nychase

I actually have some advice. Don't bother with the 9V battery pack, its useless. The fiber optic gets plenty of power (light) even at the slowest speed setting from the train transformer. In other words, wire it directly to the output going to the motor (I used a medium PF with a 3x5 liftarm holding it) and that way it will always be on when you turn up the power on the model. I actually collected for two of these. One in Yellow and One in Orange.

I am very similar. I always told my wife (girlfriend at the time) to not buy me legos because I feared I would get sucked back and for valentines day of 2010 she bought me the 8263 snow groomer. Since I hadn't really experienced studless building yet (my last set was 8440 in 1995) it was totally different...and somehow the same and that was all the push I needed. Anyway, 2M (yes milllion) parts later and lets just say its been an interesting 4 years.

I'm quite impressed with that solution. Simple yet effective.

That an interesting idea for sure...but I am not sure how strong it would be able to be. It already has to be a shockingly strong boom to just lift 1lb. Even though its a 2-part boom it is impressive in height...there is very little waste between the two sections. I don't know exactly how tall but I am sure that Eric and post a few comparisons to other cranes.

I have built many cranes and seen many more. Its hard to explain but you have never witnessed something as dense as this model while still performing every function it was designed to perform within the scaled load capacities. It truly is a stunning model to see and to play with. Jennifer made compromises on her original build which involved gluing parts and using metal parts to accomplish what she wanted. I was able to remove all of that leaving only the firgelli actuator as the only remaining non-lego part. And lets be honest, its specifically made for lego. I'm most proud of the conversion for the boom to all lego but in fairness the most critical part was the 3L U-joints which Jennifer didn't have access to when she built the model. @Philo, YES, thank you for those. I had asked you about them over a year ago when I set out to modify the CAD to match my version and luckily you had them done already. Eric didn't give himself enough credit in all of this. Along with making the instructions he was the one to put the final fit and finish on the model making all the little things work. I've seen the instructions and it should be easy to follow with how he documented everything. With the Firgelli, if you order it make sure you ask for your gears to be swapped to the 33lb version (you can just write it in the notes to Ian). This gear set is more easily able to handle the load of the Demag without backdriving. A few months ago I was talking in a thread and mentioned a "special project" and this is what it was. If anyone is wondering, I do not actually have the crane anymore, it was sent to Eric to help expedite his building of it. I already collected the parts to build an upcoming "mammoet" version in black and red livery (not positive if instructions will be released but they should be).

Its actually not that expensive if you think about it. The cost for a 9V motor is 20 bucks and the cost for at least 4 actuators at 6 each would be another 24. So comparing 50 to 44 its pretty reasonable considering this has the stroke and look the was trying to be achieved. The model is everything and more you could ever want in a lego model. The hardest part about the redesign of the model was keeping my mouth shut for the last year!!

I also highly recommend brickstore. I couldn't live without it. Once you get the hang of it you will realize how quickly you can manipulate anything to your liking....except prices of course.

I am quite happy you posted this. That is absolutely INCREDIBLE!! I can not believe just how close you are to being in perfect scale. I can't wait to build it!

Lego never causes friction between my wife and I with how much space my collection takes up. I've never declared legos on personal financial statements as "significant assets"

Awww... You just reminded me that I missed my annual April Fools joke!

I actually had plenty of them! I wish I knew you were trying to build this when you placed the order for the yellow 14L flex's! I had a suspicion when I saw them since its the same reason Davidmull came to me.

I have quite a few of these and I too have them in both colors. I think what happened is that they were included in the education sets far past their primary use for the micromotor in the mid 90's. Because of that they were off all of our radars and continued to be made after the color switch. I can't say for sure they are still made but they were until recently.

This is the first model to highlight why exactly MOCplans is online only. It is both A) expensive (compared to others) and B) a very small file size. Above both of those however its also highly recognized and sought after. While I know that many people would respect the honor system its just not practical to believe that these instructions would always remain in the owners hands and for that reason its difficult to justify allowing downloading/printing. I am more than aware this is a very thorny issue for some but with over 600 buyers so far it appears to be accepted by the general buying community. As I have mentioned before... the PrtScreen Method really wont work for MOCplans by design. In nearly all cases its simply too small even at 2560x1600 resolutions to be able to see the instructions. For that reason you need to zoom-in. Once you have to do that it becomes very very cumbersome to start stictching images together. I'm not saying whats there is fool proof but its certainly idiot proof and would require far more effort that its worth.

Under intense analysis I think you will find nothing compares to that crane and a studfull look will never be outdated so long as legos still have studs. Many models look like they perform well, this actually does everything its meant to do and more. Its a shame that it doesn't use 100% lego parts. So then the official rule is no metal? Not trying to be smart here but I am assuming that includes the actuators from Firgelli even though they are made for legos including the nxt cable connection.

What about Jennifer Clarks Demag Crane?! It is and always has been my favorite model. Does it get disqualified for using non-lego parts (I think thats a good general question anyway since other models use modified parts).

Every once in a while my mind is blown with knowledge I wasn't expecting. I too was a believer that the springs would eventually succumb to the constant stress. Now, on the 8466 the metal isn't the issue the plastic is. Those springs are constantly bent after taking apart that model.

You can add me to the list of people building this. Just collected the parts in the last few days....looking forward to building it!

I have updated MOCplans to host the brickstore files for each model. The file is by the other links and it says "Brickstore Inventory". I haven't updated each model yet but it will be core functionality from now on. I will also be able to link other files as needed such as instruction samples and even things like pneumatic/wiring diagrams.

I actually have two!... So I guess that means I agree as well.

Actually its worth noting that ALL PF extension cables are converters. One of the two ends has a standard 9V bottom rather than the PF connection. Its quite usefull.

Wow, I am thrilled to have you post here! As you can see I have recommended using your actuators in many, many places on this forum. My question is this though, while the lift power is great...I have a problem with the clutch slipping going downward. Basically, if there is too much weight on the actuator it will slip down. Usually if I then raise the boom it can actually lift back up (slowly) but still it can re-slip going down. Is there any chance of improving the clutch force? Also, with the regearing, I find that for lego booms the speed is plenty fast, it slows down significantly under load so if it had double the power it would be slower by default but would slow less under high stress.

It is certainly possible. It only get tricky if you need to power the IR receivers with the OLD battery packs. You need to do the Aluminum foil trick (its easy).

Actually, I think that these rims (chromed) are the most perfect for Lego Muscle Cars. Closest thing we have to Mag wheels (which are muscle car standard for lots of resto-mod guys).

I have to ask. Were you inspired to build that cage from this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/JURASSIC-PARK-Velociraptor-Cage-Crate-1993-Original-Screen-Used-Movie-Prop-/390756055657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5afae03a69

Would it be too much to ask to have some yellow #4 connectors hiding out somewhere in there? And what the heck, I missed the memo that 1x6 liftarms in yellow were released in that new container truck (the same that has the blue flat panels). Mine I gotta keep up.