Saruzeufel

Absolutely. I would consider entering a contest for small models. If it would require me to build it digitally as well I wouldn't bother.

I'm really looking forward to your progress on this, please keep us updated with what you come up for the quick coupler. I tried building one with those 3 functions a while ago but it ended up being way to big and bulky, so I am really interested ins seeing your approach

Very impressive RC conversion. That's a lot of motors for such a small set. I love the little detail of switching on the hub by using the charging port!

This set seems nicely packed with functions. To me the proportions look a bit off though compared to the real machine. Not sure it's just the angle from the pictures, but especially the cab looks a bit squished

What a let down... If the tools on the quick attach are hand operated, they could have at least given it a proper demo shear... since making these RC is challenging, I would have understood going for the simpler hammer attachment, but with it not being powered by a motor there is no excuse. At least the bucket looks good

Stunning MOC! The quick coupler is such a nice feature. Also impressive reach on the boom and still decent speed. Must have taken forever get it just right like that

Claas Xerion on Terra Tracs

Looks great, such a clean build! That drivetrain is so well done

Nice model. I really like how the worm gears for driving are placed similar to the motors on the real machine! The bucketwheel seems a bit small though with only 4 buckets Pretty much that, yes. Since these BWEs are very tall they would need a very large crane just to do any maintenance on things like the cable drums or other heavy parts. And getting such a large crane into an open pit mine with no roads, just loose soil, would be hard enough, but you would also need to prepare a platform/ foundation for it to stand on and not just sink in. Makes much more sense to just throw a few small cranes on top of the BWE for that

A demolition excavator sounds too good to be true. Also Volvo sets were usually quite good sets for relatively low prices, so this could be full of motorized functions. If it is well done, I might have to sell a kidney. Was kinda disappointed with the sets this year so far, but maaan am I hyped now

What a great MOC! I have a soft spot for unusual machines and this is so well executed. Looks good and has great functions. I always love it when you can see drive shafts with U-joints spinning while it is running

Very impressive. Not only the very complex mechanism, but also the looks are great! Love the scientific approach to making it most accurate and measuring drift

Really good looking model. Nice, how many functions there are for a tuck this small using PU. I especially love the slightly messy way the trailer lock and trailer power are built.

What about "outdo Lego's 2025 line up and build something that has at least one mechanical function apart from steering and driving"? Jokes aside: while the idea of a festive contest sounds interesting, I think that color selection might be a bit of an issue for some. Typically red, green and gold are associated with christmas but if someone were to, let's say, mainly build construction vehicles, they would mostly have black, grey and yellow pieces. Not impossible but quite challenging to get it working How about (maybe for a future contest) a contest for a creation with a "1 input -> at least 2 outputs"-mechanism? Like old sets that were ready for the PF-upgrade used to have these selector gearboxes or optionally something mechanical with linkages for the very creative minds.

I had this set back when it came out and at first I thought I made a mistake too but it is exactly as described here: I can confirm 100% that it is intentional that the cable is always engaged and you just turn the extension mechanism on or off with the lever. The speed of the spool is also chosen to roughly unwind the same length of cable as the extension is moving (plus a small bit extra so it never catches up)

I have the same issue of only having lines of string instead of pictures. I can only see them if I open the thread in a private Firefox window. Had that same issue with the last posts, too. Anyways: cool bike! That orange frame looks really good. Also nice density of mechanisms

Do they spin if you add some resistance to them (because they are free spinning together with the axles)?

42131 has exactly that if you want an RC version or 42055 has a manual version similar to what you are looking for. A very basic version of such a gearbox would look like this: The blue gears and the long grey axles are outputs. Shift outputs by rotating the orange selector 90° either via a PU motor set to stepper mode or using a stepper mechanism (or add friction pins and turn by hand)

Exactly how I feel about 2024. Still waiting for a proper Technic flagship this year... something with a few nice mechanisms. After an already somewhat disappointing 2023 this makes it especially bad

Sounds great! As a suggestion for topics: maybe construct them in the way "build X but with/without Y" and then draw random topics for things to build (car, truck, construction vehicle, mechanism, etc.) and then a constraint added to it (with at least 3 axles, without using black pieces, with at least one mechanical function beyond steering and driving, etc.). This way the topic can be something everyone understands without beeing too generic (aka. boring) for the more advanced builders. Additionally they would be highly reusable for future challenges without having to come up with completely new things every time.

I can confirm this, I was (and probably still am) one of those kids. The header rotating the wrong way alone would have been enough for me to not want the set.

Tore an old half finished MOC apart, tried to come up with something creative and am still stuck at that point.

Because it is missing CAT's signature delta tracks (raised drive sprocket) it looks more like a Komatsu D375A to me or something inbetween the two

I assume that is done so the header does not spin when it is lifted... to give it a "drive mode" and a "work mode" (since you can't fold it for a proper "drive mode")

I really liked the B-models for their often very creative and unusual mechanisms or part usage. I found them very inspiring sometimes, especially on small to medium sets. Some B-models were even more interesting to me than their A-model (looking at you 8464) I have to say though that recently the B-models were less interesting (except for something like 42121) so I did not bouild them as often as before. It feels like them beeing gone now is just the endpoint of the lost interest in them.