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After some delays I finally got my 8043 last week. I had some free time yesterday so I built the B model. It runs well. The B model can do what it is supposed to do: take a scoop out of a pile of lego bricks, lift it up and dump it in the container. It's a lot of fun to play with. The B model can lift a full scoop of bricks, but that's also about the maximum weight that it can lift. So the actuators are strong enough for the B model, but the arm of the main model is so much longer that it's hard to imagine that the actuators would be strong enough to lift the arm in the main model (unless they're powered by brute XL force). If you want to build the main model, I think it's best to wait until the new actuators arrive (or, if you can't wait that long, build Jurgen's 8043 MOC).

Wow! You really need a mountain of bricks to build that!

The windows also look very tall to me, but in a recent trip to Germany, I saw trains that looked surprisingly similar to this passenger train, including the unusually tall windows. Trains don't have to look good, they should just look as much as possible like the original, and indeed there is a real train that looks very much like this one (including also the gray 2x4 tile in the front! that looks very much as the sunscreen I saw on that regional passenger train in Germany). Straight track would definitely have been better than flex track. You can buy PF lights that connect to the PF receiver in the train (the light can then be controlled separately from driving the train). You'll have a great time, especially when you have lots of track. Your kids will love turning the switches to make the trains go in various ways (you can already hear "no, don't switch that one, the trains will crash!" For sure they'll have fun).

You are right. In fact, the mystery is now solved. The reason the sender issued a "return to sender" was simply because the sender had shipped the wrong item! So I was suspicious about nothing, just a simple shipping mistake that is currently being corrected.

Thanks everyone for your explanations. Perhaps I should have given the seller more time to solve the return-to-sender problem. I keep going back and forth between two thoughts, one is "why can't the seller tell me why the item is returned to sender?". The other thought is: "Someone with 300+ positive feedbacks, that's got to be legitimate" (after all, if something illegal is going on, he might have gotten away with it 10-20 times, but 300? That's hard to imagine.) If the item were shipped directly from lego.com then that would be a clear signal that something is amiss. But since the item didn't arrive, and UPS won't tell me who shipped it, I do not know if it comes from lego.com or not. By the way, over the last three years I've bought about 100 items through eBay/bricklink, and I've had very few problems. In the two or three cases that there was a problem (item didn't arrive) I've always gotten a refund. So I've never lost my money buying something online. From what I've experienced so far, eBay/bricklink is quite safe. Note also that in this particular case, when I became uncomfortable and wanted to get out of this deal, I received a refund in just 2 days. So as far as I can tell, this particular seller is perfectly safe to deal with. Thanks again for all of your explanations. I really don't like the thought of being involved in something illegal, so it makes me feel much better to know that the (now cancelled) transaction was most likely legal (if so, then it was a mistake of me to not give the seller more time, because instead of a refund I much prefer to have the spectacular 8043).

I tried to figure out the reason for the recall, but nobody would tell me. The seller on eBay didn't give me any real information in his responses, and UPS wouldn't tell me who the sender is, so I don't know who I can ask what the reason was.

I did. Much of his sales are expensive lego boxes, like the carousel, big star war boxes, etc. He'll list say two of them, sell them quickly because they're $25 cheaper than anywhere else (with free shipping) and sell the same thing again the next week.

I bought a lego 8043 on eBay for $175, a Buy it Now with free shipping. I'm not sure how someone can offer this item $25 cheaper than lego.com, but it looked trustworthy because this was from a seller over 300 feedback ratings, and 100% positive. A few strange things happened though. (1) The UPS tracking showed the item coming from Omaha, NE but the eBay listing showed "item location: Washington". I probably would have never noticed this, if it hadn't been for the following: (2) Two days after the item was shipped out, but before it arrived at my door, the UPS tracking showed "return requested by seller". When I look at the UPS tracking now, it shows that the item is on its way back to Omaha, NE. Of course, after I saw (2), and then (1), I became very suspicious that something illegal is going on. I asked for a refund. First the seller said, don't worry, I'll take care of it, but I was afraid that he might be dealing in stolen goods, and I don't want stolen goods arriving at my door. So I said that I want a refund so I can buy the item somewhere else (at a higher price, because I don't know any other place where I can get it for $175). The eBay seller then gave me a refund. So now, I don't have a 8043, but I do have my money back, and of course I could just leave it at that. But I still don't know what exactly was going on. I find the situation suspicious, but I have no real evidence. I don't know who sent this item (UPS won't tell me), I have my money back, but I have no address I can write to, and no phone number I can call, so I don't know how to figure out if this seller is legitimate or not. My suspicion is that the reason the seller can sell expensive brand new lego boxes at low prices is because he buys them with a stolen credit card. If that's the case, I definitely want to report it. On the other hand, the high feedback rating makes me unsure that my suspicion is correct, and, I have no real evidence. Is there anything I can do to figure this out? Whatever it is that is going on, I'd like to know what it is. Also, I'm wondering this now: If the seller is legitimate, then how does he manage to sell it $25 cheaper than lego.com ? I know that sometimes there are sales where you can get things cheaper (from toysRus or lego.com) but this is a brand new item, released less than a month ago, so how can someone sell this $25 below the price at lego.com? One more thing, this has probably nothing to do with it, but I'll just mention it anyway: lego temporarily stopped selling 8043 because of technical difficulties with some of the components. People that experience problems with 8043 will likely receive a service pack to fix the problems. I'm not concerned about this issue, I'm sure that lego will resolve that issue one way or the other.

The XL motor is the motor for large engines that can pull very long loads. Almost all train sets ever sold by lego are short trains, only 3-4 cars or so, with engines that are smaller than the Emerald Night. For those trains it is easier to have a motor that looks like the 9V or RC motor. Easier means a younger age-range than the Emerald Night, which in turn means that it can be sold to a larger audience. The new train motor looks very similar (except for the cable) as the previous RC train motor. It is nevertheless called a PF motor because everything that fits the new PF connectors is called PF. I have compared the RC and the PF train motors side by side. Despite their very similar looks, the PF motor produces at least twice as much torque. Clearly lego has made an effort to put better components into the train motor. Improving their product is a good indication that they are planning to continue selling lego trains. The previous trains are from 2006, the new ones 2010, it seems highly likely to me that around 3 years from now they'll replace these ones by new ones.

I wonder, if you buy this set from eBay or from bricklink, would you also receive the updated parts when they arrive?

That's true, but maximal efficiency is at a higher rpm. At half-speed you're putting about 2 Watts of heat into the motor. Quite a bit given the size of the motor. I do not know exactly what this motor can handle, the only comparison I have is the 9V train motors (I have burned out one of those, don't want to repeat that). In several reports here on eurobricks it sounds like the M motor driving the main boom is turning well below half-speed, which means that the heat produced in the M motor is well above 2 Watts. People have also mentioned M motors that are not working anymore. It's not clear if those motors were flawed to begin with, or, if the motor was OK but simply burned out by excessive current. Until we know more, I'd be hesitant to use the M motor at rpms below half-speed, and use an XL-motor instead (see Jurgen's solution in another thread).

Bought mine yesterday on eBay. I'm not worried though. In other threads on eurobricks you can find solutions how to make it work better. Moreover, I'm sure that lego will locate the source of the problems and decide on a solution, and if that involves extra parts, I'm sure lego costumer service will mail them after a phone call. Even so, I think I'll build the B model first. The reason is, when my 8043 arrives, if I can get the main model to work using the ideas posted here on eurobricks, then I might not want to take it apart anymore, and never end up building the B model, which would be a pity because I think that model is very nice too. So to make sure I'll get to see both models, I'll have to build the B model first. I've read that page, but it doesn't say what amperage is safe in the long run. It tells us that the stalled current for the M motor at 9V is 850 mAmp. That kind of current will surely kill the motor quite quickly (the webpage says "Take care to avoid extended period stall condition"). What I don't know is how much current is safe in the longer run.

Rough guess: Take the motor, put 9 volts on it, and estimate its rpm when it is spinning freely. Under a load, if the rpm is only half of that (with still the same 9V on it), then I'd worry that the motor is under too much stress. What really matters is not so much the voltage, but rather, the amperage. The amperage is roughly proportional to the torque that the motor produces. It is also roughly proportional to "the rpm it would have when it's running freely" minus "the rpm it has under a load". Does anyone know what a safe amperage is for an M-motor? In a DC motor, if the amperage (the current) is too high, then in the commutator (carbon sliding over metal) the carbon gets vaporized, and when the carbon contact points are gone, the motor is gone too.

Great. It looks like I have exactly the right parts, I have an 8878, and I have exactly one M-motor, one receiver and remote control, and one spare XL motor. What are the odds of such a perfect fit? That has to fit as well, it's exactly the same size as the 8878.

I was going to wait a while to buy my 8043 to see if lego comes up with a solution to the problems people have been having. But seeing this now, I decided not to wait and to get one now. I saw a Buy-It-Now on eBay for $175 with free shipping and bought one. Do you have a parts-list that I need to make this modification? Many thanks for writing the instructions. Thanks also to whoever wrote instructions for a modification of the front loader, I'm looking forward to build that too. Thanks to Blakbird, your technicopedia lead me to buy a 8868 a little while ago, absolutely awesome.

I'd like a good portion of it back, but some sets are replaceable by other equally good other sets that I have not yet had, and for those I'd choose for some change. About the space consumption of all those sets, I think that as soon as you have so many sets that storing them becomes a burden, you have to start selling. Even if you don't need the money, selling makes sense, because you do need the space that it frees up!

Before increasing the voltage, I would first measure what the actual output voltage is that you get right now. Six AA batteries produce about 9.6 Volt, so that voltage will be the input for the PF receiver. I have some doubts that the output will be 9.6 Volt as well (I've read that the Emerald Night train, which uses PF and an XL motor, runs the same speed regardless of whether you're using 6 AA batteries (9.6 volt) or the rechargeable battery which produces 7.4 Volt). A quick way to check it is this way: connect an XL motor straight to the 6 AA battery pack, and see how fast it spins. Then connect it to the PF receiver (powered by the same 6 AA battery pack) and see if it turns at the same rpm.

The angle between the driving wheels on the left and right side, do you have that at 90 degrees?

With the previous passenger train I did the same thing, combine two sets to make one 5-car train and one 1-car train (those big train-front pieces had to go somewhere...). I had planned to do the same with this train, but the price is holding me back a bit, this set is $40 more than the previous one, and if you have to buy two of them it's getting expensive. You mention that one motor is strong enough to pull the 5 cars. The motor has lots of torque. About traction, does your train have the gray or the clear traction bands? (people have complained about the traction of the gray bands, but have been very happy with the clear traction bands).

I've bought lots of stuff on eBay using Paypal. I've rarely had a problem (maybe once or twice in about 100 transactions) and when there was a problem, I've received a refund. So my advice is, if you see a set on eBay that you really like, just bid on it.

The PF receiver might not send all of those 9V to the motor. It could be that the motors get the same voltage regardless of whether you use a 7.4V or a 9V power supply.

I haven't had problems with switches, but mine does ride smoother after I removed the red rubber bands on the front driving wheels. This makes it go more smoothly through curves (it also does not slow down as much in the curves). There is still plenty of pulling power because there is more weight on the rear driving wheels, which still have the traction rubber bands on them. This solution might also work for you, because by removing the front red rubber rings, you slightly lower the EN in the front, so you'll have slightly more downward pressure on the front truck. Should help.

That's excellent news. With the new bands it should then be easy to pull two 7938's with one motor, without struggling to make it through curves as one can see in this video: (not mine)

My 7938 has the same gray bands as the previous passenger train 7897. What color are the bands on your new wheels?

Yes, the Emerald Night train has changed. I bought mine the moment it came out. One of the gears would run off when pulling a long train. I solved this problem by adding a 1x1 technic brick with 1 hole, this brick prevents the gear from running off. It turns out that the newer sets actually have this same solution in the instructions. This train had another problem with the piston mechanism. The first 3-4 hours everything works great, after that, the friction slightly increases which causes the mechanism to buckle. Since this mechanism has much fewer moving parts than the excavator, there are a number of solutions to that problem. Most of these solutions are pure lego, however, one solution is simply to add some WD40. I wonder if adding some WD40 in crucial places in the excavator (careful not to spil any!!!) would also drastically improve functionality. With each gear, you lose a bit of the energy, but with so many gears that can really add up to a big problem. A small improvement, added up over a lot of gears, could add up to a big improvement at the end. Anyone tried some WD-40 or other lubricants?