42080 Forest Harvester

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Behind the 20z gear HOG there's a small LBG wheel connected to a reddish brown axle with stop. I think that wheel is a switch for the Battery Box.

And hidden partially right behind that LBG wheel are small pieces of blue hanging vertically. That must be the compressor.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Ngoc Nguyen

[JonathanM]

Hmm, the prelim image had the switch on the other side in the gap between the lime green panels. They might have changed it since prelim I guess?

I wonder if the entire top (white + lime parts + black top) pivots on the blue pins that the black 3x6x3 panels are secured by to get the battery box out? Might explain the poor alignment of the lime panels?

[allanp]

It does appear that the cab and crane arm can swivel/slew independently of the front half of the chassis. But I don't see any mechanism to drive it. 

[Maaboo the Witch]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

It does appear that the cab and crane arm can swivel/slew independently of the front half of the chassis. But I don't see any mechanism to drive it. 

It would be the cherry on the cake if it was turned manually.  Maybe it's pneumatic, like in the Air Tech Claw Rig.

[WvG_853]

I don’t remember if anybody has already compared the Forest harvester to the pneumatic log loader: https://brickset.com/sets/8443-1/Pneumatic-Log-Loader. The first thing that strikes me comparing the two is that the new model looks much more like a Lego City model. I enjoy the building process, but also like watching how things function. Covering up the models with panels may look more life-like, but you hide the inner functions. Transparent panels on one side would be cool ...

[Bartybum]

@WvG_853 Oh man... I really miss the simplistic Technic days. Function over form really needs to make a return - 42080 is just covered in unnecessary fluff

[zux]

You can leave panels unattached to get this old frame look. 

[Bublehead]

What I find amusing is everyone hates the color scheme and the Disney-esque vomit/barf but rest assured, this is only because we are mostly AFOLs and not CFOLs.  If you ask a child does this look cool, they are going to say it looks awesome.  Children are not hung up on symmetry or color coordination, and as a matter of fact, have any of you walked through a toy store lately and really looked around? It is almost eye gouging the way they market toys to kids... the more the colors clash the better seems to be the rule of thumb. 

As an adult, we like things more organized, muted, symmetrical, and refined.  So naturally we cringe in horror when we see these colors splattered all over a set we would otherwise like.

I take this in stride, buy the set, build it, then modify it to meet my adult tastes and present it here for you guys and gals to tear to shreds, err, I mean “critique”. 

[dr_spock]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:23 AM, andythenorth said:

Eh, looking again.  I'll put money on it that the designer was inspired by a John Deere colour scheme, but there's no arrangement between Deere and TLG, so it can't be solid green with yellow highlights. 

There are limited choices to go with green, so the upper half gets switched to lime.  But using lime always means the lid is off the ugly box, so then 8 more colours get added to balance it out.

Pure speculation but eh. 

Or maybe they just need to use up some lime panel inventory 

John Deere doesn't have a trademark on the color green.  They do for the yellow deer on the green logo. 

It would look better if it was one shade of green only. 

 

 

 

[Saberwing40k]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:58 PM, Bartybum said:

I can’t help but feel this set should not have been motorised. Why can’t we just use a hand pump to operate the functions here, especially considering there’s only two of them?

I feel the same way. PF parts needlessly inflate the price, and add nothing, especially for only 2 functions. PF should have been optional, like 42053. Also, why is Lego so resistant to having pneumatics parts in sets? Why is Lego trying to make Technic look like City? Oh wait, this is worse than City. You don't see City sets with this kind of color vomit and sloppy design. Why does Lego feel the need to have any piece that is remotely similar in shape a different color? Why are the 2L pins with axles red?

 

Ugh, this set is everything wrong with Lego Technic nowadays.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

@Saberwing40k While I agree with your assessment, I wonder where could the handpump be placed without making the vehicle look weird   8-wheel forest harvesters usually don't have a big column erected and sticking out in the rear body.

[Bartybum]

12 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

@Saberwing40k While I agree with your assessment, I wonder where could the handpump be placed without making the vehicle look weird   8-wheel forest harvesters usually don't have a big column erected and sticking out in the rear body.

Easy: In a compartment in the back so you can take it out.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

6 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

Easy: In a compartment in the back so you can take it out.

That's genius!

[Saberwing40k]

I'll do you one better, the pump is connected to an external bar that looks like part of the machine, but is connected to the pump, like 8455.

[allanp]

Well seeing as real life vehicles aren't powered by a massive hand pump I'm happy to have an on board motor driven pump, ya know, for the authenticity!

[WvG_853]

I build the 8443 yesterday. Simple build with an interesting connected steering I had not yet observed in any other builds.

We were sitting outside at the terrace when my brother visited. He started playing with the pump. I showed him the switches. He was fascinated by the fact that it was hydraulic. Then he thought the head of god steering “flashing light” was actually turning when driving. Anyway, all the interest was in the functions, not so much in the looks. I feel Lego Technic is forgetting this aspect lately.

[Maaboo the Witch]

12 hours ago, Bublehead said:

What I find amusing is everyone hates the color scheme and the Disney-esque vomit/barf but rest assured, this is only because we are mostly AFOLs and not CFOLs.  If you ask a child does this look cool, they are going to say it looks awesome.  Children are not hung up on symmetry or color coordination, and as a matter of fact, have any of you walked through a toy store lately and really looked around? It is almost eye gouging the way they market toys to kids... the more the colors clash the better seems to be the rule of thumb.

But it doesn't look cool. It looks slapdash, gimmicky and badly thought out. Seriously, the City forest tractor set released this year looks better, and does most of the things this set tries to do better as well. Saying "it's for little kiddies" doesn't excuse a poorly-designed product, which this is.

12 hours ago, dr_spock said:

John Deere doesn't have a trademark on the color green.  They do for the yellow deer on the green logo. 

It would look better if it was one shade of green only. 

Exactly. 8283 has a Manitou colour scheme and I didn't see TLG getting sued for that. Leave the logos out and you're golden. This would've been a great opportunity to have another bright green model.

[iv-tecman]

its not that bad, I think one of the biggest issues lately with Technic sets, something I sought to fix in the Mack 2018 set just released is the over used coloured axels. 

Red, Yellow, Black, Gray, I swapped nearly all of them with Black, the red 2L do my head in, as they are so obvious when you look at the model, I think if Lego want these sets to look more realistic then ditch the colour coded axels, and use just black - when I swapped out the red and yellow axels in the Mack Anthem it made a huge difference to how it looked.

I do get these are still toys for 12 - 16 year old teenage kids, so I guess as Adults we can look to reduce the colour vomit as its so called and swap out parts for colours we find more appealing ?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

The funny thing is that this color vomit passed the management team. So it must intentional, for some unknown reasons. One does not simply understand TLG's logic anyway.

[LucyCol]

Can I be the dissenting view and say I quite like the colours 

Showed all the new sets to my grandson (11yo) and this is the one he wants over the rest so TLG must be doing something right.

Edited May 22, 2018 by LucyCol
Grammer

[Bublehead]

5 minutes ago, LucyCol said:

Can I be the dissenting view and say I quite like the colours 

Showed all the new sets to my grandson (11yo) and this is the one he wants over the rest so TLG must be doing something right.

Exactly my point... kids think it’s cool.

[Aventador2004]

32 minutes ago, Bublehead said:

Exactly my point... kids think it’s cool.

Yes, TBH, the color vomit adds a little character from my view. That's just what they want sold.

And also, this is something we complained about "too little colors" now we don't want them?

[Bublehead]

4 minutes ago, Aventador2004 said:

we complained about

This made me laugh... yes we are a rather noisy crowd...

[Aventador2004]

Just now, Bublehead said:

This made me laugh... yes we are a rather noisy crowd...

It's not wrong....

[Bublehead]

2 minutes ago, Aventador2004 said:

It's not wrong....

Nope, it’s not... The designers say they do things to quiet us

Edited May 22, 2018 by Bublehead
Typo