Blakbird

Wow, I can't believe you know more about Technicopedia than I do. That's good work.

The Arctic Action sets are special. For most Technic sets which have figures at all, it really doesn't matter whether or not you have the figure as it doesn't change the basic purpose of the set which is to function. However, the Artic Action sets represent the first (and nearly only) Technic play sets, and as such the figures along with their skis and poles are a big part of the whole point. Additionally, those particular Technic figures came only in those sets, all other Technic figures look different. They have a unique snowflake on their chest. So, nostalgic or not, I would say that having the figures is a required part of those particular sets.

Thanks very much for the post! I've been interested in all of these for a long time. As you know I have built the crane, but the others are still on my list. The walker (Ripley loader) looks fascinating to me, as does the excavator. I'll have to bump these up my priority list. I'm also quite interested in the "controllable" airplane using the control center in one of the later idea books. I'd love to see a video of what the walker's motion looks like.

Sweet, sweet vindication. I wrote the following in August:

Yes, I have built it. It is a lousy model compared to the other options discussed in this thread.

No, Brickstore imports mpd files directly just fine. I've done it loads of times. You don't have to do anything special first. "File / Import / LDraw model". Doing it manually via Excel will take forever. The reason MLCAD says some files are not found is that some parts are unofficial and not included with the standard parts library. The best way around this is to download the LDView viewer. You can set it to automatically download any unofficial parts that you don't have from LDraw.org which speeds things up immensely. Then, to see the parts in MLCAD, you need to tell MLCAD to look in the unofficial parts directory. You can find instructions for doing this on hollywood.it . You can't order the parts directly from LEGO. They only sell a small number of Technic parts and they are obscenely expensive.

At the time, I did it the hard way as you've just stated. Later, I found a better way. First, you can download the LDraw file of the model from Han's website. That's what I used to make this render. Then you can use some software called Brickstore to make a parts list. Import the LDraw file in Brickstore and you will have a list of all the parts you need with Bricklink average prices. Brickstore already knows the difference between LDraw parts and Bricklink parts. Then, best of all, Brickstore will export your list as an XML file which you can import directly into Bricklink as your wanted list. If you make a new wanted list just for this model, then Bricklink will already have a record of everything you need in one place. Finally, when you are on Bricklink looking at your wanted list, use the "By Shop" tab and it will show you which stores have the largest number of parts that you need. When you go to that shop, you can automatically add everything they have that is on your wanted list to your shopping cart. If you do it this way, it's actually pretty quick. Comparatively at least. One disclaimer is that if you have a very large number of parts on your wanted list (thousands), Bricklink can sometimes time out before it returns your "by shop" results. In this kind of case, I just start with a couple of huge Bricklink stores which I already know will have the majority of what I want. Look for stores with over a million parts, for example and very high feedback ratings.

For reference, I have also built this MOC using orders from Bricklink. Took me 17 different orders to get all of the parts. I got about 90% of them from one place, but picking up all the stragglers took forever.

There was a similar thread last year. You might want to start with that.

You can't open it without destroying the box. Most of the new boxes are this way. You can minimize damage by using a razor blade to cut the perforated circular arc along the back sides.

I would consider it. In my line of work, everything is designed with the optimum material possible and I can certainly envision cases in which these aluminum parts make sense. I would not like to use them as a crutch though. It is a challenge to use existing parts to make a strong design, and this can usually be accomplished with the proper engineering. For example, you could make a bridge out of a single span of aluminum, but a plastic truss is far more efficient. So I'd be open to them in a place where they are needed. Finally, I am very into R/C so I am pretty excited about the possibility of combining these two hobbies.

Fantastic picture!! This answers several of the open questions we had about this model: The remote is obviously made of two of the existing IR remotes. The red knob on one channel of the remote leads me to believe that it is used to change functions using one of the red driving rings. My guess is that the other three are used to control the dipper in one mode, and in another mode they are used to drive the model. The treads are obviously motorized given the gear systems which are visible on the carrier. I'm very excited about this. While I generally prefer pneumatics to linear actuators, the fact that there are 4 LA's and driven treads means there will be a LOT of gear systems which are technical heaven. Add to that the fact that two of the gear systems have to pass across the lifting axis of the boom to drive the LA's and I think this is going to be a marvelous set indeed. I noticed the same thing. Looks like one is driven backwards. That is likely a computer generated image and the model is probably just not build correctly.

That sounds pretty good to me!!

See this thread and this post.

Well, last Christmas I didn't get anything of any kind after the worst year ever. However I got a lot of good stuff this year except no LEGO!! It is hard to buy LEGO for me since I already have most of what I want and what I don't have requires special expertise to acquire. For me, a good Christmas gift is being given the TIME to work on LEGO as much as I would like.

I keep all of my Technic on display at all times because I need to be able to get to them quickly for my website and because they look awesome. The shelves you see are from IKEA. Dust is a problem but keeping the room sealed most of the time helps a lot.

There's a special function for embedding YouTube videos:

To assemble them? Depends on how much time I spend each day, of course, but I'd expect about 6 months. Putting together every Technic set should be a special treat. I think I will build them in chronological order and take the opportunity to document some of the build steps for each to add to Technicopedia. It took me about 3 months to take them all apart spending a couple of hours each night. I don't sort the parts though. The parts for each set stay in the box for that set. I never mix them. I like to keep the authentic parts with each set. Yes, I have closer to 300 Technic sets including a bunch of MOCs I have built which were designed by other AFOLs. Death is indeed a possibility. But I will go out in a blaze of glory!! I am reasonably pleased, mostly because of the pneumatics. The tractor is not very exciting. The only feature is steering. The body is very weak structurally because it is kind of "floating" above the frame and not attached in many places. If you put any weight on the roof you will break the angle connectors. It looks good though. The trailer is quite large and sturdy and the pneumatics are actually quite powerful. It certainly has no problem lifting logs. I don't like the worm drive claw. I would have preferred something spring loaded like 8446 (I can't believe I am using that as a good comparison) for much better playability. A small pneumatic cylinder would have been perfection (ala 8868). The logs are so smooth that they just fall out of the claw so it is difficult to actually lift them unless they are perfectly balanced. Good collection of parts, a fun set, and a reasonable price, just not super technical. My 7 year old took one look at the parts pile and said "it doesn't have enough gears!" Touche Martin. The extra cylinder to make a motorized compressor is an extremely welcome addition and I can't thank LEGO enough for including this option clearly aimed at AFOLs. I don't like how the actual compressor and battery box integrate with the trailer, but the main thing is that you can now get the compressor parts to use in your MOCs without selling your mortgage to Bricklink.

Something sounds off with your build. Mine has no issues.

Yes, I'll rebuild all of them. I need them all assembled in order to do group photos for Technicopedia, and I still need to write about all the 1995-2009 sets. Luckily, rebuilding is a good way to spend lots of time on my hobby without spending any money. The pumps and cylinders are the same. The tubing is different. It is less flexible and a little harder to install (less silicone content?). A lot of care was taken in the instructions regarding the routing of the hoses so they are unobtrusive. I like it. I noticed that the extra small pump which comes with it to make a compressor was actually lubricated. This was not the case in older versions I've had before.

Yes, I picked it up today. Smaller than I imagined, but it's so nice to have pneumatics in my hands again. My 7 year old helped me build it and he would have been perfectly capable of doing the whole thing. I would have written a review but I'm in LEGO disassembling mode at the moment trying to get ready to move, so I'm low on time. 200,000 Technic parts apart so far! The callouses on my fingertips are now so hard that I can't feel an iPod touch screen at all when I poke it. I see I've lost my cool "Technic Angel of Retribution" moniker under my avatar and now have the less bad-megablocks "needs more logs". Oh well, that will teach me to try to be clever.

Needs more logs.

Technicopedia has been too popular this month and I have gone over my bandwidth limit. It should be available again January 1st. I can't afford the hosting package with more bandwidth.

The basic arrangement is not too different than an old radial airplane engine, except longer. I don't think you would see something like this in a car though. The problem is that the cylinders which face downward always have oil from the crankcase sitting against the rings. This results in a lot of leaking/burning oil over time. It works for LEGO though!

That link is for 8258 (the new crane truck). He was asking for 8285 (the tow truck). I would suggest writing to (or calling) Customer Service and alerting them to the error on the web site. I'm sure they will fix it.