howitzer

In the 90's there used to be tips for disassembly tools in instruction booklets of every larger set. For some reasons that's not the case anymore.

I can quickly think at least two ways to take this apart with only other Lego pieces. You can put a liftarm on the pin, then insert a bar into the axle-pin and pull it out with the liftarm as the bar prevents pin from coming out of the liftarm. Another, probably even easier, method is to put an axle-pin into the end of a liftarm and use it to push the 3L axle-pins out of their places.

Except then I'd never even get anything started, as I'd have to finish the not-anymore-interesting projects first...

Funny, deadlines would probably be more of a blessing for me. I've found out that I'm really great at starting projects on my own time but I'm really bad at finishing them, unless there's an external deadline that must be met - which is never the case in hobby projects (except for the occasional contest). Right now I have half a dozen Lego unfinished projects and I have no idea when I might get any of them done. I'm nowhere nearly skilled enough to apply for this kind of job nor my current life would allow me to move to Billund but the deadlines of corporate work is one thing that really would help myself to get things done. I also like other constraints like limited parts palette or whatever, as they force creativity. For me endless freedom tends to be the worst enemy of getting anything done.

Yes, it's chaotic. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_pendulum (Though this one has multiple nested pendulums rather than just double.)

Nice one. I've seen it before made from string and plywood but never before from Lego.

8865 has probably the best suspension and steering geometry of all official supercars and I also like the rugged looks. 8880 of course beats all others in terms of functions and complexity, and the body is awesome too.

So has anyone had these parts properly aligned? Is this a problem that affects all of these parts or maybe just some of them, perhaps being produced in certain factory?

Wow, this is great, I've dreamed of building the launch assembly to complement my Saturn V for a long time but I didn't think I'd have the parts nor time to design it but now it appears that you have made the design for me and I happen to have the 42055 and 42082 and various other sets and parts, but no 42098, so I'm wondering which parts would be required from that set... Any possibility to have separate parts lists for viewing to compare the basic and the upgraded versions?

This. I'm going to wait for official photos and reviews before deciding if it's any good or not.

Wow, this is really great work and what a subject too! Nicely done!

Maybe I should've been talking about price rather than size, as sets like 42055 and 42082 were enormous but still very affordable. On the other hand, supercars and large C+ sets like 42100 and 42114 are pretty expensive. Supercars have their audience, the premium branding and packaging are clearly an important value for some people and they don't even try to be playable models so I see no problem with them (quality issues notwithstanding). Large C+ models are made to be played with, but they seem to be too large to comfortably play with and being expensive, I imagine that there's not that many people who are willing to buy even one, and of those who do buy one, might not be that interested in getting a second one. So producing them year after year will wear the interested audience thin and the sales plummet. At least that's what I'm guessing will happen. Mid-size sets seem to be the place where Technic excels at, something like 1000-2000 parts. Lots of possibilities for functionality and looks, while still being affordable enough that there's a lot of prospective buyers. Smaller than that, and sacrifices have to be made so they are more like entry-level sets, and larger ones get really expensive if there's a lot of electronics involved.

Looks great, nice job!

"Sad" is one way to put it, but to me this tells that what most people actually want is something smaller and more affordable but still functional. Of course we here at Eurobricks are just a small bunch of enthusiasts, and probably only a small sidenote on TLG's marketing focus. Still, I don't think they can keep up this Liebherr-level price of flagships for very long, at some point they'll have to downsize a bit. If the D11T is really smaller/cheaper than the first rumours said, maybe we're seeing this downsizing happening now?

I haven't seen the pic (not really interested in leaked images) but if the picture is real and this commentary is anything to go by, I'll definitely pass this. Unless there's something phenomenally cool hidden inside it or the price drops significantly, I'm going to save this money for something else. The creator expert Space Shuttle seemed pretty cool so that and the American Tow Truck are probably going to be this year's big buys for me...