Blakbird

Ah yes, the "palm tree trunk", often also used as an air horn. You could certainly make some logs out of these, but the scale would be a bit small for this truck. 3 or 4 studs is a good diameter for this scale.

That thought has certainly occurred to me. That's what I did with the logging tractor; I ordered a bunch more 2x2 round bricks to make more logs. This makes the trailer look better, but in that case the claw is actually useless at picking them up because they just fall out. Too smooth. In this case, the crane and claw work better. I'd actually prefer to use more that 8 wheels per log because the logs are a little short. They don't span all 3 supports so the log tends to fall out. The idea of using real wood is actually pretty good. Maybe I will do that. Should be able to find plenty of pine and fir around this area! What I would really like to find is the parts that 2LEGOornot2LEGO uses on his trailers.

I bought mine at the LEGO store last night and built it. My first impressions are very good. It is much larger and more functional than I was anticipating. It is just as big as 8258 and 8285. Functionally, it is very, very similar to 8258 with 4 motorized functions including crane and outriggers, steering, engine, and diff. Personally, I do not find the price unreasonable for a model of this size. As a parts pack it is a gold mine of good stuff including a lot of rare or unique parts. The gearbox is marvelous, though it is sadly hidden once the model is complete. The only technical complaint I have is the outriggers. Unlike previous models, the mechanism does not go over center so the outriggers cannot support any weight at all and do not stabilize the model. Next step, modifications. So far here are my plans; Add dual wheels on the rear axles. Add a second differential. Support the M-motor in the rear so it is not hanging from the front and twisting its support beam. Connect the rear fenders so they cover the wheels. Finally, I've said it before and I'll say it again:

I rendered at 640x480 and then shrunk it down.

Yes. Good radiosity will increase the render time by 10-100X. If there is any transparency involved (like your sample image), the time is much longer again. HDR doesn't really change the render time much. As an example, the sample I made of your render below uses radiosity and HDR and took about 4 hours to render on a quad-core. I also used brighter lights than you did, so that's not really part of the comparison. You will especially see differences in the reflections and in places which were not lit much in the original image. Image

Nicely done! The submarine alternate model of 8480 does exactly the same thing in the gearbox. The motor drives a single direction, but you can mechanically reverse the direction of the loading ramp and nose hatch.

I am certainly interested. I did quite a bit of cleanup work on the GT Car CAD file because it was not complete. You are welcome to use my file if you like. It still needs a bit of work.

Looks like you meant tires, not wheels. There is certainly some odd damage there that I have not seen before. Glad to hear LEGO will be replacing them!

Thanks for the head's up. I ordered mine! (and plenty of extra)

I have one too. It seems that PDFs which were already there were "grandfathered" and allowed to remain when the new rule was instituted. No new PDFs can be posted now, but the old ones are still there.

Other than working in the auto industry, another way to learn all this stuff is to play with R/C cars and trucks. A few that I have owned have had all of these angles as well and have been adjustable. People who race them learn to adjust all the angles to maximize performance on whatever track surface they are using. I was never very good at it, but always fascinated with the concept.

Done! You can find them at my Brickshelf account along with renders of the rear suspensions that I've now added.

Using a larger transformer does not result in any extra heat at all. The rating on the transformer is the maximum amount of current that it is capable of delivering, but it will only actually deliver what the load calls for. The battery charger only draws 0.48A when the voltage is 10V, so literally any 10V transformer with at least that capacity will deliver exactly the same total power to the battery. No difference at all. Now if you used a charger that charged at many amps, that would be a different story. You would destroy the battery immediately. But in this case the charging circuitry is part of the battery so you don't have to worry about that. The transformer is only supplying a power source for the charger. The charger will take care of setting the right charging voltage and current.

Working on it now. I'm trying to show the steering turned, but because of the camber, caster, and Ackerman, the CAD parts are really hard to rotate! (I am using MLCAD)

This is a truly remarkable model! I have been interested in the FSB001 for a long time, but I know that Anio built it and that it does not work properly. I'm very happy to hear that you have solved most of the problems and updated the design to modern parts. I can't wait to build one!

I'm still working my way through the renders and have the rear modules still to complete. Is anyone interested in seeing revolving animations of any of these? It is easy enough to make them. Once I've rendered all the modules, I'll make a few renders of completed chassis systems (3 modules). Any particular combination anyone wants to see?

This is such an incredibly cool concept and it has been so well executed. My congratulations to Sheepo for his amazing work. I am not nearly competent enough to design any of these, but I figure the least I can do is download all of them, learn about them, and make some cool renders and animations. Eric

No one said wheels were against the rules, only that they might count against you in that the intent of the contest is to produce a water vehicle. If you design a car, it is not going to do well in this contest. However, an amphib boat like suggested seems like quite an imaginative use of wheels. I don't think anyone would be penalized for hiding some wheels for practical purposes either. In fact, every one of the official LEGO Technic water vehicles does exactly this.

Wait a minute. Why does the 747 go in the same category with the Hindenburg and the Titanic? Hopefully just because it is big.

Fantastic model of a fascinating subject. Personally, I would call it the "Graf Zeppelin" instead of the "Hindenburg". More famous, less infamous.

This thread is pretty full, so maybe I'm too late to join the party. In any rate, I have a certain amount of expertise in these matters and would certainly enjoy the opportunity to be on the panel if it is not too full already. I think the title under my avatar at left uniquely qualifies me to give the boot to unacceptable entries.

Instructions would be a VERY large project. There is a CAD file, but it doesn't have any kind of building steps in it so it is extremely difficult to build using that file. There are many times you need to remove something to install something else, but it can be done. I think in order to convince anyone to spend so much time doing instructions for this, there would need to be sizable interest.

If only I was as wise as you my friend. If only..... Now that's a worthy cause!

This story is familiar to me. Woman divorces husband, takes all his stuff, then sells it for the money. Buying any of it is extremely bad karma. No way anyone "thins out their collection" by having their wife sell it on eBay. This same seller is reselling Skyliner's Countach model and his instructions even though they are copyrighted.

Nope, the additional spider gear carries no load and has no function*. In order to carry load, it needs to be anchored to the differential casing with a pin (like the other spider gear). It is not possible for it to react unequal output torques without this anchor. If you want to test it, try building a diff with ONLY the unpinned spider gear (leave the normal one out) and watch it pop right out of the assembly as soon as one of the axles turns. *OK, there's one function. It doesn't carry any load, but the combination of that extra gear and the two 1/2 bushes he put in there make the whole thing fit more tightly together which makes it harder for the bevel gears to slip. They can't slip if they can't expand. I've built this model. The inability of the model to drive has nothing to do with a lack of power, so I don't think the use of a new motor would change anything. The drivetrain is very complicated with a lot of gear pairs, backlash, and compliance. That's the problem with driving. If you apply enough power (like enough to drive), you simply fail or slip something resulting in the wheels being out of sync or disconnected. By the way, Nathanael has posted some new CAD images of the drivetrain which more clearly show the level of complexity. I did manage to figure out how it all worked before building it, but it took a lot of study to get there.