Theo van Vroenhoven

I had the exact same experience when collecting parts for the backhoe. I ended up using the lime soft axles 14 from my 8284 tractor (they are almost invisible under the mud guards) To get the yellow panels I bought a secondhand 8651 Jumping Giant for 10€

I wonder how much you should invest to 'upgrade' your 8421 to this new crane. There will be a few new (expensive?) pieces but the rest is quite common if you already own 8421. It is not that I don't have te money but it is getting a little crowded in the house with all those models and boxes

I saw the Backhoe in Cologne and if I remember correctly Jurgen rebuilt it using the L motor instead of the M motor in some place. May be Jurgen can confirm this and indicate which motor he replaced? I built mine with all M motors and it works fine.

I got 853 for my 12th birthday in 1978. Or actually, I bought it myself with all the money I collected on my birthday party. It was extremely expensive for kids of my age: it cost about 90 Dutch Guilders (about 40 euro/50 dollar) A few years later I made a big mistake by selling it for buying an electric train (non-LEGO). Nowadays this set is offered for around 80 euro on Dutch auction site called Marktplaats.

The models are really beautiful! I wonder if they could also be built using the current NXT sets... I like the elephant!

The smallest set it is in is the 8271 http://rebrickable.com/sets/8271-1/wheel-loader-construction-2007

Those sets cover about 75% See http://rebrickable.com/mocs/jurgen/fully-pf-backhoe-loader to see what else you need Instructions are very clear so the build it not very difficult. See http://www.jurgenstechniccorner.com/backhoev2.html for more info and a video.

Over the holidays I finally finished building this masterpiece. It is huge! Especially compared to 8069 and the new 42004: The build was really fun and everything works as designed (I assume...). The only difficult part was tide up all the wires in which I definitely did not succeed... Small - Medium - Extra Large For everybody that owns 8043/8069/8265 and loves big yellow machinery I strongly suggest building this beauty!

It showed mainly the box

May be you could try something like this? https://dl.dropbox.com/u/109037067/PAL-V%20Flying%20Car%20-%20Maiden%20Flight%20-%20YouTube.MP4

In my honest opinion the only people who could complain if any are the ones that have just bought the 42006 set and want to build the B-model whose instructions should be on the LEGO website. For the rest of us that didn't buy the set (yet) there is no reason to complain at all. Free instructions for a great design that can probably be built with parts of 8043 I consider as a gift! just my $0,02

You are definitely in your orange period! You should try Jurgens orange Zorex excavator! http://www.jurgenstechniccorner.com/zorex.html

A while ago I read on a Dutch LEGO forum that the production of the following sets will stop end of this year: 8043 Motorized Excavator 31-12-12 Technic 8066 Off-roader 31-12-12 Technic 8067 Mini Mobile Crane 31-12-12 Technic 8068 Rescue Helicopter 31-12-12 Technic 8069 Backhoe Loader 31-12-12 Technic 8070 Super Car 31-12-12 Technic 8071 Service truck 31-12-12 Technic 8109 Flatbed truck 31-12-12 Technic

Great initiative! Creating a uniform marketplace is great but no rocket science (not that I could do it...). I wonder if this initiative will lead to more instructions for (existing) MOCs. Are there people around that can create these just based on a few photos on Brickshelf?

Looks like a really nice build! Apart from the rotor blades and the new axles most pieces are very common. Does anybody know where and when we can buy the new pieces?

For those of you that speak German, you can follow the story here: http://www.doktor-brick.de/index.php?page=Thread&postID=3891#post3891

The Zorex is a really fun build! Personally I built a Zyellex and that looks really well too! The build was quite challenging (for me at least) but everything worked correctly from the beginning. To neatly organize all those wires is not easy but the body is quite large and leaves enough room. I have plans to build it in red and orange as well, since it is such a nice build. Jurgen thanks again for your great instructions. I am looking forward to the instructions for the Backhoe Loader!

Car looks really great and very solid. What I wonder; there are quite a few pictures and they are rather detailed. Does this provide you with enough information to re-create the model? I am thinking about giving it a try but am afraid I will get stuck somewhere...

I really like the model and would love to build it! What I dislike about pneumatic models in general are the long hoses connecting the remote. In my opinion, it doesn't look nice and limits 'the freedom' of the model. Q: Is it possible to build this model without the remote and still use some of the functions? In that case, count me in!

I read that too and am already looking forward to building it! I wonder how many parts I am still missing when I throw in my 8069 and 8265 sets! Rebrickable will tell...

If you download Brickstore (http://www.brickforge.de/software/brickstore/) you can import the inventories of official Lego sets. Then you can calculate the prices of all parts based on average Bricklink prices of the last six months. When you take 8110 this comes down to about $463... My experience is that the Bricklink prices for all parts of a given set are at least double the price of the kit. That is what a lot of Bricklink stores get their profit from...