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Blakbird

Technic Regulator
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Everything posted by Blakbird

  1. Blakbird
    I have never built Sephirot's truck, so it is hard to make any comparison. Sariel and M_longer also had amazing tow trucks. However, I can compare these two if you like. The style is quite different so either could be considered superior depending on what you like. Grazi's tow truck is based on 5571 and is obviously a scale model of a much older truck (maybe 30 years old). The "clutter" you describe was very common at the time, and truckers would add on detail to make their trucks look as flashy as possible. Dikkie's truck is more modern and smooth.
  2. Blakbird
    Well that's the problem. With so many wires they do need the be threaded through some special places. But I could handle this by just putting in a few photographs. As promised, here are a few pictures of the model next to Grazi's tow truck.
  3. Blakbird
    Absolutely amazing model of a totally unique subject. Incredible work not just on the model but on the presentation including the electrical and pneumatic functions. Do I understand correctly that the "mode switch" for the electrics happens by merely blocking the receiving port on the IR receiver? Do you have a picture of how this works? I am also interested to know how you command the pneumatic functions. Did you use autovalves?
  4. Blakbird
    Rather than trying to model all the wires with LSynth, I am considering doing an electrical schematic diagram instead using color coding. Take a look at the linked images and give me some feedback concerning whether you think this would be adequate to make all the electrical connections. This model has 36 individual electrical parts to connect. (Files are linked because they are too large to attach) Figure 1 Figure 2 I might also include some text to help explain such as: LED Lights: Power from battery via white main power feed to dark tan switch. Switch goes to 4 purple aft LED lights. Trans red extension wire goes from switch to electrical junction bay. Front 4 brown LED lights connect to junction bay.
  5. Blakbird
    Asking people to tell you why not to buy this model ends up sounding a lot like asking people to trash it. Perhaps a better question would be "If I can only afford one Technic model this year, which one should it be?" This question allows people to focus on the positives of each set and rate them accordingly. For example, I like 41999 a lot and plan to buy it, but if I could only get one set this year it would probably be the crane. The main reason for this is because I already own 9398 and the crane is the biggest Technic set ever.
  6. Blakbird
    I spent about a week on it, several hours per day. It took me longer than it might have because remember that I was creating the instructions, not just using them. The lack of electrical and pneumatic definition in the instructions took me the most time to work out. In fact, I would say that it takes about 50% about as long to wire as it does to build the entire 5000 part truck!
  7. Blakbird
    Last night, after much work, I finally finished my version of the tow truck. What a project! I thought I would share a few photos of the construction. These first pictures show the parts. Note that this is only the first 2/3 of the parts. The parts for the crane and cabin I had procured separately. These next couple of pictures show some of the massive maze of wiring inside this monster. Amazingly, it is all totally hidden once the model is complete. At this point I completed the "first stage" which used about 3000 parts. Then I used the remaining 1500 parts to build the crane and cabin. These pictures show the final result. My instructions worked reasonably well, but there are quite a few things I need to make better before I publish them. Most importantly, the instructions do not have the wiring or the pneumatics. I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to document these correctly in CAD, so I may end up just including photos of what to do. Maybe tomorrow I will take a picture of this next to Grazi's tow truck for comparison.
  8. Blakbird
    I can't believe this thing really walks! One of the most incredible technical creations I have ever seen. Am I correct in assuming that this is all done mechanically with no NXT for programming?
  9. Blakbird
    Wow! This is not only an incredible model, I love the way you presented each feature by showing a cutaway of the mechanical drive system. Reminds me of Technicopedia!
  10. Blakbird
    That's an amazing likeness of the Kenworth and it is incredible that you managed to make it from the parts of a single set. The tires are clearly too small, but there is nothing you can do about with the constraints of the parts in the set. By the way, I love the turntable.
  11. Blakbird
    There is no reason not to buy a limited edition custom Technic set. Any excuses are clearly invalid. If money is an issue, you can always sell some unneeded internal organs. It would be worth it.
  12. Blakbird
    Yes, check my Brickshelf.
  13. Blakbird
    I'm resurrecting this old thread with some new news. I've been working on a CAD file of this model for about 6 months and I am finally finished. Here are a couple of renders, and there are more at my Brickshelf (once moderated). It should come as no surprise that I've also been working on instructions, and this has turned into an enormous project. There are about 900 steps spread over 300 pages, with a total of about 4200 parts. I've got the instructions in good enough shape to build this model myself, at which time I'll also be correcting any errors and trying to make them easier to understand. The presence of the CAD file also allows me to do some cool cutaway views like you see below. This shows all the internal mechanical components. At some point, I'll do a similar view for pneumatics and electrics, but I can't do that until I have all the wires and tubes synthesized which is another huge project by itself.
  14. Blakbird
    I've got that motor. It is the same form factor and uses the same connector as the old 4.5V motor. It did not come with a battery box. You could technically use the 4.5V battery box, but obviously the motor would be useless at that voltage. It was intended to be used with the old 12V train transformer which uses the same plug. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=bb293 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=bb92 These old motors have no gearing at all, so they rotate VERY fast and need a lot of external gearing, which I think is fun. Take a look at the 8888 Idea Book to see just much you can actually do with 4.5V motor, including driving an entire crane. I've built it, and it works! The 12V motor has more power. You could certainly work it into a MOC.
  15. Blakbird
    Will flagships keep getting bigger? I hope so. I am still waiting for something the size of a UCS Star Destroyer with functions to match.
  16. Blakbird
    I talk about the purpose of this part extensively in my 9398 review including showing a few examples of why it works.
  17. Blakbird
    I'm not sure these are fair tests. Cranes don't lift anything with their boom cylinders. The boom is raised with no load. The winch lifts load after the boom is already in position.
  18. Blakbird
    Another beautiful model! All those 5x11 red panels you have there are worth a fortune. This is one of those models that looks so smooth that you might guess it is all about looks and not functions, but then when you turn it over you see all the wonderful mechanisms inside.
  19. Blakbird
    There is a whole forum just for LEGO CAD tools. Head on over to LEGO Digital Designer and Other Tools. I am curious about your mention of Bionicle though. As far as I know, none of the tools support Bionicle.
  20. Blakbird
    Not all rechargeables are created equal. Look at the capacity rating (listed in milli-amp-hours mAh). Lithium cells tend to have high ratings.
  21. Blakbird
    Yes, you can use rechargeables. I use lithium AA cells in mine. You lose some performance because of the lower voltage, but they last longer and can be recharged.
  22. Blakbird
    Thanks for the review. I can't imagine what it must be like to review your own creation. It would have been a big surprise if you wrote a negative review! It's pretty cool that there are so many different varieties of Power Functions components in this set. One of my favorite things about the set is the new dark blue parts and the custom wheels. It is a little sad to hear that there is no chance of having this color in other sets. Since the set is limited edition, there will not be enough parts in circulation for an after market, and with no further parts coming they will not be very useful for MOCing. But they sure do look great in this model. Assuming I am able to buy a copy before they sell out, I'm going to change the chassis to black and use some of those aftermarket tyres which I think will make this look even more incredible.
  23. Blakbird
    I must admit, the option of doing nothing and waiting for the problem to go away is quite compelling! In fact, just over the past few days since I made the initial post the parts have already destunk significantly (or I have become acclimated to it). The seller had the model assembled before selling it, so I have to assume that he smoked continuously while taking it apart in order for the smell to have been so strong.
  24. Blakbird
    That only works in edit mode. If you are looking at instruction steps then it doesn't work.
  25. Blakbird
    In MLCAD, no. In LPub you can change the scale factor to effectively zoom in, and then you can change the position to try to look at a certain part of the model. It is difficult to get right but it can be done.
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