2GodBDGlory

I'm excited to be starting another contest here at Eurobricks! To start off this topic, I'll try to do a little backstory for my MOC: In the year 22--, the Galactic government, and specifically its police force, was in a sorry state. Decades of corruption had led to an impotent government, which, though not particularly oppressive, no longer had energy to actually govern. The politicians in charge of the galaxy had no interest in ruling; but rather in simply enjoying the most luxurious lifestyles possible. Finding themselves in need of more money to fund these lifestyles, they gradually became more and more influenced by the various intergalactic criminal organizations, who were glad to provide money, so long as a blind eye was turned to their operations. Agreeing to this proposal, the so-called leaders appointed a succession of police commissioners that were just as lazy and hedonistic as they, and repeatedly slashed the peacekeeping force's budget. As the years went on, criminal gangs grew in power, as this galactic police force shrank. Along with these budget cuts came greatly reduced salaries for officers, a complete lack of new equipment, and worthless leadership. Under such conditions, all but the most dedicated peacekeepers left to find other employment, leaving behind only a grim core of officers determined to maintain order in the galaxy in spite of aggressive attacks from the powerful criminals that effectively ruled most territories, and despite the complete lack of encouragement from their superiors. Armed with nothing but whatever equipment they could salvage, piece together, or confiscate; admirable courage, and unyielding determination, these brave men and women would stop at nothing to protect the galaxy's innocents from rampaging criminal warlords... My model takes inspiration from two main sources: Space Police III's 5972 Space Truck Getaway and this ship, the Droch-class boarding ship, from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where it appears in a few episodes, mainly in Season 1: This ship's goal is to impale an opposing capital ship, cut a hole in its hull, and then deploy battle droids inside. My plan for this MOC is to design a boarding ship for the galactic police of my world, reflecting their poor financial situation and resourcefulness. It will be a sort of space transport truck like that Space Police set, with essentially a shipping container on the back (And the anachronistic earth-truck cab design of the Space Police set!). However, the shipping container is not just a shipping container; but is detachable via hidden engines on its rear. After it is launched, four spikes like those on the Droch-class boarding ship extend from the rear of the container, but all slid towards the center to make one big spike (I'm pretty sure the CW one did this too). After impaling a criminal warlord's ship, the spikes will slide out towards the corners, ripping a hole in the hull, and allowing the Peacekeepers inside the container to invade the ship and capture its leaders. After jettisoning the container, the space truck unveils a hidden cannon from inside its "hood" area and gives air support. Anyways, I haven't made a whole lot of progress yet, but I wanted to show what I have and type out my worldbuilding, so this is what I've got: The container Rear doors blown off as spike extends The other end of the container, with the engines and a door to allow the crew to pass from it to the cab. I'm looking forward to making more progress, and seeing what others come up with!

Amazing work! The model looks amazing and very clean, but I think what really sets it apart from other 1:8 cars is the functionality. The 8+N+R transmission is about as complex as you could ask for, but the dynamic steering/axle lift is very cool looking, achieved with interesting mechanics, and innovative. Thanks for sharing! I'm pleased it'll be released by CADA as well to make it easier for more people to enjoy it (and, I suppose, result in free instructions through the CADA website eventually?)

Just saw this newish part in Brickset's Random Part of the Day, and it looks like the part I always wanted to make compact 4-way steppers, without the 45 degree offset that knob wheels give you! It's even essentially only one stud in width (two plates plus studs)

I don't have much to add to the technical side of this conversation, but for hosting images, the typical place people use on here is called Bricksafe, which is something of a successor to Brickshelf, and fairly easy to use.

You could use it with part 32172, I believe! It's a pretty useless part, but it's the only one I know of that can clip onto axles from the side...

Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty confident it would work, but not at the same speed as the Buwizz. Speed is roughly proportional to voltage, and Buwizz can give up to 11.1 nominal volts, as opposed to the 7.4V of the CADA box. It'll work; it just won't be as fast. Roughly 66.6% of the speed, I believe. I guess I was just trying to say that the 7.4V of the CADA box is quite normal--the same as old PF rechargeable battery boxes and lots of other things. Actually, come to think of it, I think we can infer that the Buwizz motors will function just fine at 7.4V, because I'm sure it's compatible with the older Buwizz 2.0s, which had lower-voltage modes, in a similar range. I don't see them making a motor that wouldn't operate at voltages their batteries put out. Also, if it's of any value, I've used generic Chinese buggy motors on 7.4V batteries lots of times, and it works no problem; just slower.

Yeah, that would be great! There've been a few times where I've needed to get that 45 degree offset; which I have solved using old toothed half bushes and, (I believe more interestingly) by inserting an old ridged 2L axle extender in one side of a transmission driving ring and a new unridged extender in the other side, because the two designs had the axle hole 45 degrees different relative to the grooves for the driving ring. One other part I'd love that I haven't seen mentioned is a 1L axle. I know it'll never be produced because there's an endless number of parts it could be jammed into, never to be removed, but it would be extremely useful in compact builds involving half-beams. Of course, it'd be super easy to make a custom one... This thread makes me wish that the Technic community were more open to using modified parts. Not that we're consciously exclusive or anything; just that when people build impressive things using modified parts, we see it as impressive, but built to a different set of "rules." Maybe by using modified parts I could make, say, a super functional 1:12 supercar that would blow everything else made away (I couldn't--certainly not aesthetically; probably not mechanically). However, if I did, the achievement would be somewhat meaningless because I'm playing a different, easier, "game" than all the other Technic builders. I think, though, that it would be pretty cool if a segment of the community could come up with some kind of "modified standard," in which builders can use certain simple modified or 3D printed parts, like cut-off HD CV joints, or 1L axles, or 24T clutch gears, or shorter links. It would have to be a fairly restrictive list in order to maintain the interest of actually using Lego (which is a restrictive medium), but if enough people were interested in building according to some well-known standard for key modified parts, I think it could have enough respectability that people might actually use those parts. Well! I didn't have that in mind when I started typing...

Oh, I'd definitely agree that the axle-based one would be more flexible and more desirable to have; I just meant that the double-ended one seemed more like TLG's style. I guess my reasons are: 1. TLG tends to make parts along established lines, it seems. They've never done a female CV joint with an axle, and so I think it a bit less likely that they would break that tradition. 2. CADA already has a very similar part to the axle one. I think it would be a bit humiliating for TLG to follow a competitor again, so even if it's a worse Idea they might try to do something a little different. 3. The axle-based part has the potential to be weaker, which TLG might conservatively try to avoid.

I can't answer most of your questions, but I think I can answer this one! As far as I know, almost all of the rechargeable batteries out there for Lego are rated at 7.4V, which is the nominal voltage of two lithium cells wired in series, making it very easy to achieve that voltage. Older Buwizzes and that fancy aftermarket PU hub battery had some kind of voltage controller that let them choose the voltage (at least somewhat?) independently of the actual cells present, letting them achieve different numbers, like 11V and 9V flat. Buwizz 3.0 instead has three lithium cells in series, I believe, making for a simple nominal voltage of 11.1V.

Like the bottom one in that new image you posted I was checking out that webricks website @gyenesvi has been mentioning, and it looks like GoBricks is making those exact parts!

2.5 studs. I think this is the #1 new part I want. Such a missing gap, that gives great whole number gear ratios like 1:2 and the currently unattainable (at least in one convenient stage) 1:4. I cut, dried, and glued together one of those a while back. It would be quite nice, but I've never used mine simply because it's not real. :( For some reason, I suspect that a double-male CV joint part would be more fitting with Lego's current system, though those options are also perfectly workable.

Man, getting into Technic has directly or indirectly led to almost all of my current interests, hobbies, and career plans... I got into it at 13 when looking for a Lego theme to "get into," mainly because I had a little experience with it from some Lego Education stuff, I had read Sariel's Technic Builder's Guide (Just because I read every Lego book I could get my hands on), and a certain set looked like a very good deal at the time. After that, Technic got me interested in cars and how they work, how airplanes and helicopters work, soldering electrical projects, basic programming, 3D printing, and all-around fixing machines. If I hadn't gotten into Technic then, my life could have developed along very different lines.

Nice work! I like seeing original ideas that take some mechanical cleverness to make work!

The new PU hubs have integrated battery boxes, so you'll just need one item. In the older PF system, the IR receivers were separate from the batteries, allowing for basic control with just a battery box and motor, or RC control with a receiver and a remote added in.

I remember discussing that when the Raptor came out, and it was decided that the downside to it would be that steering hubs wouldn't be able to fit inside, diminishing the advantages. I still think it's worth it, though, even if it limits the front axle to the smaller hubs like in this set.

I don't think they can, though, because in that image there are only four studs of space between the hub and the H-frame, so no series of CV/Universal joints can fit in there, unless they only use one CV joint at the one end, and nothing at the other end, which seems like a very bad idea. It seems to look like this: They do rather look that way, but I expect it's just an illusion. I'm happy to see the black again, though!

My impression was that there is an elevator, but it's just controlled by manually rotating it, without any linkage.

Yeah, that's true. This definitely feels like an older set, in its simple color scheme, lack of license, and lack of motorization. It still feels like a fairly mediocre older set, but it's still what I would call "pure Technic."

Interesting machine, great aesthetics, and great use of Znap parts!

Yeah, I'm very impressed with this MOC. It looks very playable, and I do love that controller idea!

Did you check the PF ones? I think those are still a bit cheaper.

In my opinion, probably not. The Xl motor, to me, is simply a lot worse than the L-motor. Other people's analysis seems to give it slightly better performance than the L-motor, but it's only a small advantage, in fairly rare situations. Because it's so much bigger, I don't think it's worth it. The medium linear one could be handy if it's still on sale, but on the site I checked (US or Canada; I'm not sure which), it wasn't on sale at the moment.

Yeah, that would work well. If you don't mind Bricklinking stuff, an old PF AAA battery and M-motor or L-motor would still be a bit cheaper, though.

As far as I know it's new!

This might not answer your question, but I'd imagine keeping two studs is worth it to have a little suspension travel.