DLuders

Now that The Lego Group is preparing a "Service Pack" for the Lego Technic Set 8043 (Motorized Excavator), what do you intend to do with your existing 8043 that you bought? Please select one of the poll answers. This is NOT a "public poll", so your answers will remain private and anonymous.

OK, I downloaded your "Technic model 850 Forklift.lxf" file, and opened it in Lego Digital Designer. The vertical spacing of your holes was a bit off. Here's what I did to get your long axles to slide through the holes: 1) Using the Control key and the left-click mouse key, I selected all of the bricks and axles on the upper-center portion of your forklift. Then, I lifted that assembly off of the stack of 2x2 bricks, and placed the assembly onto the baseplate to get it out of the way. 2) I removed one of the 2x2 plates from the central stack, and added a full 2x2 brick in its place. 3) I drew a box around the assembly that was placed off to the side, and plopped it on top of the central 2x2 stack. 4) The two long axles now easily slide into the holes, all of the way through the entire upper Technic Bricks. If you want me to send you the "repaired" LXF file that I saved on my computer, just send me an e-mail at LudersDG@MSN.com and I'll e-mail it to you.

Every Civil Engineer should have one! I built the standard 8045 set (pictured) a few weeks ago, but your mod is MUCH BETTER.

As noted by Meatman on this Eurobricks post, Nathanael Kuipers (a.k.a. Industrialdesigner) has built a modular Lego Technic "Concept" vehicle that can be changed into other vehicles. As a follow-up to his "Concept Car" , he has posted pictures of his "Concept 4x4" on MOCPages. He wrote: "The original ConceptCar wasn't a concept on its own. However the real potential of this 'Supercar' becomes only visible when new modules are being made and exchanged. Using the same V12 engine and 5-speed + R gearbox, and leaving most of the frame untouched, the model went through a make-over to turn into this Concept jeep with AWD and independant suspension." On his Brickshelf gallery, he posted 9 photos of the 4x4 and explained that it features "New modules like suspension with higher clearance, offroad tires, proper 4WD with center diff, adjustable seats, etc..." I added a comment on MOCPages that asked: "Nathanael, do you think that there's any chance that TLG will release a set like this? After all, the "Concept Car" modular construction would be very attractive to folks wanting to dabble with Lego Technic. When you post your ideas on MOCPages, does that mean that TLG will not act on those designs? After all, I think that you're the only TLG employee that overtly posts his creations for public display. All other TLG Technic employees don't even say anything on the various Technic forums...." His response is pretty interesting: "Hi David, thanks for your interest. The reason why I have been posting several models again is because I left TLG a few years ago for personal reasons at the time. Nowadays I have several motives to present these models; to inspire others, to explore ideas I didn't have time for at TLG, and, if possible, to get back as a designer there. You may have noticed I'm not very active on fora as I'm trying to avoid questions and discussions due to my past experience. I honestly can't answer if TLG might release a modular concept like this. I guess not, but you never know. I think it does have potential because, like you say, it's attractive for people to dabble and explore with TECHNIC..."

"MYNXTMP" has posted several YouTube videos of various ANIMALS created with Lego Mindstorms NXT elements. MYNXTMP wrote, Here is "The NXT Frog by Fay Rhodes from her book "Robots Alive! Endangered Species" (see http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-MINDSTORMS-NXT-Robots-Alive/dp/1449560911 ). Re-built and filmed by me" : "The Gorilla from Fay Rhodes' book "LEGO© MINDSTORMS NXT: Robots Alive! Endangered Species" ( http://nxtzoo.com ). Filmed and rebuilt by Matthias Paul Scholz" : Here are the parts needed to build these animals: http://www.thenxtzoo.com/images/endangered_pts_rev_1204.pdf . MYNXTMP's other videos of the NXT animals pictured above can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/MYNXTMP#p/u .

Over on TechnicBRICKS Blogspot, Conchas pointed out that the Japanese "Tora no Maki" books that will be available in English in October 2010. I clicked on the publisher's link that he provided, and found 18 wonderful Lego books published by "No Starch Press" -- http://nostarch.com/catalog/lego . Click on the link above for a full description of the books pictured below. I own the "Forbidden Lego" book, and like the fun toy gun that shoots Lego plates. Does anybody own any these books? If so, can you comment on them?

That looks like fun! I like how the various trucks and cars could crash against each other, have a trailer demolition derby, and race around a track. You guys are lucky that you have so many Lego Technic enthusiasts close to each other. Are you going to continue to have periodic meetings (monthly or quarterly)?

According to this Peeron search , there has only been 17 official Lego sets that are "Model Team". The pictures below display some of the elements mentioned above. I personally believe that TLG's "Model Team" marketing was not that acceptable, since the packaging looks rather "stodgy" and "dated" compared to Lego Creator's. Most of the Model Team sets were released in the 1990s. This Peeron search for "Creator" sets reveals a whopping 172 sets! There are many Creator sets that are just as good (if not better) than the official "Model Team" sets below: 10177, Boeing 787 Dreamliner: 5510, Off Road 4 X 4: 5521, Sea Jet: 5533, Red Fury: 5540, Formula 1 Racer: 5541, Blue Fury/Hot Rod: 5542, Black Thunder: 5550, Custom Rally Van: 5561, Big Foot 4x4: 5563, Racing Truck: 5571, Giant Truck/Black Cat: 5580, Highway Rig: 5581, Magic Flash: 5590, Whirl N' Wheel Super Truck: 5591, Mach II Red Bird Rig/Mach II Red Bird: 2556, +AHs-SHELL Promotional Set+AH0- F1 Ferrari: There is one more listed in Peeron as a radio-control RC model, but there is no picture available.

Yes, Countdown is correct in that the 44225 "Technic Beam 3 with Rotation Pin" is not freely-rotating, but is a "click hinge" that locks at various angles. I am holding some of them in my hand now. The ridges on the inside of the hub show the number of settings that are possible.

Yes, Lego Digital Designer 3.1 available for free download. Click on the "Software Downloads" area of the LDD Index Thread. Please realize that LDD 4.0 is supposed to be released in September 2010, so you may want to download that too.

The "Lego TECHNIC Index" topic that is "pinned" at the top of the Eurobricks Technic Forum has many "Notable TECHNIC MOCS" listed. If there are BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS provided by the designer, the line items say so.

What would happen if you inserted a x202 "Technic, Pin Long without Friction Ridges Lengthwise" into the central hole of new 87082 "Technic, Pin Long with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Center Pin Hole" ?

Here is Bricklink's catalog entry about all "Tire On Wheel" relationships, showing how various Lego wheels can fit on various tire sizes: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogRelList.asp?relID=3 .

From the LEGO.com Customer Service Knowledge Base ( http://service.lego.com/en-US/HelpTopics/default.aspx , Help Topics --> Replacement Parts --> Faulty Parts ), here's the procedure for turning in your "faulty" 8883 Power Functions Medium motors : QUESTION: "My Motor is not working. How can I fix or replace it?" ANSWER: "LEGO products and parts are produced following the highest European and International safety and quality requirements. It's really important to us that you can depend on LEGO products to be entirely safe for your children to use and play with and are of the highest quality. "The LEGO Company enjoys a reputation for producing high quality toys and faults are uncommon. However, if any battery-operated LEGO parts (motors, trains, remote-control cars) are no longer working, please follow the steps below: 1) open the battery compartment and remove batteries to check if the metal parts in compartment are clean. If you see a powdery or lacklustre coating, please remove it using sanding paper or tissue paper. 2) Once the metal parts are clean and shiny again, insert new batteries and try the parts, they should work again. 3) If this doesn't help and the LEGO parts are more than two years old, please visit our online shop at http://www.LEGOShop.com to find a new part (subject to availability). There are different categories and sub-categories within the menu on the left-hand side organising all available LEGO products. Check out the "Shop Specials" and then "See what's on sale and save!" category as we offer discounted products (subject to availability) which may contain the part you need. As these products are reduced by up to 50% it may be the best way for getting hold of replacement parts. 4) If the cleaning did not help and the LEGO parts are less than two years old, contact us using the Replacement Parts Request form and give us as much information as possible. Tell us when and where the LEGO set was bought and which part is not working properly (if you know the page number and building step number in the building instruction depicting the part, its shape and colour that really helps us). Include your name, full address and contact telephone number so we could send a new part to you. A copy of your receipt may also be required."

@ hoeij: See Philo's "9V Technic Motors Compared Characteristics" page for the amperage running in a Power Functions Medium motor.

By August 31, 2010, please vote for one of the ten Finalists for the August Lego Technic Challenge. The "Lifting Cranes" theme has these MOCs to choose from -- vote on the website http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Competition/voting.aspx . On the Lego Technic Designers Blog, Ricco Rejnholdt Krog wrote: "The LEGO® Technic challenge - August" "The 10 new Finalists selected for all of you to vote on. "This month we have received a lot of cool pictures of Cranes. It’s really great to see so many of you submitting models for the competition; we are having a great (hard) time selecting the 10 models that you can vote for. "Selecting the finalists is not easy as there are many great models among the entries. We are of course among other things, looking on the age of the builder as well as the model itself in this case the crane function. "As always, these adult models, as well as others - will be selected for a full round of voting in a pure Adult-submission finale which will run after the grand finale in October - the winner will receive the same grand-prize as for the current competition, which is the full LEGO® Technic, 2010 Novelty Assortment (all new models in 2010). "This month we desided to emphasize four Adult-submission : the 8288´s Big Brother because of its scale , the Pneumatic Crane Truck because it is based on very impressive building skills, the Crane ship because it is the first ship we have seen submitted in this completion and last the Self Erecting Crane because of its fold out function. "Thank you all for your submissions - stay tuned for the September round!" "Big Brother" submitted by Parax77: "Crane ship" submitted by vargat32: "Pneumatic Crane Truck" submitted by Waler93: "Self eracting crane" submitted by user Frorider: Here are the ten youth Finalists (in no particular order): "lr1350" by legoblok1234 -- "I made a crane that led me interesting" : "Vehicle Retrieval Crane" by oscarhennin -- "This folding crane lowers broken cars onto a trailer. At the repair shop, the car rolls down off the ramps. The truck has rack and pinion steering. There is a worm gear that raises and lowers the big boom. The gear under the chassis slews the crane around to line up with the trailer" : "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" : "Caterpillar crane" by edgars9727 -- "It is my caterpillar crane. It can tower the telescopic crane and spin the cabin and crane 360 degrees. You can use the hawser with hook" : "HD Crane" by Oecokley3240 -- "The crane has duel wheel steering a motor driven main boom actuator with the secondary boom being controlled by a motor driven cable. A hand crank for the crane cable and two front hazard lights on the truck. The truck and crane have independent batteries and switches with IR control" : "OIL FIELD PICKER TRUCK" by TLT803 -- "This is my truck it has pneumatics for the outriggers and the boom. It can lift up to 1/2 lbs. and extend to twice its length. It also can rotate 360 degrees and the extending can be locked at any length.The truck also has twin steering controled by ether a knob at the back or the steering wheel" : "Rough Terrain mobile Crane" by rushlight -- "The boom on my model can be raised, lowered and extended. The stabiliser legs can be raised and lowered. The crane can turn 360 degrees" : "Tower Crane on Rails" by akulll -- "Three M motors are used to rotate the jib mounted on turntable, move the trolley along the jib and lift the load. Transmission includes 8 gears and 2 worms. Trolley and hook are handled with ropes" : "Lifting Crane" by fasterskings -- "This is the crane I made. It`s completely remote control with 3 motors and 1 gear box. It`s height is 55 cm. Boom length is 53 cm max lifting weight 200 g max range 60 cm, total mass of crane 1,28 kg" : "Rewiko's tower crane" by rewiko -- "Full fine adjustment remote functions tower crane with 3 motors (rotation, trolley, hook)" :

@ Calabar: Does this Instructables (series of 8 webpages) help?

Of course, there's this style of "double-sided" head -- "Two-Face" from the 7781 Batmobile set:

@ Shimon: There was this Eurobricks post that discussed the relative merits of using the small bb466 "Electric 9V Battery Box Power Functions (Non-Rechargeable)" (that uses 6 ea. AAA Batteries) instead of the identically-sized 8878 "Power Functions Rechargeable Battery Box" . I've been trying to find the AAA version for sale on Shop.Lego.com in the USA, with no luck so far. They are available on Bricklink, however. The 8878 has the additional expense of needing the 8887 "Power Functions Transformer 10VDC" . All things being equal, it should be a lot less expensive to set up the AAA battery box. bb466: 8878 Combination:

"...most popular toy across all ages and sexes was Lego...." Well, we knew that all along! -- CATCH IT!

You could download an eManual (PDF file of this book: http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781590590911 : "LEGO Spybotics Secret Agent Training Manual" "LEGO Spybotics Secret Agent Training Manual provides complete coverage of the ultimate LEGO Spybotics system. Author Ralph Hempel begins with a Spybotics overview and then delves into the nitty-gritty of Spybotics, including systems training, construction and care, agent communications, mission selection, and even advanced topics, such as how to customize your missions. "LEGO Spybotics Secret Agent Training Manual is designed to help secret agents get the most out of their LEGO Spybot. Agents will benefit from Hempel's detailed mission summaries, tips on deciphering common problems, and instructions on how to program the Spybot to run top-secret missions by itself. Hempel puts all of the mission-critical information right at your fingertips. Enjoy it even when youre not running covert missions with your Spybot! Are you ready?"

PicToBrick has this tutorial covering 5 topics: "On the following pages you will find a short instruction with screenshots making it possible for you to generate your first mosaic. Enjoy yourself! "In this tutorial we use Vincent van Gogh’s painting Starry Night as an example that is available on visipix.com. To make the first steps in PicToBrick easier for you you can download and use this painting [starry Night]." On the Media page, it says that "A five page article about PicToBrick ("Discovering PicToBrick") was published in the ninth issue of the Lego fan magazine". If you visit that webpage, you can click on the five thumbnails shown there to read the full-size article.

"Yo, Adrian", for the non-Americans out there who don't have a clue about what these videos are all about, here are some hints: Video 2: Sylvester Stallone from the 1976 movie, "Rocky". Video 3: Independence from Great Britain Video 4: Godzilla (which the Japanese liked to use in many 1950s movies).

There is one of the five different RC sets: http://peeron.com/inv/parts/5292 . They all use the 5292 RC Buggy Motor: The red 2350 "Crane Arm Outside" is from one of the red sets listed here: http://peeron.com/inv/parts/2350 . You can use Peeron to do similar searches, using key parts.

You've got to have a BIG Lego collection to be able to fill up these containers: