Blakbird

I regularly order things from LEGO Education. I have their catalog and there is still a lot of Technic in it. However, the parts are not economical compared with Bricklink. Their standard rate is $10 for all parts packs, and this is often not a very good deal. There are a few exceptions for rare parts, and they do have good prices on Power Functions parts.

He had his shipped from England. Not the cheapest way to get it in the USA, but currently the only way.

I'd recommend starting my downloading and learning the Ldraw system of tools. I've made CAD files of all of these models, so you can see how the model goes to together, what some building steps are, and what parts it uses. You can download all of the CAD files. You can import those files into Brickstore which will tell you what parts you need. You can then export a wanted list to Bricklink and order the parts. I already have Brickstore files for all of these models which I'd be happy to share. LUGBULK won't do you any good because they never order Technic parts and you need a very wide variety of parts, some of which are rare. Bricklink is the way to go. You can actually download full instructions for the Gallardo, the Little Devil, and NK's supercar. I don't have time to post all the links right now, but I bet someone will!

Not quite all, but that is my goal. Many people have made those models and many I have made myself. I've had an open request for a long time for anyone who like to submit any of the models I don't have. They will, of course, be credited.

That's simple enough to draw in CAD, but the amount of friction in the turntables and the amount of twist in the long axles would be huge. Also, with no lateral support the little pinion gears would just push out toward the center and not engage the ring gears. Cool concept though.

Spending a bunch of effort on something in order to intentionally make it harder offends the engineer in me. I also prefer the old instructions. Having just rebuilt all the old models though, I can say there are a few times in which I had to go back because I realized I screwed something up. And this is obviously not from lack of experience building Technic. This has virtually never happened with a new set except in a couple of cases with a brand new set in which there was an error in the instructions. So I guess the new ones are more "fool proof". However, again referencing the engineer in me, I appreciate being given the opportunity to screw something up, fix it, and learn from it instead of having the whole solution handed to me.

I like the black version very much, and the new rear wing looks really wicked. The biggest improvement, though, is the return-to-center steering which I'm sure makes it much easier to drive. And don't forget the un-buildable silver version, the Little Delorean: I've done a render of an un-buildable version of Nathanael's supercar as well, this time made from the parts from the Williams F-1 Racer (but using more parts than it has): I don't know why color is so important to a supercar, since they should be mostly about function, but somehow I'm sick of red. The new red 8070 is a great model, but I wish it was any other color. Yellow would be cool, blue would be fantastic, I'd even take black. And let's not forget orange. To see what the color can do, compare these pictures of Skyliner's Lambo Countach in both black and orange. You can't build the orange one, but which do you like better?

The only way to run mechanical functions through a rotating turntable is to have them be coaxial. With present LEGO parts, you can only manage 2 coaxial functions using an axle as the central function and a series of driving rings as the annular function. There is no space inside the turntable ring gear for anything else. However, the ring gear itself could theoretically also be used to power a function, though that function would be slaved to the rotation of the ring gear. There is a way to get an unlimited number of mechanical functions above a turntable. Use the central axis for driven power. Use the drive rings to power a second function which is a switching function for a transmission which is above the turntable. As long as the transmission is above, you can shift it from below and drive as many functions as the transmission has gears. This means you'll need quite a bit of space available above your turntable, but at least it can be done. You'll need a sequential transmission to really be able to shift more than 2 functions though. I'd love to see someone do it!

Great animation! What software did you use? Don't forget to make the pneumatic switches move.

Yes! When I'm done building the last of the models, I'll take some pictures of the whole room and post them. For now though, you'll have to be satisfied with the pictures from my my old house. Quite. I had about 3/4 of them (the easy ones) in my spare parts bins already, but it took me about 10 Bricklink orders to get the rest. By far the hardest are the yellow #4 angle connectors. They only ever came in the Power Puller set. There were only two of them in that set, and you need 4 here. There are none for sale anywhere in the world on Bricklink. I actually bought a Power Puller just for those two parts and then parted out the rest to sell. (The yellow 1x6 thin liftarms also only came in this model, so those fetched a good price.) The yellow 19L flex axles are also difficult. Building it in red would be quite easy, but why do that? I don't think you will see anyone selling copies of this on eBay in yellow. Much too hard to make. That's too bad because yellow is perfect. Ironically, I actually had a couple of those #4 yellow connectors as spares a year ago, but I sent them to Crowkillers so he could use them in his model!! The wheel hubs and CV joints are also very difficult to buy in the USA. I always have to order them from Europe. One of my European orders was delayed for 7 weeks in Customs which is why I only just finally finished it. Yes, those are the various sub assemblies before I started top level assembly. According to the BrickStore inventory I created, the parts would be $226 at average Bricklink prices, not including shipping. That is deceptive though, because you'll have to pay more than average to find a seller who has a majority of these parts unless you want to make 100 orders.

I bought them from ChromeBlockCity in Poland. He did a great job and the pistons fit fine.

Yes, I'm well aware that I am missing NK's newest car. I'd love to build it, but no details or instructions are available as of yet. I ordered custom chrome engine cylinders and end fittings for the V-12. See below:

It's just you. Kind of. I use a small perspective which simulates a long zoom lens. It looks different than sitting right in front of the model. I don't always do this though. Look through my renders to find some "close-up" views that look different.

I always found it odd that this was the most rare connector (#4). Wouldn't you expect 45 degrees to be the most common? Now try to find one in yellow.....

Yes, I took that picture last night. It is my copy of Crowkiller's model which I built this weekend. If it wasn't a good model, I wouldn't have built it! According to my inventory, it has 1724 parts. It has more functions than the Gallardo because of the suspension. And you are right, it looks fantastic.

I've reached the point in my re-assembly of my Technic collection in which all the official sets are built and on display. Now I'm building all the various MOCs (not mine) which I've duplicated over the years. After completing 5 fantastic cars, I couldn't help but line them all up and take a look. Each one of these cars is unique in it's own functions and building style, and I love all of them. Which one do you want to build? Why? From left to right, they are: Little Devil by Jurgen Krooshoop: Motorized and remote controlled with Power Functions. manual doors (dihedral synchro helix), hood, and trunk open. V-10, (this is the only motorized model) Lamborghini Murcielago by Crowkillers: 4 wheel drive (with 3 diffs), 4 wheel independent suspension, HOG steering, manual scissors doors, V-12 (which I built all in chrome), (these two models are the only ones made to resemble real cars) Lamborghini Gallardo by Crowkillers: 4 wheel drive (with 3 diffs), manual doors, hood, and rear deck open, HOG steering, V-10 Black Dragon by Jovel: 5 speed gearbox with reverse, 4 wheel independent suspension, damped scissors doors, hood opens, HOG steering, V-8, geared convertible top (this is the only model with the engine in the front) Supercar by Nathanael Kuipers: 5 speed gearbox with reverse, 4 wheel drive (with 3 diffs), 4 wheel independent suspension, damped doors (dihedral synchro helix), damped convertible top, HOG steering, V-12 (the is by far the largest model) When I finish building the MOCs, I'll be done. Well, except for the Star Wars UCS............and the modular buildings................and the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal.................

Yes, I suppose there are also some metal contacts inside battery boxes and motors, but I wasn't counting those. The only altogether metal part is the hook.

No. No instructions have been made for that model. In order for him to consider doing that, I assume it would have to be worth the effort. The Gallardo instructions are now free on his website. There are no instructions for the Murcielago per se, but I have made the CAD file with a lot of instruction steps in it and it is available for free on Brickshelf. I just used it to build the Murcielago last weekend.

The cross section is an octagon, so that should be a 135 degree angle (#4).

Yes, it is plastic. The only metal parts I can recall in the entire Technic line are the crane hook and the piston rod from the pneumatic and linear actuators.

That's right. In fact I've just finished building all of the Technic sets about 2 weeks ago. I have about a dozen MOCs to rebuild as well, then it will be back to Technicopedia. I actually have a good start on 1996, but I still need to do the animations. Indeed that's the way I look at it sometimes. In this case, it really has been almost a year, but that should not be a normal trend. I just had a lot of building to do. I'm actually really looking forward to catching up with the present, at which point I will go back and add more features to the web site for older years.

Based on sales of his past models, I would guess ~$400. And based on having built some of his models before, that's also about what it would cost you to go collect all the parts individually from Bricklink. From that point of view it's a really good deal because he does all the work for you. In fact, I'm quite tempted to buy it myself.

Yes and no. Many aircraft use ballscrew type linear actuators to drive the trailing edge flaps, but the drive unit that powers those actuators is actually usually hydraulic or pneumatic. Yes, you heard right, some current commercial aircraft use a pneumatic motor to drive the flap system. There is often an electric motor as a backup system. Virtually all aircraft flight control surfaces are driven by linear hydraulic actuators. Most leading edge slat systems and some trailing edge flap systems are driven by geared rotary actuators. Both the linear hydraulic actuators and the linear ballscrew type actuators are capable of moving to a commanded position and holding that position. A mechanical actuator would continue to hold that position over time with no power, while a hydraulic actuator would eventually bleed away the pressure and return to neutral without power (just like LEGO excavators). Construction equipment, so far as I am aware, always uses linear hydraulic actuators. So yes, there really are such things as electro-mechanical actuators in the world, and they really are used for some cool stuff, but they are not used for excavation equipment. If the system is properly designed, the 24 tooth clutch gear will slip before the internal clutch in the linear actuators triggers, so they should never get out of sync. I have not had my LA's get out sync beyond that which they have when originally assembled. As discussed in another thread though, they do get 1/4 turn out of sync as they go from boom-down to boom-up because the drive gears face opposite directions.

Thanks for the details. I guess this means my copy is slightly better than even Jovel's because I did use the perfect tires from 8146!

Read the explanation here.