Blakbird

Merged with the global "what should I buy" topic.

Black huh? Your comment got me thinking so I tried it out. It is impossible to make the whole box black because of the 5x7 frames, but it still looks pretty good. I also changed the chassis to gray from red.

Bingo. That's why you can use an empty battery box to bridge those terminals to, for instance, connect an old 9V battery box to an IR receiver.

At least it's not a rheostat.

Interesting! So when I connect a PF XL motor to an old train regulator (like I did when I operated Nico71's braiding machine), then the motor operates at low speed differently than it does when connected to a rechargeable battery box, for example.

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed. It looks like I could indeed eliminate half of the bulk of my wiring. Is it really a speed control (PWM) that is being supplied by the receiver or just a reduced voltage? A reduced voltage is not a speed and will still change speed as a function of output drag. It also means the motor operates at less power when at a lower setting. However, a true PWM speed control could have similar power by pulling more current at a lower voltage.

Even though I built Madoca's Wing Body Truck more than 4 months ago, it occurs to me that I never really wrote a proper review of it. I posted some pictures and thoughts in the original thread, but I had a lot more to say. So I'm going to start with what I wrote there as a baseline and then add lots more pictures and explanation. Read on! I should point out that AFOL1969's building instructions were not available when I built the model, so I used Madoca's photo instructions which are very well done. I then modeled the whole thing in MLCAD and used that to come up with a parts list and compare it to Madoca's. I apologize in advance for the photos. I used my iPad which apparently has a big smudge on the lens. Bigger versions of all photos at my Bricksafe account. Here is a shot of the massive pile of parts. I don't think I've ever seen more liftarms or panels for a single model. At the time this photo was taken, I was still expecting one more Bricklink shipment with more than 200 parts, so this isn't quite everything. All told, the model has more than 4100 parts. Now we'll look at some of the parts more closely. Random Technic bits and gears: Pins and axles: Liftarms: Half liftarms and actuators: Power functions elements and panels. The statistics here are amazing: 1 PF battery box 3 PF LED lights 2 PF L motors 4 PF M motors 1 PF servo 2 PF XL motors 1 PF polarity switch 11 PF extension wires 4 PF receivers (For those counting, that's a total of 39 PF connectors to find a place for.) 75 Technic panels. Here is the rear chassis. On the left are the two driven rear axles and suspension. In the back is the lift. It translate forward and back on gear racks and then lifts with another motor using a 4 bar linkage. A worm gear slides along a 32L with the racks allowing the lift to operate at any position. The travel is exactly right to reach the ground or be level with the box. Now I've added a bunch of motors. There are 6 motors in close proximity on the right of this image! Right now the wires are hanging loose. You can see the LED wires going to the back bumper. Now the two steered, suspended forward axles have been added, as has the V-8 engine and receiver tower. Right in the middle of the chassis you can see the PF switch. This is actually used to turn the lights on and off and is powered by a motor so it is controlled remotely. You can also see where the battery box sits. Here is an image of how carefully the wires are routed. Madoca's photo instructions are VERY good. Every wire has a support so none of the connectors are hanging loosely. The IR tower. This was tricky to get right, but it sure looks good when done. The back of the IR tower shows more PF connector storage. Everything has a home, but getting the extra length to fit within the confines of the tower was tricky. It can't be sticking out in front or back or it will interfere with other structure. The completed rolling chassis. Side leuvers are hiding the motors and wiring. The model is totally drivable at this point. Neither the box nor the cab have any wiring or motors in them, so they can be added as modules. Final model before the box is added. We now have a cab which can be pivoted forward with a motor to reveal the engine and allow access to the battery. Note the two axles sticking up in the middle of the chassis. These are the only mechanical connection to the box for opening the wings. And the completed model. The box is truly enormous, but well within scale for the model. Oddly, I didn't seem to take any pictures with it open, but we'll solve that problem with renders. Here are some render views showing the distribution of motors and mechanical functions to give you an idea of the complexity. Wires are not shown. Finally, here is a render with everything open. I don't throw around the word "perfect" very often, but I think this might be the perfect MOC. Every part is braced, every part has a purpose. Everything is lined up, strong, and functional. Everything looks great, even the wiring. Occasionally I would find a section that was different on one side than the other and I would think "Aha! I finally found a mistake!". But in every case there turned out to be a very good reason for the asymmetry and it was in fact genius. My congratulations to Madoca on an incredible model. I can't think of a finer building experience I've ever had, and I've built hundreds of models! Motorized Functions: Translating lift platform Lifting platform Opening left and right wings Opening cab Drive Steer Lights on/off

I follow that much, but my question is more about where is the "logic" that controls the speed? I think the logic that tells the motor how much voltage to use is probably within the receiver, not within the motor. That would mean the receiver modulates the voltage to the motor, acting as a speed controller. The motor is just a motor, no different than any other. But these are only guesses.

I'm in the midst of a project with an interminable amount of wiring and no good place to rout it. As I ponder the Power Functions standard, I find myself with some questions about the purpose of wiring. All the PF components use connectors and wires with 4 conductors, but it is my belief that not every component actually uses all 4. Is it possible to trim 2 of the 4 wires to save space? Motor: A DC motor only uses 2 wires, positive and negative. What happens to the other 2? Do they just dead end inside the motor? Which 2 could I remove? LED: I think the LED only uses 2 wires for similar reasons. Servo: The servo doesn't transmit it's position back along the wire, it positions itself based on regulated voltage input. Does it only use 2 wires? IR Receiver: This one is the biggest question for me. It only needs +/- to get power, and it doesn't use modulated input voltage based on the output of the rechargeable battery box, for example. Does it only use two wires? For that matter, is there any single component which actually needs all 4 wires? Thanks for any guidance.

You won't find any trusses made of concrete.

In my experience, the point of an airboat is to operate in water filled with obstacles. For example, the Everglades are full of grass and plants so a conventional propellor cannot be used. An airboat has a very shallow draft and a flat bottom.

I have not had any trouble with the L-motor, so I'm not sure where you got your information. The XL motor is a lot bigger and would require extensive modification of the gearbox.

So you measure the rotation rates to determine the gears and then just calculate the least common multiple?

They've been showing the models on the US site for several months with a date of August. Still no word on WHY the rest of the world gets them but we don't, but the speculation is that it has something to do with the LEGO Movie. Doesn't seem like the LEGO Movie fans are the exact demographic for Technic sets, so I don't see the conflict. Maybe it is just shelf space.

If you aren't interested in construction equipment, the pickings get slim. None of the 2014 sets are available in North America until October, so no luck there. The 8070 super car is long out of production. Personally, I recommend you think again about the 42000 race car. I reviewed it here on Eurobricks and did not find it to be overpriced compared with other sets. It is a HUGE model and will certainly reintroduce you to all the modern parts including linear actuators. After that, you can't miss RoscoPCs cars if you like Formula 1.

I mean that he already built the "ninja". That's what this topic is all about. That's the car in the picture. He just called it "sportscar" in his post.

Look closer. This IS the Ninja.

Then it is your lucky day because I posted the parts list right here.

Rubber bands are necessary on the pulleys to allow slippage to protect the motor. Rubber bands are also necessary on the electrical switches. Just go buy some.

This forum has hunted for the elusive "Five Star Brick" before and he has never been identified or contacted. However, this model (FSB002) has been built and reviewed at SeTechnic (now Techlug). They also reviewed FSB001 and concluded it worked very poorly. That is unfortunate because it was marvelously complex. I built it in LDraw. As GuiliuG mentioned, he has already taken this design and converted it to PF and it works great. I've built it. In my opinion, taking an older model like this and converting it to PF is not necessarily "improving" it. If you want a PF excavator, there are lots of them already out there. I highly recommend the wheeled excavator by GuiliuG which is really a great design.

Another really great model. If I hadn't already built the last one, I would build this one too! From the bottom view, it looks like your steering racks are skewing so that they are not aligned with the model. This is preventing your Ackerman from working properly. I think you need to guide them on both sides so they won't skew like that.

Wow, that is some real dedication to building Madoca's creations! I have the wing body truck and the red supercar, and I'll really like to build his 6x6.

About 40 psi. Failure mode is just leaking seals or disconnected hoses.

The problem is that the parts in the instructions don't look like the parts sitting on the table. My daughter recently built her first Technic set and was confused by this. She couldn't find the parts she was supposed to use for a step because she didn't have anything that looked like the instructions. So in this case I don't agree that the change makes the instructions easier to follow. I think it makes them harder to follow.

Yes, this is consistent with all new instructions. Making the parts in the instructions look different than the real parts makes no sense to me. If anything it makes them harder to follow, so I'm not sure what LEGO is trying to accomplish here.