DLuders

Here is the Bricklink Price Guide 6-month sales history for the 50965 "Pearl Light Gray Wheel Cover 5 Spoke with Center Stud - 56mm D. - for Wheel 44772." The fellow who paid ~$4.50 each paid twice as much as what others had been paying. The set of wheel covers was probably bought via "Lego Direct", and the Bricklink seller sold it for a profit. People are probably doing the same thing with the new parts in the 8110 Unimog U400 set. With a "free market economy", people can buy whatever is available. These wheel covers COULD BE used for Lego models other than NK's Concept Car, since the 44772 wheel is a common part. In fact, I dressed up my 8070 Supercar with the same wheel covers, and that set looks great with them. Maybe somebody wants to sell customized 8070s....

If you install the Lego Digital Designer (LDD) software, you can use the LDD .lxf file provided on this April 2011 Eurobricks post to build the Alpha Rex 2.0 model.

On Page 47 of the long "Official #8110 Unimog Thread" topic, I had details of my Lego Direct order for these new parts from the 8110 Unimog U400 set. It took about 11 calendar days for the order to arrive.

TheScooterGuy posted this Brickshelf picture of the underside of the 8110 Unimog U400. You could set a ruler against your computer screen to figure out how wide the wheelbase is (in studs). Click on the image to make it full size. It appears that the wheelbase is close to 27 studs wide, but you may have to double-check me.

Here are instructions on how to "Make Cybermaster Run on Windows XP". Perhaps the steps could be adapted to your Windows operating system. Jhl1908 also had these problems getting the Cybermaster software to run on his PC.

The Tatra Kolos looks very capable!

@ tripletschiee: A stack of 53550 Bionicle Zamor Sphere Holders could make a tall, curved snow discharge chute:

I doubt that TLG would have such an expensive set as the August 2011 Lego Technic Challenge prize, especially since there is some doubt whether it will even be officially released by August 1st. The prizes webpage discusses the October Finale when the "The Complete 2011 LEGO® Technic Novelty Assortment" will be offered -- "This is all models from the LEGO Technic line that are new and have been launched in 2011."

Yes, exactly, why don't they? How come TLG's Technic Challenge judges can't do this? We AFOLs on Eurobricks have done it to spot the cheaters, so why can't they? It's THEIR CONTEST, not Eurobricks'. I can't tell you how tired I am writing TLG about plagiarists, incorrect monthly contest submission deadlines, non-functional websites, etc., etc. This year's contest management has been a BIG JOKE.

Concerning the plagiarism, I got this e-mail from Lego Customer Service today: "Dear David, Thanks for getting in touch with us. We do apologize for upsetting you with the winners we chose for the contest. Unfortuantely, our judges do not check fan based websites for previously made creations. The reason for this is because there are just far too many websites out there and millions of fans constantly creating sets, there's just too many to keep up with! We will be more than happy to forward on your comments to the department that is in charge of our contests. Please get in touch if you need anything else. It's free to call our experts at 1-800-835-4386 (Monday through Friday, 8am to 10pm and Saturday & Sunday 10am to 6pm EST) or you could go to www.LEGOshop.com. Happy building! Katrina LEGO Direct Consumer Services"

The plagiarized entry has been removed from the Lego Technic Challenge voting page. "Error level analysis" for the 2011 challenges = 3 months out of 5 have had cheaters.

Thanks, efferman, for making the excellent PDF Building Instructions! I like the 5-page Parts List and the 94 pages of step-by-step guidance. For those who are a bit "put off" by the need to create a RapidShare account (to download efferman's 6.5-MB file), I have "mirrored" his instructions here on MegaUpload SkyDrive (which needs no account to download, and which is faster than the 5-minute process to create a RapidShare account).

@ dhc6winotter: The US ToysRUs website has the "Lego Technic 2-in-1 Flatbed Truck (8109) lsted for sale now here for $99.99. It qualifies for their Free Shipping offer; there's also a "Buy One Get One 50% Off" deal going on now. You'll have to find it in the store, since it is "Out of Stock for Shipping" right now. That will change. Curiously, the same set is not yet available on the official Shop.Lego.com website for the USA.

@ RemcoTec: Your website is quite good. I used Yahoo! Babelfish to translate it into an English translation; others could use [url="Yahoo! Babelfish"]Babelfish[/url] to translate your Dutch webpage into their own language. I like seeing the many pictures of your 8258 XXL MOC there!

(Sigh) I reported the cheater to Lego Customer Service, Jetro (the Lego Technic Ambassador), and Conchas (who seems to have connections). The Technic Challenge should not be stopped just because of some "bad apple" plagiarists. Instead, the offenders should be banned from future monthly Challenges. Maybe if the Lego Technic judges followed some of the suggestions on this forum, they wouldn't have 1/10th of the problems we've seen this year. Just because some folks don't want to "play by the rules", it doesn't mean that the fun needs to stop for everybody else.

On MOCpages, Pete King posted his Lego Technic "Small Vertical Take off and Landing [VTOL], Airborne Warning and Control System [AWACS] airplane for use on aircraft carriers, functions; - rotating propellors - wing moving vertical/horizontal - rotating radar disc - various lights - on powered truck." YouTube Video 1 and Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgyYOwkapj4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaXvLbx6Wdk

Rai v B made four LDD models of various Boeing 767 aircraft variants. Here are the hyperlinks to the LDD .lxf files for: the 767-400, 767-300 with Winglets, http://mocpages.com/user_images/64174/1311296930m.lxf, and 767-200. Below is a screenprint of three of the four LDD models; read more about them on this Eurobricks post.

On MOCpages, rai v B has posted several large Lego aircraft modelled in Lego Digital Designer (LDD). Click on the hyperlinks below to see his various screenshots, and the LDD file for each 767 model variant. Continental Boeing 767-400 -- LDD .lxf file: Delta Airlines Boeing 767-300 with winglets -- LDD .lxf file: Martinair Boeing 767-300 ER -- LDD .lxf file: American Airlines Boeing 767-200 -- LDD .lxf file:

As noted by Conchas on this TechnicBRICKS post, Paul Boratko recently made this of his Lego Technic Lamborghini Murcielago. As noted in the various posts above, here are the links to the MPD file , Brickshelf images showing various stages of assembly, and more images of the finished model on Paul's Crowkillers.com website.

Philo (Phillippe Hurbain) shows the internals of a Power Function XL motor, the internal wiring the PF system, and the 4-wire PF connector plug details on his webpage.

Ten finalists for the July 2011 Lego Technic Challenge have been selected by the judges; vote for your favorite one here. {NOTE: You may have to click on the hyperlink twice, to get the Lego.com webpage to load properly.}

Who knows -- bad marketing strategy, insufficient funds to develop new Technic models, designer staff problems? Since The Lego Group is a privately-owned company which does not reveal their bottom-line profit/loss statement, we may never know....

Israeli AFOL Yoraish/ dLostBrick posted this of his Lego Technic ATC Motorized Trial Truck, a model of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tactical truck. There are 8 photos and an additional video on his Flickr photoset. He wrote, "For more info go to: http://bit.ly/yoraish . For [Lego Digital Designer .lxf Building] INSTRUCTIONS: http://bit.ly/mYzPyG. "

Slfroden posted this of a "slightly modified version of Sariel's 4-speed Compact Linear Gearbox ( http://sariel.pl/2010/07/4-speed-compact-linear-gearbox/ )." The video shows "A proof-of-concept to realise the control of two gearbox selectors using a single Lego linear actuator and a single Lego motor.When the the linear actuator extends it moves two linkages. The bottom linkage has a stretched white rubber belt, and as the belt begins to contract and this causes the bottom linkage to move first. Once the bottom linkage can move no further, then the top linkage begins to move. When the the linear actuator retracts, the top linkage moves first, followed by the bottom linkage....Unfortunately this set-up only uses three out of the four available gears in the gearbox."

On the German Mercedes-Benz website, the Lego 8110 Unimog U400 set is not yet listed among the other Unimog models (2 pages worth). Maybe the Lego model will be added after the set is re-released in Germany (with the improved compressor pump)....