Rodinal

The set is on sale in several different b&m shops here in Italy. Funny thing is, the price tag is usually higher than the new Front Loader's one L.

Doubt it. But I enjoyed making this AAR nonetheless L.

Some time ago I was so lucky I found a brand new 8455 in a local shop here in Italy. Immediately bought it, and now I'm here to post a picture-heavy AAR of the building experience, for me the first time building a LEGO set including pneumatics. The box. It is huge! I like the old yellow boxes more than the recent black-silver ones; as you can see, the box is in pretty good condition, there's only some shelf wear on the back and on the lower side: The contents: several polybags; two long tubes and the bigger parts (wheels, scoops) are loose in the box: The two instruction manuals: I'm planning to build the main model only. Notice the very useful foldable first page, with the centimeter scale that helps in cutting the tubes the right length. The polybag with the pneumatic pumps and cylinders inside! I love them In this pic you see the cylinder privates all lined up, reporting for duty to the two pump sergeants: All the needed tube pieces have been cut; luckily, as you can see, there's still a lot of spare tubing (the knotted one in the pic) so in case of errors or damages I'll have more than enough even for the longest piece to be replaced: Starting the building: the back frame and the skeleton of the outriggers, and the first two cylinders mounted on the outriggers! Don't they look good? Is this a nest of snakes or a tangle of pneumatic tubes? My fingertips: they're really sore after all this tube plugging Being vewy caweful in plugging the wight tube to the wight switch! The backhoe slewing actuator is in place: Construction of the body of the loader is a bit awkward, with all that tubes and stuff. The instructions aren't very clear about where the tubing must pass, and one has to perform several tests to be sure that the switches are correctly linked to the actuators: The pumps are in place, the body is almost done: Building the loader frame: four cylinders are needeed to make this beauty lifting and pivoting the right way! AAARRGGHH!! OMG WTF BBQ! I need two #6 axles, but there aren't any of them in the box! In their place I found two #4 axles... And I'm away from home, so I can't get them from my collection... Why oh why? HA! Solution! A couple of months ago I've bought the 8256 Go-Kart: it was built, judged crappy and immediately torn down: luckily, I have its pieces where I am now, so I go scavenging and find the much-needed #6 axles. I'm happy: Almost done: the last part to build is the backhoe: it's pretty simple and straightforward, so after all the mindblowing tubing work inside the body, the backhoe flows like a breeze: Finished, finally. It's a beast, and it's beautiful The pneumatics work! I've correctly linked all the cylinders, switches and pumps! The only thing I don't like is that, when there's pressure in the system and I want to lower the jib, it falls down heavily while I would prefer a more gradual lowering. Apart from this, it's a fantastic build and it's very playable. I love it! ...and the pics, I hear you asking? Well, I took hundreds of them while building, and managed to... lose the memory card! So you'll have to rely on your imagination, because it couldn't happen that I rebuild it for your eyes only! Hope you enjoyed the AAR L.

Thanks guys for the information For now, I'll build the Backhoe Loader and bathe in all its pneumatic glory; no doubt the Control Center will remain on the shelf for some more time, in the meanwhile I'll ponder on the opportunity to buy it. And about Technicopedia, in the last couple of months I've extensively browsed your pages and found them very useful... to make me fall into the LEGO habit again L.

Hello everyone, my name is Rodinal and I'm new here Since a couple of months I've stepped out of the closet and ended my dark age, and I'm becoming more and more fond of old and new Technic. I'm acquiring sets I find interesting mainly in brick and mortar shops, and just recently I happened to find the classic hidden gems in a shop not far from home: side by side on a shelf a 8455 Backhoe Loader and a really, really battered 8485 Control Center II were sitting together! I immediately bought the Backhoe, mainly because I've never had a pneumatic set, and the reviews about it are raging. Furthermore, the price was absolutely astounding (in a positive way, it is MISB although there's some shelf wear but I paid for it way less than the cheapest used 8455 is sold on Bricklink). The Control Center, though, I was forced to leave it there: the price tag is way heavier, the box is heavily battered and stitched together with tape, I'm not sure about the condition of the electric system, and furthermore I'm doubtful about the quality of the set. Now, I come here to listen to the wise advice of expert builders and collectors: - is it worth the financial effort? the price tag is about € 300,00, maybe I can lower it by a little. - are there problems with old electric components? - is it best to spend 300 euros for this set, or to use the money for more recent, more up-to-date sets (8421 comes to mind, but others could qualify)? - is it a set for completists and collectors, or can it give some satisfaction to everyone, given the fact that it's almost 15 years old? Thank you L.

Hello everyone, my name is Rodinal and in late 2008 I stumbled out of my personal Dark Age. Like many other members here, the cause of my enlightment is my daughter, who recently turned 5 and for christmas received her first Red Bucket. I started helping her in building her first little houses, and found myself enjoying it just like when I was a kid. After a few days my wife reminded me that, when we married, she put a big box of her old LEGO in the attic "for the kids when they'll be older": when I took the box down, you can only imagine my surprise when I found several of the sets from 1978 and 1979 Space in good condition, and we spent four evenings rebuilding 928, 924, 6970, 6927 and other sets from our lost past: inside the box there were two idea books, too, 6000 and 7777, that made me remember how funny was building with the old Techinc pieces. So I decided to take a look at the new Technic studless design, and bought the little 8290 Mini Forklift (working in the logistics sector, it was almost a forced choice for me )... and it was the beginning of the end: by the first days of 2009 I acquired the 8297 Off Roader, other smaller sets, and now I'm actively seeking older interesting sets. I found Eurobricks, an interesting place to share opinions and stories, and finally I registered today. L.