Technic Gearhead

I love that dozer and thought of building a modernized, studless version at some point. Your renders are very nice, Blakbird. I love the animated ones!

Congrats on a very nice entry! I really like the model - it captures the intended theme and the spirit of the contest very well.

Nice! Those pictures take me back. I had the 854 Go Kart, 853 Auto Chassis, 852 Helicopter and the 856 Bulldozer, which was my favorite by far. The first set I got coming back into Lego and Technic was the 8063 Tractor with Trailer. I have acquired about 24 more sets since then, catching up to current times. The highlights so far are the 8455, 8421, 8275 and 8043. Good times!

You sound more gifted than disabled to me! Enjoy the Air Claw Rig build and keep an eye out for that elusive 8421 - I know you won't let it slip past you the next time!

Wow - amazing story! You sound like you're obsessed now for sure and you have built some great sets so far. You need an 8421 to go along with your very nice collection.

Nice! I love all of the mini-mocs! It looks better with the chains exposed. Even though it matches your example I would be tempted to make a variant with a cab. Maybe use two 4x4 liftarms which would partially cover the rear of the chains and build a cab off of that possibly or try a 3x3 L-shape w/quarter elipse for the front part. It looks great - looks like fun!

I tend to prefer the semi large sets without PF, like 8265, 8069, 8053 but PF are cool for the flagship models. I don't really care for PF in the smaller sets although it doesn't really bother me either.

Looks pretty cool but they need to hijack an 8264 for some flat yellow panels for the top.

Really good stuff! I like your crane a lot as well.

Basically, the 8258 is a beast and you're going to want one!

Buy an 8258 now at the inflated price and offset it in the future with a 9397 on clearance.

I was going to use the pneumatic crane truck as an example for them re-introducing sets. I think they were trying to get more mileage out of it at a time when they needed it. I could see them doing another flagship crane in the future with RC/PF - I would be all over that!

I would say 8421 before they are too hard to come by. There is plenty of time to get a Unimog. I don't know much about the other one.

Wow. That's a pretty awesome dumper! I see a lot of people using a high percentage of traditional bricks for their MOCs. I personally prefer less dependency upon 'regular' bricks, and prefer to let the careful placement of smooth panels here and there hint at the surface of the model. I'm more of a Technic purist I guess, but still you can't argue with the results of models such as this one. It looks great!

Maybe I will experiment with it at some point on the 8421. I already plan to update it with the newer style PF components and some smooth panels here are there. I'll build it to spec the first time around though. That's also good to know on the 8455 since I'm about to pay dearly for one of those.

Hmmm... Might have to retrofit a mechanical linear actuator there. J/k - don't shoot!

I'm looking forward to some replies on this as well. I bought one MISB this year but haven't built it yet. It wasn't cheap but that's how it goes when you miss out the first time around. It just seemed like too relevant of a set to ignore and it felt great to get one before they are gone.

Awesome work! Very clever design all around. Dynamite comes in small packages!

I like the 8069 out of those three although I also have the 8109. The 8069 packs a lot of nice detail and mechanical functions into a tight space - very well designed for the money.

Very nice work - super compact and tidy and good techniques. I love how the frame rails hug that V8 nice and tight. It would be a bear to put headers on it.

(Mechanical) Linear Actuators is a dirty word around here, lol!

Nice work! Thanks for the bump as I wasn't around for the first one. I feel like I should go build up an 8455 with all LA's right now.

Awesome preview! I wonder how close you came to everything on the inside and the functionality? I love the scale of this one.

That helicopter looks fantastic! I'm very much looking forward to that one.

Build your best version of a Lego 'flagship' model. Leave the theme or subject up to the builder. Have a maximum of 2500 pieces since that is just above the part counts we have seen in the past. Give the participants plenty of time to create some masterpiece MOCs and then we can all enjoy rebuilding them after the competition is finished.