DLuders

@ dr_spock: I know that Blakbird can make a MOC like this, since I know that he's flown HIGH POWER rockets at Mansfield, Washington. No, I don't have a video. The rocket "wiggled" a bit on liftoff (since the motor was not perfectly vertical in its mount). I did not dare fly it twice at an officially-sanctioned National Association of Rocketry (NAR) event, since rockets are NOT SUPPOSED TO come back down in a ballistic, "Lawn Dart" fashion! When designing flying Lego Rockets, there are these considerations: a) STABILITY (the "Center of Gravity" must be ~1 body diameter ABOVE the "Center of Pressure" for it to be stable. b) WEIGHT (the heavier the rocket, the lower/slower it flies). c) AIR RESISTANCE (the Lego 11x11 Death Star is not very aerodynamic; there is a lot of drag). d) COMPLEXITY (more parts --> more weight; I wanted it to be SIMPLE so others could build it). e) MODEL ROCKET MOTOR SIZE (I wanted it to fly on an Estes C6-5 motor, which is a common size).

@ Makuta: Why don't you use Lego Digital Designer (LDD) to build a computer model of your creation? It's easy to use, and you can make many Computer-Generated Images (CGIs) via PNG image files that you can upload to Lego CUUSOO.

To add to my collection of Flying Lego Rockets, I flew my Lego Technic "Death Star Booster Rocket" on an Estes C6-5 model rocket motor today. It flew to ~300 feet (~90 meters) before the ejection charge popped off the Lego Death Star "11x11 Hemisphere" 98114 + 98115 (from the current Lego 9676 set). The rocket consists of only 36 Lego pieces (no gluing). Eight 2780 "Technic Pins with Friction" hold the 64782 "Technic Panel Plate" Box Fin assembly together. Using 8 more "Technic Pins with Friction", four 32278 1x15 Technic Liftarms clip onto the gray 32324 "4x4 Technic Brick with Open Center" (placed upside-down to accommodate the black 3709b "2x4 Technic Plate with 3 Holes"). The Death Star hemispheres have studs on the top and bottom to press onto the Technic Plate. I had to carve the cardboard rocket motor casing with a knife a bit, to enable it to fit inside the "4x4 Technic Brick with Open Center". Remove just enough (about 1/4") on four sides of the top of the motor casing, to make a square-sided shape that is fairly loose. You want the motor's ejection charge to deploy the Death Star (via the holes in the Technic Plate) AND push itself off of the rocket frame at apogee. The motor hangs down; make sure it is aligned well for straight thrust. The black rocket frame and Death Star both impacted the earth hard , but everything just pops together for more flights! Nothing was cracked or broken. You can remove the minor black soot on the Death Star and Technic Plate by using White Vinegar. The rocket can also fly on an 18mm C6-3 motor (with a 3-second delay). Holes in the edge of the 5x11 Technic Panel Plates allow you to place the rocket on a standard 1/8" launch rod (as shown in the picture). I know that Blakbird is a model rocketeer -- are there any others who have flown rockets AND are Lego fans too? My SPokane Area Rocket Club (SPARC) NAR Section 626 buddies like to see unusual "Odd Rocs" like this. @ Alasdair Ryan: I want you to note that I made my OWN MOC!

@ calypso: Welcome to Eurobricks! It's good to see someone older than me that's interested in Lego Technic too!

I believe that Paul Boratko will be showing his new Lego Technic Porsche 997 GT3 at BrickMagic 2012 convention (May 17-20, 2012 in Raleigh, North Carolina USA) along with other MOCs in his stable! There are more pictures of the 997 GT3 on his Brickshelf gallery.

@ squizz: From his Flickr photosets, MOCpages gallery, Brickshelf gallery, and YouTube channel, 2LegoOrNot2Lego (Ingmar van Spijkhoven) sure has a lot of great Lego truck MOCs! I'm not sure how often he looks at this Eurobricks forum, so you should send him a Eurobricks Private Message (PM) to see if he has the time/inclination to make Building Instructions.

Daniel, that's a REALLY NICE Lego Technic Float Plane! It has excellent functions. Are you planning on keeping it intact for awhile? People attending the Brick Magic 2012 convention would probably love to see it. Of course, you can always fly it cross-country to Seattle Harbor for Brickcon 2012!

@ Brewc: I have built Jurgen Krooshoop's excellent Ultimate 8043. On this webpage, if you download Part 2 of the Ultimate 8043's PDF Building Instructions, you will see the 16 Bucket Mod steps (pictured above) on PDF page 10. The next few pages show the excavator's arm attachment points -- there really is no additional steps for the bucket per se.

Hey, I promise to build a MOC if Blakbird does too!

LUGPol member Trawson89/ trawaify/ Trawson21 recently posted this excellent of his BIG Lego Technic Road Grader GR-225A. View it in HIGH DEFINITION to appreciate its size! His description on the LUGPol Forum (in the original Polish and in this English translation) lists the specifications below; recommend reading the full LUGPol post for details. "Dimensions: Length = 118 studs / Width = 30 studs / Height = 35 studs. Weight: 3kg PF and Pneumatic Components: - 1 x PF XL motor - 5 x PF M motors - 3 x PF IR Receivers - 1 x Battery Box - 2 x Linear Actuators - 6 x Pneumatic Cylinders - 1 x small Pneumatic Cylinders" There are 21 images on his Brickshelf gallery.

@ grum64: I don't see any problem with posting your Unimog questions in THIS topic. Your previous topic about "Disabled Technic Builders" was a life story, with lots of empathy from fellow builders. Some Eurobricks Technic members (like Nico71, efferman, and Grohl) choose to place all of their creations into one, LONG topic. Others (like Sariel) post individual topics for individual projects. Yet others (like SNIPE) post multiple topics for the same project!

platystick has posted this of his 7th Lego Great Ball Contraption (GBC) module. He credits Akiyuky for the design idea:

[bUMP] Madonept just posted this of his "version of lego 8297 alternate model- Buggy! Used parts from other sets, added some huge wheels and Power function XL motors!"

Yes, thirdwigg's 4x4 8081 Extreme Cruiser mod is posted on Rebrickable and Brick Truck Trial. He wrote on Flickr, "The challenge for this MOD was the front axle. If I could get the front axle to work, I could get the rest of the project to work. As shown by efferman, a V-8 will fit, so with a little work, a couple CV joints, and some serious reworking of the front frame, I was able to add a driving axle to the front of the model."

[bUMP] You can download the Lego Easter Egg's 10-MB PDF Building Instructions (with Parts List) via SkyDrive at https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=5641cce2a1cc0886&resid=5641CCE2A1CC0886!292&parid=5641CCE2A1CC0886!279 . (OK, it's a few days late....)

@ CopMike: If you don't have the Lego Mindstorms NXT software, you can download the Lego CD-ROM images on this Brickfactory webpage. The zip files will have the same files as the original CD-ROMs.

9842@ CopMike: There is no difference between the two NXT motors you found, just as there is no difference between these Power Functions motors: 58121c01 and 8882 are both "Power Functions XL Motors". Bricklink lists both numbers, although Shop.Lego.com only lists the 8882. 58120c01 and 8883 are both "Power Functions M-Motors". Bricklink lists both numbers, although Shop.Lego.com only lists the 8883. You can get the 53787 "Electric, Motor - NXT" or the 9842 "Interactive Servo Motor" -- they're the same! Shop.Lego.com sells the 9842.

@ timr: I have built Nico71's yellow Trial Jeep, and it operates very good. Since Razvy_cluj_ro used the same chassis, Nico71's should indicate how it drives:

@ Steph77: Sinner is this forum's moderator; he's in Australia and will probably read this topic in a few hours. Only he (and other Eurobricks moderators) have the power to rename topics.

@ Zaiocrit: There was a recent Eurobricks topic about the "Future of Mindstorms" that discussed this question at length.

@ Lipko: As Steph77 indicated, it's the 2906 "Technic Propeller 4 Blade 7 Stud Diameter with Square Ends" part from the 8856 Whirlwind Rescue helicopter set:

@ CopMike: Have you seen Artifex Creations' Brick Lights? P.S. Thanks for donating all of the wonderful Unimog parts for the TSATS contest winners!

Well, no, Lego Technic does not work at "any" scale, but you may want to read Sariel's excellent Scaling Tutorial for Vehicles to see the various considerations involved.

@ steph77: Welcome to Eurobricks! I went to your Brickshelf gallery to admire the 9 photos of the Lego Technic Bell Huey UH1 helicopter. There are a few of them where I work, and I even got to fly in one so I know that your model is very realistic. I saw that YouTube video of a real helicopter's swashplate working -- you have done a good job with it. "A swashplate is a device that translates input via the helicopter flight controls into motion of the main rotor blades. Because the main rotor blades are spinning, the swashplate is used to transmit three of the pilot's commands from the non-rotating fuselage to the rotating rotor hub and main rotor blades": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbayhjZyCkY I read your initial presentation on the SeTechnic website (in French and in this English translation). I understand that you were working on this project (off and on) for 15 years? That's dedication! To all: The bottom of Page 7 of this translated SeTechnic webpage shows Steph77's model presentation the best. I'm curious to hear what aviation buff Blakbird thinks about your excellent MOC!

Maybe The Lego Group asks Technic AFOLs (like us) for input, in order to decide what sets to create in the future. Here is a timely TechnicBRICKS TechPoll (posted today) that we can take: "LEGO Technic fans have been demanding several new sets, elements, etc... and the LEGO Technic Team has brought a lot of goodies in the past few years. After the LEGO Power Functions (LPF) introduction, we got for example: •A large fully motorized excavator •The return of Supercars •Orange parts in abundance •A large RC Off-Roader vehicle •New PF motors on the way •Larger and more complex model flagships •And many new specific parts Certainly you still have much more in your wishlist, so we have decided for another small poll, populated with a with few examples. Fell free to vote as many as you would support and do not forget to add your own wishes by adding some comments to this post. For now I've included in the poll new, these new items (6 sets + 6 elements): •A Motorized Back-Hoe •A Motorized Fork-Lift •Yet another Supercar •A flagship Aeroplane •A Vessel •A large Tow-Truck •Longer Pneumatic Cylinders •PF S-Motor for small / low torque motorized functions •PF Linear Solenoid Actuators •PF Electro-Valve for remote pneumatic control •Integrated PF Pneumatic Compressor with cut-off •Compact PF Programmable Brick for light, sound and movement sequences or logics based on input sensors. Not exactly the MINDSTORMS but a smaller and compact Technic fit. So, which of these would you like to see into or as a further LEGO Technic flagship, in the years to come Or differently said, what would you like to set produced by TLG next? 'Technic'ally speaking... TechnicBRICKS' Fernando Correia DEFINITELY has a good connection to TLG's Design Team, so add your "Comments" there to make your wishes known!