allanp

WOW this is great. It would be wonderful if lego produced something like this. It could be used everywhere like steering, pneumatic control, trains (for lots of things), changing gears remotely, and many other things. Well done

Well I think that when most people design a MOC, they design it once. However when a designer creates a product for lego, they tend to build several prototypes and versions of it. I think another aspect is time. We mortals have to design our MOCs outside of work in our free time which for many, is a precious thing. Official designers however get to build lego all day at work giving them the time to really perfect the design of a model. Another advantage they have is the resources to design and create totally new parts, existing parts in new colours and new decals/printed parts. So whilst the designers have some limitations like cost and so on, they also have some very useful luxeries. This thread is an interesting one and I always enjoy the challenge of building my technic MOCs as if they were to be mass produced by lego. I limit the number of peices (eg a maximum of say 1800 elements plus one motor or 1300 elements + 2 motors/pneumatics). I only allow parts that are currently in production. I certainly don't allow any cheating (like cutting parts or glue!). The finished model must be strong and sturdy enough for lots of being played with by kids. It must have new funtionality and playability. It must be an improvement on any past iteration (if I build a supercar, it has to be an improvement on the 8880, 8448 and any MOC supercar i've seen on the net). It must be as complicated as it's size allows and also have that finished/perfected look that would fool anyone into thinking they are looking at an official set. It's because of these goals that I can fully appreciate the amount of time it takes to really perfect a model. That, among other things, is something the designers at lego have much more of than we do.

Thankyou very much for the reply, i'll try that and let ya know how I get on. Thankyou.

I have. I found this very same question posted..... "Are there any plugins or methods to import LDraw or MLCad models or parts into trueSpace, preserving textures? I have used ldraw2lws and loaded the .lws object into trueSpace. This imports geometry but does not preserve textures, or so it seems." .....to which there is no reply. LDView is good but Truespace 3.2 does have quite a nice renderer considering it's free.

MS paint is quite often overlooked I think when it comes to these things. Its very easy to use. I would start by drawing a complete set of parts (real of schematic) and then saving it. you then have a template with which you can copy and paste your saved parts and then use the line draw or paint brush tool to draw the hoses. It won't look professional but they will be easy to understand. I hope this helps.

If this helps answer my question I can import a model into truespace but when I hit the render button all the parts are the wrong colours. Reds are grey, blacks are white and transparent is just black. It all goes into grey scale and transparent is no longer transparent. I could re-colour the faces manually but on a simple car model, the one that comes with MLcad, there are around 29,900 faces!

Hi, I wonder if anybody can help me. I am quite well versed in the use of MLcad and Truespace 3.2. I don't like POV at all so is there a way of creating a model in MLcad and then importing it into truespace (whilst preserving the textures, including transparency, of all the individual parts) for me to render? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Well I am a total technic fan. Nothing but technic ,and the occasional large non technic set, for me (tho I'll try not to let that make my opinion baised in any way ). And in my view I agree that even in technic sets some of the colour choices for parts are quite frustrating so the problem must be even worse for regular sets whose main function is more about aesthetics than functionality. But apart from the colour issues I think that there is quite a good balance in the non technic sets I have. It can also add alot of strength and also allow models to increase in size without stretching the price so much (to do the ICS imperial star destroyer the same size without using technic would have made for a much weaker and even more expensive set). I also think some sets would have been much better if they were nothing but technic (the eiffel tower for example). But that's just me!

Ahhhhhhh, two VERY excellent modles sir.

Look at the rear legs of this model for an idea as to how this is done http://www.peeron.com/scans/8891-1/33

Congratulations. I'm sure she'll make a fine AFOL haha! P.S. thanks for the excuse to enjoy a nice smoke

Remember it says "revised" which does not mean released. This revision may take several years of product devolpement so I think it's a little unfair to say this info is totally wrong just yet.

Wow! that is what I call pristine condition! What I wouold suggest is find one that has been build maybe once then put away, buy that one and build it. Alternatively you could build the one you have and then either store it in a dust tight box that does not allow sunlight in or dismantle it and put the peices back in the box, bags and trays before any dust gets on it. Iv'e done that with a few MISB sets and this is the way I enjoy them most. I deffinately would not sell it though.

This is great, well done.

It looks to me like those dark grey axles on the front wheels of the tractor are the new 4 long with stop axle. Thankyou Mortymore for the pictures, nice one!

That is a very good point, looks like i'm just gonna have to visit bricklink a buy more pumps I have seen that done. I might try it but the purist inside me says no ya crazy fool, that's cheating

That would be very cool. I can't think of many MOCs that use only one pump, they all seem to use about 4! I was thinking of something like making the pump body half a stud longer to make it easier to mount and perhaps making it 2 studs diameter instead of one (effectively increasing the pumping volume 4 fold which would be the same as having 4 motor pumps). Even better would be some kind of rotary pump (like a vien pump) that would fit right onto the front of the medium motor and has a through hole like the fiber optic light brick. However I can see that being too costly for lego to produce and probably not very efficient at PF motor speeds either. Would it even work at the very low output of either PF motor? Ok forget I mentioned it Oh wait but then if they realeased an L motor (similar power and speed as the buggy motor but in a PF format)

It would probably be easiest for them to just include a motor pump in the set. I am really exited by this, this set is deffinately a must have! BTW does anyone else hear think that the small motor pump is in need of a revamp/upgrade for 2010 enableing the motor to generare more air pressure much more rapidly?

I would love to see prototypes for the big technic sets of 1988-1996. Especially the 8480 space shuttle. Like the forklift I would fully expect it to look hideous as technic's main goal is functionality. That forklift was fully fuctional, the looks came later. I do remember seeing a prototype of the control centre 2 at legoland windsor, I soooooooooooooooooooo wish I had taken at least one picture of it. Yes it looked hideous but it was ALMOST fully functional and very interesting to see. The base was similar to this model from the 8891 ideas book http://www.peeron.com/scans/8891-1/83 and the helicoptor itself was red. I would love to see prototypes for the big technic sets of 1988-1996. Especially the 8480 space shuttle. Like the forklift I would fully expect it to look hideous as technic's main goal is functionality. That forklift was fully fuctional, the looks came later. I do remember seeing a prototype of the control centre 2 at legoland windsor, I soooooooooooooooooooo wish I had taken at least one picture of it. Yes it looked hideous but it was ALMOST fully functional and very interesting to see. The base was similar to this model from the 8891 ideas book http://www.peeron.com/scans/8891-1/83 and the helicoptor itself was red.

I really like the American 1998 "Godzilla". Sure the middle part was boring with the unessesary baby zillas storyline and he was not as tough as he should have been but for what it is, it is a fun movie. At least it didn't look hilariously rediculous like the Japanese crap fests! I also liked Ang Lee's "Hulk" from 2003 far more then the more recent version. You really got that comic book sence of power and size and the action was great. He had fights with the military, 3 massive dogs and a supervillain as a bonus at the end. He jumped across deserts, he hurled a tank across a desert and the carachters were fully developed. What more could you really expect from a hulk movie?

They were both great models but I would like a complete page one redesign of the 8455. It should be bigger, more expensive, have longer pneumatics, 4 wheel drive and possibly a motor pump for the pneumatics. A redesign of the 8466 would also be good with a motor, a gearbox and 4 wheel drive train that can handle the tourque of being motorised and that also has less friction, meaning more of the motors power is used to move the vehicle and not just wasted in the gearbox and wheel hubs.

I'm just echoing the sentiments of most people hear but the customer service in my opinion is the best iv'e ever encountered. You can tell Lego really do care.

Yes I do believe that motor to be a fair compromise. Would be awsome to have a motor that is slightly more efficient/powerful with a similar or higher output speed in a PF format.

Yes I totally agree but in those cases where there is no space for mechanisms then perhaps the XL motor isn't a good choice anyway. The XL motor has only appeared in two technic sets and in both cases there was plenty of room as they were both large sets. All that being said there is still a place for the XL motor I would just prefere to have an immensely powerful motor with a very high output speed. Besides the whole reason we are discussing a micro motor is for when there is little space as the XL and M motors are too big for these cases.

I agree that if they was to do one it should be low speed and high tourque. I would love a small motor but have reservations due to the quality issues with the last micro motor. A new PF micro motor would have to be better than the last one. (WARNING: OFF-TOPIC. what follows is just my usual ramblings!) Personally what I would prefer is a L motor that has a large, very powerful motor inside and ABSOLUTELY NO gear reduction. I mean, where's the fun in having any of the mechanics done for you? Surely that's missing the point of what lego technic is all about. Secondley, a servo motor would also be great and could be used for things like proportional steering, precise control of a pneumatic valve, etc, etc, etc.