Gee

Looks pretty cool. I like the way you've got the steering working.

Man, that just makes me cry! The sight of of all those lovely Technic boxes stacked up is pure geek porn! Out of interest, what's the set number for the articulated lorry in the box at the top of the last pic? I couldn't quite make it out and I'm sure I've not seen that one before.

Now that would be something to behold! You could generate some wicked spin, much more than a person with a bat could put on a ball!

The vast majority of actual tanks (as opposed to tracked armoured vehicles that poeple mistake for tanks) are driven from the rear. I'm pretty sure that driving the track from the rear gives better traction, something to do with the drive wheel only having a short distance of "slack" track (the bit between the drive wheel and the floor) to pull. If it was front driven it would be pulling "slack" track the entire length of the vehicle. Crap explanation, but then again, I'm no engineer. In the words of Oddball "I just ride 'em, I don't know what makes 'em work".

Urban camo! Cool! And STUDS!!!! Hahaha! This has got the look. I doubt you could get it to look so mean if you used studless panels, it'd be too smooth. Having been in the military I can tell you that tanks and APCs are very rarely smooth. A lot of the bodywork is painted in non-slip paint as it'll be walked all over. OK, so the studs are out of scale for that, but they give a certain "hardened" look, which suits military vehicles perfectly! Top stuff!

Also, the panels either side of the grill on the first 2 images are contrasting, but in the final image they're the same colour.

Awesome! I used to play a lot of table tennis as a kid! Perhaps the next iteration can be made to oscillate between backhand and forehand sides of the table?

What a beast! Can't wait to see this in action!

Incredible. When I got back into LEGO I just couldn't believe the value of my old sets. I'm looking forward to getting hold of my balls (oo err!) and kocking up some GBC modules.

That's some setup you've got there!

Can't believe how expensive the balls are, but hey, it's only money and you can't take it with you. Besides, like my Mrs says, LEGO is an investment as well as a toy!

Cheers fellas! I'm probably being a little impatient here. On the flip side, I just ordered 33 GBC balls off BL!

STUDS!!! Love it!

LegoGBC's playlist on YT is a fab for sitting transfixed infront of your computer for hours at a time! I'm absolutely fascinated by these GBCs. They epitomize what LEGO is all about for me - function over form, creative freedom and clever and intuitive mechanics. Since I struggle to build vehicles and don't really have much interest in cars outside of LEGO (don't own a car), GBC is probably the way I'll go. I have a small stock of parts, but my question is do GBCers buy sets to boost their parts or do they buy job lots of random bricks etc on eBay? Obviously specific parts can be bought individually, but it strikes me that this is less necessary than if you are building a specific vehicle that needs certain parts.

My favourite set of all time is 8868. It's the one set that remains built and I can't bring myself to tear apart. For me, it's got it all: - Masses of functionality. - Pneumatics (inc. compressor!). - Challenging build. - Great looks (I prefer the looks of this studded truck to the current crop of studless trucks, just looks more LEGO to me [not trolling or lookin' for a discussion on the merits of one vs t'other - just my opinion]). I don't really have a second favourite set, I've not got enough sets really. I do have the test car from back in the day too, but despite all it's cutting edge-ness I'm still a bit underwhelmed by it. One thing that annoys me is the gear crunching in the 2 lower gears that I can't identify. I wonder if any of these "flagship" sets that are being produced now will become people's favourites in 20 years time. Do they have the lasting appeal of the older sets? I can't help but think not, but I'd happily be proved wrong.

Had another go at making a simple RC car last night (I don't drink, so New Year was seen in whilst playing with LEGO and watching crap on TV). I'm fast getting the idea that I'm just not a very good vehicle builder. I just can't get my head around how steering should work, how drive should be transmitted and suspension is a massive step too far. OK, so I have been building for a short time and studless is very new to me, but I'm pretty good with studded and I learn very quickly so this is leaving me pretty frustrated. Anyone else have the same issues? How'd you overcome it? How steep is the learning curve? Oh, and Happy New Year to y'all!

That's neat! Great to see something different!

My plans are pretty modest - get to grips with Technic again after my dark age and make a crawler and a GBC module.

Fantastic! To echo the above sentiments - this is what I call Technic! So nice to see this sort of thing in a Technic world awash with crawlers and vehicles (not that that is necessarily a bad thing). Wouldn't it be great if LEGO made some sets that were actually useful machines such as this. Great stuff Nico!

That may be true, but I'm a straightforward kinda guy! LOL!

The studded kits these days seem to concentrate a lot more on the aesthetics so the models look more appealing. It's kind like digital vs analogue. A great illustration of this is the contrast between 8868 and the current logging truck. The functions are pretty much the same, but they look very different. I prefer 8868 to be honest. I got one of the pull back racers for my lad for Xmas and despite it not being abused the front 12 stud long axle has bent already. This illustrates what I was saying about the difference between old vs new parts and the idea that the new parts are less robust.

Great model, but that thing in real life looks absolutely bloody terrifying!!!

It's the bushes and 8t gears that I am thinking about. Also the friction pins from way back seem tighter than the new stuff too. Odd considering that all my old stuff has been stripped and rebuilt many times, but the new stuff has only been rebuilt once. Perhaps it's just me. Yeah, less LEGO-y is a good way to put it!

Perhaps it's just me. I'm not in any way criticising the quality. LEGO is one of the highest quality toys you can buy, I'm of no doubt over that. Can't quite get across what I mean. It's just the feel of the parts in the hand. The newer stuff just doesn't seem as robust. Perhaps it's because it weighs less.

I'm in the same boat Cave Dweller (coming back to it and finding it's all different). I just bought a couple of little sets and the studless building system is a lot less intuitive. It's almost as if you have to think in 3D as opposed to 2D. As for why LEGO did it, I echo the above sentiments; cost was probably one of the main motivators but also a desire for the models to look more "realistic". I personally see this as a downside, to me it looks less like LEGO and more like any other generic plastic toy. LEGO for me is studs and the challenge was making realistic looking models within these constraints. The other thing is that there is an ever expanding amount of special pieces; whereas years ago you had to use generic pieces in innovative ways to come up with something like a loader bucket or a crane hook, these days you don't. I don't know whether or not it's just me, but I also feel that the quality of the pieces has dropped, the plastic that they are made of now seems to be more flimsy if that makes sense. The gears, bushes and axles also seem to have a "looser" feel. Of course, this is the age of technology, screens and computers and so LEGO have had to move in these directions to compete. Luckily there is a plethora of places to get just about whatever set or pieces you want. For me, I'm going to try and combine the 2 eras. The fun is in the build no matter what! Oh, and if you love Technic for the mechanics and aren't that fussed by vehicles there's always GBCs (Great Ball Contraption)!!!