allanp

@Doug72 for some inexplicable reason you reminded me of this guy I built the ucs falcon over Christmas and a few times I thought there was a part missing but nope, every piece was there. Out of about 200 sets I've had one set with a bag missing in 1998, so missing bags are rare but I have had it happen to me years ago.

Sheepos land rover defender might be considered a challenge. The instructions are great but I found some fine tuning is required. In terms of sets, there's two that come to mind. The 8480 space shuttle and 42009 crane because they have to be built perfectly for their functions to work, especially 42009. For example, Lego axles are usually not perfectly straight. For 42009 I built a simple axle tester, it was just 8 1x2 technic bricks sandwiched between two 2x8 regular bricks, leaving me with an 8 stud long hole. If an axle falls through it without any resistance it went in 42009. I tested every axle before using it in 42009. You'd be surprised how many perfectly fine looking axles and even new axles didn't pass that test. By doing this and being sure to space gears and bushings on axles correctly to allow everything to move freely I found that everything worked.....just. Maybe axles get slightly bent when contained in a box full of parts. I don't remember having this issue back when we had the yellow plastic inner trays. 8480 isn't challenging but I find it takes longer to build than other sets with similar piece counts and it's a great build. But like others have said, following simple step by step instructions isn't challenging for those of us who have built a few hundred or so Technic sets, and can't really expect it to be. I would assume the Chiron's 16+ age rating is likely for 16 year olds who haven't built a Technic set before. Still no excuse for the tastless colour choices though, blue and red gears? Orange wave selector? C'mon man!

From what's been revealed so far, which really isn't very much so way too early to judge the year yet, I think there's some good stuff in the Technic lineup, namely the corvette and the new large sprockets in the rc racer and new smaller wheel arches. RUMOUR has it there's a spider crane, car transporter and maybe even a large excavator planned for the second half, but that that with a big grain of salt. I do feel there is less anticipation for this year to come as there has been in previous years but I think theres a good reason for this. With all the copycat companies out there TLG have been forced to control leaks and that's really all there is to it. Were not as excited because we haven't seen what's coming like we have in previous years. But judging by TLGs investments in new parts at least for the Technic theme I see no reason to worry that this year won't be as bad as some fear just yet. We are adult fans who like larger builds. These traditionally come out later in the year so we need some patients. For all we know we might get a pirate theme including 2000 piece pirate ship, islanders with a large brick built island playset with Indiana jones type traps, a new castle theme with a 4000 piece English castle that isn't square but made up of lots of angled wall sections built on brick built sloped grounds and smaller sets like medieval houses and town squares and market stalls and add on sections of modular castle wall with different wooden structures built on the sides to encircle it all and add on modular castle circular towers with internal spiral stairs and battle packs with 20 minifigures and working trebuchets and a whole new 2x2 box section monorail system for the Jurassic world theme and a highly detailed Technic RC pneumatic excavator using the new large sprockets and the return of model team with a massive 1:8 scale American 18 wheeler with trailer and lots of chrome. Or we might just get a rerelease of galidor. Way too early to tell.

Yeah you wanna watch out for those guys. I'm still in prison for destroying the little dump truck from the BWE set with hypnodisk! Seriously though I hope everyone has a fantastic 2019

A bold statement, but you may be right. I guess it would depend on how profitable this set is for TLG. Maybe it's a test, like the Unimog, to see how well a certain kind of set will sell. If it sells well I'd expect to see more. But maybe there's another reason for a car this scale to be released, soon to be revealed?!

All the first half sets appear to be in stock at UK smyths stores. On a side note, when looking at ALL Lego products and ordering them by best sellers, Technic sets occupy 4 of the top 7 spots, with the Bugatti being number 1. Go Technic! Woop woop!

Looks very much like a real robot arm

If you're not buying these sets as in investment to sell on later then why not? I've done it many times because as @Pdaitabird said, toys are to be played with. At the same time there's a certain novelty to owning a MISB set. So some of my most prized sets (like 8868 in my avatar) are opened and played with many times but right now are MIB, with the parts in their original carefully opened bags, just not sealed.

So who else is up at 5am, or is it just me

Thanks Paul. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you get all the love and happiness you desire, and of course some Lego too!

Yeah I mean, I have no expectations because we really have no idea what's coming, all I write is ideas and dreams. I learnt from the Porsche not to confuse wishes with expectation. The Porsche really is a very good model, we shot ourselves in the foot by placing too high expectations upon it I think. A 2.5k car transporter that comes with cars would I think be corvette scale, with Arocs or Mack wheels and likely not offer more than 42070 in terms of functionality. Which is fine for a non flagship. And that is the rumour after all, a 2.5k car transporter with an even bigger excavator also on offer, so that's cool. Not sure now why I bought up the idea of a 1:8 scale car transporter as there isn't even a rumor to support it . I guess I was dreaming up ways to make it a best ever flagship if there is no excavator as the flagship. But I do think it's possible in under 5k. It's mostly empty (or should I say negative) space and boxy shapes. Yes it would be WAY bigger than 42070, but that wasn't mostly negative space and had well under 2k parts. Not that size itself matters of course, but the engineering behind a Technic vehicle that can carry other large technic vehicles, and even lift them into the air, is itself a potentially interesting feature. As there's no rumor to support it maybe it's not even worth speculating on. This is partly why I put this in the wish topic, as here we can go wild and speculate on anything we like!

Yeah, it would probably be something similar to 42070, which wasn't that we'll recieved as an expensive flagship. So it really depends on that I guess. As a truck would likely lack the complex transmission and complex curves of the 1:8 cars (which make up much of their piece counts) much of its bulk would be large frames and large oblong panels. With a new heavy duty diff, wheels as described and leaf springs I think a flagship1:8 scale truck could be done in well under 5k parts. But why my dream would be 1:8 is because we have many 1:8 cars to load up the transporter with, plus the main reason is because it would provide a good excuse to bring us those lovely new 1:8 truck parts (such as the wheels, diff and leaf springs). The 1:10 cars aren't great and the corvette is only remotely realistic looking car in that scale we have. But what if, like the bucket wheel excavator and it's recoloured dump truck, the car transporter comes with another corvette but in a different colour? Could that be why they released a car in that scale in the first half? I think going for a 42070 style approach in the scale of the corvette could be a good approach to take, if it's not going to be the flagship.

As much as ide love to discuss my thoughts on these rumours here, as they are only rumours, and as my thoughts are not news, I thought it better to share my thoughts in the future set wish topic, though if a mod feels it belongs here they are free to move it of course.

I was going to post this in the 2019 topic as it regards rumors of the 2nd half 2019 sets but I think it's much better to post it here. Rumours in the 2019 discussion thread are that we are getting a spider crane, car transporter and possibly a BIG excavator. TBH, everytime we hear rumours here on eurobricks so close to Christmas, they usually turn out to be true, so I think it's worth speculating on them at least in this thread. Please note the following are NOT my expectations and if the final products are different then that will in no way influence my level of joy or dissatisfaction. These are mearly examples and ideas of what could be and what I think would be cool or not so cool. Going on the RUMOURS so far: Spider crane: Cranes always sell well so I'm told so it's no surprise we get yet another one. It's to be expected. Poor: all simple manual functions with controls directly attached to their functions. Average: Some nice complexity. Perhaps a motor with function gearbox with controls in one centralised place. Good: Pneumatic with either manual or motor pump, doesn't matter on smaller, lower priced model. The (impossible?) dream: New parts like the Arocs telescopic parts but with multiple stages and a new really really long cylinder to extend the boom. Car transporter: Many have been asking for such a model. Though personally I don't think it could offer enough functionality or complexity to be the ideal flagship as the parts have to be divided across multiple models. Poor: Basic manual functions with their controls connected directly to their respective functions. No cars included in the set. Average: Mix of RC drive and steering for the main truck and manual functions with some complexity. Comes with one car. Good: Comes with multiple cars. All vehicles are fully RC meaning you can fully load and unload the truck with cars without touching anything but the remote. This may not be very interesting or authentic mechanically but at least it has good play value. But this would NOT be enough for a good flagship. But with so many motors and high part count it would be priced like a flagship. So it'll be tricky to pull off well. This is why I personally don't think a car transporter is a great idea as you are getting three or more average models instead of focusing on one great model. That is unless they aim for...... The dream (only IF this is the flagship): One huge truck without any cars included (enabling the proper focus needed for one great model, if this is indeed the flagship), but is in scale with the Bugatti so all our 1:8 cars would work with it. The truck itself doesn't hold many cars (otherwise it would be too big and expensive relative to the functionality on offer) but you can buy additional trailers from Lego (or design and build them yourself) to hold more cars. Either way the truck would be designed to have a trailer. The truck itself would be fully RC with new parts including a much stronger differential based on the 36t double bevel gear to be able to move multiple 1:8 cars plus itself, metal axles to connect the diff to the wheels and metal leaf springs. So the theme of the new parts in this set is heavy haulage, and what better way to demonstrate that than by hauling multiple past flagships that we already own?! It would also have pneumatic powered ramps with ppto (like the unimog) to connect to one or more trailers. These would provide power to the ramps and steering axles of the trailers as a nice extra detail. Also would have new truck wheels which have much more accurate proportions to real life. So same diameter as unimog wheels but much narrower, like at least 30 or 40% narrower, with large internal size of the wheel to allow steering pivot to be inside the wheel and Ackerman geometry, plus large positive offset, like on a real truck wheel, so two can be pinned together back to back with just regular black 2M connector pegs with friction without the tyres touching each other. These wheels plus the metal leaf springs (which could be separate, end user assembled punched spring steel plates so more or less could be used to create as much or as little suspension stiffness as desired), stronger differential and metal axles would open up many possibilities for large scale trucks while adding authenticity. Excavator: Yes please! While it's no secret I'm not a huge fan of 8043 due to its lack of mechanical authenticity or any new parts, I do at least admire it's complexity and can see why it's so popular. But having already had a mechanically unrealistic excavator, isn't it time for a better one? Poor: Another 8043. Average: Another 8043 but more easthically pleasing and detailed and in scale with the new larger sprockets. Good: Finally and for the first time ever, fully RC pneumatic, using Pup for smooth, easy and accurate RC control of the valves, nicely detailed to look big, rugged and heavy duty and to scale with the new larger sprockets and finally a new excavator bucket. This alone could make this one of the all time greatest sets ever, however.... The (impossible?) dream: All things in the above good category plus new parts to create a new pneumatic pump that very closely resembles the way a hydraulic variable displacement swash plate type pump works. This pump would not be preassembled but put together by you, the end user and would consist of a rotating barrel (like a 3x0.5 pulley but 3 studs long instead of only 0.5) that can be loaded with up to six pressure pistons (this big model would come with all six, smaller models would come with less), the pressure pistons and swash plate assembly. This pump (when fully loaded with all six pistons) would have a max capacity equal to six of the current motor pumps but in a 3x3x6 size and it can be constantly powered with its output automatically regulated by a simple cylinder/counter spring pressure arrangement connected to the swash plate. This would finally give powered Pneumatic models a boost in performance. Very few moccers build pneumatic pumps with only one pump as we know more is better in terms of performance. A performance boost would also be very welcome when dealing with RC pneumatics in particular. One other even more likely impossible (but wonderful) aim with this pump is that, because of the nature of how this pump works, there is a possibility that it could work the other way as well, so putting air pressure IN to the pump yeilds rotation of the input shaft, which could be used to drive the tracks and rotation of the superstructure using fluid (air is a fluid) under pressure, just like in reality. Impossible dream? Please remember, these are NOT my expectations, they are mearly examples or ideas of what I think would make these sets bad, good or mindblowingly amazballs to the max!

You could have 22 and 18 also. The difference between 16 and 20 is significant enough for a speed in between IMHO. It's also possible to have more by having a larger spacing between shafts. But instead of increasing the length of gear>drive ring>gear from 4 to 5 studs, would have been better to decrease it to 3 studs, which im pretty sure is possible. Sorry I'm drifting off topic now!

Bah, too much orange!

I actually do think kids spend too much time in front of a screen, learning their social skills on (anti)social media and not interacting with the real world, but that's just me, and I'm probably guilty of it too!

Is it weird that despite all the cars with gearboxes we've had over the years, although only two speeds this little tracked loader has the most mechanically authentic gearbox to date? And it's to drive a winch! The Chiron did introduce the new size clutch gear which was a great step forward but a real gearbox, like this digger, has two main shafts with all the gears in a line on those two shafts (minus the reverse idler and discounting truck 18 speed transmissions). Here the digger does it right, unlike the Chiron's roughly 5,386,492 shafts in the gearbox! So yeah, it's only two speeds (look forward to more in future) but it is the most authentic gearbox to date.....I think.

Porsche: We want our products to look great. Mercedes: Surly having them function properly is more important? Porsche: Naaaah. Looking good is all that matters. Mercedes:

Looking good. I wonder if all the backlash can be removed but andding just a tiny amount of pre-tensioning via some rubber bands at each end to keep the linkages just slightly in tension or compression. Not enough to stress the linkage, just enough to emilinate the backlash.

Awesome, look forward to it. It was your review of 42070 that tipped me finally toward getting it! Although these first half sets are not for me, they are seemingly intended to bring in new fans (as opposed to the more complex builds of second half intended to keep existing fans buying sets for years to come), it's interesting as a fan of the Technic brand to see how they intend to bring in new fans with these sets. And like with 42070 maybe your reviews will pursuade me to buy a few, though I already want the Corvette!

I agree. But what else can you do when building a supercar from the bottom up, perhaps a really complex sunroof! But yeah, bodywork is kinda a boring necessity. I think that's why cranes, helicopters, diggers and so on are more fun to build generally speaking as you have mechanical things of interest throughout the build.

It says a lot about the brand. Mercedes are clearly run by engineers who find mechanics important. The unimog and the Arocs were both amazing with their new parts that gave us new levels of mechanical authenticity. But Porsche seems to be run by marketing who just want their vehicles to look good (the technic Porsches do look fantastic) but they don't care about the internal mechanisms. Knowing that ide choose a Mercedes over a Porsche any day if that's how they run their business.

YAAAAAAY another build has begun .

Opening doors/hood aren't real functions! They are a nice finishing touch but what is basically just a flap is not a function IMHO. Only addition function that could really be put into a model this size is rear suspension and it would have to have very limited travel or the rear end would look too high. I think they did about as good as they could given the size and licencing.