DLuders

Legoeducation sells a pair of pneumatic air tanks for US $15; you can "Change Region" at the top-right corner of that webpage to match your country.

*BUMP* On TechnicBRICKS, Conchas posted an article about "Lego Cuusoo International Becomes Beta". Instead of it being a Japanese-only website, this Beta Lego Cuusoo website is now international. The question is, can the members of this Lego TECHNIC forum agree on a model that could garner the required 10,000 votes? Are there any Technic builders who would like to offer up their model as a "trial balloon"? Zblj was willing....

Tim, welcome to Eurobricks! To answer your question, I would recommend downloading a few Building Instructions of various Technic sets, and seeing how the various parts go together. The official Lego Technic Building webpage has PDF instructions of recent Technic sets. Once you flip through the pages and see the 3-dimensional, inside-out method of studless Technic building, you can learn how the various parts can fit together. The Lego Technic Index (a "pinned" topic at the top of this Eurobricks forum) has lots of useful information. If you scroll down to "Notable Technic MOCs", you will see many creations made by members of this forum. Many of them have Building Instructions too. You just need a bit of knowledge, and then try your hand at studless Technic building. Over time, you will gain experience. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! Technic is regarded as being one of the most difficult Lego themes to master.

@ Grohl: Your new Barracuda is excellent! :thumbup: For a car that uses a Power Functions XL motor for propulsion, it is VERY FAST.

On his Flickr photostream, BricksOnWheels recently posted 7 pictures of "Two 379 Peterbilts together. On the right a conversion from the 'Eldorado' Dumper to be found in my stream elsewhere. I rebuilded the engine, changed the chassis from the cabin rearwards, and added a lot of extra parts. The white Peterbilt is a new build, inspired by the 'Radically Topless' Hot Rod truck i have build in 2009. I wanted to build a 'smooth' newskool truck with a sporty yet agressive appeal. A lot of detail has gone into it."

According to this Lugnet post, here are the gear ratios for the Lego Technic 8448 Super Street Sensation and 8466 Off Roader sets (pictured below): "Reverse -2.5:1 First 1.66:1 Second 1.5:1 Third 1:1 Fourth 0.9:1 Fifth 0.6:1"

Zackhariah Macasaet/ ZackhariahM posted this YouTube video of his Lego Technic "1/24 scale Lego Leopard 2A6 Tank. Features -head & tail lights -independent suspension -elevating and lowering gun -360 degree traversing turret -attachable missile launcher Capabilities -independent turret and chassis movement -high inclines -tough obstacles Power functions include -2 XL motors -2 medium motors -2 IR receivers -2 LED light sets -1 9V battery case E-mail me at zack_macasaet@yahoo.com for instructions on LDD [Lego Digital Designer] file." Pictures appear on his Flickr photostream.

Barman/ Barebos (Barry Bosman) posted this of his "Monster Truck made for the [LowLUG] Allround Car Competition. 4 Wheel drive and steering. Drive by 2 XL-motors, steering by M-motor. Non-working fake V6 engine. Hood and doors can be opened."Look for photo's on Flickr . It did pretty well in the Races."

Babasorhum has posted Brickshelf pictures of his COMPLETED Lego Technic Ring Crane:

Miron89/ Cselloman posted this of his COMPLETED Lego Technic Ural 4320 Trial Truck. He wrote, "This is the last video of my Ural Truck. It's finally finished! Functions: -6x6x2 -live axles with leafsprings -3 speed transmission (remotely controlled by one mLA) -working headlights, and dummy engine -detailed cab -rechargable BB More pictures here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=470182 . Thanks for watching!"

I have compiled all of Grohl's JPG images (on his Brickshelf gallery) into one, easy-to-handle PDF file that you can download here via SkyDrive. The 9.9-MB Building Instructions has all the pages numbered, and is easy to navigate. Thanks to Grohl/ Grohl666 for making another of his creations available to others!

The Hot Rod looks good! I like the wheels especially. I'm wondering what the thin gray cables are that wrap around the Power Functions Medium motor (last picture below)?

This is a nice recreation of the "Transformers" movie character!

As Merman indicated, there is a 8109 Parts Inventory posted on Bricklink here. I like the two 64781 "Technic, Gear Racks 1 x 13 with Axle and Pin Holes", and the two 87408 "Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joints Smooth Double with Axle and Pin Holes" that come with this set.

On his website, Nico71 recently posted his Lego Technic Pneumatic Vehicle, complete with photo-sequence Building Instructions. He wrote that it "Features drive by a single cylinder engine, clutch, steering and front suspension. This MOC was designed to be shown at Fana’briques 2011, the most important Lego exhibition in France. The aim was to built a “kinematic” MOC in order to have parts in motion. The other aim was to have visible gears to get a more attractive vehicle. Consequently, the MOC is powered by a single pneumatic cylinder engine which provides 1 watt of power (at 3 bars of pressure). The basic principle is based on old steam vehicles or tractors. Then, a remoted clutch by a small cylinder provides the power on the rear wheel (with the main chain). The steering is operated by the steering wheel in the cab with a 8t/screw and lever system (through the chassis). The front suspension is made with a flex part on a live axle. Finally I have had details like the centrifugal governor or the tank (which hides the Air-tank). "Concerning the driving, a hand pump with 4 pumps gives power to the engine. The engine runs smoothly thanks to the inertia wheel. The engine is quite reliable, during 3 days of exhibition, the engine have run without problem. Through this MOC, I think the LPE [Lego Pneumatic Engine] MOC is a good example for a demonstration of what it is possible to do in Lego (such as in an exhibition). Also, I have created the building instructions as a photo sequence included a picture to see the whole parts." [scroll to the bottom of his webpage to see them.]

Very nice MOC! Are you planning on making a video of the "lowering top deck"?

YawRated/ Guy Walpole posted two YouTube videos of his Lego Technic "8-Leg Klann Linkage Walker" which "uses a Klann linkage for the leg movement, and uses a lego M-motor on each side for skid steering. The legs on each side are out of phase by 180 degrees." On MOCpages, he posted many pictures and a detailed description: "Kinematically it exmploys a Klann linkage for the legs, with the 4 legs on each being 180 degrees out of phase (if I could be bothered, I'd be interested to see how it works 90 degrees out of phase). The key to getting it to walk smoothly is getting the length and position of each of each of the leg links to have the right propothionality. Apparently its a patented mechanism, but they is plenty of info avaialable if you Google "Klann Linkage". and (seen below) "Compared to other walkers you see made from Lego Technic, I say that mine is very much mechanically over engineered. Its needs to be rigid in order to walk smoothly, although the trade off is its significant weight (I'd guess approx. 1.5kgs) which translates to a very slow walking speed. The fact that it is powered by two m-motors instead of 2 xl-motors is a testament to its balance, rigidity and kinematic smootness. A faster walking speed could be achieved with two xl-motors, but original plan was to use my 2 xl-motors, along with 4 m-motors to build a robotic arm and mount it to the frount of the walker. This would involve a total of 8 power functions motors, the most you can control independantly, more mechanical joints would a mechanical multiplexer." Klann Research and Development, LLC describes several large-scale Mechanical Spiders, such as "The Walking Beast" shown on this taken at the 2010 "Burning Man" event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA:

Laurens Gauwloos/ TheLegoLG posted this of what he describes as "This Lego great ball contraption "GBC" [which] has 10 different modules and are turning with 8 PF-M motors and 2 PF-L motors. It took me 1 month to finish it. It is 2 metre long and 30-40 centimetre width. It contains: A ball shooter, a moving bridge, 2 ball lifts, a ball accelerator, a ball wheel.... It is powerd by 2 PF-battery boxes and 2 switches to have the right direction. There are also many delays with gears and worm gears."You'll see that I have used tracks for the lifts and for the ball wheel and a big shock absorber for shooting the balls." 21 photos appear on his website.

On his Brickshelf gallery, jlv posted 15 pictures of his completed Thunderbird 2. On his other Brickshelf gallery, he chronicled his creation which was carefully made to plans posted there.

Have you considered Sariel's Snow Groomer? It has many of the features (I think) you are describing:

ToysRus is now selling these for US $49.99 on their website (with Free Shipping), even though it is not yet available on Shop.Lego.com in the USA.

Here's a Polish 8457 Power Puller set available for you to obtain -- don't delay!

Well then, get some more differentials from Bricklink!