Heppeng

Yes I am interested! - I had it on LDD - until my computer got a virus that wiped the files. The only difficult part was getting the tracks in the right place. i will take some photos when it is built.

Well the parts have been ordered - along with the missing bits for my 851 and also my 856 loader. Could make for a nice little scene - the 856 loading the manure spreader hauled by the 851!

Following the gearing through, it would seem that when the tractor moves forward the belt does indeed move towards the back as you would expect. This would mean that the flails would appear to rotate the wrong way as built. I also wonder that as the belt is slack on top, whether the links would drag on the floor a they are unsupported for quite a long distance. That might affect its operation. I don't know how thoroughly lego would have tested this model as it was never sold, so the design might not have been as slick. I guess I will find out when I build it!

It looks to me like you got a pretty good deal.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Just to add, this is what I had to work with: Maybe - what would make a good manure substitute?

I was lucky, the very first technic sets were introduced when I was just old enough for them, my first being the 851 Tractor which I absolutely loved. I also got the 8888 ideas book which I also built many models from. I was however frustrated by the lack of instructions (and bricks) for some of the models I wanted to build, one of which was the manure spreader designed to work with the 851 tractor. So now with the aid of bricklink and LDD I hope to put that right. So after painstaking study of the two photos and two partial drawings, I think I have pretty much got it - at least as far as LDD will allow! So here you have it, a fully functioning muck spreader with conveyor belt and flails all driven from the tractors PTO in a very prototipical fashion. And very few holes! The most noticeable difference is the wheels, I don't think LDD has the right ones, so I have substituted them with ones which appear the same diameter. Similarly the connectors on the flails at the back are not the right type but pretty close. I could not find the plates with holes that the drawbar is supposed to be made from, although the holes are not actually required so it does not affect the way anything fits on the model. one thing that it was almost impossible to discern was the type of red plates used for the floor, i could not see any joins in the photo so they may well have been one 6x24 plate for each side, which whilst contemporary I would not have thought many would have had two of them! As I will be bricklinking this and the 6x24 plates will help add strength and are not expensive that is what I expect to use, but there do not seem to be any in LDD!

Ah, so it could be the drop ship scam using a stolen credit card? Some people will get their GE, but not all which is probably why the feedback is mixed.

I suppose that may depend on what other lego you have - the main reason I bought this years city calender was because it was perfect for adding to the interior of my Grand Emporium, which now has a crowded top floor with a Christmas theme, as well as a few extras for the second floor. I found a good use for everything apart from perhaps the little racing kart, but I think I could use that too if I tried hard enough. And it was a lot of fun having a nice little quick build each day to share with my daughter, so there was good quality time in it too!!

Or to put it another way, it probably means that the number of different types of bricks are removed i.e. the total brick count is higher, but the number of different types of bricks are reduced, which will save much more in terms of packing complexity (simpler inventory) than the cost of extra bricks.

Good ideas. Needs a double decker bus adding to the last category!

It is in fact exactly the same loco! They were not different versions, they were different on each side as your photo of the one loco clearly shows. The reason being that the Drivers desks were on the Left hand side of the cab in direction of travel, with the window alongside and the door behind. The sides of the loco are therefore 'opposite hand' to accomodate this with the windows/doors at diagonally opposite corners.

I have finally got the last little bits for my Market street and it is now complete. I think that its appearance is almost indistinguishable from the genuine article, yet I have not forked out for the expensive hoses, doors, windows etc. The only departure from the instructions is to build the top story opposite hand as I believe that it fits better with its surroundings - better the patio area looks out over the Parisian Restaurant rather than facing the wall of the Palace Cinema! Not the best of photos, but see what you think...

I am interested!

Well contrary to the above post it appears that it is in fact very interesting, as I have received PM's asking about it. I have now built the bus, so I will do my best at an unbiased review. It has turned out much better than expected. My expectations were based on views and opinions expressed on this thread as well as other internet sources. This is not the first time this has happened. Now of course one would expect a bit of pro lego bias, but it does seem that a lot of clone brands are being unfairly slated. Now of course as said earlier I would have preferred this bus to be lego, but I will try and put any prejudices aside and be fair. So this is what we have: Now do bear in mind I have never reviewed anything before, so here goes! First of all the price. A grand total of £14.97, which includes P&P (No customs charge as total is less than £15). This means that it is vastly cheaper than buying a new lego bus, as lego buses are only available as part of a set. It is also substantially cheaper than bricklinking a bus, which would probably be getting somewhere near £10 in postage alone unless I got lucky! The next item lego does badly on is colour consistency. Many of my recent lego purchases have had particularly noticeable variation in colour. Now as this bus is mostly white, to be fair there is not so much opportunity for mismatched colours. However, the coloured parts do not show any variation, even under harsh flash photography. So another area where it appears to be superior to lego. However it is going to be a long time before I will know whether or not the white yellows as much as lego does, but it certainly is a good bright white to begin with. The only disappointment colour wise is the red, which is not as deep as the lego and seems a bit wishy washy. Thankfully the red is mostly on the Gas Station rather than the bus. Stickers - I was kind of hoping that the bricks would be printed like Enlighten does, but alas not. Still at least on the bus there are no STAMPS, and the stickers seem to be of good quality. The background colours are not a perfect match for the bricks, but neither are they very far out. So I guess about even with lego on that one. So what about detail? Again it stacks up well. There is a neat little staircase to the upper deck, which includes a safety rail at the top to stop drunk minifigs falling down it on a saturday night. The driver is well equipped with gear lever and dashboard. The gear lever is however a very loose fit and flops about. It might also have been nice to have a little speedometer decal to stick to the dashboard, but it is just left blank. there is a proper raised floor at the back, under which in real life would be the engine of course. There are also grille bricks on the back to represent the required engine ventilation at the back. There are turn signals front and rear, together with headlights/tail lights and also back up lights. There are high level amber lights on the side of the bus too. I guess they are to represent some kind of warning lights - I will have to look at some pictures of real buses to see what they may be for. And then of course there are the doors! They really are a very good representation of the swing plug type of door and work in a very prototypical manner. Not only that but they sit nice and flush when closed. I also cannot help but think that these doors could be extremely versatile. Not only do they have the pins on the back to which the arms are attached, but a couple of studs on the front, in this case covered up by a 1x2 tile. So what about quality? Well whilst better than expected, it is still behind lego. Having read some reviews which imply Sluban needs a mallet to construct it, I found the clutch power on all bricks to be very similar to lego - with one exception. The 1x1 snot bricks used to attach the front bumper/grill/lights assembly were rather poor, meaning that they could fall off with only a fairly gentle knock. They might have got away with it, but it is all to easy to do when opening or closing the front door. The amount of moulding flash is greater than on lego, but it is not too bad. There is also a bigger gap between assembled bricks – possibly to allow a more coarse manufacturing tolerance? It does not help much that the doors are suspended on a stack of 1x1 bricks. Opening/closing the doors can cause them to twist. But the single worst problem is the wheels, which are kind of important. Oh dear. The fit of the tyres on to the rims is far too tight, requiring excessive force to push the rims in. This is unfortunate as the rims are not that strong, I managed to crush one when trying to assemble it. It also means that a child will struggle trying to put this together. Once together they are not particularly round, so the bus tends to waddle like a lame duck, which somewhat detracts from it to say the least. So does it hold its own against lego? I say it does, as long as you don’t want to move it....

Lego is now the No.1 toy maker, by whatever definition you choose. It's also the worlds No.1 tyre manufacturer by number -albeit small ones!

One motor for six cars is likely to struggle. I use two which seems to be perfectly adequate, but I o no have any hills.

I was tempted to! But I must also confess a little curiosity about this set by Sluban, if for no other reason just to see how well it stacks up against lego. I do have some Enlighten train stuff, which whilst not as good quality as lego, does not fall apart in use like some would have you believe. Top place for falling apart in my train fleet is the Emerald Night...

Well I hate to say it.... but I caved in and ordered it. If its not up to scratch I have not lost much. I will also look at motorising it, I won't be quite so worried over hacking a clone brand about compared to lego if required!

I do like the police Land Rover - in this case the split screen is entirely prototypical!

One way would be to make all the parts the one colour, select that and move it. By the way, there is plenty you can do in LDD that you can't do in real life (and vice versa), so be careful, something that works in LDD is not proof, mathematical or otherwise...

Agree, if it was that simple that's what would be used in real life. People have tried this and it does not work!

One other potential legacy - has anyone noticed an increase in new members o Eurobricks?

You could of course place it in an area which is big enough for either - build one first, and if you feel it does not fit well with your city, or indeed after sometime you feel like having a change, just take it apart and build the other one - isn't that the beauty of lego?

Unlikely - it has a thermal overload trip which is set at quite a low temperature. I managed to provoke one motor to cut out on a level but bendy circuit with a 6 car/2 motor horizon express, which I would not have expected - I did not think it was that strained and it was not that hot either!