DLuders

I like the concept. The terrain-following halves of the vehicle should be able to handle anything. The extra-strong Turntable Differential Idea by Zblj should work well.

The Lego TECHNIC Designers Blog http://technic.lego.com/en-US/designers/blog/default.aspx?date=7/21/2010 1:00:00 AM recently posted: "July 21, 2010 The LEGO® Technic challenge - July "Another round of the LEGO® Technic Challenge has launched and we have selected 10 new Finalists for all of you to vote on. "We wonder if space was Hard, a little less interesting or if it was just the sun attracting you all outside. The number of models to choose from was less this time around - but the ones that really caught our eyes are here below for your viewing. "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). "Thank you all for your submissions - stay tuned for the August round!" Submitted by Happy_Hunter: Submitted by remis6809: Submitted by maximome: Submitted by Zblj1987: Please VOTE FOR ONE OF THE "YOUNG PEOPLE's" ENTRIES by the end of July 2010 by visiting the website http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Competition/voting.aspx . Here are the 10 finalists (in no particular order): "Lunar Robot" by pinouch98 -- "This lunar robot can move, back up and turn thanks to its two XL engines (one by caterpillar.) The arm can rise and go down, and the pliers can open and close": "Mobile Resource Derrick" by Doctor_McAwesome -- "The Mobile Resource Derrick (MRD) has caterpillar tracks that allow for the transport of an oil derrick over any solid terrain. Turning a knob by the end of the derrick will pump it up or can rotate the entire thing. The MRD is equipped with a working engine, doors, and a working steering wheel": "Moon Rock Harvester" and Buggy by legobob3333 -- "Moon Rock Harvester with a Scout Buggy. The Harvester has 4 functions. 1. The gear on the side can turn the crane. 2 and 3. The two pneumatic functions to raise and lower the claw. 4. The claw can open and close with a gear on the side. The Buggy turns if you turn the steering wheel": "Intergalactic Scout (IGS)" by AZ_RobotLab -- "The Intergalactic Scout is a robotic spaceship designed to map planets and collect soil/weather readings. The IGS’s cargo bay contains a satellite to help map the planet and a soil testing arm. When the IGS lands a PF motor automatically opens the roof and rotates the radar/communications dish": "Mars Rover" by TLT803 -- "This Mars rover has four wheel steering and a fold out arm for sampling rocks. The neck can fold down and the solar panels can fold up": "Mars Walker Machine" by krickrac94 -- "It's can walk with four legs. I build it by set 8265 & 8293. This machine have got a medium pf motor, battery box, and LED": "Lunar Explorer" by empereurlego -- "This is a 6 wheeled lunar exploration device. It is composed of a cabin with two seats and controls. It has a space probe launcher. It has it's own exploration robot, wich has a shovel, a drill, a camera and a satellite": "Motorized Mars Rover" by loganevanlegos -- "This rover is powered by a MINDSTOMS NXT brick and the drilling arm by two Power Functions motors. The front and back wheels have full independent suspension (the back wheels are for steering). Two NXT motors are for the middle wheels, they are geared down two a 1:3 gear ratio for strength": "Satellite" by eeeeeee7777 -- "It is not made by the NASA and tells you how the weather will be (not really :-) )": "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":

Have you ever wondered about fellow Adult Fans of Lego (AFOLs) and Teen Fans of Lego (TFOLs) that you read about on this forum? Like, what countries do we live in, how old are we, are we mostly guys, etc.? Even though this is "Eurobricks", are there many non-Europeans visiting this forum? Well, take this poll and find out! The answers are not being used for any "marketing" purposes -- it's just for curiosity purposes only. Select your answers, then check back often to this topic to see the results. Add your comments by "Replying" to this post. Thanks for participating!

On MOCPages , Nick Barrett has taken the classic Lego 8860 Auto Chassis set and made it into a Porsche 356 "2+2" convertible hardtop. Be sure to check out his 9 photos and detailed explanation of his creation. His brief summary: "Any fan of 1980s Technic will tell you how great the 8860 is... but it's not perfect. I decided to update it a bit with new features. This is not 100% MOC but I hope you don't mind. "Anyhow, I have given it a double wishbone front suspension with smoother acting steering with a steering wheel that manages to be closer to the middle of the seat. I've also rearranged the reinforcement of the rear end to find room for a pair of folding '+2' rear seats. There is a little more detail in the dashboard/centre console area and the front seat backs are shapelier and shorter and they've gained sliding headrests."

For those who are "disappointed" in the 10214 Tower Bridge set's scale, keep in mind that you could always travel to Legoland (or to London, England) to build your own replica. As the saying goes, "You can't please everybody". For some, the set is too small; for others it's too expensive. Here are the Microscale, Minifig Scale, and 1:1 Scale pictures:

3 points to Designer: Lego911 EntryID: 231 Name: Bugatti x 2

1 point for Designer: Bojan Pavsic EntryID: 146 Name: Circus Arena 1 point for Designer: SolidBrick EntryID: 104 Name: Farm House 1 point for Designer: Captain Blockbeard EntryID: 108 Name: Golden Gander SteamPunk Airship .

Besides the 8428 Building Instructions (which you already got from Peeron), use the part numbers from the Peeron Parts Inventory when shopping for the missing parts on Bricklink. Here's the 8428 Parts List: http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/8428-1 .

@ Shimon: If you cannot fit everything in one "box" on the back of your MOC, you could always add a trailer to contain all of the pneumatic stuff: http://www.dennisbosman.nl/lego/lego-t-var.html .

If you look on Blakbird's Technicopedia ( http://www.ericalbrecht.com/technic/ ), you can see that the Lego Technic set was released twice (as Set 8248 and 8463). There are other dual-issue sets listed there too.

Your MOC looks good so far. When you say "the problem is I don't know what to do on the back (dump truck, crane, arm)" , what exactly are you trying to create on the back? Is it a dump truck, a crane truck, or what? Recommend looking at the 8264 Hauler's building instructions ( http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/BuildingInstructions/default.aspx or http://www.brickfactory.info/set/index.html ) for ideas on how to make a tipping dump truck. If you want a Container truck, you can study the building instructions for the newly-released 8052 Tipper Trailer set: http://technic.lego.com/en-US/BuildingInstructions/default.aspx#8052 Group .

Sariel's excellent "Gears Tutorial" ( http://sariel.pl/downloads/ ) may be able to help you GEAR DOWN the single Power Functions XL motor so that it can move your robot. If you have more internal bracing to keep the axles aligned, maybe the gears won't have a chance to get out of line and slip.

Set 8248 (pictured below) is a Lego Technic forklift (as shown on Blakbird's Technicopedia): http://www.ericalbrecht.com/technic/forklifts.html . I think that if you're looking for a Technic "buggy", you've got the wrong set number. Look for it on Technicopedia here: http://www.ericalbrecht.com/technic/buggies.html . If you want to download the instructions in a single, Adobe Acrobat .PDF file, recommend using the LEGO.com Customer Service Building Instructions website http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/BuildingInstructions/default.aspx . It will save you the hassle of downloading individual .JPG images. Another source of page-by-page Building Instructions is BrickFactory: http://www.brickfactory.info/set/index.html .

BrickInside featured a motorized 8041 Race Truck: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39175&st=0&p=699656&hl=8041%20%20&fromsearch=1entry699656 .

I visited retail Lego Store outlets when I went to Lego conventions in Portland (USA), and I found their "Pick A Brick" wall prices to be about the same as the online Lego Pick A Brick store. Also, the SELECTION of bricks offered at the retail store cannot possibly satisfy everybody -- there were maybe 50 different types of Lego parts offered. The typical 2x4 brick on the Lego Pick A Brick store costs a whopping US$0.26 each! I'd much rather use Bricklink to get the 3001 Brick 2 x 4 parts (New or Used, in the color I want).

Since TLG has a license for creating Lamborghini models (and has only issued two small Lamborghini sets so far), the next Lego Technic Supercar could be a big Lambo. If it is, it's got to be ORANGE!

@ mdoupe: Check out this Lego 9V Motor Comparison page by "Philo" (Phillippe Hurbain): http://philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm . The relative power and RPMs of the Power Functions (PF) "Medium" and "XL" motors are shown, along with many others. @ tomacwhite: The RC Buggy Motors are shown on that page too. They are 5292 Electric, Motor RC Race Buggy .

The Lego NXT-based Wall-E that you featured (shown in the two top pictures below) is a bit different than the Power Functions-based Wall-E shown in this Eurobricks post , shown in the bottom picture below:

@ Zblj: I downloaded your LDD .lxf file and could see that the Turntable Differential is extremely strong. Mating a planetary gear setup to the turntable is a great idea. This TechnicBRICKS Blogspot post talked about planetary gears in the Power Miners-type wheels (parts 64711 + 64712 + 64713 ):

Want to scare your "significant other" with a Lego Technic spider? You can build arcanemettles' "Lego Technic Spider! 583 elements, 2 M-Motors, Theo Jansen style legs, and IR remote control. Each motor drives the legs (and pedipalps) on one side, allowing the spider to go forward, back, and to turn. Photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcanemettles/ and cut-away images and the LDRAW file are at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=438194 ."

"Barman" (aka Barebos) posted a YouTube video on a Lego Technic transformer that can go from a horizontal car to a vertical robot by itself! He wrote, "This is my first good working prototype of a lego based transforming vehicle to robot form and back. There was no room for a head and there was no good way to connect the arms on the shoulder joints. I'm very pleased with the progress I made so far. Note: It works by the use of 1 electric motor, some gears and a lot of links and liftarms. This video is no stop-motion, it is the real deal."

@ messiah1: The 2429c01 Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Swivel Top / Base Complete Assembly (which consists of the 2429 and 2430 parts) appears only in LDD Lego Universe Mode, and not the "DesignByMe" mode. I see it in the 10th parts pallette group (the one with the 2x2 plate with axle pins sticking out of the sides), 1/4 way down that group. If you don't have LDD LU mode, get it here .

There's a website named MOCshow which can host PDF Files: http://mocshow.com. It seems to be quite active and vibrant.

In case you missed it, on his Brickshelf folder, Netbulli/HUNLac5 posted 20 pictures and a video of this Lego Power Functions tank: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=321128 . He describes it as a "PF Tank, torsion suspension, working gun with a max range of 11m. Used 6 motors [two Lego RC "Buggy" motors and 4 PF motors]. See gun folder for further images about the gun." It shoots 6L or 8L Technic axles at a velocity of 12.5 meters per second. The YouTube video shows the gun in operation; there's even a quickie MATH LESSON to keep things educational and fun!

Things that can be done in LDD but not in Universe: Using a ROTATION TOOL on specific elements -- It may be there in the low-resolution LU video, but is too small to notice. Cool features in Universe that could be useful in LDD: 1. BEHAVIOR -- For Lego TECHNIC elements, this would be very useful to bend hoses so that they can form curves. A flexible Lego element may be able to ACT FLEXIBLE. If the LU programmers can make a minifig dance, they can possibly make a Hose or Chain bend. If adopted in future LDD updates, the LU programming blocks may also allow for SPECIFIC rotation angles (like can be done in MINDSTORMS). 2. ASSEMBLIES -- the ability to "quick-build" a wooden fort with pre-built modules. LDD 3.1 has the "Clone Tool", but one must build something to "clone" from scratch. 3. CHANGE PERSPECTIVE -- In the "Build" video, I saw a Watch Tower being lifted by a minifig and the surrounding landscape could be ROTATED while the tower stayed stationary. In LDD, a lifted part rotates to the same degree as the entire model does. 4. NO "COLLISIONS" or "ILLEGAL TECHNIQUES" to worry about -- Universe seems a lot more "foregiving" about bricks passing through each other, connecting with ease, etc. Bricks just float through the air; making flying "birds" in LDD is impossible right now.