[Sawyer]

I discovered Lego Technic twenty years ago, when my son was a little boy. At that time, he had a couple of small pneumatically operated cranes, a single cylinder motorcycle where the rear wheel chain drive made the piston move in the cylinder, and the last and the biggest buy was a race car with a multi cylinder V engine, 4 speed gearbox, rear differential and steering. No motor, but when the car was pushed along, one could see the pistons moving at different speeds, depending on the gear selection. When he grew up, the wife gave the entire collection to a neighbour.

Recently I thought I would look at what is happening in the world of Lego Technic, and doing that has reawakened an interest, this time for my use!

I have just ordered the motocross bike from Flipkart, to get my feet wet again, before I go in for one of the flagship builds - the Unimog.

There is another object of lust too, the 8043 excavator. Perhaps one day, but for now I will be ordering the smaller, non powered 42006 excavator.

The big problem will be where to keep the models when finished. As I remember, they attract a lot of dust of which there is plenty in India, and impossible to get out once it has got in, where Technic models are concerned. And some of the models are large - the Unimog is almost 2 feet long.

We shall see...

Any other Technic fans here?

[deathwalkr]

Used to be all the rage years back but havent had the time to go mad again Maybe after retirement

[Dee_aRe_Cee]

lego!!!
I've been playing with them since i was 6!!
i've got plenty of technic, an enzo ferrari, a pneumatic tow truck, 3 mindstorm kit, and alot more but no time to start again.
searching for someone to fix my mindstorm nxt LCD screen.. any ideas??

[Rehaan]

For more '21st century' Legos, check out the Mindstorm stuff too. It integrates electronic sensors and other things into projects.

Check this pneumatic V6 engine out too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sJHA4AIRag

cya
R

[tanstaafl]

I have the 8070 super car up on display (in the B-Model). The 8043 excavator is a pretty nice set with great functions but I didn't enjoy the build too much. I sold it to fund the 8110 Unimog, which I plan to start building this weekend.

Also saw the new 42009 Mobile Crane at a local toy store recently, looked very impressive.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

I have the 8070 super car up on display (in the B-Model). The 8043 excavator is a pretty nice set with great functions but I didn't enjoy the build too much. I sold it to fund the 8110 Unimog, which I plan to start building this weekend.

Also saw the new 42009 Mobile Crane at a local toy store recently, looked very impressive.

Enjoy the Unimog build! There is a possible flaw in one place, which may not be a flaw after all - there is debate on the net about this, but it is useful to know.

Flipkart delivered the MX bike in 24 hours - we finished the build in about 75 minutes. Fairly simple model as Technic goes, but good sized at 11inch length and 6.5 inch height. Chain drives the one yellow piston on either side of the V twin, after transferring the drive to the other side of the bike via gears/shafts. Suspension at both end works, and the stickers are neat. Only missing detail is no brakes.

I am mulling over the 42006 excavator - what was it that wasn't enjoyable in the 8043?

I am some way away from solving the dust problem for the Unimog, the bike fits perfect in the showcase. And I am a similar distance away from summoning the courage to build the Unimog. Where did you pick up your kit?

A picture of the completed bike:

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Check this pneumatic V6 engine out too:

The engine is brilliant - I am guessing it is a custom build.
Maybe this is what Ratan Tata had in mind when he spoke about a car driven by air!

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Enjoy the Unimog build! There is a possible flaw in one place, which may not be a flaw after all - there is debate on the net about this, but it is useful to know.

I am mulling over the 42006 excavator - what was it that wasn't enjoyable in the 8043?

I am some way away from solving the dust problem for the Unimog, the bike fits perfect in the showcase. And I am a similar distance away from summoning the courage to build the Unimog. Where did you pick up your kit?

A picture of the completed bike:

I will keep that in mind when building the Unimog. I picked up my set from Amazon.com when it was on sale.

Well, there were quite a few small issues I had with the 8043 set which added up. The central gearbox was decent enough to build, but the function switching was not as nice as the one in the super car. It kept getting stuck and wouldn't engage correctly at times. The set also doesn't look that great without any of the stickers on (and I never put stickers on my Lego). The wiring was difficult to arrange and most importantly, I found out I prefer the older pneumatics vs the newer battery powered linear actuators.

[Fillmore]

Even their block sets have progressed by leaps and bounds
Checkout this Truck

http://www.lego.com/en-us/technic/pr...a/?m=animation

[josejoseph]

Here is a car that's built and runs on half million Lego blocks -

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/19/d...-air-insanity/

[Jeeper1941]

My best "Lego" set (its not officially authorized by Lego) is the "superlab playset" made to commemorate the TV series "Breaking Bad". I got it for $200 in the US last year, they are now being sold for well over US$1000 now, because only 250 were made.

Back on topic though, Lego Technics are pure awesomeness!

Here are a few pics of my entire collection . I haven't built the ones in the boxes, maybe someday. I've been collecting since 2000.

[sanjaykk]

Not sure if this fits in here.
Came across this project on YouTube:

Life Size Lego Car Powered by Air

Official Web page: Super Awesome Micro Project

From the YouTube description:

- The engine is made from standard Lego pieces and runs on air!
- The engine has four orbital engines and a total of 256 pistons.
- More than 500,000 LEGO pieces.
- Top speed around 20-30km (We drive it slow as are scared of giant lego explosion).
- Built in Romania and shipped to a secret location in Melbourne.
- It's a Hot Rod design, mainly because hot rods are cool.

[tifosikrishna]

tifosi Lego fans.. check this out

http://brickset.com/sets/75913-1/F14...-Ferrari-Truck

[ameya]

Hello Everybody,

This is a short writeup about the Lego Technic 853 that I built up recently.

First, some basic information and context. This set was launched in 1977 and consists of approximately 600 pieces. Wheelbase 302 mm, track (measured from the outer wall of each tyre) 200 mm, total length 527 mm. Tyre size 24 x43 mm. I consider this set to be of special significance since it went on to spawn its own lineage of Lego Technic sport coupes. This set was followed by (in chronological order) the 8860, 8865, 8880 and the 8448.

The vehicle is reminiscent of cars as they used to be built in the early years of the industry; essentially comprising of a powertrain and steering system mounted to a chassis. The customer then went off to his/her own “Coachbuilder” to have the cabin and bodywork designed and fabricated according to his/her individual taste and specification. This set seems to align itself to this philosophy and essentially consists of the powertrain and a steering system mounted to a rigid chassis. The set however also has two seats in the front and a beach seat in the rear.

Powertrain
The powertrain is a forward mounted, air-cooled, inline 4 engine mated to a 2 speed gearbox. The engine is a joy to put together but equally demanding. The build manual of the period covers this in one page only and there is a lot of adjusting to be done when marrying it to the chassis. The mechanism of the reciprocating cylinders on an offset crankshaft is achieved by a network of standard cogs with eccentrically mounted pistons using Legos standard beams. The air-cooled design of the engine allows the builder to enjoy the fruits of his labour since the reciprocating cylinders can be seen working in all their glory through the cooling fins in the crankcase.
The gearbox is two speed unit. The speed difference is achieved by using cogs of different diameters and tooth count. The layout is basically an I pattern with neutral in the middle. The high gear suffers from slippage since the pistons are unable to reciprocate fast enough for the vehicle speed.
Drive is to the rear wheels via a fixed differential that does not allow relative rotation between the two rear wheels.

Steering
The steering on this set is special because it is achieved using very basic building pieces. The only specialist part is the toothed rack itself. The tie rods are simply lego beams with connectors on either end. Two universal joints channel and transfer the steering torque from the rack upfront to a driver-friendly orientation in front of the seat. The system appears to achieve Ackermann since I do not notice any wheel scrub between the front left and right tyres when driving on full lock.

Chassis
Although a rigid chassis with no suspension articulation, the highlight here are the front uprights. Elegantly designed using the most basic of building blocks, the only specialist part is the 2x2 turntable that allows rotation about the vehicle height axis.

Cabin
The cabin consists of two individual seats upfront and a standard bench seat behind. The two individual seats are adjustable for inclination as well as along the vehicle length axis. The attention to detail of the lego design engineers of the time is best appreciated when you look at the rear bench sea; there is a fully functional swivelling armrest!

Manual
The manual achieves its objective with reasonable accuracy. The engine build however is completed in a page. This requires concentration. The marriage between the engine and chassis also required patience and attention since the blocks that were supposed to line up and fit together were not clearly identified in some cases. Having built the 8448, the manuals have progressed in leaps and bounds in terms of image quality and build accuracy.

Summary
To me this set is special because of its elegant design. By this, I mean that complex movements and mechanisms have been replicated with a high level of accuracy using the most basic of technic blocks. The successors of this set, as I have observed, use increasingly specialist technic pieces and blocks. This, in my opinion reduced the builder’s flexibility and also left him stranded if (say) one of these specialist pieces went missing or got damaged.

Please refer to a selection of photos below.

[Sawyer]

Interesting build; much later in 1992 when my son was growing up we had built a similar looking car with more advanced running gear. It had a 4 speed gearbox, and a working differential that was open and allowed for a good grasp on how it worked to let two wheels rotate at different speeds, a concept that isn't easily understood via diagrams in books. As I recall, it had independent suspension as well.

As I look around stores today I see a huge choice of Lego; far better than gifting video games for the little folk.