allanp

Or you could treat each track as if it was a wheel, and steer each track like you would steer normal wheels.

I do understand you, indeed the unimog has some things that could be better, like the turning circle, and changes that are desireable like a working steering wheel, but it does not need any changes in order to get the bloody thing working reliably in the first place

8043 needed changes, 8110 doesn't need them so much, they are just desireable

I can only think of one, the 8000 star wars pit droid.

I agree, I don't really like those things would prefere gears, at least in this case a 12t bevel driving a 20t double bevel would give the steering a bit of gearing down. I guess they are used because they are very difficult to make slip. But if regular gears would slip then the construction is too weak.

It may be more expensive, but you get more model for your money, and lots of new parts as well as various different kinds of complexity, not just gears like the excavator, this has gears (almost as many as the excavator), pneumatics, suspention and so on and so forth. So for a model that is actually MORE complex than the excavator and bigger and alot more parts, some of those parts never seen before, this is still great value. Remember complex technic parts are more difficult to produce than regular Lego, but even with a motor and the liscencing the price per piece is still lower than alot of what TLG releases nowadays. Not sure I can wait till christmas day (my traditional time for building the flagship ). Could be the first set I buy more than one of at a single time. BTW has anyone noticed something odd in this video? (apart from the guy having an apparent desire to destroy everything he touches! ) The 16t clutch gear seems to have been altered slighty in that it now has a smooth end instead of having notched teeth the accept the old style half bush. Seems like a logical step.

You didn't have that bulldozer or excavator feeling ay? Is that the feeling of all PF and no substance or realism? THIS THINGS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER And no, it's not against forum policy official or otherwise to post negative view points. It is certainly ok to post your honest opinions about a set here (I can personally vouch for that I think!) and I would not have it any other way. I wanna hear the good and the bad.

The steering angle is about the same as the regular driven hub setup. The only real problem I can see with using these in the unimog hubs is that a gear cannot be pushed all the way up the axle. It is prevented by a half stud long round part you can see in the pic below: (picture credit: by Mortymore on his Brickshelf gallery)

I had thought about that too, but decided the added complexity of having the wheels driven from the main body more appealing. Having said that, if that turns out to be implausible due to the massive weight of the vehicle, then having motors in the axles would provide better performance and more realism too.

The drive train looks quite strong, the axles look very strong. I haven't got this set yet but I would think that replacing the two 16t gears with an 8t and a 24t gear would be enough with the xl motor powering it.

I can see it now. I can't wait to see this thing in the flesh

At least with the old system, if those who aren't so expierienced at repairing electronic devices (like TLGs target age group) had a wire stop working, you only lost the wire. Now you lose the whole motor. I only hope TLGs usually excellent customer services will replace them.

As for as flagships are concerned I think the trend started as early as 1996, remember the bent liftarms in the doors of 8480? The first fully studless flagship was in 2003 with the 8455. If memory serves me correctly, there was also no proper technic set releaed in 2002 (could that have anything to do with the move to studless you think?). But would the Star Wars destroyer droid count as the first studless technic set?

Oh wow, this looks like it's gonna be great! Can't wait to see it finished!

It's not only that there is less plastic that makes the studless beams cheaper, the moulds can be made far cheaper too because they are less complicated and don't have to be in so many parts. I don't wish to make TLG out to be a bunch of cheapskates tho (although they are a profit driven business above all) because this lower cost of parts have enabled them to give us steadly bigger flagships with higher parts counts. I know there has been a sharp increase in the number of connector pegs used, but remember there are also hardly any plates anymore which negates the increase in parts count that is attributable to pins, so that's one benifit of studless to keep in mind.

The pumps in this thread work well for pumping water at high pressure but at a slow, controllable flow rate for hydraulics. I would think that for a fire truck you would want something with a faster flow rate, so you can squirt water across the room . Seeing as a centrifugal pump would probably be impractical in lego, what about something like this: Step one, fill the water tank by submerging the pump in water and selecting position 1 on valve 1. Keep going until water starts to pour out the outlet and then stop. BTW it is important for this outlet to be coming out the bottom of the tank. Step two, fill the air tank with compressed air by removing the pump from any water and selecting posistion 2 on valve 1. Once pressurised return valve 1 to the central position. Step three, now that the system is primed and ready for action, drive the fire truck to the fire by pushing it fast along the floor whilst making screeching noises! Aim the hose at the fire and select position 1 on valve 2. IIIFFFFF my thinking is correct, this should pressurise the water in the water tank forcing it out the nozzle at high speed. Hope this help, and works!

Oh wow, there is some excellent stuff being posted hear. There are so many brilliant and different designs for the suspention, do we have to agree on which is best to move forward or not? So far my vote goes to this one It's needs a bit of tweaking, like some cross bracing across the back to prevent the bent liftarms coming apart under high stress, and also one of the lower 20t bevel gears needs to be removed to allow the suspention action to move up and down, but it's almost there me thinks! As for Cy-Gors amazing work, the chassis looks amazing, it remains to be seen how strong it is until it has been built. For the bed, consensus seems to be for the bed on the right .

Some other points regaurding studfull vs studless, studfull models are usually an even number of studs wide, where as studless are usually an odd number of studs wide. Studfull models are also usually built from the ground up, where as studless models are usually build a bit more from the inside out. I find that CAD software such as MLcad or LDD is a great tool to help building with studless construction and I highly recommend it because studless construction requires you to think many many more steps ahead than studfull. My opinion is that I prefere the look of studfull construction as to me, they look more like Lego. They also look stronger and more heavy duty. And when something like the 8880 comes along and cuts a beautiful shape, to me it's all the more impressive to think it's made of square beams rather than bendy axles which are almost too easy. However Studless constuction methods do seem to produce more complex and intricate mechanisms and seem to allow for greater functionality, which afterall is what technic is all about, functionality > looks, although I understand both are important. So when I want to build something really great from a technical standpoint I'll use studless, but if I build something just for the pure joy of building, i'll use studs..... or a manual

Haven't seen this video before, thanks for the link, great vid!

It's a good job TLG spotted this early on. I wonder how this happened, I mean the old pump is a well tried and tested part and is quite reliable. I can't see how this small change in length would have meant a change in the design of the seals, which I guess is what's gone wrong.

To me, those diffenecial transmissions are more like crude automatic 2 speed transmissions as they can only change between two fixed ratios or worse, waste power by forcing a clutch to slip. Unfortunately your only option for a true CVT would be something like this which probably can't take much torque if built any smaller. Even one this size probably won't take much torque.

WOW, this set looks amazing! I love the use of the gear racks to move the rear lift, and the wheels moving up and down is an excellent touch. Just called the Milton Keynes Lego store (in the UK) and they don't have any yet But I shall get it as soon as it's in the shops!

That's a very good point, I didn't think of that. That's one of the problems with having so much reduction, especially in the XL motor, it makes methods of protecting drivetrains like using the white clutch gear or belt drive useless. I'de love a return to ungeared motors and belt drives and so on. You are right. I am one to complain about having too much PF in a set, but I am also one of those asking for a fully remote, PF forklift! I guess that's because the forklift I have in mind would include longer pneumatics and a way or precisely controlling pneumatic valves remotely thereby giving us lots of new possibilities, so I make an exception here. But yeah, a new flagship helicopter would be great.

Nice review, thanks for posting efferman

Why not? Motorising the unimog won't be difficult, and that's the largest technic set by parts count ever. I think you may be right about a supercar tho, it's close to the 8070. But I am surprised nobody has mentioned a supercar here yet. Would be great if it was actually a supercar (not an off-roader or a muscle car or whatever) with a proper gearbox of a new, more realistic, more efficient for motorsing and more robust design that copies real life gearboxes.