Nazgarot

That is some amazing engineering... Best walker I've seen in a long long time. -ED-

That part doesn't exist. I have seen ideas for it on a workshop from Denmark, but it has never been officially released. Considering shock absorbers it depends on what result you want... I have built several models where i have chosen to use two soft springs rather then 1 hard, to get a more realistic suspension. On a super car you would typically like a hard suspension, and use hard springs. on a off road vehicle you would want a more progressive setup, and then i might be better to use two soft or medium absorbers. I recommend buying some of each and do some testing. -ED-

+1 And I really hope it will include some new PF elements! -ED-

best looking tank I've ever seen! And nice functionality as well. Great work!

This looks a lot like one of the pre launch models that where leading up to 8110... Link to picture: http://storage.technicbricks.com/Media/2011/TBs_20110610_1/TBs_20110610_1b.jpg -ED-

The rails wheels have a lot less friction than rubber tires, and the Emerald is relatively light compared to large Technic models, so it doesn't have the same torque on the gears. -ED-

I would strongly advise you to do so. I did the same (I just got 8110, and built 8258 a few months ago) and was really impressed with 8258. It's the best building experience I've ever had (haven't started on 8110 yet). It has a very complex gear system (and includes a XL-motor), and is generally a nicely constructed set. I mainly bought it for parts to build a 4 axle off-road Scania truck, but after having built it I would most definitely advise anyone else to get it. -ED-

I can't see the pictures... I even tried using the deep link directly in my browser. Anyone else having this problem? -ED- EDIT: Now I see them... Really nice, but i would have built the top row black, like it is on most real plows.

That is very cheap, even for parts i think that is a good purchase. Normally it's a least twice that, so I would definitely buy it if I was looking for it! -ED-

+4 do to it's amazing handling and speed!

This actually seems a lot better than the A model... I especially like the steering design on it. A bit original, and it seems to be quite close to a realistic Ackermann design (especially considering angles). I will still not buy it though... -ED-

I bought it at a local hardware store (I have 4 of those + several other. Most hardware stores have something like it), but i would only recommend it for larger bricks. The sidewalls between compartments can be moved, and smaller bricks have a tendency to slip under the walls. This can be frustrating, so for smaller parts i recommend this: It can be bought at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005QWYF?ie=UTF8&tag=valkmindstorm-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00005QWYF -ED-

Yes, and it worries me to.. I hope they are only removing them from consumer sale, and focusing more on educational sets. That could give us some interesting things in the future, but they might be hard to get. Or maybe they are removed for a time, befor relaunching a new mindstorm series. Lets hope...

There is a winner... http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Competition/PreviousWinnerDetails.aspx?contentid=351280 "The Big Rig" won. New challenge - Build your own Unimog... May I guess that the prize is a Unimog?

Sorry to bump this thread, but I came upon this site, and started wondering if anyone has gotten any further on this... -ED-

They do, and they have the nice ability that they distribute power over several teeth on the gear they are connected to, giving the gear a lot better torque handling. Where a 3x 8/24 gearing starts ripping teeth off the 8 tooth gears, the worm on a 24 tooth still is distributing the power over 2 or 3 more powerful teeth... For low gearing 12 to 1 or lower I would clearly prefer the worm gear. But a good alternative to 8/24 gearing is 12/36 if there is room. Both gives 3 to 1 reduction, and the 12 tooth gear can handle a lot more torque than the 8 tooth gear. -ED-

You could try Jurgens Ultimate 8043. It's quite a good mod, and really makes the whole machine a lot better. At least that way you wont have to burn out any receivers... -ED-

+2 I totally agree! And it has a lot of nice parts for anyone wanting to design their own supercar. -ED-

You might have the faulty mini cylinder mentioned further up in the thread. -ED-

I would think 1 battery would be way to little to make this run good. Have you considered running it on several batteries? It should boost the speed a bit.

Wow! That's an amazing ride! Very nice way to make the steering, and it's surprisingly fast. LDD instructions would be very welcome. -ED-

No, not normal... I just ordered a package containing nearly 500 bricks, mostly liftarms, from Germany, and I only payed €12 for shipping. Another shipment containing about a 100 smaller parts i payed €7,5 for shipping. Both was sent to Norway, that is out of EU... I do how ever find Germany to be one of the more expensive countries to ship from. GB (Small packages have very nice shipping rates with Royal mail), Netherlands and Italy are generally among the cheapest I get shipments from. -ED-

I, for one, do believe this to be a very handy function, but it doesn't seem complete yet. If you disable it til you have registered til, lets say you have registered all sets from 2002 til to day, and then enable it again we will get around the problem of common parts showing up as rare. But, that said, it's not a function I could not do without, so maybe your time is better spent on other functions? Anyway, thanks for a great tool that becomes better by the day!! -ED-

If both wheels on a axle have good grip with the ground, the idea of a Torsen diff is that the difference in speed between the wheels are the same compared to the diff housing, but opposite. One wheel is running a little faster, while the other is running a little slower. The result is that the diff doesn't lock. If one wheel slips how ever, the difference is no longer equal, as one goes a lot faster than the diff housing and the other still moves slowly compared to the diff housing. This will result in immediate locking of the diff. This works extremely well in the few Audi models I've tried that use this solution. Especially on snow. You can have a bit of slip on the central diff do to the power diversion being about 70/30 in limited slip condition. When you lose control the car will gradually gain better grip as the diff lock up. The diff between the rear wheels is in limited slip condition as long as both or non of the wheels are slipping, and if both are slipping the central diff will gradually lock up and return full control to the driver. If one rear wheel slips (typically an non intended slip situation) the rear diff locks immediately. The result is that if you learn that in turns, when sliding you only need to accelerate to make the car go the way its pointing (both center and rear diff locks up) you get an amazing level of control... If you stop accelerating and clutch out how ever the car will be sliding like any other as the rear diff wont lock up (no power added to the diff housing => it rotates freely, and will always have both wheels rotating with the same but opposite difference). This is a simplified explanation, but the effect can clearly bee seen in films of the 80 rally championship group B cars from Audi... Here is a link to a YouTube video. If you look closely you can see how the cars shoot forward coming out of corners when the driver accelerates, no matter how wide the slide is. But you can also see how the drivers struggle when a wheel slips and the diffs lock up going into corners... You will also see how the diffs never lock up with good grip on asphalt, even in tight corners. Probably one of the best rally cars on snow and gravel ever, but also very dangerous as you never knew if the diffs would lock up going into the turn, in the middle or during acceleration comming out of the turn as you would wish for...

It's used as diff between wheels in several cars. Some examples: Hummer H1, old Audi S1 (rally car) and one edition of the old S2 (Tuned by Porsche). There is several other cars that uses one between wheels, but a lot more use it as a center differential. -ED-