Philpp

Are you talking about the 69 long wires (like also in the barcode truck) or also about shorter ones! I think the very long ones are prone to breaking if they are bent in different directions and routed over sharp edges! Imagine, back then this was mostly a gift for children. If they played, assemled and disassembled a lot, and/or pulled the wires within the assembled set, that would have cracked the isolation of every wire!

Sorry for the late answer! ! All my Lego projects are at standby at the moment. But I will do it and post pictures, just give me time! I couldn´t resist to build the shuttle with the broken wires, just to see the model assembled. I realized that the 69 studs long wires lost their isolation at points where they are routed over sharp edges of plates or tech bricks. So I might be wrong about the general poor quality of the wires/isolation of this years and it might be a constructive issue of this Set. At the moment I think it´s a combination of both reasons!?

Thanks to both of you! You are right about the stiffness, I will try as soon as I find the right wires, somebody interested in pictures?

Did you buy wires with the 2x2 connector plates as used in 8480 and 8497 in 2014? How else did you solve it with 8497? We have to be aware that there are two aging problems with electric wires: First they can get stiff and then brake INSIDE (the cable strand brakes), usually with pure cooper wire as it stiffens when deformed (bent=assemble+disassemble LEGO) in cool condition, but logically also with alloys containing cooper. That will disconnect power! This is usual for very old and much used wires, regardless what kind of. Second, the OUTSIDE isolation can peel/crack/dissolve. That will produce a short circuit! There seems to be the specific problem with that era wires. So I think spending a lot of money at BL is useless, they will be rubbish anyway in a few years! Remember just 11 Sets between 1996 and 2003 and nearly all of the most sought after have wires that have no isolation left! Still looking for better advise to open the connecting plates than the only YT video there seems to be! Advise please!

Didn´t know that, where do you get such information? One thing I want to add: If you apply stickers wet and want to cover it with varnish, hairspray or whatever, let them dry first for a few hours!

Forgot to mention why it is so important if this is really specific to 8480 or it´s release date: The 69 studs long wire appeared only in sets from 1996 to 2003. So it´s very likely that if one buys it at BL, it won´t be in good condition, at least not for long!

I have the same problem right now. Bought a 8480 at Ebay, I am happy with the deal, but the wires are in really bad condition! One thing I noticed while looking for this Set: This problem seems to concern 8480 more than every other Set! I have bought a 8868 after looking a long time for it, none of the Sets in general good condition I looked at had this issue! Even the old 870 and 8700 motor kits I have, their wires still are excellent.Almost every 8480 I looked at had its wires broken Well, 8868 is from 1992, 8480 from 1996. Has somebody else observed this? What about other Sets near to 1996 release date? I must admit that 8480 has multiple wires and this very long one, but most time all wires have isolation that peels off. Soldering new wires is not a problem. Comments on a YT video suggest to use speaker wires. Although most modern wires have quite thick isolation, I think it should be possible to find some with the correct diameter. What I´m really afraid of is to open the 2x2 plates!!! What about a platic or maybe cooper tool instead of a stainless steel screwdriver?

First I want to clear out that I don´t want to tell anybody how do to something! This is my personal experience. I´m a newby here and I am going to ask a lot, so with this I can maybe give a tiny bit of knowledge back. Often when I look at assembled sets, I´m disturbed with how ugly grown up people put the stickers on. For instance I am looking for some used Technic Sets at Ebay, most have stickers applied oblique instead of straight. I have also struggled to position stickers exactly until I restored my RL car, a youngtimer wich has lettering in form of stickers. My buddy who did the paintjob showed me how to do it right: You have to make the surface of the part you want to apply the sticker to wet! Use water with a little bit of dish liquid, thats needed to lower the surface tension to get a evenly wet surface, otherwise you have just single drops. Then put on the Sticker and you have enough time to exacly position it by simple slipping it. Don´t be afraid, the water doesn´t damage the sticking surface. Then just rub with a soft cloth to get the rest of the wate out and it will stick perfectly. I have driven the car 12 years since I´ve restored them, hot sun in summer, salt in winter, stickers still look like new (which is because the are good quality, but it also shows that applying them wet didn´t damage them. I´ve done exactly this with 42079 and 42094, stickers look perfect, it´´s very easy! If you put a sticker on dry and because the position is not exactly perfect you reposition it, then you will damage the sticking surface! To preserve stickers, it would be best to paint them over with clear varnish, but that seems to be a no go in the Lego community. I think hairspray would be a compromise, it won´t last forever but it will definetly give the stickers a longer lifetime.

Thanks for the nice welcome!

To correct my mistakes: Somehow there got a 0 too much in the set numbers, sorry. Also the black rims are of course not cheaper than the yellow ones, but the grey and red ones are (at the moment an BL) . I built a lockable middle diff with the 28th diff, but I didn´t fit it to the vehicle. It´s using too much space compared with what would be possible using the 24-16 diff. Correct me if I´m wrong: I see no way to build a middle diff using the 28th with a coaxial input ( coaxial regarding the axis of the two diff outputs ) with the existing gears. Also the locking mechanism uses too much space because it needs it´s own axle if the input is at 90 degrees instead of being coaxial. Perfect solution in my opinion would be: In this picture, imagine to substitute everything on the middle (back output and input as described in the picture) axles that sits between the two tech bricks (2x DBG 16th clutch gear, the planetary arrangement with 24th crown and the L(B)G 16th gear at the right side) with the 24-16th diff, placing the 16th-end at the left side, and to swap front output and input (placing the clutch either on input or front output) ! What do you think? Maybe the diff lock could be connected to the fake gearbox shifting lever of the original set, that would be really cool. Unfortunately the BL store where I put the (still open) order for the for the wheels conversion doesn´t have the 24-16 diff. So I´ll delay the diff/gearbox mod, just doing the wheels conversion, because I need to save money! Bought a 8480 spaceshuttle with complete box in like new condition (exept electric cables)! As I´m still keen to finish this project and being still a newby to "the new Technic", could someone give me tipps of how to get and use LDD? Thanks!

Hi, after my dark ages lasted sine 1989 I started collecting old Technic sets a short time ago, then I gave the new Lego Technic a try with some small Sets (420063, 420079, 420094). A few day´s ago I got a brand new 420069, built it and I´m really amazed with it for the following reasons: AFAIK it´s the first with realistic live axle suspension Reintroducing Ackermann steering after a very very long time Combining studless and studed parts, although studed is only used for styling. Also the winch is done nicely and the camping roof is a cool feature. I think it´s a highly customized Toyota Landcruiser J70´series, or maybe a J80, a HZJ105, a Nissan Patrol or a Chevy Blazer or a similar US offroad car. I like the tracks for winter, but I ordered parts at BL to change it to wheels according to a Youtube video. I choose the large yellow rims with tractor tires like in 420070 or 420081 (I like the yelow / purple contrast, but you can have it cheaper with black/grey rims and other tires) If somebody is interested I can post the YT link! To make it as realistic as possible I want to add a lockable center diff. I tried to simple add the standard 28 tooth diff underneath the red 16-theeth freewheeling gear of the original drivetrain, but I found out that this doesn´t connect to the diff´s thooth. So I tried all available (to me, with the sets I ´ve mentioned, but also with online info) gears, and found out that it´s not possible to make a diff with the 16-th clutch input gear coaxial from above as needed in the original set to route the steering (also not with the blue 20-th)! So I think about completly reworking the steering to add a lockable center diff for which I came up with a solution combining Ari Holopainen (Lugnet) and Sariel´s technics, and the 24-16 diff (which I still have to order). But I still don´t know how to exacty fit it inside the given space! Maybe also adding a gearbox, a 5 speed + R would be the goal but a simpe 4 or even 2 speed (mimicking a offroad hi/low box) would do. I´ll try to post pictures of what I´m trying to say in the next days Has anyone already tried to add a center diff, or is interested to find solutions for a realistic drivetrain? I think with gearbox and lockable center diff this would be a true "supercar"!

Just want to say hi, my name is Philipp and I´m from Austria! After my dark ages lasted nearly 30 years, I started collecting old technic sets from the 70´s to mid 90´s a few month ago. After digging into it I thought I´ll give the new Lego technic a try, just a few weeks ago. After buying some small to medium sized sets, i got a good deal for 420069 and I´ll post questions and thoughts about modifying it in the technic topic.