howitzer

For me the biggest aesthetic offender here are the ends of the watertank. Why not put a white 4x4 dish there to cover the ugly pinholes? Or better yet, the tank could've been constructed like the tanks in 8868, though the cylinder part was last used in 2000 so it would've to be brought out of retirement.

Yeah, three of those thin 11L cylinders alone would be in the order of 100€ from Bricklink and there's not too many available. It has only ever been released with the Arocs, and there's really a bad need for another set which includes that part. Larger 11L cylinders aren't too cheap either, but at about 5€/piece they are still much more affordable. The airtank is pretty expensive too at some 15€. Technic sets don't fare that well in Ideas, none have ever been accepted :( But hopefully TLG will come up with a set of their own design which will include at least some of these parts.

Wow, this is great! As someone said, most graders seem to either have much less functions or be much larger, so it's astonishing how you managed to implement so many functions in this scale. When I got back to Technic after my years of darkness, almost the first thing I wanted to build was a grader, but after modeling it digitally for a while, I quickly discovered why there appears to be so few of them, as it's an amazingly complex piece of machinery. I'd be interested in instructions, but there's the problem of those long small pneumatic cylinders, which are absurdly expensive and you used so many of them here...

This, along with the two topics in the above post, is the stuff that really should be listed in the Index topic.

Even if they spin fast, there's not a lot of mass behind them, so while rotor hitting a finger might hurt a little, it's nothing to worry about, even if it's child's finger. TLG is very strict about child-safety so this thing would never get released if a child seriously hurting themselves were a real risk.

I think that is required for anything based on real-life, though with Technic the functions should still be the primary focus and looks should be secondary, but by no means irrelevant aspect. Most of the time functions and looks aren't conflicting too bad, though there usually seems to be room for improvement.

Probably because being based on a real vehicle means it should be replicated as accurately as possible, otherwise there's no point in making a licensed set based on its real-life counterpart. I don't know if there's a good reason to departure from the dimensions of the real thing, maybe it just didn't look that good with correct dimensions of maybe there's some technical reason for it, but it's hard to believe they didn't try it. Maybe we'll see what happens when it's actually released and modders start to tinker with it. Of course almost every official set can be improved by modding but I'm curious how realistic proportions affect the looks of the set.

I see you're using Eneloop batteries, which are high quality but expensive. Apparently Ikea sells the same batteries, branded as their own but for much lower price.

What's wrong with using normal driving rings to engage and disengage the output gears?

Easily the best looking brick-built cement drum I've ever seen as it actually manages to replicate the shape using Technic parts only and without enormous gaps in it. Nice work on the cabin too.

This is what I would do. 42082 isn't even that large if you take off the boom, I mean it fits into MUCH smaller space than the box it's sold with. 42055 is pretty large and would require somewhat more of disassembly, and other excavator or crane-like vehicles would have to had their booms etc. removed too. Stuff like supercars would probably fit almost equally well assembled as disassembled. I guess the question here indeed is whether you want to keep them built or not after the renovation. If not, then you could as well disassemble, but if yes, just take the pokey parts away and keep the rest intact.

It appears to be on the cheap end in France, here in Finland its cost from Lego.com would be 160€... There's one retailer though, which often has Technic sets for much lower price, so I think I'll wait for them to get it in stock.

Yes, there are also other less common dark blue parts included, like the 3L liftarm which was previously known only from a couple of Bionicle sets from 15 years ago.

What exactly is wrong with stacking frames?

You're right, studful is much easier to build with, and that makes designing universal sets and high quality B-models easier too. New studful universal sets would be great, but I don't think TLG is going to do that, as they seem to be committed to studless system and only use Technic bricks in places where their strength is critical (like the boom of the 42082) or they need to connect some System parts for aesthetic effect (like 42096). There's Boost Creative Toolbox though, which has instructions for five models and is mostly made of studful parts.

Not surprising, as it would be a large sticker applied on a curved surface with almost no edges to guide the placement so many kids would end up with wonky stickers and be unhappy about it. Hopefully there will be an unprinted version of the part in the future.

Most models have pdf-instructions available, so you could download them and keep your kids offline. Good B-models are indeed a very nice addition, but unfortunately it appears to me that vast majority of official B-models aren't that great.

Use Lego steel balls, https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=99948

You can also buy smaller wheels separately on BL. Another option might be 42098, it has wheels in two very practical sizes and tons of liftarms and other structural parts with enough gears to get one started, though no gearbox or electronics.

My prices are probably not representative, I only looked at the cheapest local retailer, which for some reason seems to have many Lego sets for cheaper than anywhere else. It's very true that 42082 had a lot of parts that were not exactly necessary, but still I like to think that this being Lego, those parts are always as useful as any part is, and they don't seem to be adding much to the cost of the set. And yeah, those hubcaps were a bit excessive As for the parts per lot... I don't think more parts per lot translates into redundancy except for pins and such, because there comes a time for every builder that they find that they don't have enough parts for whatever they were thinking about building. For example neither of the newer sets contain many L-shaped liftarms (2x4 or 3x5) while RTC has dozens of them in various colours. This is especially true if you're trying to build within a certain colour scheme. Of course RTC is missing some very useful parts too (there's only one 48989 for example) but then, we're not trying to gather a complete inventory for every conceivable Technic contraption here but only helping to get someone started. I think 42082 is also functionally much more interesting with it's complex gearbox and many functions, while both of the other sets give me a feeling of pretty sloppy design job, they don't even have any sort of gearbox so the buyer would miss one core concept of Technic.

Dunno about this... 42082 costs a bit over 190€ while two 42108 + one 42097 would cost (where I live) right now about 260€ so unless those prices actually come down significantly, 42082 is a clear winner even accounting for pins (and it has electronics too). 42082 has 4056 parts of which 1009 are black and blue friction pins total (plus several hundreds of other kinds of pins). The other sets would have 3504 parts total, of which 850 would be black and blue friction pins. So discounting these pins, you'd get 3047 parts with 42082 for less than 200€ and with the other set combo you'd get 2654 parts for 260€. I'd say 42082 is a clear winner here, in terms of parts per euro. I didn't check, but I'd also bet that 42082 has significantly more different kinds of parts, although the selection in the other sets is by no means bad.

I'm repeating what others said, but 42082 it should be for its low price relative to the huge size and parts count and nice functions. Maybe throw in couple of smaller sets to get parts like wheels and stuff. 42096 is indeed good if you want nice parts pack with good set of suspension parts. 42095 includes some tracks and electronics for a great price.

Yep, if the aim here is to inspire creativity and show off the multitude of models that can be built from the same parts, I'd say bring back the universal sets and ditch the B-models. There has been some great B-models over the years, but most of the time they're just not that good.

Sometimes wheel+tyre-combo is more expensive in Bricklink than wheels and tyres shopped separately, I found out about this when I shopped for Claas tyres. Together as one piece they were like 12€ and separately maybe 3€. I don't know if the same principle applies to Porsche wheels though, considering the Claas tyres come in many different sets unlike those from Porsche.

I've always built B-models (for sets which have them) but I've never felt that a B-model deserves a lot of time on my shelf. Somehow they always seem to completely fall flat on expectations the A-models have set, even if I realize they're created as some kind of afterthought when the inventory of the A-model has been decided. Before the wide distribution of instructions over the Internet B-models really served a purpose of showing alternative ways of using the same set of parts but that purpose is pretty much obsolete now that we can get our hands on numerous C-models online, and many times with much better quality than what TLG can provide. So I'm not really one to be disappointed by the lack of B-models in 2020 selection, but otherwise this year didn't offer much for me. I have no interest in the Lambo (unless I can get it for 150€ or something) and the Volvo doesn't seem worth the money either. Concrete mixer is fine but lacks interesting functions and as for new parts, I'm not really interested in those drum parts. Osprey appears to be great and the one larger set I'm going to buy this year. As for the first half, the mobile crane was a functional disappointment too, offering little new in the way of functions. Charger has some nice parts, but I'm still not a car guy so I guess I'll get those parts separately. Ducati is great too, but I'm not a motorcycle guy either so I don't see myself buying it unless there's a nice sale for it. Catamaran I thought about as it was on sale, but decided to skip, as good playability really requires water and that's impractical and I have no other use for those hull parts. Mini Claas and Buggy I just might get, those seem very nice for the price. Pullbacks and the Stuntshow aren't interesting either, as they don't offer much beside parts.