allanp

Well, the axle only goes half a stud into the weaker bevel gear so that will still be the weak point even if you are only half a stud into the motor. Try it first to see if the axle wanders.

I really like that, according to the brick vault video, that the pieces come in numbered bags up to 24, so you are only sifting through a hundred or so pieces at a time. That is great, it's how every Lego set should be and a far better solution than all the ugly colour vomit!

Of course I'd prefer less colour coding but as it's a review of a set provided by Lego probably best to show it as it was intended by them. Having said that I think it's worth noting the different gearing options for this particular set.

This is a big shame. Technic sets always look better in real life than they do in pictures, except Jims pictures somehow did manage to capture how good a set looked in real life. your Technic photography was unique in that regard. I do remember when you would receive sets very early and could release reviews before the sets release date. Hopefully with the fall of a certain copycat company that won't be named those days might return eventually.

Do the plant based bricks rot over time?

Having now read the article I too was struck by the focus on so called plastic waste. OK, perhaps the plastic bags that makes up part of the packaging could be replaced with little numbered cardboard boxes but that's about it. Certainly the bricks themselves shouldn't ever be considered as waste.

I've not read the article yet but I can't see it being a good idea for Lego. Imagine the cost of losing permanent sales and having to count all the pieces once they are returned to you compared to the rental income.

Yes having both is fine. But some sets I believe have come without any paper instructions, and once that precedent is set it's hard to go back. So it's good that we have a topic like this where we can voice our concerns now.

I prefer paper also. Even though I have a laptop I do get migraines when looking at screens too much. I looks at screens a lot at work also, so taking a break from screens during my favourite hobby is most welcome. In terms of environmental impact, as an afol with 100s of sets, it's easy to think that my 3 large boxes full of paper instructions might have an impact, but most people, like 99.99% don't have as many sets as most of us have so I'm not worried about it. And if the paper comes from managed sources, well that reduces the impact even more. One might argue that many trees only exist because they were planted to be cut down. Once something has economic value, and can be grown like cows, you tend to find that the world gets more of them, as long as it's done in a smart and managed way. Cut down one tree, plant three more and continue. Of course that's not always how it goes which is a shame, but I think that Lego instructions do come from managed sources. Like the idiot environmentalists that signed a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide, it's not good to just assume something is bad, like the industrial cutting down of trees, just because it sounds bad. Also in terms of the environment, electronic devices more than ever have a life span. They don't last forever, and leaving it turned on for hours just to occasionally glance at instructions isn't really getting the most out of its life. Adding more hours of use to thousands of devices will eventually lead to more devices going to landfill. And electronic devices also require electricity to work. Once a paper instruction has been made its impact to the environment is pretty much over. But electronic instructions will continue to keep using electricity. These are very minor and trivial I know, but we are comparing against the very minor and trivial impact of paper Lego instructions. In terms of the build experience, Lego might argue that control+ is fine because a lot of kids have smart phones already. I'm still not sure that I agree with that but in terms of building instructions, a smartphone is way too small. Whilst they MIGHT argue that every kid that wants an RC Lego set has a smartphone already, they surely can't argue that every kid has a laptop or a large tablet as well as a smartphone. Lego is expensive enough without needing such additional technology. EDIT: speaking of Legos use of dead tree carcasses, I also want to see the flap on the front of flagship boxes to continue. It was missing from 42100 perhaps due to the lack of a B-model to show off. I hope that was a one time only thing. An expensive somewhat luxery product like a Technic flagship shouldn't come in a cereal box!

Interesting video. I wonder why each hydraulic cylinder has multiple hoses going to each end. Perhaps they don't produce hoses big enough that can handle that kind of pressure maybe? Loving all this extra free content though from Sariel and TLG

I don't have a wedo motor but if it's similar to the PF M-motor then it should be fine. I know you said speed wasn't important, but if you do find it to be a bit lacking from the wedo motor you can always add a second pump 180 degrees offset from the first pump. As for using the same motor to control the switch you might want to look for "pneumatic autovalve", such as the one posted by Sariel below:

Cool I want to buy the big metal 800 ton version, but is it mechanically authentic?! Seriously though this is awesome, epic, and wonderful! So glad to see the Technic theme getting more attention from TLG in recent years (and rightfully so if course) and this is the most epic stunt yet! Bravo sir!

Cool interview with some good questions I agree with Markus that a new space shuttle would be pretty awesome (It's one of the few things that can get away with being mechanically unrealistic, like how are you going to make a real rocket engine in Lego, so it can purely be a showcase of cool mechanisms. I'll resist the temptation to make you all read through a long wish list I have for that model!) and also his shout out to the Arocs. Best....Lego....product....ever! He also mentioned that the new powered up software that will allow us to make our own control layouts will be able to handle 8 hubs! That's fantastic!!!!! That's 32 outputs (but also 48 batteries) which is very impressive and a big improvement over PF in that regard. I wonder, does that make not being able to stack plugs less of an issue? What do you guys think? Knowing that the powered up app coming in the future can support multiple hubs makes the new powered up elements much more exciting. I can understand why he wouldn't want to make this particular model pneumatic (as much as I hate to say it). This model really needed to be a showcase for the new RC control+ system. Now of course it IS possible to maintain an excellent level of control in an RC pneumatic application but to really do it right you would ideally want to have a more efficient compressor pump (or maybe just more of them as all official sets seem to be limited to using only one for some reason), a pressure sensor so that the compressor turns on and off automatically as needed (the app would allow you to set the points at which the motor turns on and off up to 100 psi or when hoses start popping off), a small, 3x3 or 3x4 hi torque motor to connect directly to the valve and ideally (but less likely) an adjustable one way restriction valve (or at least a way to mimic the action of one in software by limiting the valves travel). All that is too much new stuff to ask for in a year where they have already had to release the whole new control+ system as well as some other cool new parts like the reduction hubs. But of course there's always hoping for the future. I think an RC pneumatic forklift or something like that would be a good showcase for that (an excavator or front loader would be better but those have been done as flagships in recent years, one VERY recent!) I also think it's interesting that Markus mentioned that if he could add anything extra it would be lights. I also agree that this would be cool. But now with control+ I think there is an opportunity to do something much more interesting with the lights. You could have a single lead going to a brick, which then instead of having only 2 lights you could have 8 or something like that. Then in the powered up app you can program how they work, so in a car you could have 2 headlights that you can turn on and off, 2 brake lights that come on when the car decelerates and 4 indicator lights that blink correctly when you turn the wheels left or right, all from only one port. Or you could have 4 pairs ramp up and down in sequence, so that when you place them in 2 2x2 trans yellow round bricks they look just like those amber rotating beacons you see on construction equipment, again all off one port. Then there's cool light sequences on emergency vehicles (perhaps also with a separate sound brick with inbuilt speaker so the sounds of sirens is actually coming from the vehicle itself?) and lights for fair ground rides that you could program and so on. So yeah, nice interview that has got me more excited for the future possibilities of powered up/control+. I guess only time will tell if it's potential turns to reality.

A flagship pneumatic backhoe? Oh I hope this is true! And also a big helicopter? Yes please! These rumours, when it comes to future set discussions in this forum, usually turn out to be true. Must.....surpess......expec.....tations.......AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I think those gears first appeared in the boost set, but this is the first Technic set that they appear in. As for this set compared to 8043, it's an interesting comparison intended to highlight how much you can get out of not many parts but for me it's not a very compelling argument simply because 8043 never excited or impressed me at all. For me personally 8043 got nothing from it's very few parts. It had no new parts, complex gearboxes had already been done numerous times before, IR control wasn't new, it had no mechanical authenticity, no lifting capacity, the boom and stick looked awful, the bucket was entirely wrong, the base was a big square (instead of a "H" like real excavators of that type) and you couldn't operate the arm and slew at the same time which didn't make it fun to control as an excavator. The build was OK but only because it was mercifully short! They also had to redesign the LAs because it couldn't even lift it's own boom! Yes it had 6 motorised functions for way less parts than 42100 but then I could make some very unimpressive contraption (like 8043) with 6 motorised functions with less parts than 8043, doesn't mean it would be any good. I do see a lot of praise for 8043 on Eurobricks but I still haven't figured out why! But what if they released 42100 with 2 onboard computers and 7 motors but at only 1500 pieces (and rather small) for $350. Would that be better? Would the complaining be any less? I think it's reasonable for them to want something big and impressive with thousands of parts to show off their all new control+ system. I don't think it's like 42082 which really didn't need to be 4000+ pieces.

Excellent, in-depth review Sariel and I also very much look forward to the interview . Although it's not for me it certainly looks to be an impressively well engineered and well detailed model, the app looks nicely polished and well designed (looking forward to custom control layouts) and the price is what you would expect for all the stuff you get. If this model had more of what I look for in a set (trying not to repeat myself too often here!) then the price certainly wouldn't put me off buying it at some point. It's not for me but still it's a rather impressive toy! This is possibly the best set i'm not going to buy* ever made. *Well I say I'm not going to buy it, but when the ability to create your own custom control layouts comes along then purely as a parts pack this set becomes more enticing. 2 hubs and 7 motors ain't gonna come cheap on bricklink and definitely not from Lego. I'll put the LAs on Ebay

@JunkstyleGio Wow thank you I think the metallic blue, metallic red and metallic green are great, But the regular dark green also looks very good.

The gear train actually looks pretty good to me. Besides the linear clutch the gears are all right next to each other on the axles so there's no room for axles to twist, which should cut down on the jerky movement of past sets. The final gear reduction stage of 28:36 was clearly done so that the axle could clear the new large sprocket, so that the axle could be supported easily at both ends. I also like how the 28 tooth gear is pinned directly to the 36 tooth gear to prevent any twisting of the axle there. I think this is going to move very smoothly. Also I think this gear train is much more interesting than endless 16 tooth gears all turning slowly at the same speed. With a solid structure that doesn't allow for much twisting I think this won't have that much friction because of not having bevel gears (in the real world bevel gears are not a problem when you have tapered roller bearings) or worm gears. @suffocation sure that much larger model used 4 XL motors geared down 1:5, but so what? If those XL motors weren't being bogged down by the weight then that excavator would be moving way too fast for scale. So either the motors are under too much stress or the model moves way too fast, neither of which is desirable for a scale model. Maybe the designers of this set wanted a slower speed to be more scale accurate (to be fair the movement of the arm on 42100 is much too slow!).

At first I though you were taking the mickey out of my want for all things pneumatic, then I made the connection between "air" and pneumatics . But yeah, I (clearly) didn't think of that. We're due a pneumatic set (well from my point of view we should have one every 6 months!) so yeah, could be.

Land rover requested all the roof rails and stuff but they are made to be removed easily. That metallic silver version looks absolutely gorgeous . Excellent work! Would also like to see it in 8466 metallic green and if possible, a metallic dark blue and a metallic deep red!

I'm curious about 42113 air. Being one of the largest sets of the year I'm thinking/hoping for a complex mechanically authentic helicopter.

I saw that guy walking the background during the pug bit. He must have though "oh, it's just a guy walking his pug, walking his landrover?!" BTW to make this set motorisable, it may not be realistic but the new planetary reduction hubs should be a direct swap, no?

Yes Technic really could benefit from having more sizes of gears to use for their gearboxes (this way you could have the much thinner and simpler gearbox to fit within the 5 stud wide tunnel making both the gearbox and the layout more realistic), larger CVs and stronger diffs (so motorisation is possible) and normally I'd be here saying exactly that about this model. But this model came in a year when there has been already a lot of new parts combined with the whole new control+ system so I can't whine too much about that, plus it's a defender which is something I've been hoping for for ages (ok, it's not the classic icon but still). Could it have been better? Yes of course. But That doesn't mean it's bad, something the internet has forgotten. Perhaps it's not the model or the designer that was asked to make a specific model with a specific engine to a specific price point and a specific scale. Perhaps it would have been better to wait till next year and make the defender the 3rd UCS car, so it could be made in a full 1:8 scale with lots of new parts. But is that possible given the defender was released this year? Besides to do a gearbox really properly accurate, it's not enough to only have the extra sizes of gearbox gears. The whole gearbox system would need to change. Right now gear>drive ring>gear takes up 5 studs of length. So a 5+r gearbox mould be very long, a 7+r would be 20 studs, without any support in the middle of the 20 stud long axles. Really what should have been done is, instead of increasing from 4 studs in length to 5 (in 2015 was it?), it should have decreased to 3 (which is possible BTW). This way a 4 speed gearbox that's totally accurate would be only 6 studs long, thin enough to fit in the 5 wide tunnel between the drivers seats and with very little friction or slack, be much simpler, much more robust and easier to build and so on. That's what we really need but like I say, with so much new stuff released this year I highly doubt that was ever a possibility. It would have to have been done next year I think. And to those who think I'm complaining, no I'm really not. I do like this set and I'm definitely going to buy it. Suggesting ways one would make a good thing even better is not the same as complaining.

Nice review, I really like how well the suspension is tuned. About the gearbox having no practical use, of course you are right but then Lego has no practical use to an adult. It's "use" is non practical, it's purely for our pleasure/entertainment (ok, maybe relaxation and therapeutic nature makes it practical) and Technic is about mechanism which does serve some educational use. So a gearbox fits perfectly.

The angle of the stripe is very small, but it also adds a lot to the look so I'd try to avoid having it look flat. The front wheel arch looks to be taller than the rear one which also affects how the angle of the stripe looks. Notice how the gap between the wheel and the arch is larger on the front than the rear. I agree with @Jeroen Ottens . Build the stripe flat but increase the rear suspension height by perhaps about half a stud. Then you can either raise the front arch or lower the rear arch by a whole stud.