RohanBeckett

Bah.. one of mine broke a while ago.. (just disintegrated in my hand one day)... I've been meaning to look up bricklink, and see how much they were!! I wonder if I should call Lego, and see if they have any spares in stock? ;) RB

Ugh.. I can't stand those old 4459 pins.. after 20 years, they are VERY stiff to use last year, I bought a 2ndhand http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8865-1 Test car, which came assembled, but very dirty/dusty My fingers nearly bled, after an hour of pulling the whole thing apart.. the set was in good condition, so the pieces were nice and sharp.. but those pins...!! Some were so tight, that neither fingers, axle-tools, or TEETH would get them out! I had to use a pair of pliers to finally extract them I've had Wisdom Teeth that came out easier that these things!! So I have a small tub of them now.. sitting VERY separate from my main collection of billions of 2780 pins I'm not that much of a purist that I save them for the old models! :) RB

Not sure how much power you'll get out of it.. but just thinking that this old power pack: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4760 might be the one with the 'least amount of air volume inside'... since it's a square battery in a square box other ideas, might be to fill the gaps around the battery cells in the PF packs, with plasticine, or something? Might add a bit of weight, as well as decreasing the volume of non-suckable air! :D RB

Maybe something like this might help? http://www.yzjcn.com...uum-sealer.html RB

Maaaaaate! can I be your new Australian Friend? RB

Heh.. ironic that that's the ONLY techfig that I've ever owned (I got it with the Polar Chopper, when I was about 11yrs old) I still have it, but it's in a very broken/loved/played with state I think my dad repaired the arm joint, at one time.. drilling a tiny hole, and inserting a small piece of wire, to strengthen it, alongside the loctite glue RB

If you get 8868.. then go buy a couple of airtanks to replace the fake ones.. I did it with mine (although I only have blue ones, and you can get white now) Makes the model MUCH more playable, as the compressor isn't the most powerful in the world. It's a good fun model to built and play with.. although I always found the main rotate pneumatics *very* touchy to control.. it's the one feature that might have been better geared RB

Something like this, I'm guessing? can you trim the tabs a bit, so they don't clip as strongly? I too used to fly estes rockets when I was younger too... unfortunately, the motors cost quite a bit out here in Australia.. so launches we definitely saved for good weekends! I do remember chasing a many drifting parachuted rocket over several km's of fields/paddocks! RB

Another Aussie here... just south of Melbourne Apart from a brother in law, who happens to like Technic, and has a dozen or so models.. I don't think I've met any other technic builders IRL... But it never bothers me that much, since there's so many cool people right here in this forum! RB

Pfft.. when I was an 8 year old boy, I just used this, as inspiration to make my own animals: http://www.peeron.com/scans/2-3/19 Should be pretty easy to make better ones these days, with all the newer, finer-detailed bricks!! anyway.. about time we get an official Lego Kangaroo! RB

http://fffff.at/free-universal-construction-kit/ Interesting Concept Plans for those with 3D Printers, to be able to create 'connector pieces' that join Lego, with various other construction toys. Not sure it's something I'll ever use, since I only own Lego, but something unique, nonetheless http://media.fffff.at/free-universal-construction-kit/images/free-universal-construction-kit-poster.pdf first Promo video on that page is very 'in your face' The 'ultimate connector' piece looks like something at the heart of a Katamari!! ;) RB

Really? I actually thought the steering, with the link-arms was quite clever, and made excellent use of the limited space at the front of the model. It's responsive.. not *too* sloppy (unlike some more recent link-arm steering models).. and provides a nice tight turning circle, which in turn gives a lot of playability. Just looking at mine now... and it's amazing how close the lower steering gear is (attached to the horizontal steering axle), to one of the drive-gears, next to the diff It's barely 1 mm away from grinding! Some designer got lucky, when positioning them! RB

Great MOC! My Dog does exactly the same thing with any RC car I drive around.. particularly the fast Lego Racers RC ones No snow here in Australia... going to be almost 40'c tomorrow though!! It's 1am in the morning, and still 25'c! RB

Sigh... just shows you how much you need Technic Frames these days, to do decent, compact studless models it's a shame Lego didn't create these frames 10 years ago! wish they were a bit cheaper on bricklink! RB

Just a tip: I downloaded the jpg's, and looked at the EXIF info.. I can see they were taken with a Canon PowerShot S3 IS When taking Close-Up pictures.. make sure you enable Macro Mode, (little flower icon), then, when you aim, and partially hold down the shutter button, you'll hear the lens whir, and it'll focus SUPER Sharp on close up objects (as close as 5 cm!) You just need to make sure you've got a bit more ambient light, sometimes (esp with black objects like those tyres) RB

Am I blind? I can't seem to see the actual hailfire droid wheels on this *anywhere*! I have a set myself - scored cheap off ebay.. been meaning to build something with them, one day... RB

I just watched the video, in high res, full screen... and there's definitely new main rotor + tail rotor blades (nice safe rubber tips!) The guy didn't demo the main rotor pitch changing, but the mechanism certainly looks big and functional - I would HOPE that those links aren't there for decorative purposes, or just to hold the blade at a set angle.. TLG Technic designers have been doing far too much good stuff lately, to skip such an important function, on such a large model! Note.. I do dislike geared mechanisms that are SLOW to operate.. the rear ramp seemed to take an excessive amount of turning, to move a small distance - other offenders in this category are 8265 and 8294... (oh wait.. that's any Linear Actuator set, without a motor!! ) RB

Bingo! fairly useless piece for me.. since I have almost zero bionicle! thanks - super fast response! ;) RB

Got this part, in a mixed bag off ebay... have not been able to ID after 20mins browsing bricklink! It almost looks like it's a sub-part, of a larger piece? the axle-hole at the end has cross notches inside, so an axle can't spin freely. The tabby things on either side look like something would clip into them... and the bump almost looks like it would accommodate a wheel - like a mudguard! Has Lego printed on the inside, and the only numbers are '1 01' underneath 'Lego' RB

Awesome! I wish I had the time, and studless building skills to do something like that! Best I've done so far, is my old-school studded Mini Moke! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51830&view=findpost&p=973560 :) Would love to attempt a fully studless version one day! RB

I manage IT in schools, and this would have been my first thought: Virtualize XP. Lock it down, if need be - it probably doesn't need network/internet access, if it's just running RoboLab to talk to the tower. Also.. interesting that 'old laptops can't talk to wireless' Gov. schools here in Vic, Australia have all been recently upgraded to a new 'Enterprise Level' Wireless system (Cisco 5500 based, 802.1x, statewide centralized sign-on), and we still have plenty of old XP SP3 laptops working just fine.. RB

I have an 18month old little boy.. so building any time that he's awake is impossible! late at night, is the only chance I get to open up all my sorted trays, and build something! I usually have a few tv shows to watch.. or a movie.. but my computer is behind me, so it's a bit hard to watch and build. RB

I'll brag here, and say that my copy of 8455 was the best ebay deal I've ever had.. I was browsing one night, and came across one listed.. with a Buy it Now, of AUD$50!! ...and it had only been listed for less than 20 minutes! needless to say, I couldn't click that button quick enough! :) I also recorded myself building it for the first time too! RB

Yup.. discovered this at the start of the year: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51830&st=0&p=925040entry925040 and Blakbird pointed out the obvious in the following post! :) RB

You guys are kidding right? click through to the youtube page itself.. change video res to 1080p.. full screen it... you can SEE the fishing-line holding it up!! quite clear, around the 20second mark... It's a neat model for sure.. but definitely not flying, or controlling by itself! RB