DrJB

Here in the US, oil prices have fallen a good 40% over the past few months. Now, legos (made of plastic, derived from oil), have not been impacted by such drop in price... Any thoughts?

Love the set of course. But to me, there is a gross aberration when they used the track elements for conveyors. Yes, it's a toy, but would have preferred to see some real piece of flat rubber for carrying goods.

In real-life applications, dozers suffer from what's called 'straight tracking', where both left/right tracks are not always running at the same speed (at least for hydro-static drives). As a result, most dozers would tend to steer randomly left/right, depending on soil conditions. In such case, what is done is to define one track (left or right) as a master, and the other as a slave. The user input (throttle) always controls the master track, and the electronics ensure the slave track is always keeping-up with the master. Neat implementation of sensors, hydraulics and computer code.

Well, let me draw a bit of an analogy: When you meet someone special and fall in love, you usually do not think of who else was there before you. It's kind of like the same for used (pre-owned) lego sets. After a good wash in soapy hot water, it's as good as new, no matter the small (non visible) scratches. I display my sets with equal 'love', not making a difference between first-born and adopted :)

What's the deal with selling? ... how about leasing? ... ouch, never mind

How come we never get such good sales on this side of the ocean?

This discussion reminds me of one I heard a while back in a salt water fish store. Two of the people working there were 'commenting' about a young woman who has walked in, dressed very nicely (you can tell she was born wealthy), and she was into salt-water aquariums. I could hear one of the guys say something along the lines: Man, I would be the happiest man ever if she says yes ... she's good looking, and will pay for my hobby/addiction. Well, some of us no longer qualify ... gotta exercise self-control and 'pretend' to your significant other that your Lego days are over ... oh but wait, I need to buy it as 'investment' ... and on one of those cold/snowy days: So kids, wanna build a lego set ?

Thanks, but that's not the one. The one I'm thinking of has a very 'different' large wheel (the one that holds the 8 containers). I'll keep looking and come back when I find it.

What caught my eye in that article is the year the mold was made ... 2014 ???

There was an earlier version of the ball factory, with a very different wheel design. I can't find it in youtube. Anyone has a link to it?

Not sure where the idea of keeping 8 as the bare minimum came from .... as I do have exactly 8. Two came with the Power Puller, 4 with the 8466, and 2 I got extra from BL a while back. I want to keep the 8466 as it is (to me) an iconic supercar. In all honesty, I do not care much for the actual PP with all those engine blocks, but, again that is just personal preference.

You're trying to decide between these three ... Well, I have all three, and in all honesty the red truck is my favorite. A large collection of very useful parts and very intricate design/assembly. Though, either one you pick, you can't go wrong.

looking good so far. Curious to see the large technic vehicle u mentioned earlier... and if u don't want it, I'll gladly pick it up ;)

Now, from the 3 orthogonal views above, one can easily build a rough 3D model in Sketchup. It'll be much easier to work with 3D for modeling the vehicle with Lego.

Two years ago the kids 'misbehaved' and we did not go on a spring break vacation. I used that as an excuse to 'blow' about $2000 worth in new lego sets. Now, I'm eyeing getting some of the latest technic sets, but I find it very difficult to 'convince' myself I need those sets. I could easily spend over $1000 in one single trip to the store. Yes, TLG has understood that they can get me to buy the new sets by putting new/unique parts (Volvo Wheel Loader and Mercedes Arocs) but I have not fallen for those yet. This is an addiction, let's call it as it is, and whenever I visit a lego store (was in Chicago yesterday), there are way to many sets to chose from, be it the new Ferris wheel, the 3-4 large technic sets, or even some of the ninjago/friends with unique colors for the girls. This is slowly becoming a hobby that is very difficult to 'manage' ... and I've read somewhere that TLG introduced 300 new sets this year alone. That is ludicrous in my book, but then again, no one is twisting my arms.

Just did a google search (with images) and there are many photos available, including one that qualifies as blueprint. All you need is copy paste such photo to powerpoint, scale it up (zoom enlarge) and voila, problem solved.

Absolutely stunning. I like how you did the boom with the curved yellow panels, and the touch of realism for various details. The only thing missing is ... the 'new' parts of the 42055.

My question had 'deeper' implications than looks. Obviously you went for the easy part, and glad we got that out of the way. Now, TLG has released many upgrades or variants of their parts, the wheel hubs of the acros truck, the track elements, this specific part ... and often the differences seem hardly justified (to us). I was (seriously) asking for the reasons TLG has modified such part.

Once again, it appears TLG has released two very similar parts with different ID numbers. Anyone knows of the motivation and differences, besides the small reinforcing ribs (picture on right) ?

However, here is an Akiyuki original: a fast EV3 ball sorting robot

You're absolutely right, my mistake. I was browsing a Japanese site that was full of Akiyuki's contraptions, and somehow erroneously assumed it was his. That simply shows how little Japanese I know ...

I was not sure if this belonged in the 'Akiyuki Project' thread. If so, please move there. I found a new GBC, very 'portable' and novel movements. Enjoy! http://yattaran.sees.../430129611.html

Fully agree. I was merely trying to get/give a sense of the size of the BWE wheels, as compared to something many of us have on hand (HFW). Curious as to your MOC will look like. I have some yellow+red samsonite gears, hopefully I can replicate. :)

The compressor add-on is definitely a plus. Also, when I built mine (a while back), I found that adding an air-tank makes the motion much 'smoother'. My $0.02, of course.

Good find! The one with the blue parts, there is a non-lego version of it, and it is apparently the one that inspired Akiyuki (I recall reading that somewhere). The other half, is the one Akiyuki came up with. In a sense, your video shows the inspiration (input) and the outcome (output) to Akiyuki's genius.