howitzer

Happens every time. Some people want to bash TLG and any reason is good enough, so they tend to jump to conclusions with these supposed leaks. There's enough valid criticism to be made so I have to wonder why one has to go and invent even more...

Thank you. --- The set looks great, the functions seem interesting and the new parts make me drool. Still, it's far too expensive for me to buy, at least as new. I have little doubt that there's two hubs and at least 6 or 7 motors, nothing else would justify the pricing. But maybe I can get one secondhand at some point...

Yep, seeing inside is very important, as it's where all the magic happens. I mean, I can appreciate a pretty exterior and it's nice to see finely finished models, but that's not what Technic is about in its core. So even if it's just a presentation of a finished model, I'd really like to see the inner functions. I can understand hiding them when selling instructions though.

Btw., when will the voting be closed and the results announced? I can't seem to find that info on any of the contest-related topics... @Jim @Milan

Okay, that's funny way to build a steering mechanism. Anyway, what about the drive motors? The PF XL which this uses for driving has some 4-5 times the power compared to 71427 motor which was released in 1997 so it'll be hard to replace the PF motor with anything from 1997 or earlier...

I believe you could have simply a slope-thing that moves back and forth, and try to make a linkage that allows moving the crankshaft elsewhere instead of below, as they typically are. But I don't think simple ball pumps are that tall anyway, so I wonder how low you really need to get? If you want just to move balls upwards, there are several different kinds of mechanisms that allow balls to start as low as table itself if necessary, but they might be taller than a pump otherwise, or limited in the practical lifting height.

It doesn't have the servo motor? That's pretty strange considering the servo had been available for ages before that set came out...

Which motors are you going to use? The old ones (1997 and before) were pretty weak and of course there was no return to center for steering control, so I'm curious how you're going to solve these issues. Interesting project though, I'll be following this!

Yep, presentation matters a lot, either way. I also have this problem, and I also always have several different projects going on, some which may sit abandoned for a year or more, and sometimes I return to them, other times not. I also don't always just have time nor mental capacity to build Lego, so my WIP topics often become seemingly abandoned, depending on if I ever return to the project or not.

I guess some people build stuff digitally because they don't have the bricks at hand to try it out for real. Or they just want to test out something that is labour intensive to build but might not work, so it's less wasted time to make it digitally first. I don't see a problem with digital builds, so long as they are actually buildable and stable and work as intended.

Contest time is hard for any sort of MOC presentation, as the forum is constantly flooded with the contest WIP topics. So if I had a MOC to present, I'd wait until the contest is over and most of the discussion around entries has died down.

It's often that skilled builders just present their latest creation without any sort of insight into how it was designed and made and I feel that this kind of posting places the bar really high for us less skilled ones, as we don't get to see the process and all the problems and mistakes (and how they were fixed) so it leaves the feeling that the maker just built it and that's it. So I'd really like to see WIP photos and some discussion about how the creation was designed, what problems were encountered and so on. Once it's finished though, I'd really like to see those fancy photos and videos edited into the first post, so that they are easily found when I want to see them. So I guess the combination of both?

I'd put several photos of the physical build (in different angles etc.) first, and the colour variations last. The price is probably fair, though I think I could build it just from the photos shown, with no need to actually buy the instructions. The most important thing preventing me from buying is, however, the lack of Buggy motor, PF servo and the Buwizz unit (along with few other parts), so it's not the model's presentation or design that is the problem for me, but the parts necessary to make it.

Technicopedia is a great introduction to official sets and their functions, though it has not been updated for a long while. Still, you can learn lots of information regarding various functions and how they work there and also a get a great view on the history of Technic: http://technicopedia.com/ Brick experiment channel on Youtube shows many interesting and absurd contraptions and how they are built, and how to push Lego to its limits, very interesting stuff: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsFdM0HzTdF1JYoraQ0aUw Sariel's website has some tools that help in designing MOCs, and building instructions for several interesting and useful machines, in addition to showcasing his MOCs. Also lots of technical information: http://sariel.pl/ Philo's website has tons of well-researched information on various Lego electronics and their characteristics: https://www.philohome.com/

1x1 round plate could probably be used, but it's much more annoying to remove (might need a push from the other side of the pinhole) and probably not TLG-legal, so I can see the usefulness of the new pin. Needs more colour options though.

I don't think such a list can be produced, as there's no telling which parts are retired for good, and which might be returned in the future. Of course for many older parts you can safely assume that they will never again be sold by TLG but for newer parts it's impossible to tell. Rebrickable has a pretty comprehensive search, though not exactly what you're looking for. Still, for specific parts it's easy to see if those have seen their last use many years ago or might still conceivably appear in a new set.

We did notice your comment, but now that there's also a proper photo, we can actually discuss it, rather than speculate :) 4 peripherals, 2 ports on the hub. Kinda misleading marketing photo, leading to believe all of them could be connected to the hub at the same time...

I can't find any of the angular motors in the Lego website being sold as individual units. In B&P I can find the large angular motor but it's out of stock, while the medium angular motor can't even be found. I wonder if the availability varies by country?

So same form factor as the medium angular motors, except it's much shorter. Could be fitted for example inside a 5x7 frame, which is nice. Not exactly at the old Micro motor scale, but I'm sure this is much stronger and coupled with the smart control like other PU motors, I'm sure it'll be useful as a gearbox function selector, switch, steering control etc.

Yeah, many of those probably can be used at the same time, though no hub has more than 6 ports, so I don't think more than 2x3 units = 6x9 dots can be used (or at least that will require more hubs and then they have to be made to talk to each other somehow). Technic plates don't come in transparent though, do they? So you could utilize only the hole, which might not be that practical. I'm sure it will, would be pretty stupid otherwise. Only the newest hub though, as it is'n backwards compatible with EV3 and earlier.

Very nice and simple, yet interesting looking model. I guess you could use the counterbalances to agitate the input bin, maybe by placing a 1x2 rubber liftarm in between them and the bin and carefully tuning the distance so, that there's a "thud" each time the counterbalance bumps to the bin, but not enough to cause it slow or jam?

Annoyingly large if you want to make vehicle headlights but I guess it could be fitted in some larger models. Though obviously it has been designed with other purposes in mind. ...but now that I checked, there are no modern transparent plates (since 80's) that could be easily used in front of it, to hide the grid and make it look like a proper headlight. So I guess this part is mostly useless for making headlights.

I'm not sure that would be a good idea, as the non-Technic oriented people wouldn't know how to judge the entries properly, especially for this kind of specialized contest, so it might skew the results into unwanted direction.

This kind of stuff would be really great, simple yet playable. Only things lacking are proportional control of speed (some of the functions were pretty slow) and more power (in order to deliver the speed), but I guess you can't have everything. I just fear that TLG is now set in its ways on C+, and any models at this scale/functionality will have the RC by phone controls. The dumb hub would allow these kinds of things even without C+ but it's probably going to be used only in simpler models (assuming we'll be getting even of those anytime soon...)

According to lego.com/fi the RRP in my country will be 169,95€. What a megablocking joke.