Saberwing40k

There are two primary reasons that Lego air motors are not all that efficient: the fact that the Lego pneumatic cylinders are not designed to move fast, and have high internal friction, and then there is the fact that real world air motors do not use pistons at all, aside from a very small few in model airplanes. Most air motors are actually more like turbine engines. But, your idea of an air motor being somewhere between Power Functions and pull back motors could work. However, I think it would need new parts, such as linear valves, or even a dedicated air motor piece. But yes, it would be pretty cool to have a small vehicle, like 42002, with a buildable engine that was connected to an air tank. All you would do with a model like that is pump it up, and flip a switch. It would probably move a bit slower than a pull back vehicle, but it would be cooler.

@samar: it looks to me like you've got the user names and the user ranks confused. I think you mean to reply to Gekke Ted and allanp, respectively. The names of the users are in the top left corner of their posts, above the avatar photo, if there is one. ranks are below the avatar photo, and always have a colored star next to them.

That's always a possibility, especially because you said earlier that you tried switching the controller ports, and the red one did not work. Tis a shame, but it happens. just email customer service, and they will send you a new part in a week. Also, check to make sure that the wheels when the model is lifted up rotate in the same direction, rather than opposite directions.

Well, thank you all very much. Now, I'm wondering one thing: would it be sacrilegious to make it studless? I'm thinking I'd just make the chassis and stuff studless, and make the rest model team style. Also, I plan to include some improvements, namely better outriggers, a 3 section boom(maybe), and drive on all axles. And the motors will be new PF ones, not old 9v ones. I personally hate those, and studfull construction is somewhat more difficult. That way, everybody can get i non the action. However, the conversion might make it more of my own creation than hers....

Here we go, I'm attempting to make an update of Jennifer Clark's legendary Demag AC50, and I have some questions to ask about the model. I want it to look similar, although updated to the best Lego currently has to offer, and with no modified parts. The questions are as follows: Where is the battery box for the carrier located? How big is the model? What goes in the section behind the front wheels? How tall is the boom? How many studs are between each axle? How long is the leadscrew used to raise the boom? This is all stuff that I was not able to determine from the pictures, so this is why I'm asking. The help of anyone who has built this model, or even the designer herself, would be appreciated. also, I have made a new, driven and steered front axle, but I'm not sure if the current drive I've come up with, which includes a lockable differential, will fit. I'm planning on moving the drive motor to the front, just behind the front axle, but I'm not sure if that will fit either. Any help is appreciated.

Okay, I've actually built another pendular axle similar to the one above, but it is better because of the fact that it incorporates ackerman correction, and the rotation point is much closer to the wheel. However, it uses some very uncommon parts. I'll give you some pictures if you are interested, however it does require the torque tube parts from 8110, and 2 CV joints and sockets.

@Porty: I seem to recall Argos really jacking up the price of sets they sell, so this isn't exactly accurate.

Well, I'll just say that I would buy the instructions, that is if I had the parts, which I don't, and if I had money to spare, which I also don't. (I'm trying to buy a laptop computer.) Also, in regards to students in the U.S. being adverse to mechanical engineering, I have to say I'm an exception. I've always been interested in how mechanical things work, be it clocks or cranes.

I really really hate suggestion number 4. :thumbdown: :thumbdown: I'm fairly sure you guys are trolling, but seriously, would you give your kid the keys to your vintage Mustang? I didn't think so, but that's kind of what you are suggesting, at least to us true fans. Jimny J, do not listen to these goofballs. I currently don't have any stuff to trade, but if that's you aim, take it to the Buy/Sell/Trade forum, when you get enough posts. Or, you could sit on them for a while, or build something cool with them. Oops, I goofed on this. Sorry.

What do you mean by like for like? You are never going to see wheels like this at a low price again. I recommend... Hold on a second, do you have 6 wheels, or 10? The Black Cat truck has 10 of these wheels, and the other set has six. Regardless, you should look into making a three axle mobile crane, kinda like Jennifer Clark's legendary Demag AC50 model.

As a matter of fact, I do have a set of blades like this, and they are mirrored. However, I do not have any buggy motors. Also, as a suggestion, something I used in my attempt, is to use a train speed regulator, with a twelve volt transformer hooked up to it. It has build in speed control, and no thermal limiter. (that I've encountered.) That would be a good thing to try.

Yuck! that head looks utterly terrible, and the transparent parts don't go with the orange. Most of this wave look terrible, so I'll be passing. Which is a good thing, because 2013 is a good year for Technic fans, oh yes...

Well, a lot of the big Exo-Force sets contain an alarming number of parts, particularly 8108 Mobile Devastator, which has the 4 big wheels, and lots of studded beams, and 7721. In addition, a lot of the really big Star Wars sets have lots of studded beams as well. In addition, I have broken up several other sets for wheels or tracks. (like 7706 ,which has 4 new rubber tracks.)

Okay, I'm wondering something: Is this excavator that much bigger than, say, 8043? Any answer would help me in making an updated, fully remote control version.

I just checked the (U.S.) Lego site, and I don't see any discount. I seem to recall Mindstorms RCX 2.0 hanging around for like what, 10 years? I don't think any big things are going to be happening soon.

I got 42002, and 42004, and a bunch of Hero Factory stuff, but no big Technic stuff . I did, however, get some money, so I may be going shopping.

Well, I went on vacation with my family, to the Disney World resort in Florida. Naturally, we made a stop at Downtown Disney, and so for me that meant a trip to the Lego store. While there, I noticed that there were a large amount of Technic parts at the build tables scattered throughout the store. I started picking them up and putting them in one of those large pick a brick buckets, and shockingly enough, the store employees let me do this. This is the result, all 439(!) parts, all for only 15 USD. To put that in perspective, the cheapest Technic sets available had less than half that number of parts, and cost five dollars more. So I made out like a bandit, although I think the parts also made me sick , so I washed them when I got home. However, this haul leaves me with a couple of questions: 1.)Where did all these parts come from? I assume that these parts came from display sets, but that seems kind of screwy, because there was already one 9398 on display, and some of these parts came from sets that weren't ever, or are too new, to have been on display. 2.)Where did the rest of the parts go? I knew that there was at least one 9398 and one 8043, and maybe one 8110 that had been parted out, but where did the motors, LAs, etc. go? I think that they might have been picked up by employees, but that seems kind of unlikely. In any event, I thought it was no harm in asking if they had the motors from 9398, but they did not. In any event, why would they have parted out the display sets instead of giving them to employees whole? 3.)Why hasn't this happened before? I go to that Lego store pretty much every year, and I've never seen anything like this, or at any other Lego store, nor have I heard any other reports of this happening. I'm seriously hoping that this isn't a freak occurrence. So, what do you think? In any event, I got lots of parts at a low price, so I'm a happy camper.

well, I was so bored yesterday, so I thought I'd put tracks on an old creation I had lying around: It's just my mod, built on the Medium ACC Chassis, by Mahjqa. The track mod was insanely easy, and aside from the body and changed gear ratio, is the only add on. It should be fairly easy to replicate, should you want your share of the madness, as this thing is very fast. Thanks for looking!

Speaking of, I'm trying to make a version of this in real life. I just wish I knew how the gears were synced, I wish there was more than GIFs to work with.

Where's the video? Anyhow, I think that you should add a body, or at least some flames to it.

well, I actually have made a mechanism like this, and have seen a similar one in a Lego book, and contrary to what you have said, they can rely on a differential. you just have to add some, not a lot, just some on the mechanism you don't want prioritized. for instance, with outriggers, the initial rotation out gets first priority, then the valve to extend them. I'll see if I can get something banged out, then we can really talk.

Hats off to the best Lego reverse engineer out there!

Well, of course I want my entry to win, but that's highly unlikely. However, the entries of rumbletump, jovel74, conchas and m1523 would be very nice sets, and I would probably buy them. I kind of wish that Lego had a separate entry and voting phase, because of the fact that entries that took a long time to build (like mine) would not be competitive with entries that were made at the beginning. I find this mightily unfair, because it penalizes good builders who wanted to take the time to make their model good.

Well, as can be seen by the fact that I've posted this, the world has NOT ended on today, the 21st of December of 2012 . Did anybody actually believe that it was, or are we all a bunch of skeptics? Though, to be fair, I was hoping for some kind of earth shaking event, like a visitation by friendly aliens...

It's finally ready, my tremendous entry into the challenge! This beast took more than 2 months of work in LDD to finish. It features many functions and new part colors, some of which are detailed below: Functions: Crane with turtable rotation, 2 pneumatic joints, an extending section, and a winch. An additional remote controlled winch at the front. Full six wheel drive, and steer. An auto compressor, and 2 airtanks Outriggers Opening doors, and back section. All functions except for the doors are remote controlled. New colors: New parts in teal New transparent panels Lots of black gears Lots of rare black parts Titanium metallic tread sprockets 2 additional L motors and three additional servos. Now, a bit on the design: When I first was planning on making this thing, I was kind of limited by the boxiness of the 9398 chassis, so I devised an extension of it. However, this extension looked terrible, at least for any real world six by six, so I chose to make it a lunar rover of sorts. The crane came next, and is based of of one I made in real life, for a different project. Operating said crane are two servo autovalves. The outriggers are probably the most complex aspect, as both stages are deployed by a single M motor, going through a very complex gear system. More pictures of the mechanism will be posted later, probably after the competition ends, same thing with the files. Front View Bottom view (the most interesting one. ) This view also clearly shows how the 9398 chassis is intergrated into the rest of the vehicle. Top view. Alternate aerial view. The crane and outriggers deployed, showing the crane's intergrated winch. Side view. Gallery of big photos, one moderated: Link Vote for it here: Link Please vote!, and thanks for looking.