Technic Gearhead

You could always get the parts from BL and build one yourself. The cost would probably be similar but you could save some money if you already have many of the common pieces.

I would say 8258 for the same reasons Erik pointed out, with the thought that you could still eventually get the other two if you wanted them as there is plenty of time. You can't really go wrong with any of these though.

After looking at the instructions for this one I'm really impressed with it. This year is shaping up to be another great one for Technic! I hope to find one today or order it from Lego.

It looks very close from what I can tell, possibly a touch bigger. Maybe Blakbird will chime in with a photo comparison, or someone else who has both.

Yes, I like that one a lot! I'm definitely in my orange period but it's sure to not last very long as the parts are limited.

Surely there is a better location for the PF switch. I'm looking forward to seeing the instructions for this set - hope they get it straightened out soon!

From me to me... Here is my 8297 recolored to match my 9398. Here is a closeup of my 8043 - almost done, still waiting on a couple of parts. Happy Holidays!

Get one while you can!

I can't wait to see the higher resolution images. The Crane looks fantastic!

I also got Sariel's book, along with 3 other Technic Idea books by Yoshihito Isogawa. On a side note, is it possible to still get the electronic version of Sariel's book? I have the receipt from the book purchase. In the 'from me to me' category I got the 8043 which is almost finished, and parts for the 8297 I'm currently building in the 9398 color scheme (minus the white). I got my daughter the Buzz and Zurg Toy Story sets from 2010 since she loves Toy Story. :)

Sounds good to me - can't wait to see the crane! It doesn't sound like any of them are RC. I'm guessing the crane will be the flagship, right? I say that because our last one - the 8053 was not. Keep 'em coming! I'll admit I was a bit worried after seeing the 2013 1H sets, but with these it should once again be a pretty strong lineup.

It looks outstanding in red with the combination of grays!

The claw appears to be controlled from somewhere on the main body. Another angle shows an axle running down the center of the lower part of the main arm to where it attaches to the body.

Hilarious!!

There is one image of the 42006 with PF elements installed, but not for RC. The switch is visible on the top and the battery box can be seen underneath. I'm looking forward to this one as well!

More progress! What steering rack is in there currently - 8 or 10? How about a pic in the lowered position? What do you have planned for the battery box - leave it exposed or maybe partially conceal it with a combination of yellow panels similar to the 8053? Keep on going with it.

It's obviously a conspiracy to keep the value up on BL for the 1x6 pieces. I'm with Blakbird - they could have used a 1x6 LBG thin there at the very least since it is still around and was also in the 2009 8258 if my memory serves me. But it would have been nice and a perfect opportunity to bring back the yellow ones.

Your custom LA looks very nice but I'm worried it will be too big visually. I know there isn't much we can do about that except make it as compact as possible. I wonder if we could make the upper mounting bracket on the boom move towards the LA as the LA gets extended. That might actually look bad once you got everything in there that it needed to have to work though. I guess we need some longer LA's too.

It better have the big new orange panels on both sides also. Not sure why it wouldn't though. Would it have killed them to work in some orange 1x7 thick liftarms too?

Oh you're right - I miss counted. It's just a lowly1x7 thin! Great, now they're going to see this and raise the price to $10!

It looks like the 'Power Puller' yellow 1x6 thin liftarms are back in the 42004 set. Bad news for the people trying to get $7/per on Bricklink and good news for us!

The battery box can also be seen underneath between the treads.

I was afraid of the LA being too short, however your solution looks interesting. The boom looks high enough in your very first image in this thread. Would it go back down all the way flat mounted that way? My guess is that it did not or you might have kept it that way. Keep pushing onward!!

Excellent - bonus functions too!! Is the one LA going to be long enough for the full range of the boom? Visually that would look the best for sure, even if it didn't go quite as far up as the two pneumatic cylinders. This is exciting! The 8421 is one of my favorites and I often wonder what it would have looked like if it was designed in the last few years with all of the current parts available.

It's coming along nicely. It looks pretty complex too. Are you going to use the original motor for all three of the functions? I assume that is the plan with your two gearboxes. It looks very well made also - looking forward to more updates!