Gee

Roger. Also seems to me that it has a slight tilt toward the front due to the different type of tyres. This can't help with traction either.

Been doing some thinking on the subject of off-road ability and chassis. Is there any real need, other than for the sake of realism and technical demonstration, to have (elaborate) suspension on a Technic off-roader? There are only 3 reasons to have suspension that I can see - 1, passenger comfort, 2, to keep all wheels in contact with the ground and (to a lesser degree) 3, to protect the actual parts from shocks. Clearly a Technic model doesn't need to worry about passenger comfort and a very simple pendular system, like that in Sariel's book or on Jennifer Clark's web page, takes care of keeping the wheels on the ground. As for 3, I'd say that any of the balloon tyres have sufficient bounce to protect the structure from hard shocks. So why bother with all suspension gubbins etc if the goal is purely performance? It's very rare that a Technic suspension system is correctly sprung for the weight and works exactly as intended anyway.

Nice MOC. My only thoughts are: are those mini-LAs going to be beefy enough to raise the bucket when it's weighted down with "stuff"?

Nice review. Is the model noticeably faster with the 2 motors than the models with single motors?

That ain't no monster, it's a BEHEMOTH! Lookin' forward to some more videos of it's capabilities. Awesome stuff.

Awesome!

Hey Nic, if you build it, they will come! I wonder if TLG would produce one Technic set a year specifically for AFOLs. AFOLs spend a lot of cash on LEGO and show unswerving dedication to the brand, normally for a lot longer than the kid stage lasts, so one set as a way of acknowledging this ongoing support wouldn't be too much to ask.

I'm interested in building a simple chassis with transverse pendular suspension. I thought about using the mini turntable for the pivot. Do you think it would be better to have the pendular suspension on the front or rear axle? Or even in the centre of the chassis? And why? NB - it'll be unsprung.

Drift trike! Love it!

Excellent! These are the kinds of PF vehicles that I am striving to make. Very good performance too.

Thanks Horace!

Anyone got any idea of the actual percentage of purchases that AFOLs account for?

Ah, I get ya. Makes perfect sense! Thanks man.

I'll be keeping tabs on this! I love railways but am a Technic fan, this blends the 2 and in a cliff railway! Awesome stuff, good luck with it!

Yeah, I know the 4L UJs don't quite work. I've got a load of 3L ones on order from BL! Thanks for the tips on the beams. Don't know why but I naturally wanted to build with the holes vertical. I take it it's better with them horizontal then?

Hi Alex, thanks for the kind words! I'm getting there slowly I think. I've made a BL order today for some parts to make a tracked vehicle using Sariel's subtractor gearing. Looking forward to that one. Track will be easier than wheels anyway!

I must admit that this is something that has interested me since I've come back to Technic. I don't remember any colour discrepancies in the old 80s and early 90s sets that I had as a kid, but the new ones, especially the yellows as has been pointed out, do have. I guess it comes down to this: Affordability, High Quality, European Production. Pick 2, because you can't have all 3 at once.

That's immense!

Daft question, but by 2H do they mean second half of the year (as in June release) or just that it's the 2nd half of the 2014 sets?

Here's this weekend's attempts. Firstly I made a pseudo monster truck. Very simple chassis. This drove well enough and wheelied to when going from reverse to forward! Not much to say about this one, it worked well enough, but I feel it could have been better. I found that I was stacking the liftarms on top of each other and struggled to get any perpendicular bracing in. Secondly, I made this "rock crawler". I put it in inverted commas as it's pretty crap and didn't really crawl over any rocks! Problems with this one were as follows: - The steering didn't work as I wanted (aside from the motor continuing to work when I'd released the remote). The linkages were weak and sheared apart and I needed more reduction on the gearing to get a more controllable feel. Also, when steering, the whole vehicle moved from one side to another. - The suspension didn't work as it should. I found it really hard to get it sitting nicely and it was a constant compromise of being too stiff or flopping around. The angles also mean that the steering gear digs into the ground! - I didn't have enough parts to create portals on all hubs and so had to do the gear reduction in the centre of the rear axle rather than at the hubs. Noticeable when try to climb obstacles. - There is not a lot in the way of rigidity. I'm constrained by the small amount of studless parts that I have and so it's all kinda stitched together out of smaller bits. Your thoughts as always welcome. I have enjoyed making these, but I'm finding it pretty unsatisfying overall (the Mrs is getting racked off at me sat playing LEGO all weekend too when I should be doing other things - hey ho!).

Nice to see 8880 next to 8865. I've never owned 8880 but have had 8865 since I was a lad. Seems your kids like to do what mine do - wait 'til I've finished building and then play with the finished product! Sometimes I don't even get a look in!

Interesting. Those outputs from the diff wold have to be well braced though to avoid any unwanted bending.

Second studless MOC?! That's awesome!

Can't wait to see this in action!

You are right, 'tis indeed!