CP5670

It seems like many other countries are getting ripped off on the Technic prices this year. I remember 8459 was $82 on S@H here back in 1997 and the 8464 reissue was $70. The $80 price of this new set is better than I expected, considering that it's bigger. I look forward to seeing your review. I'm sure the box is bigger, as that is a trend we see in general these days.

Yes, 8865 is well known for having very heavy instruction steps. There is one in particular where you build the engine, involving a staggering 134 pieces.

The Cherry Picker might be the best choice because you can use its motor and battery box with the other two models. Those models have multiple linear actuators and will benefit a lot from a motor.

8265 should be the best and most mechanically interesting set if it's in your price range. I'm not sure if anyone here has it yet, but it looks very similar to the old 8459 and should be a great model. If you want something with a motor, 8292 is better than 8264. 8288 is pretty nice, but surprisingly expensive on ebay given how recent it was. OP means original poster.

This has some very nice functions. My favorite aspect is what seem to be motorized pneumatic switches, letting you control the pneumatic functions remotely. I also like how you integrated a pressure gauge into the model. I think the overall appearance could be improved though. The color scheme looks kind of jumbled and the cab seems to be unfinished on one side. The micromotor-powered bucket is cool, but it would be nice to have that function operated by a third pneumatic piston, considering how the rest of the model works.

8455 was actually from 2003 and, as you say, is hard to get for a reasonable price these days. I think 8275 was the best set after that one. These are all $120+ flagship sets though, and probably not what the OP had in mind to "test the water." Some good medium-sized ones from the last few years are 8292, 8294 and the newly released 8263. The first two are still easy to find for close to their original prices.

Thanks, I'll update the other thread with some of this. It sounds like white still has some issues, contrary to what I thought earlier. The axle holes on Technic bricks are always off-center. That piece wouldn't really work properly otherwise. Have you actually seen centered ones?

Uh, that's great, but where is this MOC?

Read this. There have always been quality problems, but we've seen more of them in the last three years than at any other time in the past. The best quality was probably achieved from roughly 1989-1995, with a minimum amount of issues and printing used in most places instead of stickers. I think TLG's overall attitude towards quality has changed, and their CEO hinted at that in an interview some years ago. Like a lot of companies, they have realized that the vast majority of buyers are not discriminating about quality and that "only the best is good enough" is simply not an optimal business strategy. That being said, things do seem to improving slowly from what they were like two years ago.

I want to see a return to the part quality of the 1990s, which was superior to what we have today, and for Technic models to return to stud-based construction. I can't see either of these things happening in reality though.

I always love reading your reviews with all the humor in them. I won't be getting this set. It's very expensive and there are many other things I want to get this year. It has tons of detail but it would look out of place in an existing Lego city due to its size, and I don't think it would make a great standalone display piece either. The badly packaged sticker sheets are also inexcusable in something that costs this much. The mechanism for the horses is nicely designed though, and surprisingly similar to what I had suggested here a while ago. The minifigs are odd. I think the strangest one is the girl who looks pissed off. Maybe she doesn't like carousels? Any thoughts on color quality in this set? I would especially be interested to hear anything about white and red.

This sounds like a lot of fun, but it's a little too far away for me to come without any planning. Hope you get enough people though.

It sounds like a fairly widespread problem if you have that many dead ones. I have several 71427s but no 43362s, and at least those have had no problems for me. Unfortunately, I think TLG will no longer replace them if they break in the future, as they don't have any stocks left. They replaced my first broken micromotor but the replacement also locked up after a few years, and I couldn't get it serviced a second time.

The IR receivers are $15 on Lego S@H here in the US, so four of them plus a battery box would be $67 as opposed to the $100+ control lab prices on Bricklink. Not sure what the prices are like in other countries. The remote control costs an additional $10 but you really only need one for all of your models. I just use the one I got from 8275 for everything. You can also run them from a 9V AC source by using the trick described here and avoid using batteries. I hope TLG brings out a dedicated PF wall-powered source at some point though.

That train was a little before my time, but it still looks very good to me for the same reasons you described. It's almost like a Metroliner prototype and I like its colors and shape far better than 7740, the other major 12V train.

Nice overview. I have plenty of these guys since most of the SP1 sets include them too. Notice how there is a small notch at the top of the helmet in that picture, giving him a subtly different appearance. I think the original 1987 versions were like that, but not the later ones. I have a few of that variety in my collection. Interestingly, Blacktron didn't become overtly evil until SP1 came out. They are actually cooperating with Futuron in the 1987 and 1988 catalogs. I think TLG themselves wasn't sure whether they should be the bad guys or not. That all changed in 1989 though.

I kind of like that one actually. The engine sucks, but the cars are nice and big, and have a very modern look. It also includes a couple of road vehicles. It goes relatively cheap on ebay, so I might try to get one.

I don't think there is any way to prevent it. If you don't use the parts much, they remain okay. The 1x2 tiles in my WC police sets look pretty good, but I haven't done anything with them. As ImperialShadows said, any kind of rubbing against other bricks has a possibility of taking off some electroplating. Once a hole forms in the chrome, it will also get bigger quickly. Antennas and other thin pieces are affected by this more than anything else in my experience. See the entry on chromed parts here.

I would certainly go for the Metroliner. It has a sleek and modern appearance, and that color scheme makes it look like many real-world train systems (Amtrak comes to mind). It's just the sort of train I would want to have in my Lego city.

The castle entrance is actually shaped like a mouse hole. As for the house centipedes, what I really hate about them is that they climb up walls and ceilings, but are too big and heavy to run on them. If there is one on the ceiling and you scare it in some way, it often falls down on you. Even on the ground, they run so fast that you have to nail them on the first try or they will get away.

Yes, Lego S@H is the best place to get them. The PF motors are actually priced pretty low and are much cheaper than the 9V ones used to be. I remember that both types of gray 9V motors used to be something like $17 in the catalogs, which would be even more today with inflation. I only wish the PF IR receivers were cheaper. Good to see you here, by the way. You probably don't remember me, but I used to post a lot on lugnet.technic many years ago and saw your posts there often. I have a couple of broken red micromotors, but haven't had any trouble with the other types.

I would have probably just used it as a manual controller, like the control centers. I guess with the advent of the PF system, you can get 8 motors off a single controller now anyway, and four IR receivers would still be cheaper than getting one of these control labs from Bricklink.

Agree with everything you said. Although in hindsight, I think Deus Ex 2 was a better game than people gave it credit for. It was nothing like the first game, but it's still one of the better FPSs I have played and had several good ideas. I hope they do a good job with the upcoming third game. I like SS2 better than Bioshock too. Bioshock starts off great but becomes kind of dull and repetitive halfway through the game. It does have a great atmosphere. Despite the numerous plotholes, the story and universe are still pretty immersive and well fleshed out, much better than a lot of other games I've seen that supposedly have good plots. I think many of Fallout 3's detractors look at it purely as an RPG and miss the whole FPS aspect of the game, which puts it in an entirely different league from the previous Fallout titles. I actually prefer not to have a partner most of the time, so that I can get all the kills myself and level up faster. I used Dogmeat for a while, and Fawkes towards the end of the game (who is unstoppable, but steals all the kills from you).

Interesting video. It looks like the LAs can produce quite a lot of force. In practice though, their full power can only be realized if the motor is attached to them directly without any external gearing, which becomes bulky and expensive. If you run multiple LAs off one motor and use geartrains to hook them up, as most of the official Lego models have done, then they would be much less powerful.

Your best bet is to hook this up to an old laptop, if you have one lying around. USB/serial converters are often unreliable with old hardware. I think the software for it is also DOS based. How well does the Control Lab itself work? I was thinking of getting one myself, but I've heard that there is a noticeable delay between issuing the command on the computer and the output actually turning on.