Vectormatic

I like the blue 99 model a lot, the newer dark green though, i think the dark green clashes a bit with the white in the engines/greebling, the photos either look overexposed (making the white look painfully bright), or underlit (making the green look nearly black), might be my screen though

I dont think any lego model would be powerfull enough to wheelie, unless you do a build with the battery boxes behind the rear axle, to put the CoG pretty much on the rear axle. the fact that it is referred to as a wheelie "function" is another pointer that we're talking about an extra mechanism. Those are canadian prices, in case you didnt notice, 42039 is 160 CAD Vs 130 USD, which would put the kart at roughly 32-35 USD and the mine loader at 52-55 USD roughly

Awesome mods, i like the added "beef" on the top part of the legs especially Ill have to look into this once i get around to building my own (have it sitting on a shelf, not sure if ill leave it boxed up for under the christmas tree, or if ill go for it before then)

Aahhh, good call, i totally missed the switch between "Drag racer" and "supercharged dragster", so that pretty much confirms the A-model is indeed a modified car, excellent excellent! We might not be getting a 42000/42039 style flagship race-car, but H1 2016 will be a good wave for us petrol-heads, the getaway racer, go-kart and Drag Racer all look/sound very promising, and there is the ultimate IP car in waiting as well

Time to finally upgrade my A-wing then, although i doubt itll be a €30 set over here (the Jedi interceptor will take that price point)

It is not a gearing issue, in fact, the gear reduction is actually needed to make it steer nice, as the boom steering has nowhere near a 180 degree range, putting a 1:1 ratio in there would result in the servo pushing the mechanism even more.

That dragster sounds absolutely awesome, combined with the rumours that it isnt a top-fuel type dragster, but rather a silhoutte type thing, im really looking forward to it The size though, a 3:1 length-width ratio... and it is as long as 42039 for a smaller set, maybe it is top-fuel style after all :( EDIT: also, apparently the dragster can drive with an M-size motor, putting an L in there should make it rather nippy :) And the go-kart has a track-car B-model, if it looks good i might have to get two :P

Took me about 4-5 hours, 90% of which was figuring out the steering/servo placement. The L-motor was easy, i suspect easier then the M would have been considering the L has nice side-mount holes, which lined up nicely with the existing chassis. Im not doing a video right now, i dont have a decent filming setup (and i dont want to fumble a phone and the remote with one hand less then needed), and im not yet 100% happy with the steering anyway, ill see what i can do in the coming week though, a straight acceleration video might be easier to pull off.

Thanks guys! I didnt want to black the ship out on purpose, all the full-black models ive seen (hasbro stuff) also have the S-foils and cockpit black (or very dark grey), and those parts arent available in that color, so i figured id rather go for some extra grey on the body to tie it all together, and have a semi-interesting pattern on the wings, then have a grey cockpit, black wings, grey S-foils type thing I ordered all the parts from Bricklink, but im sure the cockpit come from the anakin set, since i used that part list as a template, and the specific part number for the cockpit only appears in that set (it must be slightly different from the green one from 2012)

The L-motor was easy, once you rip out the HoG steering and the link between the fake engine and rear wheels, the motor slots right in, the Servo though, was another story alltogether, spent a good few hours trying to fit it anywhere, before finally settling on truncating the fake engine, as i said, im still not entirely happy with the steering, but i havent thought of a more accurate mechanism with the parts i have. No video yet, but take it from me that with an upgeared L-motor, it moves nicely, takes a second or so for it to get up to full speed, and its quick, although i havent tested it on longer stretches.

Hi guys, i wanted to show of my project from this week. After seeing the leaked sets for next year, it dawned on me that i didnt have an Eta-2 yet, even though i really like the ship. Closer examination of Obi-wan's version yielded that that version is changed from the current one (75038), and imho, not in a good way, and since i dislike anakin, i figured i should just make my own. (also, Ive been reading Tarkin and now the Rise of Lord Vader novels by James Luceno, in both novels Vader flies a black Eta-2) Essentially my craft is mostly just anakin's yellow one, color shifted to black/grey, but i think it came out really well, it is easily my favorite lego star fighter now (toppling 8017 from the throne) Any feedback is more then welcome :)

Hi Guys Over in Chade's 1:12.5 scale RC car topic i got into a very informative discussion, and ended up ordering my own PF kit once double points hit my side of the pond. I decided to convert my 42022 hot-rod first, seeing how that is the best suited chassis i have ready-made for this, i might try my hand at modifying 42039 in the future, but im not sure my single L-motor will cut it for a car that size. I failed in my initial goal to keep the fake engine as is (i had the pipe-dream of somehow having it linked up to the rear wheels to it would spin, but i knew that was going to be impossible), but i think it still looks pretty nice It moves quite quickly too, but sadly the steering is rather inaccurate, i think the steering mechanism used in this set is ill-suited to servo-ing, it will recenter well in one direction, but not so much in the other, producing a small left pull. This was a fun first exercise in trying out RC-ing stuff, ill certainly do my own chassis next, but having this one laying about, i figured, why not?

Seconded, i bought one of those purely for the small front axle setup (and those tasty black small panels, and the track)

If you want a 100% accurate set, id look for a complete one, overall 10030 isnt to exciting in terms of parts, but there are some rare ones, 2x30342 and 3x2573 are €250 on bricklink, the 14x30159 will be another €150 at least, even if you can get the other 3000 parts at €0.10 a part, that will put you above €700 for it all, and stuff like the 28 magnets, while not extremely expensive, will be hard to find in big batches (only 50 shops worldwide carry 28 magnets, only 10 shops have the required 14 black holders) If you are open to modding/substituting parts to drive down the cost, BLing will be a good bit cheaper then a full set, and worth the effort imho I cant offer any real advice on scavenging other sets though, but 90 euros for 75055 seems like a good deal, if you are up to selling stuff on BL yourself, you can reclaim another €25+ on the minifigs

I got my PF stuff in the mail yesterday, so i tore into the car yesterday, so far ive managed to integrated the drive motor (which is rather easy), and made space for the battery box on the rear deck. The servo is causing me massive headaches though, im trying to keep the fake engine in place (although hooking it up to the drive motor isnt gonna fly), but then the servo wont fit in anywhere lengthwise, so my next step will be removing the fake engine and working the servo in, and then seeing what i can do in terms of hood/decoration at the front, i hope to at least retain the radiator/headlights/exhaust, and ive got a bunch of extra medium blue panels to work with in the parts bin.

Derp, should look closer next time I might hop by the toy store on the way home and pick up some stuff to toy around with, wouldnt want to take apart any of my already assembled sets (My inner lord business is a strong headed fellow)

I second the suggestions to get 42000 and 42039, both are some of the technically most complex cars lego has done, and just building them should provide some insights. Personally i started modding my 42039, which has been an interesting experience, trying to make the rear axle lower is easy, and playing around with the suspension arms and shock absorbers in different configurations really makes you appreciate the complexity

I absolutely LOVE that Octan racer, now im tempted to pick up another 60053 and BL the SC cockpit piece But im guessing it wont fit a minifig right?

Is all the stuff available as clones? yuck... I imagine making clone 10179's could make some entrepreneurial chinese people VERY rich though

Keep in mind the hotrod has scotch tape around the back wheels to drift better in that vid, but yeah, i was impressed seeing what an M motor can do. I think it is partially due to the fact that the hotrod isnt a big or popular set. I got it for my birthday, else i wouldnt even have it i think. Im not to worried about the motor/servo, as the underside has a bit 3-wide gap between the chassis bars which should fit a motor and servo easily, and that would put them nicely in line to drive their respective functions. Im hoping the standard battery box will fit on the rear of the car, but looking at some pics, it might be two studs too wide. If i get it working i'll be sure to post it!

Holy hell, that is insane for two parts. Id gladly keep the brown ones, or order black ones and spend the 350 euros on something else

Ouch, how much did you pay? any chance of claiming it back through paypal or similar? On topic, received my BL order for my Darth Vader's Eta-2 interceptor, im kind of impressed by the amount of parts, i expect the ship to end up bigger then i was expecting before. The order was missing a few parts though, i can replace them termporarily with other color parts, but i hope the seller is a decent bloke and mails me the three remaining parts.

The hotrod has a fair bit of space between the lower chassis bars, once you rip out the steering/drive axles, the receiver shouldnt be too hard, but the battery box.. might require rebuilding the entire trunk area, and it would leave the fake V6 disconnected (and i'd have to source a diff, since the original model doesnt have one, ridiculous) Some people have dont it : but not with stock lego batteries.I do have 42039, but i think itll be too heavy to work nicely with a single L motor, especially since im modding mine, and adding more weight in terms of panels/liftarms already. Part of me wants that LiPo pack, but €60... paying €75 for the kit ive got coming now was hard enough to put myself past, and that was with a €8 battery box :P

Thanks, will do! Currently contemplating whether ill dive right into it once i get it, or whether ill wrap it and stick it under the christmas tree, and whether motorizing 42022 will be my first project, or if i should buy 42037 as a testbed (or if we're talking christmas, perhaps that new go-kart)

Assuming you have a decent sized 1080p screen, the lego, 4K isnt worth it imho