andythenorth
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Everything posted by andythenorth
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Is there a good reason to? I am confused about the benefit of this. Micro-motor, I can see the benefit, but that's about form factor, not the electrical system.
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The knob wheels are high friction. Instead of one motor for the axle (with a 90 degree turn) I would try one motor per wheel, ideally direct drive, no gearing. 1 M motor per wheel might have enough torque, and would be faster than XL.
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I'd guess at custom Actros SLT (heavy-haulage). This is based on MB doing social media last year around the SLT and custom build: http://www.commercialmotor.com/big-lorry-blog/not-just-another-factory-tour-biglorryblog-reports http://www.commercialmotor.com/big-lorry-blog/its-big-its-heavy-its-euro-6-and-its-here-on-biglorryblog I can't see much play value in it though, unless it gets (yet another) knuckleboom crane. Or it's a smaller model (8109 or 8285 size) with a trailer. But I can't see AFOLs foaming much over a smaller set. The default value seems to be 'moar, moar, bigger bigger'. The Zetros would maybe have more play value. But if it was Unimog sized, the set would be (for my taste) huge, unwieldy and expensive. YMMV etc.
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Seriously what do you use them for? I can't think of any technic model where they would have been critical. When I was a kid, the main use of plates was to see if you could get a shock by bridging the studs with your tongue. With a fresh 9V battery, it could be done. It's quite tricky to bridge the contacts though due to them being masked by the studs. A third party will solve that for AFOLs. Probably SBrick, if they can pull it off https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sbrick/sbrick-smart-way-to-control-all-your-lego-creation If not SBrick, someone else. I doubt that choice of IR is about sales of controllers. More likely cost of technology and compliance. When PF was being developed Bluetooth was not an established technology, and would have had high chip costs, and lots of extra design work around pairing etc. Bluetooth is now established, but that's easy to see now, not 10 years ago or so when PF was in development. So many electronics 'standards' die along the way, and TLG could have backed the wrong horse. Meanwhile IR hardware is dirt cheap, and the tech is ancient and entrenched. Compliance is trivial for IR because it's so established. IR is a common choice in toys for these reasons. All my kids remote toys are IR or simple 27/4MHz radio (which is by no means reliable in the cheap versions used in supermarket toys). Precisely zero are bluetooth. TLG are incredibly conservative when they innovate, and my guess would be that they've also chosen not to take on the bluetooth + apps route to avoid stretching resources. Designing modular consumer electronics AND software to a standard where it can retail to kids worldwide is not easy. They already have a lot tied up in Mindstorms, and programmable PF blurs the lines. Even with a lot of money thrown at it, projects like that are hard, and the Technic team has to meanwhile turn out a new line every year, with ever more complex flagships.
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How much can a lego train pull? This one is the older RC train, not PF, it's a little heavier due to AA batteries instead of AAA and it has two motors. But it's not near the max load, (as you guessed) the magnets will part before this engine will stall or spin. It's also had the wheels swapped for the ones with the grippiest traction rings, as mentioned above. It is pretty easy to spin out a PF train with single motor though, especially if dumping the controller from zero to max speed.
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Eh, ok, I should wind my neck in. It wasn't intended to be as harsh as it looked. More just a guess at the facts. Lego are *not* going to reintroduce a line of long-dead components. And wtf do large-radius train tracks have to do with 9v, PF, or the technic forum? Anyway, maybe a mod will bin my offending post before we get too far off track?
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The Unimog was probably the most disappointing technic set I've bought. There's nothing wrong with it, but it was super-hyped, hard to live up to that. Things that bug me with it: - too big - poor performance of functions (steering, crane) - not fun to play with - no intricacy, no smart mechanisms or building techniques - failed the child test, my kids ignored it Pros: - physically impressive - introduced multiple great new parts (wheels, torque tubes, portal axles, new compressor pump, pneumatic coupling part) - robust - good suspension performance - good colour scheme
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It's just click-bait. Every outraged AFOL viewing that link increases page impressions by 1, making the site more valuable as an advertising medium. Also http://xkcd.com/386/
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[TC5] Logging Loader
andythenorth replied to Wiseman_2's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Could probably do a decent skidder with this set too. Or too stuck in the same logging theme? -
There have been technic buggies before with tilt steering, they're fun. They usually use quite steep inclination.
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Ok, so looking at the box shot again... The entire track frame is free to rotate about the upper sprocket. I think there's probably a 5.5l axle with stop. I wasn't sure, but thinking again, rotating track frames are essential to keep the tracks on the ground given that the c-frame etc are not horizontal. If the kingpin inclination from vertical is only shallow, rotating track frames might be enough to prevent the tracks presenting horrible angles when steering. Fun guessing game eh?
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[TC5] Logging Loader
andythenorth replied to Wiseman_2's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
These are great The standard B model from that set is nice too -
I spy a a 20t gear in the C-frame on the torque tube. Dunno what that's doing. Or I'm wrong, which is more likely. My money is on the track frames being mounted via 2 3x3 L-shaped thin liftarms, rotating through king-pin axles in the corner of the L , and joined via a gear rack (which is upside down). Weird geometry due to the angled steering kingpins, solved by steering both front and rear. But eh, who knows.
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It has to be accurate to nearest 10cm. More than that is overkill. (Might be trolling you) If you are headed for second child, one thing you definitely need is less stress I actually have the most respect for people who invent compelling models without following a prototype. That's kind of hard, and I've spent hours moving parts a few studs back and forth to try and get something looking like the real version...I didn't feel much sense of fun at the end though I reckon (1) overall proportions - do they capture the essential look of your prototype (2) is the model fun to play with? I would happily compromise scale and proportions for playability.
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Most interesting technic line-up in a while IMO. As long as you like vehicles Good colour choices.
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And every day inflation reduces the value of money...
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So the '5 year old' test (he's actually four-and-a-half, but eh): "Best" - snowplough, instant positive reaction and jumping up and down - demolition set with wrecking ball crane, loader etc. "It's for booming stuff and knocking it down to build something" "Ok" - towtruck "we've got one, but [little brother] keeps breaking it" - SUV with off-roader "it's weird and loads weird trucks" - bulldozer - boat transporter - claw excavator and blue truck "It's just more building stuff, we've got those" (he means the mining stuff we have) - the truck with portaloo - starter demolition set "Don't like" - both the fire and rescue starter sets "Not the best" - all the swamp police He asked some questions about whether they had thieves, who he likes catching, then said he was bored. He liked the half-track truck in 60071, but said we have the hovercraft already so there was no point (we have the standard police one in 4205)
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Kind of wondering how much my impression of these sets is unfairly distorted by... - the low-fidelity renders of the actual box, with missing text - the lack of stickers on some of the models I'm going to give them a 'wishlist' test on a 5-year-old. I'll regret that if he says because they ain't available yet
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Oh wait, that would be fricking awesome. Surprised that hasn't been done before :o
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Maybe the whining about 'everything is yellow' and 'everything is red' has paid off?
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What are these fricking golden years? Can you link the exact years to the 'sets by year' on Brickset? How about 1978? 6 buildings, 22 vehicles (10 of them emergency services) http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Town/year-1978 How about 1992? 13 vehicles, (most of them racing cars), 6 buildings (5 of them pink Paradisa sets) http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Town/year-1992
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Police Police....
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Eh, the off-topic-diversion into 'wtf, more police' always happens so we may as well get it out of the way. It's not that there shouldn't be police, or a digger or the other vanilla stuff. These are good playsets, staples of every Lego range since the year dot (or 1978 http://brickset.com/...-Town/year-1978). But snowplough aside the 2015 1H images I saw didn't have anything standout additional. Construction stuff - fine - but is just mining reprised. The kids will want some police stuff, fine, no problem, loads to choose from. Where's the equivalent of Arctic? Wait for 2H? Or maybe it's just bricks, what does it really matter. Maybe I should go to bed.
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I can count...hmm...3 AFOLs that I've met personally in my whole life (30+ years). Of those one is a well-known hardcore builder in the UK. The other two buy something maybe once a month or so. Something moderately expensive, but not frequent. I can count tens and tens of adults I know who buy Lego for their kids, their nieces, nephews, grandkids, cousins, and birthday presents for their kids' friends. But not for themselves. If you live in the happy little closed AFOL world, full of obsessives pouring most of their disposable income into Lego, it's easy to perceive that as the main group of buyers. It's probably not though, is it, really? Go to ToysRUs / local high street toy shop / whatever and see who's actually buying and who for, or just think about you know...real people...maybe ones you know, beyond people you've met on the internet. Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of police cars and police bikes and helicopters. Where do they all go eh?