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I want to suggest as well that the 8275, Bulldozer, is the way to go. It is expensive though. I have to point out that it is still in production, backorders are accepted on shop.lego.com, and the item should ship from 30th of April.

First of all, the amount of sale on PAB (shop@home), and on bricklink for that matter, is a tiny fraction of what TLC sells to the average consumer who does not even know that shop@home, bricklink or anything else exsist. There may be AFOL buying bricks like mad, but try and compare that to the amount of bricks produced each second, 24/7, and you'll see that AFOL and other fans has close to zero affect on the global Lego sale. Secondly, what is the correlation between the so called "economy dive" and the current selling of products ? A big question mark. Regarding the prize jump, I think it's a mistake. If it's not, I think it is a reflection of the actual cost of the labour-heavy buisness that PAB is.

My copy (Danish language) landed on my desk at work three days ago. Did not realize it came in English too, although I suspected it.

So I go to a Dutch site, to read in English, that a small Danish company, has made an agreement with a large Danish company, to use their name and Logo on their baby product :-) Reading carefully we can see that they will do some sort of seat with Lego-knobs-fabric for adults too.

I have only built Lego for the last couple of years. I got myself two Batmobiles, for the reasons you mentioned yourself. I got a lot of the sets you have listed in the "wanted list". Bionicle sets have rather many pieces that are very specialized and not so useful in creations other than the figures they are. I like Bionicle and have many sets, but only for the sets and the posebility to build other figures. Although you have the vehicle sets in your wanted list, many parts are still specialised. I can recommend the Axalara X9 though, it's basically a technic set with a few bionicle weapons, two shooters and a figure. You have to consider if you want to build stuff mainly based on Technic or System bricks. I think you want a combinaton. What I would strongly suggest is to buy sets that are reduced in price (if possible), and to buy large sets (I see you don't fool around much with small sets in your list). That way you get most out of your money. But here are some picks I enjoy myself: 8421 Mobile Crane 7298 Dino Air Tracker 7713 Bridge Walker and White Lightning 7784 The Batmobile: Ultimate 8157 Ferrari F1 1:9 8275 Motorized Bulldozer 8285 Tow Truck I got quite some star wars sets too, but haven't really built them yet. Most SW sets are centered around light grey colours though. And SW like other licensed themes are usually more expensive sets (price pr. element)

I'm not sure if you know bricklink? (www.bricklink.com) Type in the set number in search for catalog item (top of page), and then view the inventory. That said, I think I should leave it to others to suggest sets to buy.

Ricecracker talks about 1x1 round plates, and I have the impression that others talk about 1x1 round bricks. Could the OP (original poster) confirm that we are talking about bricks, not plates ?

I actually passed by the table in PMD while they were preparing to shoot the video. I had a closer look at the trains, and I might even have seen something special, not covered by a blanket

This is in fact a very early prototype shown here, where at least the four weapons are not moulded plastic, but rapid-prototyped material. I think the same applieds for the mask and the shin-protectors.

Here is my first real Technic moc, a motorcyle based on the wheels of the 2004 set, 8420 Street Bike. These wheels are a great starting point, and they include to disc-like parts that act as disc brakes (the actual discs). The only downside is that the rims on both wheels are asymmetrical, fitting the design of 8420 with single sided front fork and single sided rear sving arm. Now my moc is very different, here are some basic features: 1: Classic rear sving arm, with monoshock acting in a progressive linkage mechanism, as seen on nearly all Japanese sports bike in the last 20 years. 2: Double wishbone type of front suspension, with the fork carried through ball joints on the two wishbones. Steering is done through two arm connected at another ball joint. This front wheel suspension type is truely magnificient, but really only seen on very few motorcycles. Examples I know of is the Britten V1000 from New Zeeland, , and the currently in mass-production BMW 1000cc sportsbike (four cylinder in-row). 3: V2 engine with cylinder-angle equal to what is seen in 8420 (but that one is V4), and with crankshaft perpendicular to the bike's lenghtwise direction (like on a V2-Ducati). The 8420 crankshaft is along the lenght of the bike, though the cylinders are placed like on a Moto-Guzzi. Opposed to all other official technic bikes I know of, the chain sprocket is not placed at the revolution point between the rear svingarm and frame, but is placed somewhat further foreward, as on nearly all "real-world" motorcycles with chain drive. Right hand side of the bike with the chain drive. The rear chain wheel is surrounded by two half-width beams, and the chans is as close to the rear tyre as possible. When the rear wheel moves upwards, a linkage attached just in front of the rear wheel, pulls at a traingle linkage placed underneath the rear arm, that push the spring in a progressive way. Left hand side of the bike, showing the small gear wheel at the end of the crankshaft, connected to the output shaft (where the sprocket is placed on the right hand side of the bike), through a bigger gear wheel. The engine is connected to the frame at two points, and it's placed at a small angle, compared to the lower beam on the bikes frame. This was chosen to reach a good point for the chain sprocket, in front of the rear "sving-arm-point". The front of the bike with the special suspension (the newer wishbones (three) were taken of the huge 2009 Ferrari 1:9 system set). These wishbones are half a module shorter than the old type. The really cool thing about this suspension is that the forces from suspension and steering, are seperated in each their own mechanisms. A normal front fork has the built in problem of handling suspension and steering forces through the same joints, making steering rather "tricky" during heavy breaking. A top view on the bike. The only non-Technic elements used is for the exhaust and the water cooler at the front of the bike. Bike turned up-side-down. The lowest point on the frame is a "dead end" beam, which sticks out one unnessecary module. I haven't found a way to avoid this yet, but maybe I should use this dead end to fit a bike stand (the grey bike stand added on the other pictures is just a temporary one). Now I need to consider how to complete this bike with tank, fairings, seat and other body works. I'm not sure if I should stick to technic panels etc. or if I should use system bricks, plates etc. to get the "right" shapes. I hope my explanation of this moc makes sense also to folks not really into motorcycles. Thank you for looking and any comments are welcome. Front / Erland

I'm not even sure I've seen pictures of such a vehicle before, but I can imagine the usefulness of this kind of airport-vehicle. I must say that to me this looks like a bigger project, creating a vehicle of this size and with several functions. Certainly not something I would consider even trying, and yes I am myself working on my first "real" Technic moc. Great to see technic work shared here on EB.

Translucent elements are surely weaker, and they are hardly ever seen as technic elements like this: Axle Connector with Axle Hole

Great to see someone getting serious with Lego City. It's not my most favorite theme, but it ranks high. I'm more into all themes more or less, haven't really setled for anything particular yet. I like your pictures, and I see that you like me enjoy photographing Lego. Your pictures have good white balance (colours), and many have a nice subject isolation (small depth of field), which I really like. Do you use a 70-300 lens on your Canon camera? (I studied the exif data in your pictures ) One thing you could enhance in the future, is to make sure that the pictures are level, and not tilting to one side, as a few above does. Hope you enjoy it here on EB, and I look foreward to more stuff from you.

A lot of the small Technic elements with cross-holes are very thin. This ensures the function between the cross-hole and cross-axle. But it also results in elements that may be easy to break, if the elements are not perfectly manufactured. And one factor is material and it's not ABS. You may have had elements from a "bad" batch. I have broken some small technic elementss, but I think that most of them were black. I'm not sure if some colours are weaker than others, and think it more likely may be down to a "bad" batch. But I also think that some elements will break as a result of extensive use. Tell costumer service about it, because that way development can get feedback, and consider if actions needs to be taken. And you would probably recieve replacement elements.

Simply the best movie (fan created) I've ever seen.

Thank you all for voting and commenting. I think I voted average or below average. I just got the crazy idea to give this little truck a trailer to pull. I have hardly done any Technic mocs, apart from a motorcycle I started on a week ago. So adding a little trailer to the alternate truck, should be a good excersize, not so complicated that I would give up long before completion. The joint on the truck is placed quite some distance in front of the rear wheels, so the trailer needs a long beam extending foreward, to reach that joint and not colliding with the wheels of the truck. The selection of elements for the trailer is strongly influenced by which elements I have available. I stripped my Bionicle aircraft for panels, it comes with twelve of these. Front

It got fantastic looks. He over-did the exhaust pipes though, they are way too long, guess he had too many chrome technic extenders.

Seems like you had a lot on display, some impressive trains, building. That red/yellow dragon is really awesome. I'm sure you gave a lot of children a good time with your LEGO creations, a lot to look at at least. ..and my memory wanders back to when I visited Texas. Sweet memories. Front

Welcome Mr. Circumference vs. Diameter ratio.

You widened the wheel base, and thereby the wheels can rotate further, before the wheels hit the chassis ? Looks like a fine change to the model, I might open my box with this set soon

After building and reviewing some of the smaller sets, it's finally time to move on to something bigger. I built this set yesterday, after buying it last week. The Offroad Truck viewed up close. Set Name: 8273, Off Road Truck Theme: Technic Released: 2007 Pieces: 805 Price: I'm not sure, but I think this was a 70 Euro set Bricklink entry Brickset entry Here is the box (back side shown), the instructions and the complete main model. I will not include the alternate model, but chosed to show it's main functions, featured on the back of the box. The trucks ability to rotate (roll) between the cabin and the bucket, kind of put me off building this. To me it seems like an unrealistic mechanism on a vehicle. The pieces are placed in numbered bags, and here is the model after emptying the first bag (next three pictures show the model after using the bags 2,3 and 4). The front of the vehicle with rack and pinion steering, is seen to the left. In the middle of the picture three axles are seen. The middle will control the lifting of the bucket. The left one will control the main lifting of the crane, while the right one controls the yaw of the crane. The turntable for the crane, and the bucket is added. The bucket is here linked to the mechanism lifting it. At the end of the bucket a lid rotates freely, though gravitation will open it when the bucket is lifted. Now the crane is completely built, and a gas tank is applied on both sides of the chassis. The sides of the bucket can be rotated as shown in this picture. The two rear wheel axles are added too, and they are connected to the chassis on a simple buggy. Bag no. 4 completes the model. This is mainly the addition of the drivers cabin as well as the "spindle" (or whatever such a thing is called) in front of the cabin. The steering wheel in the cabin is only for looking good, it has no function. To steer the vehicle, you have to turn the gear wheel on top of the cabin. The cabin makes extensive use of Pin Connector Perpendicular 3 x 3 Bent with 4 Pins (4x) and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 4 Pins (5x), which makes it quite sturdy. These two elements were introduced in 2006, and I think they were developed for the NXT Mindstorms robot. Here the cabin is rotated foreward, the bucket is lifted, and the crane is picking up the pallet from the ground. The two mechanism of the crane (left hand gear wheel on side of chassis and the gear wheel on top of the crane) both uses worm gears. The crane in action, seen up close. A nice thing about the crane is that it can be lowered down into the bucket, so that the height of the crane do not exceed the height of the cabin. Nobody wants to drive 50 MPH under a bridge, coming to a violent halt, just because some stupid crane can't be lowered sufficiently. Final notes: Ok, this vehicle does not have any engine and suspension (other than the rather simply rear wheel buggy). At the same time the alternate model looks oddly, so much that I will not give it a try and build it. Never the less I think this set is awesome, because the crane and the bucket works so well. All the mechanisms are geared fine, although I would have liked a slower geared yaw of the crane. It tend to rotate to quick when you turn the gearwheel on the side of the chassis. Value for money ? Well compared to the smaller sets, this mid-sized set have a lot lower prize pr. pieces, probably not that far from what is found in the largest Technic sets. Is it worth the prize ? Well I can't really say, I picked it up at a quarter of the original Danish retail prize. It's blue, and I like that Let me hear your thoughts on this set. Cheers Front

The Zhamor sphere and launcher (Bionicle) are quite nice equipment for making motorized shooters. The slow-motion stuff at the end of the video is quite funny.

Thank you for showing the alternative, I have never done anything but the main model. It has to be said that the steering angle is a bit extreme on this model, but it can be found on real custom bikes too. The bike does not look that great from the side, but your two last pictures from other angles, make the bike appear much more cool.

Yes, the springs on the alternative model have no function, except from being part of a four-linkage mechanism. Also at the back, there are two gear wheels added for looks, they are not connected to anything.

8296 Dune Buggy The small Dune Buggy (main model of this set) photographed up close with wide angle lens, to make it appear big Information Set name: Dune Buggy Set number: 8296 Number of pieces: 199 Theme: Technic Released: January 2008 Price : I think this like the similar 2009 set was at 19.99 Euro list price Bricklink entry Brickset entry Here is another review of a Technic set, a small 2008 vehicle with two models to chose from, a Dune Buggy and a Tractor. The box, two instructions books, and the parts in the set. Building the main model is straight foreward, and here the main subassemblies are shown. Far right the rack and pinion stering assembly, in the middle the seat in front of the steering input shaft, and to the left the V2 engine surrounded by the rear swingarms with suspension. A nice thing about the Buggy is that the steering can be done either with the black gearweel on top, or by getting your fingers down to the steering wheel in front of the driver seat. The black gear wheel is connected to the steering wheel and rack-pinion, by an axle goin "through" the driver seat. The underside of the Dune Buggy, revieling that the engine only drives the right rear tire. That's a bit of a let down, but it can be fixed by finding a long technic axle to connect the wheels directly. Putting in a differential should be impossible, hardly room for that. One of the not-used parts in the main model is a tan gear wheel. Notice how the two parts Technic Wishbone Suspension Arm are used as a design element and not actually what they're meant for. I guess that's never been seen before in an official set, and some may think this is truely stupid. Alternative model, the Tractor. Now to the second model, the tractor, here shown during the building. I arranged the subassemblies like in the picture, only to find out later that this is completely wrong. Two minutes after taking the picture I realised that this model is steered by crack control. Here is the finished tractor. I really think it's cool that the two models differ so much from each other in the designs. I have to admit that when I saw this piece Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3 Long used behind the engine, I thought the vehicle would have no steering Here the two functons of the Tractor is shown, the steering and the tool handling mechanism at the back. I am not into farming, so I can't say if the mechanism at the back is truthful to real world tractors. But I can imagine how the set can be added plow or similar equipment. Finally a view of underside of the tractor. Final notes: I love building Technic, but small sized sets are usually boring stuff. I stated I actually was surprised during the building of the Tractor, and this surely is credit to the set, or you may view it as me admitting I have very little mechanical insight I bought this set for about 5.50 Euro a week ago (employee shop in Billund), but I would say that the set would be an ok buy for 15 Euro. Although I try to be objective in my reviews, I should be considered incompetent, due to my job in Billund. Please, let me hear your thoughts on this set and its value.