allanp

But he didn't seem 100% sure so there is a small possibility that it might not be that but if anyone would know it would probably be him.

Why would the old diff be a better option? I think he said 8 hubs, so 32 outputs total.

The old days? 42082 is still out. I miss the old days when we had ungeared motors, belt drives, studded bricks and the flex system! Multi-function gearboxes are cool I guess, but over used IMHO, and we don't see them in real life machinery. Gearboxes used to change gear ratios between the engine and the wheels have been in Technic from day one as it is intended to show how a real car works. Technic hasn't lost anything by still having them. They add realism (although I do admit they are not in themselves realistically executed, way too complicated layout of gears and shafts compared to real gearboxes).

You just gave me an idea. Normally we complain when you have to physically touch the model to switch between sets of RC functions (like 42070), or when we can't control all functions at once (like 8043). But a backhoe gives us a unique opportunity to do it in a way that is entirely realistic, by rotating the drivers seat. With the seat facing forward you control drive, steering, rear stabilisers, front bucket raise lower, front bucket tilt, front bucket open and close. Then with the seat in the rear facing position you can control all of the rear digging arm functions. That might not be entirely realistic but in a real backhoe you physically can't really control the rear digging arm with the seat facing forward!

Yup, would be nice to have the 3CX style with 81mm tractor tyres. That version of a backhoe I feel is the more "iconic" version and we would get a welcomed new part, but on the other hand the 4CX version has different steering modes, meaning more interesting mechanics. Either way has their pros. If it has a fake engine I do hope it's the proper engine pieces and not the upside down camshaft only engine! I also wonder about possible new parts. Many of the new parts I would liked to have seen in a backhoe (such as the bigger pneumatics, tractor tyres, 42099 reduction gear hubs, new valves from 42080) have recently been released, and that is fantastic, but what is now left for this rumoured backhoe? Perhaps new large front bucket that is split so it opens like 42100, perhaps new rear bucket, perhaps a more efficient motor pump. Perhaps even bigger pneumatic so it can do a backhoes party piece: Sure would look cool in the TV advert with another one driving/rolling under it But like you say, lets be (hopefully pleasantly) surprised

That kinda makes sense, as you would want to have 6 AA batteries as opposed to 6 AAA which wouldn't last long, and the PF battery box is about the same size as the smart hub. Makes me wonder how they fit all the smart electronics in there.

A full remote control backhoe? You would need at least 3 smart hubs and at least 9 motors for the basic functions (Drive, steer, stabilisers, front bucket raise/lower, front bucket tip, rear arm swivel, rear arm raise lower, rear arm bend, rear bucket). Add pneumatics (motor compressor) opening front bucket, rear side shift and telescopic rear boom and we're up to 13 motors. I can't see a flagship backhoe sold by Lego ever being fully RC, unless sets reach the $1000 mark. The absolute best this rumoured backhoe could be (this is not my expectation BTW) would have as follows: JCB 3CX, Single motor powered by "dumb" battery box, gearbox driving a 4 wheel drive train (with 42099 reduction hubs) with 4 forward and 4 reverse gears (like the real one, hog steering + working steering wheel like the barcode truck, not all motorised driven models have to be RC, just gear it down so it drives slowly) and output for pneumatic compressor with multiple pumps, and a full compliment of pneumatic functions (all the basics plus rear side shift, telescopic boom and opening front bucket. I've built a version of that, It was great and the gears were shifted sequentially via a stick behind the steering wheel on the dash board but with the gearbox I couldn't fit the battery box anywhere! I'm sure it's possible after a few more iterations but I don't expect all that. My actual expectation (based on the rumours) is a 4CX style backhoe (4 equally sized large wheels), possibly with different steering modes, 4 wheel drive via 3 of the new diffs found in the top gear car connected to fake engine but no gearbox, single motor to drive the pump (hopefully multiple pumps this time, because just one is never enough!) and a full compliment of pneumatic functions. Very complex pneumatically but I don't expect this set will have many gears in it. Without any gearbox or RC, there is only a simple 4 wheel drive train and possibly the steering that require any gears. A back hoe is such a complex machine with a really odd shape for fitting in mechanics that it's really a very difficult thing to get right. Anything more than my (I think realistic) expectations would be a pleasant, and impressive surprise.

I don't think the top gear branding adds anything for us but from a marketing standpoint I think it might help increase the sales quite a bit. The British Top Gear is very popular world wide. Perhaps not as much as it used to be when it had the original trio (I haven't watched it since) but it's still popular. I think the only real confusion might be from buyers expecting a top gear product to be a model of something that actually appeared on the show. I suppose they could have made something like the rally car we have now but added some skirts and a fan to make it a hovervan, but then those features would be non functional and so pretty pointless, except to make it more expensive.

If these rumours are true I would be surprised if it didn't have a "dumb" battery box.

Thanks for your reply, I've sent you a PM so I don't derail this topic

I would like to know more about this update for the app. I remember in the interview with Marcus that he said it would support up to 8 hubs, and it should be out before Christmas. Do we know now exactly when it's meant to be coming? Will it have servo support before Christmas? Will we be able to mix channels, for example set output "a" to run as a motor when either servo output "b","c" and/or "d" is moving (like when you want a compressor to run automatically in RC pneumatic models). Will this update have the ability to make custom control layouts? Will we be able to select different virtual controls, such as: Momentary push button, toggle/latching push button, slider, 3 position momentary rocker switch, 2 position toggle switch, 3 position toggle switch, horizontal joy stick, vertical joy stick, horizontal + vertical joystick, Joysticks with 3 position rocker switches on them, etc. Will we have the ability to change how channels are mixed "on the fly". For example, lets say we have a crane with 3 steered axles (controlled via 3 servo motors) and we want to have several different steering modes. In the control layout editor we could have a horizontal joystick to steer and several latching push buttons (that we could link (interlock) so that selecting one turns the others off, so only one can be selected at a time, and the selected button lights up) or a simple 3 position toggle switch, and each push button or toggle switch position selects a different steering mode. Will the options for motor and servo have their own sub options? For example for a servo motor can I set the range of motion (ie from 1/16 turn to 10 turns, with the ability to set a different amount of turns each side of the 0 position or something). For a motor can I choose the maximum torque (amps) and speed (frequency), and the ramp up/down time for that motor, for example, a conveyor might want no ramp up time so it starts instantly, the motor that slews a large superstructure could have a 2 or 3 second ramp up/down time to give the impression of weight and to eliminate jerky movement, and a helicopter rotor might have a ramp up/down time of 10 seconds to mimic the way a real helicopter slowly gets up to speed. I guess we just have to wait and see.

Hopefully we get the backhoe! It's only rumour right now isn't it?

I do like a good motorbike from Technic. Hoping one day for a really dense and complex superbike with 2 or more speed gearbox and finally working pneumatic disk brakes, as they are so prominent on the real thing.

So, yes then

@Jim SHOULD have a review copy by now, but that's just my opinion!

There are a few ways this new diff might be stronger, but this is pure speculation. If it isn't pre-assembled then there is a good chance of it having 4 internal gears as opposed to the 3 we've always had before. The 28t gear is much thicker and stronger than the 0.5M wide bevel gear on the current diff so there is less chance of gear slippage there also. Finally, if they are sticking to the same 12t single bevel gears then I hope the axles are pressed 0.5M deeper into the gear, like in the old 4M wide diffs. With the current diff design the bevel gear sits right on the end of the axle. As the axles have rounded over ends and the 12t single bevel gear has a pocket cut out the rear this leaves far less engagement between the axle and the gear which made the axle prone to popping out, or breaking the gear. 200 dollar extrusion printers wouldn't look half as good as what we see in that very zooming in picture.

Looks like a cool crane for a 1st half set, but it's no successor to 8460. 8460 had pneumatics, a metal hook, geared mechanism to turn the superstructure, stabilisers had a mechanism to control them and overall it has a beefier/heavier look to it thanks to the studded construction. 42108 has 4 stabilisers and superstructure rotation with no mechanism to drive them and lifting the boom is going to be rather tedious. But 42108 isn't all bad. The wheels look good and there are very few wasted parts so the build likely won't feel boring. It's not bad, for a first half model there isn't much wrong with it, but 8460 feels like you are getting a lot more despite it's slightly smaller size and piece count.

Now that would be an excellent idea. Instead of having only one size of diff you could have as many different sizes as you have clutch gears using the same diff. However this new diff may be I just hope it's much stronger than the last one. Price point and RC aside, I quite like the idea of this car. It's been a while since we had a small, simple, motorised car. I think the last one was in a universal set from 1993. While the Top Gear branding may seem pretty useless to us, I'm fairly certain a lot of kids are going to go nuts over the Top Gear branding. Cos, ya know, kids! This would have been an excellent opportunity to introduce a super fast motor which sadly the PF line never had. It would be the PU FAF (powered up fast as f***) motor!

YouTube could have avoided this by just not collecting insane amounts of data like some creepy weirdo stalker that belongs in jail. This is all about data protection after all so if there's no data to protect there's no problem. But no, the billions they make in creaming off the top of ad revenues isn't enough, they want their extra data cash so screw the creators that create the content that advertiser's want to advertise on. YouTube and Google are like the southpark cable company (look it up) but with data, the creepy f**kers.

Now that's interesting, I was not aware of that.

So it may be somewhat legally ok competition? Not necessarily a bad thing but it's still rather lazy of them to copy Lego pieces so closely. Would much rather buy the Lesu RC hydraulic forklift, which I'm quite tempted by actually!

But it's still mostly knock-off Lego and I doubt they have an agreement with Lamborghini either. Doesn't TLG still own the copyright for Technic pieces?

Those are valid points. The little bevel gears and the CV joint aren't great for handling the torque of one XL motor let alone two. Those motors have too much internal gearing.