gyenesvi

Wow, this is pretty cool, I like the fairly smooth movement of the actuator, I did not expect such precision from a lego machine. And if that can be improved, even better. On the mechanical side, I have a question. Does this type of actuator movement guarantee that the head moves in a plane, and does not lift up? I guess that would make sense. Do you have more details of that? On the software side, you say that there is a start/stop pattern due to commands following each other and you wish to improve that. I think a key would be to have an infinite loop in which you are constantly calculating where the head is and where it wants to be and continuously correcting course instead of issuing distinct commands that have a beginning/end. Is that what target tracking does? I have never tried that in Pybricks. As for the XL motors, even if absolute positioning works (I think it should) they are not so precise at positioning in my experience. Did you try the L motors? They are much better in that respect. 42100 has at least 3 of them.

I don't think it's a society thing of the present. The masses always favored the looks, not the details under the hood, in everything; just because most people are not nerds/gearheads. Simple cheap (real) cars for the masses make more profit than nieche cars. Many products or companies start out as a nieche thing, and when it is picked up by broader audiences the product necessarily becomes dumbed down for the broader audience, who does not need the details/complexity of the original. Sure technic has evolved a lot. Older sets were built as a wireframe because panels did not exist back then and that was the only way to go for bigger models back then. Sure the focus was more on the mechanisms, that was the original nieche idea, but also it's a large amount of nostalgia for us who grew up in that studded technic era. I think really few companies can keep things going by sticking to the original nieche product and not broadening for the masses by dumbing down the product. I think one middle ground for Lego could be models that both look good and have good functions. Obviously it is pointless to max functions out for all models, because we need more beginner sets as well, but I think there's plenty of room for improved functions without driving the complexity too high, especially for the large expensive models. Another area I think Lego misses opportunities is realism. Too often they just settle with something technically basic for a function in these good looking car sets. I hope this will improve. At least the F1 cars have better looking suspensions now and some form of a gearbox.. maybe that's good direction.

And what does JCB have to do with submarines?

That was surprising for me too, especially yellow, as that is used in many sets. It is good to see these long overdue yellow parts coming in now. I can understand LBG panels a bit more though as it is less used for exterior, being a pretty dull color. But sometimes it is required as a secondary color for extras.

With whom?

Still don't get what the submarine has to do with the JCB or the backhoe that was mentioned above. Are trying to refer to yellow submarines?

Of course we know those exist, but exactly that is why, because those are axle-pin versions, which is often not what is required (for example a 3L pin needs to go through the ends or a spinning axle needs to go through it).

And what about the connections on the side? Those small parts that look like plates? Do you think that's only a gap filler?

So? What does that explain? Many sets have yellow parts..

Maybe for upcoming sets it's a good idea to just use the generic 2025 sets thread for discussion as long as we don't have images. And then we will avoid duplicate threads.

Actually I'd already be happy with 3 and 4, those would be most useful of these, maybe also 2.

Yeah! First I thought it's a 7L, but right. Now hoping for the 5L to appear next year as well!

The topic is now duplicated. No, the top gear controls the front bucket raising.

I'm not sure what people expected at this piece count, I expected exactly this and hence I'm not surprised or disappointed. Actually I think the part usage is not too bad, and the overall shapes are nice, and I knew that everything would be just posable instead of controlled mechanisms, so that's okay-ish too, maybe the rear arm/bucket/outriggers feel somewhat cheap. I think that bucket could have been made posable at least.

This looks nice too, and mechanically dense :) Is this a new panel color though? If yes, I bet this will be used in something bigger this year.

I think think this looks cool for the size, something for a change, and has interesting mechanics. Wonder how smooth those cam parts let the propeller spin though, they do have some friction..

The truth is that it is quite a bit easier to build nice looking things at smaller scales with system pieces, because often (at least roughly) the right curves exist and they can be joined together to form good looking surfaces without gaps. With technic parts it is much harder, because the parts are not optimized for surfaces, but rather mechanical stuff, and even if there are no big gaps, often there are lots of discontinuities where parts meet. For example the hood of this car (not counting the lights), or the doors, do not have gaps, but they are not a continuous surface either. Btw, I can see why they introduced the 5L version of the small curved panel: it is much easier to mount it fixed than the 3L version with two extenders on the sides, as that would have only 1 pin/axle hole in the middle, while the 5L version has 3. That's a good move for making the panel system better.

Good to have a better view of the new suspension parts! So it seems they are a single piece for the two sides. To me they look only 7 long (plus two on the front for the new towball arm that extends them), seen on the top view above (rear). The rear ones seem to be mounted one stud further out than the front ones, and also I think they are 1 stud shorter overall because the front one has 1 extra stud for the steering. I wonder what rims they are using, it must be something deeper on the front, needs space for the steering / wheel hub. On the other hand, I think the new steering links are 8 long, as they start one stud further out than the suspension arms.

Hmm, when rotated in 3d, it does not look as terrible as on the images :D But I agree with many others that this one is far from their best. For me, it's all the gaps that kill it. Never liked these fender parts as they are hard to integrate with the rest of the body, and this shows very well what I mean. It's like the whole car is cut in 3 pieces. The hod is also cluttered, especially the lights, yet another recolor quota that could have been spent better, and I agree that the tail lights could have just been brick built. At least on the technical side, the front engine together with the steering seems like something of a challenge, so let's see. But for an orange, parts pack, it's nice :)

Wow, beautiful models, amazing bodywork, good mix of system and technic! This is why we have high expectations for official modes, because we know it is possible.. :D

I've just seen this galloping reindeer kinetic sculpture, something like this? I guess you have better chances looking at not so technic MOCs.. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-202835/JKBrickworks/40499-galloping-reindeer-base-2024/#details

This is beautiful, when I first saw it on FB I immediately knew it's your work :) I also like your choice of models.

I think something holds the panels on the sides, near the end of the curved wheel arch panels. It looks like a 1x1 plate, probably with a clip or bar or something.

I don't find them interesting as cars either, but as part packs / recolors for panels they are pretty good. Though true that if at the same scale, mechanically more interesting models were produced that would be even better, because that would enforce dense builds requiring more new structural parts / connectors that facilitate it, not just panels.

Can you please, after inserting an image, press enter (maybe twice), so that the next line of text starts under the image and not next to it, so it is actually easy to follow what is there to read? All of your threads have text all over the place when images are inserted, and hard to read. Thanks!