grum64

Hello This is my first time writing on this section of Eurobricks, I'm normally to be found lurking in the Technic section. I'm writing this in the hope that someone here might be able to help me. My Grandson and I are planning a diorama project and besides the 2500+ parts we've got coming from BL we need some Scottish WWI minifigures which seem only to be available from United Bricks store in Castle Douglas, Scotland. From what I understand the figures are shop exclusives and not for delivery. I can't ring the shop as it's closed until Thursday. In case they really don’t deliver I need a plan B and that's where I hope one of you good people might be able to help me. Do any of you live near Castle Douglas or know anyone that does? If so would you/they be able to help by going to the shop to get the figures needed? I'd go myself but my wheelchair hasn't the range nor do I have an extension lead long enough. Obviously I'll pay for the figures and any costs incurred and for your time. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and would be grateful beyond words if someone can help. Thank you.

Hello My Friend Thank you for your kind comments. The hand is on it’s to being healed. I'm having to be careful and wearing a fingerless leather pushing glove when pushing axles through parts helps with that. Just as well looking at the instructions for the carriage assemblies.

Good Evening and thank you for your interest in this quest. The shop has a separate website. United Bricks Scottish shop link

Hello My Friends My apologies if you were expecting an update on the CAT. I've had no time to build for the last few days but should be back in the shed sometime in the next few days. George and I are planning a project for after I've finished the aforementioned CAT and besides nearly 2500 parts I've got coming from BL we need some Scottish WWI minifigures. The trouble is the figures are only available from United Bricks store in Castle Douglas, Scotland. From what I understand the figures are shop exclusives and not fo rdelivery and I can't ring the shop as it's closed until Thursday. In case they really don’t deliver I need a plan B and that's where I hope one of you good people might be able to help me. Do any of you live near Castle Douglas or know anyone that does and if so would you/they be able to help by going to the shop to get the figures needed? I'd go myself but my 'chair hasn't the range nor do I have an extension lead long enough. Obviously I'll pay for the figures and any costs incurred and for your time. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and would be grateful beyond words if someone can help. Thank you.

When I first saw this I thought I’d missed hearing about a new official Lego release. I’d never have known it was an alternate build, in my opinion it’s so much better than the Daytona. Great work.

I used these printed parts on my GT3, Chiron and have a set ready for the Defender when I rebuild it to the Pimped version. They're expensive but are great quality.

Build Days 11 & 12 / Building Time - 8hrs / Total Building Time - 42.5hrs I’m more than a little happy to say that a couple of days ago I was given the OK to resume building. It seems to be an absolute eternity but the Dr did say it would likely be a couple of weeks or so which my mind interpreted to mean I’d be back at it in a day or two which I guess was wishful thinking on par with the woodcutters desire for sausages. With the green light given I’ve had the last couple of days reacquainting myself with the poor neglected CAT which was great especially as everything went really well. Right up until the time when it didn’t. What you see in the last photo is as far as I got today because when taking said photo I noticed that the actuator assemblies looked different and upon closer inspection indeed they were. You can see for yourself that the right one has the 12T bevel gear at the front and the other not, it’s at the back. At this point the sensible thing to do would be to: A) consult the instruction book to confirm there’s an error and set about correcting it or B) consult the instruction book to confirm that all’s as it should be and carry on with the build. I did neither. No, I chose instead to consult the instruction book only after spending 45 minutes or so carefully moving the left side 12T bevel gear to the front because that’s where I thought it should be. And then spent almost an hour moving it back to where it was in the first place. There are times when sensible I am not.

I think this is a great and really interesting way to show a model. I tried something similar myself once...

I'm all for not having accidents and don't go looking for them, however history suggests they seem to have very little trouble finding me 🙄

Thank you for your very kind words. I too have the Yamaha on order. Strangely, considering I have a life long passion for bikes I've only ever built 3 Lego ones, the 857 Motorcycle & Sidecar, 8838 Shock Cycle and the 42007 Moto Cross Bike so I'm very much looking forward to building it. I hope you do get to build the CAT. Although I'm yet to finish mine I know it's going to be a really nice set and is proving to be a really enjoyable building experience.

I think the poor staff were confused enough. They seem to got over that though. Today during a check to see if all’s healing as it should the Doctor said he'd had a look at the CAT online. He'd also downloaded the instructions but nowhere in said instructions could he find the step that said to fit one's hand to the model 🙄

Good thinking, build as per instructions it is. Thank you for taking the time to reply. That’s very kind of you. Thank you very much. This echoes what Maaboo the Witch said ‘There’s usually a reason sets are built the way they are, particularly in relation to gear ratios. Thanks again.

Looks like a really fun project. Thank you for sharing. Yay…a fellow Kelly’s Heroes fan. It’s one of my favourites also. George and I watched it just last weekend. It was the first time he’d seen it and he loved it 🙂

Hello My Friends I hope you are all well. I’ve heard tell that the CAT’s blade raise/lower is something not dissimilar to glacial and so would like to speed it up at bit if possible. I’ve been looking through the instructions (which is all I can do for a while 😠) and was wondering if swapping around the gears on pages 386 & 387 would provide the solution. May I ask if anyone has tried this and if so does it make a noticeable difference in speed? Thank you.

I'm pretty sure there are many other ways to sustain an injury when building Technic. I just haven't found them yet 🙄

Who me...? 🙂

Hi Igor I’m completely fine, thank you. Not sure I can say the same for the young Doctor who, after he removing the axle from my hand asked ‘can you move your fingers?’ Of course I said ‘I’m sorry, I can’t’ after which the colour visibly drained from his face and he looked like he was going to burst into tears. Poor man, the nurse had omitted to inform him I’m a Tetraplegic. I felt so sorry for him. Needless to say, he was a very happy young man upon receiving said information. Would one of your ideas happen to be a pair of parallel jaw forceps (not pliers) by any chance? It the one tool I’ve been after for years but haven’t been able to find anywhere. I’ve tried sponge (duck jaw) forceps and suchlike but they’re too wide to get into tight places. I too wouldn’t have expected it but as with so many things Lego, I was proved spectacularly wrong. Thank you for your best wishes. To all intents & purposes I’m fully recovered and will be back building (carefully) in a few days. To quote the great Monty Python, ‘Tis but a scratch’ 😀

I've been pushing axles into place the same way for years and never had a problem, had a few 'near misses' but nothing this bad. It's entirely own fault. Doc suggested I start wearing baseball mitts 🙄. Indeed. Who'd have thought it. Still, makes a change from parts attaching themselves to my lip when fitting them together. That is painful 🥴 Thank you. I'm completely fine and will be back building in a few days. I guess they thought prospective builders would know better. They obviously didn't expect my level of stupid 🙄

Build Day 10 / Building Time - 4hrs / Total Building Time - 34.5hrs Not much to show for 4hrs building I’m afraid. I'm embarrassed to say fitting seven 15100 Pin with Pin Hole cost me very nearly 2 hours! I’ve always had trouble fitting this pesky little blighter so frustration & delay was entirely predictable. What wasn't entirely predictable though was a trip to the local hospital which put paid to the days building. I was having problems fitting the yellow 5L Axles with the black Connectors that pass through the 28T Turntables. They were supposed go through and the Axle fit into a Connector leaving the Connector at the opposite end sitting flush with the 'face' of the Turntable. Frustratingly I couldn’t get my finger in between the pinholes on the Turntables to push the Axle and Connectors far enough through so I was left with about a stud length of the Connector sticking out. Obviously they couldn't be left like that so, in what seemed like a good idea at the time, I fitted a 5L Axle into each protruding Connector and put the thick fleshy part of each palm (no idea of the correct term) against them and pushed as hard as I could to get those Connectors sitting right.

Thank you. I’m very pleased with how it’s progressing. Yes, I’m a big fan of Project Binky, I’ E lost count how many times I’ve watched it from the beginning. In my opinion it’s the best of it’s type, no over excited, try hard presenters of false jeopardy. I just wish the updates were more frequent but with the amount of other stuff they’re involved in I’m surprised we get any updates at all. All the Bad Obsession guys projects are really good. My other favourite channels are Harry’s Garage, Harry’s Farm and the Late Brake Show.

Build Day 9 / Building Time - 6.5hrs / Total Building Time - 30.5hrs With the building of the engine done I was looking forward to an easy day with no problems and for the most part that’s how it was until that is I swiped to the next page of the instructions and saw it was time for the 90° Elbow Macaroni pieces to make an appearance. Building using these little blighters can sometimes be somewhat problematic and today was one of those times. For a while anyways. The first picture shows what I was trying to fit together. With the Macaroni piece being curved I couldn’t easily get any purchase on it to push the parts together and when I did it and the parts I was trying to fit to would shoot away, scattering in all directions. After almost an hour of trying a solution came to mind. Fit the red 2L Axle into a hole on a 3x5 L Shape Liftarm and use the ‘elbow’ of the L to put my palm against to push the parts together. Simple and effective. Fitting the Macaroni pieces with 8L axles that’ll eventually be the exhausts to the assembly proved to be a right royal pain in the proverbial resulting in three Macaroni pieces and four 8L axles finding themselves deposited in the recycling bin, all tooth damaged or bent beyond further use. I really hate damaging parts and do my very best not to but unfortunately the way I build means occasionally some do end up in the recycling. Good job I’ve a plentiful and varied selection of spares. Thankfully, with solutions found and new parts sorted out building progressed at a good pace.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy building them, it is Lego afterall. I just find trying to put them together incredibly frustrating made worse because I can’t find an easier way. When I do get it together it’s pretty fragile and I very often end up with it in pieces and starting again 🤯. I’m also pleased how the CAT’s going, it’s starting to take shape now 🙂 Hello Edwin That’s one very nice present for your Daughter. I’m sure she’s one very happy Young Lady.

Build Day 8 / Building Time - 5hrs / Total Building Time - 24hrs When I went into to my shed today my usual enthusiasm for building was somewhat diminished. The reason, the prospect of putting together the CAT's V12 engine or more specifically its crankshaft. I've yet to find a way of doing them that makes it easier and so they usually add an hour or more to the days building. I've written about why they're so difficult in numerous posts over the years so I’ll spare you more repetition Being a V12 I was fully prepared for a long, frustrating few hours but happily the first few parts went together without too much trouble. This went on right up until while pressing the last 2854 Crankshaft Centre into place I must have pushed it and the other end of the almost completed crankshaft (just 6 parts left to fit ) together too hard or at an angle and everything shot everywhere. The pistons & con rods were just about the only parts that stayed together. Thinking about now it was just as well it did really because if it came apart to that degree then I’d not put it together very well. Thankfully, and unlike ‘part explosions,’ of recent times, all the parts were recovered and just over 3 hours later the crankshaft was reassembled. I even got the pistons into the bores pretty quickly & easily so allowed myself a few moments of self congratulation. It then occurred to me I’d got a pair of homeless pistons at one end and an equal number of vacant bores at the other. I suppose I could have left things as they were and just said I was building the British Leyland way but...

Jake’s just told me I have to get this… and when I’ve finished it build a tree 🫤

Flipping heck. That thing looks so much better with the longer boom but alas still no way it’d go on my shelf. Although thinking about it, I could keep it on the floor and use it to fetch stuff off of the shelves…🙂