Blakbird

I built this model this weekend and thought I would share the results. The amount of work put into the design and instructions is really quite remarkable. Here is a lovely view of all of the parts, ready to go. And this shows a closeup of all the Power Functions and wiring. We have 5 PF medium motors, 1 PF large motor, 3 LEDs, 2 PF extension wires, 1 Battery Pack, 3 IR receivers, 3 IR transmitters, and 4 PF linear actuators. This is an incredibly fun model to build and to play with. By far the hardest part is routing all the wires and finding a way to hide them, but the model is well provisioned with places for the connectors and LED diodes. Here is the final result. It is very easy to control with the 6-way IR controller that Jurgen has designed. The main controls are provided by the two thumbsticks, and then there are additional controls for the skid steer. The XL motor for the boom linear actuators makes all the difference compared with 8043. The 7.2V rechargeable battery seems to have no trouble driving everything, and it is very convenient that you can charge it without even removing it from the model. Obviously the model is great looking and that orange color really makes it stand out. If any of you have thought about building it and have taken a look at the parts list, you may have found that a few of the orange parts are VERY rare. Chief among these are the 1x11 liftarms (you need two of them). These only came in one unusual model. I've actually ordered this model just for those parts (no one on Bricklink has the parts any more), but in the interim I have substituted black. What I discovered is that black works just as well and you can't even tell the difference. In the image below, these parts are the second row of the black stripe along the bottom. If they were orange, the black stripe would be thinner. I point this out so that you won't feel intimidated to try to get the parts for this set. Of course, you could also just build it in a more common color. Here are some views of the model next to 8043 and Jennifer Clark's JCB JS220.

Thanks. The old topic of whether or not people should be selling instructions is not going to be solved in this thread, and it is not going to be solved ever. There's no reason to derail this topic, which is supposed to be about GuiliuG's amazing MOC, into that same old discussion. There are plenty of other discussions in which you can read everything anyone ever had to say on the subject. Let's stay friendly and keep this discussion on track!

The key to understanding this is realizing that the pumps are NOT interconnected. There are 3 separate pneumatic circuits. The first has 2 pumps and runs the boom lift. The second has 1 pump and runs the bucket. They each have their own motor. The manual pump runs the transmission switching. There is no pressure relief valve. Rather, the pumps only run when the switch is moved turning on the power. By contrast, JC's controller uses 4 pumps all linked together which power ALL pneumatic functions. The motors are turned on and off my a relief valve and have nothing to do with the position of the pneumatic switches. Sorry I didn't post any pictures of the controller. One thing I don't like about PF is that the extension cables are not very long and therefore the umbilical is not very long. Also, attaching an extension requires the wires to be attached facing the same direction. The old wires made much better extensions.

Sorry, but I don't want to release the CAD file when instructions are being sold. In addition to the CAD, all the instruction details are in there and it contains all my secrets.

I just built this model yesterday. You might be asking yourself, "Why should I build this model when there are so many other construction models out there?" Hopefully the following pictures will help answer that question for you. First I sorted all the parts. You can see Jennifer Clark's New Holland LS160 Skid Steer Loader in the background which I kept out for comparison. I was expecting something which looked similar but with the additional 4 wheel steer option. A closer look at the parts reveals what is so special about this model. Look at the gears, the pneumatics, and the electric parts! I'm having a blast playing with it now that it is all done. I can't deny that it is a challenging build. There are a million gears and axles that have to be continually tested to make sure everything spins freely and you need many meters of pneumatic tubing. In skid steer mode one motor drives the left wheels and one drives the right. The steering is locked by a gear engaged using the small pneumatic cylinder on the bottom. Then use the controller to switch modes and the large pneumatic shifter on top engages 4 different driving rings. Now the same two motors have new functions. One steers all 4 wheels and the other drives all 4 wheels. The 4 driven wheels use 3 differentials so the average speed of all 4 wheels is constant. The motor drives the ring gear of the center diff. The whole thing is very clever. As you can see in this last image, it is a lot bigger than I was expecting! Everything works with virtually no gear skipping. The one exception is if you drive the steering into the stops and keep the motor running. You can eliminate this problem with a clutch gear, but then the steering doesn't stay locked in skid mode. By the way, you can build this thing without the expensive pneumatic brackets. Just use 1x4 thin liftarms to connect the actuators instead.

The black 12V motor is externally identical to the old gray 4.5V motor. Both are ungeared, direct drive motors with about the same power. They just have different voltage requirements and therefore use different battery boxes. I think the 12V was really intended to be used with the old train regulators because the set didn't even come with a battery box. Neither of these motors is very well suited to modern use, although they can be integrated into a model with enough gearing down. It takes a LOT. The best way to do this is with the old gearboxes from set 872 which give you 100:1.

The links can be fixed by removing the ); from the end.

I'm not aware of anyone else with a complete Technic collection, but there are lots of fans with complete collections of other themes such as Space, Castle, Pirate, etc. It is much easier to get a complete collection now that we have Bricklink. When most of mine were collected it did not exist yet so they were often very difficult to find.

Based on what is currently available on the shelves and considering your budget and level of experience, I'd recommend starting here: The best set currently available is the8110 Unimog which will cost you $200, but it has everything you could ever want in a Technic set. However, if you've never built Technic before then this may be a bit much for a starting point. If you are interested in the more historical sets, you can read all about them here. The bigger sets can be harder to find at a retail store. Your best bet is a LEGO brand retail store or LEGO Shop @ Home. Next best bet is Toys 'R Us, assuming you are in the USA.

The model is exactly the same. Only the packaging is different. The 858 came first. Read more here.

Not yet but yes, it is on my list.

GuilliuG built the model in SR3D. I fixed it up in MLCAD and then exported to POV-Ray, as usual. You are welcome to do so! It will only take 20-30 hours to put them all in. This really is an incredible model. If the measure of a Technic model is the number of functional gears, then this wins!

One of my very favoritescale LEGO pictures ever is of this bucket wheel excavator by Holger Mathhes.

These instructions are of incredibly high quality and you completed them in record time. Thank you so much for the work you put into them. I know I am going to build one!

Yes. The bushing forms a mechanical lock with the wheel hub so it cannot slip. http://technicopedia...8857wheels1.JPG Yes. The pole reverser center can rotate all the way around, although no official set ever used it this way. These old pole reversers are very expensive, though, and I would guess that the contacts would wear out pretty quickly if you used them this way. A large number of older sets used belts in the drivetrain including 8480, 8485, and 8082. The only reason you haven't seen one in a supercar is because they haven't been motorized! The belts were used primarily as a clutch to protect the motor from stalling. Once the clutch gear was introduced with set 8479, they were no longer necessary so have become pretty rare.

Personally, I doubt it. The Star Wars Technic sets were not very popular which was evidenced by the fact that they were on clearance everywhere only shortly after they went on sale. They stayed on clearance for a long time and nobody bought them. My feeling is that, even though Star Wars as a theme is immensely popular, System people just aren't at all interested in Technic building. This is obvious at any convention. At the same time, most of the sets didn't really have much of any functionality so they were not appealing to Technicophiles either. This made them products without an audience. Obviously, there are exceptions (I bought them all), but truthfully I wouldn't have bought any of the figures after the first Pit Droid if I had not been so obsessive about collecting. The Destroyer Droid is the one bright spot with its marvelous folding mechanism. The Hailfire Droid doesn't do much of anything but is notable for those unique gear wheels. You are right about the colors. I think the popularity of the Star Wars line allowed the team a part budget that Technic would never otherwise have. This allowed all the unique colors that would never have otherwise been offered. Oddly, the other place to get rare Technic colors was from the Roboriders and Throwbots/Slizers.

How about a "Technic Meister" badge for the judges...

Cool idea. Is this intended to be a thrust bearing or a radial support bearing? A radial support bearing, for instance one which supports rotating axles, would be useful in reducing driveline friction especially near heavily loaded gears. A radial bearing housed inside a turntable shell would probably be useful as a steering hub for trial truck competitions. The bearing would allow the motor torque to be passed freely to the wheels without the friction of the vehicle's weight interfering. Usually the turntable is used as a thrust bearing, for example for the slewing of a crane superstructure. In this case the bearing would need to be between the upper and lower half of the turntable rather than in the center as in the picture. I think there is a lot of potential for a thrust bearing, but the platform size would probably need to be much larger than the standard turntable to be useful to most MOCers. For smaller robotics use, the existing turntable size may be acceptable. In any case, the bearing should be rolling element and not sliding surface. High strength steel caged spherical balls would be best. Self lubricating so we don't need to make a mess out of our LEGO parts! I wish you well with your project.

Blue has been pretty rare all right, but not as rare as you might think. Here are all the blue sets I could find from the last 35 years. Even in the case of these, blue is often only a minor color and not the main color. The most recent of these is from 2009. The really rare color is green with only a handful of sets ever. Orange is the new green! You mean like this? This is a render of a potential blue/white version of Nathanael Kuipers' supercar. It uses the parts from the Williams F1 racer, but not all of the parts shown here actually exist. It would look like this! Crowkillers has tried blue years ago, but obviously finding parts is a problem. Although the original was not blue, I built Grazi's monster truck in blue and love the results. Because of the relative rarity, anything in blue really stands out on the shelf. If anyone is curious about what one of their favorite sets might look like in blue, I could probably render it without much trouble.

The answer to any "why" question about TLG generally comes from the market. LEGO tests all of their products through focus groups and actual play testing with kids. We AFOLs may prefer a gearbox which changes gear ratios because it more accurately represents the functions of a real car, but for most kids which are the target audience this is boring because you can't really see it doing anything. The gearbox in 8070 has noticeable and obvious effects on the car and is therefore fun to play with. Same goes for Power Functions. Personally, I would have preferred that 8070 not come with PF and be cheaper instead (and have a better looking rear bumper). I've no doubt that there was a prototype of such a model, but the kids liked the motor better.

If you want to clean off corrosion, I'd recommend steel wool. Use the finest type (#0000) and it will give you a polished surface.

It's very difficult to choose among so many excellent entries. There are many different criteria on which to base a decision: originality, functionality, appearance, ingenuity, size, appropriateness of topic (water craft), etc. Different models would win based on each different criterion. 2) 2 points 10) 3 points 13) 1 point 14) 1 point

There are a wide variety of seat designs out there, some of which have already been posted in this thread. Some are very simple, some are very complex. I have built a couple of Erik Leppen's cars and I found his seats fascinating because they are so different from others I have built. From the Zonda: From the Bughatti:

So how big is this thing? I can tell it is huge, but maybe you can take a picture of it next to some actual set (or minifig) for scale. What you have managed to do with this model is really impressive. I love that the all the cockpit controls (at both positions) are accurate. Working rudder pedals is especially unusual (and therefore awesome). I've flown in a few Cubs and have never heard of one with variable pitch so I was going to call you out on that, but a quick Internet search revealed that such animals do in fact exist, although rare. The floats are really well done also, in particular the over center mechanism on the wheels. I really want to see this thing sitting next to Marius Postma's Twin Otter. That would be a hell of a photograph.

Amen. Cats ruin everything.