Pentomind

As stated above : nothing (yet) ?

The mirrors credit go to the designer of the 42009 as it is the set from where i took inspiration. :-) I didn't really plane anything, except for the shape of the exhaust pipes :p. I first build the rear drivetrain, with the two encased differential, then I connected a motor to it using as few part as possible. I then build the steering axle, and connected the motor so it was as compact as possible. Once the two parts were build, I looked at some Kenworth and Peterbilt truck blueprints on google in order to estimate the distance betwwen front and rear wheels and connected the two halves of the frame. The trickiest part was to build the front fender because I wanted it to be close to the wheels but I had to let enough space for them to steer. Once I was satisfied with the driving performances I started building the cab, starting from the hood. There were a lot of trial and failed attempts before I ended up with something satisfying. At the end I added some lights and details to make it more realistic (like the air filters, steering wheel or the tiles between the steps and the fuel tanks.). The last thing I did was to add the Battery Box and IR receiver, this is why the area is not very clean. I was quite short on parts. Now I try to improve the build. I stare at the truck for long minutes until I see something that I can build differently. For example in the areas where I used 4 parts when I could have used only 1. ;-) The gray strip is not intended, it is just a lucky coincidence that it matches the gray panels and IR receiver. But I think the exhaust pipes would pop out better if the panel behind was DBG. I'm not sure about adding an engine. It is supposed to be remote controlled and it would not add anything to the playability. Plus, I wouldn't be able to install the Buwizz anymore...

I thought of something like this : I don't think suspension would be useful at that scale, and I'm afraid it would compromise the sturdiness of the model...

EDIT 08/22 - CURRENT STATE : Here is a truck I just made (well, it actually took me several days) while being confined. I don't like to take apart my sets on display to MOC so I had to do with just a bunch of spare part I had, hence the strange color scheme and some questionable building technics and aesthetic choices (for example, I didn't had anything to make the front radiator grill so i had to improvise...) I wanted to make an American style Truck, inspired by the 5571, 5591, 8285 and more recently 42078, and remote controlled so I can have a little fun with it. Please don't be to harsh, this is my first Technic MOC that didn't end at the prototype status. The original goal was to test my new Buwizz but I finally used only original Lego PF element, because I rather use a physical remote than a smartphone. It is powered by a L motor (with the drivetrain as follow : Motor---16T / 16T---20T / differential / 20T--20T / differential) ) and steered with a servo, with a decent speed and a good steering lock. The IR receiver and standard AA battery box are housed in the back of the cab, and the latest can slide up for replacement by tilting the foldable spoiler forward. The spoiler can also be folded all the way down to make the cabin roof flat. The doors can be opened and the hood can be lifted, even though there is no fake engine underneath because that's where I furst intended to put the Buwizz. (Actually there is still enough room for it so I could convert the truck to a Buwizz model and remove all the biggest section of the cab for a more lightweight truck. :-) I could also run an axle under the cabin to the engine compartment and run a fake engine from the exposed 16T gear... A lot of work, thoughts, trial and errors went into the building of this truck, so I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. There is still A LOT room for improvement, but unfortunately I was limited by the parts I had. Almost all of my grey and black liftarms and technic connectors whereused in the process ! I am not entirely satisfied by the roof of the cabin in the IR receiver area, which is a bit messy, and I really wish I had DBG curved panel for the sides instead of LBG ones. And of course, I wish I could replace the ugly black plate at the front with a proper truck grill. I also have to add a fifth wheel, as it is not able to pull anything in this configuration. It should be easy anyway, as I have a lot of mounting option at the rear (the black panel is only there for aesthetic purpose). I just have to figure out something with the parts i have left... In the end I like very much how it turned out though, and I may consider a bricklink order to fix the aforementioned issues once the lock-down is over. In the mean time, any comment and suggestion for improvement is welcome ! :-) EDIT : now with a running fake engine !

New Update ! I haven't posted in a while but I spent some time building new characters. :-) Actually i have BL ordered a lot of the main part that compose those figure in a large range of color and put them all in an old technic case with compartments so I have everything by my desk to build one character or two when I am in the mood. Unfortunately I don't Have time to photo-shoot them all and therefore I am not able to introduce them all one by one so I decided to make a group picture ! :-D The other big news (for me) is that I finally came up with an elegant building technic to give them rotating wrists ! :D:D:D It helps a lot to give them dynamic pose, especially with accessories. Unfortunately the bracket is hard to fine for a reasonable price so the conversion is still in progress :-) I really hope you will enjoy these new addition, I'm very proud of them !

Now comes a guy that is a little bit different from the others. His name's Sc00t, he has fully embraced his condition of synthetic being and actually does looks a lot like a robot. He's very skilled with encrypted communication and secret information interception, and used to work for a secret non governmental organization before retiring in my living room. He likes gadgets and technology, and carries around a set of modern warfare gear and equipment. His headgear allows him to communicate at long distance, his bionic eye grants him nightvision and his backpack incorporates high hend computing technology as well as secret spying technology. He also carries a "long range communication interception device'' but I suspect it to be far more lethal than what he pretends... As I said his conception is a little bit different from his brother's. He can raise and lower his shoulders and his ankles have a greater range of motion. on the downside, his knees cannot rotate sideway, so he cannot sit with his legs crossed...

The next one's nickname is VLC (guess why ^^). He looks a little bit like Pole, whit the same kind of figure and philosophy : A robust, simple character with a bright color scheme. He is younger but equally fit and even more adventurous, and try to escape as soon as I turn my back from the shelf. He like to be noticed and managed to DIY his hair in trans orange ! He also carry around a pair of fire swords, even though he is totally incapable of properly grilling the slightest steak... :-( At first i wanted to make a construction worker or hazardous environment specialist, something with bright colors and black and yellow strips. I couldn't find the parts I needed so I went for a fire-themed character instead. I first incorporated a lot of trans-orange part but I was not satisfied with the result, and I liked the vibrant bright orange color so much that I decided to go for a (almost) full orange suit.

The next one is one of the oldest of the bunch. He doesn't have a name (yet) so I refer to Him as ''The Warrior'' or ''The Grumpy One''. He is Taller than his companions (by half a stud !), stronger, and has bigger arms. He has something on his chin that I think is supposed to represent some kind of beard but I cannot confirm as he is very sensitive about the topic... He can also move his ''ears'' in any direction but never do it as he thinks it makes him ''look weird''...

I haven't posted in the thread for a wile and I don't know if anybody reads it, but I wanted to share a little update anyway. I have still improved HECTOR, in order to make him smoother and more durable and less likely to fall appart. Here is the latest version of the boy. He now have DBG ankles, white gloves and rounded more durable thighs (and a yellow round butt that you cannot see in the pics ) Hector was not meant to be a lonely guy, and he now have quite a fellowship of friends that I'd like to introduce to you. You've already met Pole, so I'll start with him. He's quite a nice little buddy, with a simple blue and red outfit and is build to be versatile and durable. He is the one that I use to carry around in my pocket when i want to bring some fun with me. I choose those color because they were the main colors of the company I used to work for when Pole was born, and he's actually been wandering around my desk for several month (until I left this job actually). He's my second favorite after Hector even though I don't share his interest for Yoga, Karate, and other sports.... ^^

Woah it's really interesting to see how you guys came up to different designs to the same problem. Thanks for sharing!

It was easy since the remote is designed to be 100% compatible with the powered up hub used in the batmobile. It paired up without any issue. I just had to switch the motor connectors from left to right to have It match the buttons side on the remote.

Hello, Context : I bought the 76112 remote controlled and the last update made it impossible to control with a smartphone because of Bluetooth issues, so I bough a Powered up remote control. The problem is : I have big thumbs and because of the stop button located between the (+) and the (-) buttons, I kept stopping one of the motor all the time by pressing the (+) or (-) button, making the play much less fun. I tried to find a solution to be able to press the power buttons easily without touching the central button, to get a feeling similar to the power function remotes and I came with the following solution. It's not as comfortable as the "old" power function remotes but it does the trick and I no longer accidentally press the stop button when playing with my Batmobile. I hope it will be useful to my fellow big-thumbed remote control vehicles-lovers Lego enthusiasts ! If you have any idea to improve the control (three studs long is a little short), please share it here !

Really nice, despite the lack of functions ! I was thinking of something like this since I first saw the set. Thank you for taking time to make free instructions too. :-) Do you think it would be possible to add a folding loading ramp at the back with the leftover parts ? It would be nice to be able to lad a vehicle on it. ^^ Something like this :

Hello every body. Few weeks ago I was about to go to bed at 2 AM when i noticed some parts left unattended on my desk. I started playing with it and 1 hour later I came up with what turned into one of the funniest and coolest little thing I ever made. :-) I like it very much, so I decide to share it with you. Let me introduce... Hector ! This is the first version of him, built only with some spare parts I had. This is why he misses a hand on this very early picture. When Lego announced their new small ball-joint system, I was very excited and ordered a handful of them off Bricklink, without knowing what to do whit it, just thinking it had some great potential. Hector is the realization of this potential. A small, yet very posable figure with a sturdy build and very lifelike proportions and articulations. I tried to give him an aristocratic and peaceful look, like some kind of tiny butler ^^ (even though he think of him a as some kind of prince). As I mentioned before, what I like the most whith Hector is his amazing posing potential ! His soles are wide enough to balance him on one feet and all the joints stay in place when posed : You may have noticed that hector seems a little different on the last picture, that's because he went trough some improvement since the V1 ! One of the biggest flaw of the prototype was the ability for the knees to bend inward. I solved the issue by adding ''kneecaps". I also made him a lighter face and made his arms and feet more sleek. I ended up liking Hector so much that I made him a friend, Pole ! But I will tell you about him later....

test over

I'm not sure it could handle the weight of the horse, It's possible that the axle running trough the gear at the bottom twists because of the weight. Maybe it could work if the horse have two legs on the ground, or if you create a reinforced version of the stand...

I was not able to identify which part is 30260, but here is a picture of the bottom part : and here is a copy of the part list to build this stand (two half bushes are missing from the list) :

Hello ! For my first topic here I would like to share with you a small thing I made that proved itself very useful ! I've had my 31039 sitting at the top of a 2 meters high shelf for a few month now and all I could see all day was the underneath of it. I was quite sad of this because I love this set and it's a very displayable model so I decided to work on a stand to display it. I wanted it to be : - As light as possible - Easy to use with any model - Made of common parts (actually the few parts I had left available) - And most important with ADJUSTABLE TILT ANGLE so I can modify the model position depending of how high the model is displayed. Here is the result : The stand is very sturdy and can handle a quite heavy model as long as it is well balanced on the stand. The model connects thanks to two 1x4 Technic bricks joined by a 2x4 plate : The parts are quite common and the rarest of them is the black 24T (I wanted the stand as black as possible ) Here are some pictures of the stand with the model on display : I also tested it with the 75102 and 75175 and both worked fine with the stand ! I think it can be easily modified to display technic models by replacing the technic bricks with Beams. I hope you will enjoy this stand, feel free to ask any question or suggest any improvement ! Oh and here is what it looks like on display at the top of the shelf :

It's neat, but twice the price of efferman's stand, and may not be as durable... The minifig stand is nice though. :-)

the seven stud beam in the top right corner of the first picture is not correctly assembled. It should have two holes in common with the 2x4 L shaped part on it's left (the 5L axle +.one 3L pin). Because of that mistake the two side are too far appart one from the other. the 2x4 L shaped part on the right bottom corner is bent and shouldn't, I think's it's a side effect of the afformentionned mistake. :-)

Just received the part from Bricklink. i was able to find most of the parts in DBG instead of LBG, which greatly reduced the cost (35€ shipped). Thanks again to Efferman for sharing this with the community, and to Lucio Switch for the instructions. Can't wait to complete the model and display it !

Great work indeed, you may have saved me with this. I've had my MF for weeks and it's still in it's box because I don't have anywhere to display, or even store it flat. I would like to have it enclosed in a custom built display case. I guess once on the stand it's still 84 cm long, but how high is it with the slight angle ? Thanks for your help !