F0NIX

Fantastique facade! First time I have seen the use of bricks with the "wrong" side out :) But it actually works very well!

Intresting topic. Where do the limits go before it is a Technic MOC? How many Technic part does it need to contain before it is Technic? Does it need to have cogs and wheels to be technic? Can it have cogs and wheels and motors and still not be Technic? I can take out my little monorail experiment here. Inside it is a lot of cogs and wheels and motors and PF things that would be considered all Technic, but I have put on an outer shell of standard bricks. Is it Technic or not? I say not... I think Technic creation is constructions where the Technic parts and functions is in the focus. And you probably would see the Technic parts from the outside. But still there is a gray area where it is difficult to place the MOC in the Technic-group or not...

DANG!! He beat me to it! I am just in the planing phase to make a lift like this :) I don't know what the RCX and the pneumatics are doing in his mechanism but I'm planing on all mechanical system driven by only one motor (or several attached to the same axle for more power). I'm now at the phase to find a way to make the turn, but I think I have it. Just waiting for some parts to arrive before going on. Anyway, I love this MOC. Lots of wheels and mechanic stuff happening.

Really nice mod! When I saw the first picture of the MOD I had to take a look at pictures of the original (since I don't have it myself yet) to see what was done to it. Actually the original look a bit small now and this looks more like how it should look :) I think it even could be even wider without looking silly. The interior mod is also very nice and in style with the original model. Good work!

Fantastic house! Very realistic, and actually it has a Norwegian style as a wooden house. It looks like some of the houses built in the 1970-1980 era. Lots of details.

Of the smallest pieces I have seen until now have to be the Friends series spoon : http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=98393e The Friends series Lipstick is also small: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=bb547, but as it is of another type of plastic I think it is heavier.

Fantastic MOC! I just love "Tank Girl" and this is very good interpretation of the tank from the comic book. Fun and very vel made film too.

Nice Grand Emporium mod, but still have a long way to go :) THIS is a GRAAAAND Emporium: (called GE+) http://brikkelauget.no/diskusjon/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1705 It is made of the user "Morty" from the Norwegian LUG Brikkelauget. The builder "Morty" is seen on some of the pictures while he is taking it apart.

I have some old sleepers from the old 4.5v era and they are VERY brittle. Some of the sleepers have broken in the middle when trying to take them of. I use them with caution and keep the modules (tracks with sleepers) together as much as possible. Many of the clips brake of even if I'm very careful when dissembling the track modules from each other. They have been stored in normal room temperature in a cabinet where it was dark most of the time. At least no sunshine on them. But I have not damaged any of the gray rails yet, but they feels very hard and don't flex much.

Has anyone done a comparising of all the LEGO figures? I dont have the complete range of figures, but here is a picture for the ones that I do have. From left to right: Belville adult Technic guy Maxifig (size built from female in set 200) a mystery guy (can you guess what it is or what set it is from?) Toy Story Woody Toy Story Jessie Jack Stone police Fabuland Ricky Racoon Minifig Minifig child Belville baby (sitting) And I know I'm missing the Friends series, the Scala dolls, microfigs from the games. Are there more I'm missing? Anyone out there with a complete range that can photograph them all together like this?

Fantastic! I like the part where the brick comes out of the machine smooth and the studs are then "stamped" on to the brick :D Lots of details in this factory. I like it!

Well, the 2x2 technic brick could have half technic beam studholes on two sides and normal studholes on the other two. Then you can use 3/4 technic pins on two sides and normal technic pins or axle on the other sides. Actually all four sides could have groves for 3/4 technic pins.

Ok, I am a newbie with trains. And since we dont have any train-tracks around here in my region of the country how can any train run around here you may ask? They have their own tracks of course! :) More images here.

I almost forgot to take a video of this. But here it is: And here is another version of the Micromotor Car. This one has a different type of steering and the power transfer to the rear wheels is different.

Uh.. I actually have to correct myself there. There IS a resistor value in the 879 Touch sensor. But on the units I have it varies. Mostly around 1.5k Ohm and up to 2k Ohm. But there is no internal resistor to be seen inside. I don't know how the blue sensors look like internally so I don't know how they manage the different values in them. But in this it seems to be inside the black rubbery connector piece in the middle. (See pictures below) Anyway, I opened one and quickly found an easy way to modify it to to be a true power switch without any internal resistor value. All you need is a 879 Touch sensor (duh!), one small flat screw driver, one small strip of aluminum foil. Look at these pictures: Open the touch sensor by prying the small flat screw driver in between the DBG bottom part on the side and bend the sides of the top LBG part out. Do this on both sides and the bottom part should pop out easy. This is the three part separated. Cut a little piece of aluminum foil on the size as on the picture here. Stick the aluminum foil in under the black rubbery center part. And wrap the foil around it. The end to the left on this picture is the contact points. Put the yellow button part in and snap the top back on the bottom part. And volia! You have made a powerswitch out of a touch sensor! :) And this is how you connect it in between a batterybox and a motor. You just need a short 9v lead to make the connection. The switch only breaks one of the two leads to the motor. (Click on the images to see larger versions)

The blue ones contains different resistor values. But the grey one for the RCX does not contain any resistor. I have measured them. And I have also seen pictures of them opened some place... But you are right about that they are not made for high power as there are very small contact areas in the switch. But powering just one motor should be fine. I'll try to find a drawing for how to connect them to use them as power switch on a wire.

I'm not sure what you actually are looking for, but if it is a way to turn of and on some power to the old 9v system with a light touch maybe you can use the http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=879 Electric Touch Sensor (ment for the Mindstorm RCX). If do remember it correctly you could wire it up so it would work as a powerswitch. When pressed the power goes trough and when released the power disapears. And the spring in this is very fine and you don't need much pressure to activate it. The green button on the new PF battery box (AAA or rechargeable) is also very light. One press for on, another press for off. The difference is that on the rechargeable one you can set the power you want out with the little orange dial. On the AAA box you can only switch direction of power. What type of motor are you going to use for this?

Fun to see that others trying on the same project as I do :) I have the same wheels and the turn plates, but having trouble getting the power transfer down to the wheels. I see you got a good solution but is a bit too large for my comfort. I want the wheels as close together as possible. Both the wheels on each set (thus making less need for a differential) but also each wheel set. If you read on the website for ETF-trucks it seems like each wheel set can turn independently. Probably to enable it to crab sideways. And the independently controlled pneumatic suspension is also a bit hard to do in LEGO. So my first try is to drop the controlled suspension until the rest is good. I'm still going to work on this. I saw the YouTube video and immediately wanted to try to build one of these in LEGO :) And to those who think it is a impossible project, look at my signature...

And here I have a new variation of the Micromotor car. But since this is a technic set I will post it here where this belong. Even if the car will fit in a Minifig sized envirorment... This is a mod of the original LEGO set 9390 Mini Tow Truck. The front part is only slightly modified besides the color change, but the rear has lot of modifications to make room for the micromotors. And the crane is gone. This also have a litle shorter wheelbase as the original. The car is only 7 studs wide. No video of this, but it goes about as fast as the Micromotor Car mentioned at the top. Here the wheels dont grip when it turns and it has a form of rack & pinion steering, a very clever construction from LEGO.

It is not how the steering motor is mounted that make any problem, it is that the tyres is touching the inside of the fenders while turning. Since they rotate around the center of the car. If the front wheels rotate in the horizontal plane around their own center (or as close as possible to their own center) they would not need so much space to move and thus giving better steering-radius... (I hope). Look at how the steering on the 9390 Mini Tow Truck is made. It is really small, just 5 wide. But the wheels are big and that car is about 9 wide

Thanx! This car is actually 6 wide. If you look at the first picture where it has the body on it is 6 wide x 14 long and about 4 bricks high. Building it in a semi-trailer? Uh... that was a good idea, but I think someone already have done that, I wonder who was it? But, I will try to lengthen this car a bit so both the batterybox and the PF IR-tower would fit. And then it will also get enough weight on the back wheels. I have also looked at the solution LEGO has used on the set 9390. Maybe that could be done smaller and with better turning radius?

Hello again, Here is another of my attempt to make a small car suitable for the minifig-sized LEGO city streets. And it has motorized steering and propulsion. In this test I was using micromotors both for steering and propulsion. The car is too small to fit both the IR-tower and battery box directly on to the body. One solution is to have a trailer behind that is containing the battery box and this car is draging it around. I could also try to make this car a little longer so it would fit both of them. But then the steering radius will be poor with this type of steering. I have to find another solution for the steering giving the car a smaller steering radius. (Click on images to show larger versions) And a little video showing of how fast (or slow) it goes and how it steers. (Click on image to show the video, I dont know how to embed it to the forum post) Dont look at all the mess around the building table ;)

I am glad to see that others too like to dabble with some technic AND try to make a small car with motorized steering. It was a clever way to attach the micromotor. I have a new prototype ready, with the outer shell it is 14 stud long, 6 stud wide and about 4 bricks high, and I use two micro motors: one for steering and one for propulsion. I will put up some images later either today or tomorrow. I am still not satisfied with the steering on my car, and I see this "return to center"-thing could be useful. I have to buy a few of them...

This was the most entertaining and informative review I have seen so far. Hope you or someone else keep up with this type of review in the future. I have been positive to the hole Friends series from the start, and now I just must have this set (and probably many other Friends set too). The review is very detailed and show of every little detail. With a lot of sharp and well lit photos. The minifig and mini-doll comparison was also very fun, but also informative. The mini-dolls seems to look well in almost all type of minifig head gear or wigs. I also liked the little comic strip in the end :) Thank you very much for this superb review, Hinckley!

See these two threads: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57230 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63317 And I'm also experimenting with PF: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63984 And this is just the start.... (also see my signature ;) )