CP5670

I've seen this many times before, and not just with the XL motor. It usually indicates that the axle is not spinning completely freely or that the rotation speed is simply too high. As you said, it's strange because the nearby beams/gears don't have any sign of damage even if you look closely.

I do this with Technic all the time, just like I did when I was a kid. It's a lot of fun to just make something mechanically interesting and try out different things with it, even if it's not intended to be a part of any "serious" MOC.

Your dates are a little off. 1997 was when mainstream City became crap. It was still very good up to 1996, with things like the 6335/6337 race lineup and the Launch Command theme from the previous year. Even during the juniorization years, there were still some good sets among the subthemes like Divers, Res-Q and Extreme Team. World City was limited to the usual emergency themes (police) but was far better than what had come before it. The WC police sets were very similar to classic 80s/90s town sets, much more so than the current City line.

Yes, the old bushes and especially the half bushes (up to 1993 or so) have a much stronger grip than modern ones. This can make them quite useful in some situations.

Ah, I get it now. I think "one stud 1x2" makes much more sense though. I guess we have PAB now, which mostly negates the need for these service packs of basic pieces. Lego Education still sells a lot of service packs containing more specialized pieces, especially Technic ones.

Why do people call it a "jumper plate," by the way? I haven't seen that term used anywhere on Bricklink, Peeron or PAB. This would be quite handy. The differentials already have a 24 tooth version on them, so they just need to make that into a separate piece. One other Technic piece I would really like to see is a large ring gear with teeth on the inside, so we could make realistic planetary geartrains. The turntables have long been the only piece like this, and the center hole is too small to be of any use in practice.

That's a great price on an excellent set. It's cheaper than even the $64 I got with the Brickfair discounts over here.

This could be useful. I do remember a store employee telling me this when I tried to buy a set they were out of, but I thought it only applied to items they normally carry but are out of stock.

They have the 8293 pack available, but I didn't see the individual parts for sale at least at the Lego stores I've been to. Which is a pity, as the S@H shipping prices on those parts get needlessly jacked up due to TLG's policies. They determine shipping costs based on the price of what you buy instead of its volume or weight.

I always stick to pieces marked "new" when buying from BL, in order to avoid exactly this issue. I used to buy used pieces in the past, and the condition ranged anywhere from like new to poor depending on the seller. I've gotten some very good deals in the past on rare used pieces, but nowadays I would rather just avoid the uncertainty.

I have numerous rare parts (i.e. only appeared in one or two obscure sets) that were actually in normal production, but don't have any of these test pieces.

I'm not that interested in this theme, but all of those traps are instantly recognizable. They are taken straight from the PoP games.

The buggy looks pretty good for what it is. In the past, it was rare to see full suspension and an engine on set of that size. Yeah, the pneumatics alone were worth at least $70, going by the current Lego Education prices. 703 pieces seems about right, as it wasn't a very big model. It was still more than the 662 pieces of 8862, which was actually a much larger but studded model.

I passed up 7893 mainly because of the single piece wings that take up space in the interior. The other huge pieces aren't that bad as they at least add something to the looks, but those wings are just horrendous.

I love all the old space references in this theme. That's one aspect of it they have really done perfectly. It's also good to see the new helmets and especially the trans-red visors. That is currently the hardest color to get them in, as they have only appeared in the SP1 sets in 1989.

Yeah, I would have bought both this and the last airport just for parts if they didn't include the planes and were $30-40 less. I agree, but even this set has several flaws with its building. There are big gaps in the roof and side wall of the left section, and it's too small as usual. Even at Lego scale, airport buildings should be at least as big as the large police stations, like 6398 and 7744. Still, it comes with a lot of other great stuff that makes up for it.

Yeah, 8455 is quite a bit smaller, but despite that it has actually more and better functionality. Another backhoe model would be awesome but I think it would be quite expensive if it includes the same amount of pneumatics or LAs, much more than 8455 was at its time. TLG had seemingly cut their profit margins across the board back then to increase their sales, which was why 8455 was only $100.

It's good to have some official pictures of that set. I'm a little surprised to see the standard yellow pneumatics, as I was thinking they would use the trans-light blue ones that Lego Education has been selling. The claw arm looks pretty simple and rickety, but I think real forest tractors are like that. I like how it actually includes a log to pick up. I remember 8446 was picking up something on its box art, but the actual set didn't include anything. I'm personally more interested in what they will bring out later in the year, now that pneumatics are back. We should be seeing bigger models with them. I don't think the log bed moves. Given the size of the set, it would be unusual for them to include 3 pneumatic pistons.

I missed the pictures in this thread, but it was trivial to find them anyway. The airport is okay. I think the front facade is the best one they have made yet, but the interior design is odd, especially the second floor and unfinished roof. I wasn't expecting much here since TLG has never made a decent airport building in the past either. They have always been way too small, even by the standards of Lego buildings. Airports are the one thing you really have to build MOCs of in order to get anything decent for a city layout. The red plane looks identical to the one in the last airport. I don't like that plane design they have been using for the last few years. The scale is excellent and much better than the classic planes, but they rely too much on huge, specialized pieces. The worst offender has to be that single-piece wing. I'm not sure what set he was referring to, but it's used in the helicopter in 6398.

It can certainly be done if you're careful with it. Lasse's fire engine is a great example.

Sounds great. I was half expecting to see pneumatics return to Technic sooner or later, given what we've seen Lego Education offering recently. From the description it looks like it will have functionality similar to 8443, but possibly with a working dump bed as well. I hope it's not just a variant of 8063 though.

I love those doors. They only appeared in one other set.

Of course it is, it's cheaper for the company. Seriously though, both extremes are bad for different reasons. Many sets around 1996-2000 had a mix of both (some sets had mostly studded beams but used them like studless ones). Completely studded more accurately describes the Expert Builder sets in the early 1980s, while I consider sets from 2003 onward to be completely studless. Interesting. What are the actual prices there? It makes sense to compare the lowest prices overall instead of looking at one source only. I actually like many things about LAs and think they work very well in this model. I just want to know more about the production costs. Yes, 9641 is not such a good deal. It's cheaper than that in the US ($55), but it's still better to buy the Lego Education service packs like W970118. The only reason to get 9641 is for the pressure gauge, which you can't buy individually like the other parts.

Why is it a better construction system? I can think of numerous reasons to the contrary, and I would write a whole essay on it if anyone from the company's design group would read it. However, from the company's point of view, I can imagine that manufacturing costs for studless beams are lower than studded ones, since they can be made with two-sided molds instead of requiring four-sided ones. The kids of 10 or 20 years ago seemed to do fine with a lot more parts per step. Either kids have gotten dumber over time, or it is only TLG's perception of kids that has changed. I find the latter much more likely. Do you have any source for pneumatics being more expensive than LAs? The prices on the Lego Education site indicate the opposite. Pneumatic pistons can be bought at two for $10, while a single LA costs $15. For any models using more than one LA, pneumatics would seem to be more economical even when you take the cost of a pump and switches into account.

I agree with most of the things you said, but those are problems with modern Technic in general and are not limited to this set. I think one reason TLG moved to 100% studless construction is precisely because it inflates the piece counts so much and makes for good advertising. I usually do a couple of instruction steps simultaneously, especially when they cover two identical assemblies on opposite sides of the model. It's not that there is no "challenge" otherwise, but going through that many steps consecutively would simply be tedious, for both kids and adults. It's just as well that they don't include alternate model instructions anymore, or the manuals would become huge and hard to store. The gear knob is useless, but it can be easily switched out for a crank. That is a standard modification I have made on all recent Technic sets.