Lipko

This one is missing too: this And posted my Final! entry here It's basically the same as my old one, but I thought it's clearer this way.

Here's my entry for the "To Sail the Technic Seas" contest. It is a lifeguard's personal watercraft (jet-ski). The model focuses on the looks and realistic functions, it's not intended to swim or to move on the ground. Features: *driven by a medium motor *realistic manual jet nozzle steering (with return to center mechanism) operated by the handle bar (with realistic motion) *working, non-steerable propeller *fake 4-cylinder engine *a shroud that can be lowered over the steering nozzle to produce backwards thrust in real jet-skis (reverse). Operated manually from the driver's seat *simulated throttle, operated from the handle bar *battery box is operated easily from the driver's seat and can't be pushed in "reverse" direction. *opening engine hatch with supporting rod *almost everything is achieved by linkage mechanisms, which are affected only minimally by each other (for example throttle is not affected by the steering axle and vice versa) *good looks *battery box can be removed relatively easily About the throttle: It's just a simulation of it, so it's totally fake. If I had a rechargeable battery box, it could be totally realistic, since the linkage works just fine. In this model, the revolution of the engine and propeller is controlled by simply changing the friction of one output axle of a differential, which causes the other output (the drive-train) to change its revolution because the differential is driven with a constant speed. The friction is changed by pushing radially a small wheel against another freely rotating wheel on the axle. The "lifeguard" part of the entry's title is there because the color scheme I had to use due to my inventory. Video and some more pictures here (see brickshelf or Flickr for even more): old topic

Do you want a model with instructions, or do you want to create your own model, or is it okay for you to copy an existing model? If you want to create your own, do you have Lego pieces or Lego designer software to work with? If you want to create your own: Your question is too broad. Like "Ho to maek car?" Ask (and try to answer) specific questions as you go with the project.

Great model! BTW a hamster is almost like a guinea pig, of which the Hungarian name means "sea pig" literally, so I guess this model is okay for the contest...

Yup: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68057

Maybe I misunderstand, but steering rack solutions are quite compact by themselves. If this wouldn't fit into the current design, than maybe it's time to redesign the thing. I would redesign it anyway, so that you could fit the new type of differential inside in a much compact way. You could look at current sets, how they manage this part in a pretty compact way. Those solutions don't have suspensions, but I think it would be fairly easy to modify the assembly. Your current assembly is just too big and messy in my opinion, even for a non-rollcage car. I don't think you can come up with anything (apart from some unstable, unreliable solutions) to solve the upside down steering on the steering rack side of the steering mechanism. So this problem is irrelevant to this part of the model in my opinion. If you are happy with manual solutions (so you have to switch the direction), than a basic gearbox would suffice.

Me supports.

Something is not clear for me: If the whole entry topic has more pictures than 8 (or 1 videos and 7 pictures), but the first post (the actual entry) has less or equal than 8 and it follows all the other rules too, is that entry valid or invalid? Does posting the same image or video for the sake of discussion or just to advertise (read: bump ) the topic in a post violate the image limit rule? Sometimes it's not the original poster the one, who quotes images or videos in the topic, so the OP is not able to edit and remove the extra images. If an entry topic is not valid for these or for any other reasons, is there a separate naming convention for the final, totally valid entry topic to differentiate it from the other one? um... maybe I could use my reason...

Quotation from wiki four-wheel-drive: "In abbreviations such as 4×4, the first figure is normally taken as the total number of wheels and the second is normally taken as the number of powered wheels (the numbers are actually axle-ends to allow for more than one wheel on each end of an axle)."

It's cool.

Does one have to state that one's entry is a WIP to be allowed to make improvements to one's model, or everyone can improve their models?

Please make instructions too! (just a simple photo instruction)

Thanks for the response. The rechargeable battery pack seems to be a good idea. Can you please give some more details about it? What is the height of it in studs? What is the angle range of the dial? I try to look into these myself, because that would fit nicely in my model. Maybe I rebuild the thing with a dummy part until I get the real one. I have another idea, but it seems to be a hack, or even dangerous. I ask this, because there's a good chance that I won't have money to get that battery box, or if so, the shipment will be too late. So: Is it possible with a control switch? I know it has discrete positions, but maybe there's a tiny range between the two positions where it can be used for variable speed? I guess the chances for that are quite bad, and I'll just make some sparks and burn down the whole flat if I try... I can only give it a try in the weekend, maybe someone has tried it.

Sorry to flood the forums, but I saw that many contestants use variable speed drives. I'm still new to this new Technic, and I don't know what components to use to achieve the variable speed. Are there electric components for that? It is a main feature of my entry, and I could only make an eye candy, faking of it, which takes up a large space in the model. This space could be used for another important feature (automatic clutch), which I couldn't add due to the lack of space. Maybe I'd have to time to buy/get those components and rebuild my model. So, how did you, contestants, achieve variable speed? Thanks!

That is an awesome model too. At first, I thought it's a bit unfair that some of the members have a very big inventory while others have (maybe very) small. But I guess size doesn't matter much, since you can stuff almost as many functions into a small model as a big one with the studless system, so the size is mainly a matter of choice. Plus building big has its prizes: a lot more time to build, and harder to make structurally strong. (My envy talked) Awesome contest with awesome models, and I am happy to participate

Kevron's posts are a mess. My post was a mess in a thread. (changing words to totally different sentences, like "smells odorific", "mary poppins"). Some other posts of other members have the replaced word/sentence thing. Disappeared "edit" button yesterday. The best timing one can imagine. Oh noes!!!!1 I hope it's just April's fools

I want one. This is the mostest awesomest entry. *one eye cries one eye smiles

To Sail Across the Technic Sea

Another great MOC! This is my first Lego contest ever so I may be wrong and this may be usual, but this contest has many entries that would stand on their own and not only being "good entries" (I hope that made sense).

Many people think, that simply pumping air into the air tanks produce more buoyancy. That is not true. In fact, pumping more air in them makes it (insignificantly) heavier. The only situations when it matters that you pump air in or out, is when tank can increase its size (balloon), or when a fixed size tank is filled with water and you pump it in and out (ballast). It would be nice to see a working ballast in form Lego pieces...

Since the Brickshelf folder is still not public, I uploaded the pictures to Flickr

Good looking engine, but you do realise, that it takes exactly the same amount of energy to electrolyse the water that you can earn from it with burning (The energy you get from burning H and O all goes to electrolyse the water). Taking the energy loss into account, you end up with a less efficient system (with more batteries and gas storing devices) than simply having the batteries power the electric motors directly. Of course, you could use compressed and stored O and H to power the engine.

We have the winner? That is awesome. One little complaint though (which is probably not intentional): the inconsistent colors.

Oh, sorry. My mistake

I said it was a bad analogy.