Splat

At the bottom right of the page, there is a link called 'In strijd met de regels' which translates to English as 'In contrary to the rules'. When you click on that, a pop up box appears. The first option is (in English) 'Prohibited or suspicious object or service'. The last option is 'Other reason' and you can fill in the reason, such as 'copyright infringement' or similar. I have also reported him for you too.

The geometry of the steering is great, and I agree that it is an ingenious use of the space available, but what I don't like about it is that when you press the two pneumatic pumps in the cab, a lot of force is transferred to the front of the vehicle, and the steering arms and surrounding chassis feel like they are working themselves loose. The front wheels are only held on with axle-pins, and those axle-pins also take a lot of the force applied. I'd have to disagree about the 'sloppiness' of the link-arms though. It's not as bad as some other sets, but I can hold one wheel and move the opposite wheel about 15-20° either way. When playing with it it is mostly unnoticeable, but it's still there. As I mentioned above, 8455 is my favourite pneumatic set, and one of my favourite Technic sets overall, but the steering just lets it down a little bit and stops it from getting top marks in my opinion.

It looks like Amazon.it will ship the 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper to Australia now, but the shipping is a bit expensive! List price: EUR 98,89 Price at checkout: EUR 98,89 (it doesn’t seem to take off tax at all...?) Shipping costs: EUR 68,83 (yes, shipping is 69.6% of the item cost!) Total: EUR 167,72 (about AU$207.82) The price from Lego AU S@H would be AU$169.99 + AU$35 for shipping (total: AU$204.99). So it is cheaper to get it from Lego AU S@H rather than Amazon.it at the moment!

There are 16 reviews of various quality over at Brickset (link), and overall it has been rated 4.8 out of 5. I received this set as a birthday present when it first came out (I was still in my dark ages at the time). When it was released, it was the largest Technic set (# of pieces), and is still the second largest Technic set today (only the 8110 Unimog has more pieces). It has pneumatics, a powerful RC motor and battery box, differential, 2 x 24 tooth clutch gears, worm gears, driving ring and changeover catch, and a total of 53 various gears (if I counted correctly). It has 6 wheel steering which is nice and smooth, the boom has three sections, there is a V6 engine, stabilisers (which don't actually lift the crane off the ground, but do lock in place), the chassis is quite solid, and generally looks good from every angle. It was also a good mix of studded and studless building. Basically, it had most of the mechanisms that were available at the time, all in one set. There are a few things that I think could have been better though. As mentioned above, the crane can't lift too much weight, and when lowering the boom it tends to fall quite quickly if you're not careful. If you keep the boom up, over time it will slowly fall, but this is more a comment on the pneumatic system rather than the design of this set, although the heavy boom probably doesn't help here. The rotation of the crane is done manually (no gears involved), but it would have been nice if this had some mechanism behind it. I guess the only other think that this set could have included is a pneumatic compressor rather than a manual pump, but I don't think this set really needs it. Overall, 8421 is still one of my favourite Technic sets. 8455 would have to be my favourite pneumatic set of all time. The only thing that bothered me with that set is the front steering. All the pneumatic functions are great though.

I had another go at bag building (my previous bag build here). This time I bag built the 4433 Dirt Bike Transporter set. The set comes in two bags, and each one also has a sub-bag within. The first bag contains the 4x4 and the driver (I have him/her sitting in the driver's seat), and the second bag contains the trailer, two dirt bikes, and the mechanic. The bags were quite large so the build wasn't too difficult; the hardest part was keeping the dirt bikes in place on the trailer and getting the drawers in their frame (also on the trailer). I didn't apply the stickers as I couldn't put them on without opening the bags (and I don't usually apply stickers anyway). It also looks like I have the black/white helmets on the trailer on the wrong way compared to the picture on the box, but the steps inside the instruction booklet have them the same way that I have placed them I also bought the 10230 Mini Modulars set, and I was going to give bag building another try, but I didn't have the patience to put all of those 1x1 plates together inside a bag

If you are just trying to imitate the folded hose, perhaps you could use some of these to create a façade: Brick, Modified 1 x 2 Log

I just wanted to give you an update... I received my package from TheHut today! That only took 25 days (not the 7-14 days that they said it should). Actually that's not too bad considering that the shipping from the UK to Australia only cost GBP 1.98, and I wasn't expecting the package to arrive on time anyway (I've ordered from TheHut before, so I knew what to expect). The package came in a plastic weave bag (similar material to a cheap plastic tarpaulin), which kept the moisture out... well mostly anyway - the brown box was still a bit damp. The brown box was also very squashed, but there was a reasonable amount of those big air bubble things inside. Unfortunately they didn't work, and one of the Lego boxes was a bit squashed. The other Lego box was mostly ok, but still slightly squashed too. Luckily I bought these to open and build, not to resell, so I'm not too concerned with the condition of the boxes. Now I have this set before it's release date in Australia and at a fraction of the cost of the Australian RRP (worked out to be AU$42.88 each, which includes shipping, and credit card fees - Australian RRP should be AU$69.99 - a saving of 38.7%). Edit: fixed typo.

To get a basic understanding of what pneumatics can do, I'd suggest reading Blakbird's Technicopedia, specifically the pages for the following universal sets: 8044 Pneumatic Universal Building Set (1989) 8042 Pneumatic Universal Building Set (1993) These are fairly old sets, but helped introduce pneumatics at the time, and will give a good idea of how pneumatics can be used. Then you might want to check out some of the other Technic sets that have pneumatics to see how they are implemented (link). The most recent set to include pneumatics is the 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 400 from 2011, which uses a combination of a motor to drive a pneumatic compressor, and then some pneumatic cylinders to drive the crane arm on the back of the truck: Of course you should also check out the other fantastic MOCs that other people have made. Search in this forum, on BrickShelf, MOCpages, YouTube, or Google. Side note: It was a pneumatic set that helped bring me out of my dark ages: the 8455 Back-Hoe from 2003. One of the best pneumatic sets IMHO.

As mentioned by Rosco earlier in this thread: So the linear actuators that Zblj mentioned were made in the 17th and 18th weeks of 2011, so they should be the new ones.

I have all 3, but I would get them in this order: 8109 Flatbed Truck - more expensive, but a great set with some interesting mechanisms. 8069 Backhoe Loader - has the new mini linear actuators, but not as good as the pneumatic backhoe loader from 2003 IMHO (set 8455). 8081 Extreme Cruiser - looks good, and is fun to play with and mod, but only a few gears and no advanced mechanisms (just steering, suspension, and a differential to drive the fake engine).

brunojj1 recently uploaded two short videos of his 'LEGO RC Ferrari 458 Italia 1:10 PF'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_BHo0kD3_A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgr5GsdbaGg brunojj1 says: "My brandnew Lego MOC with return - to - center - steering, 2 XL motors for drive, 2 battery boxes and 6 pairs of LED lights. Unfortunately the IR control does not function very well outdoors. But I like this ferrari, especially the asthetical part." brunojj1 has also uploaded 13 images on BrickShelf : www.brickshelf.com/gallery/brunojj1/F458ItaliaV8/ Click to enlarge - I really like the lines in the bodywork It uses a mixture of old and new Technic panels, and a few System bricks to to help round out the front of the bonnet.

Looks great. Perhaps the display stand could be a 'mooring mast'. (Someone had to include that picture!)

You might want to check out Zblj's Ripsaw [link]. It is using more than one motor though: 2 motors are linked for drive, and the steering output of the RC unit applies brakes to one side or the other which transfers power through a differential to the other side and makes it turn. It does demonstrate the 'steer by applying a brake to one track' concept nicely though. Make sure to check out his video on that page @ 0:53 to see the brakes in action.

Thanks for the video Mud It looks like it zips along quite well. It does bounce back and forward a little bit, but I guess that that is just due to the weight distribution and track lengths. I can't wait to see your next build...

Great little MOC I'm not sure that I would add an M-motor just for a fake engine though. I would love to see a video, even if it is just something short to see it zipping around. What are these vehicles typically used for? Is it an alternative to a tractor? Is it made to tow an attachment of some sort (trailer/farm equipment/etc)? OT: I think your photos are looking ok. I don't have a light tent either, but I use tracing paper over my lamps to diffuse the light to get softer shadows and less bright highlights. From looking at the EXIF info in your images, it looks like you are using a Nikon D700, but your aperture is wide open (f/2.0 or f/2.4). If you change this to something like f/8.0 or f/11 you will get more of your Lego in focus, but your shutter speed will slow down so you may need to use a tripod (I would recommend using a tripod anyway). It also looks like you are using Photoshop CS5 - you could try adding a 'Levels' adjustment layer to remove bright and dark areas. If you want help with Lego photography, you can also join the Eurobricks Reviewers Academy. They have photography tutorials and can help you with your set up and photo retouching skills, etc.

I've found that in bright sunlight (where the sun is causing IR interference), I also have the same issue as you - sometimes the motors keep going for a second after I stop pressing the 8885 remote lever. I've also found that this happens if you are pressing the lever on the 8885 remote, but then use your other hand to cover the IR transmitter at the front of the 8885 remote (without letting go of the lever). I've never had this problem inside with direct line-of-sight communication between the remote and receiver though. I don't know anything about the IR signal being sent, but it's almost as if there is a continuous signal being sent from the 8885 remote when the lever is pressed, and a 2nd signal being sent when the lever gets released. If the 2nd signal is received by the receiver then the power stops immediately (indoors). If the 2nd signal isn't received by the receiver (due to interference or loss of line-of-sight communication) then the receiver keeps applying power for a second before stopping. But this is just my amateur interpretation of what is happening...

Great work

Thanks lightningtiger, that's good to know.

I know it's not 2 x 2, but this is the closest thing that I could think of... Part 3709a Brick, Modified 2 x 4 with Top/Side/End Holes

@Brickmania - note that the link lightningtiger provided was to the US Toys'R'Us site, so that is the US price. The US RRP is US$39.99 (link), the AU RRP is AU$89.99 (link). If it is an exclusive in the US, does that mean that it will also be an exclusive in AU? Or do they have different agreements in different countries?

Just to see what I could get away with, I added 2 x 8110 Unimogs and 2 x 8043 Excavators to my Amazon.it cart. They both will ship to Australia, but have quantity limitations of 2 each. Anyway, I got to the last page of ordering, and almost fell off my chair: Articoli (Articles) : EUR 487,38 Costi di spedizione (Shipping costs) : EUR 225,04 <-- Totale IVA esclusa (Total excluding tax) : EUR 712,42 IVA (VAT/tax) : EUR 0,00 Totale ordine (Order Total) : EUR 712,42 The shipping has gone from about EUR 20,00 to EUR 225,04 - that's an additional 46% of the cost of the Articles in this case! *sigh* I guess the cheap shipping at Amazon (.com, .fr, .co.uk, .fr, and now .it) has dried up. It was good while it lasted though... Edit: It should be noted that the Australian RRP for these 4 sets is AU$ 1,359.96, so you would still be saving 35.6% by ordering these via Amazon.it (EUR 712.42 = AU$ 875.01). On another note: I got an email from The Hut stating that my order has been dispatched, and I should get it in 7-14 days. I'll provide another update when my shipment arrives.

Yeah, I'm aware of The Hut's (poor) reputation. I have ordered from them once before, and part of that previous order was the 8043 Technic Excavator, which was listed as able to be shipped within 3 days. I received the rest of the order (except the 8043), but even those took 5 weeks to get to me. After waiting about 10 weeks, the 8043 still hadn't been shipped, so I cancelled that part of the order, and got it from Amazon.fr instead. As I had paid with Credit Card, my card hadn't been charged yet, so I didn't have to try and get a refund or make a PayPal claim. As DrWeevil mentioned, I would also put The Hut and Fishpond in the same category - only order from them if they have something at a price that you can't resist, and you don't mind if they don't deliver (literally). In this case, I'm trying to get a set that I can't get anywhere else at a decent price, and hasn't been released in Australia yet. If The Hut don't pull through, I'll just wait and buy it locally (during a sale of course) or online somewhere else. I'll provide an update when (if?) my order arrives.

As mentioned above, Amazon.fr has the 9394 Technic Jet Plane but wanted to charge EUR 50.36 for it (with VAT, without shipping). This has now dropped to EUR 39.90, but after VAT has been removed and shipping added, it still comes to EUR 57.28 (AU$71.18). I have also found this set at The Hut with 25% off so it comes to GBP 29.99, which equals EUR 35.70. It isn't much cheaper than Amazon.fr, but The Hut only charge GBP 0.99 per item for shipping, so I should get it delivered for GBP 30.98 (AU$45.82), which is cheaper than the Australian RRP when this set gets released in Australia (which should be AU$69.99). That is a saving of 34.5%. For anyone that hasn't dealt with The Hut before: despite the website saying that this item is 'usually dispatched within 24 hours', sometimes they will list items on their website that they don't have in stock, and you either have to wait, or cancel the order (if you pay with credit card, they say they won't charge your card until the items are dispatched). Shipping can also be a bit slow - on my last order with them, I didn't receive the items until 19 days after they were dispatched. Of course the longer the package is in transit, the more likely it is to get squashed. I am willing to accept the risks in this case... fingers crossed though.

Great review fitzi

I'm really liking this. With a bit of refinement and tweaking (as other's have suggested), this could be very useful. Perhaps if the steering rack was brought back one stud and adjusted to give it Ackerman steering, there would be room for another sets of shock absorbers between the wishbone and the steering arms...?