.jpg.dc1ccec8009de5f1edfc85f34a89e0c6.jpg)
jam8280
-
Content Count
52 -
Joined
-
Last visited
1 Follower
About jam8280
Recent Profile Visitors
1421 profile views
-
This spinning LEGO blacklight show is really meant to be seen in person. Video hardly does it justice, and phone camera stills aren't much better. But what you do see here is entertaining enough that I'm sharing it anyway. In person, the tree colors change with spin rate, which here reaches 550 RPM in 7 steps. Around 300 RPM, the orange and green start mixing to yellow. By 550 RPM, you see a completely yellow tree encircled by blue and white rings -- the white coming from mixing the yellow with the blue. (Additive color-mixing rules apply.) The small 3-bladed propellers are worthless for boat propulsion, but they really shine for their size under blacklight. Minifig heads emit the blue. The tree holds its shape and balance reasonably well at top speed. The tolerable wobble peaks at intermediate speeds. I'd love to report that the inverted tree works as a spinning top. But centrifugal force would surely rip it apart long before it reached operating speed. Besides, air resistance would quickly bring it down.
-
Just superb.
-
Simple, elegant lines -- gorgeous! I want one -- not as a fighter, but as a solar system Gran Turismo coupe (think space Ferrari). Imagine laps around Saturn, weaving your way through moons. Just some sight-seeing on a Tuesday afternoon. Hard on the fuel, but what a ride!
-
.thumb.jpg.c73e512ce1ed75fb1580e192a3e8b48a.jpg)
dye or paint to make lego parts fluoresce
jam8280 replied to Juxtapoisson's topic in Minifig Customisation Workshop
Did you ever find a fluorescent coating both thin enough and bright enough? Guessing that you haven't based on my own experience with blacklight builds using the 4 brightly fluorescent LEGO colors (trans medium blue, and trans neon yellow, green, and orange). The perceived brightness of a given spot seems to vary directly with the number of emitting molecules -- say, of trans medium blue pigment -- along the line of sight. To get comparable brightness, your very thin coating would therefore need an emitter concentration many, many times that of fluorescent LEGO plastic. Seems unrealistic. -
[MOC] My kind of Sneakers.
jam8280 replied to 0937 superfan's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Love the design, love the laces! -
Superyacht explorer ship in scale 1:40
jam8280 replied to Edwin Korstanje's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Stunnung in every way! -
[MOC] M.G. Bryan "PERCHERON" - TATRA T815-7 10x10
jam8280 replied to Paliason's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
One word: Spectacular! Impressive write-up, too. Fracking is rightly controversial, but the technology is indisputably cool. -
Elegant design! Amazing how much turning the saucer shape on edge sets this apart from the many other ships incorporating saucer-like sections in the usual orientation (think Enterprise). Glad you clarified the need for wings. So many LEGO space ships are just reworked jet fighters. Makes about as much sense as engine and weapon sounds in space.
-
Visually, tops and winter holiday ornaments have a lot in common. The ornament can then be the toy, and the toy the ornament. Made these simple working tops with that in mind. Poinsettias at rest and at speed... Top at upper left at speed... Dreidel marked for the traditional Hanukkah put-and-take game... Various tops with holiday color schemes... Octagonal 10x10 plates are a great starting point... Same top at speed...
-
NASA's 6x6 rover mobility system
jam8280 replied to jam8280's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
You're welcome. Good luck! Make sure the front and rear motors can't hit the hull when negotiating rough terrain. Thanks! Short answer: Not enough to affect performance if you phase the gears properly. The differential inside the hull ensures that if one rocker is at angle A from the horizontal, and the other is at angle B, the hull is always at angle (A+B)/2. Among other things, this helps the rover stay right-side up in rough terrain. The differential bar above the hull helps to keep all 6 wheels firmly on the ground. And that reduces the chance of getting stuck -- especially in soft soil, any rover's greatest nemesis. -
NASA's 6x6 rover mobility system
jam8280 replied to jam8280's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Thanks, @howitzer! Some images here show a PF receiver, but the final version in the video uses an SBrick. Upper deck removed. The differential connecting rocker axles inside the hull (see my last post) is built up from parts and anchored to hull bottom... Suspension arms on port side without motors. Note black differential bar above upper yellow hull cover and empty wheel motor mounts. The hull levels out once the receiver and battery are installed. Front geared wheel hubs. The 3:5 reduction shown is the best general-purpose gearing. You'll need some undercarriage elastics to keep the port and starboard wheelsets from spreading apart. The centaur-like biomechanical reptilians inhabiting Mars also use this mobility system to get around... -
NASA's 6x6 rover mobility system
jam8280 replied to jam8280's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Sorry, having a hard time uploading even one 320x240 photo due to a ridiculous 0.02 MB file size limit. So anyone interested in building this rover chassis should go to NASA's web site and study suspension arm geometry in the many rover photos there, as I did. Use Technic liftarms (not axles as I did previously) for the suspension arms and stay as close as you can to the angles and proportions you see in the NASA images. Critically, note that the rockers (the suspension arms carrying the front wheels only) connect through a differential gearbox inside the hull and also through the pivoting black "differential bar" crossing horizontally above the hull, as in the real thing. These essential connections maintain hull attitude. The hull does NOT balance on the rocker axles going into the hull. -
Excellent build and presentation! Will be studying the structural solution carefully.
-
@ExetriusThe only thing better than LEGO is LEGO with bling! Many great designs here. Keep up the good work. BTW, I think an SBrick + Power Functions teleporter bracelet might just be possible with long sleeves for cable management. ;^}
-
NASA's 6x6 rover mobility system
jam8280 replied to jam8280's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Thanks for all the kind words! Sorry, no instructions. Photos are very tedious for me to prep for upload here, but I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, take a close look at the stills and turntable segment in the video after 9:04 for construction clues. The key part is the recently released 3x3 Technic connector, here used for front and rear motor mounts.