xenologer

Well, I bought this set since it was a cheap way to get another rock monster, miner, and some saw blades... Kinda a wierd vehicle. Not sure exactly how he's supposed to 'chop stone' with it; crash headfirst into walls with his saw wheels? It would be a much stronger set if it came with some accessories like the new dynamite or maybe a minifig chainsaw or jackhammer so he's got some plausible way to mine crystals... Well, I guess the best bet for this set is to take it's saw blades and technic beams and make it into a saw mounted on one of the larger vehicles...

As cool as Granite Grinder's jackhammer action feature was, I felt something more dramatic was called for. Plus the driver has a drill symbol on his uniform. Sonic Driller uses an experimental new drill. Rather than use traditional tungsten blades to cut rock, the bit focuses sound waves between it's teeth and uses the sonic energy to crack rocks. Various views: note the rubber band used as a drive belt for the new drill engine in the front; while Granite Grinder is shaped like a forklift, Sonic Driller is meant to be more like a bulldozer the bucket and chain remain unchanged. also see the nice exhaust smokestack Construction/Mechanism views: chassis is similar to the GraniteGrinder, however you can see that the gears(knob wheels) are now used to rotate a driveshaft for the drill. lower chassis removed to show the driveshaft; Due to part constraints, it had to be offset to one side. The cylinder at the front end is needed to get a good gear ratio for making the drill spin Fast driver's cab and engine area construction details drill bit mounting detail: note the rubber band belt, and the 1*1stud plates used as a pully to keep it stabalized and aligned BTW, the band works well, but when not playing I would remove it to keep the rubber from stretching out. On the right are the extra parts for the official model on the left are the additional extra parts after building Sonic Driller Yep, not only does this MOC need no extra parts; it uses fewer than the original. Have fun building one. Gives a good reason to pick up a second Granite Grinder eh?

Just got this set myself, Interesting Note: the rubber band does not come on one of the old grey rubber band holder things, instead it was packed in a separate cardboard packet; like capes and rope usually come in. I sure will miss the old technic-y band holders.... Also occurs to me that there are some very Odd things about the construction, like inside the base of the chassis why are they're click hinges? and why the technic rod and connectors right behind the driver's seat? it's nice to have the parts i guess... but its strange, they don't seem to serve any purpose in the actual model's functions and they're expensive parts too; so I wonder why they'd do that?

I use it more often than most... But mainly for vehicles, not much a building person. Anyhow, depending on your computer speed, things can get very slow with large amounts of bricks, and it can become difficult to accuratly connect things since the screen will lag... Ran into this problem trying to build a space greenhouse dome. I wouldnt worry much about it... If you're building a large town, I'd suggest making each building as a separate model. This will help things for people buying them, since not everyone wants to shell out the cash for a whole town at once. also, there's an import function under the file menu, so once each building is made you can then have a separate town model that loads and combines each one... this might help avoid the slowdown issues for when you're doing the precision work in each building...

8959 Claw Digger 19.99$USD Found this one at Target in USA, California. Actually, took a bit of hunting to get ahold one, the first store didn't have any, but an employee was able to do a computer search and tell me that another Target had them in stockroom (but not on shelf). From the quick glance at his screen they actually had All of them in the back stockroom, simply havent reorganized their shelf space to display any of them. Nice employee was able to pull one out for me. So Tip for you shoppers: if its not on the shelf Just Ask. Sorry, but there are no in-build photos, camera was out of batteries when I got this, and I was far too impatient. What you get: Claw Digger, Sulfurix (rock monster) and two crystals. Sulfurix and the unamed miner (perhaps when the site gets updated he will be known), apparantly minifigs have orange blood. The Claw Digger is sort of a futuristic bulldozer. There's a large bucket in front for pushing dirt around, but instead of a ripper claw in the rear (as on a normal dozer) for digging out tough rocks, this guy has dual clawed swingarms in the front. So its a bit more...aggressive than your usual bulldozer. These arms are free to rotate, you just twist the orange canisters to swing them; no clever gearing or anything but it works OK. To power this fierce machine is one of the best greebled engines I've ever seen in an official set. Not sure what all that stuff is supposed to be, but it looks very cool; the wheel hubs with dishes on top is a clever design. Here you can see how the roll cage flips open for the driver to climb in. His controls are a pair of joysticks, and the grey panel in front of him is supposed to be a sort of sonar/radar screen (but it was a sticker ) The floodlights are pretty good, except if I was driving I wouldn't want to ever try looking behind me (you'd go blind!). Also here you can see my absolute favorite part of the set: Inbetween the floodlights you can see a pickaxe. Based on its hard to get location I believe it's not meant for the driver to use(his tools are behind the engine); rather it is purely decorative like a hood ornament. This detail really emphasizes the purpose and feel of the Claw Digger; it's dual swingarms are essentially giant pickaxes The extra parts and Sticker Sheet: Instruction Sheet photo: As you can see in this step; the chassis is made of studded technic beams and interlocking pins. This gives the Claw Digger a very solid and sturdy construction even with those giant pickaxes swinging around. Also you can see that all the axles for the wheels are using '5.5stud w stop bushing rods' which makes them roll very smoothly. back of the box (there's plenty of front photos elsewhere) The Claw Digger and Crystal Sweeper can be combined to make an Amazing Alternate Model: Already see a clever use for the new roll cage piece in there. Action shot of Sulfurix stealing crystals out of the Claw Digger's mouth: Well I'm really happy with this set. Claw Digger's big engine, big wheels, and solid construction really give it a 'character' you can get into. Always loved bulldozer's since they're simple and fun to shove bricks around with; being able to whack things with the pickaxe arms is a fun plus. About the only issue that bothered me was the claws drag on the floor. But this is easy to fix; I simply removed the tiny headlights above the dozer bucket to allow it to tip up a little bit higher. From this raised position it lifts the arms up so the claws don't drag when driving around -"transport mode". Go get one; I suspect that this will end up being one of my favorite PM sets to actually play with (*vroom vroom* *smash*). I'd even think about getting a second one (except I need to get all the other sets first ). Side thought: So the Claw Digger uses pickaxes, then... Granite Grinder is a jackhammer, Thunder Driller is a... drill, Stone Chopper and Crystal Sweeper are saws... It would seem that *most* of the PM vehicles are the personification of various power tools; Its too bad though, that only this one seems to include a minifig scale tool of its type in the construction...

Thanks for the review. The snot cockpit construction looks pretty interesting for an official set. it's really just the stocky legs that look off, but with some modding this has potential I'd say. At any rate, it is nice to see some vestige of ExoForce live on in other themes. P.S. regarding this being the 'only' set at Target. When I went to Target (and got ahold of 8959) there were none on shelf, but I asked an employee to look up Power Miners and clearly there were most of the sets in the stockroom. So now there's a few 8985's on the shelf, since when he pulled one out for me he also grabbed a few extra and just put them on the shelf randomly. I'm guessing, the stores may actually have a few sets, but haven't re-allocated their shelf space for them... so just ask next time.

Definetly overpriced Comparision

Well, I can support the rumor that stuff is showing up at USA Target stores. I dropped by my nearest one in CA, and they did not have them on the shelf, however a nice employee was able to look them up and tell me that another Target nearby had them in stockroom but not on shelves. So this would seem to indicate that they are getting shipments, but aren't supposed to release them till some special release date... I might try and go to that other store and see if I can convince someone to go and find me one in the stockroom... tho that might just be a bother...

I like the orange color. Also good to use up those hard-to-use orange slope things. I think they would work better on the rotors, if you doubled them up (twice the length), this would also help with making them taper off at the ends. Just pull the one's off the body sides and put them up there. Lets you add some better details to the body that way too.

Got this one myself. Yup, agree the racer's rely way too much on sticker for their details, not the most spectacular car designs they've had to date. Though their canopy slopes are new, being 1 stud shorter than the similar existing triple slope, which may come in handy someday... The dent and narrowing in the tires is not a new problem, as far as I've seen all of the past TT sets with this tire also have it; I usually just attach the tires so the dented moulding line is on the inside of the car body. I'm dissapointed (but not much since I dont use em anyhow) that the checkered flags are stickers when a printed version already exists. Kinda thinking, that the racetrack/box might be useful in building a cargo box or other large scale wall component, maybe in a large spaceship or boat? It is a nice large smooth panel... question is, do you have room to use it all? or do you resort to cutting each section separate... Perhaps the best part of the set? The old Classic Space positioning rocket thrusters, finally available in a low-cost set. Now you have a reason to buy 2. P.S. anyone notice that the red box top is shaped like a racer? tempted to build that one now...

Thanks for the review. That crane is absolutely gorgeous. I must get one, both for the space-y truss pieces, and the treads that I seem to keep missing out on. Where did you find it? and how much did it cost?

So I got lucky on ebay and was able find this sealed space army-builder set. Not exactly Classic Space, but considering I'm a younger afol and this was my era of Space, it makes me happy. Back of the box has some 'cute' ideas considering the small contents. Looks like two little space battles, and in the lower corner a more whimsical Space Music Video filming? Little do they know that the video camera is in fact a laser cannon! Here I've dumped out the contents of the standard plastic baggie. There were no instructions included, so it seems two of the minifigs are already confused about what helmets they should be wearing. Now with the spacemen assembled; you get a rather hard to find Unitron minifig, the old IcePlanet guy, and 3 Spyrius members: an officer, private, and android. I'm mostly happy to have the android and his clear helmet, and the yellow/grey color combo on the Unitron looks like fun too. Here you can also see that there are 3 printed control panels; I'm sure these will come in handy considering the modern Mars Mission sets only use stickers for their space computer stuff. Lastly here are all the spacemen with their assembled accesories. They sure don't make spacemen like they used to eh?

So, where did you buy this set? Seems its a limited edition, which means not all places will have it... where did you find yours? Hasnt shown up at Lego Shop or on the website even tho all the other sets are there... at 40$ for this set with the awesome female pirate... or 100$ for the ship with the mermaid and govnr's daughter, i think this one wins... out with the better character

Yup Saw this set at Lego Shop in California and also thought the price was a little wierd, wierdly too high. If it was 19.99 I would have gotten it... but as it was, they really needed to include one of the nice new hairpieces on the lady for me to pay that much.

Am I the only one who finds the new handcuffs pieces to be depressing? I miss having the all-in-good-fun non-serious cops vs brickster type themes...

Its nice but I alsmost wish the wings would angle downwards a bit. espeically from the back view., to offset the engine going up on top.

Well that is pretty scary about the ball joints breaking. I've always thought the bionicle joint pieces were made of a slightly more flexy plastic than normal bricks; so if these new hybrid ball joints are using the usual System plastic it may be a problem... Anyone know more about plastic who can explain?

Sure, I'm In. Thanks I wonder what it could be...

Dr Inferno definetly needs a room full of FemBots someplace in his secret volcano base.

I always though that this was a strange little space scooter impulse set... Could never figure out what was going on with those rockets... are they the engines? or are they projectiles meant to be fired? perhaps they do both and this is some sort of bizzare space kamikaze fighter? So I decided they were engine pods, not missiles. And remade it using modern parts to fit this concept: I'm really happy with how well modern robo arms can replace the classic robo arms for the engine supports. This is perhaps the one and only reason to bother looking. Neat technique eh?

Interesting, the baggie it comes in bears a very strong resemblance to what you get when you buy from PaB online or Factory. Maybe TLC is using the same packing and processing facility for limited special promos as Factory? Well its nice, but the heli could use spinnable blades.

I definetly agree with the legs. The red tips (dinosaur tails?) fall out constantly. I will mention though, that TLC seems to have addressed this problem recently, those pieces in the Space Skulls set seem to fit much tighter now, as well as the clicky technic bits they are attached to. On my lobster I ended up swapping out pieces from Space Skull so now it's doesnt have the problem...

Cool Reminds me very very much of the evil Robots from 'Descent'. Old videogame, ever played it?

Neat little racers. Definetly looks like a recycle of old designs though. I made a 8122 Desert Viper early: FactoryLink

Grab Bags are basically... bags of random bricks. Usually they come from PaB bins that have been sitting around too long, or from store display models that have been disassembled, or scooped out of those play tables... So if you happen to be there the day after the display models get changed, you can have some awesome parts in there.