Vee

Programming is a pain. And it is this pain that makes us feel so good when we fix whatever the bug was that was causing us the pain. And then it starts all over and almost never ends.

I have another problem but it is not related to version 090, but to version 086 (since version 090 will not import a wanted list anyway). I usually set the condition of all my parts to "N/A", for the used/new status in the wanted list, which means it doesn't matter the condition, I want to see all the options, but Brickficiency import all the items as Used, so it limits the choices of stores to search to those that have the parts used, disregarding completely stores that have them new.

Same here: I just found a workaround. Use previous version 086 to retrieve the wanted list and create the corresponding .bsx file. Then use newer version 090 to open this file and it should work fine.

Why what? It is the guy's signature.

I still can't connect. Everything else works fine here. If anyone can send me the new version, I'd be glad. mac at dpvqb dot com Thx! No need to send anymore. I used my VPN with a French IP address and it worked. Go figure... US blocked?

YAY! Thank you! Uhmm, just tried to download it and got this. :-(

In LDD, you can connect the tire #61254 to the wheel #30155. In real life, I have just found that the connection is not good, the tire is loose around the wheel. Now I have 5 wheels and 5 tires that don't work together... The MOC of the Ford model A above uses steering wheels (#30663) as wheels, inserted in an old type of tire (not the #61254), and then it uses white rubber bands to give the tire the white stripe look. I have found this is indeed possible to do but there is a very delicate "connection" between the white rubber band and the wheel+tire assembly; a light tap to the car will make the white band fall. Not good at all, only good for display and as long as you handle the car very carefully. Honestly, I did not like it at all, despite the very nice visual. Also, the connection between the steering wheel and the tire is a pain, because you need to align both manually, which is difficult. And also, connecting the steering wheel to the bar (a 4L sword that acts as an axle) is another pain because the wheel can go through the bar entirely so getting the right position/distance between wheels is another pain. Connecting the cape to the back of the plate using minifig hands is just one more pain: another very very delicate connection. All in all, a very difficult MOC, as built, not suitable for anything else than for a quick display, taking pictures and then disassembling it before it crumbles down by itself. I am making changes, trying to make it sturdier, but it's been difficult due to the small scale.

That is like 5 * 52 = 260 sets a year... At a $50 average per set (my current average), that would mean 13k a year. This much money is more than you need to pay for the Maryland University tuition.

I was thinking. I have also the set 8282 and it also has a cool "swinging suspension" - although harder - but it uses a metal spring instead of elastic band. I think Lego could achieve the same soft suspension it achieved with the 42001 also using a thinner metal spring and metal (steel) spring should last much longer than any good quality rubber band.

Yes, they are small, round and white. Good to know they should last a long time. Thanks.

Uhmm, now I understood! Thank you for the thorough explanation. I am used to using a sword (4M) or the shaft (3M) and a 1x1 brick with handle to do these kind of moves but indeed I tried to use my trick to close that gap between the head and the torso, with the cape on, and I was not able. I could almost do it with the "sword and brick with a handle" trick. Then I used your trick and with just one step, I was able to close the gap still left by my own trick. Thank you! Depending on the axis that you want to move the item, I use the 1x1 brick with the vertical holder too. By the way, that is not the brick with the handle but the brick with the horizontal holder.

I bought the set 42001 because it has some interesting Technic parts, like four 5M thin liftarms and others, and it is a cheap set, and I have just finished assembling it. What a cute little vehicle! Although I bought it for parts, I don't see myself disassembling it... dang! Anyway, this set uses two white rubber/elastic bands (belts) and these rubber bands are essential to the build. Without them, the vehicle will simply not work. So my question is: given how essential the rubber bands are, are they durable? Usually anything made of rubber will dry and break, and it doesn't take too long for that to happen, so is it durable? I have zero experience with this kind of Lego parts, first time I have a set that uses them.

My main display area is the top of a cabinet. The houses will be replaced with modular buildings still to be bought (and then I need to find a place for the houses).

I am sorry but many videos here seem more like made for those that already know the trick than for those trying to learn the trick. For instance, trick #4, I don't understand what is being done, how it is being done. There is no explanation, no sound, no caption about the trick and the moves are too fast. I know that you can select more than one brick and move just one so that the other will also move, I use this all the time, but I can't figure out what the trick is.

Not that the financial side does not matter but for me Lego addiction is more a matter of self discipline than anything else. The money I have spent and may still spend with Lego will not hurt us financially, but the fact that I have spent such an amount of money in such a thing (ultimately plastic toys) is what bothers me, a lot, and it is this feeling of "something wrong with this" that makes me control the addiction.

Don't tempt me, please.

Thanks for the tip, Hrafn. I tried to use the Technic bricks with holes instead of the beams and although I didn't know I could do that to get half a stud shift (nice trick by the way), what also made me put the idea aside and try something else was that, because this is a very small vehicle (14 x 5.5 stud, < 6 brick tall), the Technic bricks look bulky; the beams give it a much more pleasant overall appearance. In the end, I am using the axle idea from A.Ryan, as shown below, that proved a very good fit. I ended up buying pieces to try almost all the ideas I had or learned. Everything is only virtual as of now. When I have it all tested, I will post here the final result. If it ends up as good in real life as it looks in LDD, I will be very happy with this MOD. By the way, all this trouble just to give Mr. Ole Kirk a pickup! This pickup is the final part of my Ole Kirk's house saga...

Yes, it is back. And I am not buying it too. Just a bunch of expensive white bricks...

You can use Brickset to get the same information but for the whole Lego catalog, not only the few recent ones that Lego lists.

It looks like the long sold out Architecture Studio is making a come back...

This is originally a fully studded MOC that uses studded bricks with holes. Here is the whole story. I wanted to have a small vehicle from the 30's, a pickup preferably. So I searched the internet and found the MOC below, a Ford Model A pickup that was very much what I wanted, and the creator (Legohaulic) makes available the instructions to build it. It is a very nice little car, with instructions. What else could I ask for? Then I built it virtually, in LDD, to test and have the parts list ready for BL. Upon building it, I realized a few things that bothered me, well mostly one thing: note that the build starts as a 4-stud wide vehicle and then, for the back, it moves to 5-stud wide vehicle, The transition from 4- to 5-stud wide is not seamless, there is a weird gap highly visible through the back mudguards (difficult to see from the small pics above). In the meantime, I found that the pickup was inspired by another vehicle, a Morris Minor, which the creator (Gambort) also makes instructions available: So, although I wanted the pickup, I decided to also build in LDD the Morris Minor, because it is built in a very different way, using the Technic beams as a base and it is modular. I liked a lot the way it was built. While trying to make the Model A better, it was getting difficult to keep it structurally strong and then I thought about using the technique learned from the blue car where you have a strong base and you just build on top of it, with much more freedom to do things. It has proven a difficult project for me because I am inexperienced, but I managed to do it. I am very happy with what I have right now (at least virtually, parts are on their way) except for that weird comb wheel that I had to use to get the 9.5 stud distance between axles (the blue car uses 8-stud distance). I have tried to use 9-stud distance with no success, no matter what I tried. I don't want to use 10-stud distance because then the vehicle gets too much out of scale that actually requires a 8.5 stud distance. So I stuck to 9.5 and the project is done, and I like it, and I am just trying to get rid of the comb wheel.

I will try to figure out what you mean, I am too new to Technic to know things. Just yesterday, I was reading a bunch of slides that I found in the internet about Technic parts and I then learned that some pins are color coded and the color means this "friction less" feature or not. I learned this yesterday, otherwise I would have no idea what you were talking about. Still, some things to figure out left from what you said. Thanks for the tip. By the way, that assembly above using the 5.5 axle seems very very promising, I am very hopeful.

Interesting idea. Something like this? It would work fine, and should be strong enough, it is a small vehicle. But there are two issues: I could not find a way to make the wheel axles go through holes and not through cross axles. I need holes. Also, one of the liftarm holes in the original base is being used and with an axle, I don't have that hole anymore. This solves the first problem. This should be a good solution, if not for the missing hole, but still looks good. I need to try it for real.

In my particular build, that 2L pin would actually be locked by the mudguard in a way that it would not allow it to come out, as shown below. but the "minor problem" that I mentioned previously has proven to be a big one (I need the space taken by the pin) so I cannot use the design, even if it was a good one, which I agree with you it is not. I am keeping my original design for now: Its only flaw is visual, the lower part of the comb wheel is visible below the vehicle which kind of detracts a bit its overall appearance. The upper part of the comb wheel that protrudes up is not a problem, it is hidden inside the body of the vehicle. I still hope that some expert Technic guy has a magic formula for a better solution though...

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean. One of the requirements of the base is that both axles must be on holes, not cross axle, as pictured.