DarkShadow73

Can't see the pics, at least on my PC its all in code, and its a brand new high-quality PC...

Some of those Ninjago sets have a lot of different colors in them though...bought the Wrecking Ball set for the crane to modify, but as I look at it, there are many different colors, violet rather intrigues me...cool color...though not so much for Technic, there you need solid colors...take a look at the 8285 Tow Truck, it was mostly in red color, but the black exterior hid most all of the chassis and underpinnings...

That's funny DLuders- mine are unsorted right now in about 4 boot boxes...would probably need about a half dozen good size sorter bins to do it right...had to include your pic, it was hilarious, reminds me of when I was a kid with my brother with bricks all over the living room floor...

Nice finish from just parts...I too wish there was a some kind of stronger, meatier crane/winch string instead of the weak string has been using for decades, it frays too much and can't support a lot of weight and since it is so 'limp', a lot of times winching it back in without weight or force on it causes it to go off a lot of spools, case in point the 8297 Off-Roader and 8053 Mobile Crane, I had to disassemble part of the 8053 to untangle the mess when I hooked up PF to it, you almost have to add some finger force to it so it reels back in on the spool without going off track...I know you all don't want to hear this, when I was ordering some Lego on Amazon and saw a Bruder brand(made in Germany) Telehandler that fit in well with mid-sized Lego scale models, I bought one and bought the add pack that contained an attachment with forks for the telehandler and a winch attachment w/ a spool, the first thing I noticed was the string was twice as wide and much stronger than Lego's wimpy string is. Too bad Bruder didn't sell it in bulk, I would have bought it in a second for my cranes and winches...

Yes it was as DLuders noted as was the 8041, but like somebody else quoted, nothing really special about either of these sets, not much functionality, though I did like the looks of the 8041 and bought a bunch half-price at S@H to make trailers for them since they did have a fifth wheel...

Rather makes the 8264 Hauler look, well, quite cruddy in comparison...this would be a great one for the TLG to produce I would think...

Geez, never realized there was so much controversy over this gear, the only sets I have them in are the Front-End Loaders and there were just there for articulation of the front and rear sections of that model...wow guess I better hang on to them... Do indeed miss the motor, much larger and more torquier than the current PF motors...still have 3 of them but you have to use the old battery boxes, either the large bulky one or the smaller PF type one but with the 2 stud power connector cable with them...

Real blinking lights on construction vehicles would be nice, but on a smaller scale than the HOG 'lights', maybe something smaller like strobes used on most construction vehicles...would be kind of cool for a fire engine with real pumping water, just hope it won't be the disaster of a model the 8289 Fire Truck was, that was the biggest waste of $89 USD I have ever made, it did practically nothing, had reels on the back but no 'fire-hose', the stabilizers were useless and no ladder. Of course there is a different between a ladder truck and engine pumper (was a volunteer firefighter at one time), but still it would nice to see a nice ladder truck with an operating water hose for high-rise fires, but then again the water lines, unless well enclosed in the model, would possibly get into the battery box or PF motors unless they were tucked far enough away from the ladder hose pump assembly...a police car I would definitely buy as well... I'm with you on a flagship RC PF Backhoe, JCB styling, as a poster above alluded to would be nice, I think JCB Backhoes and Telehandlers are the among the most stylish in real life. I would like to see a Telehandler of a smaller scale than 2008's 8295 as well that is a tad more realistic. I think with a short boom than the 8295 with an LA on each side of the boom as in real life ones, would definitely be among. Wouldn't mind seeing an orange color Skytrac telehandler either, since the Unimog has lots of orange it, I am sure it wouldn't be a stretch. Also a blue (the color of Genie Lifts and the color most of the Technic folks here would like to see a comeback of) Genie Boom Lift or Scissor Lift on a medium-large scale would be nice too, maybe in the 1000-1200 piece count range, they could easily design one of the more complex Genie Lifts with multiple scissoring boom sections, either by pneumatics (though doubt that will happen), but at the very least LA and PF controlled. The 8289 for its huge pricetag (probably for high piece count) and hardly any functions except for steering and stabilizers was dismal at best. Sorry I ever bought it, gave it to a neighbor kid a few years ago, glad to get of have gotten rid of it. have to say that was probably the hardest set to dismantle as well. Everything was intertwined. Already quoted on the PF Fire Engine, that would be nice, but put some more functions on it, like the ladder. As soon as i saw this had to quote, recall the 8454 Airport Rescue Truck? It had the turret for water, and was interesting, picked up one rather inexpensively even after retirement in 2003. It is rather cool with the 6-wheel steering. However the Oshkosh version would be better, especially if it was PF'ed. Oh lord- can the see the mess there... Geez, that would beat out any Technic vehicle in terms of piece count and price, probably well over $300...

I am a huge fan of lime colored parts and thus have 3 8649's Nitro Menaces, also bought the Ninjago wrecking ball crane (can't recall the part no offhand)for the violet parts, that is a really interesting color, I think lime and violet so rather nice together...bought the crane just to have another crane, huge fan of tower and tracked cranes, will take off the more funky mechanisms and make it look more like a Technic model...just haven't had the chance to crack the box open yet...off-topic but btw, what happened to the 8081 Extreme Cruiser? That was a more recent Technic set that I was kind of considering for a while, but now I can't find it anywhere locally, TRU seems to be the only source for Technic and while they don't seem to sell a lot of Technic in my area. Hate to pay shipping for it, but none in the area have it available. Some sets at TRU seem to come and go...went there tonight and found more 9395 Tow Trucks, and oddly 3 8043 Excavators from 2 years ago, makes me wonder if they were stuck in a warehouse somewhere and still have the original LA's...but I also saw the upsells were lower than they had been on Technic...a couple months ago TRU had a bunch of 8070 Supercars from last spring, and ton of Extreme Cruisers, but in the 3 stores in my area all they had available were the 9395 and the 9394 Jet Plane...odd

Nice mod, I have often thought of adding a cylinder to tilt the bed, but am crap at MOC's...

Another I hear you there...I have 6 30"x30" card tables set up in my sparking clean garage, but 4 of them are full of models already built, and about 110-120 MISB sets underneath the 4 tables awaiting resale once I reopen my BL store...I keep 2 open to build on, but am in the process of finishing electrical runs out there, so bunches of pipe, wiring, fittings, etc on those 2 tables...one of these days I'll finish the last circuit and at least have one table free for building entirely, 1 year later and 3 additional electric runs out there, 1 for lighting, 1 for outlets, and 1 for space heating or fans in the summer...kind of a hobbyist in a lot of areas, but want to get at the 9397 'b' model and the 8466 4x4" Off-Roader I purchased some time ago... @squiddster- 10 cylinders not working all at once?!? That's not fun, wonder if TLG still produces them for sale separately other than BL or Lego Education(really expensive there)...used to buy lots of pneumatic stuff from them, but I think all they offer now are packs of many different pneumatics, used to be you could buy just the parts you wanted, but their shipping is astronomical even for Ground shipping, like $10 for a small mailer envelope, been about 4 years since I bought anything from them, but I looked a few months ago and they seemed to just bunch pack pneumatic system parts together now, and you could buy those huge lengths of black and gray tubing about size of 8455 Backhoe's tubing lengths, still have a couple of taped lengths of it, thank god since I have cut some too short for the models you have to slice off certain size lengths like the Backhoe and the Front-End Loader, sometimes I'd short cut them a bit...of course TLG also makes you wait a while since IIRC they only sell individual parts from their Denmark or Germany warehouse, not in the US, if you're overseas, suppose you would get them much faster, I know I had to wait about 4 weeks to get my replacement LA's for my 8043 back in fall 2010...but that was a major recall issue to hundreds of customers too, so maybe that's why it took more time...first come, first serve I'm assuming it was... Or when a clutch slips out of a changeover catch in the middle of a model, happened to me countless times when building the 8295 Telehandler, took about a pain...

I hear you there...I've got a lot of spare parts, but some are unique to the models I've displayed and I hate to take them apart or part out a sealed set for just a piece of two...

Agreed there, the 8069 Backhoe Loader used the mini LA's with no problems whatsoever even though its size to my surprise when I built it last January was on par with eclectic 8455 Backhoe Loader. Another example of a truly realistic backhoe loader(the 8455), but with its flaws. It desperately needed an air tank because of its plethora of functions but no room to install one that I could find, constantly pumping those two pumps in the cab area was a pain, but it was a beautiful design indeed, another flaw was you couldn't keep the backhoe arm upright, it would sink the pneumatic piston holding up the arm after it sat overnight, another short sticker from one of my parted 8273's to hold up the piston, but in this model it didn't work too well, I tried many different things, but nothing held it in place to keep it upright, there was no support for it 'anchor' to, but then again I'm not a real good modder either... I also agree it would be nice to see longer rams in pneumatic cylinders for higher or longer extension.

@Omikron- Well they really didn't a great job of introduction in 2008. The 8294 Excavator worked nearly flawlessly while motorized as did the 8265 Front-End Loader, motorized as well, the sheer amount of hand-turning for 1 function is almost crazy, but the 8295 was a complete other story, its design was great in terms of aesthetics and function (except for maybe the hand-cranked tilt of the forks), but raising the boom with one LA even while motorized was a struggle, it really should have had 2 LA's, one on either side of the boom to give it enough lifting power. Whoever designed that model was good I'll admit, but when testing it they should have noticed how hard the motor struggled with just one LA, and its a very large boom, almost on the sizing of the 8421 Mobile Crane's boom, and while that worked flawlessly with pneumatics, it was a bit less realistic as you had to keep pumping, what happened to the blue air tanks after the Front-End Loader and 8462 Tow Truck? Another big downfall to the 8421, while on everybody's wanted and admired list, was that boom slowly sank after a few hours. To keep it up I had to cut some small rigid Lego 'sticks', like the ones used on the 8273's front cab, I believe they were blue in color, my 8421 is apart right now, and I cut them to prop and hold in place against the top of the lower pneumatic cylinder and to the top of where it would stay in place, LA's would have been better on that, but I believe they still would have had issues in lifting the boom, however I often wonder if the motor pack used back then was stronger and torquier, the black motors that came in the 8287 Motor Set until PF came along. I know I read a thread somewhere a while ago about somebody modding it with LA's, but its probably way down the thread list.

@Burf2000 - no doubt about that, the LA's are crap in most cases. The clutches, dust, and weak lifting power, and I'm talking about the large ones. I have more dust all over my 8264 Hauler and 8052 Container Truck from hitting the end of the LA and the clutch in the LA grinding. You just can't tell when it is at the end stop or down all the way and I am betting these LA's wear out a lot faster than most models with LA's. And look at the 8295 Telehandler, horrible example of LA use, not only the hand cranking and cranking and cranking, but the extremely weak lifting power of the boom. Even with a torquier XL-motor does not help. TLG should have come up with a different plan or design of the LA when it kind of mostly left the pneumatics behind after the 8285 Tow Truck. Actually I am kind of surprised in the case of the LA's issues that TLG hasn't taken notice and redesigned them...

@KEvron- That was the idea, cheap way for effective rigidity I thought. I'm going back to the days of yore when studless beams and plates were in abundance and used in most models, but instead of using all the new parts made for connecting mostly studless beam structures, it just made sense.

@merman - I am kind of wondering about re-releases, haven't seen one in a long, long time. Last Technic one I can recall for sure is the 8439 Pneumatic Loader (3rd release). I am rather surprised like you that the 8421 Crane (I think among most the best Technic set ever) hasn't been re-released, it would sell like hotcakes to all of us, I know I'd pick up a couple more, and LA's would make a lot more sense, the pneumatic cylinders wouldn't hold up the boom overnight even . If it had 2 LA's on either side of the boom with the new PF elements it would be a huge seller as would be the iconic 8455 Backhoe Loader and 8285 Tow Truck. Doesn't seem they do re-releases any longer. They did 2 of the Front Loader and 2 of the older style Crane Truck (8431,38,60). Or possibly they didn't have many good new designs for a given year, seems in the past several years their Technic offerings have been very good and many, so maybe they are making enough cash from them, doesn't make sense to haul out the old ones and do previous molds anymore...I live in a huge metropolitan area and I have 4 TRU's and hardly see any of the larger Technic sets except right at their release(or beforehand aka 9397) and sometimes an odd one or two show up every now and then. I saw 6-8070 Supercars from last spring show up a couple months ago and a couple 8043 Excavators, but since then I haven't even bothered to drive to the stores. Gas waste, time waste and all of them are in large malls so lots of traffic, makes more sense to order online where most are available from TRU Online, S@H, or Amazon (unless its a hugely marked up 3rd party seller's item). BL'ers seem to be much more scrupulous about pricing and don't gouge on recently released or just retired Lego items.

@Tropy - interesting thought, I know Technic used to be a huge business in the US back in the 90's and early 2000's, but it dropped off after studless beams went away for the most part, I have noticed fewer and fewer larger sets available here, never considered that, but when I see most of the stellar MOC's posted here, most are made up of studded construction... @Meatman - the top one is more sleek looking, but I would still buy the bottom one if in a Lego offering...

@grum64- Good afternoon to you, my friend...it is a pleasure talking to you again as well... Easiest way to connect pneumatic tubing (for you wife of course) is to dip the ends in a small cup of water then connect to the valve bodies and cylinders, an AFOL I am personal friends with in Texas gave me that idea, works a lot better, especially when working in small spaces with pneumatics, I think the most challenging build I've had was the 8455 Backhoe Loader, tons of valves, cylinders and very little space to connect the tubing, especially for a guy with beefy fingers. Of course this was before the accident. Have you bought the 9397 Logging Truck, that is a fine model, both main and alternate models too... Cheers to you and hope to see the pics when you get the time...

What about since these pieces mentioned are much newer than the old studded construction, just using a simple 2" x however long plate underneath and over the top for more stability? Or any plate for that matter, would be simpler and depending on the length of the beams coming together, a long plate might work. For instance let's say you are trying to join a 16 length beam with a 8 length beam, you could use a 2x8 plate underneath to connect them together for solid rigidity or possibly using a regular size 1x6 brick on top of the under plate and another 2x8 plate on top for the ultimate in solidness...

Another strange one is the 8446 Crane Truck, it is a different beast indeed. I'd love to have one, but there is one up for sale new on BL, and the shopkeeper won't take pre-order requests, she claims a worn-out box, which could mean several different things, broken seals, bashed in. Never really heard of a BL shopowner not to accept a pre-order request, but if you order the item, then have questions, and you don't like the answer, you might be considered NPB, and that wouldn't be fair either.

@grum64- yeah it was a devastating injury and I will never have full use of my left hand again, I thought my Legoing days were done, the first few months I couldn't even grasp a pin or anything else that required any force to put together, how you ever did the Unimog (especially the pneumatics and those tight air lines) is astounding. Your story would inspire anybody, whether building Lego Technic items or anything else in life, its gotten so many comments, its kind of one of those stories that makes people sit back and appreciate and not take for granted what they've got, their hands, especially when it comes to Lego construction. And being such a different type of post/topic, 99 times out of 100 here its just about moc's and other Technic/Mindstorms related builds and modifications, it was definitely worth a good read. Keep it up buddy, hope to see you back showing off some moc's in the future, I'll be keeping my eye out for your posts... Eric

@grum64 - really sorry to hear about your accidents, that has to be devastating (not try to make you feel worse, please don't take it that way), but for you to build the 8258 by mouth is one heck of a feat, big round of applause to you, you are quite a guy who finds a way, very inspirational, thanks for sharing...I had a much, much less problem in 2010, I had a problem with my left hand (am left handed) and couldn't use my thumb, index or middle finger (obviously the fingers you use to grasp and put things into place) after the injury and I was downtrodden for quite a while that the hand and those fingers didn't the strength or dexterity to build, but I went through months of therapy and I have about 75% use of the fingers now, still weak but able to use them...

I indeed forgot about the 8273 and 8052...but still no huge models in blue, I do wish they would gear away from the standard red/black/yellow colors and make a large model all in blue, New Holland construction equipment is mostly blue colored, wouldn't mind seeing a Front-End Loader or new Backhoe Loader in the blue, that would be really cool, another thing would a medium-large size (not as big as the 8043) excavator in blue or even orange... One thing I wish they would produce is a semi with a flatbed trailer all in blue, or better yet a low boy for loading construction equipment. I attempted to modify 8063's trailer into a low-boy, just didn't work, I lowered it and put ramps on the back but I'm not a great modder or MOC'er... @Erik - I have 3 Nitro Menaces and have midnight blue paint for plastic, I'm going to 'attempt' to paint it that color, the others I will leave lime color, but paint the rims black and crimson red...I'm a good painter, used to work in a body shop and painted ABS plastic bumper covers, so hopefully it will work, at least if I wreck the one I plan to paint in blue, I still have 2 others...

If I recall they changed over in about 2003 with the 8455 Backhoe Loader, then as DLuders said in 2005 they made a small reintroduction(but in a very small way) with the 8421 Mobile Crane from 2005. Since then you get a few here and there in the sets from '05 on, but nothing like the old school beams and plates...although I have mixed opinions on the studless liftarms, 1999's 8448 Supercar was made up of mostly all studded beams and plates, as was 2001's 8466 4x4" Off-Roader, the fairings hid them well, most of them were in the chassis of those vehicles...but 2001's re-release of the 8464 Pneumatic Front-End Loader was very studded heavy, and that model looks fantastic as was the smaller mobile crane (8460,8431, and 8438), 3 releases of the set. I currently have 2004's release of the 8439 Front End Loader (aka 8459, 8464) and although it is made up with the same studded/plated construction, it incorporated the newer grays for the axles, differentials, etc, and the pneumatic cylinders were round with a hole at the bottom of them, unlike its predescessors that had the 2x2" block base on the cylinder. I rather like the looks of the new cylinders on that model... As far as why, I would hazard a guess that TLG wanted a new, more sleek look on its models, and most do look a lot better with the studless beams, but I still wish, like I said above that the chassis's still were made of the old plate and studded beam construction...