bluescrn

Still a pretty small set then, too. At 594 pieces it's not going to build all those models shown in the thread (particularly, two types of tracks: rubber and links). So I'm guessing the included parts will be rather close to NXT 2.0, aside from colour changes? Seems somewhat overpriced to me, when they can put out the ~1100 piece 8043 (with loads of PF gear), for much less. Or course, anyone in this thread is likely to have tons of Technic lying around. But maybe not in a matching colourscheme. If they're doing another add-on resource set for the educational version, they really should release that to the public too. The NXT resource set always looked like a nice package of parts, but wasn't exactly easy to get hold of, at least in the UK...

Ah, that's cool then. The medium motor definitely looks useful. Kind of a shame the intelligent brick is still so large, and presumably still full of AA batteries. Surely it's about time that they moved to a rechargeable LiPo pack for a pricey set like this? - then they could make things a bit more compact. Right now, it doesn't look llike an amazing upgrade from NXT 2.0. Especially if the medium motor may be usable with an older NXT set?

With the same sockets and intelligent brick size to NXT, it looks like it's probably still limited to 3 motors? :( Doesn't look a huge step forwards from NXT, beyond software/firmware?

I build+fly small RC quadcopters, and I've got a couple of small RC helis, too. And I can't see any way that a heli or quad will ever fly from pure Lego :( A helicopter rotor head is way too complicated (and needs to operate at very high speeds), and to control a heli, the minimum you'll need is two motors (main and tail) and two servos to control the rotor head. Quads are much simpler mechanically, but still need to be light, and have a lot of motor power for their weight, as well as a controller board with accelerometer/gyros to stabilize them. An NXT could probably do that, but they weight rather a lot... Your best option is probably to build a quad using a Lego frame, and proper RC gear (RX, motors, ESCs, props, control board), but disguised as Lego. Maybe you could even control it with an NXT, and modify the NXT to conceal a LiPo battery? Not sure if an NXT could drive ESCs though. Maybe you could use the shell from a dead NXT, and squeeze in a battery and KK2 flight controller (http://www.hobbyking...trol_Board.html)? Maybe even mount your brushless motors in PF motor casings?... At least a couple of people have built Lego frames for RC quadcopters, but I've not seen anyone try to make one that looks like an actual 'Lego Quadcopter' though...

It's not Technic... but the Mythbusters did a bit of fairly spectacular lego model destruction... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoh6OxakbiA

Am I one of the few with one that seems to work just fine? The only (minor) issue that I've had is that the track movement isn't entirely smooth - but considering the complexity of the transmission and gearing system involved to drive those tracks, I'm impressed that it works as well as it does! No problems with the main arm (pair of linear actuators) - although I was quite careful to make sure the two were well aligned when assembling it Maybe I've just not played with it enough to see any issues... the real fun is in the building. To me, this model is a masterpiece of Lego engineering!

As a newbie to studless building, just returning to Lego after quite some years, I'm finding it surprisingly tricky to orient beams the way I want them without lots of small joining pieces. For example, building a small frame around a differential. So how about studless beams with alternating hole orientation?: ||O||O||O||O|| Also, something very simple that seems to be missing is 2-high studless beams e.g: OOOO OOOO May be a better fit than the usual L-arms in places? But the number 1 piece I'd like to see is an NXT 3.0 brick with support for significantly more than 3 motors! (Or an NXT motor multiplexer)