Cumulonimbus

These images are no longer available at the moment, so I guess there is something not quite right with these early "leaks".

That is a really good looking bus you made, my compliments! I like the proportions, scale and colours. Can I make two suggestions to make it even better? First, the black colour of the interior makes the details a bit hard to see. I'm not familiar with the real world example, but in Lego a lighter colour for the interior might look better. Second suggestion is to route the PF cables inside more tightly if possible. This would make you interior even better. Anyway, nice build!

It stands for Power Take Off, a mechanical connection between a tractor or truck and a trailer or attachment. It makes it possible to power some functions of that trailer or attachment with the engine of the vehicle. The yellow connection in the image below is an example of a PTO on the front of a tractor (Google is your friend)

As far as I know the real current Claas Xerion series doesn't have a front PTO (based on the Claas website) and only has the option to power front implements by hydraulics. I haven't seen a front PTO on the 42054 and I don't expect one either to be honest.

I have superimposed the images you used and this is the result: In the upper image, the distance between the wheels was the reference. You see that although the length of the 42056 is rather accurate, the height of the front fender, roof, rear spoiler is too low. This is the reason why some people have mentioned it looks too flat. However, the second image the height of the roof was the reference and now the 42056 fits a lot better. Only "error" is the length of the nose and the position of the front axle, which is a bit too much forward. This might be relatively easy to MOD.

I think that at the core of this 42056 commotion is the confusion between the notions of "price" and "value". As most here will know, the price of a product is simply put the cost to produce that product with a profit margin added. This is relatively straight forward and manufacturers only have limited possibilities here to adjust the price. They can reduce production cost, often while compromising other aspects such a quality, or increase the margin, with the danger of pricing themselves out of the market. The value however is much more vague to define. The value of any product is always the personal scoring of that product and depends on countless aspect such as scarcity, urgency, availability, personal history, and many many others. An item I value highly might feel worthless to anybody else. Note that because of this ambiguity, manufacturers have much more "tricks" to influence your value scoring of their product and as a consequence try to justify a higher margin. They can attach a brand name to their product (Porsche license), artificially create scarcity (limited run of the 41999) or many other marketing strategies. Now here is the crux: Any product will only be bought by a customer if the price of that products is lower than the perceived value of that product. If your value scoring of the 42059 is lower than the price at which it will be available, you will not buy the set. Others will value building/owing this set so high that they will be the first in line to buy it, almost at any price. For the Porsche this means that the high price has triggered a discussion among the potential buyers about the value of this set (its size, colour, uniqueness, historic value, licence, etc). Since value is always subjective and a deeply personal scoring, this discussion will never come to a conclusion. To make matters even more complicated, both the price and the value will change over time. It would me too far to go into details about this evolution, but for me personally it means that I will wait until I find a price which will be low enough to match my value of this set. When this will be, I don't know yet, but I'm sure I will own this set sometime this year. Edit: typos.

I must say I'm a bit surprised by all the negative comments related to this set. I want to add some argument in its defense: - Except for the 41999, I have never purchased any Technic flagships for the price TLG has mentioned when these sets were launched. This might be a privilege of living in The Netherlands, but I have seen reduced prices in other EU countries as well. If the news is correct that this set will be available via the regular (web)shops, I really expect some offers which will reduce the price as much as 20%. - Like Sariel has mentioned, I suspect a lot of people underestimate the complexity and size of this set. I think a side by side comparison with for example a 42039 will be very revealing. - I feel that this set took a lot more development time and effort than a regular flagship, this means that the development cost might be higher, leading to a higher target cost price. - A lot of people don't get Technic. Read the comments below this Gizmodo article to see what I mean.

Cool, I really like it. I especially like the fact it hasn't PF nor HOG and that it will be mimicking the build process of the actual car. This really is a big present to us AFOLs. If anybody was wondering what TLG is doing for the anniversary of Technic, look no further. The standard TLG orange wouldn't have been my first choice, but at least it is an eyecatching colour. One question remains though: will this be a limited edition as the 41999 was or will it be available in regular toy stores after the 1st of August?

Thanks to Efferman, my 42030 now has the wheel covers it deserved: More info can be found in this topic.

As promised, here are my experiences with your 42030 wheel covers, so here it goes. Contrary to my Unimog covers, this time I wanted to get a smooth finish so after receiving the parts, I started sanding by hand and with a small power tool. However, I wouldn't recommend this because I ended up with some polished areas, but the difficult to reach areas were still rough and some of the details (fake wheel nuts) were damaged by the process. It took a lot of time to get an acceptable finish. Luckily, the painting step went a lot easier because I found a close to perfect colour match with a Motip acrylic spray paint in a rattle can (nr43570). In conclusion, the end result is not perfect but all in all I'm happy with the end result: Efferman, thank you for your design, it really completes this excellent set.

I don't know the answer to your question about the arrows, but I noticed this in your image: Is that a LBG version of the 1 stud beam (or bushing) on the 3L axle attaching the headlights? EDIT: Nevermind, it's just DBG. The screenshot above just made it appear lighter, but other images clearly show that the whole assembly is DBG.

Now that's an idea I'm very interested in. I'm fascinated by sorting machines lately, for example the upcoming BWE B-model or the axle sorter MOC of akiyuki ( ). In my fantasy a contraption could be build which sorts all your (Technic) bricks according to type and size.

I know the feeling, I once got greedy on a EV3 Mindstorms set on Marktplaats offer which was (in hindsight) too good to be true. Despite the checks it turned out to be a scam. Painful lesson, but that said, it was the only unpleasantness I experienced in close to 10 years of Marktplaats use. If used sensibly it is a great source for parts, sets and other related Lego items.

I'm currently working on a 3 axle trailer in 42024 scale and I have chosen for a mechanical solution based on linkages. Using gears poses a danger of the mechanism skipping a tooth and getting out of alignment under strain. I don't have any pictures at the moment, so I will try to describe my setup: I used an extra pin in the 5th wheel to "detect" the angle between the truck and the trailer and send this via some linkaged to the trailer axles. At this scale I haven't bothered with ackerman geometry, but the steering of the second and third axle is proportional with the aid of different link lengths, the first trailer axle is not steered. I have found that my prototype is very reliable and smooth, but I have ran into an issue with this: When the trailer is loaded, the inevitable bending causes the link getting caught and as a result the steering become jerky. Good luck.

I would also like to learn more about the design process of a part. DESIGN PROCESS Does the idea for a new part always start with a technical problem while designing a set? Or is there a wishlist of possibilities, for example the permutations of connecting X number of cross holes with X number of holes in a certain orientation (see the work of Efferman) or the next step in the logical series of panels, for which a use is found in a new set? SIZE LIMITS Is there a danger that with growing size flagships, the technical limits of the ABS parts are getting reached?

Can I ask if you have plans/intentions to convey these interesting question to actual TLG employees? METAL PARTS I would like to know if metals parts like hooks and counterweights are out of the question nowadays.

Nice work Barman, I really like you elegant solution. I'm also very curious how similar this solution will be compared to the one the Lego designers came up with. Do I understand correctly that in your mechanism, the ratio between the steering input front and rear could be changed continuously if it wasn't limited by the preset positions of the gear selector?

Mould costs can vary widely, depending on product size and complexity, batch size, required temperature range (depending on the selected plastic), cooling capacity, etc. In my experience, a mould for a relatively simple product measuring 5x5x5cm (a batch of 5000 pieces, two halves in one shot) costs in the region of €10.000. However, Lego pieces require a much higher level of precision, often demand much more complex moulds and need to be produced reliably in huge series, so I would imagine a mould of €100k would not be out of the ordinary. On the other hand, there are cheaper techniques possible with copper moulds for injection moulding smaller series. Only TLG knows what their moulds cost.

I have tried to bite my tongue on this one, but I'll bite the lure. Please don't take offense, but I'm with krisandkris12 on these types of topics. Call me old fasioned, but I expect that topics are started with a certain goal in mind: solve a technical question, help with a MOC build process, share a review, update the community on new sets, etc. I wonder what the goal is here. This feels like a discussion for the sake of discussing. As mentioned by Captainowie, without input of TLG, your question can never truely be answered and us assuming and guessing is, in my opinion, not bringing you closer to an answer. Again, this critique is not aimed at you personally DrJB, but I just feel this forum getting diluted and the information I want to read is more difficult to find as a result.

I have seen Volvo using something similar for the rear suspension of some FWD cars. Similar as in your example, one of the the hingepoints of the left suspension unit is at the right of the car and vice versa. The best illustration I could find is this exploded view: To clarify, the left wheel attaches to hub (nr13) and the front of the car is a the left of this image. The hinge points of each suspension half are parts 6 and 2.

Nice work, you make it harder and harder to remain a Lego purist . I thought I would be opposed to the very specific and non-TLG structural parts, but that crane really looks good. Are you planning to combine all your custom parts and improvements into a complete redesigned 42043? I would love to see that.

Thank you for the advice, my order has been send. I will post some images here when I have received and painted them.

Hi efferman, I want to order your wheel covers for the 42030, but I can't choose between the two options: the standard "white strong and flexible" or the "yellow strong & flexible polished". I have ordered your Unimog rims in "white strong and flexible" before and painted them myself, so I understand the finish of the standard material. Now I'm curious about the colour match and finish of the "yellow strong & flexible polished" material. Do you (or anybody here) have a picture of the quality and colour of that material, maybe compared to TLG parts? Thank you in advance.

Since we know a lot about the size and functions of the 42054, I imagine that a lot of you guys and girls are secretly plotting to take over the world make add-ons for this set. I'm curious which tools/attachments/trailers you AFOLs will build for this set? Personally, I would like something which will complement the size and power of a Xerion, but what to build? A big 3-axle silage trailer like a Lely Tigo XR, a 10 or even 12 furrow plough or a special swan neck slurry tanker? I would like something mechanical and preferably "functional" which can sweep/pick up/organise bricks. While browsing I see a lot of Xerions sowing, mowing, chipping wood and distributing slurry, but I feel that these machines are not so interesting to replicate in Technic. Which bright ideas are you willing to share at this point?

I really hope this will not be the case as exclusivity would only drive up the price even more. Luckily, some of the online stores already list the 42056 but without pictures or price. (Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to a store to show as an example)