allanp

Well I already knew that

Just built this yesterday, it's a great set. Looks better in person even with or without the stickers (which comes on two sticker sheets there's so many) than any pictures. The new cv hubs work great, both work with the light bley cv joint part with very little friction even when driven at an angle (tho the maximum angle is still a bit limited) and can handle quite alot of torque. The rear one in particular with it's simple two hole setup offers alot of flexibility for incorporating it into your own steering setups with all kinds of geometries the likes of which nicjasno would greatly approve. Lots of white parts obviously tho perhaps a bit too much red. Not sure why TLG insist on making their chassis red (like the crawler) and so would have liked more white and black, some white or black 5x7 and 5x11 frames would have been really nice. But all in all a very good set. New peices are great and lots of white, I recommend it.

Nope, there's more than one person on this earth that sees sence

Looks like an LA on the crane

Take a look at this page found on Blakbirds technicopedia: http://technicopedia.com/8880.html About half way down you can see how the synchromesh gears work to drive two selectable functions (selected via a lever) from one axle or motor. Hope this helps.

Well, if you're not fussed about the parts, the set is not one of the most interesting either. The wheels are awesome and the many engines are pretty neat but there's not much more to it. Besides that it has the worst steering ever. So probably best to just sell it. Afterall, you only bought it for it's financial value, which you will only see when you sell it.

This set has some great aspects to it. The gearing is great, multiple 8t - 24t gearing down stages is more interesting and cooler than just a boring worm gear, although those are needed some times. The flex system is great and I like it when they us different coloured axles to match the bodywork, like in 8480 and 8448. Edit: Oh, and a working steering wheel!

Any day now, 2nd half news will be coming any day now, i can smell it!

It's probably more of a case of "don't reward laziness"

It would appear that he has deffinately seen your model and taken alot of inpsiration from it. It would also appear that he has come up with different mechanicle solutions as you said. This is strange, you would have thought that if he wanted to copy your work and submit it as his own, he would have copied the inner workings whilst changing the outside appearence, here it seems the opposite is true. He's come up with his own machine and then made it look like somebody elses! There is no question of plagerism tho. Too much has been copied for it to be entirely his own creation. I would expect that the organisers at least tell the contestant to put your name on the entry as well as his as a co-designer. Edit: Thanks for the update hrontos, I didn't realise the contest had already been run.

The first reciever doesn't give enough power, it keeps cutting out. The second reciever works great tho. Here's a video by Philo.

looking good. To get an even more life like movement, try having the cranks out of phase, so that the middle and front sections moves before the end section.

Or you could use a single rear wheel, like a trike in reverse. Using bigger wheels has the effect of gearing it up, so you would get a higher top speed but with less acceleration. One of the biggest drawbacks with lego is that you get quite alot of play or slack in the steering, which means the wheels can wobble and are not always kept pointing in the direction the car is going which slows it down alot. So try to design your steering with as little slack as possible. Use friction pins instead of frictionless pins. Try to have the axle the wheel goes onto going through a thickness greater than a single beam and have longer steering arms. You should also try to incorporate ackerman steering geometry to get the wheels pointing in the right direction. Using less grippy tryes will to the front wheels will also help.

Still the best handeling car!

Oh dear, this is turning into another studless vs studfull debate! I have just build the 9396 helicopter and already have the whirlwind rescue helicopter built for comparisson. Now these are only two models, and only 2 models, a proper sample, no make! But seeing as they seem to represent the two eras most comparred here I think a comparrison may be helpful. Ok so first the build experience. This is not something exclusive to these two sets and is actually more to do with studless vs studful construction (dang it!). The whirlwind rescue (8856 from now on) had you build using a variety of connection types. There was pins in holes, axles in holes, flex system connections, traditional studded building, toggle joint assemblies and so on, whereas 9396 is pins/axles into holes, and that's it. Whilst both builds had their tricky (for children) moments the 8856 wins out here for keeping the build experience more interesting from start to finish, so one point to the old! Next we have authenticity. Both the main rotorblades for these models demonstates some neat functions, however neither of them are that authenticly executed. If you wanna see realistic then there are better MOCs out there than either of these. As for the other functions well they're just gears and levers and so on, not much to go on in terms of how authentic those functions are. Bear in mind i'm not talking about weather or not rescue helicopters have these functions, i'm talking about how realisticly said functions are executed. So authenticity from functions is a draw. However when it come to the looks department, 9396 definately wins here. As much as I like the look of those studded beams, 9396 looks much more like a real rescue helicopter. Plus, those rotor blades also have a more authentic shape. So for overall authenticity, point goes to the new. So what about functionality/complexity? Well, they both work very well and even better when motorised (WAAAAAY better when motorised with an RC buggy motor, 9396 generates quite a draft!). However 9396 has a nice gearbox to work everything and more gears and interesting linkages overall. The clever linkage that operates the landing gear is nicely visable and looks great when operating. When motorised with the stock motors, niether of them produce any lift (the whole point of a helicopter) but like I said, with an RC buggy motor 9396 makes some wind boy! So for functionality/complexity, point goes to the new! So it's 2-1 and now all that's left to talk about is overall coolness. Put the two side by side and it's pretty clear that the whirlwind rescue, a long time legend, pales in comparisson to 9396. 9396 looks soooo much better in real life than it does on the box (same for every technic set!) and it's bulky looks make 8856 look whimpy in comparrison. The colour shceme really makes the thing pop out and the way the red and yellow intersect is great! So, point goes to the new! And there we are, the winner, by quite a large margin, is the new, studless 9396. And yes I realise that 8856 was much cheaper when it was first released, but that was about 20 years ago! So with inflation the price is probably about the same. And for the extra number of parts you get as well as the much larger size and overall better model, this is fantastic! BRAVO TLG! So back to the original question, does this mean we are in a new golden age? Y........No! Of course not. This is only one model. But it does show the potencial is there for a new golden age better than ever before. The signs are good that a new one is upon us. But it's too early to tell just yet. To understand why the golden age of the late 80's to mid 90's was so fantastic you have to understand what came before it. From the auto chassis (a car with no body) you got the test car, a huge improvement in functionality and looks. At the time it was hard to see how it could be improved upon, then some time later came 8880, Not only did it improve on the test car, it made it look as stone age as it does today! I have yet to see a supercar that I would consider to be an improvement on 8880. And it's not like that car was a diamond in the rough either (like 9396 and 8110) It was surrounded by great sets that obviously all had the same attention do design, big or small. Some of the smaller sets of that time are way better than the larger, modern counterparts, like the front end loader with the airtank from 1997. So maybe this is a new golden age, but the sets that will decide that, are the ones being designed right now by the designers at TLG!

Alasdair I can see one problem with your design. I'll give you a clue, it's long, grey, requires thumbs of never ending endurance and generally crap! Can you guess what it is yet?!

Well, it's certainly on the up that's for sure, as for it being a golden age? Time will tell. Definately in terms of it's potential, the kits have a bit of catching up to reach it's current potential. The Unimog is probably the greatest kit ever sold with it's awesome complexity and range of complexity and host of new parts and realism/authenticity and so on. I remember the last golden age (widely regaurded as being from around 1988 to 1996-7). Most flagships used their parts to their full potencial, just look at the inner design of the 8480 space shuttle and the way they got a supercar from straight beams. New parts where released everywhere to gain more realistic mechanics and even the TV adverts were the best Lego have ever released! In the studless era, there have been some amazing sets, like 8455 and 8110, but they are just a bit too few and far between for it to be a golden age, but like I say time will tell. Maybe we are at the very beginning of a new golden age.

The grap prix racer is actually more complex than the silver champion (not a great feat i'll grant you) and also comes with some great new wheel hubs. The front ones look great for the more usual suspended/steered/driven wheels plus their larger size compared to the older hubs will make everything more stable and in scale and the rear ones look great for all kinds of wierd and wonderful designs, especially for those aiming to get perfect geometries like Nicjasno. Plus there's lots of white! I wouldn't write it off just yet. I think it's gonna be awesome!

I made this mistake once building the 8868 when I was 8, never forgot to make sure the differencials are in the right way, which came in handy for 8880 when I was 9.

I love this model, one of my all time faves. This review was deffinately worth the wait. I gotta say some of your pics makes it look better than the official pics makes it look, nice one! It still amazes me how many functions there are, how authentic the functions are and how powerful they are despite there being only about 700 pieces! This is what technic is all about! This is a set that squeezes as much potencial from it's parts as possible, a rare thing indeed!

Agreed, this is what the PF-L motor should have been, or with even less gearing down!

I don't like knob gears due to their uneven power transmission, innefficientcy, uglyness and lack of realism. I have never used them in a MOC.

I suppose that's like asking how much actors in a continuous soap oprah are paid and depends on years of service and seniority, but I would guess it's enough to make my face do this:

Yeah, with the two buggy motors it goes quite well, and with the wheels turning to such a high angle turning on the spot does not strain the motors that much. But yours is still the first to be finished as well as working like the real thing. Well done