Bublehead

Yeah, some use blueprints at the right scale and match their MOC to it by building on top of it or comparing it. Some just eyeball it. Some get their calipers out and gnats butt every dimension. It’s all a matter of personal experience and preferences.

And I hate the sound of crickets when a joke falls flat... can’t you hear them? They are deafening.

Sorry, guys, but I missed your references as well. Humor sometimes requires a common experience or reference and looses its humor when you have to explain it. I would be glad to hear, though, an explanation from either of you via PM or here because I would like to laugh with you. That is why I started this thread. I was poking fun at myself on not getting any reaction to my joke, because I am sure some people actually got it, not that I was actually disappointed. So remember to tip your waitresses. I am here till next Thursday. Try the Veal...

Seriously, no one got the Fahrenheit 221 joke? smh

You need to be careful when using these words around here <sheds tear>, believe me, I know from personal experience. ?

Dark ages can come on for many reasons... real life gets in the way, you think you are developing carpal tunnel syndrome from playing with bricks (my reason for giving them up in 2010 to 2016) or you have too many irons in your fire. Heck just getting an idea out of your head that has been in there for 25 years can send you into a grey period, which for me happened after finishing my last MOC. But then I worked on it for 8 months straight nearly daily, interspersed with building official Lego models as I purchased them used on craigslist. I am sitting with a huge backlog of sets right now and I am taking a break at building to concentrate on some of my own irons in other fires including 3-D printing, and finishing my three axis CNC router table along with the host of other things on my honey do list from my wife. I am staying active in my technic hobby right now by reading and posting on the forum but I am certain that once the bug bites me again, my forum activity will drop to nothing and you won’t hear from me for a while while I finish my next MOC. One piece of advice- don’t sell your Lego! Pack it up and put it away, but don’t get rid of it. You will seriously regret it in the future. I didn’t sell mine, but I did give it away to my brother, and he has a really nice collection now and I’ve told him I don’t care if he gets rid of it, but so far he has held onto it thank goodness.

I am right there with @TeamThrifty, wheels set the scale- like the tires from Arocs, used as semi truck tires can be 45 inches to 49 inches in height depending on if you make the 7.75 stud diameter represent R22,5 or R24.5 tires, respectively. This gives a rough scale of 1.9 to 2 studs per foot which you then use to determine width which has to be an odd number so you find the closest odd number nearest to (width in feet of real vehicle x 2). A semi truck is 8.5 feet wide so 8.5x2 = 17 studs. Or using the 1.9 stud per foot would give 16.15 studs. So you are still going to probably go 17 studs wide. The Arocs stretches the scale a little since it was 17 studs wide at the cabin, 19 wide including fenders, 21 wide including mirrors, where a true semi should not be over 17 studs wide at the fenders. Height of a semi is 13.5 feet so 13.5x2=27 studs, so scale height should not exceed that but could be as low as 26. So if you do the math, and measure, the Arocs pneumatic scoop arm is WAY out of scale height wise. This is one reason my Twirl & Hurl is a bit tall in scale as well, since I figure if TLG can get away with it, so can I.

@allanp, funny!

@allanp, actually that is sort of what I was saying when they provide 3 different colors of the same part for different steps at different times during the build, but unfortunately those colors don’t come in nice contrasting colors that match the model, they come in the standard colors they mold that part in. Such as the 3L bush with double pin comes in red, black, and light grey. To achieve economies of scale, It is imperative that TLG mold as many pieces of a common part as needed by their production schedule in the quantities of the colors required. This makes a lot of what makes up the set molded in common colors. Specialty runs for specific parts in specific colors just for a single set are not common for common parts. This is the reason for vomit even in very small sets. They reuse colors over again because they have a wharehouse full of panels in dark azure, so we get sets with dark azure panels the next year or two. TLG has no idea how popular a set will become once they hit the shelves. They have statistical data and forecasts but the market is a fickle thing. Initial production runs might press all the panels for a set for 20k copies. Yet initial boxing might only pack 10k of them leaving 10k sets worth in the warehouse. Sales for the model are weak and they kit no more. You now have 10k worth of azure panels to get rid of next year or 2H of this year or by 2H of next year. But all of this comes from SOP of being a manufacturer of a product. These concepts are very common in manufacturing. They are the same concepts we used when I worked at Grimes Aerospace designing aircraft lighting components for Boeing jumbo jets and US military aircraft. And a lot of this information has been shared by the designers in many different videos online. Especially addressing the colors and their reuse and why the color matrix will NOT be filled in any time soon. It also means, if you like using a part in your models a lot and in a variety of colors, buy them while they are in production!!! Lego warehouses a lot of parts, but once they are gone, it requires a new model usually to get them repressed again.

In the post above about the NG documentary, in it they show the marriage of the monocoque tub to the motor. They are held together with 14 bolts.

I build the model that I think is the coolest first, which is usually the A model but not always. B models get built when I buy a second copy of the set for parts, but usually they don’t hang around long because I bought them for parts, ? Mods tend to hang around for ever in the collection (my 18 year old 8880 for example) along with cool A models. When parts were harder to come by, it was anything goes when a part was needed... now with the inter webs and BL they are but a weeks wait away...usually. German stores, although cheaper, take forever to clear customs when shipping to the states. Multiple copies beyond the second one get left in the box until a certain piece is needed and then they might get totally incorporated into the collective, but I have surgically removed individual parts from sets and left them in the box in bags until I get time to sort them out. I cannibalize parts off of displayed models during heated building sessions when I need to know “will it fit or will it work?” and it’s the only copy of that part I own. Sorting... if not in numbered bags, yes. I usually sort the whole set out before starting. If in numbered bags, sometimes I sort each bag before starting the steps for it, sometimes I just pour them in my sorting tray and go to work. Depends on the size of the bag. With unnumbered bags, however, it depends on where I am building. If at a table, sort them all out. If reclining on the couch, I leave them in their bags and sit them in rows next to me, opening them just enough to get each part through the opening, widening the opening as each required part needs to fit through. Leaving them in their boxes... to sell only if really valuable, but I am not a Lego speculator/investor. The only one still in its box due to value is the LE Crawler 41999.

@dr_spock, I believe that set is the only place to get a Technic 32L axle right now. Thank goodness for Bricklink... I didn’t have to buy this set to get them.

+1 for sure

According to several designer video interviews, and even my own brief chat with one, the rules are many to learn and keep track of. The primary focus for TLG is their core play experience for the child, and part identification during the build is a frustration pinch point. The same parts (axles, pins, stops) in different colors may be that way because the red ones are needed to differentiate parts in step 10 to 15 but way later in the build this same part can get confused with another red part so they use grey or yellow at step 127 in the build. Color selection may be determined by WHEN in the build it needs to be found and used. Also, looking for a single part in a sea of 2500 parts and not finding it is a common trigger that makes a child give up and abandon the build and reject the toy. This is a big fail factor for TLG and a lot of the effort (to the point of having a whole different group within TLG to do this!) including the vomit, instruction steps and build sequence deal with avoiding this trap. Numbered bags are also part of this philosophy and are incorporated sometimes to help push the age range of a more complex set into a lower age group. Numbered bags are for the kids, not AFOLs. So if you ever wondered why numbered bags are in set A but are not in set B, you now know one possible reason why. Actually 90% of Lego is purchased by grandmothers (and parents)

@Didumos69, that is a cool mechanism. Have you used it in a sequential gearbox?

@Didumos69, it took me a long time to finish my Twirl & Hurl because once I got it to the point of all the functions working, I ended up playing with it instead of finishing it. I played for what seemed like just a little bit, but according to my wife it was an hour plus every time I sat down with it. It sat on the kitchen table for weeks and I would just sit down and play with it... till 2am in the morning. It has been well play tested at least by me and my nieces and nephews, neighborhood kids, that homeless man over there, a passing stranger, the paper boy, the maid, garbage man, the guy that sprays my yard for scorpions... you get the idea

@Omikron, I used to be in Team Purist, but you can call me a Team Heretic member now... Although I have not bought one yet, the third party PF controllers are one sin I can forgive. Fahrenheit 221 anybody?

@bombcar, why protect your motors and gears with a white clutch gear when a single 24T gear will shatter them just as effectively?

I’m thinking the spoiler/brake will extend as you shift through the gears and maybe flip up when you push the (fake) brake pedal. At least that would be how I would do it.

? ? ?

@brickless_kiwi, I bow to the king of procrastinators... My own MOC got in the way of building my backlog sets. The wife has been complaining about my collection spreading like a virus and attempting to take over the whole house. That is why three of these sets are going to be used as prizes in a future contest later this year. A flagship set, a 2000+ piece non PF set, and a 500 to 1000 part set, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. So first place gets to choose a flagship from this lineup, 2nd chooses from any non PF set, third chooses any non PF set less than 1100 parts. Until then, though, I will probably be building on my next MOC and what ever 2H 2018 sets are released.

@zux, it would seem it’s something I don’t think we want either

What is funny is I started this thread as a tongue in cheek poke at ourselves and it really has turned into just that, all of us poking fun at all of us. Really seems to have brightened everyone’s day and mood just a little. But now I’m sounding like a motivational speaker and I hate motivational speakers... Suddely I hate myself and question my entire existence... what am I doing with my life... I coulda been a contender... wait, what? Oh a new Technic flagship set? Does it have the new PF2 or is it using we-do hardware? Boost!?! No way...

@Erik Leppen and @Saberwing40k, if you like shrink ray and big-o-beam or expando-ray, or what ever, feel free to claim them... anything to promote Technic Lego and have fun.

@TeamThrifty, no, I believe if you are twisting and deforming you would be in Team Illegal, no? Team Legal is for purists