mahjqa

Want to build it? Here are 118 pages of instructions. Sample picture: NOTE: General knowledge of Technic is required. Unless your brick collecton is completely insane, you will have to buy parts to complete this model.

Hey look! Guess what comes up as the first result when you google for 'lego yarn winder'!

Another racer for the ACC: pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28134808@N02/sets/72157626047182631/with/5488457648/

If you want secondhand, look into www.bricklink.com or www.ebay.com If you want to see what the new technic sets can do, get over to www.lego.com . If you want to know what old sets can do, see http://ericalbrecht.com/technic/ .

... Seeing this topic I thought Lego had already started the challenge. False alarm. This is kind of a bummer.

Can someone please fix the thread title?

Well, they had. In 1976. These things expire eventually, though. And Lego had a couple of decades to profit from their invention. A little competition ought to keep them sharp (and prices a little lower)

Two things I'm wondering about; 1: will their technic holes be at the proper heighth? Apparently, a technic hole isn't the same heighth as (for example) the stud on a headlight brick. it's a very small difference, but apparently it's there. 2: what's the point of differently colored technic pins?

Transclear gearbox: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=46220 Similar: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=6588&colorID=12&in=A

You said the tail rotor didn't spin as well as you'd hoped. You might want to replace the blue pin it's on with a grey one.

Isn't that kind of the point? If it's hard to take apart, this means it can stand a bump here or there as well. I know what you mean, though. Pretty much everything I've built has been rebuilt from the ground up more than once. While I agree that a well-built studded frame can propably be used to knock out a burglar (I swear, this has a studded frame and feels like a baseball bat) I don't much care for stud connections anymore. I much prefer the 'click' of a technic pin. (of course, this has mainly to do that during exhibitions many of my models will be driven by kids. You can't really take chances with structural integrity, there.)

When you see the car from below, there's an orange block. I find it very likely that it is http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=x928cx1

Star Wars Geek: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=50904 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=x928cx1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=58121c01 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=58120c01 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=58122c01 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=58123c01 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=54950c02 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6582 x4 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6581 x4 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44809'>http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44809 x2 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6573 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=45705 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32498 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32177 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=87083 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=87082 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=61073 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=64681 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=64393 -below this line are easier to get parts- http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32250 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6538c http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6553 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32054 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6632 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=42003 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4265c http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3713 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=41677 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32000 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32184 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6536 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4274 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4019 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32269 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32270 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=44294 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32073 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4519 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32002 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32278 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32017 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6589 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32034 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32056 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32525 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2825 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=43093 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6558 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2905 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=32526 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3707 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3706 Good luck! (And no. There will not be instructions. Unless somebody else wants to make them, which is fine by me.)

Gearing: XL motor -> 36z:12z -> 20z:12z -> differential. That makes 5:1 total. It's quite a good balance between acceleration and top speed. Well, one advantage of film is that you can just try a couple of times until you get it right. However, the more I practice the less tries I need. And I'm glad you think it's still innovative; I've built plenty of remote control cars, but there's still improvements to be made. Well, odds for ice here are low 'til next december or so. Also, it's an ice racer in name only, the differential makes it far too susceptible to losing traction. I just liked the colorscheme, I'm afraid :D And yes, Youtube is being a bitch with videos in Germany, and I can't seem to fix it without losing the music, which I'd rather not. If you're wondering, you can see all the video's I've put on flickr by searching my photostream for 'youtubemirror' or using this link. And to everybody else; thanks for the kind words.

I think he's perfectly right. It's an arbitrary distinction anyway. The use of studless parts has simply increased over the years. One might argue that kicked off the studless age. But to me, it was that signaled that something new was coming.

Lasse D: Yup, the steering is self-centering, using the usual suspect. I much prefer it, because with these speeds responsiveness of the steering pretty much mandatory. Apemax: Standard-issue garden variety standard controller. No modifications or additions. My muscle memory's completely adapted to it. (Which gave some problems when I tried to drive somebody else's car; he had steering and acceleration reversed. Red is throttle, blue is steering, people! )

The original can be seen . If you're from Germany or otherwise unable to watch the video on Youtube, here is another copy of it on Flickr. This machine is built for speed and maneuverability. And for easy batterychanges. Small (less inertia) and it can handle a bump or two. And if you're into photography, you might want to check this.

Adding more axles does not add more traction. Traction is dependent on weight. The more weight on a wheel, the more traction it has. If you add two more wheels, the weight of the vehicle will (in the best scenario) be evenly distributed over all the wheels.

Ayup.

I see your crashes and raise you a video:

I figured out what the tiny alien's used for! After a quick edit in Photoshop... WAAAAAAAAAAAUGH! by mahjqa, on Flickr

Perhaps use cams instead?

Wherever the track makes a 180 degree* bend is best. At those points, a driven sprocket has most contact with the track, and is least likely to slip off when powered. So here: _________________ /O O\ \_________________/ Tanks and other tracked vehicles usually drive the rear sprocket, because this gives the most direct power to the tracks in contact with the ground. Note that Lego vehicles can get away with driving either the rear or the front one, like in the Motorised bulldozer. Here, one motor drives the front sprocket, the other the back. Since you're making a halftrack, you can simply power both tracks with the same motor. Using the back sprocket is propably easiest to build. On tanks, the sprocket driving the tracks is not in contact with the ground. This is because then it can easily stay in one place, while the lower wheels can easily be outfitted with springs to get better contact with the ground. *or slightly less

Hi! Thanks for your praise; it's great I've got someone interested in technic. I hope that I can answer some of your questions. For starters, the tracks of the snow groomer should work very well. Because it's plastic it's a bit slippery, but in this case it should work to your advantage. The reason Lego uses plastic tracks is so vehicles like bulldozers can not only move forward, but turn as well. to do that, you need a tiny bit of slipperyness. Also, because there's a bit of slip, you can lose the differential and just use a regular gear instead. Hope this helps a bit :D (And because I can, I'm dropping this differential video here. If you haven't seen it yet, do so. It only takes a few minutes, but it's the best explanation I've foudn so far)

Indeed. Great work!