dhc6twinotter

I'd love to see LEGO offer a RC backhoe, and it's one of the few Technic sets I'd be willing to pay out the nose for. I'm currently in the process of building one, and I think using six motors is the best method. Here's how I have my backhoe setup thus far: I have six motors with a three position gearbox. Three motors go directly to functions and three motors run through the gearbox. The breakdown is like this: Motor 1: Steering Motor 2: Rear Stick Motor 3: Gearbox position When gearbox is in position 1, the following are engaged: Motor 4: Front bucket up/down Motor 5: Front bucket curl Motor 6: Drive When gearbox is in position 2, the following are engaged: Motor 4: Boom slew Motor 5: Rear bucket curl Motor 6: Rear boom When gearbox is in position 3, the following are engaged: Motor 4: Left stabilizer Motor 5: Right stabilizer Motor 6: (Nothing) Five motors could be used if I wanted to run the steering through the gearbox, but I think that would allow too much slop in the steering, so I opted to go with six motors instead. So, with the gearbox in position 1, I can drive around and use the loader without switching the gearbox. With the gearbox in position 2, I can run all the boom functions without switching the gearbox either. I'll be using two hubs, but if LEGO were to offer this as a set, I think a single hub with at least six ports would be more ideal. I'm finding it very difficult to fit six motors, two hubs, AWD, pendular axle, and a fake engine in a backhoe. It's a very dense build. I may get burnt out before I finish it. I'd like to add a telescopic stick, but I don't think I can build a boom compact enough, so I will probably forgo that idea. It would be easier if LEGO offered extension wires and I could put a motor in the boom, but since they don't offer PU extension wires, all motors are going in the chassis. Anyway, maybe once I have more progress made, I'll post a WIP thread. Just my $.02.

A telehandler is something that could be built with four motors also. One motor for drive, one motor for steering, one motor for gearbox, and one motor to control four other functions (stabilizers, boom, boom extension, and fork/bucket curl). I'd buy that, especially if it were more authentic with a pendular axle, fake motor, AWD, 4WS, and at least a three section boom.

As a fan of machinery, I'm still holding out for a proper flagship PU JCB backhoe or John Deere forwarder. A road grader would be neat too. I've kinda given up on LEGO offering any of this though, so these are all in various stages of WIP for me. I have no interest in the supercar UCS sets. They focus more on appearance than function, and that doesn't appeal to me much. The only exception I think I'd have is if LEGO did an old Mercedes gullwing in silver or metallic grey with a dark red interior. Just my $.02.

I like that tractor set, and I'm a sucker for green parts. That's the only 2022 set that I have interest in so far.

I like option A. I'd love to see some Technic remakes of some of the old space sets. Lots of neat space buggies or spaceships to rebuild. Or Star Wars. I think option A would work, but being that this is a Technic contest, the focus should be on functions. A massive Black Seas Barracuda ship built with Technic but with no functions wouldn't fit the spirit of the contest, IMHO. If it's too broad of a topic, we could narrow it down to a theme. Rebuild any Star Wars set into Technic. Or classic Space, MTRON, BlackTron, Space Police, Ice Planet, etc. Or, narrow it down to classic Town vehicles (including airplanes, helicopters, or boats). That could be a lot of fun, I think. That's just me though, and knowing me, I'll probably build too slow to have anything built in time to enter.

Very nice build! I like the rear wheel steering!

8:10 5:6 6:4 9:3 27:2 2:1 There are some amazing builds here!

1. JCB, John Deere, Kenworth 2. Construction equipment (ex: backhoe, road grader, tow truck, forwarder, fork lift) 3. JCB backhoe with full RC control. All functions can be done with 6 motors and a three position gearbox. $350-$400 USD price point. Or, a manual JCB backhoe with full pneumatics, similar to 8455 set, but with a motorized compressor. $250 USD price point. 4. More helicopters but with realistic cyclic and collective on the main rotor hub and pitch control on rear rotor. Space shuttle. More airplanes with realistic flight controls (ailerons, rudder, elevator, flaps). A biplane with a radial engine would be neat. 5. New Elements, Building Experience, Using LEGO Technic System for MOCs 6. Blank 7. No 8. The mechanical side of LEGO Technic is what has always made me like the Technic line. Gears, levers, pneumatics, and other motions should be what Technic is about. Motors are fun too, but programing and using smart devices to work my models isn't what Technic should be about. 9. -Ability to have multiple motors/lights run off one port (i.e. Port stacking) -Ability to run more than 4 motors off of one hub. A hub with 8 ports would be more ideal, or better yet, built a bluetooth receiver with 4 ports that is separate from the batter box (like sbrick) -PU extension wires. -A micro motor -Flashing lights -Much lower price points 10. Motorized pneumatic valves. The valves could even just be a new style valve that more easily integrates with the existing motors. 11. Don't know.

Welcome to the forum! I think most people on the forum buy sets and use the parts from those sets to build their own MOCs. Some use digital design tools, but personally, I prefer to just build and use trial and error with physical parts. I have the majority of parts I need for a MOC on hand, and for the few I don't, I use Bricklink and/or LEGO Bricks and Pieces to order the parts I need. This would be the best forum for building things similar to what's in the video you posted. If you end up going the Mindstorms route, there is a forum for that.

My larger builds generally follow this process: 1) I get an idea of what I'd like to build and research all the functions. 2) I write down all the functions, and if the number of functions exceed what can be done with PF (or now PU), I decide if I need to add a gearbox for additional functions. 3) If a gearbox is needed, I do a rough sketch of the gearbox design and try to group gearbox outputs/functions in the most logical/playable way possible (for example, my backhoe had all excavator arm functions running off the same side of gearbox). 4) I decide on the scale to use. This is usually based off of the number of functions, space needed, and tire size. 5) I might do a rough sketch of motor placement and how I want to run the functions with least amount of gears and friction. 6) The build process usually starts with the axles or gearbox. 7) I typically have multiple parts of a MOC being built at once, and I jump back and forth. I find that if I get stuck on how to solve an issue, I can go to another part of a build, and then come back to my issue I'm stuck with and have a fresh, new approach. 8) Once I have all the mechanical bits completed, I focus on the aesthetics and building the body and interior. That's pretty much my process. I usually have bits and pieces of several MOCs in progress laying around. Right now my main focus is on my PF/pneumatic CAT Road Grader, but I have probably at least another six projects laying around in early stages of design.

TechnicBricks is also saying there will be a 4x4 Mercedes Zetros of some sort. "Today another set from the LEGO Technic 2H2021 wave - 42129 "4x4 Mercedes-Benz Zetros Tri..". This one will arrive in August, with a price tag should be in the range of 289,99€ - 299,99€." https://www.facebook.com/TechnicBRICKs/posts/3598979400180252

I agree. The price seems high for something that doesn't really have that many functions. The Facebook post did mention Pneumatics, but that sounded more like wishful thinking rather than fact. Personally, I don't see pneumatics and control+ ever being offered in the same set, but I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

TechnicBricks Facebook page is saying the 2H flagship will be a CAT D11T bulldozer. Price about 439.99 euro.

This is great! It's always nice to see a MOC from you. I didn't know such a machine existed. I love the complexity of everything, and I'm impressed by the fact that the LAs could lift the whole truck up. What does the PF switch do? Great renders too! I wish I had those skills.

This is my current storage setup: I used to have a dedicated LEGO room, but I've since moved and lost my LEGO room. The above is the solution I have for now, which works quite well. I've been in the process of re-organizing, so I've got a bit more work to do. I pull out a folding table whenever I want to build something. I also have a closet that has 15 or so NISB sets (mostly modular buildings) and a large bin full of my childhood LEGO. The two drawers just have some other non-LEGO stuff. Drawer on the left has camera gear, and drawer on the right has general office supplies.

Very nice! I like that you have the 1:2 reduction between the crank and cams, just like a real four-stroke engine. That is something that is often missed on engine mocs with working valves. Well done.

That pneumatic hose connector is an odd piece to have in the set. My guess is it's used under the seat and prevents the back of the seat from moving back and hitting the 12t gear. As for the color schemes, I like the black and yellow one. The orange and white scheme is also nice, but I think I'd prefer that with black rims.

I'm pretty sure it's something like this: I don't know how the red 6L axle is connected to the bottom white beam, so I left that out. The above I'm fairly certain of though. My guess is the red 6L axle uses a lever that either rests on the bottom of the white beam, or has a small (3L) vertical beam the runs from the lever to the white beam.

That was my initial reaction as well, but upon a closer look, I don't think this has steering. I think the knob on the roof raises the main boom via a worm gear, and the knob on the side tips the bucket.

Yes, I think you are correct. F-14 has elevons. I don't think building elevons would be any different than flaperons, and I tend to think it would be pretty much the same type of mechanism. I think Steph77 may be referring to the spoiler setup on the F-14. The spoilers on the F-14 are also used to augment roll, so one side may pop up to assist the elevons during a roll. It looks like this only happens when the wings are swept forward, and the spoilers are deactivated in swept back configuration. I don't know that the F-14 has traditional ailerons; I think it just uses flaps the whole length of the wing. Pretty fascinating aircraft.

Pushrods work well too, especially for mitigating slack and/or backlash. I guess that's the same idea as beams too.

This looks like a really neat project. I like the rotating boom!

I joined EB a little over 10 years ago, and I think there's definitely been a shift in the EB community. Over the past few years, I've seen a decline in the number of MOCs built, and I've also seen a lot more MOD posts, or people asking for instructions, or people asking other people to solve problems, etc. All these things are fine in the forum, but personally, I much prefer to see MOCs built, or seeing creative solutions people come up with on their own. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. We had some amazingly talented people on this forum back 10 years ago, and I miss seeing the builds by Mahjqa, Milan, Efferman, AllanP, AlasdairRyan, Crowkillers, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I miss all the fantastic renders by Blakbird as well. I know some of these people still frequent the forum, but I think everybody, like myself, have gotten busy with life. Personally, I think the forum went through a dry stretch for a few years, and I lost quite a bit of interest, mostly for the lack of interesting content. Thankfully, we do still have some old-timers that still build MOCs (jorgeopesi, Eric Leppen, Sariel, Jeroen Ottens, and others), as well as some great new talent on the forums. I've seeing some really fantastic aviation and machinery related MOCs on here now. [EDIT]: One of the other posters mentioned that there seems to be a shift with the focus being more on aesthetics rather than functions. I would agree with that, and I think it's kinda sad. This is Technic, and while aesthetics always draws some brownie points, the focus should always be on the technical aspects of a build. I find that mechanical complexity, structural integrity, and build techniques are a much better measure of somebody's LEGO skill than aesthetics. I've seen some beautiful MOCs that have some very questionable build techniques. But, that's just me, and I know others feel differently. Some of the past contests are proof of that. Personally, I haven't built anything in probably five years. A sort of dark-ages, I suppose, although I do dabble with little sub-assemblies and ideas here and there. I've been working on a RC pneumatic road grader for five years now. Life happens, and since the last MOC I posted, I've moved from the east coast to a small island on the west coast. I've gone from a two bedroom apartment to a one bedroom apartment with little room to build LEGO. I've gotten busy with work, volunteering, travel, learning photography, and I'm not quite the hermit I used to be (yay! ). All that's to say that I just haven't had as much drive to spend time with my LEGO. That being said, I have been tinkering with my road grader a bit lately, so maybe once I finish re-organizing my apartment, I'll break out the LEGO again and maybe have another MOC to post in the future. Just my $0.02.

Sorry for the double post, but I did want to say that is a really creative solution. I like that a lot!

Here's a variation of a control mixer I used for the drooping ailerons on my Piper Super Cub. The overall movement is somewhat limited, but for the purpose of drooping ailerons or flaperons, it works well. The yellow axle is the input from the control stick, and the red axles are the outputs to each flaperon (or drooping ailerons). The black balls would be connected to the flap mechanism and move up/down as needed. It's a bit difficult to tell in the picture, but the grey part in the center is a CV joint. There are also ways to just use control mixers using levers and no gears, much like many of the Technic helicopters use.