Splat

This is a little trick that works quite well for me and I use quite often: Upload a high-res image to Brickshelf (I usually go for 1600x1200) Get the deeplink URL of the image eg. 'http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg' Replace the double '//' with a single '/' eg. 'http:/www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg' Add 'http://i.tinysrc.mobi/800/600/' in front of the deep link URL eg. http://i.tinysrc.mobi/800/600/http:/www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg' Add the image to the EB forum using the Insert Image option in the toolbar eg. [img=http://i.tinysrc.mobi/800/600/http:/www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg] Add a link around the image that goes to the original deeplink version on Brickshelf eg. [url="http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg"][img=http://i.tinysrc.mobi/800/600/http:/www.brickshelf.com/gallery/slfroden/ForumPic/Reviews/Lesson1/002.jpg][/url] The advantages of this are: You only have to upload one file to the internet TinySRC automatically resizes your picture for you so you don't have to to this yourself You can still link to the original high-res image You stay within the EB Member Guidelines You can also adjust the '/800/600/' part of the URL to resize the image to different sizes. Update: It looks like TinySRC is no longer offering this service anymore

I ended up catching a taxi home - it ended up costing about as much as the shipping from Europe! I'll have to factor that into the cost next time I do a big shipment like this. I built about 2/3 of the Unimog last night, and should finish it off tonight. Fun times

I just got back from my lunch break to find my Amazon.fr package waiting for me at work. It looked like it had some heavy stuff placed on top of it which squashed the outer box and split it open down the side a bit, and there was a big dusty footprint on the outer box, and the only padding was some brown paper scrunched up to fill the gaps. While I haven't had time to check over it thoroughly, it looks like the boxes inside survived unscathed, but I do have a feeling that I have been lucky this time. Now I have 2 x 8110 Unimog U400, 2 x 8109 Flatbed Truck, and 2 x 8258 Crane Truck (I already had one previously). Once again, Amazon comes through with it's quick and cheap shipping (ordered on the 3rd, shipped on the 5th, and in my hands on the 8th of August), but now I have to work out how I'm going to get all of this home on public transport...

I had two delivery options Standard (14 à 17 jours ouvrés) = Standard (14-17 days), and Éclair (2 à 4 jours ouvrés) = Flash (2 to 4 days) I don't know what the price difference between them is (UPDATE: Amazon.fr Shipping Rates are on this page), but I chose the 'Flash' option (partly because it sounded cool, and I like chocolate eclairs, and partly because I want my Unimog NOW! ), and ended up paying EUR 27,50 = AUD 36.59 for shipping. With the Unimog, it also states 'En stock, mais la livraison peut nécessiter jusqu'à 2 jours supplémentaires' which Google translates to 'In Stock Eligible for up to 2 additional days', but I think it actually means 'In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver' (which is a similar message shown on some Amazon.co.uk items). Amazon.fr said it would ship on the 4th, and arrive between the 8th and 10th of August. So that is the 2-4 days Flash delivery, plus the extra 2 days. Last time I ordered from Amazon.co.uk, I got my package very quickly, so I have my fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly...

I didn't try any others (I've spent too much on Lego lately as it is!). It's hard to tell which sets will ship to AU and which ones won't. The only way to be 100% sure is to just add everything to your cart, and then go to the checkout, where it will complain if they can't ship it. One thing that I have noticed is that you have better luck if the set is being shipped from Amazon itself rather than another shop that is just listing it's items on the Amazon website. On the left had side of the Amazon page, after you have done a search (eg. 'lego technic'), you can select the brand as 'Lego', and then the seller as 'Amazon', and you might have better luck. See screenshot here. The price on the site includes tax (VAT?) - once you go through to the checkout and tell it you are shipping to AU the tax gets removed. If you order too much (over AU$1000 I think), when it gets to Australia our Customs will add GST back onto the order, but as long as you don't order too much at once you should be ok. I was thinking the same, and I may actually be going to the US for work in September/October, but then I would have to get it back home somehow too (either re-box and ship it back home via USPS, or carry it on the plane). But since I ordered a few sets at once (8110, 8109, and 8258), this would be quite bulky and inconvenient. The total price from Amazon.fr is about the same as from the US after shipping (well, close enough anyway), and I figured that it would be less hassle to just let Amazon.fr deliver it to AU for me, and Amazon shipping wasn't really that much extra. Let's just hope it doesn't go through the 'pancake machine' on the way

It looks like Amazon.fr is shipping some of the new Technic sets to Australia. I just ordered: 8110 Unimog U400 : EUR 158,78 = AUD 211.29 (RRP probably going to be about AUD 350-400) 8109 Flatbed Truck : EUR 72,07 = AUD 95.90 (RRP probably going to be about AUD 150-200) and an older set from 2009, the 8258 Crane Truck : EUR 108,69 = AUD 144.63 (RRP AUD 299.99) Shipping was EUR 27,50 = AUD 36.59, with estimated delivery between the 8th and 10th of August. It was a bit tiresome translating all the French (thanks Google), but if you use Google Chrome it will translate on-the-fly for you. The shopping cart process is the same as other Amazon sites, and it even remembered my Amazon.co.uk shipping address and CC details so I didn't have to re-enter them. Overall it should be close to a 40-50% saving on AU recommended retail prices, and hopefully this is the last round of sets that I'll be buying this year, but I can't make any promises! I'll post an update once I have the goods in hand...

Big W have a 'Cyber Sale' at the moment. Not much on sale there apart from those mentioned above, but there are a few Pirates of the Caribbean sets at a few dollers off, and free shipping if ordered by the 29th of July. Just follow the big red banner on their homepage to find the bargains, or use this link.

I went past Target Melbourne Bourke Street on Friday - sorry, no Tripods or Strikers left there. They had all the other Alien Conquest sets though.

Hi DLuders, thanks for posting my video. 'slfroden' is my other nickname on the internet when 'Splat' is already taken. I'm still trying to work out the best way to put together a 4 speed gearbox with 2 outputs (as detailed in this post). Any help would be appreciated...

I was at Target in Melbourne Bourke St this morning. There was maybe about 20 people waiting in line, but only a handful ended up in the Lego isles. I picked up a few 5893 Creator Off-Road Power sets for parts. The RRP for this set is AU$139.99, but Target has had them at about AU$50 for a while, and with 20% off Lego, that worked out to AU$39.89 each. Not bad for 1061 pieces. There was also another guy who had the same idea as me and picked up a few of these sets too. I also got some 628 X-Large Baseplate Grey (AU$12.79 each) and the 7051 Alien Conquest Tripod Invader (AU$27.00). Unfortunately they didn't have any of the small 7049 Alien Conquest Alien Striker sets in stock (it looks like they sold out before the sale even started), and I haven't seen the 853301 Alien Conquest Battle Pack around anywhere yet.

I love this movie... one of my favourites. Great work on the minifigs, they look just like the movie posters, even down to the stripes on the Hockney's jacket sleeve (far left) The only (small) criticism that I could make is that Verbal has too much hair!

Hi Erik. Thanks for your question. The middle axle is so long between supports, and when there is lots of resistance in the drive-train (like when the tank is going up-hill), it is likely to bend a little bit with the amount of torque from 2 XL Motors. This will cause the gears to start jumping, and the teeth will grind down. The reason that I used the 16T clutch gears is so that the 20T gear on the middle axle is held in place by gears on both sides, which should help to hold the middle axle in place and stop the teeth from jumping and grinding quite so much. They have no function apart from that, so you could replace them by bushes, but then the middle axle might bend. I hope that explanation helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hi all, I've recently come out of my Lego dark-ages, and have collected a few Lego sets (mostly Technic), but now I want to design and build my own creation (MOC). I want to build a tank, driven by 2 XL motors (joined by a differential), and a 3rd XL motor used as a subtractor to control the steering. I also want to include a gearbox with the following specs: 4 speeds: - 3 speeds send power to the same output which goes on to rotate the tank treads. - the 4th speed outputs to a second drive-train, to control a winch (while the tank treads can rotate freely). Gear selection should be able to be made with one M Motor (via a linear actuator or similar). Gear selection should be able to be made on the fly, without having to stop driving between gears. To do this I have to be careful about the spacing between the gears to avoid binding. As the tank is driven by 2 XL Motors, the gearbox needs to be robust enough to handle the torque involved. I want the gearbox to be as compact as possible, but I understand that these things do take room. I have the 8865 Test Car, so I started by basing my gearbox off that. The problem with that design is that all the gears in that set have square edges (double bevel gears weren't available in 1988), so it can be a bit hard at times to mesh the gears properly when changing them. Therefore I wanted to use bevel gears, or a combination of bevel and square edge gears that mesh a lot easier when changing gears. I have also taken a lot of inspiration from Sariel's tanks and gearbox designs. Thanks Sariel I have come up with two different gearbox designs that I like so far (the M Motor and wheel in the pics below is just to represent the input and output axles): Design #1: This design uses only 20T, 16T, and 16T with clutch gears. All the gears are spaced out a bit to prevent the gears from binding, and these spacers would be replaced with liftarms and attached to the chassis to stop the axles from bending. Third gear - 20:16 > 20:16 = 0.64:1 Note that the 16T with clutch is only there to help hold the gears in place to prevent them from jumping under high resistance situations. Second gear - 20:16 > 16:20 = 1:1 First gear - 16:20 > 16:20 = 1.5625:1 Again, the 16T with clutch is only there to help hold the gears in place to prevent thm from jumping under high resistance situations. Winch - 16:20 > 20:16 > 16:16 = 1:1 The gearing to the winch can then be altered later, probably with a worm gear. Design #2: This design uses a greater variety of gears, including a 24T clutch gear, but I'm not sure it this is the best position to use it though. Third gear - 12:24 > 24:12 = 1:1 Note that the 24T clutch is only acting as a idler gear here. It won't slip as both 12T gears are meshing with the outside of the 24T clutch gear. Second gear - 12:24 > 20:16 = 1.6:1 First gear - 12:24 > 12:24 = 4:1 Winch - 12:24 > 20:16 > 16:16 = 1.6:1 The gearing to the winch can then be altered later, probably with a worm gear. Pros and cons: Both of these designs can be controlled by a single M Motor and linear actuator. The second design is quite smooth when changing gears, but the gears aren't as supported as in the first design, so they might jump under high resistance situations, although I'm hoping that the 24T with clutch will help here. Both design are 10 studs long (excluding the chassis), but the central axle needs to be about 16 studs long (two axles joined together), and they need to slide +/- 4 or 5 studs either way, which takes up a lot of room. Which design do you think is better? Can you think of a better design that fulfils the specs above? It doesn't have to be a linear gearbox, but I want the gear changes to be controlled by a single M Motor. Is there some cool gearbox design that you think might work that I haven't come across yet? Is that the best placement of the 24T with clutch within the second design? I could never really work out where to put the 24T clutch gear for optimal performance. Should I remove it completely and replace it with a standard 24T gear? As the gearbox will be buried deep within my MOC, any help in getting this right is appreciated. Thanks. My Brickshelf folder with larger images.

Over on the Whirlpool forums it looks like quite a few Aussies have cancelled their order for the 8043 Excavator from TheHut, and have got them from Amazon.co.uk instead (including me). There was also a post saying that TheHut was expecting their shipment of 8043's on the 14th of July, so if you still have your order with them you might get your shipment soon. For me, waiting 3 months since I placed the order with The Hut is a bit much, especially when their website originally stated that they would be shipped within 3 days. And then I'm sure the shipping will take another few weeks too. Amazon had the shipment delivered to me in less than 4 days. I haven't checked this out yet (I can't read French), but there are reports that Amazon.fr will ship some Lego sets to Australia too.

Thanks for the review efferman This is looking a lot better than I originally though it would, and seems to have quite a few more mechanisms than the 8052 Container Truck. I think that I'll probably have to get two of these, as the B-Model looks interesting, and I want all of those black panels!

Sorry, my bad. You are correct. Brickset lists it as 'Fork-lift' rather than 'Forklift' (without the hyphen), so I missed it in my searching. Plus it isn't yellow! It would still be good to have a fully RC forklift though! Edit: I have corrected my original post

Nice work Locutis I bought the Lego Farnsworth House set recently, and my first thought was the same as yours - "redesign it for minifig scale". Given that it was just designed as a weekend retreat, it isn't a huge house, so it works well at minifig scale, and doesn't end up too large. Some things that you might want to pay attention to: The thinner roof supports definitely look more realistic. One thing to note is that roof isn't completely flat - it drains water down towards the middle (link a sink), but this angle is probably negligible at this scale. There is a air conditioner unit on the roof, above the 'utility core'. Most photos are taken from ground level, so the top of the roof is normally obscured (which is why it was designed this way). There are very few photos that show the top of the roof of this house, but you can sort of see the air conditioner unit in this photo: There is supposed to be a utility pipe that goes under the house from the 'utility core' to the ground (which was not in the official Lego model either). In the above photo, you can see it as a thicker black pipe under the house in addition to the other supports. Again, this has been designed to 'disappear' so the house looks like it is floating. The house is 5 feet 3 inches (1.6m) off the ground, so a minifig should almost be able to walk underneath it. I think yours looks pretty close The stairs should be 'floating' - in your design there is a solid support under the bottom stairs that shouldn't be there. At the moment you have two supports between the deck and the house - one that supports the deck, and one that supports the house. There should only be a single support going all the way up. As you mentioned, the windows do look a bit short, but that might just be an optical illusion. How are you designing the doors? When designing some of the interior details, you could get some inspiration from this Flickr set by Brixe63 I also came across this Lego version of the Farnsworth House too: I'll be following your progress on this...

In the past we have had: A mini telehandler and a larger one (not a flagship, but still larger) A mini mobile crane and some larger ones [ 1 , 2 ] A mini bulldozer and a larger one A mini excavator (B-Model) and a larger one And a mini forklift, but we haven't had a large forklift since 2001, and that one only had 235 pieces set 8416 in 2005 (729 pieces). ??? I think it's time that we had a large fully RC forklift That shouldn't be too hard to achieve with the current PF components. I'd be happy if it was all PF with linear actuators, although I wouldn't complain if it had pneumatics and a compressor, and possibly an air tank too. It would have to have a two or three section telescoping lift, and It would be good if it had some mechanum wheels/omniwheels/vector wheels too, like these: Oh, and perhaps a different colour... Edit: fixed error as pointed out by JunkstyleGio

If you are in the CBD, there there are Myer, Taget, and Big W all within a few minutes walk of each other (map). Out of these three, Myer has the biggest range, followed by Target, and then Big W. There is also a David Jones next to Myer, but I'm not sure if they have a toy department or not. These are all Australia-wide stores, so they will have the same deals as everywhere else respectively. Myer currently has 20% off Lego, Target sale doesn't start until July 21st, and Big W currently has a sale, but only selected items. If you go out to the suburbs, then you can also find a Toys'R'Us, K-Mart, and Toyworld stores. Not sure if there are any independents left at all...? There is also a Lego exhibition on at Federation Square (Art of the Brick), although from all reports it is aimed at a younger audience. They do have a small shop (free to get in to), although all prices seem to be RRP. This page has an overview of current Lego sales too.

Woohoo, my amazon shipment was delivered today at midday Here are some pics of how it was packed: The outer box was in good condition... ...a tiny bit squashed, but not much, and I've seen much much worse! There wasn't much padding inside... ...but the Lego boxes were in perfect condition This was my first time ordering from Amazon.co.uk, so I don't know if this fast shipment is normal or not (four days from the UK to Melbourne, and this was over the weekend too). The goods arrived and in excellent condition, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more good deals from Amazon.co.uk in the future...

Well I'm about to finish work, and haven't received my Amazon shipment yet Hopefully it'll show up tomorrow... 4 July 2011 01:41:00 PM Melbourne AU ____________ Completed customs clearance process 4 July 2011 08:44:00 AM Melbourne AU ____________ Arrival Scan 4 July 2011 07:24:00 AM Melbourne AU ____________ Completed customs clearance process 4 July 2011 07:24:00 AM Melbourne AU ____________ Initiated customs clearance process 4 July 2011 07:24:00 AM Melbourne AU ____________ Completed customs clearance process 2 July 2011 02:00:00 PM Feltham GB ______________ Departure Scan 2 July 2011 08:49:00 AM Feltham GB ______________ Arrival Scan 2 July 2011 05:25:00 AM East Midlands Airpor GB _ Departure Scan 1 July 2011 09:40:00 PM East Midlands Airpor GB _ Arrival Scan 1 July 2011 06:15:00 PM Swansea GB ______________ Departure Scan 1 July 2011 04:42:00 PM Swansea GB ______________ Shipment received by carrier 1 July 2011 12:17:51 PM GB ______________________ Order has been handed over to the carrier and is in transit It seems to have cleared customs three times now! technicmad and The Darkness, it looks like mine might have been ordered just a bit earlier than yours and got on an earlier flight. Yours shouldn't be too far behind though...

Even though amazon.co.uk said that the estimated delivery date was the 12th of July for my 2 x 8043 Excavators, the tracking on their website says that it has already arrived in Melbourne and cleared customs. I'm getting it delivered to work in the Melbourne CBD, so hopefully I'll get it later today or tomorrow. I placed the order on Friday, and should be getting in on Monday/Tuesday - that's pretty good since other items from the UK (TheHut) have taken weeks in the past. Let's just hope Amazon packed it well...

Thanks for the heads up on the 8043 Technic Excavator at amazon.co.uk - I just placed an order for two of them - total AU$382.59 - estimated delivery 9th-12th of July. I was going to order some other stuff, but everything else I was interested in seems to come from other sellers (ie. not Amazon themselves). I still have my order for two more 8043's at TheHut ('Awaiting Stock Pick'), but given that I placed that order on the 14th of April, I'm not convinced that I will receive them any time soon. As soon as the Amazon order comes though (fingers crossed) I will cancel the order from TheHut. I really need the treads, linear actuators, motors, and IR receivers for a MOC I'm trying to make... If the Amazon order falls through, I might have to resort to just buying them locally from Myer at $279 each (ouch).

This little guy definitely has character Great work, and great vid too. I'd be interested to see how you get him to go in the direction that he is looking...

I was at Northland (Vic) today: K-mart had the new shuttle. TRU had last year's 'Limited Edition' 8041 Technic Race Truck, and this year's new 'Limited Edition' 8081 Technic Extreme Cruiser at RRP (AU$99.95)