Balrog

I don't think that there is too much similarity Seriously, those mining dumpers all look the same

For example?

Don't charge it. Don't use it. Simply get rid of it. I have seen defects like this multiple times. Once it was a Nokia phone that was permanently on charge (in a rescue vehicle), where the battery started to swell and the case of the phone burst. Another time I had a PDA where the replacement battery was swollen after quite some time, gladly no damage, but the case had a bulge. And then there is the famous explosive Apple battery cell which caused the devices to explode, start burning or even burned down houses.

Those boat hulls are all not very expensive. This Police boathull could probably be a little more speedy than the one with side bulges: http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=11&itemID=107615

You are right, they could be counted as Technic. At least I think so. But my list was not that restrictive anyway

You can find the boathulls here: Click While some people have built remote controlled boats with Lego only (Sariel for example) I don't think anyone built something with proper RC components yet. If someone did, you'll probably find something about that on YouTube. Also, I am not a big fan of "mounting" proper RC stuff to Lego. It's just unnecessary complicated. And the available boat hulls are definately NOT suited for speedboats Good luck and let us know what you built

Thanks for the hint. Unfortunately Aachen is too far away :(

While I don't think that "Racers" in general qualify as Model Team, these should be discussed in the "Special Themes" subforum. Specific sets like 8145, 8146, 8167, 8386, 8461, 8649, 8653, 8674, 8682 and those that would in theory qualify as Technic (some slammers, motorcycle things, RCs) could be discussed here to reach the correct audience. But that is just my opinion. The mods will have the last word on that.

I posted my work in progress entry in the entry thread last night. Now, I was just reading the rules again, realizing that it says, that custom decals are allowed. I guess original set decals are allowed as well, because I used some stickered parts. Is this correct?

I got around to build my entry finally. But it is still a little work in progress. I wanted to show it, before anyone else comes up with the idea This is *drumroll* the "'Lord of the Rings' Balrog class Exo Suit". Here is the updated version. The suit features a fiery tech blade, a massive shield and cool jetpack. The pilor (Aragorn) can now easily mow through the dark armies of Mordor and Isengart. Picture quality is a little better this time. More pictures and details are available here: Click

U-joint + CV. You can see the sliding piece on the axle and part of the other half on the right side of the frame.

Thanks

How big are they in comparison to the Unimog tires?

I don't think this makes much of a difference here, since the u-joints have some play as well. Even if you build a driven axle with CV joints and compress the suspension, you'll only see very little travel along the sliding axle. The way you built it produces a wrong geometry for the axle. The u-joint is not in line with the pivot of the hub, thus travelling sideways. I don't think that this will perform very good and could possibly cause problems as well when driving. And you are right about the steering rack. It should be higher to allow "parallel movement" to the wishbones. I didn't think about the double wishbone part. I guess this would be the best method to use the portal hubs for independent suspension.

I was referring to the next machine that Uefchen will build.

Very cool. I can only imagine what Uefchens house looks like with all the Lego machines doing work for you that you can do much faster and easier without them But seriously, I think this is your best machine yet. Just because it seems to work just perfectly fine as it should. Also, the folding works really good. I wonder what comes next!?

Too bad, I was thinking that dokludi went for one of the bigger sets straight away. But its still nice :D I like the compact tracked excavator even more now ;)

I did a quick mockup. Unfortunately, it will not work as I thought. Initially I wanted to reduce the space between the wishbones, but that will not work. Here you have the side view of what I made: This picture shows the U-joints parallel aligned with the wishbones. This allows the driving axle to travel with the wishbones and turn at the pivot of the steering. Here a second pic: In the red circle you see, what I think is a problem. When turning, the black connector touches the wishbone and could possibly pry apart its own pivot point. This is not a big problem, when the suspension is more compressed by default or the angles of the wishbones not so steep. Still, for the portal hubs I suggest using live axles as in the Unimog.

I guess the only real chance to get the pivot of the portal hub closer to the wheel is, when you don't drive this wheel. On the other hand, the portal hub is useless then.

That's a huge truck. I really like how you combined the 5x11 curved panels on the roof to make a continuous bow from vertical to horizontal. Very clever and impressive. Too bad, that red pieces tend to have so visible different shades.

I think he wasn't talking about the frame, but that he may only use parts in colors in LDD which are available for real as well.

I am just honoring the timeplan as it was for the last years

I would have some ideas to optimize the suspension you have there a little, but it would be best to show it to you. I'll see if I can make a mockup when I am at home. But I am not sure if that will perform very good anyway. One problem of the portal hubs is, that the pivot point of the steering is very far from the center of the wheel. Thus you will always have a lot of wheel travel when steering. Another problem your current setup has, is, that the lower connector between wishbone and portal hub is too wide. When the suspension is uncompressed and you try to steer, it will push against the wishbone. This could force the pin connection to fail and go apart. A solution could be to place the wishbone "above" the connector. And one more thing, but I am not too sure about this. If you have the connection to the steering link beyond the pivot point, this will give you inversed Ackerman steering geometry. If this is not correct, someone please correct. But placing the steering rack in front of the axle gives you inversed Ackerman steering anyway. Hm ... negative and negative becomes positive, so this might just work out correct. I am not sure here without trying.

Okay, day 2 after the leak. Where are dokludi's reverse engineered replicas?

I don't think there is a good solution for the portal hubs to be driven and steered in a double wishbone suspension. Use a live axle instead as shown with the unimog. If you want to do it like in the pictures, you need to get the position for tue driving axle parallel to the wishbones. That is the least necessary.