DLuders

Yes, "Crowkillers" puts his own kits together and sells them on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Custom-Lego-Technic-Lamborghini-Gallardo-Kit-/270646154513?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f03c49511 . If some of the ~1,500 parts needed for this MOC are rare, why doesn't everybody just get them from "Lego Direct"? That way, the supply of available parts increases and the prices stay low for everybody ("Supply and Demand"). It's a "Win-Win" situation -- TLG gets to sell its parts, and Crowkillers and the mysterious Bricklink buyers get their parts. I've built the Lamborghini Gallardo set, and I don't recall many parts that have not been manufactured in official Lego sets in the past 3 years.

At the BrickCon 2010 Lego convention held in Seattle, Washington USA (Sept 30-Oct 3), Glen Bell displayed many nice Lego Technic MOCs for ~9,000 fans to see. He has many images of these MOCs on the Brickshelf galleries linked below. Peterbilt 378 Winch Truck with a Aspen Heavy Haul Trailer -- "This is a personally designed MOC of a Peterbilt 378 winch truck with a Aspen16 wheel jeep, and a 16 wheel detachable flip over goose neck low boy trailer. Also included(just built) is a 16 detachable booster unit. It is constructed to haul the 8275 technic dozer, among other Moc's": [/img] Peterbilt 378 Gravel Truck with Tri-axle Pup -- "This is a personally designed MOC of a Peterbilt 378 Gravel Truck with a Midland Tri-Axle Pup trailer. It was the unit that I was driving when I was living in Calgary, AB [Alberta, Canada]": Super-B flat deck trailer -- "Fully functional. Working dolly legs. Locking fifth wheel. Spring ride suspension":

Here's another angle of the seaplane (from Bill Ward's Brickpile Flickr photostream of the BrickCon 2010 event):

On SeTechnic and Brickshelf, Nico71 has been refining his "...vision about Supercar: convertible independant suspensions, RWD, gearbox 5R, steering wheel and HOG, based on excelent work of NK....Aim is to design an affordable supercar based on [the Lego set] 8145 inventory." Here is the original 8145 Ferrari 599 GTB 1:10 set: Below are some of the many pictures of Nico71's convertible and roadster Supercar. "Convertible old supercar, inspired by 250GTO, Miura, 2000GT. Engine and gearbox placed side by side in the front of car. It s enable to have HOG [Hand of God] axle in the center of frame, with no by pass. RWD, V10, Gearbox, steering wheel and convertible": "I place the gearbox front of the engine. Switching system is moved underneath the gearbox and gearbox levers are in center of car. I can put in place the axle of HOG in frame center, no need to by-pass the gearbox. The drivetrain axle pass on right side. Traditionally, I must use 3 16t double bevel to by-pass the gearbox because it has a 7-Stud width. With this system, axle of HOG is placed in the center of car. "The construction is centered in the frame. To switch the gearbox, the two gearbox levers are placed side by side of the axle HOG. For the principal gearbox Control lever, it is created with this part : 6572 - Technic Suspension Steering Link. It's enable to build a 2-axle Joystick. At least, the drive train axle is placed on the left side of the gearbox and by-pass the gearbox control lever with 1-stud offset. "Basically, this construction permit me to have a centered construction for the axle HOG (with no 16t), drive train, and gearbox lever. Special thanks to Erik Leppen, who invented the system of gearbox lever axle. "WIP of Studless Supercar with suspension, gearbox 5 and R, AWD mid engine, doors, trunk, HOG and wheel steering, using the new panel": Read more about it on this Babelfish English translation of the original SeTechnic post in French.

On Vimeo, Clark Wood posted his "Cutaway Lego Model of two-stroke diesel OPOC Engine." It was displayed at Seattle's BrickCon 2010 last weekend. "After learning about the OPOC engine being developed by http://www.ecomotors.com [where there is an animation], I wanted one of my own. I can't wait several years before this engine is available in a production car, so... I built my own! Actual engine is two-stroke diesel with electrically assisted turbo. Although I used castle corners and built octagonal pistons, the REAL engine has round pistons and cylinders ;-) " On this webpage, there are four pictures and a link to the video below. "Grey ports are Intake; Black ports are exhaust; green tubes are diesel injection lines from fuel rail": "Left Cylinder TDC [Top Dead Center]; injection & combustion start NOW": "Left cylinder BDC [bottom Dead Center]; ports are uncovered; turbo flushes and refills cylinder with air": The Vimeo video shows it compressing and expelling the gases.

On his Flickr Photostream, Marius Postma said that he plans on adding many more pictures of his "Baby Sea Otter" Technic MOC soon:

Ausgezeichnet & hervorragend! (that means "Outstanding" in German) Get ready to spend a bunch of Euros!

@ TheLegoWithin: I have downloaded DOZENS of cool Lego military vehicles from the Lego.com DesignByMe gallery. It has a rotating gallery of (up to 20) pages of various LDD creations. If you look under the category of "Vehicles", wait a few seconds for the page to load up, you can quickly scan through various designs. Or, you can search in the "Creation Name" box for a "tank", a "howitzer", "fighter", etc. I have already downloaded many military vehicle LDD files (for my son and I), so if you want to e-mail me at LudersDG@MSN.com, I'll send them to you. That will save you some time in your search.

If you want to build the M1A1 Abrams Tank instead of the M1A2, here's Rick_S's design from MOCpages. There is a link there to the LDD .lxf Building Instructions file.

On MOCpages, John Lamarck just posted 6 pictures of his virtual Lego MiG-23 ML "Flogger G" aircraft model -- "Russian fighter plane from the 70's and 80's".

It should be noted that the aircraft on the carrier were designed by Ralph_S: http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/05/project-intrepid-aircraft_28.html . Building Instructions (Part 1): http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/07/can-i-have-instructions.html Building Instructions (Part 2): http://militarylego.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-i-have-instructions-part-2.html .

You could try to build Zack Macasaet's Lego M1A2 Tank: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/210779 .

On Nico71's Creations webpage, the French master posted 13 pictures and a of his All-Terrain Wood Transporter. He said that it is "A vehicle I made for the Wood Contest at Setechnic.com. Featured drive, double steering, pendular suspensions and fake engine. Two M-motors drive the crawlers, each motor for a crawler. The reduction is 8/24. The steering is operated by a M-motor placed on the rear, it drives a knob/knob, worm/8t and 8t on the turntables. The fake engine is connected to the rear axle, with a axle which passes inside the turntable."

Go directly to Zblj's Brickshelf folder to get his LYNX LDD .lxf file: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/zblj/Trial/Version10/Instructions/lynx.lxf . Right-click on the link, then "Save Target As" to your desired folder on your computer.

KLR/ KLR416 posted 24 pictures of his DTM e-Power Supersport MOC on his Brickshelf gallery. Unfortunately, the car got in a big wreck during testing. Here also made a YouTube video of the "basic chassis of LEGO DTM prototype - it will be a first electric DTM car ever - DTM e-power ;-) This is video #1 and model is under construction". Go to KLR416's YouTube Channel to see it: http://www.youtube.com/user/KLR416 .

On his Brickshelf gallery, Chris-Behrens posted many pictures of various Technic and Model Team MOCs that were at the recent Skaerbaek 2010 Lego fan event in Skaerbaek, Denmark. Did anybody on this Eurobricks forum attend? If so, do you know anything about the MOCs shown below? The pictures are too large to post full-size here, but if you go to his Brickshelf gallery you can see them in their full glory.

Here are many more pictures of Skaerbaek 2010 on Chris-Behren's Brickshelf gallery: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=446768 .

The Lego.com Technic Designers Blog has posted 3 videos on their "fixes" to the 8043 Motorized Excavator set: http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Designers/Blog/Default.aspx . Changing Actuators in Motorized Excavator #8043 September 30, 2010 Dear LEGO Technic fan As you probably know, some of you have had problems with lifting the main arm on the excavator. We have solved the issue and are sending out a service pack with 4 new actuators. The shipment of the service packs has started, it will be shipped to all customers that has been in contact with our consumer service, regarding the problem. To assist all of you changing the 4 actuators in the model, we have made 3 small videos. The videos shows you how to change each actuator the easiest way. Happy building Ricco [Ricco Rejnholdt Krog] Go to this Lego.com webpage to see the three videos: Video 1: "See how to change the actuators that lift the main arm." Video 2: "See how to change the middle actuator." Video 3: "See how to change the actuator that the controls the bucket."

Preedalist posted a short YouTube video of his Lego NXT 2.0 Monkey. He wrote, "This is just showing the Mindstorms Monkey creation. There are no bulding instructions for this robot; I rebuilt the box from [ ]. I did it just by viewing." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVuj9exARo8

Telecasterman/ Arcanemettles posted a of his Lego Technic Dragonfly Number 6. It is powered by Lego Power Functions elements. He wrote, "My latest dragonfly. 604 elements. Wings and legs powered by one M-Motor. The walking isn't quite as smooth as I'd hoped, given the shifting weight of the wings. Also, the legs tend to come off too easily, and it could stand a bit more gear reduction. Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out." Photos are posted on his Flickr photostream. 18 photos and the Ldraw file are on his Brickshelf gallery.

The below shows the magnificent USS Intrepid aircraft carrier shown at the Great Western Lego Show in Swindon, England, October 2-3, 2010. The "Lego Monster" builder wrote on his Flickr photostream,"The USS Intrepid is an Essex Class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy (USN). She is currently berthed in New York and serves as a museum, but had an operational life in the USN spanning over 20 years...." This model depicts "...the USS Intrepid as she appeared in February 1945, immediately after her second major refit. It has "a scale of 1 in 40 making the final model 6.8m or 23ft."

Yoraish/ dLostBrick recently posted his KAMAZ 4326 Russian Trial Truck on BrickTruckTrial.com . It has a "V6 fake engine, 2 newly designed axles and a full pendular suspension...The truck is driven by 1 XL motor and steered by 1 M. The remote gear changing is done by 1 M motor through a worm gear. The gearbox design is simple because the motor can slide along with the gears- meaning that the drive will only have to pass two shafts, not three. All the motors aboard are powered by one battery box. As for the look of the truck, its cabin has opening doors ind can open pneumatically (see video). The inside of the cabin isn’t so fancy... Just a chair :)" Scale (wheels used) 94.8 x 44 R Width 29 studs Transmission 4x4 Motorization 1 motor(s) - PFS-XL (V6) working fake motor Steering PFS-M motor, without steering wheel Onboard Battery Box PFS unit Total Weight 1620 grams His shows how the transmission shifts, and how it handles various obstacles: See lots more pictures of this and other MOCs on Yoraish's Lego Creations website http://yoraish.wordpress.com/ and on his Brickshelf gallery!

I also asked "Crowkillers" (Paul Boratko) about the Lego Cuusoo concept, and here's what he wrote to me: "Hello David. Thanks for the Kind words about my work. I have already offered a few of my designs to Lego for Free (I felt that just knowing that something that I designed could be purchased in a store would be compensation enough for me) and sadly enough, they turned them down. I have received both personal and impersonal responses from them. Basically they told me that it was impossible due to legal issues over who actually designed the models and copyrights. I told them that i would sign any legal documents giving them full rights to my Gallardo or Murcielago models and they basically responded back by saying "Sorry we just don't operate that way" and "We already have team of designers in Denmark that are probably working on designs very similar to yours". My models get many mixed comments as people either love them or hate them. For some strange reason my models turn off a large portion of Lego builders because I choose to build almost entirely studless, so my stuff probably wouldn't be a good choice for whatever it is that you were looking to do. I am still trying to design something that will hopefully satisfy everyone. But if you want to pick something out and nominate it, I am in full support of your decision. In fact, if you have anyone else's that needs attention, I will gladly post links on my site for them. It only gets about 150 to 200 hits a day, but it's better than Nothing. I am good friends with Nathanael Kuipers and would love to see his Concept Car up there as well. I already own a copy of it, but I would gladly go out and buy another set or two. One other issue at hand is the age of some parts that are no longer in production. Some models that he and I use contain a few parts that are no longer in production and the designs may need to be altered and updated. Thanks! Keep in Touch -Paul Boratko"

Here's the thread about using Olive Oil to lubricate Lego Technc pneumatics: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26091 . Here's the discussion about how to keep Linear Actuators working: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45068 . I would just soak the old LAs in Olive Oil as-is; it will seep in past the seals. Wipe off the excess. If you want to use silicone spray (like WD-40, be advised that Mineral Oil will dissolve the ABS plastic. If you're not sure, try the lubricant on a regular Lego brick that you could sacrifice. Or, you could do nothing, burn up your PF Medium motors, and then pay for the new 36X0 Linear Actuators. Reduce friction now or pay the price later.

"Take the Technic Challenge – Final! This is the LEGO® Technic Challenge competition! - here you have a chance at showing the LEGO Technic designers your designs and your abilities with the Technic elements. "Voting Welcome to the Big Finale of the Technic competition 2010. The 8 finalists for The Technic challenge have been selected, and you can vote to help choose which is the best Technic model 2010! Voting closes at the end of the month! - Hurry up and go! The winner will receive a great prize, containing the 2010 Novelty Assortment. "Missed your chance? This is the last round of the Take the Technic Challenge, but stay tuned for spring 2011 where we will return with the new round of 'Take the Technic Challenge 2011'!" From the Lego Technic Challenge website http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Competition/voting.aspx , please vote on the "Best of the Best" Lego Technic Challenge 2010 finalists. Here they are (in no particular order): "Curve Bridge" by bardian: "It's a regular hang supension bridge in the shape of a curve. The suspension lines can be tightend with 4 pulleys": "Road Train" by TLT803: "This is my road train. It has power functions for the drive and steering and it also has an opening hood. The three trailers each have a linear actuator for dumping and fold down landing gear": "Moon Tank" by victor288596: "This tank can explore the moon for hours, powered by its rechargeable battery. Its two tracks are controlled via a PF Remote. The tank is extremely powerful yet easy to control": "Forwarder" by Heppuneppu: "This forwarder has got a crane, that can flex from two places with alinear actuator and make 360 spin. All four catepillar tracs can adjust to a bumby ride. It can besteered from the top of the cab. Cab-seat can go around from drive mode to crane controls": "Tractor with trailer" by edgars9727: "It have steering system. Steering regulates on the roof and in the salon with steering wheel. Tractor has front loader with two points regulation system. It has differential. In the back you can add trailer or grass mower. Trailer tower with hydraulic and motor": "the spacedriller" by robin7520: "this machine is made for rough terrain on strange planets. the front of the 1st part (caterpillar) collects alien rocks and on the 2nd part we have the drilling installation. it drills holes with a drillhead or laser. it has several pistons to move the drillarm. the whole is motorized": "All-Terrain Crane" by mindstormmaniac1000: "This is a versatile heavy-duty crane. It moves using tracks powered with two XL motors at a 1.6:1 gear ratio. The boom can rotate 360 degrees with two regular motors at a 40:1 gear ratio. The crane can carry 4 tires at slopes of up to 15 degrees": "VTOL plane" by shadow.m36: "it is a remote control VTOL plane. an XL motor controls the angle of the propellors and a small motor to power each propellor":