Blakbird

I'm not sure I remember such a picture for 8043, but Jennifer Clark has such a picture for one of her excavators.

A challenger!! I'm going to have to buy more LEGO.....

8421 is a fantastic set, but I wouldn't pay $475 for one. There's no need to get a new one unless you intend to keep it unopened. It looks like you can get a good quality used copy for $200 on Bricklink.

True, but this time he is including Jurgen's instructions which is effectively selling copyrighted material. The design may be open, but the instructions are definitely Jurgen's IP and should not be sold. At least he is trying to be more transparent though.

The knob wheels have a few advantages over some of the other gears: Higher torque capability due to larger tooth size. Ability to function as a spur gear or a bevel gear. Because there are only 4 "teeth" at 90 degrees which match the cross axle, it can be used to easily make things align. For example, in the adjustable suspension on 8297 they are used to align the front and rear suspension on each side. If you used a "regular" gear, you would have to very carefully count teeth when you assembled it to make sure everything aligned. They can be easily disengaged and reengaged. For example, in a truck with a tilting cab you can use these for the Hand of God steering. It will easily reengage its mating gear when you lower the cab without ever jamming.

That's some incredible work. I especially love the exhaust and the fuel tank. You seem to have thought of all the details to make the appearance just right. The only thing I would suggest is that it seems to me a motorcycle like this should use road tires instead of dirt tires. You are using these, but luckily you can use these on the very same wheels.

It's never too late for instructions, nor is it ever too late for a sweet render.

Wow, you put a lot of detail into the engine. I can see spark plug wires and additions to the intake manifold. Are these all actual LEGO parts? Did you use cut up rubber bands on the manifold?

The parts list is generated by LDView based on the LDraw model I made. I manually removed all the parts from the list which were not orange. Rendering is done in POV-Ray. Go look at ldraw.org to learn all about LEGO CAD if you haven't already.

I think the next Technic flagship should be a fully articulated bust of my head. Surely everyone would want one!

It may not be designed to move. For example, 8448 could be motorized but it was intended to have the rear wheel raised on "jacks". This allows you to run through the gears and watch the speed change, but does not actually have the power to drive. Personally, I found this adequate.

The XL motor already exceeds the strength of ABS LEGO parts and will twist axles and break gear teeth. Sure, you could find a way to attach an R/C motor to a LEGO model, but the torque of the motor would immediately destroy your parts. There's only so much you can do with snap together plastic parts. If you want R/C performance then use parts made for that purpose.

You even put decals on the tyres! This is the first time I've seen someone do that. The result looks great. I've considered adding the decals to the renders but the process is incredibly complex.

It is finished now! I wonder why there are no decals on it like the other car? Maybe they are still coming.

In fact, forget the wheels!

In my opinion, doing all the work to put together a model (someone else's MOC) based on a large number of parts is a service that is worth something and therefore I don't have a problem with a complete model being sold. However, when the model was designed by someone else, the designer should at least be credited. Even better, the designer should be given some portion some portion of the earnings.

And now we'll move onto a series of Lotus cars, starting with the oldest. This is a Lotus 43 from 1966, the oldest car in the stable. The old design is obviously very different from the Ferrari we saw last. The body is narrow and slender which makes it have minimal drag but also minimal downforce. There is not even a rear wing. It is remarkably difficult to create a rounded body in LEGO, but the use of curved slopes works nicely, and you have to love the dark green. I also love the way the exhaust manifolds are exposed and so much of the suspension is visible even with the body on. With the body faded out, you can see the suspension and the huge H-16 engine. The front suspension has lower control arms which pivot around a more inboard position than the upper arms. This allows the upper arms to lever around the pivot and compress the shocks which can be located inside the chassis and out of the airstream. The longitudinal sway supports are simulated but not actually attached to the chassis in this model. The gear rack is actually inverted and located in front of the shocks. This car was the first to use the engine as a structural member. Instead of simply being mounted to the chassis, the engine actually is the aft chassis and the suspension is mounted directly to the block. It makes sense to use the significant structural strength of the rigid block for multiple purposes instead of duplicating it in the chassis. The rear suspension is fairly conventional, but with plenty of sway support. The four links forward of the control arms carry thrust and braking loads so the control arms don't bend. The sway bar in the back connects the left and right sides together to prevent roll during cornering. The transaxle is located behind the suspension. This engine is an H-16 which is essentially two horizontally opposed 8 cylinder engines stacked on top of each other. Each have their own crankshaft and their own connection to the rear differential. The rear view shows the transaxle and the 4 magnificent exhaust manifolds. A revolving animation is always a nice way to see the car from all angles. You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account.

Noted. I'll see what I can do.

And here is the obligatory render!

Yep, I use the original style pins just because keeping the models authentic and original is important to me. However, the new ones are 1000x times better. The answer to the question of whether to replace them or not depends on what kind of collector you are. You could ask the same question about classic cars. Keep the old breaker point ignition and bias ply tires, or switch to electronic ignition and radials? Depends on whether you drive it every day or enter it in competitions. Since I am trying to create a site as a Technic historian, I feel like its my responsibility to display them as original.

Since Technic does so many trucks, there is no reason one of these couldn't be licensed, although some of the recent trucks look very much like this (or a Scania).

Donating this set to the government of Portugal might be enough to save them!

Now let's see all of RoscoPC's F1 cars at once!

It's time for the 3rd chapter in RoscoPC's F1 extravaganza. This time we'll be looking at the Ferrari 312T, circa 1975. This car was obviously designed with a lot of aerodynamic aids including a front and rear wing. When the body is hidden, you can see the front and rear suspension, the engine, the differential, the rack and pinion steering, and even the inlets for the front brake ram air cooling. I love the way a large number of flat panels were placed at unique angles to generate the illusion of compound curvature. Let's take a closer look at the front suspension. The tan parts are the cooling inlets. You can see the rotors for the disc brakes (no calipers though). The shocks are anchored to the chassis at the lower end and levered around a fulcrum at the upper end. By connecting the shocks inboard of the rotation point of the upper control arm, the shocks can be removed from the airstream to lower drag. At the aft side of each arm you can see the simulated anti-sway bar. I say simulated because it does not actually attach to anything. Now let's look at the engine and rear suspension. The engine is a horizontally opposed 12 cylinder with a transverse gearbox. Each cylinder has its own intake, and you can see the complex 3-into-1 exhaust headers (for a total of 4 tail pipes). The suspension at first appears to be standard double wishbone, but there is more too it. The swingarms on the front size help prevent longitudinal motion. The anti-sway bar in the back links the right and left sides which helps prevent the body from rolling to the side during heavy cornering. The shocks are particularly interesting because neither the upper nor the lower end is attached to the chassis. Instead, the shock forms a diagonal member of the suspension parallelogram. When the angles at the corners of the 4-bar change, the diagonal must change length. This allows the shock itself to have a short stroke even for a relatively long suspension travel. e The rear view shows the wing, the brake light, and the exhaust. A revolving animation is always a nice way to see the car from all angles. You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account including one annotated picture suitable for a desktop image. Stay tuned for renders of all of his other cars. This car is so pretty it needed to be presented in a special way.

Let's move on to the next of RoscoPC's F1 cars, the Brabham BT52 from 1983. This car is shaped totally differently than the last, with much more dependence on aerodynamics including the large rear wing. As we will see, the engine is also quite different. This car features a narrow body since ground effects were banned at the time. On the inside, you can see the suspension and the fact that this model is motorized with Power Functions. From the outside, you would have had no idea that those features were hiding inside which, in my opinion, makes it perfect. The IR receiver is perfectly integrated into the body, and the Lithium battery is totally hidden inside the chassis. The front suspension is interesting. The shock absorbers are inboard of the rotation points of the control arms, so that means a link has to lever over to the shock upper support via a compression link. The steering is rack and pinion type, and is driven by a PF-M motor through a clutch gear. The driver's steering wheel is also driven. At this time F1 engines were turbo charged four cylinders. In this case, the PF-XL motor actually drives the rear wheel through the crank shaft of the engine, so the engine really does transmit the torque. The rear suspension is like the front, with the shocks inboard of the control arms. In the case of this model, the upper and lower control arms are different lengths which means that the drive axle does not remain perfectly parallel to the ground throughout suspension travel. Here is a rear view which shows the aerodynamic wing and the trusswork front suspension. You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account. Stay tuned for renders of some of his other cars. I'll end with this revolving animation which shows the car from all angles. I love the look of this car, including the color scheme.