suffocation

L Motor instead of XL? Damn

Love it - technically sound and it looks the part. These machines aren't meant to run for Miss Universe.

Have you checked out @Paul Boratko's 5-speed-plus-reverse gearbox? It's considerably smaller and runs very, very smoothly. Not sure he's made the instructions for it public domain, though.

I wish my countless Lego fails looked even just one-hundredth as good as that. How much did you gear down the M motors on the tracks?

Oh my, she's a beauty! Awesome work both in functions and aesthetics.

I've always loved your work and this is another gem from you More importantly, though - how are you? I seem to recall you weren't doing too well some weeks ago.

Hard-coupling isn't going to do any more damage to the motors than the resistance offered by the weight of the model itself. So unless you plan on running them for hours and provided you use the same kind of motors (e.g. all XLs) then you shouldn't have any trouble.

Jeroen Ottens devised a locking method using Bionicle teeth to ensure that steering modes could be switched only when the gear racks were aligned - not sure it can work for you (not even sure how it works!) but here it is, ten posts down:

If you're lucky you can get the complete BWE for under €140 (delivered to your doorstep) from Amazon UK - you just have to wait for them to post one of their many bashed-up boxes (which seems to happen pretty often with 42055). By that measure, that pile of beams and gears in the OP isn't worth more than €80.

Looks good! How will you keep the caster units from going out of sync?

I love it - works and looks great! I wouldn't even know where to start with a build like that. I think you're a lot more talented than you're willing to admit If you can get your hands on a BuWizz or are able to build your own comparable unit then go for the 1:9 reduction (you want to gear down, not up). In the end you'll be closer to 12 kg than 15 - even with eight motors, a decent battery pack, a ton of 5x7 frames, the tracks and all the other structural elements, I doubt the base will exceed 3 kg - so that should take some stress off the motors. Really looking forward to seeing the final build

Then it would have to be a very shoddy design.

Mistaking that thing for a Ferrari is like mistaking diarrhoea for chocolate spread.

You could try two hard-coupled XLs geared down 1:3 on each sprocket for a total of 8 XLs. A BuWizz unit should be able to handle all the motors on its own, reducing the model's weight. Not too sure about the 10 cm/s but with the BuWizz set on fast it shouldn't be too far off. Edit: just tried 2 hard-coupled XLs geared down 1:7 and powered by a LiPo on a 1.5 kg model - speed is more or less 10 cm/s. Some more numbers for you to crunch.

I tried something similar a while back - too much slack for my taste. I think Zerobricks figured out a more effective way:

Heavy-duty live axle. Features: - mounted servo - planetary reduction (1:4, 1:5.6 including diff) - positive caster - torque tube - Panhard rod

Compared to a standard portal hub, a planetary hub takes up at least one stud less. Build one and see for yourself

Planetary hubs have better gear reduction and offer a better pivot point.

I wonder if 42082 will have planetary hubs - they're long past due in an official set.

It's probably just lousy pic + cheap monitor + poor eyesight delusion, but is that a motor under the Volvo sticker, just behind the front left wheel?

Thank goodness I do need a better monitor...

Is that a boring old M motor on the 42082 box?

Not too sure about the other languages, but the Italian translations are pathetic. Did some numbskull at TLG think machine translation would be a good idea? Broadly speaking, has their cost-cutting got to the point where they can't afford - or can't be arsed to pay - a few qualified translators to save them from looking even more ridiculous?

I'd be happy if they introduced an S motor and better battery packs. A single BuWizz can power up to EIGHT XL motors at 10.5 V and is smaller than Lego's rechargable battery box, which can handle only 2 XLs at 7 V. So there's plenty of room for improvement.