Sariel

E-motor is hopelessly useless for anything but working as a power generator, trust me.

It's possible with IR receiver as well, although it may not unleash the full power of the RC motor. Example:

How typical.

I present a Liebherr R944C excavator with an unusual tunneling arm. The model is an electric/pneumatic hybrid, powered by integrated 8878 battery and an external manual pump. There is a number of attachments for the arm, including a milling head, a bucket and... this: Full description and photos are available at http://sariel.pl/2011/07/liebherr-r944c-tunneling-excavator/ Video below:

I've taken the liberty of making my own video on the 8110. Perhaps it has answers some of you were looking for:

Well, maybe that's the problem. I don't see how your expertise in SW models translates into profound understanding of Technic building, just like I don't try to teach people how to build SW models just because I have some grasp of Technic building. No offense, but between your opinion and Eric's I will always choose Eric's because he actually builds Technic. You don't.

Totally agree with Sokratesz, you should not present your personal opinion as an absolute truth. Especially if the topic is studless Technic building and you're a studfull Star Wars builder.

What you mean "no one"? There are dozen of Technic builders out there who successfully combine studless and studfull systems, like e.g. Andrea Grazi, Eric Leppen or Pedro Agnelo, or me. Exhibit A:

You are a very, very bad person Jurgen. I was thinking of building a backhoe like this, and now you already did it ;) On a more serious note, this is a very impressive MOC, congratulations. If I may have a suggestion, perhaps some small bodywork of wedge plates or old Technic panels could be added on the rear digging arm - it looks very 'skeletal' right now. Nevertheless, this is a job very, very well done sir.

It's actually fairly easy if you use a COG-shifting walker. There are dozens of those. A good example:

It's too complex. There's no need to use a link. You can do the same things with just a handful of beams:

You can try to use a single RC module instead: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6272c01

Chrizzle, you can't effectively power two buggy RC motors from one 8878 accu. It's simply too weak and it will keep shutting down due to the high energy consumption. That's why I keep using two 8878s, one for each RC motor, in MOCs like this:

Thanks. The results you got are really impressive. I've been toying with the tilt-shift effect recently, but it's nothing compared to your job. Your video is top of the notch, and your photos are great too (I wish I had camera like yours :)).

I had no idea my calculator can be used to generate images :) The second set of gears will be less efficient when set to higher gear, because you use gear acceleration and then reduction. But this will only occur at higher gear, the lower gear should be even more efficient than before (double bevel gears are generally better than 16t gears), so I'd say the change pays off.

Hey Drakmin, would you mind telling me how did you achieve the smooth camera movements in the video? I know there is a professional equipment that can do that, but it costs $2,000 a piece. I'm just working on a motorized Lego camera dolly for my own use, I hope it will make my videos better.

... or maybe it was linking to non-public folder that was the mad idea?

I still think anything Lego-related is miles away from flying helis. You can get 1500 RPM with pneumatic engine? Impressive, but the RC microheli I own (a cheap Chinese design, yet still works after a year of flying) has motors that run at 18,000 RPM, and it still weights 20 grams. Not to mention that it flies without being permanently connected to a compressor. There are dozens of reasons why a "build you own heli" set would be a bad idea, all basically coming down to one fact: it's unsafe. Building a Lego car is one thing, building a working Lego heli requires proper weight distribution, balancing the main rotor's torque, and at least brief understanding of aerodynamics. And if you fail in any of these, your Lego set drops on your head.

I'm afraid the only way to make a Lego heli fly is by attaching it to a balloon. I mean: look at the weight. I have a small RC microheli and its weight is 20 grams total. A handful of Lego bricks is heavier, not to mention the motors. A flying heli is possible, but it's miles away from regular Lego sets. If Lego was supposed to release a set like that, it would probably include only specialized pieces, not compatible with regular Lego pieces (like they did e.g. with Dirt Crusher).

I doubt there are chances for any serious boats or planes seeing how children-friendly-and-safe Lego is trying to be recently. Why risk a kid falling into a bathtub or dropping a Lego set on his head when you can keep him safely on the carpet with yet another car?

Lego WeDo was used. It's a rarity, as far as I know there was only one set with this software so far. I'd prefer to use Mindstorms actually, but Mindstorms is so expensive :(

I'm sure you've seen many already, but this one sort of works :) Description: http://sariel.pl/2011/06/portal-sentry-turret/ Photos: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=475385 Video:

100 and there's no stopping! I have at least three next MOCs already in the making :)

Damn right! I keep my fingers crossed for you :)

What about the middle tracks? Will they retract inside the hull and will outriggers come out through there, just like in the game? I found this feature a little discouraging when it comes to mechanical re-creation.