allanp

I member (south park reference) when sets were usually on the shelves for 4 or 5 years, but toy stores wouldn't stock the new stuff right away. I bugged my dad to take me to toys r us most weekends until finally seeing 8880 on the shelf.....in October! Now with online shopping toy stores have to get new stock on the shelves as soon as they are released.

I can see why they included the saw horse, chain saw and other details, for the kids I guess, but I'll not be building those, like I didn't build the handbag for the Porsche. I don't really want to pay for something that I'm likely not going to build though, so hopefully the add ons which don't do anything haven't affected the price much.

I think they kept them yellow because by quickly glancing at the model you can see it has pneumatics, or it could be cheaper to only have to make them in one colour. But still it would be great to have them match the colour of the vehicle/machine they are connected to like in the real world. If not, then having them in black would be good for when yellow doesn't work.

This thing is looking amazing. In this case the cut base plates doesn't make it any less impressive as you could just buy all the plates you need, it's just a cost thing. One thing to consider though is that Lego themselves have used material for their ships sails and the top of their carousels, and printed cardboard cutouts for ramps and road base plates. So one might consider stiff cardboard with an aluminium checker plate design for the walkways printed on it as being a valid and possibly cheaper alternative to cutting baseplates, though its a bit late for me to suggest that now

I don't think its that uncommon for the forks of a forklift not to reach as high as the roof of the cab.

I thinks it's legal but might be tricky for the target age group to understand and build and also can be tricky to properly brace from a structural standpoint.

What do you mean by half stud offset? The kind used in 8448 or the kind used in 8265?

Hey, at least I got my longer pneumatics and now new valve and clutch gear in a new size, so sometimes ranting pays off . But even I feel that lately there is too much negativity without positivity to keep it in balance. The guys at TLG don't want to read "this sucks, the designers suck" over and over again. It's fine to criticize, but now I try to also say what I like about a sets I dislike, and what I dislike about sets I like. I may dislike 42070 but the build was enjoyable. I like the Chiron but the steering could be made much better by......... So it's balance. It's voicing my full and unedited opinion whilst not just complaining all the time. So it's not the complaining, but the lack of positivity to balance it out that is kinda bothering me right now.

Well that's true. I do wish they would include at least two motor pumps in motorised pneumatic sets to solve that issue. I wonder if there is a best of both worlds option. The wheels drive a fake engine which also has a motor pump connected to the end of it, which is connected to an airtank so by pushing it along you automatically build up pressure in the air tank. I usually don't like air tanks actually but that would be a good use for one. As the motor pump, crank and surrounding structures are already in place it would then be much easier to add an optional motor to that. It could also have a hand pump as a back up I guess. This is fine for us AFOLs that have more motors and battery boxes than we know what to do with, but for those that don't buying a set plus a motor and battery box separately would end up more expensive that if the set just came with it as standard.

I get that pneumatics don't absolutely need a motor as much as LAs to be playable, hand cranked pneumatics are far better than hand cranked LAs in most cases. But why would a manual pump be better than letting a motor do the pumping work for you? With the PF you don't have to pump anything, just operate the valves like in real life. I don't recall ever seeing an operator of the real thing having to jump on the bonnet and push the exhaust pipe up and down to get the hydraulics to work. So is it not more authentic to have it like this without the manual pump?

I like it!!!

I wonder what the pneumatics would look like in white, or both the arm and pneumatics in black, or the wheels in yellow to match your panels.

Well both the 42080 A and B models use an on board compressor to compress fluid (air is a fluid) which is then directed via valves (new and improved no less) to cylinders which then move to do work. This is real authenticity from its mechanical core thats not just skin deep. But the colour choices make it look aweful. On the other hand 42081 looks nicer, but mechanically its dull and boring with no authenticity or realism at all, just a few hand cranked LAs. So if you want only looks go for the fantasy 42081 Ninjago digger. Ill pass on that. The colour vomit of 42080 sucks, but with its mechanical authenticity and improved parts its much better at being a Technic set.

I think overall the Technic theme is doing ok. There are things ide do different but the fact that it's still around and doing very well is a blessing to be thankful for. How many of its legitimate competitors are filling store shelves? Look at Meccano, it's a mere shadow of its former self. Look at all the other toys being replaced by smart phones and social media. And yet Technic still remains and far from being dumbed down they are as complex as ever in recent years. Of course I'de like to see a return of universal sets, motors without internal gear reduction, studded chassis, tasteful colour coding, the flex system and so on, but one thing that has been missing that has hopefully returned with sets like the Arocs, BWE and the Chiron is the need to improve in what's been done already. That great to see. However, although we have sets like the Chiron now, people will always look back at 8880 with fondness not because of nostalgia or any technical superiority it may have, but because of the huge leap forward that it was at the time. But like I say Technic is still around and doing great, so they must be doing something right! But something is bothersome and that's the quality! Not the quality of the parts, they are still great, it's the design. I've mentioned the steering of the Chiron compared to 8880 before but it proves my point I think. Like the Chiron the front axle of 8880 had drive, suspension and steering, but the front axle of 8880 also had a much better steering angle due to the bigger CV joints, the front wheels where less wobbly and the steering just felt much more solid, well built and generally much better due to the larger steering arms with Ackerman. The suspension was way too firm, but at least it worked. Sure the front axle of the Chiron has the same functions, but it feels as if they are just happy to have the functions without the quality or though put into it that it deserves for the asking price. It has steering but the angle is poor and it feels cheap, like it's going to break, everything is loose and just not sturdy or well engineered. Turning the hand of God wheel on 8880, it turns with ease, turning all four wheels solidly to big angles, it feels like quality. In comparison turning the steering wheel of the Porsche or Chiron feels like the steering wheel is connected to the front wheels via a wet noodle! Add to that decline in mechanical quality the fact that 8880 brought the first implementation of a driven, suspended and steered axle makes it's high quality feel all the more impressive because usually such technological advances start out a bit ropey and get perfected over time. Having said all that, I must, and do, remain thankful that Technic is not only still here, but judging by their numerous new releases each year, numerous new parts released every year and ever increasing part counts, Technic seems to be doing as well as ever.

Nope, 8865 test car is the ultimate drivers car Seriously though, when they build the next one, they should have 8865 built to use as a standard to aim for and even possibly beat in terms of how the suspension and steering should feel. 8880 has possibly even better and higher quality feeling steering with its hand of God option and less slack in the wheel "bearings" but it's suspension was too hard. The UCS sets are both good overall, but for how much they cost the steering really does feel cheap and nasty.

Didumos has his drive rings placed further apart. Yours are too close together.

Has anybody tested how far you need to turn the wave selector piece to disengage a gear? We know it disengages when rotating 90 degrees, but will it disengage a gear in 60 degrees?

Nope, LAs will NEVER be acceptable Colour coding rant follows, feel free to skip @AVCampos by not having very much colour coding on the outside, except a few pins and axles, are they admitting its not really needed and looks like knex?! . I know the unicorn barf is there when I build it, just like I know the mechanics are there when I build it so no real need for removable body. I also know it spoils the illusion of building a real gearbox and replaces it with a constant reminder that I'm an adult playing with a child's toy, not nice or even appropriate when it's a £330 set recommended for 16+ . But they don't have to colour everything black either. Look inside a gearbox and you'll see black, dark grey and light grey. I could also live with dark brown and tan as they could look like oil and grease, and for the surrounding beams/structure you can also have the colour of the vehicle itself. So there's six colours already. Blue 3M pins also don't stick out too badly as blue is kind of a dark colour (would be better in dark blue or dark grey) and you can only see the ends anyway. Just not bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, lime, bright blue gears and so on all mixed together. There's enough far more tasteful colours (black, dark grey, like grey, vehicle main body colour, limited amounts of blue, dark brown an tan) they could use instead that need not make afols feel like they just spent £330 on nothing more than a child's toy.

@aol000xw I agree that, without having built it myself, in videos the front suspension does seem too soft. But do you not think the gearbox is an improvement over the Porsche? Do you not like the new disk brake pieces? It seems you are a little too focused on one negative aspect to the point where it's preventing you from enjoying many positive aspects, which is a shame. For me the front suspension, cheap and low quality feeling steering (if it's anything like the porsche with its too short steering arms and no Ackerman geometry) and colour coding are negative aspects. But there are enough positive aspects as well to make me still want it.

It used to be very common in official sets, not so much now, but if there's no motor, and the gears are blocked from sliding off the end, I don't see it as much of an issue.

How about the new land rover defender 110? The defender is iconic, it's well known, it can introduce new functionality such as a transfer case, It can introduce many of the new parts we've been asking for, A defender is one of the few (if not the only) technic model to reach 10,000 votes on Lego ideas, It allows the technic UCS line to not be limited to only supercars which all have the same basic functions

I forgot about that speedo, I even have one! And I also made a working analogue Speedo and rev counter (basically the same thing) using a motor from the barcode truck in reverse as a generator creating electricity to power a second barcode truck motor connected to a rubber band, it works really well so probably not a great example .

Ok well regarding price, price per piece is not, and has never been, a good way to estimate price. While there is SOME correlation, there is also far too many outliers to say that it's entirely accurate. A far more accurate way to judge price is price per unit of weight. When this is plotted on a graph the correlation is MUCH stronger with hardly any outliers regardless of whatever licensing there may be, if any. And it appears the Bugatti is a very heavy set, combined with the many new part moulds that had to be created for this set then the price really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Regarding not being able to see the functions, did he not see the build while he was building it? Was he blind folded? He built the darned thing so how can it not know what goes on inside it without having to see it? Regarding it not being technic, this set has a working paddle shift 8 speed gearbox shifted via an all new cylindrical cam shifter to bring Lego sequencial gear shift mechanisms one step closer to reality, some kind of W16 engine (more on that later), all wheel drive, working steering with working steering wheel, all round independent suspension and dual action rear wing working from a single input, all of which could be seen and tested perfectly well during the build. So we have all the major functions of the real car plus new parts to bring the mechanics closer to reality, what else was he expecting? A working speedometer? LAZORS?! Regarding the execution of the W16 engine, to do it accurately would require new parts to be moulded just for this one set with zero chance of being useful to improve future sets (unlike longer pneumatics or the cylindrical cam shifter) so it's not reasonable to expect TLG to do so. This means we get what we have or a style of engine that's similar to the Mack truck, which would be even more inaccurate with no con rods, pistons that are too small, pistons that stick out the end of the bore and that aren't connected in anyway to the crank shaft, which isn't even a crank shaft because it's a cam shaft! That's 5 in accuracies compared to the Chiron's one inaccuracy of having 3 crank shafts. Regarding stickers, I personally prefer stickers, especially on parts that only come in that set. With a sticker you have the choice of having the stickers design on that piece or not. Printing that design removes that option, and as Lego is supposed to be about giving you options to rebuild things into anything you want, and technic is supposed to not be all about the look, ide say stickers are therefore superior to printed pieces. No set is perfect, there are things that can be improved, there are things I would have done different, but sometimes it appears that if something isn't quite 10 out of 10 then it must be a zero. And remember that old saying, you can polish a turd but it's still a turd? That's why when a poor set comes out you don't see much activity in their respective mod threads, mod it all you want it'll still be based on a poor set. Good sets like the arocs and the BWE tend to have much more activity in their respective mod threads, because it has enough appeal and interest to begin with to warrant spending the time to make it better. The Chiron has a lot of activity in its mod thread even before most people had received one! Sorry for the long rant, but although I can level plenty of criticism myself at a set I think is poor, it's only really fair to do that if I'm also going to praise and even defend something when I think it's good.

I don't know German, what does he say is wrong with it?

So does the cylindrical cam shifter not have any identifying mark, like an arrow moulded anywhere, so that the instructions could show, this one goes with the arrow pointing up, this one goes with the arrow pointing left for example? Also, we know that by rotating it through 90 degrees it will move the drive ring from engaged to disengaged. Could someone test what is the minimum angle of rotation does it take to disengage a drive ring? For example if it can disengage a drive ring with only 60 degrees of rotation then we could also use it in 6 positions.