DLuders

I saw NXT-Bots' 6 photos on his Brickshelf gallery that showed a "Technic to RC Type Servo Mount" made from a slightly-modified 64179 "Technic, Liftarm 5 x 7 Open Center Thick" piece. Do you think that TLG may have done something similar for the rumored SERVO MOTOR in the 9398 4x4 Crawler set? NXT-Bots wrote: "I have tried a number of methods of mounting Radio Control type Servo Motors to Lego Technics models over the years. Non were overly successful due to alignment issues mostly. Then in the wee hours this morning, whilst trying to sleep, the answer hits me. Out of bed I jumped (tip-toed) because finally there was a solution, thanks to Lego's new Part #64179: Gray Technic, Lift-arm with 5 x 7 Open Centre. 55gram RC Servo Motors fit tightly inside these new frames, accepting the Servo output shaft doesn't align with the mounting holes in the 5 x 7 Lift-arm Frame. But this is a relatively easy fix that takes about 10 minutes, plus a day for the glue to reach full strength. "The most difficult part I have found with the whole exercise was finding a suitable way of adapting the Nylon Servo Horns to Technics components like Pulleys, Gears and Beams. Shown above is a large Technic Gear mounted onto a large round Servo Horn by drilling 3/16" holes in the Horn and using Lego Technic Pins to to join the two parts together. If I'm not attaching to the Servo via a Lego Technics shaft, I used a long screw into the Servos drive-shaft to hold the Gear and horn Together. But as my Servo Drive-shafts are brass, I find that in 90% of applications the screw isn't necessary I've found that the MG995 Hi-Speed, Torque, Metal Geared RC Servo[/url][/i] available for around $10 each, to be very suited to this application. These Servos also work well with the Mindsensor 8 Channel Servo Controller for NXT NXTServo-v2. These servos have very powerful Coreless Motors producing 13kg at 1cm on 4.8v batteries or 15kg on a 6v battery. In fact, there's enough torque available to brake Lego parts. "To start the process of mounting the Radio Control Servo into the Technics Frame with correct alignment of it's drive shaft, you need to get out your Minicraft, Dremel, or Proxxon (Die Grinder) out to grind away some of the Technic frame at one end as shown below. "For the full details on the 'Easy, Solid Mounting of RC Servo Motors to Technics', please visit my blog: http://www.rjmcnamara.com/2010/12/04/technics-mount-rc-type-servo-motors/ ."

In other words, he did a "Lego Millennium Falcon 10179 3d Stop-Motion Assembly":

Peeron.com lists the 8887 "Transformer 10V DC" also as 86444, "Electric Train Speed Regulator 10V Power Adaptor for 120v 60Hz". Bricklink.com has various "Transformers" listed, so for European use, the 10VDC 9833 "AC Adapter, 230V - 10V Transformer" works. Note that there is a 9833-3 "AC Adapter, 230V - 10V Transformer Type G Plug (British)". See http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=transformer for the entire list. Peeron lists the 9833-1 as 230V, and 9833-2 as 120V (see http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?...&limit=none ).

Looks good -- the color scheme is similar to that of a Caterpillar skid-steer loader (pictured below). Your pneumatic controller looks very advanced, and I like how the battery box is integrated into it.

@ Nico71: Tous les deux votre MOCs sont excellents ! Merci de les partager ! (Both of your MOCs are excellent! Thank you for sharing them!)

@ Cypr-21: Nice snow groomer! Yes, the correct word is "latest" -- if it were your "last" creation, you would never make any more Lego MOCs ever again! Avez-vous de la neige pour le conduire dedans ? (Do you have any snow to drive it in?)

On his website, Nico71 posted details about the Lego Half Life 2 Charger that he introduced a few days ago. He wrote that "The building instructions are on the way. Stay tuned to the Facebook page !" where there is this "teaser" photo of "The Orange Crawler." This shows its powerful winch:

[bUMP] Jackal82JPN also made a of his "LEGO Pneumatic 8043 Perfect Remodelling" effort:

@ mlahor: This Bricklink set inventory of the 8053 Mobile Crane set shows a broad selection of Lego Technic parts, but you could probably purchase the DESIRABLE parts for a lot less than 100 Euros by using the hyperlinks in that same Bricklink webpage. This Brickset webpage shows that the Recommended Retail Price for the 8053 set is 76.99 Pounds (= US $99.99), equivalent to ~76.10 Euros today.

No, the B-Model instructions are not yet posted on this Lego Customer Service website or Brickset. On this TechnicBRICKS topic, Fernando Correia wrote that the online PDF "Building Instructions booklet numbers are: 6004029, 6004032 and 6010324 (just for the case when these become available online, at LEGO web cache)." I am not sure whether those are for the A-MODEL (which you already have) or for the B-MODEL; check your A-Model's printed instruction booklets to see if you can match any of these code numbers. It is strange that the 9397 Logging Truck sets are not yet available to US customers at the official Shop.Lego.com website, but they ARE available for US $149.99 from Toys-R-Us....

@ Kit Fisto: Your Lego Tatra T815 trial truck looks very capable! Have you tried it out in the snow? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijsngv6JQkc

Nice reproduction!

From this LDD.lego.com webpage, the download link to LDD 4.2 for Mac OSX says: ""Minimum system requirements for Mac: Operating system: OS X 10.5.8 or higher CPU: Intel processor Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 5200/ATI Radeon 7500 or better RAM: 1 GB Hard disk space: 1 GB" From this "MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro" comparison, it appears that BOTH of them could run Lego Digital Designer. Click on the hyperlinks in that comparison article to find this info: 11-INCH MACBOOK AIR: Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M Memory: 2GB, 1,333MHz DDR3 Hard drive: 64GB SSD Graphics: Intel HD 3000 Operating system: OS X 10.7 Lion 13-INCH APPLE MACBOOK PRO: Processor: 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 Memory: 4GB, 1,333MHz DDR3 RAM Hard drive: 320GB 5,400rpm Chipset: Intel H67 Graphics: Intel HD 3000 Operating system OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard

As reported on Parda's Technic Delicatessen today, Cypr-21 posted this of his Lego Technic 9397 set review:

Sheepo has added even more Front Axle designs to his Lego Technic Modular Platform System (MPS) -- read more at Sheepo's Garage. The MPS download contains many more SR 3D Builder files than it did several days ago.

Your small-scale rendition of The Muscle Car (junker car) from Half Life 2 is close to the "original":

I like your idea about using substitute 14mm balls. I agree with you -- people should spend their money on the Lego Great Ball Contraption modules, and not on the balls costing ~0.40 Euro each! The multiple colors available in 14mm beads will help one follow the path of individual balls through the GBC.

@ Firky: All of your designs look very useful. Are you planning on mating the claws onto a Lego 99009 + 99010 mini Technic Turntable, to enable it to rotate on the end of a robotic arm?

@ Jeroen Ottens: Months ago, I seriously tried to make a Lego Technic zeppelin airship about your size, but I could not figure out how to make the hoops of different sizes with a streamlined taper shape. I tried to incorporate Lego Hero Factory parts too -- no success. You have done it -- good job! It should hang in a museum! I'm supporting your Lego CUUSOO campaign, because it's BIGGER than the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) sets! "This is a 1:100 scale model of the "LZ129 Hindenburg" zeppelin made out of Lego. If you want the Lego company to actually produce this model, please vote for this model on Lego CUUSOO: lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/9192 The model is 2.45 m long and 40 cm diameter at it's widest point Details include: - Captains' gondola - Both passenger decks (fully equiped) - Radio & mail rooms - microfigures - 4 motor gondolas - 4 rear stabilators (moveable) - An Opel Olympa Cabriolet (the first car that was flown over the Atlantic Ocean) - And many more"

@ brathendel: Your "test link" works, but your pictures are too big. Eurobricks has a policy whereby the Maximum Image Size is 800 x 600 pixels. You can RESIZE your photos using this free program (which "resizes whole folders in just a few clicks," according to Sariel): http://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs .

@ nebraska: Are you talking about the 9798 Rechargeable Battery (pictured below)? It turns out that there are "old" and "new" versions -- an Alternating Current (AC) version and a Direct Current (DC) version: http://www.hightechkids.org/sites/default/files/CoachingLibrary/How%20to%20Identify%20NXT%20AC%20and%20DC%20%20Battery%20Packs%20and%20Power%20Chargers%5B1%5D.pdf . Which one are you talking about? ashermehul123 posted this -- "This is a method to power the Lego NXT brick using a power supply, (No batteries). The circuit consists of 100VAC to 9VDC, 1.5A adapter and DC voltage regulator circuit using 7809. This method can be used in cases when NXT brick is stationed at one place or while testing the programs of the NXT. Helps to avoid the use of batteries, Green and cheap method that can be used. :)"

@ Bedjaart: You could create a new (free) account on Brickshelf, upload your LDD .lxf file there, then "Deeplink" your LDD .lxf file in a Eurobricks reply (so that we may access the file immediately).

OMG! It's like the "War of the Worlds" movie scene, but set in your Chicago city-scape! Fantastic job! :thumbup:

@ Sheepo: Your Modular Platform System (MPS) is excellent! It will allow Technic builders to be able to build the Supercar they've always dreamed of! Did you have the MPS in mind when you built your four Supercars (in your Brickshelf folder)? Was Nathanael Kuipers' modular Concept Car an inspiration to you?

@ brathendal: Welcome to Eurobricks! Here is how to "Deeplink" your pictures, so that we may see them. It may be several days before the Brickshelf moderator makes your images there "public"; only YOU can see those now....