NotANumber

Nice model. I did experience the gear-clacking issue, and debugging it lead me to the following causes: The first was 12- and 20-tooth gears at the engine-side shaft of the gearbox weren't meshing smoothly. With the engine disconnected it moved jerkily when the wheels were turned. From what I can make out, the appears to be down to a small change in the design of the teeth on the 20-tooth gear: I swapped it for an older one which has slightly more-tapered teeth -- the lower one in the picture underneath -- and things ran smoothly. (I also swapped out the one just before the engine, tucked behind the roof steering shaft.) Second was the engine itself. I'm not a fan of this new 2-arm-and-axle design (like in the Mack Anthem); the old 2x2 cylinders are smoother and more charming. Anyhoo, here I made the mistake of leaving a gap between the bulkhead and the red bush on the crankshaft. This meant the 2-arm 'cranks' were fouling on sideways the red bush con-rods.

I just got this one because... pneumatics. Well it's longer than it appears when fully assembled. The grabby/choppy bit reminds me of The Predator for some reason. Bits I like: How the rear end shakes when the pump is running. Light green -- white -- dark green colour scheme. A weird combination of sort-of-futuristic and arboreal. New flatter pneumatic valves with axle holes. Could come in handy. The 'knobs' make fine control easier. The steering wheels and front half turning together to give it a 'snaking' look. Whimsical touches like the flask, chainsaw and toolbox. Not had any trouble with the pneumatics or the small cylinder sticking. Improvements I'd make: Somewhere on the vehicle to stow the sawhorse and chainsaw. Add a gear on a friction pin to stop the cabin and claw from swinging around so much.

On the sticking small cylinder: I see the same with the clamshell bucket on 42053 'Volvo EW160E', particularly when using the motorised pump. (With the hand pump it still takes a good few prods.) Maybe a limitation of the part (19475c01) when new or left stationary for a few days? I'll get a copy of the older version (x189c01) and see if it works any better -- although I seem to remember it could be tricky in 8868 'Air Tech Claw Rig' too,

Title amended to remove all ambiguity. I don't recall using any additional parts, maybe the odd small brick here-and-there but nothing comes immediately to mind.

Being fortunate enough to live in a part of the world where we drive on the correct (i.e., left) side of the road, this is a mod I do to all vehicles. In most cases it's trivial, but for 8880 Supercar there's a few things to consider. I'm not going to insult you all with specific instructions, just the end result modifications. First, the front fascia containing the steering wheel is a straightforward mirror flip in the car's sagittal plane, including the steering column down to the front steering rack. As you can see, the front-to-rear column has also been mirrored (along with the idler on the front rack). This requires reversing the front differential (more on this later) and flipping the bricks under the gearbox: and where it enters the rear engine bulkhead, seen below upside-down. Note the 1x1 and 2x1 Technic bricks are now on the left side of the vehicle, swapped with the 1x4 brick which now holds the 16-tooth drivechain idler. As mentioned earlier, the front differential must be flipped in order to accommodate the 16-tooth gear on the front-to-rear column. In order that the wheels turn in the correct direction, the 14-tooth bevel gear must be moved to the same side as the 16-tooth gear: So now drivers of 8880 in LHD locales should have better forward vision to overtake with confidence.

Thanks! It's actually some really nice silicone tubing from Blokbricks. Great stuff for model refurbs.

Probably already done to death, but meh: pneumatics are cool. Here are two air pumps I keep on my shelf for boosting some of my models. The focus is on compact and minimal but also functional design. The first is for first-generation, single-ported pneumatics. It's just a small cylinder connected to a geared 9V motor with a pair of wheels as a crank. Next up, one for the dual-ported system. This one has two blue pumps set 180 degrees apart to smooth the airflow, driven 1:1 through 16-tooth gears by a PF XL motor.

Here's my take on motorising 42077. I like 'minimal' motorisations, i.e. ones that keep as much of the original model as possible. This one is done with a Technic PF battery box, an IR receiver, a servo motor, and a PF-L motor (plus sundry gears, lift arms, and a drive shaft). It keeps the engine, but one has to sacrifice the steering column between the rack and the rooftop; the hole is re-purposed to anchor the IR receiver. I've not produced any CAD files for this, since I think the modifications are simple enough to deduce from the photos. Also, this requires minimal disassembly on the completed model. So here's the underside: First, a close-up on the steering. As mentioned, the manual steering gears and axles have been removed. Note the servo is mounted on its side, and reduced with a 12:20 pair of gears. This is because the full turn of the servo results in the steering wheels fouling on the bodywork. Also note that the orange-tipped stops on the steering rack have been removed. Take care when assembling these gears. For correct centring of the steering, the pinion gear must be inserted onto the rack one tooth off from orthogonal, so that an inter-tooth gap on the 20-tooth gear lies on the horizonal. The motor is secured on the underside with two 2x4 L-bars, and on top with a 9 lift arm, a 2x4 L, and 3x5 L; the latter two connect through the white axle connectors to add some rigidity. Furthermore (obscured by the grey top of the suspension here) there are two 2x2 Ls inserted below the rack to either side to provide it with additional support, with a 5-unit lift arm mounted towards the front for rigidity. In the cabin, the battery box sits on the seats secured either side with 2 3x5 L arms. Note the steering wheel rake has been reduced by 1 unit. The IR receiver is stuffed behind the seats, secured in place to the old steering hole using a triangular lift arm and three 1.5 pins. Finally, the drive. Here I chose to insert a 12 axle carrying two 20-tooth gears with a 1-unit bush near the differential. This makes use of the yoke that holds the erstwhile steering column. The PF L motor just fits in the available space, clearing the drive shaft and engine, and is mounted on three 11-unit lift arms pinned to the rest of the chassis in a straightforward way. (Note also the fixing at the other end of the motor.) The motor is connected to the drive shaft via a 16-tooth gear. The lift arms are held rigid by an unseen 3x3 T piece opposite the motor. There is space here for an additional motor if required. Note that an extension lead will be required in this case as there's no space behind the seats for doubling up on the IR receiver.