Costas

Just had a close look at one of my large pumps. You can easily remove the spring simply by starting at the top of the plunger and grabbing the start of the spring with a small set of needle nose pliers. Carefully undo the spring by pulling and rotating it backwards relative to the way it is 'wound' on. To minimise excessive stretching and damage to the spring, ensure that you only pull on it the minimum amount to get it over and around the plunger's shaft ie do not pull on it to much, just enough to clear the plunger's shaft.

Rechargeable AAA's typical have less than half the capacity of their AA cousins. For instance - AA Eneloops are rated around 2000mAh capacity whereas the AAA variants are around 700mA. The other thing to point out is that the 'Internal Resistance' of the AAA sized cells is worse than the AA sized ones. This basically means that the AAA cells will drop their voltage more under the same load. So if you have two packs [one AA and one AAA] that consist of the same cell count [eg: 6 cells = 7.2v] then the AA sized pack will give you better performance [faster running motor(s) etc] for the same load.

Thanks for the history lesson guys. Now I'm up to speed with these parts and it also throws some light on some other components which were present in some of my early sets which seem to have been revised over the years.

Ok guys - being a bit of a modern studless Technic noob, what is the main function of the centre slot in the version with the centre slot? I see that in some databases that the 4459 and 2780 versions are interchangeable but the version without the slot does not seem to be as common. Thanks

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. The links posted above came in handy. I had already purchased a number of plastic trays with re-positionable dividers [similar to Blakbird's idea] so I'll opt for that method initially and see how I go. Once again - Thanks...!

Hi everyone..! Recently my LEGO Technic interest has been re-kindled due to a recent purchase the other day of some DUPLO sets for my 2 and half year old daughter... My last foray with LEGO Technic was in my teenage years when I had purchased a couple of 8868 sets. My first ever set was an 856 Bulldozer when these were first released [brings back a lot of memories]. I still have these sets and just the other day I pulled them out for a closer look. Anyway, at 46 yrs of age I have decided to get back into the scene so to speak. Quite a lot has changed with the studdless parts and the wider variety of gears/axles/power functions etc etc. Impatiently - I rushed out and purchased a couple of sets [8043 & 8110] to get my feet wet again and have just been busy on Bricklink ordering bits so that I can knock up an 8043 Ultimate thanks to Jurgen. I will also be purchasing a few more sets over the next few weeks to basically bring up my parts inventory to a reasonable level. Question I have is what is the best method to keep track of parts and sets especially when raiding sets for a few parts? Is it better to sort [and treat] all my sets as a generic global parts inventory or to sort sets as a unique entities and keeping track of parts removed from individual sets? TIA Costas

I'm located in Adelaide.

Well, another Aussie joins the ranks of Eurobricks. Currently an AFOL - My first real introduction to LEGO was back as a juvenile teenager when I was given the 856 dozer as a gift. I still have this great set and it does bring back a lot of memories for me as I had spent many hours playing with that set. A few years later after I graduated I had picked up 2x 8868 sets when they were first released here in Aus. I still own both of these sets and one of them is still unused. Pretty much forgot about LEGO for quite a few years since. However just the other day I took my 2 and half year old daughter into a local LEGO store so she could pick out a DUPLO set as I thought it would be a great introduction for her. I had also dragged out my fully constructed 856 and 8868 models which had been put away for a number of years. The 8868 just required some batteries and a quick manual cycle on the pneumatic cylinders for it to spark back into life after sitting in a cupboard all these years. Some of my other hobbies are Photography [Minolta/Sony A-Mount], N-Scale model railways [uS prototypes] and I am also heavily involved with RC helicopters. My daughter is also exposed to these hobbies pretty much every day in my study/hobby room and is more akin to picking up a hex key to 'help' out dad working on his helicopters rather than spending time playing with dolls... Imagine my surprise when in the LEGO store, she immediately went straight for a Police/Fire themed 'City' set rather than the cute DUPLO princess sets! Anyway we ended up walking out with a DUPLO 5609 train set and the 5681 police/heli themed set for her which she has been playing with and enjoying quite intensively. Obviously dad had to treat himself to a new Technic kit but I could not decide between the 8043 Excavator and 8110 Unimog, so I ended up with both. I have already reviewed Jurgen's MOCs on the 8043 and sent him some euro's his way. I would like to purchase a couple more kits to build up a reasonable amount of parts as it looks like I have become addicted this time around.