allanp

Be careful what you wish for. An evil wish master might say "A modernised version of the space shuttle you say? Right then, let's have a bunch of bright red, blue and yellow visible, let's not have a micro motor, let's not have intricate and varied gear reductions and belt drives, and let's make it a car! You did ask for modernised right?"

It's hard to say, TLG are so secretive. Things go away for a while and then come back years later, others go away and never return (like the flex system sadly). My general feeling (speculation) is that, at minimum, PU is being reworked to better meet fan expectations, but probably more likely it has been canned entirely, and if they're starting over totally from scratch then it'll take a few years before we see it. But I think there will be.... something. Technic, among other things, is meant to be "Lego that moves". Motorisation is too important to leave off the table entirely. The question of RC is a bit more complicated. On the one hand, it does increase playability (if there's a physical remote). On the other hand, it increases costs and has mostly been used as a replacement to the mechanics that Technic was so prized for, rather than an addition, which to my mind removes the justification for the extra cost. Being a replacement also invites comparisons to other RC products that have far better performance for less money. I feel these comparisons wouldn't be made so much if the main focus was kept on the mechanics, where Technic has the potential to be impossible to beat. The current RC system is also app dependant which pulls it further away from feeling like a genuine Lego, screen time free experience. In my opinion those issues aren't inherent to RC in general, only to TLGs chosen implementation of it. RC can be a great addition to an already great Technic set and there's solutions to all of the issues mentioned above. RC can and likely will return to larger Technic sets but probably not in the form of an app controlled smart battery box, and almost certainly not in 2026.

YAY! Loved this retrospective of a legend.

Me too! I was going to post this exact thing

Real hydraulics will sag as well depending on the age of the equipment.

Besides being big enough to transport 1:8 scale cars, what other reason or functions could it have to justify such a huge set and likely highest ever price tag? I'm thinking: 1) New truck wheels with a very deep offset like real truck wheels, where you can directly bolt/pin two if them back to back and still have a small gap between the tyres. 2) Maybe realistic leaf springs (thin spring steel strips with over moulded plastic end pieces perhaps) supplemented with air suspension that automatically adjusts the pressure to keep the suspension feeling right no matter if there's no cars loaded or if it's full of cars. There could also be a new steering hub using the roller elements inside the hubs of the moon rover, but without the ball joints and with a longer steering arm for more mechanical advantage to help steering. Like how they introduced parts for 1:5 scale motorbikes, the parts needed for 1) and 2) would be great for a large number of future large scale trucks, and there's so many more different truck type vehicles they could make than there are different superbikes. 3) Personally I think it really should be motorised, maybe not full RC unless it has a BIG physical remote with lots of controls. The motors should not struggle to lift any ramps loaded with 1:8 cars into place with good batteries, and of course it should mimic how real ones work (so no linear actuators!) 4) Realistic tie down straps, to safely tie down and secure the wheels (you know, for a greater sense of immersion during play time.....I mean operation!) These would use new fabric strap pieces which might sound too specialised however, they could also be used as lifting straps in future crane models, and also as working seat belts in future 1:8 cars. Maybe the original comment about a 1:8 scale car transporter was only joking, but I mean, with how popular the 1:8 scale cars are, then why not? If it was designed with the mindset of "let's not just make it big for the sake of it, but because it's functions and mechanical authenticity justify it's immense size and price" then I'd be all for it.

Watching this made me think of this thread. Imagine a fully RC PNEUMATIC recovery truck like this one, with new more powerful motors/compressor and a new electronics system which includes a control center 3 that looks quite like the actual real controls handed to Guy at about 2:56 in the video.

I think PU has a part to play in all this. To have truly great "models that move" you need a good eco system of electronics to power them and sadly, while PU was impressive in it's own way, it wasn't at all right for Technic. It's very telling to me that in all the technic YouTube content I watch, I hardly ever see them use PU hardware. I'm sure there's some, but they mostly use Buwizz, 9v, PF, mindstorms or some other third party electronics. On the subject of cars, cars and more cars, yes I'm sure they sell well, but I wonder how sustainable that'll be in the long term. Surely so many cars will saturate the market pretty quickly right? And if we look to brickset to see how many Technic sets are owned, the top sellers are the big 1:8 scale cars with the complex gearboxes (not the flood of 1:10 and smaller scale cars we're getting), and of course the mighty Arocs is right up there standing proudly among this group of all time top selling cars! And then if we look at Amazon (well, Amazon UK for me) for Lego technic and look for the best sellers in the past month, it appears as though most of the cars are being outsold by the Artemis rocket, and to a lesser extent but still outselling most cars is the 42198 bush plane. The Mack LR garbage truck and the 42179 Earth and Moon seem to still be keeping pace with a lot of the cars that were released more recently. I know TLG have far more complete sales figures than my meager attempt to find some useful intel, but that's the trend I'm seeing. It is reassuring to read that Technic is still among the top 5 highest selling themes, but that's pretty much always been the case as far as I know, long before we had nothing but cars. So I ask you, is it still a top selling theme because of all the cars or is it despite all the cars, and they're just resting on the Technic brand like a bad (yet somehow still profitable) movie remake. This summers Unimog appears to be a glimmer of hope, a tiny sparkle of light in the darkness, but I still yern to be blinded by a dazzling spectacle. I gladly accept this small crumb from their table with much appreciation, but still my tummy rumbles while waiting for a magnificent feast. EDIT: Just for those that might have missed it, this years Unimog is obviously more than just a small crumb, it appears to be a great mid sized set and I'm really looking forward to it. I was referring to something more....flagship.

Looking good Grum, definitely getting some old school model team vibes. One difference I notice though is that modern models all seem to be entirely built from subassemblies where as old school models predominantly had you add pieces directly to the model.

Big congratulations @grohl!

Do both your 5.5 and 6L pumps generate pressure? A good pump should make over 60psi from my experience.

They should be about the same I think. Are all your 6L pumps the same?

Looking forward to this one Grum. It's definitely a spiritual form of model team.

Well, I didn't know that!

How's this for an unpopular opinion. 2026 can still turn out to be a great year IF the remaining unknown 3 models are great. That's all it really takes, just 3 great models. But at only three, they would have to be really good to call the whole year great. Nothing in the past couple years has reached that benchmark. The SLS rocket is good and the 1:5 Ducati is very good, but it's no improvement on the previous 1:5 scale Yamaha (actually it's worse due to the cam style engine, it's redeemed only by a sweet gearbox). They need to up their game if they want to rescue 2026. I STILL have hope.