NevynPA

Are those 1x6 thin liftarms rare in yellow, or all colors? I don't have the power puller, but I have a pair of 1x6's in black, and I have no idea where the came from now...

Wow! :D Not so fast, folks! :D I've only had 8868 there for a couple days. I'll leave it for a week or two. At the moment, I don't have any other stuff to display! I plan to tear down 8880B and do some UV cleaning of parts that have "browned" (I'll post a separate thread on that) before I re-build the Super Car. I have ideas for a fairly large snowmobile as well as some other things, but I'm not sure how to make them work just yet. If any of you bachelors has interest, you're welcome to visit and I'll work out how to introduce you. :) As Peter_M stated, I'm quite happily married. She's all yours! USA zip code is 17701, if you're trying to plan a trip.

So I had set the B-model of 8880 on a spare table I have at work, to see if anyone would notice and ask about it. Only one person really showed interest, but didn't say anything until I mentioned it to them. As a result of that, at least one of his kids is getting a 9398 4x4 Crawler for Christmas! On Monday, I swapped 8880B for 8868, and found this when I got in: Upon closer inspection, I was thoroughly amused! I REALLY gotta get working on some MOCs now... :D

The early 90's Honda Prelude Si was available with 4WS as an option - it also was 'dual mode' like that. The new 2014 Porsche 911 has it as well.

That's kind of how it worked with me. Dark age, Got 8880, then dark-ish age for a while again. I think for MOCs, I'll definitely be using both (once I have more studless parts). I can see cars & trucks being done as "body on frame" style assembly - a studded chassis for gears + internal support, and then studless body wrapped around it. That'd make for some easy modular construction as well, I think.

Hey there tmctiger, Let me assuage your fears a little. Like I said at the end, I think some of that is just its "newness" to me, and I'll grow more accustomed to it as I acquire more studless sets. I did recognize this during the build process - and I like that they differentiate between odd and even by using different colors. I just forgot to mention it in my first post. I'm pretty sure it only feels odd as again, it *is* my first exposure. I'm sure I'll grow more used to it as I get more of it. I do like them, and I find the reasons for switching to studless quite satisfactory. Visually, it's less appealing at first glance - it doesn't <i>look</i> as 'mechanical' or 'technical' as the old rack & pinion setup styles. I used 8815 as it was also a "small" set back in its day. Functionally, it's pretty genius - I'm amazed at just how much turning ability (small radius) it has for its size. When I pick it up, it seems that there's more flexion in the frame - I think this is a side effect of 'taking up the slack' on the joining pins. In many older sets, there was no slack to take up, as pinned joints were often capped top & bottom with a solid 2x2 plate or the like. This is probably less prevalent in the larger sets just as you mentioned, as there's not any vertical bracing in this small of a model. Hopefully that clarifies some things I meant to put in my first post and forgot to. All in all, I can't wait to get more sets.

Now that my introduction is up, I thought I'd get right into the meat of things. Using some funds from my birthday, I snagged a copy of 8067 as I've always wanted a mobile crane set (8460 started the desire, and 8421 cemented it firmly with all of its wheels). While this is in NO WAY my first Technic set, it is, however, my first studless one. This isn't meant to be a review of the set in any way, although it may sound like one. These are just some things I noticed during the build, and some thoughts I had after I was done. 1. Packaging Boxes sure have come a long way since the old Technic ones. These are simpler than any others I've seen before. I guess it's to make it feel more "approachable" for younger builders. I grew up around drafting equipment and drawings, and I'll always favor the boxes that had the schematics in the background for purely sentimental reasons. 2. Colors! It's nice to see that things are coming in other colors. I can understand why they changed some colors (old light grey has yellowing issues with age), but others? Not so much. What was wrong with black axles? Why do they have to be grey now? Which leads into... 3. Sizes! What the heck!? Why is everything odd sized!? I mean, I used to covet every 3L and 5L axle I had, but this set is practically MADE of them. HEY! The beams are all odd sized too! I feel...tainted somehow. Dirty. Odd-length parts were rare, to be treasured. Now, they're just commoners. My world is upside down. 4. Instructions Wow. I can totally understand some simplification from what I grew up with, but good grief, the pendulum has swung seemingly way too far the other way. I think even an 8-10 year old could figure out putting in THREE parts per step as a minimum, not ONE. There's a lot more "1:1" diagrams as well - as if they thing you'll forget from one page to the next just how big something is. A lot more arrows, too - but that's a side effect of having more 3L pins and more axles where items slide all the way down. 5. Functions This set retailed for $24.99 when new. For that price, I'd expect 3 or 4 functions - which is exactly what it has. Boy, though, do they seem scaled back! While totally ingenious in its simplicity, the steering mechanism was a HUGE disappointment. I understand that TLG needs to keep costs down, I really do. Compared to the steering on my old 8815, this felt like a major cop-out. To go with that: If they truly were trying to keep costs down, why the 5-piece setup for the outrigger drive handles? 3 axles and two joiners, instead of one long axle? It must be that the B-set needs the parts, because that seems wasteful. 6. Parts Maybe this is a cost/part count/complexity thing, but some of the new pieces in this set seem like overkill. Several times during construction I realized I had one piece in my hand whose function or shape I could completely duplicate with older parts. It would take 5-7 pieces to do it, but it'd be pretty much identical. The costs for design and manufacture of new moulds for the new parts has to be amortized over every piece made, to be able to calculate the Return on Investment. Continuing to manufacture all the old pieces must have worked out as more expensive than getting everything to make the new one. 7. Completed Set Done building. This is one cool little crane! I'm impressed with how much accuracy there is in such a small set - I think the smooth surfaces of the studless beams helps a lot. I can see why there's SOOO MANY more pins and axles in every set now - they're the only available choice when it comes to holding things together. Even though it looks really good, it doesn't feel as solid as a studded build - as if there's less structural integrity in the set as a whole. It doesn't feel flimsy, mind you, but it also doesn't have that "I-could-bludgeon-someone-to-death-with-this-set-if-need-arose" level of heft that some older ones did. It's nice to not have all the pointy parts digging into your hands as you build and play - definitely +1 to studless for that. 8. Overall Impression of the "Studless System" I'm not sure yet what to make of it. I had some studless liftarms and things in a few sets before my dark age came on, but they were more used as accents than anything else. It's a whole different beast when the set in its entirety is made of them. I like that it opens up access to odd-numbered parts, as often times when I was younger I'd want or need something that was 3/5/7/9L to fit nicely in a gap. Jumping right into fully studless after being heavily invested in studded stuff (my main studded sets are 8868 and 8880) felt odd. It was like being reintroduced to a friend I hadn't really seen in years - the name was the same, but it's like they took over someone else's body. I have a feeling that if (as?) I get more studless sets, I'll grow more accustomed to it. It is neither better nor worse than studded; it is merely a different path to take with its own different strengths and weaknesses.

Ehhhhh...I could, but somehow the Mindstorms stuff never really appealed to me. Robotics is cool, but I'd much rather build mechanical than program electronic. Thanks! It was your site that helped kick me up and out of my dark age in a big way. I wish I had more money to spend on it, but being a responsible parent comes first. :( See, it doesn't particularly appeal to me. I'm not really in this for the set or part value. I've got an 8430, which is why I'd like the 8462 - to get more wheels of the same type so that I can have at least 4 of them. Also, to get some more penumatics (esp. air tanks), and to get blue parts. Even for ~100, it's the least expensive way to accomplish all four of those goals. Thanks! I'll look into that. I'll start a separate thread for my MOC ideas (one's a clown shoe), and I've got a small discourse about my first fully studless experience to post as well (8067).

Dog? That's a cat on a Roomba! I do really love the pneumatics. I'd like an 8455, and the blue tow truck w/dual air tanks (can't think of the number right off).

Hi all! I wanted to both introduce myself and let you all know where I came from. My name's Jeff; I grew up in a "LEGO family" so to speak. It was actually a rule that Christmas wasn't Christmas without LEGO sets. Being old enough for LEGO bricks in the early 90's as well as a Sci-Fi 'nerd kid' put me growing up with M-Tron and Blacktron with other stuff thrown in. In 1991 we as a family went on vacation to Europe, and I got to go to LEGOLAND Billund - I was 6. It didn't take long before I was clamoring for more challenging stuff, and one catalog I noticed Technic. I was hooked before I even had any in my hands. I love the look, the machinery, the mechanical-ness of it all, and began clamoring for some. I began asking for Technic, and wanted an 8830 really bad for it's six wheels. Time passed as my parents didn't feel me ready for something that complex at 6, but they did get me an 8815. Being one of those so-called "gifted" kids, I cranked it out no problem even at that age. I wanted more, and got it - sort of. My next Technic sets were 8810 and 8826, and then the S@H catalog came. There stood 8868 in all its glory. I was game over. I HAD to have it. I begged, pleaded gently, stared at it in the catalog, memorized all the statistics (price, piece count, etc). I finally got a "maybe," and was on cloud nine. I was expecting to get it for Christmas of 1994, and was blown away when I got it for birthday of 1993 (my Christmas was small that year for sure. $139 was a LOT then!). SIX DAYS later (I did have to go to school), I was done. 8 years old, no help at all - my parents were waiting for me to struggle, break down, and ask for help. I never needed it. After that, I got more Technic and some regular as well, but they weren't afraid that I was 'too young' for the big stuff ever again. I got into other stuff (computers, books even more than I already was), and so the rate at which they bought me sets slowed down, but I never stopped playing. I kept getting sets on occasion all the way through high school, but didn't really pay much attention - I was drifting away. Then was some college, and family of my own. I kept my LEGO sets, but didn't really play with them. I'd occasionally pull out my Technic stuff (always kept separate from the 'pedestrian' LEGO stuff!), and build from instructions, but never much. Then I discovered Bricklink, Brickset, and Technicopedia. After a 10 year dark age, I was back in. Family prevented me from buying too much, but I was watching more than before, and keeping up with news to a degree. I snagged an 8880, and knew I had to start working on MOCs. Life got crazy and I didn't get started, but things are settled down now and I'm back in. My wife and I have three girls, ages 8, 5, and 3. They've gotten LEGO sets of their own, and my wife and I have bought some for us to play with as adults that we then gave to the kids. I just recently turned over all of my 'regular' LEGO stuff to them, and they're loving the old sets and the crazy parts I had. Christmas this year will have ONE box under the tree. It's a giant box, that has all of the LEGO Friends sets they don't own yet in it. A 'bucket list' item of my wife's was to get the big, BIG set for a theme - she grew up with pirates and castle, always wanted the giant castle, but never got it. So now our girls will have EVERYTHING in a series. :) Our plan for the holiday is just to take all that time and spend it as a family, together on the floor building LEGO sets. I have ideas for MOCs with my Technic stuff (which I'm keeping separate and is <i>mine</i>), and hope to get some things I missed out on in the late 90's and 2000's. Hopefully, I'll be asking questions as I get started building and you'll hear from me regularly!