Blakbird

The motors are the same so just get whichever is easier for you to find. They will have a wire that plugs directly into the NXT and is capable of tracking number of revolutions. The color of the NXT doesn't matter either. They are both the same, just a different color. In fact, the black is much more rare and collectible! To program it you need the NXT Software with comes with the NXT. If you don't have the software, you'll have to buy it on Bricklink or try to get a replacement from LEGO customer service.. To connect your lights you will need this adapter cable. I am by no means a NXT expert. In fact, I only bought the NXT, built the first model, and then sold it. Even so, I'm pretty sure I know how to program what you are trying to do. My point here is that the language is really easy and all you need to do is follow the instructions for one or more of the sample models and you'll know what to do.

There are a lot of official helicopter sets, but not very many helicopter MOCs. The helicopter sets tend to just have a rotating rotor but no pitch control at all. A couple of the better ones have a ball gear that allows the entire rotor disc to rotate, but no blade pitch control. Ironically, the only one ever to have actual collective was the very first one from 1977. There has never been a cyclic control. The only MOC I have ever seen with the full swashplate function was from Mark Bellis.

Power functions motors don't have any position feedback, so there is no way to know for sure how many times they have turned. You'd have to program the NXT to just run for a certain number of seconds, but no matter how careful you are it would off after a few cycles and would not return to starting position. With a NXT motor you can command a specific number of degrees of rotation so what you are suggesting would be easy. As long as you can convert the LEDs to plug into a NXT connector through a converter cable, turning them on and off at whatever time you like should be pretty easy. You could probably just program them as motors and tell them to go to 100%.

There have been plenty of water themed sets, but none of them actually floated.

But then what happens if you fly inverted? Well, the Cub is a tail dragger so it is supposed to be sitting on the tail. Unless of course it is on floats like yours. Everyone knows that if your plane is tail heavy it just means you need a bigger motor.

The best drawbar trailer out there (which also happens to be the right size) is from Designer Han.

The primary function of a reach stacker is to work at a sea port stacking containers unloaded from ships and putting them on trucks. Since it is a port vehicle, of course it counts as related to the sea ! The port here at Seattle which is just outside of my wife's window at her office is crawling with these vehicles.

Try this one. There's a typo in the other link. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67364

There is no value in adding a 4th pinion gear. The notion that it helps distribute the load more evenly is a fallacy. It is true only if the 4th gear is supported by a pin attached to the carrier.

The old diff ring gear is a spur gear, not a bevel gear, so it is not made to be meshed at a 90 degree angle. As far as I know, the only way to manage this would be to use the old 24 tooth crown gear.

I'd switch the order of the last two. The "Ninja" or "supercar" is the most advanced (more than the GT car) and should be done last. That's the one I kept assembled.

Wait a minute now, I didn't say I like the business world being this way, I'm just saying that this is how it is. I also said that I personally do see the value in Technic as a technical hobby and seeing it properly used on a resume would be a good thing in my own eyes. I'd be happy to defend such a person and would certainly not disqualify them on this basis. However, the question was whether or not it is a good idea in general to include this on your resume. If you want to maximize your chance of getting a job, then the answer is no because in the majority of cases it will be counted against you (not with me!). However, if your goal is to get a job you like and you are willing to wait to get it, then it may very well be a good idea to use this on your resume to weed out employers that may not be a good fit for you. In our current global economy, most people cannot afford to do the latter. I'm sorry if you got the impression that I thought Technic was a "bad thing" and not relevant to an adult technical job. I'm not saying that at all. But in my experience most managers don't get it. On the other hand, most engineers do. I have Technic sitting on my desk at all times, and somebody comes by to compliment me on them and/or ask technical questions about them nearly every single day. In most cases, these people are engineers. Sometimes they are even female! The age of the industry probably means everything. If you are applying for Google, then put Technic on your resume. If you are applying for IBM (or even worse, government service), then don't.

My confidence is worth something because I participate in hiring meetings so I know exactly what I'm talking about. In my industry, no, personal interests have no place on the resume at all. At best they would be ignored. I suppose Aerospace is an "old" curmudgeonly industry. I'm sure that other industries which are more progressive could be different. Mind you, I totally agree that a bunch of complex MOCs looks like good technical experience to me personally. But it would look odd to most hiring managers. Its good to stand out from the crowd, but it needs to be positive. Many managers won't see it as positive. YMMV

Yes, I would love to have a "Technic-LUG" in which we are able to get together for regular meetings, but the few of us USA-based Technic fans seem to be scattered all over the country. I have met a couple of European Technic fans at USA conventions, but I have never met one in a foreign country. I was in Italy last year and regret that I did not have time to go see RoscoPC, for instance, even though I was only about 3 miles from his house at one point.

I suppose it depends on your industry. I can say with confidence that in my industry (aerospace), it would not generally be positively viewed on a resume and may even cause a candidate to be disqualified. Note that the requirements for a resume for someone with no job experience (right out of university) are totally different. If you have no job experience, it makes sense to highlight some technical extra-curricular activities. However, once you have job experience, that is the only thing that counts. Anything else just detracts from it (at least in engineering). A resume should never be more than 1 page, and putting LEGO in that precious scant space implies you couldn't think of anything better to say. I'm not sure what you mean by "on the form". This implies you are talking about filling out an application which is different than preparing a resume.

It is not just your country. All of my Technic friends are through the Internet. I have met a couple of them, but no one lives in my area. No one in my LUG or at my local conventions cares about Technic. Even very large USA blogs like Brothers Brick never writes anything about Technic MOCs.

As both an engineer who evaluates job candidates and as a Technic fan, I am sadly forced to advise against putting LEGO on your resume. While you and I understand the technical competence required to design and build functional Technic models, the vast majority of hiring managers will not understand this and will simply see this part of your resume as childish. If you want to be seen as a professional, you should list only professional qualifications. On the other hand, it may be a good idea to bring up this hobby in the context of an interview once you determine the personality of the interviewer and decide whether or not he/she would take it seriously. If you've really done some good technical LEGO work, just try to word it without mentioning LEGO. For instance, "developed a functional prototype of a continuously variable transmission using off-the-shelf parts". This sounds impressive and they will almost certainly ask about it. At that point you could even do a functional demonstration. This way they become interested from the technical side before any bias is present. Only after they are interested in the technical side will they discover it was LEGO.

CAD file and renders now available.

Hmm, Marius doesn't post here any more, but if he did he'd have an excellent chance of winning the TSATS contest with this "water themed MOC".

This is super cool and totally unique! The motion reminds me somewhat of the dinosaur in 8485. The general construction reminds me of something I saw at BrickCon, although it had no moving parts (picture too big to post, so follow the link).

I'm not too fond of the gray wheels with the 5 spoke hubcaps. The wheels really need to be black. Also looks like he couldn't find the 19L black axles so he used flex tubing. That actually looks OK.

I didn't realize those had become so expensive. I bought 2 of them back when they first came out for $50 each. It is an excellent set, but it is certainly nothing special enough to warrant the outrageous prices. Some of the white parts are pretty rare to it could be hard to put one together from scratch. If you make it yellow, it should be easy. The #2 dark bluish gray angle connectors are also incredibly rare, but there is no reason the carrier couldn't be black.

Looks like you have kept your sets in incredibly good condition! It takes discipline to take care of your sets when you are a kid. I don't even see any teeth marks! When I was a kid I had mostly Space and a few Universal type sets. I didn't get Technic until I was an adult, but then I had to get all of them. You may be interested in seeing all the other old sets that were available at the time at Technicopedia.

I noticed the same thing. That just happened because you did not have the current version of the Bricklink database in Brickstore. There were a couple of other small errors (colors or part variations that did not exist) in the Brickstore parts list file which I've corrected. Jurgen, I will send you the corrected file and you can use it as you see fit. By the way, I'd like to add to the chorus of appreciation for this excellent model. Very well done indeed. Sounds like you are trying to just open the file. You need to have the Brickstore application installed and use that. It will show you the whole parts list. You can export from Brickstore to make a Bricklink wanted list. The BSX file itself is useless with Bricklink.

There have been a few "watercraft" over the years, but nothing recently.