DLuders

@ davidmull: Do you mean VFracingteam's of his Lego "Dakar 2012 New Unimog 8110 Orange Edition Extreme Test"? Here is a ROUGH translation from Dutch to English: "The model is Lego Technic 8110 with complete RC - 2x XL engines and 1x small engine for the steering winch....Film and fotos made [by] Edwin Korstanje and have been incorporated in the dunes of the Netherlands."

By golly, I think you've captured the bloomin' "moustache grille" quite well!

On his Flickr photostream, Maciej Drwiega posted a new color scheme for his "Peterbilt 359 general purpose tractor. Detroit 8V92T, 36" sleeper. The cab and sleeper are taken from my 359 wrecker and slightly "repainted". The frame and engine are built from scratch. Nothing special, I just didn't wanted to destroy the yellow cab after placing Holmes machinery on W900. I seldom use yellow bricks in creations other than trucks. Another, easy to build truck seemed as nice re-use case."

How long do you want? See LegoTechnicModel05's Pneumatics webpage:

Since the front tire tilts and rolls on an off-center orientation, the rear tires "push" the vehicle to "turn". Once the front tire is "straightened" and not tilted anymore, the rear tires push the vehicle in a straight line.

[bUMP] LegoTechnicModel05 added Building Instructions for this 8109C Alternate for a "Pickup Crane" combination on his website (+ YouTube video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1sB9EerFu0

NimdianT/ Nimdian recently posted this larger version on MOCpages. He wrote, "This is a [Lego] Carver Car which tilts to the sides to take a turn. Features: * Full RC * Independend suspention on all 3 wheels * RWD with differential * Front LED lights * XL motor for drive and another XL motor for tilting the car" He posted a short too:

His Brickshelf folder is not yet public, but here are two pictures on this Hispalug topic (translated into English).

On his Flickr photoset, TechnicNick posted 8 pictures of his "Massive Lego Lorry -- The whole combo is 24 studs wide, well over 100 long (I haven't counted them but it's over a metre in total)." It has lots of lights and "ancient (and fairly dim) 4.5V [light] jobs powered by a battery box behind the driver." The drivers are "Two happy British Maxifigs and their big red lorry. Not modelled on a any particular truck; I just did my own thing with this." "Cab tilts to reveal inline six cylinder engine, driven through a forward/reverse transmission by the rearmost axle. There's working steering, controllable from the cab or the taller of the exhaust stacks and the centre wheels can be raised or lowered, either from the inside the cab or the wheel behind it. That spindly looking axle IS supporting the cab's considerable weight (just!)" "The trailer chassis is less massively built than the tractor chassis - with the box on, it's frame is in tension, placing this in compression and the whole is very sturdy. Wheels are mounted on a rigid caisson, pivoted across it's centre and can take the weight. There's also a hand control to lower the stabiliser arms - again these can take the weight." "The box is built around a frame of Technic studded beams (lots of them...) and locates on the trailer on six axles acting as pegs." "The back doors latch closed at top and bottom with a twist of the handle."

Francisco Hartley recently posted his Lego Technic Porsche Carrera GT on MOCpages. Highlights of "The car features: * 10-cylinder flat engine * 5 + R gearbox * AWD – RWD shifting system with 3 differentials * Independent suspension on 4 wheels * Steering * Extendible spoiler * Opening doors with lock * Opening hood and trunk "An image of the interior (seat removed) showing the steering, gearbox and the AWD – RWD selector (the gray shift at the side of the gearbox close to the floor): "What I like best about this car is the AWD – RWD Shifting system. Even it is not a feature of the real thing; I really wanted to try this one out. So in order for this to work you must lock the FWD input (this does not mean that the front wheels won’t spin) so the central differential can rotate only with the power of the RWD. If you want to get the AWD mode, you must unlock the FWD input and then engage it to the central differential so it can transmit the power to the engine":

It's a matter of contact pressure on the ground. Larger "footprints" create less pressure -- that's why snowgroomers and snowmobiles run on tracks and not tires. Snowshoes spread your body weight over a larger area so that you don't sink into the powder. Yes, if you have a heavy truck operating on soft sand/snow/mud, using the treads will help displace the weight over a larger area. 1-Ton pickup trucks frequently have "duelie" rear tire setups (pictured below) to spread their heavy loads out. 18-wheeler semis have more tires to spread their heavy loads out. It's the same principle -- reduce the chances of rutting hot asphalt or soft ground.

Three-fourths of the way down this webpage about "The Lego RCX, Inside and Out", it has a paragraph about "Getting the RCX Software Running on New Machines". Here is an excerpt: "The first way is to consider using Virtual Box. This allows you to forward USB ports and serial ports to a virtual machine, in which you can then run an older version of Windows and then run the original Mindstorms disks as is. "You may get somewhere in using an older version of Quicktime to prevent errors in the default software. The exact version needed is 6.5.2 for the RIS 2.0 software (the most recent). This can be downloaded from Oldversion.com. "Virtual Box is freely downloadable at Virtualbox.org. You will just need a version of Windows - I recommend 98 as there are no patches needed for it. Just make sure you use it only for Mindstorms and do not go on the net with it. "In Windows 7, with the more expensive editions (which you can purchase through an Anytime upgrade), you get a version of Virtual PC, with an older version of Windows running in it, for just this kind of compatibility problem. However that is XP, and the compatibility patches that Lego were hosting have long since been removed. "Unfortunately, Lego do not support the consumer RCX so much any more, so you may need to look for files on their education site. LEGO Education - MINDSTORMS®: download. [NOTE: The old broken link updated here on Eurobricks] "For a simpler route in terms of drivers and so on, you may find NQC and Bricx Command Centre easier, although programming them takes more work and patience."

One manufacturer (Mattracks) has a "Frequently-Asked Questions" (FAQ) webpage that state the advantages of tracks over conventional tires: "What type of terrain can you go through and how does Mattracks reduce compaction? With Mattracks, you really not going through it… you’re going on top of it! You see, Mattracks has a unique ability to reduce ground pressure. When you reduce ground pressure, you travel on top where the going is easy! Mattracks large surface area (26 square feet!) will allow you to travel on snow, mud, sand, swamp, or bogs with ease! A standard truck with tires will exert up to 40 p.s.i. of down pressure on it’s tire contact area. A person standing will exert 6 to 8 p.s.i. of down pressure. The Mattracks system on a vehicle has as low as 1.5 p.s.i. of down pressure. This eliminates compaction and ruts."

@ bbqqq: I'm logged into Flickr, but your link is saying that your "Photo is private." Please change the "Permissions" setting on the photo so that the public can view it; thanks.

The upcoming AFOLCON is 3-7 May 2012 in Manchester, UK. All the details are on the official website.

[From the link on Holodoc's Eurobricks signature] Midori posted this Lego Cuusoo nominee -- a Lego Power Functions XS Motor (extra small): "Like a red Micro-motor, this saves lots of spaces. Unlike the red Micro-motor, this can easily attach to other bricks. The product ( http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/575 ) got me started on suggesting." Log into Lego Cuusoo to read about how it works, and add your support to the PF XS Motor! A Power Functions XS Motor could be very useful for these Lego themes: * Technic * Trains * Star Wars ... and probably others! So far, there is a Power Functions "Medium" and "XL" motor. It makes you wonder about TLG's original vision for the Power Functions motor lineup. What happened to the "Small" and "Large" motor sizes? It's been 4 years since Lego Power Functions was released....

@ KEvron: Your YouTube video 3 is very good! Folks will appreciate the many annotations and closeups of the various assemblies. Have you ever shown this clock at a public Lego convention? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQiN8OBlQ_w

On his Facebook page, bazmarc (Marc-André Bazergui) has been tweaking Wall-E5's design and is nearing completion. Here are the two most-recent YouTube videos of the adorable robot! "Track Module -- Connect Transform Play & LED test, Lift and charge for the night -- Track module for WALL-E5.1 (in realtime)": "Video showing details of the RC display/features and an accelerated demo view of the transform/play of wall-e 5.1" -- "all NXT-G programs avail upon request":

On this Lego Technic webpage, the Grand Prize winner of the (youth) Lego Technic Challenge 2011 is.... ... the "Excavation Crane HD" by Legomaniac5661 - "In the front there is a mechanical arm with three linear actuators, one to raise the boom and two for the function of the excavation. It can be used for excavation,to carry items, for both or the formation of wells. 4 stabilizer arms enable-lifting from the ground about 5 cm": Congratulations to Legomaniac5661! PRIZE:

I compiled all of Grohl's photographs of his 8052 Helitransport alternate into a single, 11.4-MB PDF file available for download here (via MegaUpload SkyDrive).

You can pick pairs of Lego Tires & Wheels on this Bricklink Relationships webpage. Or, you may prefer the "Visual Lego Wheel Helper" chart.

There are some details visible in VMLN8R's 4-image Flickr photoset: Wikipedia says that "The Carver is a tilting three wheeled vehicle using an automatic balancing technology to balance the passenger compartment under all conditions. The first commercial Carver product, the Carver One, was designed to seat two people, and manufactured and distributed by Carver Europe (formerly named Vandenbrink) in the Netherlands. In June 2009 however the company reportedly declared bankruptcy, and ceased commercial production and sales":

neomomonga posted this of a Drill attachment for his Lego Technic Unimog U400. It uses the counter-rotating 64713 "Cone Spiral Jagged - Power Miners Drill" inside a 64712 "Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats and Flanges" and 64711 "Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats" combination. The internal planetary gears can be seen on the downloadable instructions available for the 8960 Thunder Driller on Brickset:

@ Dial222: Welcome to Eurobricks! Have you seen these instructions on how to get the interfaces up and running? What are you going to do with so many of them?

Here is an article that discusses "Lego NXT on the Mac" -- http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.23/23.04/LegoNXTontheMac/index.html . It says that Not eXactly C (NXC) is compatible with a Mac, but is a bit more complex than the graphic-based Mindstorms NXT software. You could e-mail the author (using the address at the end of the article) to ask him some questions. Lego Mindstorms NXT powered by NI [National Instruments] LabView is compatible with Macs. One can "Program your robot to do what you want with intuitive, drag-and-drop software based on LabVIEW. With LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, you are limited only by your imagination." On this NI LabVIEW webpage, here are the Macintosh system requirements for the software: "PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor; 600 MHz minimum Mac OS X versions 10.3.9 (Education Software only) and 10.4 and 10.5 (Both) 512 MB of RAM minimum Up to 700 MB of available hard disk space XGA display (1024x768) One available USB port CD-ROM drive Compatible Bluetooth adapter (optional)1 1 Supported Bluetooth software includes WIDCOMM Bluetooth for Windows (later than Version 1.4.2.10 SP5) and the Bluetooth stacks included in Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or 3), Windows Vista (with or without Service Pack 1) and Mac OS X (10.3.9, 10.4, and 10.5)."