ukbajadave

It's obvious how this was done, if you look closely at the video you can see Buzz is equipped with a rocket pack and wings and that's how he flies

Just when I thought I'd sussed it! Of course it is obvious when you think about it that the virtual pivot moves with the steering arms. Does the yellow liftarm still follow a circular path around the virtual pivot though? That would suggest shorter arms give a larger steering angle for a given rotation at the expense of greater fore/aft movement of the pivot point? And yes, when the liftarm lies inline with the steering arm the whole thing locks up I'd love to get a handle on this because as @Jurss shows this seems like a great way to steer smaller models without needing huge wheel clearances. After reading this thread I've rebuilt the steering on my MOC and managed to make it slightly worse

Thanks @MajklSpajkl ! I can't believe the explanation is so simple. Does this mean that the yellow liftarm follows an circular path around the virtual pivot as badly drawn here?

I'm working on a MOC with virtual pivot steering and I'm struggling to grasp the theory behind it. This is the build so far, the PF servo drives the 24t gears which move the steering arms. Small turntables are used instead of hubs because I have turntables... I am a physical builder who mashes bricks together until they work so perhaps someone can explain to me (with small words and pictures) what happens when variables change. In the following pics assume the chassis is grey and the yellow beam is the hub. Firstly what is the effect of arm length? Longer arms widen the track but how do they affect the angle and movement of the hub? Secondly what happens when you change the spacing between arms? As always any help gratefully received

Is the black piece a 3l half beam and 2 smooth toggle connectors (32126) or a single element I don't recognise? I guess the aim is to shift the gear along the axle using the grey beam. Are there any restrictions which are pushing you to having the 1/2l gaps next to the gear? There is a gear which slides easily but only 8t I believe.

As a Technic noob needing building help, this seems like the perfect thread. Is there a way to make a compact flashing PF light? I was thinking along the lines of a motor driving a cam or lever connected to a battery box. In relation to the above posts how many sets of lights can you drive off one standard battery box? All help gratefully received

Would the double pulleys sit nicely on a quadrant piece using the frame above?

The "sun and moon" tools on the brick built weather vane are very creative part usage. If this made it through ideas it would be a brilliant part pack, all those lovely tiles!

I'm not much of a star wars fan but a quick look at some references shows the level of detail you have achieved, well done! I particularly like the greebling on the front left corner and the part use for the footboards. Also the colour change on the rear stabiliser(?) is very good. When I first saw the thread I thought I'd seen it already but of course that was the MOC of dmarkng. Looking at the internal construction of yours do you think it would be possible to model the interior as he has?

Nice work making a good looking truck (and it even has a proper truck registration plate!) What is the piece holding the mirrors on? The SNOT work on the bed is very smooth too, as a technic guy I have to ask does it tip?

Now you've pointed it out I can't look at a shield without seeing White shirt, Black tie

I'd enjoy building this as a proof of concept to appreciate the mechanism but noob question alert... This needs to be the older differential with 16/24 teeth right?

Wow! I was sceptical when I saw the title in the scale modelling forum but it really is Earth. What is the scale? I'd love to know a bit more about your process designing and making this like how you mapped the land masses onto the sphere and chose the colours. I'm guessing dark green is jungles? As for the build are the exposed studs a visual choice or are they needed for structural purposes? Did the sphere generator include the internal structure? Even if it's hollow it must weigh a bit. Thank you for sharing your work

Great work capturing the elegant curves at the top of the original rocket Thanks for the cutaway and insight into the design process. I find it interesting you set a scale first and built to that rather than choosing pieces that would give you the shape and then working out the scale after.

I picked this up in that sweet spot between "reduced to clear" and "discontinued" as a great parts pack, lots of panels, axles, universal joints etc. but I thought I'd build it once first. I now truly appreciate numbered bags. By the time I was 5 pages in I felt like I'd opened 90% of the bags to get one or two parts out of each one! That said I found the build very enjoyable. Some of the little details really seem to set it apart from other sets I own and the doors especially impressed me. Does anyone else think it was designed with motors in mind though? Lots of spaces are just about motor sized and I'm sure a battery box will squeeze in the back. Space for a couple of L motors if I can work out how to pick up the driveshaft...

It appears to be your standard technic Dark Bluish Grey. The odd thing is all my sets are in rebrickable which says I have 231 of these in Black, Red, White, Yellow and Light Grey but 0 in DBG?

This is my rarest piece as I only have one in this colour... Have I misunderstood the thread?

Nice work, the modifications to the rear are much more like the real thing. I have 42030 currently built on display and you have inspired me to try something similar. Also, congratulations on being photobuckets remaining user

The other thing I found was the cab would swing on its turntable at the slightest movement. I wanted to add some friction and a HOG so I modified the front frame. This meant the 12 tooth gear with a friction pin hitting a cross beam on the cab bottom. By swapping some 2l pins and 3l pins I moved it forwards. This has the added bonus of opening doors. That counts as a function I hope the driver doesn't knock his flask over when he gets in. Also above I added 2l beams to the valves controls. Furthers mods include PF lights which needed a shorter beam to clear the battery connector. I secured the white beam under the 2nd axle. I checked the instructions twice to see if I'd missed something but it really does seem to just swing loose otherwise? And finally a worm gear driven cutting head. I like the way the standard mechanism locks by going over centre but this will hold at any angle. If you look carefully you can see my failed attempt at a spring loaded blade. You can pull it back to "chop" the tree but because it rests in a forward position the tree no longer sits deep enough in the jaws.

Got this fun little set for Christmas and once I'd built it I set about modifying it. The first thing I wanted to do was add another pump for more air volume. I tried motorising the hand pump from 42053 but that was a non starter. So I moved on to 2 small pumps with an offset crank. Sadly the crank ended up 1/2 stud too long so switched to 2 pumps on 1 axle. To get a top mounting point I had to use the battery box as part of the frame so it is not quite so easy to remove any more. This also meant the roof panel moved back 1 stud.

I too missed this first time around. Pizza on the roof made me genuinely chuckle and I like the hazmat suits in the lab. Nice use of a cheese slope for Walters awful Pontiac as well.

The wheel covers do improve the look a lot, the original wheels are a bit small and 42056 wheels are too large IMHO so well done for finding the sweet spot. I wonder if something similar could be achieved with system parts like radar dishes as a cheaper alternative? It's interesting to see this set without stickers. I try not to use stickers on my sets as I always want the parts for MOCs and this Porsche looks surprisingly good without them, even the printed wheelarches don't look out of place as the red stripe is picked up across the back of the model. I wasn't sold on this set to begin with but I'm definitely liking the potential now, I think I'll still wait for a price drop though.

Thank you all for your input. I conducted a non scientific test for volume, connecting a large cylinder directly to the hand pump and then to the small 6L pump. Full extension was just over 2 pumps with the big and 6 or 7 with the small so the air volume is definitely larger per stroke. However, usually when I build motorised pumps I use 2 small pumps so straight away the effort is halved. @Erik Leppen I very much like the idea of two opposed pumps, I can imagine one being at full compression when the other is fully extended but if driven by a single cam I think they would have to be offset and thus the frame grows ever larger? (Also I only have the one pump ) I will take something apart to get an L motor as I think a further geared up M motor will still simply stall. Attempting to motorise the hand pump is a fun side project but ultimately I suspect 2 small pumps at full speed will produce equivalent volume to 1 large pump running slower due to the forces required to compress it.

Evening all, I'm not sure if this is worth a topic of its own so I'll post it here first and see how it goes. I'm trying to motorise the large pneumatic pump 6152004 from 42053 Volvo EW160, this is my test frame so far. The M motor is almost able to compress the spring but certainly not once any hoses are connected. So has anyone done this already and made it easy for me? If not is the next step to gear down more for torque or go to an L motor?

I thought it was because they allow you to "jump" the 1/2 stud gap between 2 studs? This plate doesn't seem to do that so I think "T tile" or "bracket tile" as the base has no studs.