[MOD] 42009 Mobile Crane - MODs and Improvements

[twwd]

Zimix,

Thank you very much for that very helpful advice! I am learning so much about what Legos is all about, and one thing for sure it certainly goes much deeper that just purchasing a kit! I am really looking forward to the Ultimate 42009 Crane build, and I can hardly wait to get started on another Technic MOD Kit!

Thanks again for the input!:-)

Rob

[twwd]

Another question?

it seems color could be an issue with some of the parts! what are your feelings about staying true to the right color on these parts? I know i would prefer to stay with the colors that Jurgen has listed on his part sheet for the Ultimate 42009 build, but some of these parts just seem to not be found!?

Any input and views on this would certainly be appreciated!

Rob

[Zimix]

I would try to get the right color, but not at all expense. If such part in right color is available but over prized, I chose another color.

I know that this part in yellow, was hard to get some month ago and started to get really expensive, now it should drop again as TGL use 2 of them in the 10244-1 Fairground mixer

[Polo-Freak]

I have this Part, i can send you :-)

[twwd]

Thanks Zimix,

I am very pleased to see that everyone that is involved with this type of high end build are really Lego purest!

Keep the search going!!

Hi Polo-Freak,

WOW! Great looking Lamborghini build! You also have a great collection of builds!

I being a new comer to this Lego stuff am totally amazed at what you guys are doing with the complexity of your builds! My RC buddies have really been on my case about the transition I have made from the RC Airplane world to Lego,s! They have no concept of how complex a Lego build can be. The Ultimate 42009 is just the tip of the so called ice burg that can be achieved!

I love this Lego world!! :thumbup:

Rob

[twwd]

Finding these extra parts for the Ultimate 42009 Crane build is tough! I have been on 32 different Lego parts web sites and still have not found all the parts needed. JUST GOTTA KEEP LOOKING!!

I am a little confused as to the colors!? When I look at Jugens instructions, I am seeing most of the colors are black, dark grey, light grey, yellow, and red for the major pieces! The gears are tan, black, and white, and this is what I am trying to purchase.

Some of the colors on his extra parts list that I would assume should be black almost look dark bluish grey!? Is there a way that someone might set me straight as to you view on the colors?

Thanks for the help,

Rob

[afol1969]

Hi Rob,

I don't take to much worth on using the exact colors, especially an small parts like connectors, gears etc. I use the colors which I have in my parts stock. So in this case for the Ultimate 42009 I used these parts in black, which is much easier to get.

Greetings

Alex

[twwd]

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your input! I Think you are on the right tract with the color matching. It seems that black and yellow are the two dominate colors on this build.

Today I will be at 32 different vendors trying to find all these parts in the right colors! I think you are right, black would be a good way to go!

I will work ONE more day trying to stay as pure as possible, then I go to black!

Thanks again for the advice,

Rob

[twwd]

OK!

I do have another question:

With all the Lego gears and moving parts with some of our builds, do any of you guys have ideas as to the use of cleaners or some type of lubrication that should or can be used on Lego gearing and moving joints?

Rob

[Blakbird]

With all the Lego gears and moving parts with some of our builds, do any of you guys have ideas as to the use of cleaners or some type of lubrication that should or can be used on Lego gearing and moving joints?

There are various problems with lubricants. Many lubricants will act as a solvent and react with the ABS plastic, destroying it over time. Even if you find a compatible lubricant (like silicone spray) it is still very messy. For the most part, you can't operate LEGO at the types of loads where lubrication makes much of a difference anyway, so I'd advise against it unless you have no other option.

[twwd]

Thanks Blakbird,

I sort of thought that would be the answer! And it makes good sense to me, because of the mess and the possibility of it not being compatible with Lego materials. OK! I will just keep my blower handy and keep the dirt out of the gears and don't over load the parts.

I am learning a lot from you guys, and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge!

Rob

[Nalyd997]

I was surprised at how easy this was to motorise, all I did was put an xl motor in the obvious place under the cabin, remove the fake v8 engine, put a servo on the out put for the v8, add a gear then I could drive!

[rollermonkey]

Bought a bunch of PF parts towards Jurgen's Ultimate... Wow, but this stuff adds up quick!

At least once you have a bunch, it can be swapped around from build to build.

[Bonxy]

Hi there.

I've just read through this thread and there is some brilliant mods.

I'm not interested in motorising the whole thing like Jurgen did but I am interested in getting the bigger boom.

Is it possible to do this mod on a stock 42009??

Is there a parts list / guide for the bigger boom as I could see it in here?

Thanks, Sam.

[neoconagenda]

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your input! I Think you are on the right tract with the color matching. It seems that black and yellow are the two dominate colors on this build.

Today I will be at 32 different vendors trying to find all these parts in the right colors! I think you are right, black would be a good way to go!

I will work ONE more day trying to stay as pure as possible, then I go to black!

Thanks again for the advice,

Rob

The issue with 32 vendors can be shipping and minimum orders with some vendors and sites. I recently built the Ultimate 8043 at a cost of around $200 in extra parts but could have spent much more if I had not been lucky enough to find almost everything in one place. I did pay $27 for an IR receiver - but only because I could not wait for TLG to re-stock them. Another thing I would add is that official TLG instruction sets are never perfect and neither are the instructions you get with MODS. If you have some experience with building you will find that there is some builds (steps) are intuative and just seem to fall into place. I always try to refer back to this site and pictures to get it right but sometimes you just have to go back and count beam length or gear teeth to make sure you used the right one 20 or more steps back. My advice to any new builder is to count and sort your parts prior to any build and just have fun!

Bought a bunch of PF parts towards Jurgen's Ultimate... Wow, but this stuff adds up quick!

At least once you have a bunch, it can be swapped around from build to build.

I try to buy from TLG if possible for PF items. But you can wait a long time if they are on back order.

[rollermonkey]

I did buy them from TLG, and fortunately nothing was out of stock... I just need ALL of the extra parts above 20049, so it's like $200 just for PF. I got one of the kits with the battery pack, M-motor and lights, the XL- and L- motors, one each IR controller and receiver and the extension wires, which came to $105. So, I still need 4 more M-motors and 3 more IR pairings, but I just got the crawler, so I can scavenge the IR components from that to save money. Oh, and I got the metal hook from BL in the mail today, too.

What are we going to do with all this IR stuff when we get our SBricks?

I'm probably going to have quite a few of the beams and gears in the Construction Crew set, so I won't order anything else until I've gone through that build.

Edited July 19, 2014 by rollermonkey

[neoconagenda]

SBricks are going to be fun!

I do notice some using the metal hook and others not. It may be the price of the piece. I got mine for $16 after I looked closely at the pictures of a black Technic lot on auction and noticed it tucked into the lot. I plan to continue stocking up on the PF items and wait until the final community MOD to be released. Nothing against Jurgen's build, but I am really drawn to the extra axle on the front.

[johp778]

Hi All

I'm hooked on Technic, although my wife's not so happy and I can't really afford to keep them, so I build them, then sell them on, with the exception of a few.

My main aim with most models is to make it rc, if it isn't already, so i'm just at the end of my 42009 build and although I really love Jurgens Ultimate Model, I can't afford to fund all the upgrades and as I will probably sell it to fund another model, I don't want to add too many upgrades, that will be difficult to remove later, but would love to make it rc and was wondering how big a challenge this is? I was thinking of mounting a motor to the rear axle out of the back for steering, although it won't look great, it would be really simple to do, assuming it will work, however I don't really know where to begin with adding a motor for drive.

I've started my own projects website, with my technic models i've buikt on there www.raspivan.weebly.com.

I should have said, i've tried downloading Jurgens pdf instructions, but it keeps coming up with an error, but thats downloading on my phone.

[neoconagenda]

Hi All

I'm hooked on Technic, although my wife's not so happy and I can't really afford to keep them, so I build them, then sell them on, with the exception of a few.

My main aim with most models is to make it rc, if it isn't already, so i'm just at the end of my 42009 build and although I really love Jurgens Ultimate Model, I can't afford to fund all the upgrades and as I will probably sell it to fund another model, I don't want to add too many upgrades, that will be difficult to remove later, but would love to make it rc and was wondering how big a challenge this is? I was thinking of mounting a motor to the rear axle out of the back for steering, although it won't look great, it would be really simple to do, assuming it will work, however I don't really know where to begin with adding a motor for drive.

I've started my own projects website, with my technic models i've buikt on there www.raspivan.weebly.com.

I should have said, i've tried downloading Jurgens pdf instructions, but it keeps coming up with an error, but thats downloading on my phone.

Welcome!

After looking at your webpage I do not think that you should ever settle for "good enough" when it comes to MODS. Based on what I have seen on your site you have some major raw talent (much more than I) and on top of that you seem to have true excitment over your creations. I could be the type to settle for good enough, but I think you need to push yourself for perfection over functionality. Do not be affraid to seek out Jurgen, AFOL1969, Blakbird, Anio, or any of the talented people that share their creations. We all have a love for Technic and enjoy sharing our thoughts on challenging builds.

[Alasdair Ryan]

Blakbird is not a moc builder but a set/moc reviewer and a moc instruction maker.

[johp778]

Welcome!

After looking at your webpage I do not think that you should ever settle for "good enough" when it comes to MODS. Based on what I have seen on your site you have some major raw talent (much more than I) and on top of that you seem to have true excitment over your creations. I could be the type to settle for good enough, but I think you need to push yourself for perfection over functionality. Do not be affraid to seek out Jurgen, AFOL1969, Blakbird, Anio, or any of the talented people that share their creations. We all have a love for Technic and enjoy sharing our thoughts on challenging builds.

Thankyou for your kind words, aiming for perfection is always the best way to start, but I still feel I am a novice when it comes to Technic and have only made minor modifications in comparison to most and mainly following ideas from others who have already done them and tested them. I often wonder who are the experts, Lego designers or passionate lego enthusiasts, but I guess a lot of the mods are not on the official model due to cost, but that's where an Ultimate Version like Jurgens would be a good alternative option or even an optional upgrade kit with instructions, but i guess that would spoil the fun of trialing your own mods. I actually made the decision to use a Technic front axle/steering setup on my RasPiVan project, but got distracted from that project by Technic, so it's sort of on hold at the moment.

[johp778]

Hi All

I think i've answered my own question. After completing my build I had a further look & noticed a space below the front cab, where the axle comes from the diff, which is too coincidental I thimk, almost like the designers planned to put a motor in, but then changed their minds, so i put in an xl motor and it worked. Then i went to the rear and after removing the gear of the rear steering axle and swapping it for a shorter one, I mounted a servo motor, hooked it up and it worked, so I then connected both via a receiver to the battery pack and I have a spare controller (the train servo type) and had a play, it actually works perfectly, with servo control ovrr the drive and steering, you have great control and accuracy.

I might change the xl drive motor for a smaller m motor, as I think the xl is too much and run the extension wires through somewhere. The servo steering motor out the back looks daft, but considering the space for the drive motor, i'm gonna guess the servo motor could be built into the rear section properly.

As for making the other controls rc, i'm mot sure I want to invest so much more into it, although i did see a vid on youtube, where they had added motors to moving the control levers, instead of adding more motors and heavily modifying the model.

I will upload pics and vid to my site asap.

[rollermonkey]

So, I was messing around with BL last night and I found one store that had 57/60 lots for Jurgens Ultimate that I needed, but he wanted $200US for them...

A few lines down, I found a US seller that had about 45/60 for $40

...and a second seller with the other 15/60 for $30

WTH? SOLD.

So, I think all I'll need now is 4 M-motors and 2 IR receivers and controllers.

Edited July 22, 2014 by rollermonkey

[neoconagenda]

Hi All

I think i've answered my own question. After completing my build I had a further look & noticed a space below the front cab, where the axle comes from the diff, which is too coincidental I thimk, almost like the designers planned to put a motor in, but then changed their minds.....

I like to think that TLG does this on purpose to give people the opprotunity to use our imagination to engineer results. What we are seeing here with the 42009 MOD(s) is engineering at its best by the best people!!! Look at the new Volvo loader, its not even out yet and we have people planning to add planetary drive and independant axles...

When I build the ultimate 42009 I am going to use the 8878 battery for the one placed in the undercarriage. Looking at it I believe that I can source, design, and post instructions on how to use an extension for the charging port to be placed through a technic hole on the side. This will all be plug and play solution that will not require mods to the battery itself. But will require some novice soldering skills for the extension.

Sorry about the mix up on Blakbird... I get confused when name dropping

[johp778]

Maybe TLG do, you'd also think they design the best they could, but maybe it's done to encourage us to buy more PF etc, it was a great campaign they did with the 9398 crawler body and maybe they should include a new area at Legoland for such models as Jurgens Ultimate version. I like the battery pack idea, mine is currently in my unimog cab, i'm certain you could make a small extension and mount it somehow, i think it's a small enough fitting to secure it through a beam hole. I think the 42009 is probably one of the best for upgrading and the unimog is great for designing your own addons.