howitzer

Not available, at least where I live. I could use some of those too... 78442 (AT-AT gear rack) is available though.

Will the landing gear be operated by motors or is it going to be manual? Should all wheels be deployed simultaneously or is deploying them separately (manually) an option? I assume the landing gear mechanism doesn't need to actually lift the plane, just hold it up once deployed? These questions will affect the design a lot. Mechanism for deploying it shouldn't be that difficult as long as it doesn't have to support a lot of weight while deploying. You could maybe try to copy the real mechanism to some degree, depending on how it works. Other than that, picking up a few liftarms and attempting to construct some sort of mechanism and maybe take a look at official sets with similar function while doing so.

It takes a few seconds to get going with jerky movement, but after that it spins quite nicely.

Long ago there was a division of Technic Play and Technic Build, with the former being simple models of young/unskilled builders and the latter for older/skilled ones. Of course Technic looked very different back then and this distinction was probably dropped for a reason, but still makes one wonder if something like that would help with the current situation where majority of Technic sets are Technic in name only...

Even on the scale of empty shell cars that would have to be really, really empty to be that big for the price. Also, I don't think TLG would put stickers across multiple parts (like the corss-decorations on the front corners seem to be).

Very interesting, I'm looking forward to see this being built, for the contest or otherwise. I happen to have a spare RI hub, but sadly that's not compatible with your motors and probably too big of a hassle to lend for your project anyway... I hope you can find solution with Jim and others to make this build eligible for the contest!

Thanks! I'm going to attempt to make it somewhat more flashy than just a dull-coloured wave moving balls forward. Good to hear that it's a reliable mechanism, that's indeed also my observation so far. At the moment I think I'll use the track as it is, as it's convenient and doesn't consume too many parts but if there's time and I find enough parts I might attempt to build a custom chain for it. At the moment even the carrier chains are too short due to me running out of pins and liftarms, and while I already ordered more, there's no way they'll be enough for another custom chain...

Edited to add a video of the finished machine here in the first post: --- So, after fiddling around for a while with GBC ideas that are nice but really hard (if not impossible) to make actually work, I settled for this thing. It's superficially similar to @Berthil's Rainbow Wave GBC, but with completely different mechanics to make it work. As in Berthils machine, the basic idea is to make the balls move by applying wave-like motion on a track to pushes them forward. I'm using track tread to make it work, in such a way that the tread won't move forward but only up and down. The up motion is achieved by tread sprockets which are rolled underneath, with gravity bringing the tread back down. I needed to make my own chain (from liftarms and frictionless pins) to move the sprockets, with rubber wheels moving the chain forward. It's currently in prototyping phase where I will attempt to make it work well enough and then do a complete rebuild for final showpiece. Here's photos of the current progress: The wheels around which the chain go are freely spinning (size dictated by tread sprockets and parts availability), and to actually drive the chains I intend to use another wheel on the outside, with friction only pushing the chain. I'm still unsure if this will actually work out, or if I will have to invent some sort of sprocket to drive the liftarm-chain. A the current prototype is on a very short track, I also ordered more pins and liftarms to elongate the chains. I believe this contraption could also be lengthened quite a bit with enough parts and also angled so that it would run the balls uphill slightly. It should easily reach the 1 ball per second requirement as multiple balls can be pushed with each wave.

I agree with Jundis above, Technic seems to have been reduced to a) lots and lots of cars b) C+ sets with little value for all the electronics inside. It appears that we're getting a few nice, properly Technic sets per year but that feels so little when you think what it could be. Last year there was 42128 and I guess 42120 and 42121 also count but other than that it was very small sets, cars and C+. This year we got 42139, 42144 and 42145 as proper Technic sets but that's it. (Yeah there was the John Deere, but that was so half-baked functionally that it might as well have been a City set.) But I guess that works for TLG, and as long as we keep getting new interesting parts, I don't really mind that much. At least my wallet doesn't hurt so much as there's only a few sets each year worth buying.

2H I guess.

The plane could be good. Other than that this is really uninteresting lineup. Those little sets are probably great for their size, but I like bigger stuff, and all the others are again models of things that have no point beside going fast, so I guess I'll just keep looking forward to 2H releases.

That's a really cool alternative, better than the original even!

You should link a picture of your build, it's impossible to give any advice based on your description. (Also note that you can't post photos directly on Eurobricks, you must host them elsewhere, for example on Imgur, Flickr or Brickshelf and link from there.)

Thanks for the effort. So some of the best models of all time use this functionality, which makes one really wonder why the bevel was removed...

Except the 56T turntable had also internal teeth, so it had more options for driving it. I wonder though, which sets have used the bevel part of the 60T turntable? I can't recall any from the top of my mind, but there are many sets with the turntable which I haven't build so maybe some of those use it that way?

No it's not. There's something wrong with either the motor or your build.

These are very much my thoughts also, as a GBC novice. I know you and a few other members of this forum can come up with awesome new GBC machines repeatedly, but seeing all the other skilled builders (like Erik) who are nevertheless not experienced with GBC-making doing their entries should be really interesting. I personally have two ideas which are completely different, one of which I already started to build. Too bad I can't enter twice, but at the same time I'm glad there's that other idea in case the first one won't work out.

I believe you can use splat gears and all the associated stuff for mechanics, while using Technic parts as structural elements. And remember, Technic bricks are perfectly valid for Technic construction.

Thanks for the clarifications. I will think of more questions when I have done some thinking and maybe testing on my ideas

Not exactly, they specify it must be able to handle minimum of 30 balls, but what if some much bigger number is required to make the machine work at all, is that a problem?

Uh oh, I'm planning to move sometime in the next two months, so there will be packing, unpacking and a lot of other related hassles. Still, this is the contest I have been waiting for ages and I have a couple of ideas so I will make every effort to participate. One question: how are the spilled balls judged in the contest? I assume reliability (both not jamming and not spilling balls) is important consideration, but is there a minimum (less than 1/100 balls spilled? less than 1/1000?) where I should aim in order to be eligible? Another question: are there any limits in terms of size, complexity or number of different mechanisms? What about limits on balls inside the mechanism, assuming some are required for it to work properly? 10, 100, 1000?

TLG probably knows very well how much B-models get built (by looking at the instructions download numbers over the years, including the possible change when printed instructions were discontinued) and has reflected it upon the sales of the sets. They probably noticed that the lack of B-models are not affecting sales much and thus designing the set and making instructions is a wasted effort from the perspective of sales. At the same time, as others pointed out, alternative builds from fans are easily available and some of them are also of very high quality - making resource investment from TLG redundant. I don't like the disappearence of official B-models either, but I can see why they have chosen this path.

Is it that they have some parts which Lego is lacking, or is their own total parts palette really wider than that of Lego's? I find the latter hard to believe, considering how long TLG has been producing stuff and how big their operation is.

Yeah, I found it there when I finished the build, should've checked immediately Still didn't find the other part though, but I don't think I can be bothered to call support for it either...

Just finished bag four. There has been two apparently missing pieces, the flex-axle in the cockpit window and one LBG 3L beam. I replaced them from my collection for now but will finish the build and then clean my workplace and see if they turn up. I wonder though, was the flex-axle supposed to be in a plastic bag along with the other parts, or was it loose in the box? Or maybe inside the cardboard sleeve with the instructions? I also decided to go for the neon yellow -> white colour replacement, though I don't have the 3x7 panel in white so I opted for black instead with it. Missing parts notwithstanding, I must say this is set great mechanical porn for me. Just look at these gears: