Bricktrain

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5206795 A design I played with when the portals first came out, I didnt end up using it though, I dont really like the steering geometry with the portal hubs.

I had sold all my Lego when I saw the 8285 in Kmart for $180 NZ, RRP $249 and bought two, then a week later they still had them when they had a buy now get 50% off another sale so bought 4 more, which worked out to be almost half RRP each. Maybe I shouldnt have started back into Lego though as it has cost me $1000s since. I could say that buying the pneumatic cylinder brackets at $2.99 each was a bargain too when you see how much they are worth now, I am glad I have 70+ but could always use more.

8109 is more like a Volvo FM

some of my engines here most of my trains and wagons here http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=519857

Liking the train doors in black used on the bus. Funny that the stickers on the cargo plane were on the wrong pieces in the toy fair photo.

most Lego Technic gearboxes are dog boxes, though it is possible to have a crash gearbox with sliding gearsets. http://www.importtuner.com/tech/impp_1109_synchromesh_vs_dog_box/viewall.html

Yes it is common with yellow and red also. It hasnt been as bad lately as it was a few years ago though.

I always liked mechanical things, my mother says my pedal car spent more time upside down being repaired than driven, I even pulled her washing machine apart to fix it once, that was before I got to kindergarten. Meccano and HO trains were my favorite toys, though I was also known to be kept busy with a hammer, nails and a few bits of wood. I also ran an electronics club at High School. I would have liked to have been a strutural engineer, but became a Telecommunications Technician, then Linesman. After a redundancy I started a landscaping business, that led me into building houses, also some commercial work on stores and multi storey apartment buildings. After 15 years building I ended up working for a crane and construction company as a carpenter, and did some machine operating and heavy truck drinving when required, but eventually left there and started working for another crane and construction company as a Hiab operator. I also drive Tractor/ trailer units, rig and de-rig the cranes and transpoting them and heavy machinery, as well as rigging and dogging for the cranes. I have always enjoyed building cars and engines, mostly V8s, and raced a saloon as well as suporting crew for midgets and stock cars. I also like motorcycles, offroad and sports, prefering Kawasakis. Since my Saint Bernards grew too big for standard staion wagons I now have Landrovers, currently a 3.9V8 auto 110 hardtop and will soon be building a new 4.6V8 auto 110.

for a large crane the turntable on its own is not strong enough, often the Hailfire droid wheels http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=x784 are used as a slew ring. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5220863

Nice little crane, looks similar in size (reach) to my Rough Terrain

I think I saw some 5x11 yellow panels on the new crane so they may be easily available again

Even without superlift each standard boom section is 3.2m x 3m x12m so is a truckload itself, then there is a butt and tip,

Try 32 transporters to transport one with full superlift, 550 tonne configuration. We have one at work. Lattice boom does not have hydraulics for luffing though so doesnt really apply to this thread. Our Demag AC300 used to use a boom trailer but now has had the axles reconfigured so it is not required by NZ road regs. Still working on my Grove 5220 model, the full reach is just over 2.4m.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=64065

10219 is sold out on NZ S@H

Try bricklink, they are only around $60NZ there, I just bought another 4, they are so much easier than dismantling a locomotive to change batteries.

Yes with a differential between the two bogies, it is the same principle as any driven vehicle, the outside wheels always have to travel further, so unless you run larger tyres on the outside wheels like a speedway car (which only go around in circles) you have to use a differential between the two.

Actually, for the most part the 7499 is a good package, it has 12 straights, or 8 straights and 4 curves, for the average buyer. Just because we choose not to use the flex track doesnt make it a bad package, its just not what all of us want. And it is available from at least some toystores even here.

$199 in NZ, same as the Maersk, $162US

I dont know this truck, but some landrovers have a double cardan joint on the front propshaft but a live front axle.

Power pullers are the largest and are quite a bit bigger than the tractor / crawler wheels, both in height, (about 2 studs) and width, there is a pic in the show pics of your collection thread which shows them side by side.

Great job. I wonder if the windows could be detailed a little more, maybe round bricks instead of square for the side frames?

well done

what is it like when the suspension is level, the different lenghts of the tie rod links than the suspension arms means the geometry changes with height. if you change to 6l links the geometry will be more constant, though without changing the suspension arms to 6l as well there will still be some change.

I did actually build that, and it does work but still not as well as it should, there is still stress in the axles, less if you use #2 connectors between the axles that support the suspension, (The ones along the sides of the frames supporting the diff)and pivot it from the centre of those.