DarkShadow73

Glad I'm not the only one out there with issues with the 8295. Just after finishing the build, I tried cranking the boom by hand, and after about 10 cranks and not much lift, I had to heck with this and went out to my garage and grabbed a PF kit. Still was jittery, so changed out the M-motor for the XL-motor with more torque, still slow, but a bit better. But, after sitting for a couple years, replaced the batteries in the box and either the clutch deal comes out of the changeover catch, or the gears just grind, mainly the ones on the left side of the truck towards the front, too many gears I think, can't say the gears look 'aged', all of them still are seemingly solid, but the motor just won't even turn the gears hardly at all now to lift the boom. When the clutch piece shifts out of the changeover catch, I can spin the gears in front pretty freely by hand, but something must have occurred. It wasn't a great design to begin with, but it looked classy and that was a construction vehicle that I have always had an interest Lego had lacked ever producing at the time so I bought it. They've come out with a couple small Technic telehandlers since, but I like the larger ones, wish it was scaled down a bit though to fit in nicely with say the 8455 Backhoe Loader, 8294 Excavator and the 8439/59/64 Front End Loader. Its more on the scale of the 8043 Motorized Excavator and the 8275 Motorized Bulldozer. The 8043 is plagued with some issues, tried all the mods excluding the joystick mod, I just did the mods of downsizing the bucket to make it look a bit more realistic (I mean come on, the bucket was a large loader bucket, not on scale with an excavator, but imagine TLG didn't want to mold a bucket in between the smaller and larger loader buckets they have producing for a long time), also the boom extend/tilt function is wiggly when in motion and the other function of the turntable and tracking leaves some to be desired too, not smooth like the 'b' model Tracked Loader or the Bulldozer which all RC functions were smooth as silk. I know there are a lot who might disagree with me on the 8043, but I did all the mods to the model itself and it just didn't really make a whole lot of difference even with the updated LA's, which weren't a problem, after installing the updated LA's on the boom raise/lower it worked smoothly, but the tilt/extend functions weren't as well thought out (not by modders, but by the TLG). @flyz - regarding the telehandler I can see why, I am tempted just to disassemble and build the log loader alternate version and scrap the telehandler.

Hi all- I have an 8295 Telehandler from 2008 I believe, but it has sat for while idle, and when I try to switch functions from raising boom to extending boom the shifter(red part that fits into the changeover catch to shift functions) it keeps coming out of the changeover catch, I pulled that assembly apart and put it back together (not an easy process for someone with big fingers), but it still keeps popping out of the catch, and the gearing seems to be hanging up for the boom lift. Anybody else have the main problem or the gearing issue? There is a ton of gears to raise the boom lift. Some kind of lube you can put on the gears? Thought about the vegetable or mineral idea as I know they are safe to use on ABS plastic. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Eric

Don't ever recall a floating/water related Technic set ever being released, something I never thought of, would be kind of cool in kiddie pool during the warm months or even in the bathtub, especially if it was full RC...

Wow - that is a super complex MOC...don't recall I have ever seen a model with both an excavator and plow/dozer blade on the front, incredible...great work on the model...

Its a big crane when assembling the 'b' model, and the nice part is if you have regular crane already built, the instructions lead you through the modification without having to disassemble the whole thing, just a matter of removing some of the portions and reconnecting them, I took of the jib and put on a black metal hook, more realistic I think anyway. The tower crane version is quite tall especially if you raise it up the whole way, never measured it and have disassembled right now, this thread is urging me to rebuild the tower crane version, and although I am bit undecided which version is better, I'm leaning towards the tower crane, amazing how long this thread has gotten, maybe that is why the huge price tag on this set nowadays...I believe I commented early in the topic that it would be really cool if the TLG produced an RC crane of this scale, but in yellow/black color scheme...just for the record it has exploded in price and unfortunately I left my assembled one too much in the sun and it faded some of the white pieces used for the booms, and I found a fellow Bricklinker that sold me one for $400 in December, yeah it stung money wise, but I wanted a new one MISB, luckily he lived in my city so it saved me on shipping...

They are available on Lego S@H I would bet too, click Customer Service at the bottom of the page, and click building instructions, then enter 8421, believe they go back to 2002, 8421 was released in summer 2005. I have an extra set, slightly creased from usage (shipping would cost though) if you would like the Lego officially released instructions, built my 8421 and they are just sitting in a box along with tons of other instruction booklets for newer and older Technic models. But I'm betting you have already downloaded them, offer's open though if you want. My bad, for some strange reason they aren't listed on Lego S@H instructions entries. That's plain odd considering they have just about every set's instructions available on their official site.

Agreed, the Vampire GT is the best out of them, been following it for a while...love the black color and the use of the white seating and just about everything else about the car...

Ah you bum...tis ok though, seems like the rams are long enough, and who knows maybe someday we shall get longer rams. I do like pneumatics lots more than LA's...

@bb15080 - thanks, but I kind of wanted it page by page, instead of just enlarging a jpg image and printing them 1 by 1, but I do appreciate it. Actually the CD-ROM that came with it was if I recall just for a racing game with it or something? It was way outdated when I picked up my 8428 on a huge clearance price at a local store, wouldn't even play in the computer I had then. @DLuders - you do seem the go-to guy, no offense to bb15080 at all, for all things Technic, esp instructions, you got the TLG to give us our 9397 'b' model instructions after a major lot of trouble, but you had more luck than I did, and a thumb up to you, my friend . Thanks for the Skydrive download. Some interesting pics of alternate images of the car. Its rather simplistic in looks, kind of futuristic much like the 8446 Crane Truck was, believe they both were released in '98, regret not picking up the 8446, only 1 on BL available but the shopowner won't even accept e-mails before placing an order, kind of wanted a further description of the condition of the box, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose (parts). Kind of a chance. But, the 8428 was practically wrecked by my fiancee's kids, I got it mostly back together (I think) but there is something missing in 2 places as I described in the topic. Thanks to all, Eric

Crowkillers is what was my inspiration to paint my rims through another member, he showed me some of his MOC cars and they were awesome looking, better than I ever seen MOC car, but one thing I noted obviously is that the rims were definitely not in any color that TLG has produced, it was that shiny crimson red that caught my eye, do you put a base coat of chrome paint then top with the red? To DLuders, I simply couldn't find that crimson red shade in Krylon, I bought a Rust-Oleum primer though like suggested and since I used to work in an auto body shop, I know the drill, painting ABS bumpers requires special paint. One thing I was wondering about, maybe from Crowkillers or others is sometimes those Racers and other Technic wheels can be a pain to get the tires on the rims easily and I can just envision some of the paint flaking as I try to get the tire on and positioned right, any thoughts on this? Can't imagine trying to mask tape a small tire with the rim already installed then paint it, you kind of want the paint to extend downwards into the outside of the rim a bit where it is visible ot the eye. For those of you who have done it, would really appreciate any input. Also wanted to paint the spoiler on one of my 8649 Nitro Menaces to match body color and found some perfect lime colored paint, also some midnight blue paint for the rims. @manbearpig - I kind of wondered about the glossiness of the paint I purchased. It looks glossy on the chair in the picture on the can, but I sort of wondered about gloss clear coat like you would use on cars and truck paint jobs. That's the look I'm trying to achieve, but all I could find in clear is for metal/wood, not for plastic. I wonder if applying over the plastic paint it would adhere correctly, I think I have a couple of rims I could experiment on, but man this investment in paint and clear coat could get expensive, I've got a lot of Racers and Technic cars that I would love to set off with different colored rims and other highlighting on trim, spoilers, front/rear fascias and groundeffects. Just want to make sure I do it right, otherwise I could have a heck of a mess and useless rims. Case in point, I try to paint my 8070's rims which I spent $119 + tax on the set, then screw up the job, then I have no extra rims unless I purchased more from BL. But I do thank you all for your replies and any additional input you can give me.

Longer rams? I love pneumatics much more than LA's, but don't the current larger pneumatic cylinders produce enough length? Not the ones on the 9397 Logging Truck, but the normal size, thinking 8455 Backhoe or 8439/59/64 Front-End Loader. However, I do see something must be amiss as I read the 2nd page first and it looks like it was bad information? I wouldn't mind a bit more length in some sets that had LA's since they did have rams that were longer than a pneumatic piston. Would be interesting if this came to pass, as the summer sets are probably already in production and packing, so it would probably at earliest be an early or spring 2013 release if true? Just had a thought and a bit off topic, there are some models that really needed 2 LA's, the 8295 Telehandler and the 8053 Mobile Crane, they really needed an LA on each side of their respective booms, more like the 8043 Excavator had for raising the boom. Unless motorized, and really both the first models I alluded to, had no choice but to be motorized with PF, and with a XL-motor instead of the M-motor, the 8295's boom was way too heavy for even an M-motor to raise. Best setup, I added a 2nd LA and an XL-motor neatly into the compartment in back where the M-motor was set to be mounted after I realized it was under way too much strain, and the boom needed more torque to lift it up. Even as first assembling the 8295 and attaching the boom to the superstructure, I could envision lifting issues. One other thing I did was use more axles and longer liftarms to raise the boom higher, just low enough for it to fit into the 'cradle' at the front of the machine. Raised much easier after all those mods.

Hi all - just got my 8428 Turbo Command/Concept Car back from my fiancee, however her kids kind of messed it up, rear diff doesn't even have the main driveshaft to it, along with the option of raising the rear up via the shock absorber, something's missing there too. Something is missing. I plan on taking it apart and reassembling after doing an Inventory from Bricklink, but I clicked on the instructions entry on the site and nothing came up. Are these instructions available anywhere on the web? I checked Lego S@H, but their scanned instructions only go back to 2002, this one came out in 1998. Any help or redirects appreciated. Thanks, Eric

Told ya S.I - we get crapped on by eBay, Amazon and BL(though their prices are a bit more reasonable) as far as the really old sets. Profiteering is king in the US. Sure I plan on doing it too when I open up an Amazon storefront and my BL store again, but I'll keep it at a reasonable level. I sold a brand new in-box 8285 Tow Truck last summer for $275, included shipping, to a guy in California. Didn't realize the shipping would be so high to send, but a deal is a deal and I held up my end. Sure I made a bit of profit on it, but didn't gouge.

I grew up a bit beyond the days of early Technic, I was alive but as young kid I mainly got the Legoland space or town sets, but I did get the Go-Kart on my 6th birthday in 1979, wish I'd asked for the bulldozer. The land raker model is quite cool too. In my estimation the older Technic sets maybe looked simpler and smaller than today's huge sets, but they used less pins, which is the majority of what makes up a Technic set nowadays, but they were more intricate in other ways, specialized gearing and some of the older parts were just plain cool. I love the old studded items, even when I picked up the 8439 re-release of the Front End Loader and more recently the 8460 Mobile Crane, I have begun to really appreciate the parts we never see anymore, like the plates with holes in them, the studded beams, and other useful parts to create your own MOC. Don't get me wrong I love the new Technic, which basically started in 2004 with the smooth beams and liftarms and such, but the older sets held many opportunities to make MOC's, whereas the new sets aren't quite as versatile in doing so, not many plates and virtually no studded construction anymore. Many of you have created great looking MOC's with the studless and pin construction, but the old stuff, which most is way beyond getting new any longer except for a few here and there on Bricklink, also prices have skyrocketed since they are like collector's items nowadays some 25-35 years later. Look at those prices, even if in Euros, look how far we've come in terms of pricing. In my mind, that bulldozer beats out any since, even the 8275, wish I could get my hands on the 1978 one now new in box. Of course, if I recall, they haven't really produced a bulldozer larger than a mini one or some 'b' model versions which looked cruddy, anybody ever build the 'b' version bulldozer out of the 8272 Snowmobile set, that was just plain ugly.

Most time with Technic or Racers cars and also any other wheel on Technic construction equipment, its either lt grey or yellow. I am building an 8070 Supercar and want to paint the rims either black or a crimson red, think it would really set the car off instead of plain-jane grey rims. I bought some Rust-Oleum Plastic paint in both colors. It says it is mainly for things like plastic outdoor furniture and other plastic items, but I wonder if it is safe to use on Lego, which I believe is ABS plastic? It says no primer needed. I considered buying some primer and automotive paint, which comes in a lot more cool shades of red and black, metallics, but I went with the Rust-Oleum. I know I have seen models occasionally posted in this group with parts painted. Do you think this is safe? I have no other rims that would fit this car at the current time and would hate to mess them up if it does something crazy like warp or melt the plastic. Worst case scenario, yes, but I want to do this right. I'm a good spray painter, used to buy older cars back in my teenage years and fix them up and paint them with a simple paint gun, but that's metal, however in 2003 I painted a plastic bumper, which almost all cars have nowadays and even though I was using spray paint made for the metal body, it turned out quite well and held the paint, though I primered it first, but I know in body shops they use specially made plastic paint for plastic bumper covers and plastic ground effects, etc. I know probably hobby stores would likely have more options and a better paint for plastic models they sell like model train cars and model kits, but the nearest one to me is like 15 miles away, whereas I have a full line store right up the road. Thoughts on this? Thanks, Eric

TRU has a BOGO 50% off sale this week. A lot of the bigger items are out of stock, but the Logging Truck, Flatbed Truck and Supercar are available. Some moron moved this out of the TECHNIC forum, so I'm re-posting it here under

@Blakbird - I agree, it really isn't that special in terms of the set itself, for a $50 set to skyrocket in price is kind of odd, although Technic really does lack in crawler cranes, they make a lot of wheeled cranes, my quirk with the 8288, and also the 8053 is no hook, just a jib, which is kind of useless mostly. On my 8288 I replaced the jib with a black metal hook and it looked a lot nicer, same with the 8053, but one thing I noticed on the 8053 is that you really need to motorize it like most sets with LA's to raise heavy booms or extending a boom(8295 and 8265 come to mind), all that manual winding is a chore and kind of detracts from the set. I motorized my 8053 with PF elements and took off the jib and put a hook on it, but its almost too light in weight, the string keeps getting wound off the reel and gets tangled on either side of the reel, and there is no easy way to untangle and rewind it manually without tearing half the superstructure apart. I also bought the yellow City crawler crane(can't recall the set no, but it was released in the last couple years). Put a hook on that one, no issues with reeling in the string, but with most 'block' sets parts easily fall off unlike Technic where most everything is pinned tightly together. @mostlytechnic - I am always a bit leery about used sets as opposed to new, sealed sets, you never know for sure what you're getting, or whether a piece or two are missing, especially on eBay, I've bought a few through Bricklink used and the sellers there are more reputable in my estimation. You are right in most of Europe Technic is much more popular than in the US, thus the lack of stores that carry a good selection, most independents have gone under, TRU has the market, but they are so up and down, one day they might a bunch of them, another day shelf tags are gone and so is the product. Then another day one or two sets might come back. Case in point, the 8070 Supercar, it showed up briefly at TRU last spring, then was gone, only to come back recently, odd... Last night I checked Amazon and they had 2 8421's listed, one was if I recall $999.00, the other one was $1,125.00 (ridiculous, in my estimation, yes) -- just shows the markup, but am betting it will take a long time, if ever, unless a price reduction or somebody very well off to buy something that MSRP'ed at $149.99 back in 2005...

@skylinedan - yeah I've bought dozens of sets since I started not just building one, but after seeing the explosion in prices after a couple years beyond retirement, I started buying more and looking for deals through Amazon and TRU, some also from BL, got 3 8455 Backhoe Loaders in 2005 off BL, and I built 2 of them, stupid I built the 2nd set, I built the 'b' model and it was dorky as crap, took it apart and the parts are just sitting in a box now, still have the manuals, but I tossed the box, but I still have 1 MISB. After that I got smarter and bought every chance I could come up with some extra money from work, I've got 119 sealed sets now, checked my inventory, takes up a shelving unit and one whole side of my garage. But I estimated just the MSRP value and it was well over $8,000, quite an investment, I used to be an electrician so drilled a hole at the top of the head of the garage wall and I wired up a wide angle night vision camera that has a feed to my computer, parts were cheap, its the installation that's expensive, but luckily I had the experience to install and run the wire. Only thing is my idiot upstairs neighbors unit is somewhat over my garage and they tend to stomp and run around and at times the camera eye has moved and I'm just looking at drywall instead of the entire garage, it is alarmed too, my computer speakers beep loud if somebody enters, I don't live in the best of neighborhoods, I have to disarm it every time I go in there, and the garage doors are cheap and easy to pry open from the bottom, so I had to protect my investment and all my tools. I'm currently wiring another camera eye on the left side of the garage to aim directly at the lego collection, the eyes are cheap, its just the monitoring box that is a bit pricey, but worth it. @S.I - I am extremely jealous, that is one set I considered buying back on '01, but I passed on it at TRU since the box was somewhat banged in one corner, that is one set I want badly, not so much to resell, but to build, it was right after the stellar 8448 Supercar, and unfortunately they never made transmissions in cars or trucks after that set. I gave camaro365 my 8448 a few months ago, but I'd had my play with it and he was over the moon when I gave it to him for free. I took a look at the prices on Amazon and found one brand new it was pricey, and I don't so much trust 3rd party marketplace sellers, sometimes a good one, sometimes a bad one who doesn't communicate timely, or it takes forever and a day for them to ship. Unless it is Fulfilled by Amazon item, you take your chances. I had a couple good transactions there and all of mine through BL were good, but on occasion you get one that shuffles their feet and you are sitting wondering what the status is.

Just went onto the TRU website, BOGO 50% off sale is listed this week. However, due to the 10% off sale last week, a lot of the bigger items are out of stock. Unimog and Excavator are both out of stock, Logging Truck is available, for now. Most of the smaller Technic is in stock, but hey aren't most of us into the bigger, badder stuff...

@skylinedan - they had 2 on the shelf at a local TRU complete with a shelf tag last night, $199 so MSRP, no notorious TRU upcharges, guess they got more in or maybe had a bunch in the warehouse, wonder though if they were some of the original with the bad LA's though. Frankly I'm quite surprised that the 8043 is still being sold on S@H and TRU, it is a quite aged set in Lego's terms, usually its been about 1.5 years average before retirement, then the prices shoot up on BL and Amazon. Some sets are quite mysterious though, the 8275 Bulldozer only had a run of less than 3 months in 2007 and there were no quirks or problems as there has been with recent large sets, the 8043 comes to mind, that was a mess when it was first released in July 2010. Some of us had to wait until October to get replacement LA's, I put my order in on 9/5, didn't get them until second week of October as they came overseas I guess. Some other sets last better than 2-3 years, usually the smaller ones though as they aren't as popular as the bigger, more in demand sets. One would think Lego would keep producing high demand sets for more profit, or re-releasing certain sets, the original 8459 Front End Loader was first released in 1995 or 97, can't recall which year and was released again as 8464 in 2001, then again as 8439 in 2004. Since 2004 I haven't seen a re-release of any set, the 8455 or 8421 would go like hotcakes if they released them again. However, prior to model year 2004 the grey colors changed too, my 8459 and 8464 both have the old grey and old dk grey pieces and the old blocky pneumatic cylinders, but my 8439 has the light bluish gray and new color dk grey and the newer style pneumatic cylinders, and the old 3L and 5L axles are light bluish grey instead of black which was the norm prior to 2004, but that would be a small thing for Lego to repackage. Kind of wonder what the MSRP would be on these 3 old sets if they were re-released, guarantee they would sell hard and fast though... @dolittle - never even saw the Unimog at any retail TRU stores in Michigan since its release last summer, but it is still available online at TRU and S@H, and I assume at the Lego stores, I live halfway between Chicago and Detroit area, so closest Lego store is about 150 miles either direction, not worth it with cost of fuel in my area at $4.00/gallon or higher, almost cheaper to pay the shipping, plus those cities are busy, too much traffic, etc. Oh btw - never saw the 8258 at TRU either, retail anyway. Its been gone from S@H and TRU online for some time now too in the US.

Wish I had bought this set but it was during my dark ages...

Would be kind of cool if Technic kind of deviated from the norm of construction and air vehicles and made a large police car, possibly a Dodge Charger style which they mainly use around my area, or one of the off-road Explorer or Escape type police vehicles complete with PF for led lightbars which are the norm nowadays maybe even a siren(ha,ha), sort of on the scale of their Supercars. They have lots of those Escapes and Explorers for the frozen tundra of Alaska, yup big fan of Ice Road Truckers TV series...

Speaking of the tow truck at the end of this thread, has anybody done any mods (except for the swivel wheel lift) on the 9395 Tow Truck? That thing is a monster, 3 sets of trailers, would have to by some wide sections of forest and road intersections to move that rig through...

@skylinedan - they clearanced them from TRU and Lego S@H a month or so ago, and haven't seen them again at TRU's in my area, but Amazon has loads of them for close to MSRP still. I don't think it was a wildly popular set. Funny thing though, I went to TRU last night with my fiancee and they had tons of 8070 Supercars, which are rising in price now, at least on Amazon, and I bought 2 more at the 10% off deal, $118.99, so even though TRU marks their Lego up, the 10% off put them lower than S@H. So now I have 4 MISB. BUT, had to put my mom in a nursing home today, so no more purchases until I can figure finances out. She still thinks I'm nuts for being so much Lego, but I have a spreadsheet with the MSRP's and average rates of all the sets I own and she settles back knowing if I listed them on BL or Amazon, I could make a mint on at least the older ones right now. I came out of my dark ages in 2004, started with the 8436 Truck, that's another one that has tripled in value, have 2 of them MISB. Usually I buy a set to build, and buy more on deals to keep for future resale and major profit. Got about 100 sets MISB right now and some older City, Alien Conquest and Ninjago collector sets as well.