allanp

Yes I would recommend some lubrication, like maybe some good silicone grease on ALL moving parts, all rotating axles, pivots and pins as well as inside the motors internal planetary gear reduction. This will reduce wear as well as decrease the load on the motor.

I think the bumpyness of the replica is coming from the use of 16t gears as idler wheels for the tracks. The doubled up 3 x 0.5 pulley wheels will be smoother.

Same for me on phone, tablet and desktop computer.

It's likely that the designers at BMW have concept ideas or sketches for all kinds of weird and wonderful future "tech" that may not ever be seen in reality. So the B model could be based on that. I guess it will be called a concept air/water craft or something like that.

On the 40th anniversary commemorative part, I think it's nice we get a little token. You can't really expect much, it's not like it's a 50th anniversary and to my knowledge they didn't recognize the 30th anniversary, and did they do anything for the 40th anniversary of any other theme? They might have only included the piece because of the topic on this forum asking if they would to anything to celebrate 40 years. Thanks Technic team

So guys and gals, whilst browsing the pneumatic contest entry topic trying to pick who to vote for I noticed a couple pneumatic steam locos. These are two great enteries that have only a single function. Then I looked up and noticed a model I have built hanging on a string that spans the room near the ceiling, and it's this: http://rebrickable.com/sets/8891-1-f1/cable-car-parts-needed-to-build-not-included-with-book-technic-1991 This is a fantastic little build whose only function is to automatically go back and forth along a piece of string (yes, it does automatically change direction once it reaches an obstruction placed on the string). I highly recommend building it. There are also some really cool GBCs whose only function is to move a ball from one place to another. So this got me wondering, what other really cool models do you know of (official or MOC) that have only one function?

Hardest contest to call yet and so many entries most of them good or better. 1: 10 20: 6 27: 4 11: 3 13: 2 30: 1 Ide be happy if any of these win.

Sorry I don't know of any blueprints, but for the time it would take to make a copy of the box, it might be better to get a real set from bricklink, there are some with box for reasonable money.

It was just a simplistic example to explain my point. But (off topic) I've never seen a gearbox in real life cars/machinery where all the clutch gears where the same size so i'm inclined to disagree with you

This is actually a tricky question. When you credit someone, how do you know they were the first person to ever come up with that idea? lets say that Steve comes up with a great idea. Then Andy sees it, and posts a picture of it. Then Jack sees Andy's post and is inspired, uses the idea and then credits Andy, so now not only has Andy stolen the idea, but Jack is also now unknowingly complicit because he is crediting Andy for Steve's idea. So unless you know for sure they were the original creator then you may be crediting the wrong person, which may do more harm than good. A further complication to this is that we are all building and solving essentially the same problems with the same parts to choose from, so it is inevitable that the same ideas will be invented by multiple people. Look at the front of Sariels book published 2012: Look familiar? Here's a picture I posted online on brickshelf and here in 2011: I have been using these designs for years prior to that. So maybe he saw mine, maybe he came up with it on his own, there's no way to tell. So who should you be crediting?

If you want to add free sound effects there is a site called freesound.org be sure to read through the site guidlines as it will tell you which sounds are free to use. I think there are some scores around there to.

You would think that the friction of these gears is negligible but I can tell you it's not always. Take this 5 speed + R gearbox design in the image below for example: I remember coming up with that years ago and have seen other builders, without ever seeing mine, come up with the exact same solution for making a strong 5 speed + R gearbox, I've seen it used in a lot of places but there is a problem with it. When being used in a motorized vehicle (with the input and output being used as shown in the picture) it works fine. However when using it in a non motorized vehicle (where input and output is swapped round), only in first gear and only in one direction it will completely lock up most of the time, and the reason for that is purely because of the friction of the NOT engaged clutch gears on their axles, to be more precise, the not engaged clutch gear used for 5th gear is the problem. It's to do with the how the other gears it's meshed with are trying to move that gear in a particular way when turned in one direction. It's hard to explain. But in any case, this happens with the old clutch gears. Maybe it would be even worse with the new clutch gears?

This poll is confusing. So 1 star is very good and 5 stars is very poor?

Nice work, also add me to the list of people who enjoy reading your ramblings

for help understanding 42055, have you seen Blakbirds review? It shows many diagrams of the internal workings, some of which are colour coded which allows you to follow the drive trains.

Well it is only the first half so it's bound to be a little kiddish for our tastes. I'm still reserving judgement until we know about the functionality and possible new parts. But it does look as though colour vomit has been tamed a little, though that might be due to the low quality pictures or because they are preliminary designs. I also like that we'll be getting some more dark blue parts. The look of the jet is....interesting. I think the wings need to be a bit larger though.

Thanks guys for all the work you do in your free time to keep the friendliest place on the net alive

Gravity is used to lower the boom. They simply omit the hoses between the retract ports of the cylinder and the valve.

Smyths UK has a sale on (at least the one by me does). I couldn't resist, bought a 42056 for £200

Oh SWEET. Always a pleasant surprise to see a technicopedia update.

Sounds like you are building a racing wheelchair with tilting driver! If it's just for indication purposes could you just not just use a weight that swings side to side due to the centrifugal force of turning round a corner?

Only one I own is Sheepo's 110 Defender. For the new guys here, here is my review of that model: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=80063&hl=sheepo&st=0

Yeah, yeah, well......um......Lego make advent (totally christian) calendars! Seriously though lets not continue this discussion, the mods don't like it

Well not knowing these even existed I don't own any of these so I'm not sure if I should answer. But I will say I am very happy to see a wedding set. In a world that seems all too happy to throw away Christianity I am glad to see the Lego group are at least willing to acknowledge it's existence in a neutral or positive way

On holiday I bought a slightly dusty 8444 for £5