Technic General Discussion

[Erik Leppen]

And then to think that 8462 still have relatively little system building. It's mostly an open frame. I kinda liked its minimalistic build. Also, you might have noticed that those studded models are a lot sturdier and less flexible than modern studless builds, even with the addition of frames. Also, a set like 8462 is less than 800 pieces.

One of the best Technic sets, system-build-wise, I think, was 8479. It had a lot of basic slopes to sculpt a nice-looking truck. To me it feels much more "Lego" than modern Technic, and I could imagine it to be less overwhelming to slowly move into from normal system building. To me as a kid, the way I remember it, the transition from Town/Miniland (or however the basic City theme was called back then) sets to Technic felt rather natural, and I could still use all my parts (our parts, because my brother was also still into Lego back then) to build stuff. Nowadays, they're mostly separate systems, even though they can be combined, and in my experience, system builds can benefit greatly from modern Technic beams for fixing things or connecting stuff at angles.

[astyanax]

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

Nowadays, they're mostly separate systems

Old Technic and modern Technic feel like different systems to me too.

My last set as a teen was 8868 Airtech Claw Rig. Then after 25 years of 'dark ages', I purchased 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator on an impulse (it was 50% off at our local supermarket), which surprised my wife and myself in equal measure.

What shocked me even more was that I didn't recognize any of the parts... it was a completely new system to me!

I think I had 'fever dreams' for like a month, as my brain tried to process all the new combinations and possibilities afforded by the new parts...

[thekoRngear]

I simply do not like the bending and flexible nature of the now-a-days Technic sets. It makes them clumsy. Like I enjoy building the chassis of a1/8 Supercar but as soon as the panels start to hop on it kills my joy. In my childhood I got to play with three to four small-ish Technic sets. Boy, they used to function and play so well. They never felt sensitive. They were "torturable" and I have assembled and disassembled them numerous times. Bought 4 olden days Technic sets (including the 8880) in past several months, they are so bright in functioning.

Edited June 22, 2022 by thekoRngear

[TechnicRCRacer]

Going on an unrelated discussion but I just refurbished all of my 9-volt crumbling cables with new wire and they work amazing. It’s not too hard to do and no soldering is necessary. A video by someone else linked to some special silicone wire and after using it I can affirm it works well. If anyone is interested I can provide the video.

[mahjqa]

On 6/23/2022 at 7:05 AM, TechnicRCRacer said:

Going on an unrelated discussion but I just refurbished all of my 9-volt crumbling cables with new wire and they work amazing. It’s not too hard to do and no soldering is necessary. A video by someone else linked to some special silicone wire and after using it I can affirm it works well. If anyone is interested I can provide the video.

Yeah, I'd like to see that video, chief.

[TechnicRCRacer]

@mahjqa Here’s the video and brand of wire I used:

 

[pleegwat]

I'm planning to disassemble a MOC, and am considering making a photo series during the disassembly. I've never done that before. Does anyone have any tips for optimum result?

[howitzer]

15 minutes ago, pleegwat said:

I'm planning to disassemble a MOC, and am considering making a photo series during the disassembly. I've never done that before. Does anyone have any tips for optimum result?

Is the photo series meant to be a documentation for rebuilding? If so, think very carefully which parts you're going to remove at each step, and make sure it's easy enough to see the places where those parts came from. You might want to take a separate photo from all the parts removed at each step (alternating between those and the assembled model or what's remaining of it). Also, there's a balance on how much to remove, too many parts in a single step makes for a difficult reconstruction but too few makes a very long photo sequence. It's also helpful to keep the remaining assembly at similar angle, zoom and lighting conditions at each step whenever possible.

[allanp]

1 hour ago, pleegwat said:

I'm planning to disassemble a MOC, and am considering making a photo series during the disassembly. I've never done that before. Does anyone have any tips for optimum result?

I'd say don't be tempted to remove too many pieces at each photo and like @howitzer said, take pictures of the parts that were removed at each step and keep angle changes to a minimum.

[Ctan]

Get a tripod and try to put model in same place each time when taking pictures. You can mark this place with tiny piece of tape or whatever you like. It helps a lot. 

Also grey background is pretty good for color balancing (I've tested couple of other colors and this one worked for me) 

 

[Moz]

9 hours ago, pleegwat said:

photo series during the disassembly

If you can a 4k video from almost directly above makes it very easy (ideally move the camera slightly towards you). A lower frame rate is actually better because you're doing it to grab frames out of later. 4k is ~12MP and most cameras/editing packages  now will give you very nice stills out of the video stream. You just have to remember that the camera is there and rotate the model/subassemblies so the camera gets to see all the relevant angles.

I find that going over the MOC when it's assemble and taking lots of photos is also helpful. Disk space is cheap and it means later you can zoom in and go "oooh, that's what I did" to see how the final thing actually goes together.

Second the LBG background. I use a bath towel as an assembly surface but a length of gray-ish cloth is cheap by Lego standards... flannelette or sweatshirt material in plain gray should be readily available, here it's about $20/metre in a 1.1m wide strip. Having a soft covering on the desk means small parts don't bounce much when you drop them, and the plain colour makes it easy to find things as well as making the photos easier to understand. If you're really keen adding a white (or black?) reverse side for the LBG chassis sections might help too, but I've never found it necessary.

[pleegwat]

Thanks for all the tips.

Good call on the backdrop. I probably would have gone for my normal wood-print desk and not realised my mistake till afterwards. I've got a plain gray bedsheet which should be serviceable as a backdrop.

I'll have to look into camera mounting - I will be using my phone as I don't have a dedicated camera, and I do not have a tripod but I've built a phone-camera mount one out of lego before and can do it again.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

2023 set lists for other themes have appeared. I think the list for Technic is coming soon.

[Jim]

1 hour ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

2023 set lists for other themes have appeared. I think the list for Technic is coming soon.

Then we will soon get a new topic 

[Maaboo the Witch]

1 hour ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

2023 set lists for other themes have appeared. I think the list for Technic is coming soon.

Hopefully there'll be two more Monster Jam sets on the docket.

[msk6003]

1 hour ago, Maaboo35 said:

Hopefully there'll be two more Monster Jam sets on the docket.

I want bone shaker or end of monster truck

[Maaboo the Witch]

21 minutes ago, msk6003 said:

I want bone shaker or end of monster truck

No way, mate. It's gotta be Monster Mutt and Ramminator.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

A rare glimpse into the trend.

[Erik Leppen]

Can you link to the quote please?

I also wonder lack of what type of resources. Didn't they turn record profits in 2020? So "resources" can't be money, but it can't be bricks or paper because they could make the B-instructions digital. So my current assumption is that resources must be people or time, or that lack of resources means it costs more than it earns.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Erik Leppen

[brunojj1]

Lack of resources?? This must be a joke, but nothing will surprise me anymore after they have left the righteous path. Yes, being fat and lazy can can mean you have a lack of motivational resources, lack of sporty ambition e.g. . If you don´t care about your fans anymore, let themselves do the job for you, e.g. in a competition. 

[thekoRngear]

Since Grohl is a TLG employee/designer he can narrate that way. The real reason could be:

[Common] people are getting smarter and smarter at making B models. So Lego [quietly] transfers the duty to the people. I have told this lightheartedly. There maybe some serious financial and strategic reasons behind that. 

Honestly, the amount of very good quality MOCs that we get from us as B models per set are enough for satisfying the needs. Yet we scream for this mainly because an official B model can further justify the value of an official set. Howevr, I guess as 1/8 cars and flagship C- sets are becoming bigger and resource hungry badasses perhaps we can forgive them for not making B models at least for those type of sets. 

Btw, has anyone noticed two plus months have gone and there is yet no MOCs for 42143 Daytona SP3 up on Rebrickable?  Had the previous 2 took that much time?? 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by thekoRngear

[Maaboo the Witch]

9 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

A rare glimpse into the trend.

What the shit did I just read... 

[astyanax]

9 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

A rare glimpse into the trend.

I don't see the issue with taking Grohl's comment literally. I'd look at it from Grohl's perspective, i.e., from the Technic team. They need to justify the resources allocated to them. Given the 'mature' B-modeling community (Rebrickable etc.) it could be that the Technic team failed to justify resource allocation for 'official' B-modeling. The result is, as Grohl said, a veritable lack of resources.

[Jim]

38 minutes ago, astyanax said:

I don't see the issue with taking Grohl's comment literally. I'd look at it from Grohl's perspective, i.e., from the Technic team. They need to justify the resources allocated to them. Given the 'mature' B-modeling community (Rebrickable etc.) it could be that the Technic team failed to justify resource allocation for 'official' B-modeling. The result is, as Grohl said, a veritable lack of resources.

Exactly this. It's not more complicated. Making B-models requires resources (a.k.a. designers) and they are working on other stuff.

[Erik Leppen]

38 minutes ago, astyanax said:

it could be that the Technic team failed to justify resource allocation for 'official' B-modeling. The result is, as Grohl said, a veritable lack of resources.

If you see it that way, then every problem in existence anywhere at any time is a "lack of resources" allocated to something by someone at some moment. That makes it a vacuous truth.