CP5670

Is the cranking such a big problem with LAs? I don't actually have any sets with LAs yet, but I figured it would be similar to the crank-powered functions in older sets. Several sets in the late 80s (like 8862 and 8854) used the large pulleys as cranks, which were fairly comfortable to use. If the worm screw inside the LA gears down the motion a lot, maybe TLG needs to first gear it up outside the LA to compensate for that. Well, the pneumatics in the Lego system essentially take the place of hydraulics in real life. Their basic method of operation is much closer to hydraulics than what the LAs do. I want to see a good mix of both the LAs and pneumatics in Technic sets, as they have different strengths and situations that they are best suited for. As you said, LAs provide much finer control over the position. On the other hand, the main advantage of pneumatics is that you can put them into otherwise hard to reach places and still get a lot of power out of them. The 8868 Airtech Claw Rig, for example, would have been impossible to make with LAs unless you mounted motors on the turntable, and even then the resulting geartrains would be complicated and would diminish the power that the pistons can provide. We do have the Lego Education pneumatics set, which is intended as an extension to the NXT set, but it's very expensive and is never really going to become popular.

I was saying that earlier too. Those colors don't work at all IMO, but it's hard to say whether those images are more recent or the earlier ones we had.

That keychain is especially interesting since it seems to have plates in the obscure Maersk blue color. As far as I know, that color was exclusive to the Maersk sets and didn't appear in a mass market set at all until the Maersk ship was released in 2005. Are the pieces on it glued?

The old Unitron commander head is one of my favorites: This has to be the best example of an overused head and is probably second to only the original smile head. It's not a bad head, but almost every single figure in the town junior era from 1997-2002 used it.

The Galactic Enforcer looks different from the earlier picture. Many of the transparent parts are now medium blue instead of dark blue. I think that kind of kills the look and doesn't fit in with the rest of the theme either.

It would be nice if that box was checked by default. It's kind of annoying to do it manually every time, and you lose the message if you forget.

Mine was in the Hello forum a year ago.

I have one of these: Nothing special, but it does what I need it to do. I like the height of minivans/SUVs over a normal car, the fuel economy is reasonable enough, and I can load tons of Lego into it for display shows and other events.

Have you measured the full length of those? I like how treads have become a lot more common in the last three or four years. Before that, I remember the tread links (the smaller, black kind) could only be found be in a few sets and obscure service packs from the 1980s, and commanded sky high prices on Bricklink.

That is why I said "hardly ever." But even the ones on that SUV you posted are pretty understated compared to what this vehicle, for example, has:

That may be true in general, but this particular problem is ubiquitous and affects any identical brick made in the last two years. The only way you might get lucky is if they still have bricks manufactured in 2006 or earlier.

Yes, I've seen them used as outdoor chairs, and as greebles on space models. I have hardly ever seen a car or truck in real life with mudguards this big. These parts would look a lot better if the semicircular part was thinner. The problem is that they're just too big and prominent for typical city vehicles.

It's a well known problem. The color quality in general has been quite lousy for the last two years. TLG says they will be rolling out changes to this over the course of this year. The yellow is supposed to be fixed, but their stocks of the existing, bad yellow bricks probably haven't been fully depleted yet. The latter is the best idea. What he describes sounds like the standard color saturation issue, so he would just get more parts with the same problem if he asked for replacements.

It looks nice and I always liked those black classic space guys, but I doubt I will buy it if it costs as much as the previous did. Yeah, they would use the blays, as was done in the last wave of Legends sets. I don't think TLG is even capable of producing the old grays at this point, without re-tooling some of their machines.

I'm not a big fan of these either, at least for their original purpose as mudguards. They look exaggerated and are too large for most vehicles. I love the modern city vehicles in general, but this is the one aspect of them that I think has room for improvement. These pieces do have several other uses though, unrelated to vehicles.

I've had this happen many times. It usually occurs on large builds, when I accidentally used the wrong piece in a previous step and need it later on. This occurred quite a few times for me with the 8421 Mobile Crane a few months ago, since there are a couple of different colors that look similar in the instructions and it's easy to choose the wrong color somewhere. (and to make matters worse, the exact shades look different on some steps than others) That particular step is crazy and involves over 120 parts by itself. I think it may be the most intensive instruction step in any Lego set ever made.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Interesting, that explains why that sign appears here. It looks like TLG did their research on this. My copy of the set is in fact a French one, although the American and other versions have the same sticker. I got this one from Bricklink in 2003, unopened for $340 shipped. It's still the most expensive Lego set I have ever bought, but it was something I always wanted as a kid and the price was actually pretty good in hindsight, compared to what they sell for now. I kept the box as well, but it's not with me at the moment so I wasn't able to get a picture for the review. Good to hear. Yes, it would be really nice to see a return of Model Team at some point. Some models in the Creator line have come close to the smaller MT sets in terms of detail, but this Giant Truck has remained in a league of its own.

Set Name: 5571 Giant Truck Theme: Model Team Released: 1996 Pieces: 1743 Original Price: $139.99 (US) This is an overview of the famous 5571 truck. The scale is larger than that of most Model Team sets, and the overall level of detail still remains unparalleled among any realistic vehicle that TLG has released. The 1743 piece count was also the highest among any Lego set for several years, until the UCS sculpture models came out. Although not entirely perfect, it is in many ways the definitive Model Team set. This set had the (rather generic) name Giant Truck in the US, but was called the Black Cat in UK/Europe. I applied most of the stickers on mine, but left off some of the multi-part ones. Over the years, many people have also built MOC trailers to go along with it. This and this are some examples (not made by me). Side view. The doors and windshield are much larger than what most Model Team sets have. There is a third, smaller door on the sleeper compartment. There is also a black cat figurehead on the hood, in keeping with the set's name. The other side. The wheels are the 68.8x24 variety. They look very similar to the 62.4x20 wheels that are common in Technic sets, but are slightly larger. They only ever appeared in one other set, 5563. Top view. Front view. The set doesn't include a driver, but the Technic figures are almost the right size and scale for it and fit inside nicely. The gray control sticks are wipers, although they aren't really the right size. Rear view. A ladder allows access to the roof. The hood opens to reveal a V8 engine. I think this was the first time the pneumatic T-joints appeared outside Technic sets, as decorative pieces. Close up of roof. The sunroof panels can be opened and the black knob controls the steering system, as commonly seen in Technic models. There are tool compartments on either side. The red cabinet door on the left is unique to this set. The cabinets contain the standard six-pack of tools, for quick roadside repairs. There is also a shovel on the back, a piece originally from Fabuland. Some interior shots. The cabin is nicely decorated and includes a coffee machine. You can see a bed and a reading light in the sleeper area. There is also a TV (sticker) and a radio near the bed, although they're kind of hard to see from the outside. Close up of front grill. The MT on the license plate obviously means Model Team, but I never figured out what the TIR stands for. Size comparison with the older 5580 Highway Rig from 1986. It's around twice as big. Pros +Immense detail on every part of the model, both outside and inside +Larger scale than most Model Team sets and goes well with Technic figures +Highly versatile part selection; it was a real plate bonanza for its time and also includes a number of chrome plated pieces +Includes various tools and equipment +Expandable, and provides a great starting point for a full tractor-trailer MOC Cons -No glass in door windows -Lacks doubled rear wheels like most real trucks have -Wipers are too small Overall score: 9/10

I've heard the same thing and am looking forward to buying sets regularly again. I only bought a handful of sets during the last two years, ones that I thought were simply too good to pass up. I have not actually had much trouble with cracking pieces like this, but the color problem has put me off from buying anything. I want to minimize the quantity of those "new" colors in my collection. The worst part is that Bricklink stores are also loaded with the recent bricks by now, so my MOCing has also been severely affected. I have a couple of the recent city vehicles, including the ambulance you mentioned, but the 1x1 slopes on them look fine. The sets have just been on display though.

I don't think this is really an advantage of the current bricks, since it also makes models more flimsy. In fact, there are a number of assemblies that appear in old 80s/90s sets which worked great back then, but wouldn't hold up so well if they were made of the modern type of pieces (especially the plates).

This is one of my favorite town sets. There is a lot of stuff packed into the trailer, and the cars look great. Those cars were fairly advanced for their time. The 1996 race theme was the first time we got a theme-wide lineup of cars significantly larger than the old go-kart designs. As a kid, I also liked that stack of tires that appears in one of the alternate model pictures.

That looks pretty bad. The headlight brick is known to develop a crack around that spot over time (which doesn't seem to affect its gripping power), but I haven't seen anything as bad as the one in your picture.

Wow, you certainly know your clone brands well.

I call them sets, as does everyone else I've seen. Although I don't know why you would argue about something like this.

The model looks more like Mars Mission than SP3.