allanp

Nice mechanism. I guess it works by using a differencial to drive the easier of two outputs. When the arms are open, it's aesier to close them than it is to lift the carriage, so the arms close. Once the arms close on a can, it then becomes very hard to close the arms any further, thereby causing the carriage to lift. Two functions, one of them self adjusting to the size of the can, controlled with one motor. Nice! Reminds me of the barcode truck.

Well, despite my vast and impressive vocabulary, all I would like to say is this: Dear companies of China (and one in Canada) F@*K OFF! (Up) Yours sincerly Al. I think that's clear enough.

Why do you have two pumps?

That is correct. It sounds like it should not be possible because you are getting twice the power without adding anymore motors or batteries. However it works because instead of having the motor under load 50% of the time, it will be under load 100% of the time, so it may drain the batteries quicker but batteries normally last a long time in pneumatic MOCs anyway. And yes, all you have to do is link the two outputs into one using a t-piece. One way valves inside the pumps prevents air from simply being moved from one pump to the other. Interestingly this does not work for LAs. Unless you are providing them with enough torque to activate the internal clutch, pairing two LAs onto one motor will not give you any more power, only less power due to increased friction from having more parts!

Yup, 8880 still has by far the best ad out of any product ever released by anyone ever!

Using two pumps will make it faster as the pressure will build up quicker but will not make the cylinders move with any more force. One pump will eventually get to about 60 psi or more which is when hoses start popping off. Two pumps will just get you there quicker. And like I said if you do want to use two pumps you don't need two motors. The pumps only pump air on the inwards stroke, not the outwards stroke, so by offsetting the pumps 180 degrees the motor will only be pumping one at any given time. I use up to 8 pumps in large MOCs, not to get anymore pressure but to get things moving quicker.

Sorry I don't have a camera so I can't post pics, but I can say I have 138 sets (95% technic) plus a few bricklink orders which comes to about 81000 parts. I have only one or two sets/MOCs built, the rest is sorted into organisers which when all staked up is about 6 feet high. My most common part is the trusty 2M black connector peg of which I have 6772. So still way off blackbird who I would guess has at least 3 times as much! EDIT: BTW I was wondering out of all your collections what would you say is your prized items. I would have to say mine is 8868, 8480, 8880 and a few others all mint in box.

That's just silly 8110 wasn't RC, does that make it crap? RC is ok but I prefere the set budget to be spent on authenticity anyday. Otherwise you get an RC vehicle the shape of a car, then an RC vehicle the shape of a truck and it gets really boring and really expensive really fast. If I enter i'll be going for authenticity mainly and probably add RC, probably not.

Adding another actuator will help, it will be twice as powerful but twice as slow so you may want to use another pump as well. However, don't have them going in and out at the same time. Have them off set so that one is going in as the other is going out. That way the motor is only ever pumping one at any one time but you get twice as much volume.

I was wondering about out of date parts, like the buggy motor and so on. To make it more desireable to AFOLs I could have a load of flex system parts and many others not seen in a while, but then TLG won't want to make probably any out of date parts again if it requires new molds.

Now that's a prize! Might have to come out of retirement for this one

Well this sucks . I normally try to see where an honest mistake could be made in situations like this, but here I can't see any. He knew the design wasn't his, he knew it was being entered into a competition of MOCs (MY OWN creation). All over Europe but mostly Germany and UK I think.

Well, with powerful enough motors you can make pretty much anything "fly" these days! Making it fly well enought to land without breaking into 10,000 pieces is a whole different thing. To be controllable at all you will need a very rigid structure and precisely adjustable control surfaces. The amount of play between two 8t gears alone will probably negate all these efforts, let alone the twisting of long plastic axles and UJs. I think you'de be better having thin servos in the wings. I know you have stopped the wings sagging but this is lego and it's designed to come apart. Have you tried shaking the plane violently whilst holding it in the air by only it's wings? Bear that in mind when things are constantly bending and flexing to their limits in flight. I wish you all the best of luck, nobody got anywhere without trying.

SWEEEEEET! Can't wait to see that. That's an awesome render of the countach

I would also aree that it's a problem charachteristic of the ram. I have a few of these rams and they all seem to be a little stiff to begin with. Over time they do wear in nicely tho. It still may be that the seal is just slightly too big and is binding tho. Do you have any other small cylinders to compare them?

This really does look great in white, better than any other colour IMHO. May I suggest one tiny alteration? The tan interior seems to clash with the white body. May I suggest a dark bley interior like in Blakbirds render?

Get buggy motors, they are by far the best most powerful motors. No PF motor comes close.

Mostly for interesting new parts.

This looks absolutely fantastic

Well, i'm Allan, not Alasdair! Anywho, I wouldn't use mineral oil as it can swell and soften the rubber seals. Silicone oil is probably the best easily accessable oil for this (there are better ones but tend to be harder to get and more expensive) but the propellant used in a spray version might also damage the seals. Copied from another site: "However, take in mind that silicone sprays with petroleum in them can be bad for rubber parts. Some silicone sprays are also below 7 on the PH scale which means they could be corrosive. It is safer to always use a food grade silicone which ensures me of PH neutrality. If you get a silicone spray that is “Food Industry Approved”, then it probably won’t contain petroleum components and also guarantee that the PH is neutral." I have never lubed them myself but if I did i'de probably try this some Core-RC CR228 Silicone Oil in a fairly light grade or a food safe silicon spray.

Looks better Most important shot (apart from the front/side/overall shot) in a technical model is the underside shot.

HOOOOOOOLYCRAPOOOOLY!

I told you guys a technic supercar would be great in white, didn't I! I'm not a fan of panels creating a patchwork of hidden parts and uneven holes all over the car as it distracts from the lines which should be the main focus, however this car with all it's panels does look absolutely freaking fantastic in white and the black roof. Would love to see a 1:8 scale version from TLG with new gearbox parts and proper steering/suspention geometries.

I wouldn't use sand paper unless you have some really fine 2000 grit paper used with some water for sanding paintwork, try wire wool instead. Doing that will make it clean enough for it to work as new but if you really want them shiny as new then you'll have to spend a long time at a polishing/buffing wheel. Do that with it dissasembled. Then if you want to lubricate them I would try a silicone based lubricant.

Start by cleaning the contacts back to nice shiney metal. If you happen to have some wire wool try using that to clean them. Make sure you do a good job, you would be surprised how small a tiny bit of crud has to be to prevent current flow. Next make sure the wire terminals on the battery, motor and wire are clean. These are smaller and so more tricky but they must be clean. Only after that should you try to dismantle the battery box. Good luck!