Grosse Kind

Well, its here, together and being enjoyed. Not much to quibble about, and i'm working through what bothered me. Have a knob wheel ordered via a friend to add to it and then its pretty well finished. I see what everyone was complaining about with the steering imprecision and might see what i can do but sorted the dummy steering wheel and fiddliness of the battery boxes switch. Bar that its not too bad as it came. Has anyone got better mouse traps as far as the cab wheel fuctioning by any chance? Thanks for your time.

Lovin it! Quite enjoyed the assembly. Good fun to play with. Anyone found anything that subtly improves the set? Maybe an idler in the tracks, etc... Looking forward to your replies as although the sets now 36 years old, its new to me and i'm sure a fair chunk of you lot have had or dealt with it. Ta for your time, glen.

A new to me old set arrived today. Had it in the past and very pleased to have it again. So simple and yet so satisfying. Went together in no time and the seller included instructions in damn good nick, plus, all pieces were there and in good (very) condition. A pleasant shock i must say. Probably nothing special or rare, just thought i'd share how a small set turned me back into a 7 year old for a short interlude, in a crap day. Thanks for your time, glen.

Yep, no dramas. Kumbbl: with the extra intermediate gearing you put in does that not drop second cogs ratio into a supplementary overdrive with first then assuming the revs of what was formerly second, second the old third, and third a massive 4.5 wheel turns to one twirl of the crank? I know it allows all three to be safely utilised but it slows the engine to a somewhat non viable (if we go by a T56 borg warner with a 0.50:1 top gear and run that with say a VE SS commodore and the attendant 3.45 to one diff ratio, we only come back to an overall underdrive from crank to wheel of 1.725:1, and thats a 6 litre V8 Providing the torque vs say a large flat four in our case with perhaps a 3 litre capacity) rate of rotation. The original third is unrealistic already i know, but this makes it really pronounced.

Thankyou sabre. As a bit of a surprise (click video link below): she does actually float! Currently drying off.

I've an air compressor and could blow her down skaah, but realistically she's never seen the inside of a cabinet and is played with too frequently (still, a rolling testbed and in one piece since i got her in 2009) to fret about trivialities as a little/lot of dust. But seem as i'm nothing if not accomodating i'll check her for bouyancy later this eve (i've an odd feeling she's not gonna float real good), in the bathtub, and if she sinks i'll push it back and forth a few times whilst attempting to make underwater "vroom vroom!" noises, and see if it gets any less dirty. Not confident but at least it'll be the first flat four propelled submarine. May need to revise the engine fan blade pitch but. ;) Hi Miguev. It started life as a 12 long axle with an inclusion in its moulding that cracked into two pieces around the 4.5/7.5 region. I filed a standard-like chamfer on the cracked end and have since rough pared down the splining in the middle with a pocket knife to experiment what profile taper and width would slide easily through the friction pins allotted as shift gates but not slip out the opposite way quite so easily. When the ratio of first was still six to one, she displayed a propensity to pop out of gear into a false neutral of sorts, and even in the higher two gears, if you rolled it backward the gear lever would flail the other way and often popped out of gear. What i have since used holds each ratio captive using a broken part i modified slightly rather than dispensing with. I'd never seen corroded lego before till i found some of my 80's stuff also the other month. In places its almost chalky and there's blistering on it but i've never come across axles like yours. I have one that is so twisted that if you follow the spline one end to the other, it has a full 1/4 turn to it plus the aforementioned cracked axle, but generally they've always seemed pretty stable. Might i enquire, in your burial grounds of sacrifices to the lego gods there, i think i can see full width bushes, with toothed ends. Are these common and/or reasonably recent as they're totally new to me. Thanks for your time, glen.

Well, took the plunge and dropped in the 12 and 20 the other day. Comfy with how it all works and put the diff pinion back to the standard 14 tooth. Life is to be a lot easier on the uni's in the swing axles at a minimum, and the gearshift still feels ok. [/url The standard ratio gears and a spare diff pinion up under the front chassis. A habit of mine to keep any supplanted parts on the vehicle itself to allow easy return to standard. My gear detent system, to prevent it jumping out of cog when rolled backward: Slight peeling from a 4 long axle lets it slip into the detent pin traps.

Hi ben. Re routed the tubing( was kinking in one direction ) and its sorted. Thanks fellas.

No stalling, with good useable pressure, but none builds up or flow is provided with the switch in forward dispositioning. Kit was new in box but only just assembled in the past week.

Hi. Is there a reason the compressor only pumps with the battery box switch engaged to the rear of the vehicle? I'm stumped as i thought it'd be omnidirectional. Am learning to take account of it but its irritating. Is it a fault, have i assembled something wrong, or has someone else experienced the same and i'm not goin nuts? A search turned up this but nothing conclusive http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68428&hl=%2Bcompressor+%2Bdirection and i'm aware of the ill feeling on this board to reactivating dormant threads. Thanks for your time, glen.

Thanks. Bei solche untersetzung wird die kurbelwelle auch im zweiten gang drehen weniger als die hinterachse?

Evening neocon. Do you have a non acronymised version please? Unless its an 80's japanese sports-bike with SACS YPVS ATAC YDIS RFVC AETC KIPS or a myriad of other nightmareish economising of sticker vinyl to broadcast things i'm lost.

Thankyou kindly.

Hi. Got this in a spares purchase. Could someone give a hint in the right direction as to what on earth it is? Are the other bits in the pic related or similairly themed perhaps? Thanks for your time.

I've cut things in the past to achieve things that are now achievable with standard pieces that didn't exist at the time. And, i stuck a sixteen tooth gear into a jig i fashioned that made a virtual lathe, and pared down its diameter. Still pretty pleased about that one.

Not quite nick. Was expecting a granada. Paid for a granada. The escort that arrived had no doorhandles.

I stripped the 853 down to base components too john. Sections of it like the bumpers and seats and a bit of the steering were still partly assembled when i unpacked it and i wanted the full build experience from it. Washed it all colour by colour. in a mild detergent and tepid water solution then rinsed and strained it all before carefully drying and laying it all out. Was quite exciting and i had been able to get it pretty well together, very precisely. Lined up all the slots, directionalised all the brick logos, equispaced all the crankthrows and generally put it together like its the last time it'll ever be done. Which it is. I buy only to keep, and though i dabble afterwards, i'm not of the strip and rebuild mindset just yet, meaning only partial teardowns to test or implement any modifications. . If/when the final pieces ever come about, it will be simple enough to fit them, and i'll then consider it built. Though i've started on the alterations front already and am making headway its not done until its complete. Then generally the proper fun starts, with me still making changes on the 8860 that i bought in 2009. As parts or ideas become available over time, little changes here and there are facilitated and thats my thrill fom these things. Have left 9390 alone since it was built but play with it now and then. If a design is fairly sound i leave it be, but far prefer ironing out bugs of designs that while good can be easily better.

Considering altering the crank phasing to achieve a more natural "1 3 4 2" firing order and constructing a third (maybe if adventurous, even a full five) main bearing for it with period parts, and a primitive inlet manifold and carb. Perhaps a fourth stack of fins and attendant blue surrounds to get the pistons protruding less at TDC. Wrappped that the motor/box is a unitary construction meaning i can just detach it whole and modify/tinker with it fully removed. A real luxury compared to 8860 and moreso for any trans alterations on 8880. See how well 8865 is designed overall after it gets here but find the evolutions damn cool. From a first of 9:1, to 6:1, then 4:1 and at the end 2.25, each model shoves less stress on the geartrain as it goes along. Love fettling with them all but. Might eat up hours and hours, but has always felt good to do.

Set seems pretty cool, and am quite happy with the overall design. Theres a few aspects that i've attended to for the general pleasure of it, and a couple more i might institute but it's still early days. Fascinated by the gearbox! If you take the rotation direction of the engine of 8860, and 8880 pre the RHD conversion, then 853 has a 9:1 first gear and a 3:1 reverse. Predates the crap out of 8448 really. Keen to add a little (extra to what i've already done so far) extra bracing on the chassis as a few more pins made a large difference and the front axle seems quite spindly. See how we go i guess. Revised the back end as she kept blowing the pinion support in first. The thing would still have been quite the revelation when new i imagine, just like they all are to me now.

Hi 1974. Wasn't chasing a mint 853, as much as a complete one. I had bid with the high likelihood of it going out of my pricerange and got it. I've contacted the seller to discuss the situation and will not know anything till i hear back. I'm a play with'er, not a glass cabinet'er so was never chasing mint/pristine/perfect, but complete would be nice, even if just once, hahaha. My set collection (classics), bar the one still in transit is now complete, and the other (8110 unimog. Not a classic yet but maybe someday) should leave for here tomorrow so no more evilbay anymore :) Thanks for the suggestions Ole, re denmark. Shall keep it in mind.

I'll happily PM you the lists of missing parts, excuses, blatant nonsense replies, that don't apply to you as after reading this: "I am very much active on both sides of the transaction you are on." I'll just need you to identify which two of the three set purchases in question weren't from you. I really hope you were the english guy as i can't wait to read nonsensical babble as per telling me he must have mixed up two, somewhat different, sets worth of parts when he sent me two types of 8880 steering knuckles (with no towball pins to suit either) and suggested the oddball was probably from 8865. You know, cos 8865 must have had all wheel drive and steering and uses 6540a's too right? (Yes, that i assume you are responsible for any of my predicaments because you are ACTIVE, on THE transaction I am on is tongue in cheek. Your words, even if rewritten, not mine) "Waiting and seeing on ebay: the new hobby best left un-delved." Refers to me being done with buying sets off ebay. So from what i can see, in your mildly condescending tirade, you've simply covered what i'd, and others had already written. Would that be a fair assumption?

Yeah nah. It just gets better and better. The 8110 i bought two weeks ago has not even been packaged up for posting, let alone arrived yet, with zero word from the seller till i asked if it'd been sent. Nothing like a "sincerest apology" after the fact. And its still not likely to arrive any time soon. Will "send tomorrow and advise a tracking number" i'm told but thats still yet to happen so i've only the words of someone without much apparent use of them to go off. Waiting and seeing on ebay: the new hobby best left un-delved.

This is not stating 99%. Am hopeful the seller is reasonable but never confident. Am willing to believe theres a better way, and hoping to find it.

I will eventually learn. Well, i'm hoping so one of these days anyway. Three sets, three strikes. All different sellers, two different countries, two separate decades comprising three separate years and once again, its down to the hope of what i bought being what i paid for in round 2, 3, or however many times it might take the seller to get it right. Or thus far, more realistically, till i lose interest in any likelihood they're capable. Today reinforced the fact that getting it right might just be a pipedream. Trepidation. No apparent cause for concern. Well thats handy. Upon reviewing the ad photos, the big red plate is missing there too, so the seller likely didn't know it is meant to be there and absent. But further along to my joy, theres evidence of kitbashing with the 2 length axles having grooves, 24 teeth gears with only one axle hole, early and late plates, apples that are replaced by a multitude of oranges, and a missing gear. I expected, nee welcomed the small pieces with bite marks and the odd bit of miscolouration, but gettin tired of outright missing parts. I'm now waiting on one final used set purchase to arrive and secretly dreading whats going to actually turn up. The 9390 (new) was well packed, arrived promptly and i will be writing to the seller to offer my congratulations and a reference if they choose to use it. Theres one final used set i'm considering and so far the bricklink sellers i've contacted about it seem interested and helpful so heres hoping. Cross your fingers for me that the final used ebay set purchase thats on its way doesn't also go tits up :)

I'm a big proponent of RHD, and in some cases the dividends are less than obvious. I've driven the odd left hook auto in compact and landbarge format in both recht and links verkehr and i'm not sold on it. Ideally centre seating a-la mclaren F1 feels as it should but that still leaves the control layout question. As with the overwhelming majority of bikes, throttle goes on right so clutch should be left. In a car, the gearshift being on your left as per the modern bike (happy to overlook the english of old, pre square case duc's and much else) just falls to hand well and most of us being right handed are better left (not that left) with our stronger and more precise hand to deal with steering duties in a precision and graduated fashion than just having it waste its skills slapping a lever through a shift quadrant (which though satisfying, and more than a good feel to snick through with the left is an A to B motion, not something requiring that much feel or feedback as the wheel). Hi Mats_o. No she wasn't an oddball for another country with alternate instructions, i just figured as it was such a simple proposition to shove across that i'd do so. The uni's cop a tad more angularity with the seat centred wheel and the steering can feel a bit "flickish" but i have a plan in mind to improve the geometry of the joints once i have my spares collection back home. The odd looking bit in the middle is a black worm drive cog with a pair of axle shafts (a 2 and a 4) in it using it as a joiner because i was short by a 6 axle. I plan to put the unimog to RHD when it arrives too, then i'll probably spend ten frustating years pondering, trying to get the in-cab steering to move with the H.O.G. System as well. Anyone own 8880 here? There are tangible advantages in left to righting it far beyond appearance sakes. Care to hazard what i may be referring to?