DLuders

14-year-old "Nico24" just posted 8 photos of his "Trophy Truck" over on SeTechnic: http://www.setechnic.com/Forum/topic2904-30.html (look at the third page). For those who don't speak French, here is a rough English translation: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.setechnic.com%2FForum%2Ftopic2904-30.html&lp=fr_en&btnTrUrl=Translate (scroll 1/4 of the way down the page). [i wonder if "Nico24" is a relative of "Nico71"....] The MOC features knob wheel gearing, steering, suspension, and nice rollcage and front brush guard. Here are some of the pictures:

Here is a HUMONGOUS "Giant Lego Mindstorms Chessboard" being shown this weekend at Brickworld 2010 near Chicago, Illinois USA: http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/giant-lego-mindstorms-chessboard-fills-entire-room-20100614/ . "It’s called Monster Chess, and consists of a chessboard the size of a large room populated with Lego chess robots. Control of those robots is handled wirelessly from a tablet PC. The user selects which chess piece to move on the screen and after a short delay the action is carried out on the board." There are two YouTube videos available at that webpage. Some quick statistics about this creation: Has over 100,000 Lego pieces total (37,612 pieces in the chess board, 17,748 pieces in the robot bases, 17,114 pieces in the bodies, and 22,688 pieces in the mosaics) ! "The size of the board is 14.5 square meters , and the total cost of building everything came to US$30,000. This was no small project with four people spending a year creating it using the C# programming language and LabVIEW for the robots. There was of course a lot of Lego pieces to be put together too."

Yes, absolutely it's useful! My son and I have been trying to make a big Lego Technic Monster Truck with full suspension movement, but we've been limited to the 9.5L Technic Shock Absorbers that just are not long enough. We're trying to make something like the famous Bigfoot truck popular in the USA.

Yes, my lieutenants and I have been monitoring your progress....

You did a nice job modifying the standard 8264 "B Model" Flatbed Truck:

Bricklink has a whole "Gear" subcategory dealing with the "Plush Toy" genre: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=G&catID=512 . There are several Dragons and many Duplo animals.

For those who want 19L thick (and longer) Liftarms, you always have this option: http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=InanimateReason .

For the AFOL submissions in this month's TECHNIC Challenge, the Lego Technic Designers' Blog http://technic.lego.com/en-US/designers/blog/default.aspx?date=6/16/2010 12:01:00 AM says this: June 16, 2010 "The LEGO® Technic challenge - June Another round of the LEGO® Technic Challenge has launched and we have selected 10 new Finalists for all of you to vote on. "It seems that wheels were far more popular than Bridges - we have had a very good number of submissions and quite a few very good looking models. We have chosen a number of adult-submitted models for you here, our main reasons for choosing these have been design, alternative and interestingly technical solutions - and of course the use of wheels. "As always, the 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 July round!" By "Waler93": By "jhudak77": By "mhq": By "flubulbuk": By "Zblj1987":

The Prince and Princess should have these on their heads (from http://mocpages.com/moc.php/207698 and http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=434691 ):

The 10 finalists for this month's Lego TECHNIC Challenge have been posted on the Lego Technic website http://technic.lego.com/en-us/competition/voting.aspx . You can vote for your favorite amongst these creations (listed below in no particular order): "driving-giant-wheel" by "Legotechnikfreak1" -- "This truck with the giant wheel on the trailer has 22 wheels, 21gearwheels and one giant wheel.  this are 44 wheels. The giant wheel is motor-driven. The truck has two controlled axels. On the trailer there are pull-out stands and a checkpoint": "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": "Flatbed truck" by "edgars9727" -- "It has 10 wheels and 1 for reserve. Truck has 1 XL motor for driving. It drives with 4 rear wheels. 4 front wheels steers with 1 M motor. Wheels have a return to centre steering system. Flatbed moves with M motor and hydraulic. Drive up part moves together with it. Doors open with pneumatic system": "Stryker 6x6 Vehicle" by "mindstormmaniac1000" -- "The Stryker 6X6 is an all terrain, armored vehicle. It is remote controled using 2 XL motor at a gear ratio of 1:1.6 for each seperate axle and a regular motor for steering. It also featured a large and protective roll cage with a reinforced rigid structure. The Stryker can climb anything": "motorized off-road crane" by "Kees5706" -- "This crane has 8 wheels and one motor. It powers the arm of the crane, the turning and the cable": "Highway Vehicle Transport" by "legoguy3413" -- "working v4 engine,unloadable,holds up to 4 cars": "LEGO-ball" by "zeugnis" -- "My Model is a ball from Lego wheels that is remote controlled": "The Crawler" by "lu9599" -- "All-Terrain Borderlands Patrol Vehicle with Airborne and Tracked Reconnaissance Vehicles": "Deca-Mobile" by "savrem" -- "This ten-wheel vehicle is powered by 4 M motors (2 motors per side). It is remote-controlled and has a very short turning radius since one side can reverse while the other goes forward. It bends in the middle and drives very well over rough terrain": "spurk class heavy transport" by "hahahaxd" -- "Details Spurk Front 4 wheels motorized steering and driving (by limeted slip differential). Back 4 wheels have got suspention. In the back motorized ramp with little vehicle. Back car is ready for a big and heavy load. Spurk: 20 wheels Load: 8 wheels Little behicle 4 wheels Total: 32 wheels":

I don't know any way of manipulating the LDD .lxf file to alter the Building Guide Mode's instructions. Sometimes LDD creates instructions that have steps that add bricks in an illogical order. What I mean is, sometimes LDD's building instructions add ONE TIRE to a wheel, then jumps to adding a brick to the chassis, and then goes back and adds the second tire to a wheel. Human builders would concentrate on building the chassis completely, THEN adding all of the tires to all of the wheels (without jumping around). Don't give up on LDD, since the "LDD Manager" ( http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41993 ) is excellent for generating a Parts List. It's easy to use, and saves LOTS of time.

I like the open TECHNIC building style (which is reminiscent of the old-style Technic Brick sets from the 1990s). The hubcaps are interesting, and the open door frames are good. This lightweight truck should travel well over rough terrain! It is a good representation of the real FTTS International truck (from http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=742243 ):

You can use Lego Digital Designer (LDD) to generate the Building Instructions, since it has the ability of importing LDraw files. Open up LDD, start with a new (blank) baseplate, and use this computer keystroke sequence: File --> Import --> [navigate to the location of your LDraw file on your computer, then use the dropdown menu on the bottom-right corner of that window to select the "LDraw-Files (*.ldr)" option]. Your file should now open in LDD. If there are any parts not supported by LDD, or are not connected, you'll get a message. Once your model has been placed atop of the LDD baseplate, on the top-left menu, select Tool Box --> Generate Building Guide, or (alternatively) you can select the "Building Guide Mode" button at the top-right corner. You have now produced Building Instructions. To make them available in PRINT FORM for those without LDD, go to Tool Box --> Generate HTML Building Guide. It will create a folder which can be copied onto your computer. Make copies of that folder for others to build your model. Folks with LDD can just use the "live" Building Guide Mode, because they can ZOOM IN and out, rotate the model to see things better, etc. Static HTML Building Guides are not quite as useful because you're stuck with just one perspective and zoom level.

As always, Sariel has made a magnificent TECHNIC creation. His willingness to share it with the public helps advance the hobby. The attention to detail has inspired many other TECHNIC AFOLs. Thanks, Paul!

The text font in the TECHNIC Forum is a light grey compared to the BLACK text in the LDD Forum http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showforum=128 . The TECHNIC posts are hard to read as a result, because there is insufficient contrast.

From http://blogs.sun.com/kevin/entry/lego_monkey_butt :

If you replace the 16-tooth gear with the 6542 16-Tooth Clutch Gear ( http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=clutch+gear ), it really doesn't matter that the Power Functions Medium motor will be working hard because the clutch will slip AFTER the wheels are in their fully-steered, extreme positions. See the pictures below -- just swap the gears. The motor won't really be in a "stalled" condition when the wheels are at "full lock" (turning left or right). Be assured that the car WILL steer just fine with the self-centering hockey spring and the 16-tooth clutch gear. If you're really concerned about "Stalled Characteristics", read what "Philo" (Phillippe Hurbain) says about it 1/2 way down his webpage http://philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm .

I personally like Crowkiller's use of chromed wheels. After all, they are STILL LEGO underneath the chrome. When I restored my old 1955 Buick, I had to repaint the rusty steel wheels. Instead of using inferior Lacquer paint, I used polyurethane paint. Folks at the various car shows could still see that it was a BUICK restored to stock condition. When one puts fancy BBS wheels on a real BMW 3-series car, it still is a BMW. Owners are trying to achieve some INDIVIDUALITY and FLAIR by jettisoning the stock wheels for something more imaginative. Why settle for limited choices? Look at the 5 pages of various chrome wheels available from the GERMAN Chromebricks.com Bricklink site http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=ChromeBricks . They are reasonably priced. On the bottom of Page 2, silver chrome is plated over the same 44772 wheels used in the "stock" Crowkillers Lamborghini Gallardo kit. Of course, if you want to settle for the same old (boring) selection of Black, Light Bluish Gray, or Light Gray 44772 wheels ( http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44772 ), that's your prerogative by you're limiting yourself to self-imposed, rigid conformity. In my opinion, being a "Lego Purist" 100% of the time is silly and totally unnecessary. The man's wheels are STILL LEGO.

Here you go: http://technicbricks.blogspot.com/2009/09/...-to-center.html .

"Errhhh, Watto like it!" The use of wheels as the engine pods is different from what most folks would think for this month's Technic Challenge.

From http://www.kocke.si/ and http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=4515210 :

This could be a way of "stretching" a Lego balloon tire into a shape with a greater diameter and narrower width -- using Bill Ward's "Seven-Way Radial Symmetry Technique" http://www.brickpile.com/2010/06/07/seven-...etry-technique/ . The center of the wheel could be attached to a Technic axle, and the seven radial wheel 2x2 plates could hold spokes of the right length to STRETCH a balloon tire outwards:

Although the RC motors turn at a faster Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) than the Power Functions XL motor (1300 rpm vx. 220 rpm), you have already achieved the "drifter" car setup with your existing smooth wheels. The 8376 Hot Flame RC car (which is also a "drifter"; http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8376-1) has SMOOTH 44777 wheels: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44777 .

From his "Ratrod in Progress" webpage http://mocpages.com/moc.php/204027 , there's a link to this YouTube video of the Ratrod in motion: ! . The 5:43 video shows: (1) The pneumatic V-8 engine's speed being regulated by the lever in the center of the dashboard, (2) The chassis INDEPENDENTLY being lowered and raised, front-to-back, and left-to-right, (3) The big (non-Lego RC) rear tires being driven forwards and backwards (pneumatically) via the functional gearshift lever in the center console.

Check out the ENORMOUS "Ratrod" on MOCPages: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/207502 . I'm sure the Lego Pneumatics fans will love it! There are 33 pictures total (some of which appear below).