drdesignz

It's very nice! This might just be my first train set. The Creator Expert theme sounds very interesting as well.

I just learned about this a few minutes ago myself and came to EB to see if there was any discussion yet. I think the train is really nice, and I'm more excited about the Creator Expert series. However, I'm not so sure that really means much. It's just a new name for something that already exists, it seems. Is it going to be any different from previous models, such as the Taj Mahal, Tower Bridge, Volkswagen Beetle, Shuttle Expedition, Maersk Container Ship, Sopwith Camel, etc.? For example, the T1 Camper Van doesn't have "Creator" on the box, but it can be found on Lego's website under that theme. It looks to me like those type of models will now get the Creator Expert label. But maybe there's more to it, I don't know.

Nice work! This makes me want to tear down my hot rod and rebuild it as a smaller and drivable RC car.

Caster isn't as much of an issue as the length of the wheel base. It is too long. A bigger gear would have helped.

I designed and built this 4x4 rock crawler as a conceptual design study for the upcoming Technic challenge. It is remote controlled, with two L-motors and a servo. Both motors power all four wheels at once. The axles are solid, instead of the typical differentials. This makes sense to do, because crawling over rough terrain can cause the truck to balance on three wheels, which will result in the one floating wheel turning by itself. That will simply cause the truck to get stuck there. The problem with transferring power to all four wheels at once is stress on the motors and gears. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if speed was variable, but with the current setup the power to the motors is either on or off. I think clutch gears may be the only real solution to this issue, unless variable speed can be introduced. The suspension design is experimental. Unfortunately, it does not work well. Actually, it's a total failure, despite why you may think initially from the pictures. The springs are not strong enough to support the truck with all six batteries. In fact, it's just barely strong enough to hold the truck up off the ground without the batteries and if it is sitting still. The whole idea behind the design is that the springs only compress about four or five studs worth in length and I needed a system to exceed that significantly. The configuration I came up with allows travel far beyond those limits. In that regard the design is successful, at least. Also, the steering radius is too wide. There is a good reason Lego's crawler has four wheel steering. I built the front and rear suspension the same with the intention to add a second servo to the rear later. I thought about it and realized if I do that the wheels will turn in opposite directions. I'd have to add a remote and receiver to make that work. Plus another extension, which was required for the one I have. All of those extra power functions becomes quite a bit more expensive, so now I see why Lego designed their crawler with the servo in the center. I figured I'd take pictures and post them, even though this is for an upcoming competition. I don't mind because I'm going to tear it down and rebuild a new design from scratch. There's no point in somebody copying the suspension design because it is seriously flawed. Besides the springs not being strong enough, the Technic beams get stressed beyond what is acceptable. You may not have noticed that in the pictures if I hadn't have pointed it out, but they actually twist and bend excessively. The ball joints also come apart easily. There isn't much else original about the chassis design, so there's nothing to keep secret there. And I'm not 100% satisfied with the body design, so I decided to redesign that too. It can't be removed easily either, like Lego's crawler design, so there is no real access to the battery box. Again, this is a conceptual design for studying purposes. The pictures may look nice, but functionally it is terrible. Nevertheless, it was a fun build and I learned a ton.

Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea they also sold UCS sets, because I've never checked them out online. I see the Super Star Destroyer is only $335. That might just be my next purchase.

I just finished my prototype a few minutes ago. I realize I don't know what the rules are yet, but it can't hurt to start designing now. I learned quite a bit, in fact. The biggest thing I figured out is my experimental suspension design is a giant failure, haha... and there's another issue with the steering. But other than that I'm happy with the body and hope to be able to carry a lot of it over for the final version.

I don't think I can open it myself I found a picture here of it built though.

I just ordered another rare 1 of 1,000 tin, the Darth Maul Mini Sith Infiltrator. It was sold exclusively at Comic-Con this year, so I had to find it for sale online. I am still waiting for the delivery, but I found some pictures on flickr here: I also got the Darth Maul minifigure polybag.

Cool design I built the Unimog recently. It's a great model and excellent for customization. It's also nice for the parts and it's a relatively good price too. You will not be disappointed, I'm sure.

I haven't used any software myself, but I hear LDraw is pretty good. You should check out the digital design forum.

You made it in the top ten most supported projects last week. Congrats!

That's pretty cool I don't think it can get any smaller than that, with those electronics. I'll probably build something like that one of these days.

I have a chassis designed that seems to work well. But when I put the wheels and tires on from the 4x4 crawler, they look silly because they're too small. Are the 62mm x 46mm power puller tires the biggest available? They're somewhat expensive and I'm hoping to find a more affordable set of wheels and tires. I haven't been able to find anything else on Bricklink though.

Are you not familiar with Bricklink? That's the way to go. Check it out: Bricklink.com

I thought I should bring attention to this issue somehow, and this seemed like the right place for it. I went to the Star Wars forum here and tried to view the thread: "[MOC] Crusader-Class Corvette". I got a warning from my browser saying this link: "contains content from www.ngltc.org, a site known to distribute malware...malicious software may be installed onto your computer if you proceed..." I looked up "ngltc" and it appears to be the North Georgia LEGO Train Club. I don't think this particular Lego club is intentionally infecting people's computers. It's very possible malicious software was installed on their server without their knowledge. Either way, when I check Google's Safe Browsing diagnostic page, these are the results: Of the 15 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 13 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2012-09-17, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2012-09-17. Malicious software includes 15 trojan(s), 7 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 5 new process(es) on the target machine.

I own about 30 Star Wars sets and my personal favorite is the UCS Imperial Shuttle.

Looks familiar Welcome to EB! Great design; the geometry seems somewhat complicated to do with Lego.

Very cool. I also want it framed and hanging on my wall

Very nice I went to Brickfair this year, which was my first ever big Lego event. I think I might actually participate next year. Looks like fun!

Like I commented on Cuusoo, great design! I supported it, of course. Welcome to EB. I look forward to seeing more from you.

Prices are showing normal for me too. I think the Australian version is what you are looking at, which can be confusing since they also use the dollar sign. Check the URL. Assuming you are in the US, it should be shop.lego.com/en-US, but it may be shop.lego.com/en-AU instead.

I finished my submission a few minutes ago: I'm just kidding of course

I like the changes and the new yellow one is cool too

Oooh, okay, I wasn't familiar with that technique. Thanks for the answer