allanp

That's great, it's always nice to see a gearbox in something other than supercars.

Sounds like quite a complex and challenging build, I like it! From what I can see, you require a total of eleven functions from eigth motors. 4 crane functions rotation of crane stablizers winch lifting flatbed suspention drive steering Sounds pretty good, you will be able to control all the functions of the crane simultainiously however the rotation of the crane will be limited by the cables. You will also be left with only four functions in the truck itself + drive/steering. I don't hink this would be a viable option because it requires two drives plus cables to be run through the base of the crane. This sounds like the best idea so far as it would give you enough functions to do what you want. Using CHOOPS gearbox in the crane, powered by two drive shafts would give you four crane functions plus unlimited rotation of the crane. However you would only be able to operate one function of the crane at a time. Remember that (besides drive/steer) you require 5 functions in the truck itself. This means you could use 3 motors to make a smaller, four function version of the 8043 gear box leaving you with one motor/channel left for the fifth function. So I guess it comes down to what compromise is easiest for you to make.

Looks cool, but why did they add that final stage of gearing down (24t - 40t), would that not make it too slow?

WOW, both the MOC and the film is really impressive!

It could be just a different implement on the back, like how the XXL crane just had a stupid looking bucket lift instead of a crane. This would be a shame but i'm not bothered cos the A-model is so great! Besides it's lego, the B-model could be some kind of insect!

Well I don't agree. I used to think LAs were ok but now I just hate them. A pneumatic excavator, providing they were longer would have been awesome. But like Milan says, this is probably no the best place for a pneumatic vs LA discussion.

Unfortunately this amazing set will appear in August, I can't wait that long! I think there are at least 3, as there are 3 switches on the rear. Looking at the tiny image with the arrows it shows arrows on the three switches plus arrows on the two elbows of the arm and one on the grabber claw, so it would appear that the claw is also powered pneumatically like the 8868. Those switches also look really close together, have they moved the ports to the back? (which would be a welcome change). This set looks freaking awesome I can't wait to get this. Pros so far: Nice new wheels, Pneumatic, Likely to have a compressor, Likely to have a four function gear box, Has just the right amount of PF, Looks authentic Every function seems to be motorised with no knob wheels right next to the function itself. Cons so far (just for the sake of completeness): Pneumatics still look too short (but still way better that crappy LAs! ) The cab is ugly (but then so is the real thing, so it has to look that way in order to be authentic). There are still some things unanswered tho. Does it have new parts which are more exiting than a new lift arm or bracket? Does it have suspention/4 wheel drive/engine? I already believe this to be possibly better than anything we got in the past decade, it has the complexity of a 4 function gearbox, the authenticity and playability of pneumatics, everything is motorised and it looks like a completed and perfected design however IIIFFFF it does have suspention/4 wheel drive and some exiting new functional parts (like for making live axles like leaf springs and extention tubes for drive) well, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it could possibly be the best set of all time, better than 8868, 8480 and 8880. Yeah I went there! It's gotta work hard to be innovative enough to beat all those new parts, never before seen functions and georgeous looks of the 8880, the never before seen complexity and first ever to have a transmission ring multi function gearbox (which is common place now) and wow factor playabilty and looks of the 8480, and the never before seen motorised pneumatics and heavy duty look of the 8868. Notice how all three had things never seen before, big things that would move technic up to the next level of complexity, authenticity and challenging building. This Unimog could achieve that. It's the closest i've seen to achieveing that for a decade. But if not then it's still better than anything we have had in at least a decade IMHO, knocking the 2009 crane truck down to second place for me.

Thanks! It is a good set, maybe better than the control centre 2 set. I know it had an extra motor and the flex system and the t-rex was cool, but the mechanisms in the control centre 1 just seem more interesting to me.

This is partly what I have been saying about there being gearing down in the PF motors. It makes it so that the clutch gears are useless because they are expected to carry too much tourqe from the motor. They sould remove all the gearing down in PF motors so that we can do it ourselves and so that we can place the clutch gear further up the gearing down.

It would depend on how well that idea is realised. It could be awesome, and great for white parts i'm sure, but then it could turn out to be rubbish compared to the original. However there is plenty of room for improvement even on a great set like 8480. Sadly I get the feeling that the designers at TLG are not given as much time to properly design and perfect a set as they used to get, but I could be wrong.

I don't care what the model is as such, just as long as it's done well. If you had told me in 1995 that next year the flagship would be a space shuttle I would have been dissapointed, but what we got was one of the best sets ever. Having said that, a monster truck with lots of new transmission and heavy dudy/low friction drive train parts would be awesome, or a back hoe (unlikely this year I know) with lots of pneumatics, espectially longer pneumatics would be freaking awesome. So basically anything with cool new parts that make technic more authentic would be great.

8455 looks better to me too, just because pneumatics look better/more authentic with all those cool hoses! This new set looks kinda tedious to play with, with all that nob turning.

The only real difference i'm aware of (besides the colour of the buttons) is that the cc2 had a jack for an ac adaptor whereas the cc1 did not. Both of them can run from 6 C batteries. The program records the duration of how long you hold down a button however, if memory serves me correctly, it does NOT record the duration of the gaps between pressing buttons, commands happen immediately after each other with no gaps. I would advise that someone please clarify that tho. My control centres are somewhat inaccessable at the moment You can store up to two programs, I think the total of both programs is 100 commands or something like that (128 would probably make more sence) but again i'm not sure about that.

The newer version does seem to be more consistent dimentionally (although I only have 2 right now so I might just be lucky). They grip an axle not too loosely or tight and they also seem to be rounder actually. Have you ever noticed how when the old version turned on an axle it wasn't properly round, these new ones seem better for that, probably due to the design having less places to flex as the plastic cools down after molding.

My version of the 8 wheel crane has them (early crimbo prezzie!), it also came with the instructions and the sticker sheet in a bag with a cardboard stiffener.

Looks awesome, I really like how every time you look at the picture you find something new that you missed before. The chrome work is brilliant, excellent work.

Of course you could always just not apply the stickers Overall I quite like this, it's good FOR A FIRST HALF SET. But the inside, particutarly the gear box looks like it's a MOC in it's prototype stages. The seats have been cut away to make it fit (never seen that in a car before!) and it looks as tho it isn't even in the middle. Very shabby, but at least it's more complex than a ferrari racers set.

Must this same discussion happen every year Yes, there will be larger sets for the second half of the year, what has turned up so far is only the smaller sets for the first half of the year, same thing happens every year.

8258 is easily the one I would pick, regaurdless of when it is being discontinued. IMHO it's the only set where I was happy with TLG using LAs instead of pneumatics.

looks to have the exact same functions as the up coming supercar, so which is better will depend on it's looks!

A new small motor with similar speed/power as the red micro motor would be cool but only if they are reliable, the red motors were notoriously unreliable. They also wasn't used very much, only appearing in 2 technic sets.

Yeah I have the same feeling. I was just throwing it out there! If we must have only one length then 2-3 times longer I think would be the most useful in terms of authentisity, functionality and versatility/reusability in different sets. It would be great to be ablt to change the length, I did think of that but i'm wondering if that can be done well. You would need to be able to split the metal rod and the tube body and insert extention pieces seemlesly together. It would probably be more feasable to just have different lengths.

Maybe we could have a mini poll. Do we want longer pneumatics? (YES!) If so, how long should they be? (should have a stroke of maybe 2-3 times longer than the current ones, even better would be a range of lengths from one to 7 times the current length, the longest being great for telescopic booms and forklifts) What uses would you have for them? (everywhere, from excavators to skip trucks to forklifs to backhoes to container trucks to cranes, anything really.)

I would like: Sea king rescue helicoptor (including fully functional cyclic/collective/tail rotor pitch controls for both pilots, motor, winch) JCB back hoe (including motorized air compressor/4 wheel drive/engine, longer pneumatics, steering, tilting front axle) Super car (including 6 speed+revease gearbox with gear stick linkages, V8/10 engine, suspention, steering) Truck/crane (including 4 live axles, 8 wheel drive (motorised), 4 wheel steering, suspention) Monster truck (including live axles, suspention, 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steering, gearbox, engine, motorised) Excavator (incuding motorised air compressor/tracks/engine/superstructure rotation, much longer pneumatics, steering via gearbox)

I would love to see them in action!