Blakbird

With the stock wheels and tires it looks like a rock crawler. With the Power Puller wheels and tires it looks like a monster truck. Even though I personally like the latter better, considering what this model is supposed to be the former are the right choice. Plus, I've already got a monster truck! Although this model is also motorized, it is only for show. The model can't drive at all without grinding of gears. This shows you how far LEGO have come is designing strong ABS parts that can withstand these large forces.

Yes, I think there is a white sticker across the bottom that makes it look like 3 x 11, but it is actually 5 x 11. That is too bad, because we know they developed a 3 x 11 part past the prototype stage (it was a real molded part, not a rapid prototype) for the Unimog, and I think it would be a good part. I like the black wheels, and I like the opportunity to get more orange and white parts. I'm interested to know if they used the same wheel hubs or something different. The existing parts have trouble with high torque loads (like trial trucks) and I don't think LEGO would release anything that broke that often, so I wonder if there are new parts between the motors and the wheels.

Even with only 2 pins holes, the pins would intersect the center tube which would be a problem. The easiest way to do this is just use two 1x2 Technic bricks back to back. Like you say, there's no way to allow pins on all 4 sides at the same time. You need 3x3 (or more) for that.

Actually they are cost intensive parts. 4 more wheels and tires would cause a significant percentage increase in the price (I'm sure at least $10, probably $15). LEGO Designers have to meet very stringent cost targets and balance part count against those. Since this is targeted at kids and most kids won't care if it has 6 wheels or 10, I'm sure the extra cost could not be justified. Personally, I wish they would offer "upgrade packs" to interested buyers. They could be directed marketed and it seems like they would be pure profit. For example, this model's upgrade could include 4 more tires, more logs, and possibly other accessories. 8110 is even more obvious since various additional attachments could be offered. I know I'd buy them.

Great mod. It is quite obvious that this model needs dual rear wheels, and it even looks like the designers intentionally left plenty of space next to the frame to add them. It looks so much better!

Yes, I believe that is a first. I guess they did it that way because it was not needed (torsional restraint is still provided) and there was no room for it. Usually the bracket houses a set of bevel gears, but no bevel gears are needed in this case. Interestingly, a linear actuator bracket is used further up the boom, but it does not support an actuator. This is also the first set to include both sizes of linear actuator.

Just keep practicing until you develop impenetrable callouses. This happened to me last time I disassembled my collection. I think I took apart nearly 1 million parts over the course of about 6 weeks. My fingers were hamburger. Now I can feel no pain because my fingers are like stone.

Thanks for the part numbers. Unfortunately, the black panels are still not available for order from LEGO S&H in the USA. I just called but they don't even know when they will be available.

You said your goal was to be able to actually drive the car in any gear. From that point of view, it will never work because the car isn't designed for that and the parts can't take it. You can drive very slowly by gearing everything down and probably be OK, but you can't drive fast in high gear no matter how big the motor is. Gear and axles are your weak points. Look at the results of trial trucks for evidence. If you really want a LEGO car to drive fast, the only way to do is put the motors right at the drive wheels, or have a very light car. There's a reason none of the the LEGO Technic cars has ever been R/C. There have been some Racers, but they use special parts. Real R/C cars of this size use steel parts, and they still break regularly. The new rock crawler is going to be R/C. We'll see how LEGO handles that. I suspect there will be some new parts involved to strengthen the drivetrain. But 8448 was only designed to spin the wheels on jacks. While you technically can modify it to be R/C, you will reach the limits of LEGO parts very quickly.

This is the background of the Technic forum. It looks like it was extracted from the cover page of the 8865 instructions. This was only possible because there happens to be a large unobscured area on those instructions.

I need to order some of those new black panels. Could you take a photo of the instruction page which shows the part ID numbers for these?

Yes, the XL is powerful enough to twist axles even without any gearing. When you add the gear ratio on the 8448 between the motor and the wheels, I don't see any possibility of it not destroying parts. It will work fine on jacks just like the smaller motor, but it takes a lot of torque to actually propel a car that heavy at speed. The issue is not the power of the motor, it is the strength of the drive system.

The original instructions for this model included a section on motorizing it with the old 9V geared motor. However, the motor was only intended to be run with the model up on jacks (no load on the tires). The gear ratios in this model were designed to run the engine from the wheels, not the other way around. You may be able to get enough torque to drive the model fast from the XL motor, but I think you'll destroy various gears and axles inside the model if you do. I seem to recall that there were also instructions somewhere to put an RCX in this model which would also control the steering, but I can't seem to find them at the moment.

Should be available again Feb 1.

For those who want to know what it would look like in other colors, see below. No guarantee any of these parts exist though.

Looks like you changed the chassis to black.

I completed mine last night. Stayed up all night building it. It is an incredible model, and I love the gearbox in particular. However, I built the black version and it looks pretty bad right now because some of the panels don't exist yet so I had to use red and tan. I am eagerly awaiting availability of the new parts.

It would be cool, but I don't know where you would put the battery box. I fear it might ruin the look of this beautiful model if it were not carefully hidden.

Looks like we're finally getting some black wheels again! With regard to the servo motor, I assume that it will have return-to-center function. The main purpose of a servo is that it is proportional, but no proportional signal is sent by the current 2 channel controller. This makes me wonder if a new controller will be included, but the picture looks like it is the old one.

There's no way it will use the Power Puller wheels. They will never make those again. I suspect it will use the wheels/tires from 8297.

A man's dream is to put these two things together.

You are precisely right about that, David. I can't justify investing a lot more money in my LEGO habit, especially given how much I already have. I am "permitted" to keep acquiring LEGO as long as it is self-funding. This means that selling parts and instructions needs to raise enough money to allow me to buy the other parts and sets that I want. My main goal in doing the Vampire instructions is to be able to build one for myself! It is very gratifying that my efforts will allow many others to enjoy building the model as well.

This comparison is really fascinating! You did a great job interpreting this model using modern parts.

What does that say about me then? I researched them all on the Internet AND built them all. I am definitely some kind of freak. You had to ask. Well, naturally Crowkillers' Vampire is coming up almost immediately. You can even see an open spot on my shelf for it. After that, I'm not 100% sure but I certainly want to build one or more of RoscoPC's F1 cars. I fear them though, because they are so good that I know as soon as I build the first one, I am going to have to build all of them. That's going to be very expensive, and you can clearly tell from the pictures that I have nowhere to put them. I would also love to build some of Jennifer Clark's other models if I had the data to do so. That's why I asked about how complete your CAD file of the Baldwin was! Yes, you have an advantage because I've given you a peek at my CAD directory before! I would absolutely LOVE to build Sheepo's cars. However, there is nowhere near enough information out there to replicate them, and I don't have any special access to more data. If only Sheepo were to mail them to me, I'd gladly build a CAD file of them! You really did look closely. Yes, I have B models of some of my favorites. I also have the 8258 B model truck, but I parted out the trailer. I used to have a B model of 8285, but I later parted that out as well. I also had several copies of the Silver Champion including one as the B model race truck, but I used them to build NK's supercar. I also have the 8880 F1 car alternate. If you look VERY closely, you'll also see the tiny alternate of the 8259 mini bulldozer which is an excavator. There are also 2 8094 Control Center models, but only 1 controller.

Wow, that was fast! Everything you listed was correct. I don't have the "master list" in front of me at work, so I'll have to guess at the missing items. One of them is a second Teknomecha which I don't even have built yet so you didn't miss it. Another one is that I counted Han's 8x4 truck and lowboy trailer as two. That gets us to 29.... Ah yes. The last one is Nathanael Kuipers' Jeep Hurricane.