DarkShadow73

The 42004 is a great set for the price, however the b model leaves a lot to be desired...the 42006 is a great set too and has an interesting b model.

Very cool MOC indeed...wish I had picked the 4957 Ferris Wheel when it was available and at MSRP...it would go perfectly with this MOC for a carnival scene...

I agree with a couple others, the boom seems way too large for a telehandler with all the fairings and such. Color scheme is different, usually telehandlers are yellow, orange or blue in the USA at least. Nice model though all things taken into consideration. One other thing I thought of too, almost all telehandlers have stabilizers on the front to keep it from tipping or going out of position when lifting. Also, thought of what DLuders said about the other telehandlers that TLG has released. The 8295 could have been much better, the steering setup is impossible and IMO it is too wide. I actually built my 8295 into the b model Log Loader, it is much better looking model. A few weeks ago, somebody made a blue telehandler that was really excellent, made out of just the parts from the 8052 Container Truck. My only beef was the rim and tire sizes, I plan to build that model but put on taller tires, and if it works larger rims, much like the ones on the 8295, or possibly even the standard rim/wheel combos on, say the 9397 for an example.

Excellent set IMO, it is styled after an American tow truck with the snout nose styling. Many good features, only thing is exchanging a pin on the wheel lift on the back so it can swivel left or right. I saved the info that somebody brought to the attention of the group in a topic long ago, but I don't quite know how to attach it, but really all you were asking if it is a good set and it is definitely. The b model is, well different, but not a bad alternate model either. If you are interested in it, I'd get it soon as these sets seem to retire faster, thus an upcharge, right now it is going for $69.97. My local TRU stores have it in stock and TRU online gives you the Lego MSRP right now and Lego S@H has it also.

I spend way too much... I, too, have gotten inspiration from this forum on creating MOCs and have 2 finished and 3 in the works, but don't know how to post pics here. I don't think cell phone pics would work...spent way too much this past year on Technic, most to sell in the future, but even though I skipped the 9398, TRU, Amazon and S@H are too tempting...gotta remove them from my Favorites so I don't get too nuts, I'm out of cash...but bought a lot of vintage sets from the late 80's and 90's at, of course, way too much...

@Blakbird - I, too, was a Lugnet regular back in those days with the small pics and sometimes I got burned, sometimes pleasantly surprised. Once you open a set its yours, for better or worse. Lugnet hasn't been maintained the way it used to be. I tend to go with Brickset now to get large images and reviews, and for the most part reviews of sets here on EB to make my choices on a tight budget. The newest medium set, 42006 Excavator, didn't get high reviews, which surprised me, but I've got it now, and it looks great on the box, guess we'll see. I think it was one of those sets that TLG released without thought to a few things like the open back end. At least the 8043 enclosed it as well as the 8294(kind of along the same scale)

I agree on the 8063 being the all-time worst. The tractor is just rehash of the 8284's Tractor just with newer style fairings, I do like the color scheme better, but that trailer, blah...on the upside I modified the trailer as a flatbed and moved the LA, added some ramps for hauling construction vehicles, and put a trailer hitch on one of my 8436's, so all wasn't for naught anyway...the 8041 Race Truck wasn't much better, but it gave me a lot of black panels and 15L black beams to create other things though...as far as others, well I agree with others 2001 and 2002 were ugly years for Technic(besides the 8466), I don't think they knew what to do next, then the 8455 came out and it was well worth it...the 9398 I never bought because it just didn't pique my interest esp also at the huge price tag

I've noticed the tire issue as well, a lot of them looked faded too, but since 2006 with buying the 8285 Tow Truck, I noticed they seemed 'blacker' and less slippery as well. Interesting you brought up that subject. I always remove my batteries from models I don't plan to use, reduces that corrosion. I still have a 8720 set and the battery box's contacts are still in excellent shape. Worst thing that can happen is if you buy a used, open battery box or motor, you take a heck of a chance. The only thing I have noticed, and it is my fault, is leaving a pneumatic ram exposed on a model for a long time. They tend to corrode if left fully extended for a long period of time. Suppose that would happen to LA rams as well if left extended to the elements such as sun, which was the case with one of my 8464's. I managed to clean up the rams on it to an extent, but didn't want shavings from steel wool to enter the cylinder itself.

I'm not a good MOC'er myself, I did build from the ground up a semi flatbed trailer this past summer, my first go at it and have modified one of my 8464's with a forkset to load pallets and other cargo onto the trailer and also modified the 8275 Bulldozer inspiration model with a cab, lighting and a different claw setup to securely lift items, but that's about it. I'll bet the claw setup for the 8043 will come up in the forum soon enough. I have a sealed 8043 yet, it would make a nice mod.

There were a few that were interesting in the late 90's and early 2000's, but nothing like what has been released in the past 3-5 years, especially with the advent of PF elements, 1 set I always wanted from 2001 was the 8466 4x4, amazing set. I rarely miss a set, unless the budget won't allow...awaiting the summer releases. Can't wait for the crane everybody has been talking about. The 8052 is quite versatile, the main model was ingenious, but I grabbed instructions from another EB member for a telehandler. Luckily I have a few sealed 8052's so plan on building that MOC as well soon. Not sure what you mean about the pic size, I'm not quite that sophisticated but have managed to download a lot of pdf and LDD files that were large scale and it worked fine on my computer.

That's a tight fit getting the motor I can see, and the IR on top of the superstructure. I am rather suprised at the 'tallness' of the 42006, I haven't built mine as of yet, it looks like even at resting position it is taller than the 8043. Never saw the 'butt' of the 42006, kind ugly, too bad they didn't add in some fairings or enclosed it somehow. Btw, how did you get the yellow warning light on top to blink? I've never seen that, ingenious...

Town? This model that was an MOC is pure Technic, at least it looks that way??? I recall seeing it in a topic a few months ago and I was drooling over it, it is like the 8264, only a lot more sophisticated and larger.

The 8070 really should have been full RC, we have the 9398 that is, the 8043 that is, but not a supercar...the 8297 Off-Roader truck should have been too, sure it was interesting watching the shocks go up and down and the winch cable in and out (though powerized winches and the crappy string TLG insists on continuing to use are kind of useless when extending without any weight on them going out(case in point, motorizing the 8053 Crane) was interesting, but kind of boring, I'd love an Lego RC car. Going back to the day of the 8448 being motorized, it was cool using the yellow 4x6 liftarms to jack it up and shifting gears and watching the rear tires go slower and slower as you advanced the gears was fun to watch, but I want something I play with on the floor that is a car...just my 2 cents The last time the 8275 was available MSRP here in the USA was December 2007, and it was short run at that, came out in Sept 07. I can't imagine it is available on any country's Lego website, its been out for well over 5 yrs and is garnering some big money in new, sealed condition everywhere...

It is interesting looking, but like was said above, what is it going to be? Btw, if you just came out of the dark ages, you have a lot of catching up to do if you want to acquire the sophisticated sets that have been released and most retired in the past 5 yrs or so, Technic has come a long way, especially in the past 3-4 years...

As what was said in the 2nd reply to this topic, there really isn't much comparison as the 8265 is more of a mid-large model, while the 8069 is much smaller, but still IMO an equally nice model. If I was in your shoes I'd go with the 8265, if you can find it at a reasonable price now since it was released in 2009. The 8069 is still available nearly everywhere and hasn't been retired yet by TLG. If you do get the 8265, definitely add PF to it, all that hand-winding of the gear on the back detracts from it as it has for other models in its class that give you the option of adding PF. And the b model of the 8265 is rather cool too, whereas the b model of the 8069 is kind of cheesy looking. If you want another option in about the same price range as the 8265 (well a bit more but it has PF with it) is the 8109 Flatbed Truck. It is still available at TRU online and in some stores, whereas Lego S@H has sold out of it, and usually when they sell out, that's it, its gone. Agreed, the 8455 is a model to go down as an all-time masterpiece, but sourcing all the parts from multiple BL sellers could really add up unless you have a tremendous spare parts collection.

What about Hannibal, he was a real character in that show...great show from a time when TV prime-time was full of good shows...Knight Rider, Street Hawk, Airwolf...miss those days...prime-time now rather stinks, has for a long time...reality shows took over, blah...love the red rims on the creation.

At least you are closer than I am to Troy... That is a bit fast, but the boom speed operation is about on par with the 8043 it looks like...probably the reason the 8275 was a little slower was it weighed more than this set? Just guessing...I wonder if there is much to adding RC to it as you asked. Would be cool if the 8294 was full RC too, but it so compact unlike the undercarriage of the 42006 doubt it would be an easy task, When I had the 8275 built it was much faster moving than the 8043...I now have the inspiration model built with some mods and it is still fast in moving and tracking sideways and such...but excavators and dozers aren't meant for speed in moving, from all the ones I've seen they are fairly slow...on the other hand backhoe/loaders are fairly quick but so far TLG hasn't produced an RC backhoe...I believe I saw in some thread sometime back that somebody RC'ed an 8455 but that is one compact model too...the 8069 is possible I can see, I'm sure somebody motorized it, probably just missed the thread.

LIke you I had this same problem and I had to find a solution, especially for the larger sets. I happened upon some fabric sorter trays at Bed Bath & Beyond. For medium to small sets this works great. I organize the pieces in a logical manner, pins in one, axles in another, thin liftarms, full liftarms and beams in one, gears/axle joiners, etc in one, and another for 'odd' pieces like fairings, lights, etc. They came in 2 different sizes, I used the larger one for the above sorting, but with sets that are large, I bought 2 smaller ones, and it works out well. They are about 2" inch high, so not too much digging around. This was a few yrs ago, but I'm betting they still sell them. Nice thing is you can keep the pieces in them when done with a building session. My main problem is, especially with the larger sets, is the actual room to build them. I have a bunch of 30"x30" card tables, and when building a small/medium set, one works fine, but on the larger builds, I tend to move 2 of them together. Edit: One other note, I tend to put the wheels/tires, sticker sheets and PF elements if applicable in a ziploc bag since they take up too much space in the sorter trays.

I definitely wouldn't have paid $299 for a MISB 8853, got mine for $25 used, and the pieces look very good for its age, but it was only handled by an adult, so that was a plus... Some look better without studs, I agree, the sleekness of the liftarms and beams, plus the fairings. Even the 8466 I bought is mostly studless, even in 2001, even though many of the underpinnings are studded. An odd thing of mine is I love the old plates w/ holes in them, don't ask why... I see that in your profile pic...I might check it out and see what I can get for it in the USA...

I too enjoy RC cars...there are so many buggies/racers that TLG has released either direct or as b models, but I'd love to make RC, I considered the older 8437 since it has many good functions, or even the 8048 or 8262 b model...

Interesting setup...I love the power of the NiMh batteries, but they always require re-charging...I bought Energizer NiMh with led readout chargers, but if you use it a lot, they go down fast and need recharging, my remotes screws are starting to get stripped from all the unscrewing, too bad there isn't a way like with PF battery box to merely remove the cover instead of screws...

Are those newer style 8-tooth gears available in Pick a Brick yet?

I have often wondered if there are instructions of this dump truck, I was enthralled with this version, its like the 8264, only a lot better and larger...my only nit pick on the 8043 is the oversized bucket, it is way out of scale for an excavator. I took if I recall Jurgen's mod on the 3rd boom with the bucket size that was on the 8294, 8453, etc...too bad TLG didn't produce a mold of a smaller bucket for excavators...

Nice re-creation...as a child of the 70's and 80's, sure brings back memories, makes me want to haul out the DVD box set of Season 1 of A-Team I have...great show

It is indeed a nice set, I have 2 copies...not as cool as the monster 9396 but for a mid-size set it is worth it if you can find it at a reasonable price, I like the 3-rotor blade, realistic, I wanted the 8046 as well but it is far out-priced now...as far as PF motorization, that would be a nice addition...I believe it is retired now, so up goes the price...