Lego Tom

For those who might be interested, the crane frame pieces are finally available in the US at Pick a Brick.

That is bit hilarious. I wonder how much of the decision to include that info is being driven by lawyers who are attempting to avoid lawsuits from people expecting the bricks to last long enough for their great-great grandchildren to play with? People are developing the attitude that anything they buy should last forever and there are class action suits that bear this thought process out. Excuse me while I go get a mirror to see if I have a "best used date" hidden somewhere on my person.

Snack shack is sold out.

Besides the price, there a few negatives for LMB. The adhesive pads sometimes do not hold well. Clean the part you going to place one on with alcohol before sticking it on and use multiple pads for any larger part (such as multi-port connectors) if they are mounted upside down. Also, their extension wires have male connectors on both ends meaning you have to use a connector piece to connect them with either another extension or light. Last, the connectors are very small and will only fit into multi port connector boards one way. A headband type magnifier will help a lot. Otherwise, LMB does have sales occasionally and the product is well made and works as advertised. I have done several sets with their products.

That is insane! What's next - a Harley - Davidson softtail?

I forgot about the go live time, then remembered about a half hour ago and bought a couple of the Train Shed sets. EDIT: I just got a notice that they are out of stock but they will send a notice when they ship them to me. Is that LEGO's way of telling I missed the boat or does it just mean they don't have them yet and I'll get them later?

I for one am glad. Without this thread I would still be unaware of CaDA. The set I bought, the military crane was such that I will certainly buy more of their products in the future and have also bought some of the parts they produce that LEGO doesn't make.

If you look at his profile you'll see he hasn't been here since Jan 2023.

A torsion bar is a straight steel-alloy bar that twists to absorb shocks, such as hitting a pothole. There is no "spring" involved, per say other than what twisting the bar provides.

I am not into buildings and the like but this one may well be the exception. It is pretty darn amazing!

I see. It reminded me of the flying units used in the movie Dune.

Going in search of spice? Watch out for sand worms!

There are aftermarket rubber inserts for the pin holes in the track. These came from Ali Express.

That's an impressive product line!

GOOD GRIEF!!!! I do not know how I missed that or even how it happened in the first place but thanks for pointing it out! It has been fixed and as soon as I re-charge the battery, I'll give it a try. I bet that was the cause of the problem!

I've looked at the instructions and can't see anything amiss:

Quebec is Canadian? They always told me they were French and just waiting for the rest of Canada to join them.

Not me, I speak American! But I am fluent in Canadian and English.

Thanks - I will check both! I have pretty extensive mechanical experience but I never did a front end alignment! On EDIT, I should also add that the picture I posted originally looked like the one below - but I noticed one of the tires had come partly off the rim and I put it back on and re-shot the photo, which may be why the wheel/tire appears out of alignment with the front one. If you look at the wheel rim of the second wheel, it appears to be aligned with the front wheel even though the tire itself is partially off - but I will check both of your suggestions!

How can you tell?

No typo, it was $263 with shipping and tax for for the kit with the motorized option. EDIT: Yes, a blue pin was included!

The CaDA Military Crane Truck is done. The initial trial didn't go well. The truck ran about 6 feet and stopped, making a ratcheting noise. Trouble shooting revealed a flexible ball joint had come apart. This part will most likely have to be replaced as I put it back together but it came apart again. Nor will replacing it be a simple matter, but it is what it is. There are many surface parts that tend to pop off with handling or minor crashes but are generally easy to snap back in place. Everything works as advertised, both in manual mode and later when the electric motors were added. Adding the battery pack and motors after the kit has been fully assembled seems counter productive and indeed, some of the parts used to build the model will be permanently removed, but the process is quite simple and straight forward. The battery pack is small compared to the LEGO 6 - AA battery container and therefore, battery life is shorter but it is a rechargeable unit, charged by plugging into a USB charger or port. So while play time is reduced, easy recharging is the trade off. I'm not sure what charging time will be but it most likely will be determined by what you plug into. Also, it's smaller size makes it much easier to place. In total, the kit has only four stickers which are used to provide operating instructions. They are however quite small and may be difficult for some to see clearly. Total price of the kit with the motorized option was $262.98 USD, delivered. To me, it seems like a very fair price when compared to LEGO products, especially given LEGO's recent pricing trends. In summation: Plus Side: Attractive and well made packaging. Parts not found in LEGO kits. Well priced and good delivery time. Many operating features. No missing parts. Completed model is accurately portrayed on the box. Minus Side: Instructions are not clear in many places, sometimes failing to show clear view of mating of parts. Use of red to show parts location in the instructions can be difficult to see against the black background of some parts. While the model is well designed, some assembly requires extra dexterity on the part of the assembler. Some external parts can easily come off and may be lost if used outside. Parts bags are numbered while assembly groups are lettered. Parts #1 are used in group A, #2 in B, etc. Neutral: Some parts have be assembled whereas their LEGO counterparts are one piece. Boxes containing parts are numbered but the parts bags inside do not necessarily correspond with the number on box. Tires are very soft. This will aid traction but may effect life/durability. Unlike LEGO, all the 2x pins are packaged separately. This package is not with the #1 bags and was found in the #5 box. The kit contained the extra parts needed for motorization and the motorization box also contained the same parts, so you get some duplicates. The motorization is controlled via a separate controller, included with the motorization kit. Utilizing the various functions requires placing 3 selectors (two switch type plus rotating the spare tire) on the model whether operating manually or via controller. Overall, I would give the kit a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The biggest negative, IMHO are the instructions. If you have good mechanical reasoning abilities, you may still be stumped at times. If your skills are lacking, you will suffer.

@TeamThrifty I doubt that CaDA will have any immediate effects on LEGO. Not a slam at CaDA, but I don't think they are big enough yet to cause LEGO indigestion, unless LEGO is more nimble than most corporations in assessing threats and taking proactive measures. Competition is good, at least for us consumers but it might be a while before LEGO looks at CaDA as a viable competitor. I think this is good, in that the more established CaDA becomes, the less likely LEGO will be able to squash them out of existence. In the mean time, due to my recent experience with their product, I shall continue to look at CaDA for subjects I am interested in and purchase accordingly.

Light My Bricks sells lighting components in the form of multi colored LED's, connecting blocks and wires. They also have a USB cable that can be plugged into your standard 5v wall wart or you can buy the wall wart from them. They also have control boards, sound boards, a rechargeable battery, etc. Their prices are moderate to expensive. https://www.lightmybricks.com/

The build on the CaDA Military Crane Truck is moving along. Some items I've noticed: The bags are labeled like LEGO, 1, 2, 3 etc., but the instructions disregard the numbers in favor of letters, A, B, C, etc. Must have been two different people working on the instructions and the packaging. So far, the build is OK, but due to space, assembling the stabilizing legs, or more accurately, putting them on the truck, involves some effort if you are working with old fat fingers that have lost some of their dexterity. When the CaDA instructions shows a part in the part preview window and then the part mounted to the model, they "highlight" the added part with a red outline. Unfortunately, with nearly all the parts being dark grey or black, and the red outline being very thin, it can be difficult to pick out sometimes. Also like LEGO, there's often not a lot of rhyme or reason to how the parts are packaged. For example, the wheels and their accessories are packaged with #3 but are not added during that build process. I do however like that CaDA packaged all the 2x black pins in one package rather than spread them out over all 5 groups. That they stuck that package in the box labeled #5 caused me some concern however. The battery pack is very compact, especially compared to LEGO's 6 AA unit. This will probably mean less playtime, but being rechargeable and easier to hide are huge pluses in my opinion. It is also interesting that you do not add any of the motors or battery until the end of the build. CaDA designed the model to work with or without power and it's interesting and logical that they designed it in this manner. You can build the model without power and later if you decide you want to add it, it's not a big deal. You may even be able use the power supply and motors with different models simply by swapping them in and out - IF CaDA keeps designing models in this manner. The only other thing that concerns me at this point is there is no testing of the model functions until it is completed. If I hook up the motors and battery and things don't work or gears come flying off in random directions, you will undoubtedly hear me scream no matter what continent you live on. The build is very complex which means tearing stuff apart to trouble shoot or repair will not be an easy task.