16 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

Has anyone tried the Dark Azure arches on 42070? 

On the scale from bad ideas to good ideas, this one flies off the chart...

Edited June 30, 20186 yr by Ngoc Nguyen

1 minute ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

On the scale from bad ideas to good ideas, this one flies off the chart...

I'll take that as a compliment. Though I didn't even get to using the Dark Azure Bionicle eyes for the switches... 

@Didumos69, It’s funny how myopic two companies, who both share a common theme of “only the best is good enough”, end up with a product that is really just “good enough” (and to finish the phrase here in the States) “for government work”.

The saying “good enough for government work” sometimes confuses people. It refers to doing personal work on company time, or the burgeoning overhead costs of people using company resources for personal gain. This is written off for tax purposes as the cost of doing business, which means any work you do for yourself on company time is work done for the tax man, or working for the government. And we all know that for government work, “good enough” is the best you can ever expect to get.

Your solutions prove that it could have been better, but for $350 plus tax, what we got feels more like  “just good enough”  and not really the “best” of anything,  

But maybe it is the “best” compromise between cost, performance, and looks, which this set seems to fall victim to.

This set is also not aimed at us as much as it is aimed at the automotive enthusiasts, who are used to the limitations of toy representations of real cars. This set has more functionality than a diecast model of a Chiron, it just doesn’t live up to our standards of functionality as Technic AFOLs.

But as my momma always says (truly, she really says this) “The enemy of perfect is good enough”

So I went to the new Lego shop in Birmingham (UK) located in the Barclay card arena and picked up a Chiron, and as it only opened this weekend I got it for 10% off. Deal ends today if anyone else is interested.

Finished building the Bugatti. I must say that the front end looks much better in person than it does in pictures. This thing is epic and quite heavy considering there's no battery box or motors. There's a lot to like and well worth the money. But there are some things that need to be improved for UCS technic number 3, aside from the suspension and cheep feeling steering as has already been mentioned. I LOVE the new gearbox pieces but they need more of them for the next model. This gearbox is way too complicated. I understand that there's a 4 speed gearboxcoupled to a 4 position 2 speed gearbox to create a 16 position 8 speed gearbox, and a reversing gearbox, that's 3 gearboxes in one vastly overly complex mess of gears and drive shafts when a real gearbox only has two drive shafts. Combining multiple gearboxes is just as much of a cheat as having multiple crankshafts with all the inauthenticity that comes with it. I built the thing and despite having been building technic for over 25 years I don't know exactly how each gear ratio is achieved. It's too densely packed to see. The overly complex design also leads to more backlash, my tabletop is only just big enough to get the engine moving. However with a limited new parts budget for each new set this is about the best that could be done and I applaud the designer very much so, his work is pretty damn Impressive throughout this whole car, but for the next model this is something that needs more investment in parts. On the plus side, like I say this is one gorgeous and EPIC looking model from all angles, including the front when you see it in real life. The build is very solid and the gearshift mechanism is an improvement on the Porsche. Despite having to switch two gearboxes as opposed to only one in the Porsche, you don't have to move the paddles anywhere near as much and it just feels much better. Overall this car is a very impressive piece of design and a true UCS technic set 

Just now, allanp said:

Finished building the Bugatti. I must say that the front end looks much better in person than it does in pictures. This thing is epic and quite heavy considering there's no battery box or motors. There's a lot to like and well worth the money. But there are some things that need to be improved for UCS technic number 3, aside from the suspension and cheep feeling steering as has already been mentioned. I LOVE the new gearbox pieces but they need more of them for the next model. This gearbox is way too complicated. I understand that there's a 4 speed gearboxcoupled to a 4 position 2 speed gearbox to create a 16 position 8 speed gearbox, and a reversing gearbox, that's 3 gearboxes in one vastly overly complex mess of gears and drive shafts when a real gearbox only has two drive shafts. Combining multiple gearboxes is just as much of a cheat as having multiple crankshafts with all the inauthenticity that comes with it. I built the thing and despite having been building technic for over 25 years I don't know exactly how each gear ratio is achieved. It's too densely packed to see. The overly complex design also leads to more backlash, my tabletop is only just big enough to get the engine moving. However with a limited new parts budget for each new set this is about the best that could be done and I applaud the designer very much so, his work is pretty damn Impressive throughout this whole car, but for the next model this is something that needs more investment in parts. On the plus side, like I say this is one gorgeous and EPIC looking model from all angles, including the front when you see it in real life. The build is very solid and the gearshift mechanism is an improvement on the Porsche. Despite having to switch two gearboxes as opposed to only one in the Porsche, you don't have to move the paddles anywhere near as much and it just feels much better. Overall this car is a very impressive piece of design and a true UCS technic set 

Damnit Allan....you basically just stole the Summary of my review  

(which I will publish before the weekend)

How about you doing the write-up next time? 

42 minutes ago, allanp said:

Combining multiple gearboxes is just as much of a cheat as having multiple crankshafts with all the inauthenticity that comes with it.

Nicely put. Couldn't agree more.

Let him review the 3rd UCS 

43 minutes ago, allanp said:

However with a limited new parts budget for each new set this is about the best that could be done

I don't agree. The gearbox could have done with 2 gear meshes less for each gear as we have shown in the mods and Improvements thread.

Whoops! Sorry @Jim . Feel free to steal it back off me  . Ide love to do a write up/review but I'll never be able to match your pictures 

Just now, allanp said:

Whoops! Sorry @Jim . Feel free to steal it back off me  . Ide love to do a write up/review but I'll never be able to match your pictures 

That's where teamwork comes in 

@Jim Oooooh, now that sounds interesting!

Edited July 3, 20186 yr by allanp

This is kinda stupid, but when are instructions gonna be released for this set?

It's been a month since its release and no signs of online instructions anywhere. Are they still yet to come or am I missing something?

1 hour ago, JLiu15 said:

but when are instructions gonna be released for this set?

The instructions are somehow already available. Check out this post (book 1 & 2)

 

Edited July 5, 20186 yr by pagicence

Ok, @allanp and @Jim, I agree with both of you, and Allan’s writeup pretty much sums up my take as well. I just finished Bag 12 and have unlucky Bag 13 yet to go, but the mainstay of the build is complete.  My only comment on the front end is it seems a little flimsy compared with the rear end, and the doors could use some latches.  I think the negatives about the gearbox and the triple driveshafts are not as warranted as some would argue ( @Didumos69, but I agree three shafts are not accurate) since you can’t see them.

58 minutes ago, Bublehead said:

 I think the negatives about the gearbox and the triple driveshafts are not as warranted as some would argue ( @Didumos69, but I agree three shafts are not accurate) since you can’t see them.

Just to be clear, I also don't think the gearbox is flawed (which was the case in 42056) and I don't mind there being 3 crankshafts in the W16. Like @allanp mentioned, the gearbox is actually also 2 gearboxes, which is as much of a cheat as having 3 crankshafts. I'm okay with that. My main point about the gearbox is that practically the same behavior could have been obtained with less gears, less gear meshes, without the yellow ring extender and thus with less lag and less friction. It amazes me that I was able to find a simplified setup within days after the release in a model that has been spend a lot of time on by official designers. And my issue with the 3 crankshafts is not that there are three, but that the 2 secundary crankshafts are connected to the drivetrain through the primary crankshaft. That's not what the LEGO crankshaft pieces have been designed for. This is simply a matter of poor design. They should have put the 3 24t gears at the other side of the engine, so all crankshafts would be dead ends in the drivetrain.

So I don't think the gearbox or engine are flawed, they simply could have been designed better with minimal effort.

on amazon.de available for preorder for ~304 EUR

12 hours ago, pagicence said:

The instructions are somehow already available. Check out this post (book 1 & 2)

 

Okay thanks!

A few more  months then the Chiron will drop to 270 EUR sth

7 hours ago, Didumos69 said:

practically the same behavior could have been obtained with less gears, less gear meshes, without the yellow ring extender and thus with less lag and less friction

Well, yellow ring extender is a cool piece after all because it's impossible to use old version with new gears. And something tells me that connection through this ring results in less (!) backlash (if we denote angle size of the "border thing" in the ring as A then regular gears have backlash "90 - A" degrees while new ring has "2*(45 - A) = 90 - 2A" degrees, at least this is what I think is happening). Maybe TLG just wanted to introduce that piece so they designed the gearbox accordingly.

I wouldn't mind if they also used 4 new blue gears in "secondary" gearbox that effectively has only 2 states. This way we would have 8 instead of 4, such a missed opportunity.

After 99 pages of discussion here....my review is finally online. Sorry it took so long.

On 7/4/2018 at 11:34 PM, Didumos69 said:

designed better with minimal effort

@Didumos69, have you ever considered the possibility that you are a Technic savant? And I mean this as a huge compliment by the way.  Sometimes the solutions that seam trivial to one, are like rocket science to others? How many times have you seen someone struggle with a engineering challenge that you see the answer to almost immediately? Remember, the designers at TLG have design backgrounds mostly, and engineering is a secondary skill. That’s why some sets look good but function poorly, and why some sets work great, but don’t look that good.  The balance between form and function is the war between design and engineering. When both happen at the same time, we get epic sets like the 8880.  

Hello,

I have just completed "the marriage" step at the end of box 2. Before I go on to box 3 I want to verify that I have completed every step to this point of the build correctly. How do I know if the gearbox and all other moving parts are working correctly? Does anyone have a video showing this?

Thanks (p.s. I am new to Technic, this is only my second set). 

1 hour ago, labevr said:

Hello,

I have just completed "the marriage" step at the end of box 2. Before I go on to box 3 I want to verify that I have completed every step to this point of the build correctly. How do I know if the gearbox and all other moving parts are working correctly? Does anyone have a video showing this?

Thanks (p.s. I am new to Technic, this is only my second set). 

Hi. Welcome to EB!

What you basically want to check is the gearbox. Simply move the wheels and look at the pistons, and feel the resistance of the wheels. When you gear up the pistons should move faster and there should be more resistance. Continue this process for all gears. That's what I did, and it worked perfectly.

17 minutes ago, Jim said:

When you gear up the pistons should move faster and there should be more resistance.

Actually, it's the opposite: when spinning the wheels the pistons should move slower and easier in higher gears; what you said is true when powering the engine and watching the wheels.