allanp

Or just use a gear rack or simple crank. If that is too fast or weak, gear them down slightly. A well designed crank mechanism will work fast, smoothly and reliably whilst also locking the gearbox in gear.

Sewing needle works well.

I'm working on a new diff design, 3:1 reduction, 3 times stronger than the one we have, compatible with both spur and bevel gears, requires the addition of a single belt to make the diff action stiff for off roading. Still trying to think of a good way of making it easily lockable within a 3 wide area. Edit, here ya go!

Would this help?

Yeah, well, you, um, spelt "modul" wrong (not that my shpelling is any better!)

FUPA = Fluid Under Pressure Actuated (air is not a liquid but it is a fluid).

Very good point about the suspention not being the main focus. Hmmmm, I think I may have to re-evaluate my data for this rocket science! EDIT: On second thought, hmmmmm, 8868 looks like an off roader with those tyres, suspention would be a pretty important thing, but obviously not that practicle in such a model of 1992, for that i'll remove the suspention score from 8868

Actually, many truck cranes do use linear hydraulic actuators to slew the crane tho they are often mounted differently. It's very hard to pick between your top 3. Gonna have to look at all the realistic fuctions and other details, however minor they may seem, and compare. = life like, = not life like. 8868: 4 wheel drive Fast spinning v6 belt driven engine Steering Fluid under pressure actuated (FUPA from now on!) Crane slewing . Fupa Arm raising/lowering Fupa Arm bending Fupa Claw opening/closing Straight sections of hose are rigid, bent senctions are flexible Fluid pressure built up by compressor (even sounds ) Rigid beam chassis No outriggers 8110: 4 wheel drive Slow spinning inline 4 shaft driven engine Steering Electric crane slewing Fupa arm raising/lowering Fupa arm bending Fupa claw opening/closing Flex hose throughout Fluid pressure built up via compressor (although sounds due to slow speed) Suspention Flexible chassis Portal hubs Working PTOs and PPTOs Non Fupa outriggers 8455: 2 wheel drive Fast spinning 3 cylinder shaft driven engine Steering Fupa front bucket raise/lower Fupa front bucket tilt Fupa back hoe raise/lower Fupa back hoe bend Fupa back hoe bucket Fupa back hoe swivel Fupa out riggers Flexible hose throughout Flexible chassis Fluid pressure built up by hand pump and no compressor sound So, to compare 8868 gets 11 out of 14 thumbs (79%), 8110 gets 11 out of 17 thumbs (65%) and 8455 gets 11 out of 16 thumbs (69%), meaning in this ever so slightly hamfisted scoring system at least, 8868 comes first, 8455 comes second and 8110 comes third. Those may seem like low percentages for these most outstanding sets, but this a difficult test which shows that even the best can be made better. Just to show how difficult, lets do another one for fun 8043 6 non Fupa functions (in real life all of these are Fupa, and yes, air is a fluid!) = :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: and another for being RC. That's 0 out of 7 thumbs, 0% . So in terms of realism, the order of the top 3 is identical to yours. However, in fairness to 8110 it's percentage is lower because it has more functions to have to replicate, it's more ambitious. It was marked down for having electric slewing but at least it has mechanised slewing. For it's extra ambitiousness and attempts at recreating a realistic drive train as well as it's other functions (something 8868 and 8455 haven't really tried to do as much) it still ranks amongst my all time favorites, and like most top 3s or top 10s of movies, songs, technic sets and whatever, my personal picks for top spot is always changing, but 8868, 8455 and 8110 are always in the top 5. BTW, I don't think it's coincidence that Fupa kinda sounds like F*****g Supa!

Agreed!

Let me see. The first one, the longer pneumatic, that one would be for being freakin awesome! Sets are getting bigger and it's time pneumatics did to, I usually end up having to put two end to end which is ugly and not realistic. Would be useful in anything from small forklifts to mid sized skip trucks to large ...... anything you like! The gears below that would be for making a more authentic and efficient gearbox, the much needed next step after the drive rings were first introduced a billion years ago! The pneumatic valve below that is just a conceptual sketch rather than a working idea, similar in function to the current one however its ports are on the back of the valve instead of on the side making them better for placing next to each other. It also has a tapered exhaust outlet which should make it easier to control how fast things such as heavy booms come down (not that it's not easy enough already ). The large turntable below that allows for heavier superstructures whilst also lowing friction. The turntable in 8043 is already a bit wobbly, in 42009 it's gonna be laughable. After that are my favorite ideas of Barman. The first is a socket that fits onto a ball joint, like a steering link. For it to connect securely to the end of a axle without pulling off, all axles would be slightly modified to include notches at the end, like the 2l axles currently has. This allows for links to be made any length (provided you have the axle for it) and any configuration. Would be useful for steering links, tie rods, helecopter linkages, all sorts of things. Next is a telescopic shaft. This allows drive between two places which have a changing distance between them, such as a live axle and a chassis. Lastly is a suspention assembly which has a socket at either end which makes it able to be used with balljoints in an intuative way, enabling suspended components to travle through their arcs of motion without binding.

You probably already know mine, but for the sake of completeness, here's some of my renders. And some of Barmans awesome ideas:

Two Blakbird inspired April fools this year ay?

I would say lines only. When you try to fill in between the line, unless you are making a boxy shape like a landrover, you will be left with gaps and random pieces everywhere. I never really liked that patchwork style. Tho I would say that in the example you posted, TLGs boby has a lot of patchwork going on as well. 8880 would be more of a lines only approach.

Or buy direct from Lego for £0.58 https://service.lego.com/en-us/replacementparts/#WhatBrickBuy/8295

i love the dark blue, looks awesome!

Had it built in time for Christmas dinner, don't know how long it was exactly. There is alot to be said for taking your time and enjoying the build, but when you're excited and feel like a kid again it's hard to take your time.

It's mostly technic for me. I have about a dozen non technic sets.

Oooops, didn't see the posts after mine It's the same whenever you use a diff in a trial truck, you must have some gearing down after the diff to protect those weak inner gears.

Awesome story man

You made the right choice me thinks, I wouldn't sell anything, even the sets I don't like, you never know when you will want the parts from it. @Dluders, sell an 8880? ARE YOU CRAZY!!!!!!!!

It is alot of fun to build!

I think in the case of the defender, the most we could hope for is that they take the idea forward for consideration, they probably won't even consider releasing it as is so probably won't build it.

Which is why it will require some new parts. Sheepos design is pushing the limits of what the current parts selection can do. I already know what the new parts would be. I should be able to make them soon but i'm very confident that once the parts are perfected no tweaking will be required. Just like an official set you'll just have to build it and it will work first time every time without tweaking. I doubt that a cuusoo product will be granted new parts but I wanna see what technic can really do.

It depends on how you scale it down. It would be possible to scale down the size and part count without scaling down the functions, but like I always say, that would need some new parts! I might be gettin a 3d printer soon, so maybe I can build some prototypes. But it's possible to get 100% reliability even when built by an amature.