Akassin

I'm glad that the review was useful to you. Of course my assessment is very subjective. Surely, for the level of quality to which we are accustomed when buying Lego, such defects would have a greater negative impact. As in all other aspects of our lives. When I bought my last used car, of course I didn’t pay attention to any nuances that would have outraged another buyer in a Ferrari showroom Likewise, the defective red gears did not leave a significant negative mark on me, because I simply put them aside and took others from a box containing 20 of the same ones. But for another person, for whom this would be the first set of Technic, this would become the main problem. Because he wouldn't be able to use any of the functions. And this would be a reason to return the purchase. And this would be a well-deserved rating of 0 out of 10. I don’t know how well the Cada service works in such cases. I have no experience communicating with them. If they work the same as Lego, then this is not a problem . When I took out my 42043 Arocs 3 years after purchase and its pump stopped working due to an air leak, I wrote to Lego support about it and they sent me a new one. They didn't ask for any proof/receipts/photos. They simply sent me a new one and wished me good impressions from using their products. I hope Cada will strive for this.

The other day I finished building the C61507W Military Crane Truck from M. Efferman. I would like to share with you my impressions of this set and the Cada brand in general. Of course, all comparisons will be with the Lego. I already had experience with Cada: a large set C61056W Goliath and a small set C61071W Tiger. Why Cada at all? My last Lego set was the wonderful 42128. And after that the abyss came... Cars do not interest me, and the price of such flagships as 42146 is far beyond the amount that I am willing to pay for a construction set. Cada still maintains reasonable prices and regularly produces sets of heavy equipment. In addition, I like the style that combines of Technic and System elements. So, about the set. The truck is impressive in size and number of functions. I immediately remembered my first set of Lego technic 42082. And later in my review I will make a comparison with this particular set. The use of system elements provides a cool appearance. Assembly is not tedious or very difficult. Those this set is even suitable as a gift for a teenager who already has experience assembling of technic sets. I discovered several new and interesting assembly methods (for example, I liked how the switches on the gearbox were made). The set is an excellent source of parts for the MOC: a huge number of gears and new double-sided liftarms of different sizes. Universal gray color. I think almost any type of truck can be built from it; there are enough panels even for a dump truck. 8 small actuators are enough to build a crane and there will still be some left for outriggers. In general, this is an excellent basis for creating your own MOCs. The quality of the stickers is average. Print resolution is not very high quality + very small images. Because of this, it is very difficult to understand what is depicted on them. But in this set they are present only for the gearbox switches, so they do not affect the overall appearance of the model. Now about the functions: not everything is clear here. Yes, their number is impressive. There is everything that is present in a real crane. But this comes with its own difficulties. And it seems to me that the main problem is in the very concept of this set: a crane that is initially controlled manually, but for which motorization is available (I purchased motorized version). This obliges the designer to create a complex gearbox. Of course, this is the essence of the Technic series, but in such a large model, the gearbox significantly increases the load. Because of this, significant downshifts have to be used. As a result, in manual mode, the winch (arguably the crane's main function) operates so slowly that it is difficult to even demonstrate the function, let alone play with it. Therefore, if you buy this model not only for a shelf, but to play with it, be sure to order a motorization kit. Test results of the motorized version: 1) drives quite fast. The turning radius is good. Overall the handling is very comfortable for such a large model. 2) The outriggers fold out and extend quickly. update: the crane can lift itself using actuators (before this I thought it couldn’t). You just need to add additional stands to have enough height 3) The rotation of the upper platform is perhaps too fast. It would be possible to lower the gear by 2-3 times. It would be more realistic and easier to control. 4) The boom lift raises some questions. A slight cracking sound can be heard even when lifting the boom without additional weight (there was none in manual mode). Those, this is either gears slipping at high speeds, or a crackling sound inside the actuator itself. 5) Boom extension works perfectly even with additional weight. 6) The winch is VERY slow even in the motorized version. A load weighing approximately 130g is lifted without any extraneous sounds. With a load of 150g, a crackling sound of gears slipping in the gearbox began to appear. The 200g load was still lifting without the white safety gear tripping, but the cracking noise had gotten much worse and I didn't dare put more weight on it. And here I would like to remember 42082 set. I didn’t think about it then, but it was designed very competently. In it, the motor and main gearbox for controlling the crane are located in the upper rotating part. Thanks to this, the mechanisms that require the most load do not go through many gears. In addition, all functions are protected by a white gear located immediately behind the motor, so when peak loads are reached, the mechanisms will not suffer. To sum it up, I would like to see this Cada set be completely manual. With a simpler gearbox or with separate control for each function. Now about the Cada brand in general. There will also be pros and cons here. Pros: Overall the quality of the parts has improved (compared to a bulldozer kit from two years ago). In the last set, I had to try many times to connect the parts with different sides to get sufficient rigidity of the connection. In this set, all axles and pins connect well and predictably. The Cada has no molding points on the side of the beams or on the large panels, which is also a plus. There were no problems with the instructions. And this despite the fact that the entire set is black and gray. The print quality is good, contrasting. Perhaps the instructions really lack some intermediate stages of testing functions. If you make some mistake and it is discovered at the very end, it will be almost impossible to find the reason in such a complex gearbox. For those who are just about to assemble this set, I strongly advise you to avoid any friction and squeezing of the gears by neighboring parts. After installing each gear, I used tweezers to adjust it so that it rotated freely. This significantly improves the quality of the gearbox. Cons: 3 out of 7 red gears of the gearbox (LEGO art. number 18946) were defective. The diameter of the central hole was too small. As a result, they were put on the axle with great effort. And they didn’t even turn around. I think I can fix them with a file. But for now I just replaced them with lego parts from my stock. I was very unpleasantly surprised by the hair in a sealed bag with pins. There were small shards of plastic in a couple of the parts bags. And there were some pretty bad scuff marks on a couple of the large panels. However, other parts from this package were in perfect condition. Bottom line: I would rate this set a 7 out of 10. First of all, I expected a little more playability from this set. Especially from the motorized version. But the overly complex gearbox lets us down. It looks great on the shelf and this set will remain 100% assembled in my collection next to the Cada bulldozer (now the two of them are really looking forward to the excavator from Eric Trax). Thanks to designer M. Efferman for designing this set. I'm sure it wasn't easy.

I think this is a mini version of 42082. After TC25 I still haven’t found the time to make a version with a simpler gearbox

IVECO T-WAY?

If I understood your idea correctly, then one participant can vote for three works (for example, give 10 points), and another participant can vote for 10 works (give, for example, 25 points). Then it will distort the results and violate the very foundations of any vote - all voters must have the same conditions. In fact, this is the first time I see such a heated debate about the voting system, although I have participated in many competitions before in my other hobbies. Let me express my opinion on this situation. It only makes sense to introduce a more detailed voting system (with points for each of the criteria, with penalties for non-compliance, etc.) if we completely abandon public voting and only jury voting remains (and we still need to make sure that even the jury would be willing to use such a complex system and spend so much time on it). It will never work in a public vote. You can believe me or not, agree with my opinion or not, but this is how our world works: the vast majority of people will simply choose the model that they like the most, just by personal feelings. Sometimes they can't even explain why they like this particular model more than another. Most people are not ready to spend a lot of time on this and will not make huge tables where they will count the points for each of the voting criteria. Come on guys, soon there will be a generation here (which is now growing up) for which everything that is more difficult than clicking "like" will be unacceptable. The few people who are really willing to do a detailed analysis (especially for a competition like TC20 with almost 50 participants) will be in such a minority that it will not affect the overall results. In addition, a very complex voting system will definitely scare away many who were potentially ready to vote (even now, with a fairly simple F1 system, the number of those who voted is comparable to the number of participants) All I would like to change is to make voting more flexible. I liked the idea to leave the total points around 25-30 (it must be used in full), but allow it to be distributed among any number of participants (at the same time, you cannot give more than 5 points for one participant). This would allow choosing more than 6 works (for those cases when the number of quality works is very large and I would like to award more participants)

All I can say is that Lego has made a nice B model for your 42154 set Toyota Supra. Incredible!

I am very excited and happy. This contest is amazing! Now I want to collect many of these sets. And the results show that there was a lot of cool works (there is no big points gap between the first three places and the next participants). Thanks @Jim, @Milan, for finding time for such events.

About the Mindstorm Contest: Are you sure you want a contest with 5-6 participants again? (not so long ago there was a TC23). I have been on this forum since 2019 and all these years, with every discussion of the competition, I have heard requests for a GBC competition. And when this moment came - we got 6 participants (at the same time there was only one participant who is professionally involved in GBC). Mindstorm theme may be even less popular

In previous competitions where there was a public vote, it was always difficult for me to choose only 6 works for which you can vote. But at the same time, I always determined for myself 1-2 favorite works. And judging by the results of voting, many have a similar situation. Usually 2-3 models lead by a wide margin. But this time there are so many incredible works that I can’t even name 5 favorites for myself . There are more! Incredible result. A very difficult task for judges. Thank you very much for this exciting event

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I am very glad that you liked this work. Because such competitive tasks are really a big test for me. When I say that I am an inexperienced builder, it is not because of excessive modesty. In fact, all my experience in Lego Technic - is building about 10 official sets and 4 works for competitions on this forum (including this one), and that's all ... Therefore, in each new work, I still discover new techniques and ways of assembling and I really appreciate these competitions. You are very attentive. Of course, the joints of the gear racks should not coincide with the joints of the plates. And so it was. And so it is in the stud.io file. Probably during one of the alterations, I connected the parts of the crane boom with the wrong side, which led to an error and did not notice it. Of course, without the correct hub, the wheels have some play. I also do not understand why, after so many years, we do not have a small hub for such a wheel size. But you have to deal with what you have... I will definitely not make instructions for this model. As I said - this is a very bad version to play with pleasure. In order to preserve the complexity of the functionality of the original model, many compromises had to be made. Functions are very slow and some are pushed to the limit due to the overcomplicated double gearbox. This work is only a demonstration of the possibility to reduce the official set within the terms of the competition. But I have already started working on a simplified version, which will be aimed at comfortable play and reliability. Appearance is almost completely preserved. Then I will try to make instructions (never did this, maybe I need someone's help)

Very cool concrete mixer and forklift. Small, beautiful, functional, nothing unnecessary. I even regret that I don't have these new micro-panels yet. Very good work. Go on!

Another great little tractor. It's very cool when the theme of the competition coincides with someone's profile hobby. And you did it 10/10. I don't have small size balloon tires yet, but your incredible models motivate me to buy them to build these small tractors as toys for my growing son.

Thank you very much for your feedback! Before the final photos and videos, the last changes were made: as @SaperPL advised - I changed the driver's seat. Added worm gears at the base of the boom for more reliability. The gear ratios of the gears in the winch and boom extension mechanisms were also changed. Added video and final photos. I apologize for the too bright shots in the middle of the video (the sun appeared at the wrong time on a cloudy day). Also the video is a bit long. But I wanted to show all the functionality in detail.

Is there any news about this set?

42082 Rough terrain crane 55% of original size Functions: Single control of all functions with one rotary knob through 2 gearboxes: - outrigger control - rotation of the upper platform - lifting/lowering the boom - changing the length of the boom - winch Also: - four-wheel drive with a fake engine - 4 wheels steered - detailed operator's cabin with opening door Original set: Photos: