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In lugnet.technic, Christian Gemünden writes:
> Too bad I don't have the set myslef yet. I am excited, Hao-yang, what is the
> combined Manas model about to do and do you need both controllers to command
> it? Are the building instructions included as for all the other Rahi sets?
>
> Oh, yes, I am talking about this alternate Rahi, image found at:
>
> http://www.brickmaster.de/images/8539-alt.jpg
>
> It seems like the bottom motors are there to move and navigate and the upper
> two must have some kind of grab function and what's that rubber-band near
> the yellow Komau massks doing (it's a "spring-loaded" rubberband, right?).
> The world needs to know...
I finished building the two crabs yesterday. I'd really like to build the
alternative big Rahi too, but unfortunately the kid would not allow me to
take apart the crabs.
As the result, I can only base my answers to your questions by looking at
the instructions. Anybody who has already seen the real thing working,
please correct my mistakes. (And yes, you get the instructions for both the
crabs and the big alternative Rahi.)
You are right: The bottom motors move the Rahi, while the top ones move the
arms. The arms punch out, but I am not sure whether the claws will actually
grab things. (The claws are not connected to the motors, but the rubber
bands on the claws may serve as some spring-loaded mechanism.)
The rubber band on the head-neck does look like some spring-loading
mechanism, which nods the head. I think the opponent is supposed to hit the
head of the Rahi, to get the masks.
By turning the dial on the handheld controller to switch the channel, you
can control the Rahi's arms and tank treads separately, or you can use both
controllers to control all the four functions at the same time. Of course
you can also set the two receivers to the same channel (or set the
controller to broadcast to all the channels).
There are only three channels, which sets the upper limit to the number of
receivers that can function independently at the same time.
> THANKS!
>
> Bye, Christian --- xTIAN.oO
> --------------------------------------------------
> Lugnet Member #479 -- The World is full of AFOLs !
> mail: xtian@brickmaster.de web: www.brickmaster.de
Now back to the crabs: The two crabs are almost identical in design. Like
the big Rahi, the crab's movement is controlled by its two tank treads. The
two claws of the crab are connected to the same motors as the tank treads,
which make the claws punch repetitively.
In the middle, there is a spring-loaded mechanism which, when being hit,
will lift the crab off the ground, thus disables the crab's movement.
On the pictures, it shows the two crabs trying to knock down each others'
masks. This strikes me as a bit strange, for I thought the two crabs are
fighting on the same side, but again I am not familiar with the story line
of Bionicle. (8539 is my first Bionicle set.)
Cheers,
Hao-yang Wang
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Hao-yang Wang,
I'd be interested in knowing a few things like: How fast do they go and
can you adjust the speed? What is the range on the remotes? How much power
do the motors seem to have (wondering how big/heavy a creation you could
make that wouldn't overburden the motors.)
Thanks!
Paul
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In lugnet.technic, Paul Coombs writes:
> Hao-yang Wang,
> I'd be interested in knowing a few things like: How fast do they go and
> can you adjust the speed? What is the range on the remotes? How much power
> do the motors seem to have (wondering how big/heavy a creation you could
> make that wouldn't overburden the motors.)
>
> Thanks!
>
> Paul
The speed is not adjustable. (Unless you have a fast thumb and can do the
PVM manually. :-)
The motors are able to move the big alternative model around comfortably,
but they don't seem to be as powerful as the Technic geared-down motors.
John Barnes has posted an amazing article about the innards of the IR unit
at <http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/?n=15809>.
Cheers,
Hao-yang Wang
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In lugnet.technic, Hao-yang Wang writes:
> I finished building the two crabs yesterday. I'd really like to build the
> alternative big Rahi too, but unfortunately the kid would not allow me to
> take apart the crabs.
>
> As the result, I can only base my answers to your questions by looking at
> the instructions. Anybody who has already seen the real thing working,
> please correct my mistakes. (And yes, you get the instructions for both the
> crabs and the big alternative Rahi.)
>
> You are right: The bottom motors move the Rahi, while the top ones move the
> arms. The arms punch out, but I am not sure whether the claws will actually
> grab things. (The claws are not connected to the motors, but the rubber
> bands on the claws may serve as some spring-loaded mechanism.)
I finished the big Rahi last night. The moving mechanism and the arms are
essentially the same as the crabs'. The claw does get equipped with a
spring-loaded mechanism, so when the "palm" touches something, the claw
snaps together. The mechanism is ingeniously simple, but a bit too
sensitive: It sometimes gets triggered while the arms are waving in the
empty air.
> The rubber band on the head-neck does look like some spring-loading
> mechanism, which nods the head. I think the opponent is supposed to hit the
> head of the Rahi, to get the masks.
When you hit the head, it gets knocked down, exposing its masks for the
opponent to grab.
The head looks much cooler in person than in pictures. (Somehow in all the
ads I have seen, the head is always pictured on the knocked-down position.)
It looks like a saber-tooth tiger. However, with the human-like arms and
claws, maybe Lego is trying to do a bear.
The big Rahi is not very stable. It tends to tip forward.
Compared with the crabs, this big Rahi looks much cooler, and has an
ingenious claw mechanism, while I feel the crabs get better playability.
Cheers,
Hao-yang Wang
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