RobotWars bot

In March 2005 there was an AFOL-event i Karlskoga with RobotWars, for that I built this robot and in the end won the competition. To learn more about the event see the page for SweBrick VII.

Most of my bricks went into storage but I kept the robot and a RIS-set at hand in case my fingers got the itch. It took a while but the itch came and I decided to tear down the robot and build something else instead. But first I had to snap a shot or two...

Wedge-design.

In the middle I had an arm for lifting via pneumatics, four airtanks that I pumped manually before combat but also an on board compressor. The arm was way to weak to do any difference once into combat...

In the back I had two big wheels that spun fast to bounce away enemies that attacked from behind. The batteries for this function drained and the wheels hardly spun at all. I had two small battery boxes for these wheels and the compressor and two big battery boxes for propulsion.

Guts. I had four motors per wheel hooked to the battery boxes via a number of electrical plates arranged to put out 18V instead. Here's a guide how to build that, but stay cautious!

It was a lot of parts in this robot. :-O

In the end I never built anything with the parts...

The Johnson Family

Meet the Johnson family...

Here's misses Johnson, she likes gardening and flowers a lot.

This is mister Johnson. He's not that thrilled about flowers. Although he has his time consuming hobby:

Tractor pulling! He feels it's a great hobby. Especially since he get to spend a lot of time with their son, Adam. But where is he?

Ah! There he is, hiding behind the big tractor. He's not that pleased to be caught in photos. He was bullied a lot in school before the family moved to the countryside.

Since Tractor pulling is a rather time consuming hobby, Mrs. Johnson has to tell her "boys" -as she likes to call them- to help out with the house hold every now and then. Like now.

The lawn needs moving...

...and the house needs a little vacuum cleaning.

Mrs. Johnson is a loving wife and mother. She knows how much these tasks hurt the boys backs. So she is quick to offer some cold lemonade and cookies when the grass have been raked out of the garden.

Like already mentioned, the Johnson family moved to the country side. This helped Adam find new friends, here he his with some of them.

8030 Universal Building Set

I don't own this set, just built it from my collection of parts with the instructions.

I was surprised how many different models that this set has.

Year 1982, 140 pieces.

Alternations

The only thing I had to change was to use two 2x8 gray plates instead of a 4x8 ditto since I currently don't own two 4x8 plates in gray which is needed for this set.

Windmill. The propeller axle passes through a lot of displaced (due to age and wear) bricks thus there is a lot of friction in this setup.

This car is steered via the cross axle sticking out in the back, nice and uncommon feature.

Great pieces

Uhm... One Universal joint, other then that it's mostly common studTechnic etc..

Links

Building instruction on Brickshelf
Inventory on Peeron
Set reference on Lugnet
Jim Hughes Technica

8816 Off-Road Rambler

I don't own this set, I just built it from the instructions with existing parts.

A pretty nice jeep I must say. I would have liked it if I was a kid. As an adult fan of LEGO it would do nice as a shelf model. It's not a challenge to build it but it contains some nice pieces. Functionality is limited to individual suspension on the back wheels and steering (on the front ditto, of course).

I still have to build the second model in the instruction.

Year 1994, 184 pieces

Alternations

I had to make a replacement of a special part and also use some different colors on six other parts.

Original piece	Alternative piece
2 gray 3894: Technic Brick 1 x 6 with Holes	2 white 3894: Technic Brick 1 x 6 with Holes
2 gray 3676: Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Inverted Double Convex	2 black 3676: Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Inverted Double Convex
2 yellow 2444: Plate 2 x 2 with Hole	2 black 2444: Plate 2 x 2 with Hole
1 black 2989 Bumper Holder 1 x 4 (I think this is the one) See it on Technica here.	1 black 3701: Technic Brick 1 x 4 with Holes

Dual suspension.

Non-standard white swingarms.

Great pieces

Shocks, not that I actually used them in anything I ever built on my own but they are cool :)
Wheels. The smallest balloon tire in the Technic line with yellow hubs, yummy!
Lot's of gray 1 x 6 beams. 10 pieces in that little jeep! I only had eight so they must be pretty rare.

Links

Building instruction on Brickshelf
Inventory on Peeron
Set reference on Lugnet
Jim Hughes Technica

8020 Universal building set

This is what I consider my very first Technic set. I got the 8841 Desert racer before this one, but I don't think it's that much Technic. This set taught me basic gearing techniques and has provided me with a lot of fun.

Released in 1984 and contains 119 pieces.

If I got it the same year it was released I would have been six years old.

I suppose this is a garbage truck of some kind.

Here's the front.

A grader.

Helicopter.

A Jeep, some sort of SUV anyway.

And a van.

The final model is a wind mill. It taught me a thing or two about gearing :)

Great pieces

Does not contain any special pieces. The standard collection of beams and pegs back in 1984. Although it contains some yellow, the original Technic color in my honest opinion.

Links

Building instruction on Brickshelf
Inventory on Peeron
Set reference on Lugnet
Jim Hughes Technica