Jurgen Krooshoop

As I commented on his MOC-[age: this is an awesome model. Everythins is very good: the looks, the technical elements, the modular design. It's another great build from a true Car-Master.

Oh man. I like your animal models so much. And the parrot & owl are surely no exception. And the fact that they're 1-set-alternatives makes them even more impressive.

Very, very nice

I really really like this car. The looks & style are wonderful. Could it be that I've seen this one at a Lowlug meeting ?

I'love to come to your house and do a digging match !! 8-) And wouldn't it be so cool to have Lego-hydraulics (although I think it won't happen) ? Then we could really build a super-excavator. And you're right about your comparison between the Ultimate 8043 and JC's excavator. My focus was mainly on making the most efficient toy-digging-machine. Since I've make a pneumatic excavator already (which is technically equivalent to JC's version), it was a lot of fun to see the differences between the 2.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. It's not just about falling booms. This is just one example. Since you're controlling 2 pneumatic valves with one hand, you need to move it very precisely, which is quite difficult with Lego-valves. You have to pay too much attention on how far you have to push the valve, while you'd want to pay more attention to the model itself. This makes operating pneumatics less fun for me. IMO Lego pneumatic valves aren't suitable for making the pneumatic cylinder move exactly as fast as you want. What I'm saying is that the reation of LA's is much more predictable than pneumatic cylinders. This makes it much easier to make the excavator do what you want it to do. Even when the model moves slower, it still takes less time to do the task you want. I know this from personal expierience, cause I've had a pneumatic and LA-excavator side by side. And the pneumatic hoses connecting the remote to the excavator are a bigger issue than the "line of sight" needed for an IR-receiver. With the hoses, the model is never really "free" which annoyed me when plaaying with the pneumatic excavator. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of pneumatics, but please don't discard LA's as boring, just because you don't like them.

Thanx !! And just as you, I would also dare to dig with my Ultimate 8043 against JC's excavator. I do agree with Blakbird though in the fact that JC's version is the prettiest. And it's design is still awesome, especially considering is was created in 2003 !!

Ok, I can't compare Jennifer's excavator, but I did create a pneumatic excavator (DEC-24) based on the same principles as JC's creation. And as some of you know, I created the Ultimate 8043 with a smaller bucket and full simultanious control of all the functions. If I would make a top 3 of these 2 models and the standard 8043, it would look like this: 1. Ultimate 8043 2. Pneumatic excvavator DEC-24 3. Standard 8043 I put the normal 8043 in last place because not all the functions can be operated simultaniously. And IMO is crucial to be able to slew and operate the boom at the same time. Even though It's gearbox is a genius piece of technical engineering, it doesn't make it work nicely. And the bucket is way too big and doesn't move in and out far enough. The Ultimate 8043 wins from the pneumatic excavator for 2 reasons: (1) complete remote controll (without pneumatic tubes connecting the remote and the model) and (2) precision. IMO LA's do give better controll over movement of the boom, dipper and bucket than pneumatics. The problem with pneumatics is that they are powered from one powerfull compressor. Lifting the entire boom eg takes a lot of power, so it's slow. Lowering the boom goes way too fast, cause the boom "falls" (this can be seen in my video and in the video's of JC's excavator as well). Operating the dipper with the same powerfull compressor makes movements of the dipper too fast, making controll difficult. OK, pneumatics might have some more power, but in this case I definately prefer the controllability of LA's. It's just much more fun to play with, and makes the excavator do better what you want it to do. And it's the Ultimate 8043 with which I spent the most time diggin (cause it's so much fun), much more than my pneumatic one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4La2-epwoQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Here are the instructions for the return-to-centre steering that I implemented in my Black Devil Sportsar.

They're for the old model. I can make an MLCad-file of the new steering-system, if people are interested.

Thanks to Mixtil & Blakbird, I was able to correct a number of mistakes in the instructions for my Little Devil. The updated instructions can be found on my website Jurgens Technic Corner. And after correcting the instructions I felt the urge to build this model again. And of course I changed it a bit. First of all, the colours were changed (I really like the black/yellow theme, reminds me of the epic 8880). Due to the new colour, I gave it a different name: I call this one "Black Devil" Further improvements: * It now has return-to-centre steering, making it easier to controll * Receiver was placed higher for a better communication with the remote controll * Spoiler was changed. It now has a more Demon-like look * It now uses the 8878 rechargeable battery (no more batteries needed !)

Thanx, I found 'em !

Can you post a link ? I looked, but I couldn't find them.

The best wishes to everyone, and a happy New Year which will hopefully bring us lots of fun building with bricks !

In my first set of 8043-mods, I placed the 8878 in a "standard"-8043. I hope that in this video you can see how it's attached. I can't take pictures, cause the model has been disassembled already.

I've built quite some models with pneumatics and with LA's, and both systems have advantaged and disadvantages. I like LA's for their precision and size and I like Pneumatics for their flexability and power. But I agree that an official set with a combination of PF and pneumatics is highly desirable after so many sets with LA's. That Unimog looks like a set I'll put on my wanted list 8-).

And again, I agree with you, Ralph. The choice between a hockey-spring and shock-absorbers depend on the shape of the rest of the vehicule. I think the hockey-spring setup will allow a better steering-lock though. And where your building style is mainly Model-team, my style is mainly studless Technic. I don't mind if some of the technic-stuff is a bit visible. About the overheating: I did notice that the steering motor gets quite hot, but I haven't had any problems with malfunctioning motors. I guess PF-motors can take a bit of abuse. I didn't experiment with a combination of the 24z clutch gear and R-T-C-steering yet. I'm afraid that with that combination, the centering won't work well, but I'll have to try it sometime.

I agree with Ralph that return-to-centre-steering works very comfortably and gives good controll in combination with the joystick-remote. I did notice 2 disadvantages though: every R-T-C-system I know involves a stalled motor to keep the wheels in steered-position. This will cause the motor to overheat. And it doesn't work well with the speed-controll-remote. The return-to-centre-steering with "shock-absorbers"doesn't nessecarily take up more space. In my I used this system, cause I couldn't fit in the hockey-spring.

If you really want to "upgrade" your 8043, then you might try my "Ultimate 8043"-MOD. You will need quite some extra parts (which will not be cheap), but it'll give you a 8043 with properly working boom, better bucket-operation and simultanious controll of all the motorized functions. Instructions and parts list can be found on my website Jurgens Technic Corner.

On my website Jurgens Technic Corner there are instructions for a number remote controlled PF-vehicules. One thing is important: allways secure all the gears and axles you use for PF-drivetrains.

I also wish you all a very happy Christmas and a constructive new year. And I wish everybody lots of fun building & plasyin'

I like this very much. Small, cute & realistic.

Very nice and original

Because they're all Backhoe's. Same reason as everyone here's comparing the (more expensive) 8455 to the 8069.

But the 8043 is an excavator, my model is a backhoe loader, those are 2 different things. And my Backhoe loader has more functionality than any backhoe TLG ever released.