xenologer

Tiny Turbos are definetly starting to get old to me... Seems like they're running out of possible designs that fit into that kind of small space. I blame the fact that half of them use the very same wheel and mudguard pieces. They need to get away from that if they're ever going to make different TT racers.

The change occured in my darkage and most of my new collection is therefore consistent with the new setup. I'll occasionally buy old sets for rare parts though, the color clash doesn't generally bother me much since I build in Space. What really really worries me though is the differece in plastic quality. The old bricks are tougher and hold stronger; while the new plastic easily scratches with a fingernail. It makes me scared to mix them because I'm afraid the old bricks will wear down the new ones so they clutch even looser...

You're overreacting. Besides, who is to say what someone else can or cannot build? They're his bricks if you don't like it go take them away from him oh wait you can't do that , just don't look at it if you don't like it.

I have a love/hate relationship with those rubber tracks in general, not just this set. They look nice, but always seem to hate rolling smoothly since they pull hard on the wheels and make their axles bind up. Longer axles with good support inside the chassis can help, but its a pain to get right.

Aha! that explains a bit. Thanks for the info.

7890 Ambulance, had doubles of every bag. So I basically got two Ambulances in one box. One of the large plates used to make the chassis' was broken though, with a big cut at one end. I figure that piece must have gotten jammed in the machinery when packaging and caused the extra bags to get piled into one box.

I have the 8281 Mini Tractor, but not the new 8260 Tractor. So hopefully someone who has both of them can answer this question. If you look closely at the front wheels on each of them, they seem to have the same tire (ignore peeron, inventory has mistakes). However, the hubs each one uses is different. The older Tractor uses this piece: while the new one uses this: I happen to have that new hub (but no tire) from another set, and comparing it to the old hub. Well it seems to be slightly larger diameter. And when I try putting my tire from the old 8260 Tractor onto it, it seems to be a bit stretched to make the fit. So, does this mean the 8281 has a brand new tire designed to fit the slightly larger hub? or are they just reusing the old one and stretching things out a bit? I can't tell from the box art photos if thats a new tire variant or not... Anyone who can do a in person comparison to answer this? Thanks

I like the technic beam structure used to attach the 'arms' sideways and upsidedown. Improvement would be in the side pods... I think there are a few too many slope pieces used there at different offsets, so they actually make it look lumpy instead of smooth. Consider cutting those down and just going with mostly flat ordinary bricks and tiles to make the pods simpler and sleek looking. With a simplifed construction those areas will also become fine prime estate for stripes and markings from using different bands of tile colors.

I may have to get this one. I don't actually like Star Wars, but those handguns look great for Space, and I haven't been willing to shell out 30+$ to get them from the larger sets. Sad sign of the times to see the sticker sheet. I can understand stickers for an experimental theme like MarsMission, but for an expensive licensed theme like SW its bad; especially considering in the past those logos existed as printed tiles.

Thanks for the info, helped me reapproach the problem. Letsee then: If chain is based on tooth length, not stud lengths, then to determine how to make a perfectly no-slack chain loop I need to find the conversion from teeth to studs. Looks like that should be easy: Given that conversion, now it should be easy to calculate the circumference of a given loop in teeth units... which means all I have to do is figure out which loops produce circumferences that divide into integral numbers of chain links...

I've recently purchased 8259 Mini Bulldozer, which is my first set to contain caterpillar track / chain links. I was wondering if anyone could help explain the spacing of the chain links to me, and how to make them mesh properly with gears and wheels and whatnot. They don't appear to be any obvious stud length, and the official model has them quite slack so it's not the best reference point... I guess basically, is there a formula that can tell me, given 2 gears of x number of teeth and y studs apart, how many links to encircle them perfectly?

I love how they integrate bionicle and technic pieces almost seamlessly with the system bricks.

Thanks for the good observation, they may very well be the same guy. Except... on the powerminers website he's labeled as 'Doc' instead of 'Duke'. And on page 11 of my lego catalog... the grimey version is called 'Duke' and the clean version is called 'Doc' So I'm thinking someone at TLC is still pretty confused about the storyline here...

I've noticed that depending on where I look, the different miner minifigs seem to have either no names, or conflicting names for the same character... Anyone have a clearer idea? The latest website update seems to show 4 of them: doc, rex, brains, and duke however none of those 4 pictured on site match the 'unibrow' minifig that came in the Granite Grinder set. or the guy with the star logo on his torso from the Thunder Driller set. Comparing to my latest catalog... they list mr unibrow as 'doc' and doc(from website) as 'duke' and duke(from website) as 'rex' So Yeah, between the in-mail catalog and the website there are not enough names to match the faces, and they seem to be playing 'musical chairs' with them about the only thing all the sources agree on, is the guy with monacle and mustach is 'brains', the rest is up for grabs Anyone have any better luck in figuring out who the heck is who? P.S. there's also the 'promo bag' (thanks KimT) which seems to list a few names, but even this info seems to have problems, as it lists Duke in both 8956 and 8958 which are clearly different minifigs...

Thanks for the review. eeep! 40$ is a bit much for the size... I'd be happier at 30$ Is the controller the same as the standard Power Functions one? Ie compatible? If thats the case then this set would have a higher value...

Well on New Years eve I went and bought Power Miners Thunder Driller, so thats the last one for the year. This year: Not sure yet, but I'll either get more Power Miners, or maybe one of the new Creator mini sets if I can find them...

Thanks for the review. Not much of a SW fan but it's a cute little desktop model. I would Never pay 13$ for something that only costs 5$ on LDD: LDD Purchase

I do not follow Bionicle so if you'll please enlighten me... but ?Game Piece? on his back? what's that about? sounds like it might be a good concept... do all the new sets have this? or only the good guys, or.. etc? marketing aside, I'm noticing that the game piece is a rather nice printed piece, seems to be the hub from the new technic catterpillar tracks; probably ton's of cool MOC uses for that thing

My attention span is somewhat lacking. So amid all the detailed storytelling on your mocpage, I actually failed to catch Exactly what the thing is. Summary please? My first impression is it's some kind of 'grey goo' experiment that has gone out of control and is assimilating all surrounding matter to replicate itself...

Interesting set. I never realized those castle wheels could actually be useful for something. Looking close, it seems that the hinge for steering is one of those big click hinges ? as seen in ExoForce? That seems a bit dubious for playability... Depending on the price I'll have to consider this one, but I think the bulldozer definetly will be purchased first...

I love how the big slopes fit over the front wings and smoothes them out. But I think it would look more streamlined if the cockpit window was flipped around. It's clever how the hatch hides the cockpit hinge too.

I don't let it bother me; I just don't shop at Kmart for Legos. They're selection always sucks, what's there is usually broken. Maybe 10 years ago Kmart was a decent store, on the level of Target or Walmart(bad for the economy btw, walmart sux). But lately they've turned into something of a thrift shop... Don't worry about it, it is what it is. Just shop elsewhere if you want quality.

Agree The reason the skull tiles cost so much btw, is because it is adding an Entire sticker sheet for each one. LDD is apparantly not yet smart enough to manage those sticker sheets, even though a sheet contains several stickers which may actually be used for several pieces it adds a new one per use...

Now that you mention it. I haven't heard a thing about Mars Mission ever since everyone started getting excited about Space Patrol. I guess the MM theme is ended?

Isn't most prerelease set info either: Intentional leaks by TLC to spur interest. Leaks from priveleged people like employees who are breaking their NDA agreements. It seems to me that the ability to provide such information is just a matter of who you are and what connections you have. It's not exactly something that can be learned in an 'academy'. So, I don't see the point...