davebarrett

That door is tidy.

Any update on when to expect instructions to be available? It would save my refresh button some work, anyway :)

Pricing is one of more interesting things about running a business. You may or may not consider this a business, but the same thoughts about pricing are probably useful all the same. First of all, look at the net cost of doing this model at all. I'm going to give example values here but you should figure out what works for you. VALUE TO YOU The largest cost is likely to be your time. Keep in mind that you could be doing anything else during this time—you're not able to work on your own MOCs, spend time with your family, watch TV, sleep, drink with friends, or anything else. Try to put a dollar/euro value on this. Instead of thinking "how much should I charge per hour?", think "how much should I charge to not do anything else?". If you find it hard to do this, start throwing out numbers and judge how you feel about them. If someone offered me 0 euro, with no other benefits, to give up an hour of my time to do something for them, I'd tell them to get lost. I'd likely accept for 5000 euro. Find similar numbers yourself, and see how you feel about a mid-point. To continue my example, I'd probably say yes to 2500 too. How about 1250? 500? 20? I've found this sort of thing useful. Let's say this is building (not designing), will take you 5 hours, and you'd be happy with to do so for 20 euro an hour. That's 100 euro. There's also a cost of materials in terms of parts. Estimating the number of parts needed is likely to be difficult, but a ballpark might help you figure this out. 1500 pieces at roughly 10 cent a piece is 150 euro. You also need to consider the benefits of it. Maybe this is a test for further commissions, and that opportunity might have a certain value to you. Maybe you really want to build this particular model regardless. This gets harder to judge, but taking the same dollar/euro value approach you might find that it's worth 50 euro to take on this job. Once you've thought through all the costs and benefits, you add them all together to get your net cost. 100 + 150 - 50 = 200 euro. This is the minimum price you should ever accept for taking on this job. Otherwise, you are making a net loss in some way. You could be spending time with your friends instead of doing this work. Anything above this price is your profit. VALUE TO THEM This is only the floor, though. Your client will have a very similar calculation on their side of things. Perhaps the value, to them, of someone building a model for them is 400 euro. You've saved them a ton of time, and maybe they value their time more than you, or maybe it would take them 4x longer to do. You should aim to price as close to this value as possible. Knowing this value is really, really hard though. EVERYONE WINS... If the value of your effort and the materials is worth 200 euro to you, and the value of someone else building the model is 400 euro to them, and you charge them 300 euro, then you've both extracted 100 euro of value from the transaction. ...OR EVERYONE LOSES Maybe it turns out your net cost is 300 euro, and the value to them is 200 euro. If you charge 250 euro, then both of you lose 50 euro worth of value in the transaction. This is why knowing your net cost is so important. You'll often have very little knowledge on what your client values, but at the very least you can protect yourself from screwing yourself over. Anyway, I hope that helps. Absolutely agree here.

That is great work 896gerard!

This is why you need the rechargeable battery box. Might cut it down just enough.

Very much looking forward to building this. Debit-card at the ready, Paul :)

I meant the yellow ones. LARGE requirement for the original 8043: http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-4558817I've actually got all the pieces for this in white, as original yellow was prohibitive. I'm looking forward to building it.

Uh, I think it is :) You can see it here: http://lego.brickinstructions.com/en/lego_instructions/set/42000/Grand_Prix_Racer

It's in the 42000 too.

Had that exact problem with a bush when taking apart my 8070—exploded as I pulled the axle out.

Certainly easier to get the parts in white than in yellow—those #5 and #6 panels aren't as common as I'd like, and there's 5 each in this (!!!)

Maybe the parts will be available when this is out. Some of the DBG pieces don't seem to exist right now, though :(

So to work around this you might need 1 battery box and 1 receiver per XL motor?

A friend of mine has been singing the praises of Backblaze. Worth a look.

You must get a good deal on replacement tyres so :)

Are those buggy motors still running at 9V?

Finished building this yesterday. I've only followed official Lego instructions before, and it's certainly a very different experience to that. It's also BIG—surprisingly so. It's as long as 42039 but about twice as tall. It felt like the biggest thing I've built. 42009 didn't seem this big (though it's more complicated). Thanks @lipko, great work. Very enjoyable.

@lipko: The piston diagram didn't, but the comment about comment about the engine shaft helped quite a lot. I went through the pistons and pushed everything as tight as possible, and there's no catching. Thanks—this MOC is proving good fun. Very different build than any Lego sets—very, very sturdy chassis too. :)

Has anyone else had issues building the v12 Coupe? http://rebrickable.com/mocs/lipko/red-coupé-v12 The fake engine seems to "catch" while rotating, clicking once every revolution. I've dismantled the engine block and will be reassembling tonight, but does anyone know how to avoid this? (instructions are quite tricky, and the fake engine is pretty awkward to install).

That Arocs is sick, though obviously the back is a little "I HURD YOU LIKE 5x11 FLAT PANELS".

Thanks Alex! Thanks Alex! Downloading now.

I'm having trouble finding the instructions on that page. Plenty of references to there BEING instructions, but can't find them.

Yeah, I think Bricklink might be a lot easier.

Just "end of January"

I'm sure they have low-yield machines for their designers to use. Unikitty's tail probably was available in grey for the designers building the Detective's Office.