allanp

This is very impressive and it looks great too. Front paged.

You can imagine a million bugs will be inside the combine after a successful harvest

The only problem I have with this set is the whole control+/pu side of things (needing a smart device, no included physical remote and all that). But for the crane itself I agree with you. Unlike the majority of RC Technic sets, this is one of the very few RC sets that retains any semblance of mechanical realism, which I think is why it still works! The issues with other sets you mentioned come from gearboxes that are far more complex in their basic mechanical layout than their real life counterparts. To make the crane more mechanically authentic would have required hydraulics and hydraulic motors for all of the drives which isn't likely to happen in Lego. This set shows that it's possible to be both RC and authentic (as authenticity is never just about the looks in literally every other context of the word authentic!) I also agree that the build experience was great. In other themes that are not Technic, having such large pieces (like the many 3x19 frames and large truss pieces) would be seen as a negative. But even as a huge lifelong fan of (what) Technic (should be), I've never felt endless beam stacking and placing half a thousand pins to be as satisfying as placing bricks. It's the mechanisms that are fun to build, not so much their surrounding structures and definitely not bodywork (probably why cars aren't so much fun to build). It's easy to imagine having to build all those trusses from regular technic beams, and how tedious that would be. So I think the large amount of what some might call j u n i o r i s e d pieces can actually be a good thing in Technic, so long as it's not the mechanisms that are being j u n i o r i s e d. This crane is a great example of that. Yes, it is expensive, especially for something that doesn't even include a physical remote. But as I said, I think all of the negatives of this set are rooted in the design philosophy of control+/powered up. Had this set came with a large programmable control centre 3 style physical remote then the price would have been easier to understand, even if it was higher. The RRP is not the RRP anymore so getting such a thing at the correctly discounted price would be much more appealing. Personally I think such a thing would have also looked way cooler on the box for the kids than saying you can use it with a smart phone, something that really isn't available to EVERY child and doesn't hold much novelty for the kids that do have them. So yeah, the crane itself is great. I guess time will tell if all those fancy electronics will still be usable without any workarounds in ten or twenty years.

Judging by the engine, I'm thinking the first part is an Ariel Atom, and the second part is Jeremy Clarksons melting face! https://youtube.com/shorts/hL0gcNVXghs?si=HZ6rdYZdDY6a3cma

Front paged for sure! I like how you added new features such as real air jacks, anti roll bars, spinning radiator fans and the self locking diff is very clever. When fans praise off brand 1:8 scale cars this is what I think of. Something like Lego Technic 1:8 cars but with a little extra. Personally I never feel like the off brand 1:8 cars meet that expectation (their transmissions in particular are not at the level of Lego Technic 1:8 cars), but you have done it. Well done

Maybe. I guess time will tell if it can create whatever sound is desired authentically. It doesn't seem to be able to recreate the sounds from Star wars that well so I'm not hopeful. Remember, it doesn't play samples but rather creates the sounds from scratch based on instructions from the RFID tagged tiles.

Sounds that don't sound authentic? Lights that just seem to blink randomly? No. Much better to have a Technic sound brick with a selection of vehicle sounds like engines and emergency vehicle sirens etc. Didn't the code pilot from 1997 have that, that could even rev the engine sound based on the speed of the wheels? Yes. Yes it did. For lights, there's way better things they could do.

I don't really see many uses for Technic. The sets they come in are small and the prices are ridiculous. Plus, they are asking customers to pay for Star wars licensing while the sets make sounds that sound nothing like Star wars but rather some generic off brand non licenced toy. On the plus side, I REALLY like that the smart bricks don't require any external smart devices. That is excellent and I applaud Lego for that. Honestly I still think as far as electronic platforms go, they peaked with the 9V system. They had a simple battery box, wires with Lego bricks that could be stacked and connected in any 90 degree orientation, electric plates, ungeared motors, micro motors, buggy motors, a variety of lights, switches, a couple of smart devices free programming options with control centers and the code pilot and fully programmable options with the RCX, and the best train system with metal rails that didn't need batteries. It was mostly dirt cheap and simple Lego elements that could be combined to make anything from the simple to the complex. The only thing missing was RC (made of individual components, not the all in one prebuilt units), which could easily have been added even in the early 90s. This is really the philosophy they need to go back to. Lego is a toy that YOU build. It's not a bunch of prebuilt and expensive components stuffed with electronics that isn't really needed. If you need gear reduction, have it be buildable. If you need an encoder, have it be a separate thing that you add. PF had the right idea with it's separate RC and simple battery box but lacked a wall plug in train controller, ungeared motors, micro motor, powerful buggy motor or an equivalent to the control center/code pilot. All this to say, maybe these new smart bricks have some use in some small overpriced 7+ technic sets, but there's a much better electric platform they could have for Technic.

I'm not sure how useful this comment is, but reading this topic reminded me of how air is itself used as a sort of lubricant in some applications. I'm thinking of grinding machine spindles that run on a cussion of air to prevent metal on metal contact. The precision required to use air as a lubricant in this manner is much higher than is possible in Lego. However, doesn't a hovercraft work the same way? With enough air flow and the proper design, the mating surfaces can be as imprecise as a rubber skirt on a grass field. I wonder if a flow of air could be allowed to pass from the high (atmospheric) pressure side of the piston through channels that exit through ports on the side walls of the piston itself, creating a cussion of air between the piston and the bore in which it slides. It could be true that the small bypass air around the piston is already at atmospheric pressure and thus no air flow will come from the jets. However, when air is forced to speed up through a small opening (such as air that is forced to blow by the piston), its pressure actually drops. The smaller the opening, the greater the pressure drops (Bernoulli's principal), and so I imagine the piston gets sucked towards the side walls increasing friction. So (in my head anyway!) maybe allowing a small cussion of air to exist via ports on the sides of the piston would not only act as a lubricant but also help prevent a drop in pressure that can suck the piston against the side walls? All this is purely speculation. I'll leave you the fun of testing it

Big congratulations on your 30th official release. I must admit however, and I hate to be "that guy", but the "correct firing order" comment is puzzling. There are of course no spark plugs and nothing to fire. I believe the correct firing order would be shown as the red blinking dots in this video: So we will assume that it actually refers to the layout of the crank/pistons. However the Lego Rexy appears to have a 180 degree V6 with a flat plane cam/crank. However I believe the real Porsche uses a boxer arrangement (opposite pistons move opposite, 6 pistons on 6 crank journals) with 120 degree offsets like as shown in the above video. I must also admit that the displacement of the older style regular pistons is much closer to a 1:10 (edit: or 1:12) scale than the newer cam style pistons which are too small. Having whined about the engine I want to leave with something nice. The outside of the car definitely looks like the real thing. I appreciate the use of fewer larger panels because building bodywork isn't as fun to me as building working mechanisms, so the larger panels get it done faster and with a cleaner look.

I wonder if you could incorporate an ungeared Lego motor to make a working speaker, something like this? Maybe do it as shown. But I also wonder if it would work better with the motor turned sideways and connect the speaker dish with an offset fixed crank like connection?

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope you all have a great 2026!!!

Merry Christmas my friend! Hope you and yours have a great Christmas and a wonderful 2026

Watching Racing brick's review, while I usually really don't like that cam style of engine, it does appear well suited for this scale of car for obvious reasons, and the W16 is great in this car. I just wish they wouldn't use the cam engine in anything that's at even a slightly larger scale. Colour vomit rant incoming in 3....2....1.... And yes, the rainbow colours are excessive and look like crap as usual. The outer shell is built with more complex angles and techniques than the insides. If the outside doesn't need to be colourvomitized for the target audience then I don't see a need for the insides to be either. But as Technic is meant to be (at least a little bit) about the internal mechanism then shouldn't some effort be put into making them look authentic also? Besides, the longest I look at a model is while I'm building it.

@Plumber looks great. And yes the P1S is great.