D3K

Pretty awesome indeed! I like the fact that you seem to have used only Technic parts, and not Bionicle ball joints which are typical for this kind of model!

Wow, this is so in line with what kind of thing IMO this contest is all about! The level of transformation is so good, the two models not recognizable as being the same (except for the front and colour) Easily the best entry I've seen so far, quite possibly the overall winner! Love the luggage compartment miniguns! And the anti-aircraft emplacement! Radar is just massive!

As always, fantastic work! The details are just gorgeous! I actually made a pretty much identical shooting mechanism a couple of years ago! One thing though; if the battery in the turret is to act as a counterweight, wouldn't it be better to use the AAA box, as it's heavier? Or is it too heavy?

I use a Victorinox Swisstool for many things, mostly for pulling out axles that have a lot of friction and not much to grab on to

11. Van Heli-sing (Enforcers) Discussion topic Normal mode: In normal mode, this is nothing more than a pretty standard armored van, as made famous to non-Americans by countless Hollywood heist movies. Nothing too fancy going on there.. It has steering via hand of god, and the side doors can be opened (but you probably wouldn't wanna do that if you want to keep your cover intact. On the underside it has angled armour panels and spacing between them and the actual van's body. This to help protect against IEDs and landmines. Battle mode: In battle mode, it is transformed into a bulky lump of a helicopter, with two large roof-launched (!!) missiles, and crew served M-134 Miniguns on either side. The doors open up to the rear, and reveals the miniguns. There is also an aerial refueling probe that comes out the front, and all the van's wheels are gone (at least from this angle) and replaced by tricycle landing gear. The main- and tail rotors are both powered. Couple more pics: Renders of the internals: The above render shows the internals in "normal mode." It's a little bit easier to see what is what when in helicopter mode, and I also colour-coded the different functions in the next picture: Many more pictures as well as some WIP pictures can be seen in either the discussion topic, or in the apprpriate bricksafe folder Video:

I have updated the original post in this topic with the finished model with many pictures and video, hope you like it!

Looks very interesting! Volvo would definitely be a pneumatic model, no doubt about that. If the stabilizers and dozer blade are pneumatic as well, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a redesigned "normal length" pneumatic cylinder with the new nozzles/inputs and possible a redesigned base to make it like the other new cylinders. Also, they should absolutely make a proper bucket for this one. Seeing as they made the big rock bucket for the L350, I feel this is important for Volvo!

No, it's by no means radically altering the model. I think the newer greys look better than the old ones. However, I don't believe all the pieces exist in the new greys, at least I think the seats don't

Been doing some more work on this today: Obviously a lot of the outside has been worked with, but also some small tweaks to the mechanisms Here with the wheels switched to helicopter mode and front (there will be a rear as well) roof hatch opened I know it's not a looker Building two so different models in one, and maintaining the mechanical aspect of things is proving a challenge. One of the main problems concerning the front, is all the room needed for the wheels to do their thing, and that leaves very little room for bracing and attaching stuff Anyway, in case some of you were wondering about the front wheels (I noticed Paul Boratko had the same idea, sans the steering), here are a couple of renders to show the general idea: And with the wheels pulled up:

Fantastic looking model, it really makes me want a camper van that looks like this! As for an entry in this contest however, I don't think it's that good. Mainly because of the absolute lack of Technic functionality (well, except for steering), but also because it seems like two random MOC (don't get me wrong, they are very good ones) put together, and then stuck a SCUD missile in the middle to adopt it to the contest.rules. Again; I want to underline that I think this is a fantastic MOC I really respect you as a builder, and would have loved to see you make something from the bottom up especially for this contest

Sad to see you go-- Will you still continue frequent the forums here and work on Rebrickable etc? Or are you leaving Lego completely and for good? As for your collection, it can be really really hard to find the right buyer. The ideal buyer would be someone like yourself, really I believe we all here know the value of such a collection, but it is still a whole lot of money to dish out at once! Personally I'd try to sell the sets individually, and possibly some complete MOCs, if there is a market for that. As I understand it, the Dutch Technic market is fairly good, so if you need to get money fast, I'd but them on eBay or marktplatz or whatever for 10-20% less than the going price at the moment, and you should see them disappear quickly. For the parts, well, it all depends on how much time you have I definitely see some parts on your list that I'd be very interested in that I don't already own at

UPDATE 13/8-2015: I present to you my finished entry for the TC7 contest, the Van Heli-sing armored van/assault helicopter. I will take you through the transformation process as I show pictures of the various stages of transformation. At first it might look like an ordinary armored van (you know, the ones you see in all the Hollywood movies). Nothing fancy, it has a bull bar up front with some powerful lights, and it features a double bottom with angled armour panels (grey) to help deflect landmines and IEDs it might drive over. And now the show starts: First thing it does is to deploy a tricycle landing gear detup, similar to what you see on larger transport helicopters like the Sikorsky CH-53 etc. At the same time, the car's wheels are retracted and hidden inside the body of the van. Also, the long white axle poking out the front is supposed to be for aerial refueling (no function from that axle, except to give it a more helicopter-y look): Next, a ramp opens in the rear, to fasilitate the deployment of the tail boom assembly: As this is deployed, the roof can be opened as well And the main rotor is deployed upwards and rearwards by about seven studs. Also inside the front roof hatches are two large missiles. Both sides of the vehicle have doors that open towards the back, revealing crew served M134 Miniguns: Inside you can see a red 2L axle peeking out. That is supposed to hold a sniper's rifle (that I of course forgot to fit for the photo). It can be used by hand, or it can take the place of one of the Miniguns: The helicopter can also quickly be configured for a gunship role, by closing the doors and lowering and angling the guns forward: The functions are a good mix of manual and mechanical solutions. A lot of worm gears have been used, and things work satisfactory, as you can see in the video Here be a video of the whole transformation. Proper video, not stop motion . Original post: I've had an idea forthis contest for a long time, but only yesterday got around to put that idea down in some bricks! So far I only have the size and a couple of functions nailed, but I hope to finish it in time for the deadline. The above picture shows the model setup in "civilian".. It is duspposed to be a van of some sorts. Not many features except for steering, and perhaps some opening doors when I get around to start on the bodywork. Next picture shows the model in "battle" mode: As you can see the idea is to turn it into a helicopter. The shape of the thing is loosely inspired by an Sikorsky CH-53 (or at least that was what I had in my mind designing it), but of course at a much smaller scale. The front wheels turn 90 degrees upward and smaller landing wheels are deployed on the underside (not visible on this pic). Making the front wheel mechanism was a real pain, as I really wanted them to have steering when in "civilian". Maybe half the total time building this yesterday was used to figure out a suitable solution there, and I ended up with the worm-drive system you can see in front of the wheels. The rear wheels rotate down under and through 180 degrees, as more helicopter-like are being deployed where the car-wheels were. This was the first thing I designed, and decided the overall scale of the model. It uses a worm-drive system similar to the front wheels. The tail boom extends some 18 studs out to the rear (through the yet-to-be-built rear doors) much the same way crane booms do. The rear part is then manually turned up 180 degrees and the tail rotor blades are manually deployed. The main rotor is lifted up and aft roughly six studs (through the yet-to-be-built roof), and the rotor blades are automatically deployed onece you turn the power on due to centrifugal force. Both main- and tail rotors are powered. I plan to either have deployable stub wings with an assortment of missiles/rockets/guns on each side, or possibly openable doors with deployable crew operated miniguns or something on each side. Will have to wait and see what there's room for Of course the body still remains, as well as some technical issues, but so far most things are working satisfactory. As for the name, I was planning to use Van Damme, or possible Damned Van, but piterx beat me to it. However I am satisfied with the current Van Helising, as it is a double wordplay Hope you like it, and hope to have some more work done by tonight

VAN DAMNIT YOU TOOK MY NAME! :laugh: I too started putting something together today, also a van and also an Enforcer! I hope we don't have the same idea for "battle mode" as well! Got to come up with a new name now.. maybe Damned Van?

That is a pretty awesome model! In Battle mode it looks absolutely terrifying! Too bad the rules were misread, hope to see something eligible come out of this!

That has nothing to do with Victor Imaginator's idea.. However this principle is indeed used in the 42042 out of the box, on the boom lifting mechanism EDIT: By the way, I like the idea! @Victor have you tried to build this in physical bricks?

Having built several truck MOCs in roughly the same scale as the 42043, I can say from experience that this is a case where real life translates poorly to LEGO. More often than not I've had to put more than one hard spring on each front wheel, and the rear ends up so lightweight even the soft springs can seem too hard on occasions. The problem is the weight of all the parts up front - you have the cabin with interior, fake engine, perhaps an equipment tower, the batterybox and in the 42043's case; the crane itself - all resting more or less over the two front axles, whereas the rear two (dual wheel) axles have nothing in comparison, unless you have a constant heavy load in the actual bed.

Looking very nice indeed! Can't wait to see more of this one. Will the finished truck still be 4-axles? Btw; that small L580 in your Flickr looks pretty damn nice as well!

Was I correct? Looking at the two lights (1x2 transclear plates) just below the windscreen. Typical of snowplows, as the plow blocks the regular main lights?

Looking good in red! Are you going to build a snow plow truck?

Link is correct, your picture is wrong, should be this one: That is indeed a very nice grapple

What exactly do you want it for? I think most of what you're looking for can be solved by using these, or if you want to be able to control the steps between +/- 90 degrees, then the aforementioned train remote controller should give you what you want

That looks like it's even less Technic than normal Bionicle...

I don't think you need to worry about the legality of your transformation mechanics. Granted, they are simple in execution, but as far as I can understand, they are within the rules.

That situation looks like it's about to probably produce a green coloured drag line excavator or something EDIT:

Wow, this is pretty damn impressive! Looking forward to the video!