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Bublehead

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by Bublehead

  1. Bublehead
    Welcome to the big rig club, come on in, the water is fine... Love this. Nice work. Would love to see it side by side with my T&H rig, you did a great job skinnying down the crane.
  2. Bublehead
    @Didumos69, been reading through the pub, came across your music suggestion of B.B.’s Sabotage on 12 hour loop. Not sure I have listened to it that many hours in a row, but that is my favorite BB track, and I had never seen that video. Thanks for pointing me to it. I loved it when they used it in the reboot of Star Trek And to keep off topic, I decided to “me too” my Bugatti purchase here... so it clutters up this thread and not the Chirons My wife has already commandeered it and is holding it for ransom... somebody call the authorities please! ? ?
  3. Bublehead
    @Jack Bloomer, I found a used 911 on Craigslist a year ago for $180... the Chiron will be cheaper used around this time next year. And used 911’s might be easier to find when people sell them to buy the Chiron. Keep an eye on CL my friend.
  4. Bublehead
    Awesome Logo
  5. Bublehead
    I went and looked at the reverse engineering they are doing on Boost and wedo on github. The pinout is reversible voltage on pins 1 & 2 to drive a motor fwd and rev, pin 3 is ground, pin 4 is Vcc, pins 5 & 6 are ID and data bits to identify what is plugged into the port and then data encoded to transmit motor position, or sensor data. At least we can rule out multiple motors ganged together with y cables if this holds true. I think it is going to be one motor/sensor per port only, and the unit for trains is the small, AAA, two port brick, and we will see a second brick/BB that is a 4 port AA version that will work with the new controller for two channels but needs app support and tablet/smartphone to access the other 2 ports. At least that is my hope as well as my guess. I don’t think we will see more than 4 ports though ?
  6. Bublehead
    A point of reference: Phoenix Az USA has 2 Lego Stores. My store has 80 Chirons for sale. So the city of Phoenix will have access to possibly only 160 to 200 sets total. First come, first serve, no reservations, no waiting list, no pre-sales, no setbacks, layaways, or holds. No VIP exclusive access, or employee discount sales. They want this set to be On The Shelf when non-Lego enthusiasts walk in the door.
  7. Bublehead
    42043 Arocs Mercedes Truck 42055 BWE 42054 Claas Tractor these three sets give you an awesome parts selection to build or develope your own MOC (My Own Creation)... add the Porsche 911 if you want to build supercars, and add the Tracked racer for RC capabilities. Those 5 sets will set you back a bunch, but the parts you will have to select from will be pretty well rounded.
  8. Bublehead
    @Andy D, Nope, already mentioned smartphone or tablet as possible way to access more capabilities... we are in a holding pattern now waiting on more data, just like everyone else.
  9. Bublehead
    Sorry off topic, but snap together kits NEVER looked better than the glued ones. With glue there were less gaps in seams. And we all know what people think about gaps. Now back to your regularly scheduled topic... You can remember your grandfather saying “kids these days” and now that I am older, the phenomenon is not lost on me. There is a generational difference between my generation and those that followed. My play time was divided up between physical activity, playing with toys, and watching television (including commercials) on a time table somebody else scheduled. “Kids these days” have it divided up even more, with social media, the internet, physical activity, watching videos (not necessarily TV), and they don’t have to watch commercials as much as we did, nor watch just what was on at the time, they have streaming services and YouTube and can watch what they want when they want. So TLG has to adapt to fit into this paradigm. The toy MUST keep them engaged to be effective in selling more toys. If a child loses interest, then TLG has lost the game. Technicolor is one way they have changed to try and ensure the child finishes the build and plays with the toy. So, yes, there is a big difference between my experience with Lego and Technic when I was young, and the experience “Kid these days” have, and as sticks in the mud, we AFOLs need to understand Lego’s predicament and cut them a little slack.
  10. Bublehead
    Technic fruit juicer? Anyone? No? ?
  11. Bublehead
    @Erik Leppen, agreed, so many Porsche addicts really helped the rest of us out. Not sure the 900 parts are the sole reason for the increase though. (see my post above)
  12. Bublehead
    @dforce, we are on the same page, just a couple paragraphs off @Kumbbl, parts count is a very rough estimate of cost. Look at cost of Mack Anthem and it’s piece count or the 42069. On average part cost is around $0.10 historically, but that is sometimes blown out of the water when tooling costs (which for high accuracy injection molds can be upwards of $150,000 to $250,000 PER mold) outpace the cost of pressing plastic, or sourcing electronics and motors. TLG could add 1000 parts to a set with very minimum cost if the pieces are standard existing and well used parts. These part runs have the cost of mold replacement and repair already factored in since they are part of the catalog that is shared by all Technic and possibly System sets. Adding new parts to the catalog, especially parts that may not have usage in other sets, and may be a one time pressing can really inflate the BOM and increase the bottom line cost. I think the extra $50 is a factor of all of these. The 911 did well, so an increase to squeeze a little out of everyone, Bugatti is more exclusive, so licensing might be a little higher, and new parts and molds added a little more $$$ and inflation a little more $$$.
  13. Bublehead
    Ok, I will admit that I had not checked back here after posting my intro and want to thank everyone belatedly for their greetings. @Agent Kallus, @Void_S, @Littleworlds, @dr_spock, @icm I am enjoying my time here at EB, and have worked my way into the swing of things pretty well, and everybody seems to forgive my initial gaffs so I hope I can add something to the conversation.
  14. Bublehead
    @dforce, at $2.5 million a pop, I bet they get more per pop on the little version just like they do on the full size one. The more exclusive, the more $$$. Bugatti and Volkswagen didn’t do this to help sell Chirons, and you can bet they get a little bit of that $350 in their pockets, that is the nature of licensing. TLG is the benefactor of this collaboration, and would have to pay something for the rights to the likeness and name, even if only a euro per set. You don’t go giving away IP (intellectual property) without a cost analysis and no ROI (return on investment). To VW and Bugatti, this is usually a no brainer since their cost is just time and access to engineers and drawings. It may be a wash, and they might do it at no cost to TLG for the positive publicity, but somewhere there is a bean counter who has counted these beans and someone who green lighted it one way or another. My bet is they had to pay.
  15. Bublehead
    After releasing this? Absolutely. Especially after they ended up having to recall The original for catching fire, that sucker will be off the market as soon as possible.
  16. Bublehead
    But only 2 channels of RC, single IR receiver... I am talking individually controlled motors, not the stack-ability of motors per channel. The motorized excavator, the motorized Bulldozer, and the Wheeled loader are the only ones using 2 IR receivers per set.
  17. Bublehead
    Ok, so the 911 was the number nine earner for 2017, but maybe not the 9th most sold set. That means the premium they put on it worked an so that’s why the Chiron is $350. If it worked once, it will work again mentality is a bit overrated. They would have been better off keeping the same price point but that license to Bugatti might have a lot higher $$$ tag per set than the boys at Wolfsburg were charging.
  18. Bublehead
    Well, maybe not if you are in the market to sell more PU bricks and controllers. Can you imagine having to shoehorn two of these in a model to get the same functionality we had with the 42030? I’m hoping there is a Double A version with 4 ports coming for the Technic PU version. I think that is a reasonable assumption seeing TLG wants to keep at least the same functionality they have used in the past. And no official TLG Technic set has ever used more than 2 channels and 4 outputs before. Only aftermarket MOCs have used more than 2 IR recievers in their builds IIRC. But this also means there would have to be either another 4 channel remote, or the other channels are accessed via the smartphone/tablet app. Not sure. Six wires may mean 2 extra for additional stackable channels, so maybe a y connector or w connector to allow multiple motors to plug into a single port. I’m just guessing at this point, but that’s how I would have done it.
  19. Bublehead
    Ok, do the instruction books come unsealed inside the box? I usually leave my instructions sealed and use the pdf versions online. Since I bought my 911 used, I don’t know how they come misb. Anyone know if they are planning on releasing instructions tomorrow online?
  20. Bublehead
    @Jim, off topic but can you share the top 10 list for 2017 someplace?
  21. Bublehead
    I’m expecting this: single short button push, step one speed control, hold button on, full on, additional short presses step up speed by one step, red button for stop. Same for negative direction
  22. Bublehead
    Sometimes I think we get decisions that are made when they are NOT getting their meds.
  23. Bublehead
    Ok, managed to sleep through the leaked content... so now I have to listen to a description of it in every post? Looks like I will have to do something else for the rest of today besides checking EB forum. Need to go grab a place in line at the old Lego Store anyways...
  24. Bublehead
    Yeah, my 10019 rubber bands where nothing more than thin slices of bicycle innertube and vaporized only a couple of years after being on the shelf. Currently there are none on it and friction is the only thing keeping the plates formed. The silicone bands, however, should last 50+ years or more, or so my Ophthalmologist told me when he put one around my left eye during retinal detachment surgery. I asked when would it need to be removed or replaced and he said, never, you will have it around your eye for life. So fingers crossed.
  25. Bublehead
    Now for something completely different... If anyone cares, the silicone Lego rubber bands seem to last forever. I used several in both white, blue, yellow and red on my 8880 MOD and when I dug it out after 18 years, they were as good as new, still strong, still pliable, still worked as the day I installed them. Got to love those.
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