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andythenorth

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Everything posted by andythenorth

  1. andythenorth
    Ha ha, what's the alternative, no Technic sets with string? Seems like Maaboo has solve his/her own problem in the most elegant way I have some sympathy on string. I build a lot of City sets for my kids. It seems most of them have a winch with string and hook, or worse, the fishing rod part with fishing line. I hate tying the knots for those.
  2. andythenorth
    @Maaboo I think you have found the perfect solution to your problems with string
  3. andythenorth
    Nobody's really sure, there are lots of rumours. Nah it is, I'm trolling, it's a 4 axle dump truck with crane. You could look in the rumours thread, but it's full of idiots trolling Technic Bricks has a much more condensed summary of known info: http://www.technicbricks.com/2015/01/brickset-has-news-about-2h15-technis.html http://www.technicbricks.com/2015/01/2h15-lego-technic-releases.html
  4. andythenorth
    Holes comprehensively picked So your prediction is something like? - it is more probable that TLG will release a Creator train this year than not - or (XOR) the system has changed behaviour (not sarcasm, I am not often sarcastic, usually just confused),
  5. andythenorth
    Flex track is absolutely awesome for one specific case: making connections that don't fit the standard track geometry. Other than that, I hate to join the haters, but it's noisy, high friction (sucks power and speed), and it looks bad.
  6. andythenorth
    Eh, I agree with that 100%, and the 'double tyres or not' situation is a total unknown, so it's a bit early to declare double-tyre-gate. Still, a couple of new pneumatic cylinders are not so valuable and amazing that they justify cutting 4 extra tyres out of a £170 set. Those tyres sell for around £1.50 including wheel on Bricklink, and likely cost TLG a fraction of that to produce. It's hardly a drama, it just seems a bit cheap if they have done that. The inevitable cost-cutting on flagships is usually quite subtle and doesn't seem obviously cheap. But eh, nobody knows anything yet anyway, or if they do, they're not telling.
  7. andythenorth
    An alternate situation people have reported is 'out of stock' on the website, but available over the phone by S@H. Which is maybe similar root cause, no real-time inventory control, and/or poor sync between S@H phone orders and web orders. The cancelled web orders might be because phone orders have depleted stock. Eh, this is just navel gazing, running databases at scale is hard, anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't tried. But TLG seem to have more problems with this than they should, and yeah, for years the website has been weird and/or low quality in too many places, at least for a brand with such a reputation for quality and good design.
  8. andythenorth
    Hmm, frankly, at £170 for a non-RC, single motor set, I expect a free unicorn to be included. If there aren't double tyres, the reasons will be easy to understand (cost control), but a bit irritating. Unless the chassis is built from Maersk-blue liftarms, in which case they should double the price not the tyres.
  9. andythenorth
    Yair, no actually you've convinced me. Oh no wait. I'm wrong again. You're really going to do 'science' on a dynamic system which we absolutely know changes its behaviour, and you're going to do that on the basis of just 3 data points for the 3 released Creator Trains. Yes I do ******* love science. Anyway, copious smilies included because eh, let's all be friends. Ok here's my prediction, based on the pattern I've analysed. Having checked Brickset, from 1965 (start of available data) to 2009, TLG released no Creator Expert / Advanced trains. Then 3 between 2009 and 2013 (Emerald Night, Maersk, Horizon Express). Considering the long-term trend, only 6% of the years in the study contained a Creator Expert / Advanced train. This is probably more than just the kind of blip caused by error or anomaly, but based on the long term historical data, I'd predict zero Creator Expert / Advanced trains. In summary, the long-term behaviour of TLG, as indicated by the historical data is to not release Creator Expert / Advanced trains. The data is freely available on Brickset for those who want to play armchair science. You can easily pick holes in my findings. They're like a swiss cheese. But (if you choose to play this game), yours will be too. It's a fun game to play, but eh, there's no substance, I'd kind of wonder if you're just finding what you want to find Anyway, chicken entrails anyone?
  10. andythenorth
    Yeah doable, 8285 Tow Truck is dual, with old style diff. Seems to me that TLG designers also have made it easy to add duals on some of the recent trucks that only have singles - keeping chassis narrow and clear of obstructions, and designing axle that can be reconfigured for two wheels. Dunno, but I'd guess some prototypes are built dual, and then stripped back at market-readiness stage.
  11. andythenorth
    Redeemed for what? The biggest most complex Technic crane ever produced? A fully RC technic loader, with a huge new bucket part? A whole range of high playable smaller sets that are affordable and contain interesting mechanisms? Varying the colours of the 2015 sets from yellow / red / yellow / red / black? Introducing a powerful but compact L motor, and a high-quality servo part? Myriad other new parts in recent years, including a full range of new panels, sliding 8t gear, redesigned standard gear, D-frames, H-bones, new pins with cross axles, new diffs, new steering parts, new universal joints, new LAs, portal axles, new clutch parts, new pneumatic parts and multiple new pin joiners and axles? 42008 was pretty bad, no argument, but eh.
  12. andythenorth
    Eh, I've no more idea than the rest of you about 1-wide cylinders, but if they're real, they'd provide a lot of flexibility for building. I like small. The small LA is massively effective on the smaller models. A 1-wide set of pneumatic cylinders would allow for small excavators etc that would be very fun to play with. It also opens the door to an incredibly ultimate backhoe loader. The 8069 backhoe with LAs is one of my favourite recent technic sets for playability, but with 1-wide cylinders a really elegant updated version of the 8455 pneumatic backhoe could be done. I'm not convinced that 1-wide cylinders would be too weak to use. (1) they could be ganged together in arbitrary combinations (2) I don't think that the cylinder width makes much difference to any bending moment caused by compression load when the ram is extended, i.e. as long as the seal is tight and the ram itself doesn't flex, the whole assembly won't bend under load (3) I don't remember simple fluid dynamics very well, but iirc, when the surface area of the ram is decreased, increasing pressure in the system results in the same total work The current mini-cylinder bends because it has a thin, weak (ABS? nylon?) ram, and the overall tolerances on the part seem relatively lax. That could be avoided. But eh, I don't know if they're 1 wide. Might just be a typo on the box?
  13. andythenorth
    Nobody here knows, or if they do, they're not allowed to say. Assume that some people in TLG know. There is no value in trying to project release patterns in the future based on previous releases. It's just not how it works. Probably the logic behind no Creator Expert train announcement is that there isn't one to announce. That's what I would conclude anyway. Quite plausibly Creator trains are dropped due to poor total sales, or excessive development cost relative to sales (these are two different things). But I know no more than you do about this.
  14. andythenorth
    Two things to try: - is the channel on the remote the same as the channel on the IR receiver? There are channels 1-4, both remote and receiver have a switch to set channel. - what happens if you connect the motor directly to the battery box? It should spin. That lets you rule out a bad motor. Try Lego customer service? My impression from forums like this is that bad Power Functions parts are very very rare, but Lego are usually very very good about swapping out parts for free if there is any problem.
  15. andythenorth
    I would take Huw at his word. He's very credible. It's nice that a set makes someone happy. If you look in the comments on Brickset, already there are queues of people pointing out how disappointed they are. It must be really hard being a TLG designer, ruining so many people's lives every January by making toys.
  16. andythenorth
    Brickset report goes out at 21.30 UK time btw. That's kind of...now 2700 parts? 1200 pins, 28 pneumatic T pieces. That's good and bad: I'm low on pins (no really), but I have about 200 T pieces
  17. andythenorth
    8275 Bulldozer fully-lit: https://www.flickr.c...157624355112320 This uses the now-discontinued PF brick from Lifelites. (With apologies to Rob @ Lifelites who is a very nice guy) the PF brick sounded better than the reality. You can use the IR remote to cycle through different lighting sequences (emergency vehicle, train, spaceship etc). Actually it's chore to cycle through the sequences, and not something that you need to do via a remote anyway - set it once, leave it set. Interesting experiment though. https://www.flickr.c...rth/4732750063/ https://www.flickr.c...rth/4733394658/ Lifelites are a great product from a nice company.
  18. andythenorth
    Pure guessing, maybe adjustable track width? Sariel did this in one of his cranes. Tedious if a manually cranked feature, only needs one axle going through the turntable. Might be bad on carpet (tracks don't like sideways motion, drags them off the rollers). Motorised winch seems obvious, manual winches are boring. Motorised slew is a bit less common afaict in technic cranes. And eh, you could have someone's eye out with a rotating boom... Motorised boom up / down?
  19. andythenorth
    /me predicts future conversation with wife. "How much did that cost?" "£170" "I see, and what's special about it?" "Pneumatics 2.0. Longer cylinders" "How much longer?" "2 studs" "£170?" And in recent history, fire plane with bay for 1 stud water cylinders (is a great City set, kids love it): http://brickset.com/...09-1/Fire-Plane
  20. andythenorth
    Probably won't be a Martin Mars. Those are huge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars
  21. andythenorth
    I dunno, I think this thread is fun this year. We've managed to mostly avoid stupid discussions about juniorisation, LA vs. Pneumatic, "TLG are going out of business if they don't listen to AFOLs" etc. And some people have been very funny. And AllanP gets longer pneumatics. What's not to like? My €0.02 (denominated in € because it's EB).
  22. andythenorth
    PF winch would be lame for technic. Maybe not for creator and such. But I wouldn't be betting on there being one. By the way, are we taking bets on things? Is that even allowed under EB rules? We should have bets on things.
  23. andythenorth
    Wonder what the regular supply problems TLG have with the motors? I guess they're dependent on sources they can't control, unlike standard ABS parts. Maybe they have to order large batches or such, and then wait for production slots in China / wherever? Dunno about the rest of you, but I think my M motors are breeding, I seem to have bazillions of the things. -- EDIT -- For those who have a burning need for a compact motor that is weak, and has limited mounting points, but is fairly priced, Bricklink lists 455 on sale at the time of posting this. Average selling price 9.81 GBP (Lego price 5.99 GBP). http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?S=8883-1 In many cases the L motor is a better bet imo. More expensive, less efficient but more powerful, appropriate RPM, compact form factor, and LOTS of mounting point options.
  24. andythenorth
    Build your own stuff with Bricklink parts. It's fun to make nice designs that fit with the style of the Lego boxed sets and are playable for kids. Box vans especially are an easy build. https://www.flickr.c...57644406618728/ https://www.flickr.c...57624931837766/ https://www.flickr.c...57624815865731/ I did a step-by-step on these tanker wagons. They're not the cheapest on parts, but look good. https://www.flickr.c...57624453772117/ I also find Das Steinkopf's stuff very inspiring: https://www.flickr.c...david_stannard/
  25. andythenorth
    Philo has measured performance for most recent Lego motors, including the M. His site is very useful. http://www.philohome.com/tech.htm
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