DLuders

An acquaintance of mine is experiencing problems with Lego Digital Designer (LDD) 4.0 shutting down when he adds a part to his baseplate. See his YouTube video below. Does anybody have an explanation for this error, or know what he can do about it? Any suggestions would be welcome to help troubleshoot this error. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W48x_dCCuxs

Crazypuma164 posted this of his Lego Technic Tractor. It provides a nice view of the drivetrain operating through the central Lego Technic Turntable, and the Linear Actuators raise and lower the powerful farm attachments. Maybe he will add some photos of it in his Brickshelf gallery, to join his Lego John Deere 440D Skidder , his Lego Caterpillar D9L Bulldozer with Power Functions, and his 120-cm-high, 4-motor crane. (all of which are shown on Crazypuma164's YouTube Channel).

@ Seluryar: Your 8258 Alternate Build has nice, clean lines! It is an attractive, colorful combination. The truck looks better than the standard, 8258-2 "B-Model" does (see pictures below): Did you alter that little blue car on the trailer too, or is it a standard 8214 LEGO Racers Gallardo LP560-4 Polizia models exclusive to Toys-R-Us?

On MOCPages, BricksOnWheels posted 8 pictures and an extensive narrative on his NICE Peterbilt 379 "Eldorado" Dumper. He wrote, "I have made it somewhat of a tradition to build some radical work in the December month, so this year it should be no exception. After building the black 1:17 PF driven Peterbilt with dumptrailer I thought that it would be cool to build a customized dumptruck in 1:13 big scale, as I had also never constructed a big scale dumper before." "Browsing the web and some magazines and books I noticed that some really wild customized dumptrucks actually do exist. You cannot imagine driving your polished beauty in the dirt all day, but some do, and these babies are cleaned for a week before they enter a show. After some inspiring hours I knew exactly what to build: a retro stylish Peterbilt in 70’s look with uncommon colors and chromed out. I ended up designing it a bit Cadillac style, hence the name ‘Eldorado’, after the famous Cadillac type." "The building routine has been as usual, but once more I tried to improve the level of detail. The chassis is color matched and features airride suspension, constructed with small Lego tyres to serve as the main parts, which looks really accurate. The engine is fully chromed, and has a detailed gearbox to it. Underneath the chassis there are many many lights to illuminate the underside of the truck. The front suspension and brakes are chromed too, and during Lego shows I will put it on display with a special replicated jig, to display it with one wheel of to show all the detail when the hood is opened." "The cabin I made more triangular now. I have had some appreciated comments on that in the past, and as the cabin house also gets wider on the real trucks I have implemented this now too. The bodywork was quite a challenge picking unusual Lego colors, as many parts were hard to find. The interior is as custom as it needs to be with trimmed seats special dash and chromed steering wheel." "The rear part of the chassis has 3 axles, where the first one can be lifted and has only one tire for extra support. This area is also detailed with chromed tanks, differentials and stacks. The dumpbox itself is hinged at the rear, and can be lifted. The rear plate is fully chromed. The part that I like most myself is the cover for the load that works like a rolling curtain. This is fully functional." "All in all a very nice truck to have worked on. To me another step forward in detailing. I hope you like it too!" See 9 photos on BricksOnWheels Flickr photostream.

There's a lot of snow there in Slovenia! Maybe can bring you more motors and bricks for your wonderful creations!

Here's a nice Lego Technic Star 244 Trial Truck by Adamiso/ Adamiso1995. The Star truck is named after Starachowice - the Polish city where the factory is. The 244 was built from 1975-2000. His shows it in action, and the 17 images on his Brickshelf gallery show the details.

Adamiso/ Adamiso1995 posted a of his Lego Mindstorms Humanonoid that can independently move its head, waist, and arms, and roll along its treaded feet. His Brickshelf gallery has 7 pictures.

Also for the LUGnuts challegne, Lego911 posted images on his Flickr photostream of "Claas ARION 600 Tractor" "The tractor range covering the middles spread of the Claas Tractors, the ARION 600 has a 6.8 litre 6-cylinder engine with power outputs between 96 and 118 kW. There are other Arion 500 and 400 models with 4.5 litre, 4-cylinder power between 75 and 103 kW. The wheelbase is 2,820 mm (ARION 400 - 2560mm). The height of the ARION 600 is approximately 3 metres. This tractor weighs approximately 6,000 kg. The ARION 400 and 500 are approximately 5,000 kg. I built a water carting trailer for this model, but it looked pathetic, so I have not included it in the photographs. Unfortunately, Australia had been locked in drought for a number of yeears, and carting wtaer had become a neccesity for far too many farmers to keep their animals alive. Fortunately the drought has now ended for most areas in the country."

On his Flickr photostream, Latvian AFOL "Rolic" (Rolands Kirpis) posted 12 images of his 1957 Chevrolet Truck. It was built for the LUGnuts "The Food We Eat" Challenge. Australian AFOL "Lego911" (Peter Blackert) posted 14 images of his entry for the LUGnuts challenge on his Flickr photostream. He constructed a "Claas AXION Tractor with Claas QUANTUM Foraging Trailer [in] LDD The Claas QUANTUM Forager is the ideal farm tool to gather mown feed on the farm to feed livestock. The load can be pretty big though. Ideally you could tow it using the massive Claas AXION 4wd Tractor. With up to 175 kW and neaarly 1000 Nm of torque it can move pretty much anything. This Claas AXION has been modelled in Lego bricks using Lego Design By Me prototyping software for Flickr LUGNuts 37th Build Challenge - 'The Food We Eat' celebrating vehicles used in the production or distribution of food, or just with funny food derived names. I have chosen to build the Claas AXION, after driving past the Claas distribution centre in Laverton (Melbourne), Victoria, and admiring their lovely lime green colour. Further research has highlighted the supreme capability the Claas Tractor range is capable of. I went to see one today up close, and it was awesome!"

Here's a full-size Lego Volvo XC90 model next to the real thing (from burrowsbj.2007's Flickr photostream):

The updated Building Instructions for the Lego 8043 Motorized Excavator was discussed on this Eurobricks post.

Congratulations, Jernej! You have certainly been recognized as one of the premier Lego Technic AFOLs in the world. I like your "Avatar"-themed helicopter a lot:

On his Brickshelf gallery, fmmjqtft posted 5 images of a modification to a Lego Power Functions XL motor. Can anyone tell what the modification does? There is no explanation or narrative on his Brickshelf post. Would you do this to YOUR PF XL motor?

LarsFilmTV posted this building instructions for his Lego WWII Panzer Tank. He wrote that it is a "Lego tank to rebuild. Next project will probably be a SdKfz 251st. Have fun." Since TLG will never make a battle tank set, it may be possible to create a Lego Digital Designer (LDD) file from this video and make your own.

Nico71/ Nico71240 posted a of his newest creation, a red Lego Roadster. He has not yet added it to his other great Lego Technic vehicles on his website http://www.nico71.fr/ , but he did present it on SeTechnic (see the French-to-English Babelfish translation).He wrote that it is the "Finished version of my roadster, features suspension, gearbox 5 and R, AWD mid engine, doors, convertible [top], trunk, removable spoiler, HOG [Hand of God] and wheel steering, using the new panel." There are 22 images of the roadster on his Brickshelf gallery.

On MOCpages, Dahoon Kim just posted 14 pictures of his Lego 1967 Ford Mustang GT500. He explains, "Hi! This is my new car: a 1967 Ford shelby Mustang GT500. I wanted to build this car in 10-wide a while ago, but I was too busy with other stuff. Anyway, I'm proud of it and I think I did fairly well. It got opening doors and a opening hood, but no opening trunk. The reason why I build Mustangs so much is that they are just addictive and I like them very much. Hope you like it and Comments are appreciated." He made a smaller version too that is 6 studs wide. For those who saw the 2000 movie "Gone in 60 Seconds", actor Nicolas Cage stole "Eleanor" (the last of 50 cars -- a GT500) and proceded to jump it over a bridge! Zach Sweigert ("flickr404") showed his 14-studs-wide version of "Eleanor" on MOCpages too. He wrote: "Seriously, if you had to steal fifty cars in one night, who wouldn't take a crack at the sweet little Shelby Mustang dubbed "Eleanor"? Eleanor's presence lasted well after Gone In Sixty Seconds left the big screen and became the icon of the American muscle car. Gone in Sixty Seconds was a remake of the classic film of the same name made in 1977. That film featured a similar plot and a '73 Ford Mustang Mach I as Eleanor. The producers of the new film decided to go a little more exotic and henceforth, Eleanor became know as the '67 Shelby GT-500." Additional images of the car can be found on his Brickshelf gallery. welliAR Wellinger posted his 1:17 Lego Digital Designer (LDD) model on MOCpages. He wrote that is uses 1,100 bricks and that "The Model is fully buildable with "LEGO Factory" Bricks. Contact me if you are interested in Building Instructions."

Have you ever wondered how Power Functions elements were used in non-TECHNIC sets? Let's consider the 10196 Grand Carousel set (which is still available from Shop.Lego.com ). This by rumyluvgrl show the wheels rolling along a circular track to produce an oscillating motion of the crankarms, which (in turn) cause the horses to bob up and down: The 10178 Motorized AT-AT set (which is still available from Shop.Lego.com ) shows an entirely different mechanism. agalk's shows the rotating wheel lifting the legs of a "naked" walker similar to the 10178. He wrote that it shows the "Basic operation of Lego walker. Walking robot model based on existing Lego motorized AT-AT set. Leg geometry and chassis shamelessly lifted wholesale from online Lego instructions." Kiwomens' three YouTube videos quickly shows the 10178 gearing: , , and .tchail's YouTube video showing a partially-assembled 10178 in action, but the legs and body are somewhat obscured by other parts: .These sets are still selling after several years, so they must be popular. If folks like to motorize Lego carousels, Star Wars vehicles, trains, etc., refer them over to this Eurobricks Forum to see the (better) mechanisms here!

Here's a by IAssemble that can not only solve the standard (3x3x3) Rubik's Cube, but also solve 2x2x2, 4x4x4, and 5x5x5 MultiCubes. "MultiCuber achieves another world's first. This LEGO robot demonstrates a timed relay solve of 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 Rubik's cubes. This hopefully explains why the robot was given it's name! This version of MultiCuber can solve cubes between about 5cm and 6cm. A second version has also been created that can solve physically larger cubes including the .The robot itself is built entirely out of LEGO including a Mindstorms NXT kit and Vision Command webcam. Both the solver application running on the laptop and the embedded software running on the NXT were written in C++. The laptop communicates with the NXT via USB. The application uses a generic algorithm that can solve a cube of any dimension limited only by RAM and time. It has been tested with software models of cubes up to 100x100x100. As before, Mike Dobson (Oscarworld), creator of "CubeStormer", has kindly allowed me to use another of his wonderful musical creations, "Reaction", as backing for this video."

It seems like the kids in FIRST Lego League (FLL) have discovered how fun the Mecanum wheels can be. On YouTube, FellowGamerForFun posted this video of "a car shown at the first lego league in the netherlands.. it can move in every single way! xD" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xterA_xrZZY

LegomationStudio has this about Lego Technic Roboriders. "These sets are awesome and very rare! If you have any than your lucky! Lol, this same guy has been doing the voices for Lego commercials for a very long time now! EPIC VOICE!"

Looks good! You can take Lego911 and the other Australian AFOLs on a road trip across the Outback with this coach! I was wondering if you had enabled the "Brick Outlines" feature in Lego Digital Designer. If you have, perhaps you could consider adding a stripe down the sides of the bus. The plain-blue exterior just "needs something" to make your MOC stand out. The "Brick Outlines" will show which bricks could be recolored. If you cannot enable the "Brick Outlines" feature, there are some tips by Superkalle on how to do this: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48663 .

On Flickr, Robiwan_Kenobi (Robert H.) posted his "Scania T-Series Semitrailer Tipper". He wrote: "This is the next model of my Microscale Trucks serie and my second Scania. (Compare with the first: Scania R-Series). The grey background is not the best choice for a grey MOC, but I want the photos to match well to my other trucks. The original Scania: http://forum.bauforum24.biz/forum/uploads/post-54-1123269094_thumb.jpg My other 4-wide-trucks you can find here: ." Click on the thumbnails below to see his other nice Microscale vehicles!

Here's a well-produced of AlistairMScott's "Custom built Lego wrecker. Minifig scale as accurately as possibly modeled on a Kenworth W900 with walk-in Aerodyne sleeper. Features include chrome exhaust stacks, air horns and soup can air filters. Cathedral style traditional Kenworth front grille. Double bunk in sleeper. Access doors. Walk-in full height tool locker. Control locker. Road cones and signs. Independent twin booms and extending rotating cranes. Working underlift. Outriggers. Opening hood with V8 engine":

As seen on Brickmania's Flickr site: "GMLTC & Brickmania Toyworks Open House (Dec 4th)" "The GMLTC (Greater Midwest Lego Train Club) are pleased to announce a free open house and LEGO® display at our "Toyworks" space in northeast Minneapolis on Saturday, December 4th, from noon to 8 pm. "This will be the first public display by the GMLTC in our new permanent workshop and exhibition space. On display will be our club's 30 x 18' layout featuring operating LEGO trains, busy cityscapes and tons of other creations to see and enjoy. Local LEGO® brick artist and model designer Daniel Siskind will also be displaying dozens of historic military models, including World War II armor, aircraft, and several large warships. Bricks will be available for guests ages three and up to build their own creations and contribute to a collaborative city to be built throughout the day. A small retail store is also located within the space, offering rare LEGO®, Brickmania, BrickArms, and other premium building products. "The Toyworks is located within the offices of Brickmania LLC, suite 177 of the historic Thorp Building in Northeast Minneapolis (1620 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413) who are having their annual building-wide Holiday Sale on the same day. For the entrance closest to our space, we recommend parking in the lot on 18th Avenue near the railroad bridge and enter the building through the door next to loading dock number 5. "Starting in 2011, the Toyworks will host a free public open house on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Aside from the GMLTC's ever-evolving permanent display, we plan to feature the works of different local and international builders each month. Our goal is to provide a museum quality educational and inspiring experience and something new to enjoy month after month."

Since Blakbird provided a link to his render of the 1H2011 Lego Technic Mini SUV as a comment on TechnicBRICKS, here it the render. It looks like a fun little vehicle! Blakbird's renders look as good as the ones coming from TLG.