DLuders

@ grindinggears: Yes, the video shows the concept of the ball of 36T gears whirling around each other. The creation at BrickFest 2009 was just an upsized, motorized version of the crown gear "Lego Brain" video.

I like the LEGO TECHNIC Space Shuttle 8480 kit. It has a motored function (long before Power Functions came along), fiberoptic cables, and LOTS OF HISTORY behind it. The 1,366-piece set was sold in 1996 for US$158, and would be considered a "flagship" if re-released today. After the real Space Shuttle retires later in 2010, this Lego Set will be a museum piece to commemorate mankind's most complex machine.

Although I'm not a member of the Lego "LUGNUTS" group ( http://lugnuts-cars.blogspot.com/ ), their CARS theme shows a lot of innovation. Some of their MOCs are built in LDD and some are built with real bricks. Most of them can fit in the palm of your hand. If Eurobricks wanted to conduct an "LDD Car Building Contest", then I bet you'd have a lot of entries....

The boat is very nimble and fast. Did you use pieces from the 8376 Hot Flame RC set ( http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8376-1 )? The greater range of the signal (radio vs. infrared), plus the two 5292 "Electric RC Race Buggy Motors", make for an effective Lego boat. Maybe you can sail it out to the North Sea for some "sea trials"!

"Blakbird" may recall seeing this Lego Technic creation at the Brickfest 2009 show in Portland, Oregon USA (March 2009). Someone had made what I'm calling a "Globe Flower" made of black x403 "Technic, Gear 36 Tooth Double Bevel" pieces ( http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=x403 ). A 2868b "Electric, Train Speed Regulator 9V" controls the rotation speed of a central, vertical "flower slalk" that (in turn) is connected to a series of gears. The outside of the ball is a set of x403 36T gears that form the twirling outside of a ball. [Perhaps Blakbird could add his impressions about this "whirligig" creation; maybe he has a video of it.] Alas, I have no video of the creation in action. It was mesmerizing to watch. Two more photographs appear at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=432707 . I never had enough of the x403 gears to attempt to build it. It looks like there are 9 or 10 pairs of 36T gears....

Your MOC reminds me of land-based oil wells pumping in Texas or Oklahoma USA. Did you come up with our own design, or did you get any ideas from the Lego Pneumatic Engine (LPE) website http://www.nicjasno.com/ ?

I got this answer from John Neal, who operates the Bricklink store with the yellow 6005 bricks. He wrote, "Hello- All that I can say is that I bought them all off of a guy some years ago. I do not actually know from where he got them. Hope that helps." SO, the mystery continues....

I looked in my "LEGO Collector's Guide" book that I bought at LegoLand USA, and there is no Set 7012 listed at all. I sent a message to the owner of the single Bricklink store that carries the yellow 6005 bricks (Brickwear.com in New Jersey USA). I asked him where he obtained so many (over 200); perhaps he can shed light on the mystery. If he replies, I'll forward his answer here in this forum....

The 8271 Wheel Loader Set from 2007 ( http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8271-1 ) has been made into 23 different MOCs by "grohl666". I know of no other set that has been made into so many different MOCs by one builder. Originally costing US$20, the 200 pieces in this set look like this when building the standard 8271 model: Grohl666 has great imagination to come up with these alternate models: ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER (APC) -- "Alternative model of 8271 Lego Technic Excavator set. The armored carrier has a steering front axle, opening cockpit and raising heavy twin cannon. Comments or questions at grohld@centrum.cz." See the 8 pictures at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=384156 : BOBCAT LOADER -- "Bobcat using parts from 8271 with steering front wheels, raising and leaning bucket." See 9 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3444431 : SCRAPER -- "Scraper features steering front and elevating and lowering back part" (11 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=356417 ): SUBMARINE -- "The submarine moves the main propellor to the left and right. Adjustable side motors for controlling the depth, rotating propellor blades and working mechanical arm." View the 17 photographs at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=364648 : THUNDERBOLT -- "A-10 Thunderbolt. Working ailerons are controlled by a lever behind the canopy" (7 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=358604 ): TOW TRUCK -- "Tow truck has working steering, raising and lowering crane and working stabilizers." See the 8 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=361000 : WASP "...features rotating head, moving rear legs, abdomen and wings (see the 8 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=402687 ): DEVASTATOR TRIKE -- "Alternative model made only from 8271 parts. Moveable rail gun on the right side of the vehicle, opening canopy, turning gun turret and elevating twin machine guns. The front wheel has a unique construction." 8 photos are at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=354308 : DUMP TRUCK has "Steering wheels and working dump box" (15 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=349192 : HELICOPTER -- "Working rotor is operated by the gear on the left side of the model" (15 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=353349 ): HEAVY 'COPTER -- "Two rotating blades operated by a wheel in back. Opening cargo doors in the back of the helicopter and moveable machinegun on the right side of the aircraft" (8 photographs at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=370255 ): HOVERCRAFT -- "Hovercraft can steer thanks to the moving front wheel.The propeller rotates when the hovercraft moves on the floor." 9 pictures are at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=359674 : HEAD SKULL -- "14th alternative model I made of 8271 Technic set. Moving jawbone and eyebrows help to change the expression of the face. Really fun to play with this model" (12 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=376573 ): PTERODACTYL -- "My 15th alternative model of Lego Technic 8271 Excavator set. The pterodactyl waves his wings." Check out the 7 pictures PLUS VIDEO at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=383242 : RAPTOR -- "This model has no functions except moving jawbone but it really looks as a velociraptor." View the 11 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=385832 : MONSTER TRUCK -- "21th alternative model of 8271 front end loader. The model features pendulous front axle and working crane" (10 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=406788 ): OLD TIMER COUPE -- "The car has steering wheels, opening doors and trunk." See the 14 pictures at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=350582 : CRANE -- "18th alternative model I made of 8271. The crane can rotate, raise or lower the arm and you can control the winch." See 6 pics at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=390179 : . MAGPIE BIRD -- "Nineteenth alternative model of 8271 excavator. Moving beak, wings and tail." 11 pictures of the Magpie ("Elster" in Germany) are posted at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=400835 : VULTURE is "A spaceship made only from 8271 set parts. Opening canopy, moving wings." See the MOC's 9 photographs at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=348325 : MONSTER-- "21st alternative model of 8271 excavator. The model features pendulous front axle and working crane." See the 10 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=406788 : TRACTOR -- "22nd alternative model built of 8271 Technic set. Model features moving front bucket and working tedding machine" (10 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=410216 ): PORSCHE has "no functions except opening trunk" (9 photos at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=344452 ): See the entire set of the nineteen 8271 MOCs (plus more) at grohl666's Brickshelf Gallery http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=grohl666 . Maybe you have enough of the needed parts already ( http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8271-1 ) to make some of these models. Check his Bricklink gallery periodically; he may think of another Alternative MOC!

I tried to edit the title of my original post, but all I can't edit anything but the body of the text. The EB site administrator will have to edit the title. On second thought, I'd delete the entire post if I could.

Here's a video by "preedalist" about his "Lego Mindstorms Humvy" -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDtp_EQjRlQ...feature=channel . He wrote, "This robot is from the NXT 2.0 original set, the other four wheels are from the old Mindstorms kits (Off Road Truck)." It shoots projectiles at empty drink bottles!

As "dr_spock" suggested, I would get your own bricks from your favorite Bricklink shop, and then go to your local trophy and engraving shop to get them to engrave the bricks. The same computerized tools used to engrave the metal and plastic trophy placards can easily engrave Lego bricks. You're making this too complicated. I bet you can get the whole job done in less than 2 weeks.

Isogawa also has made the free "Tora no Maki" booklet available for download on his website http://www.isogawastudio.co.jp/legostudio/...troduction.html . Scroll down 1/2 of the way down that webpage, and click on the button at the bottom of the "Tora no Maki" paragraph. The 82.1 MB (wow!) PDF document contains many clever little Lego Technic assemblies that are elegant and simple to understand.

You're going to need 2 ea. AA battery boxes to power two XL and three Medium motors at once. From the guidance on http://powerfunctions.lego.com/en-us/faq/manymotors.aspx , "As a rule of thumb you can drive 2 XL Motors or 4 Medium motors at the same time. The Battery box and the RC receiver are overload protected, so driving too many motors will not damage anything. When overload protection is activated the Battery box or the RC receiver will cut of power to the output until power consumption drops under the allowed value. To regain power unblock the motor or disconnect motors from the output. The power a motor consumes depends on the load you put on the motor. At a sensible load (what we call nominal load) the motor is most effective. If the motor is blocked it will consume a lot of power. The XL Motor takes about twice as much power as the Medium motor."

You could possibly adapt this NXT Dune Buggy into a Trial Truck: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/68758 . From the link on that website, I'm sure you could contact the builder (NXTLiftBoy) for some tips.

I think your idea has potential. From the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPherson_suspension , there's a schematic picture to show the MacPherson Suspension concept: A simple MacPherson strut suspension on the left front wheel of a rear-wheel drive vehicle Red section = steering knuckle or hub carrier Blue section = lower control arm or track control arm Light blue section = steering gear tie rod Lower purple section = radius rod Upper purple Section = coil spring Yellow section = tubular housing containing shock absorber or damper

You could make the ratchet (anti-reverse) gear mechanism like this: http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/roboti...a/ratchet.shtml or http://thenxtstep.com/smf/index.php?topic=825.0 . Since the gear will be flat on the floor, gravity can't help you so use a rubber band to keep the ratchet on the gear teeth.

Yes, the Slammer Turbo 8242 set from 2001 was pretty cool:

Peeron.com lists the 8887 "Transformer 10V DC" also as 86444, "Electric Train Speed Regulator 10V Power Adaptor for 120v 60Hz". Bricklink.com has various "Transformers" listed, so for European use, the 10VDC 9833 "AC Adapter, 230V - 10V Transformer" should work. Note that there is a 9833-3 "AC Adapter, 230V - 10V Transformer Type G Plug (British)". See http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=transformer for the entire list. Peeron lists the 9833-1 as 230V, and 9833-2 as 120V (see http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?...&limit=none ).

Yes, the buying public would probably like to see this early TECHNIC model reissued again. I don't think Mom/Dad would care what Lego "theme" it is sold under; it's looks like FUN for their young kids to build, and it has the CLASSIC Lego look. Blakbird has a very good review of the model on his Technicopedia site: http://www.ericalbrecht.com/technic/851.html .

The original Hoberman Sphere is an interesting toy. According to the Wikipedia acticle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoberman_sphere , "A Hoberman sphere is a structure that resembles a geodesic dome, but is capable of folding down to a fraction of its normal size by the scissor-like action of its joints....A Hoberman sphere is not a true sphere, but a polyhedron...." Several LEGO fans have attempted to replicate the Hoberman design using LEGO Technic parts: 1) Akos Kostyan built a "Magic Sphere Ball" with enough step-by-step photos to make your own ( http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/5599 ): 2) Jason Allermann has this version which he displayed at Brickfest 2006 ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1990798 ): 3) Inspired by Jason Allermann's design, Barman made this colorful interpretation ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=245253 ): Maybe its possible to MOTORIZE the opening/closing action via Power Functions. Perhaps you could use the entire range of TECHNIC colors, and make a Hoberman Sphere that looks like Chris Behren's Color Wheel ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=431972 ):

The T-shaped piece that Peppermint_M suggested is the 4696b "Pneumatic T Piece New Style (T Bar)" ( http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4696b ). The old style piece 4696a could work too.

That Optimus Prime page can be translated from French to English: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?d...TrUrl=Translate .

OK, that makes sense. Maybe Holodoc's proclamation that "TLC proudly presents the 8 channel IR RC" is old news. At least the new, 4x8x4 6-celll AAA Battery Box looks like a good addition!

@j3tang: Yes, the Optimus Prime model you pointed out above is very nice. Its creator (Orion Pax) has posted one picture on Flickr and 12 on MOCpages ( http://mocpages.com/moc.php/194355 ), but I'm not sure if there are enough pictures to be able to build it. Orion Pax didn't provide any Building Instructions like Chris Roach's Optimus Prime. Maybe they're similar in design....