Bublehead

Oh look, I only need 1350 more posts for a chance... but I don’t think I am going to burn a candle that long waiting for it though. More than likely I will get banned before then

Let me start by saying, great work and you show lots of determination and you have a good picture of where you want to go. If I may, let me point you to a resource that some don’t think about all the time but it can really help you out. The instructions for all the old technic sets are online, so find a similar vehicle and download the instructions and just page through them and look at how some things are built and see if you can find ways to apply your ideas using some of their techniques... And even if you don’t use them, you build up your knowledge of how Lego designers have solved problems in the past. Kind of a quick way of getting familiar with different ways of doing similar things like suspensions, steering gear, gearboxes and the like. Most important rule of Technic building, though, is have fun.

Ok, but don’t you think shrink is way harder than expand, from a functions point of view? But expand also has its challenges as well, especially if bigger means you need more power to drive it or lift things, like excavator buckets and the like... now I am wondering which way to go... dang it your making me think.... that’s never been a good thing in the past

Ok, more like using a shrink-ray, or an expando-ray gun to shrink the scale or expand the scale, but the metric to measure and determine a valid entry is by a parts reduction of at least 50% or expansion of a set by by 100% so a 1000 part model needs reduced in scale (any scale) but must be no greater than a 500 piece model and an expansion can be to any bigger scale, as long as piece count goest to 2000 or is it a 50% increase to 1500 parts? But that’s the idea? Correct?

I love my pneumatics as well. Use them every chance I get. The form factor of the new valve doesn’t excite me unless it is proportional, but sadly I fear it will be just like a PF switch or the old pole reverser... turn 360 degrees and turn off, on direction one, off, on direction two, then back to off. Please let me be wrong.

@Bartybum, you are getting a new valve... doesn’t that excite you just a little?

I can not comment on titles except to say I know what mine would possibly be and no amount of fire and brimstone can conjure it out of me.... nope.

I had no idea how many “Teams” I would spawn with this topic but it does show the huge diversity of all of us, yet the comradery of Technic that binds us together. I think it’s time for Team Wait and See to take the field and bring us our answers. Ouch! I felt that burn all the way in the states.

Thanks for the info @sirslayer, I swear light grey or lbg are a poor choice for connectors, and that TLG has been paying that price for a long time now. At first I think the colors were chosen more as a neutral color than as a strong plastic. I too have broken more of these pieces than any other and I wonder if the new colors have anything to do with improving durability or strength, and possibly why some parts never get their color matrix filled in?

Composition of the ABS differs from part to part based on the needs of the part and how it is used. Some parts are not ABS at all, and I would expect the different colored parts to be different compositions based on pigment densities, or chemical property differences if they use dyes instead of pigments. When I was doing R&D for strobe light lenses for Boeing 777 aircraft, the pigments and dyes could change the physical properties of the thin films we were depositing on the lenses or the properties of the plastics used to mold them. I am certain TLG has a small army or at least one guy (most likely a chemist) on the payroll to figure out the formula for each color and usage. Weight is not my biggest concern though, but strength and durability. Which parts are the weakest links, and in which colors?

Or you do both at the same time like @HorcikDesigns Lead Sled MOC... which was genius

@Saberwing40k, I think it has promise for a contest theme. Does reduction mean only remove existing elements, or can you substitute elements as long as piece count is reduced? Or maybe we go by weight for both increase and decrease? Just some food for thought?

@Erik Leppen, you reminded me of a quote from a comedy movie here in the states, just in case you missed the tags of this topic, the movie is called “Stripes” with Bill Murray, and the quote is this- “Alright, lighten up Francis!” which I say now jokingly and not to offend. The point of this topic has to do with lightening the mood in general around here as people kept ratcheting up the arguments for or against this and that from all the leaks and pictures we have been pouring over recently. As a matter of fact, you are the only real negative post so far in this thread, and I apologize if my humor missed it’s mark and I understand if you take offense at my attempt at humor, not everyone gets it, but most are having some fun with this. I respect your point of view, but please, don’t be angry at us for a little levity now and then, ok? And as for introverts, I am one, and I know a lot of other AFOLs who would consider themselves one as well. That we like to play with toys by ourselves is kind of a big clue isn’t it? Laughter is the best medicine. I was just giving us all a dose. Sorry if was a bit too strong a dose for you.

This picture is worth 1000 words or a few dollars: This is a picture of all my backlog of unbuilt sets still in their sealed boxes in my collection except the 41999. I have built the A models of the Wheeled Loader, Claas, and Arocs, but currently only the Volvo is built and displayed, the Claas and Arocs were ripped apart to be parts donors to my Twirl & Hurl Ride. But now I have replaced them with misb sets. Three of these might end up on a shelf next to you as contest prizes, but we have to wait and see... Did I just quote Donald Trump? Where is that bar of soap?, I need to wash a funny taste out of my mouth.

@Aventador2004, beware of what you wish for... Some smart bottomed moderator might take you seriously.

@Milan, that made me laugh just as much as @Lipko‘s jab @Jim I think the humor is helping lighten the mood as all our expectations and anxieties are running in high gear right now.

Ok, “Smells like Team Spirit” has struck a nerve here. ?

@Lipko, Team Lets Merge this into Technic pub.. ? that made me shoot liquid out of a couple face holes...

Wow, how could I have forgot Team Anti-sticker, (or Team Printed Parts, or Team Sticker for that matter?)

My apologies to the “other than an Adult” fans of Lego... Oh, Team Anything goes? ?

Colors give children natural groups by which they can sort and organize before building. As a AFOL, we sort into functional groups and by size more than by color. Imagine the seemingly daunting task of making sense of a pile of 2500 parts as a CHILD... where do you start? Especially if this is your very first Technic set you have ever built? Color gives them a very easy way of organizing the parts prior to building. Which is what every Instruction manual pantomimes you to do when you open it... sort it out, then start to build. It’s about identifying and organizing a very complex task, possibly one of the hardest the child has ever faced for a toy. This experience, this overwhelming task layed before them is what TLG focuses on. This is the core of their business, to satisfy the desires of the child and make their journey into Technic Lego as smooth as possible. I give TLG a lot of leeway because of this and accept the Disney Barf as just a minor annoyance.

Boy we are a very opinionated and vociferous bunch of AFOLs aren’t we? The recent leaks and hi-res photos of the upcoming sets have really sent this forum into a feeding frenzy. We seem to all have girded our loins and prepared for battle. It’s like we are waiting for World War III to break out on June 1st. One thing is for sure, there is no lack of passion for our hobby amongst this crew of introverts, miscreants, and techno geeks. I think the only thing left is if we started eating our own young, but we still have time for that between now and the next big reveal (or leak). Seems we have a whole camp full of teams to choose from as we pick sides: We have Team Vomit, Team Anti-vomit, Team System, Team Anti-system, Team Color Diversity, Team Monochrome, Team Function, Team Form, Team Panel Hole, Team Smooth as Silk, Team Supercar, Team Anything but another Supercar, Team Crane, Team Crawler, Team Buggy motor, Team 2L Motors, Team Studded, Team Studless, Team 8880, Team 42056, Team Buwizz, Team SBrick, Team IR (yay!), Team Connector, Team flexi-axle, Team 3rd Party, Team Purist, Team Up, Team Down, Team Left, Team Right, Team Wrong. So where do you fall? I can tell you we all fall into Team Technic and that’s just about right where I want to be. Technic Lego is my drug of choice. Hi, my name is Bublehead, and I have been sober for 10 minutes. Welcome to Technoholics Anonymous Bublehead, glad to have you.

Off topic but my experience with polycarbonate from designing aircraft lighting fixtures- Trans panels would shatter if you dropped a model. Polycarbonate is harder and more brittle and prone to shattering but only after reaching its yield strength which is high. So in beam and brick form it is marginally strong, but in thin walled panels would likely shatter or crack if struck by a high velocity, low surface area object, I.e. anything it hits as it hits the ground. TLG doesn’t need those kinds of customer complaints so they avoid making panels in polycarbonate. Now if only transparent aluminum was a real thing...

That’s what I thought too. Hope hope hope

But I did attempt to justify it. And your response is noted, however I have a right to my opinion.