42043 (with RC).