Fyredog

Anyone consider the "fun" factor of building this piece of art? I enjoyed every second - almost want to tear down and build again!

I have this same issue with my 8466

Cheers to That! I couldnt agree more - I love these complex sets!

Great Idea! Always someone thinking cleverly.

Cool Crane - I was thinking about possibly taking the 8043 body and adding a crane to it. Great job!

That is one Bad A#@ spider! Great job, and I love how you can control direction.

I agree

And those are fresh batteries? what kind ? I just pulled my TLG 8043 out and has the original batteries in it and has been played with by kids and adults, and still works good. My red 8043 uses the smaller rechargeable, and shows no sign of difficulty.

Mine works fine - although Mine is all direct drive not through a bunch of shared gears: My TLG 8043 seems to work fine, in fact I really haven't had too many problems with it

Question on inserting the Youtube videos - How? I am using the embedded code - but it seems not to work properly here

My take - The 2 actuators are more for show, you cannot have a mechanical advantage unless you power each LA by a separate motor. In fact you lose mechanical advantage by the drag of the 2nd LA. Also you are lifting all of the weight of the boom using one motor and two actuators. Whereas the other 2 actuators are not lifting as much weight and powered by a single motor with no drag of a second LA. Now if you added an XL to the 2 LA's you would have a better mechanical advantage as the XL has more torque. My crane works great with the 2 LA's and an XL motor and lifts a lot of weight - way more than the Excavator Boom. Just my thoughts. I concur with Blakbird, Great plastic model with no glue!

Just looking and wondering if you could fit 5 m motors there and still have all the gears operational? If you set all motors side by side, that would give you 3 more studs - the width of an m motor. Just sayin'

The bigger battery lasts a long time, the small 9 volt is meant to power 2 micro motors with very little resistance, so I haven't a clue an longevity per charge. Dude, when do we get some pictures of your Mods? I would normally have modded the 8043, but since I own a red one - no need. I am planning the mods for my 8258.

Yes, exact size as 9 volt. I used 2 of these in my Red excavator

I had bought all the stuff to do this for a rechargeable 9 volt lipoly battery for mods to my 8258.

I have noticed that anytime you pair 2 linear actuators together using one m-motor you will have significant drag and loss of power. My 8421 Mobile crane uses 2 linear actuators to raise it's boom, I had to use a XL motor for the torque to raise and lower the boom with no effort. The M-motors don't seem to have near the torque. My red excavator was geared differently to handle the extra added weight of my boom as it is bigger than the 8043. I just compared the 2 on raising the main boom. My 8043 does seem to struggle, but it still works fine. My red excavator seems to work better, but slower in action on all boom parts. My red excavator is faster in drive than the 8043, but slower on slew than the 8043. You have to admit though for all that is happening with the 8043 it is an amazing piece of work from Lego!

Thank you for you gracious words! I am considering making a pdf style building plan which requires complete reverse dis-assembly with pictures to assemble. My fear is something going wrong on the way - I know mine so well though I think I could fix any issues. My temptation to change things along the way would be tremendous, never the less I may just do this - as I would love for any one to be able to build my interpretation. Thanks again.

I hope this helps!

I love it - Old school Old school old school, and you mad a great MOC with old school! I bought a portion of that kit and bought the rest of the parts to complete that kit because it is so cool! Great work!

Here are my 2 excavators side by side. I absolutely loved the build - I am impressed with the thought put into making the 6 functions operate off the 4 motors.

Many Thanks!

I think Credit due if you use someones design or idea is well deserved.

I just went to my nearest Brand New Toys R Us, They had 2 8043's - (well not anymore) the 8053 and the motorbike (Plenty of stock). No 8052 Container Truck. I am Building my 8043 Now! The other remains in the box unopened for sale after these babies sell out! SWEEEET!

Dude....I love it! Great Job! Nice new fresh Idea!

I built this on my own using as many pictures from the internet as I could. There were many nights of frustration, but I figured out a lot of things on my own. I Really can't wait to build Lego's, but in the mean time I can turn mine on any time and excavate. Go for the video If mine were sitting on my desk at work - I think I would feel sick right after lunch - go home and start building!