DLuders

Wow, the 8386 Ferrari F1 Racer 1:10 for 27 Pounds was a good deal! It originally sold for the equivalent of US$70 in 2004 ( = 44.67 Pounds). The best eBay deals are on sets that are missing a few parts. Folks tend not to bid on those auctions as much, so the final sale price is A LOT LOWER than one would pay for a complete set. One can get the missing parts from Bricklink for a few coins and *presto* you got yourself a good deal.

To model that Unimog's debris tube, one could use an x153 Aero Tube and the "Life On Mars" Aero Tube Joiners listed on this Bricklink webpage:

The 8385 Exo Stealth set has 81 parts, and originally sold for US$10 in 2004 (or 6.39 Pounds). Are you sure you typed your Set Number correctly?

@ martin1965: There are no identifying marks or numerals on the outside of the 8043 box to be able to tell whether it is an "old" or "new" version. However, The Lego Group supposedly "pulled" all of the old, unsold 8043 sets to replace the four Linear Actuators that were causing problems. Once you open the box, look at the four-character number/letter ID number stamped on the Linear Actuators themselves (near the orange part at the right end of the LA pictured below). If the code is "36X0", "37X0", "38X0" or above, you know you have the NEW Linear Actuators. The first two numbers need to be equal to (or greater than) 36. The last two digits could be "X0" or something else -- it doesn't matter. As dolittle mentioned, if you got the old LAs, contact Lego Customer Service and get a free Service Pack.

I don't think you can. Using the "Export" utility in the LDD program, one can export into the following formats: LXF-Files (.lxf) LXFML-Files (.lxfml) LDraw-Files (.ldr) LXFML4-Files (.lxfml)

@ davidmull: Have you sent an e-mail to the Bricklink seller? Sometimes, people get sick, have family issues to take care of, etc. Did you check the "Splash" page for that seller, to see if there are any messages about being on a trip or something? Sometimes, one gets "stiffed" and does not get the Lego parts you pay for. There really is not much recourse except for leaving Negative Feedback.

From the Lego World 2011 website, the event runs "From Wednesday the 19th until Wednesday the 26th of October 2011, 10.00 - 17.00 hours, IJsselhallen-Zwolle, The Netherlands: IJsselhallen Zwolle Rieteweg 4 8011 AB Zwolle The Netherlands It's about 10 minutes walking from the train station to the IJsselhallen. The IJsselhallen Zwolle is about 100 km from Amsterdam. The accommodation is right at the highway A28 exit Zwolle Centrum." If you can read and understand Dutch, try doing a search for the term "Technic" at the top-right of that webpage.

Model Team AFOLs will appreciate The Car Connection's story about a HUGE Ford Explorer made from Lego bricks. The says that "We've reinvented the Ford Explorer in LEGO® Bricks, approximately 380,000 of them! After 2500 hours we debuted the LEGO® Explorer today at our Chicago Assembly Plant however the Explorer is on its way to the new 150 acre LEGOLAND Florida theme park where it will make its public debut on October 15th, 2011 in front of one of the park's attractions, the Ford Driving School for children!

Here is a YouTube video of the 10230's Designers Interview (in High Definition): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNXlgj-8DQw

If you look at the Bricklink set inventories for the currently-available Technic sets, you can see the suspension parts you can get with the 8081 Extreme Cruiser:

On his Flickr photoset, Polish AFOL Maciej D./ maciejd posted his Lego Peterbilt 359 Wrecker. He wrote that it is "More or less 1:13 scaled model of the Peterbilt 359 truck with Ernest Holmes 750 old style towing machinery. "Class of the 70s: 280" of wheelbase, long hood, Hendrickson rear suspension, 12V71 screaming Detroit, 36" sleeper. All lockers, doors etc. are openable, engine has working Technic pistons run from rear axle - standard for my 1:13 trucks. "The towing mechinery is run by one old "geared" Lego motor, each boom is controlled by two winches and each boom can be controlled separately. The power mechanism is placed in the chassis frame but is not an integral part of the model - it can be unmounted any time. This allowed me to keep the whole truck as a "model team" creation with fully functional lockers etc. "Another challenge was about the wheelbase. I wanted V12 Detroit which added 2 extra studs to the hood. I wanted 36" sleeper. I wanted "Heavy Duty Holmes Deluxe Body" with lockers. This turned into really long frame and something like a 4,5kg of weight. The result was obvious - the frame bent and in the middle of the truck it was 5mm lower it should be. I had to do some tricks to the frame as well as visual ones to the whole model :) An I belive at the end of the day it works quite well. "The engine is a Detroit V12. I made it white with black gearbox - livery typical for 70s made Peterbilts. Why the old 12V71? Just hear this :) " See 32 large pictures on his Brickshelf gallery.

On her Flickr photoset, Klementina Kos posted many photos of these Lego Technic displays shown at the "International LEGO Fan Weekend in Skærbæk, South Denmark, organised by SKÆRBÆK Fritidscenter and LEGO Community Development, 23.09.2011 to 25.09.2011." The first few pictures are just a few of the many Great Ball Contraption (GBC) modules there -- see all of them on the Flickr photoset. I recognize RoscoPC's large Lego racecars -- did any Eurobricks Technic AFOL attend?

benjii712 posted this of his Lego Technic MAN truck with 6-wheel steering. This L-O-N-G tractor-trailer assembly shows the 6-wheel steering on both powered ends, and there are 10 axles for the heaviest loads. See the BIG pictures on his Brickshelf gallery, where he wrote that his truck has "gear reducation 1 to 4.2 , compressor, pendular suspension at the drive axles and lights."

Widetent was gracious to send me his LDraw file for the 8070 Supercar set -- you can download the 117-kB file here via MegaUpload SkyDrive. He wrote to me that "This model was assembled without flexible part because at that time SR3D didn't support flexible part. When you upload this file on your website, please indicate that this file was "Free for NON-Commercial Use Only". I had assembled many Lego official model until now. If you need any other model file, let me know. Have a nice day ;) KWON" Thanks, Kwon!

Well then, you should uninstall LDView 4.1 and install the "Latest stable version" 4.0.1 (listed 1/2 way down this webpage).

@ Nico71: Your Morgan looks like the real thing (as pictured on your Facebook page):

@ widetent: Could you e-mail your LDraw file to me at LudersDG@MSN.com ? I will then post it (using MegaUpload) so that others can access it. There are folks (like me) who don't know how to use SR 3D. The Japanese Korean BrickInside website is awkward, and online translators cannot handle the Japanese Korean characters....

Ditto -- the administration of the Lego Technic Challenge has been horrid all year (contestants unable to enter, confusing deadlines, missing information, multiple instances of plagiarism, etc.). Nevertheless, there are many fine Unimogs on the Voting page -- only a few days left to choose your favorite:

I could not download the LDraw file either; maybe one has to be logged in (and be a member of) Brickinside to download it. However, widetent posted an SR 3D file (named 8070-129.L3B) of the 8070 Super Car at the bottom of this SR 3D webpage.

After I paid for Skyliner's Vector W8 PDF building instructions, he e-mailed me 5 different files: Part 1 (3.595 MB) Part 2 (3.145 MB) Part 3 (0.996 MB) Part 4 (2.268 MB) Part 5 -- Part Inventory (0.415 MB)

Using a calculator and Skyliner's 3-page visual Parts List, I counted 1,463 parts for his Vector W8 model (which looks pretty close to the real thing):

Bonjour, Monsieur martin1965! Welcome to the forum. I scratch-built my Lego 8880 set by buying the various parts from Bricklink.com, and built the alternate B Model (pictured below). There were a few leftover pieces, but they are DIFFERENT leftovers than the A Model. If you look at this Bricklink inventory and scroll to the bottom, you will see the handful of "Extra Items" that you may need to build the B Model. If you don't have these items, you can probably buy them from a Bricklink store in France.

Since I just bought and downloaded Skyliner's 5-part PDF instructions, I can say that these are "actual instructions". The typical instruction page consists of three closeup photos (stacked top-to-bottom on the left side of the sheet), with helpful arrows and numerals pointing to key areas. On the right side of each page, there appears an inset photo of the parts & quantities you need for each step, just like one would see on the official Lego building instructions. The combination works quite well.

@ Tomik: Your instructions are very clear and well-made. Thanks for sharing them! I have compiled all 50 pages of his 8052 alternate's Building Instructions into one 4.2-MB PDF file -- download it here via MegaUpload SkyDrive.

Here is the post about buying the Unimog tires from Lego Direct (Lego Customer Service). I'd try to get the other new parts too: