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Who am I? Nobody, but I’ve got big ideas. For Lego to do. :-)
I think Technic has a great untapped potential. There are many parts, gears,
tools and techniques! Yay! But the sets are not up to scratch. They are good,
realistic models, but are only Technic because they pull a few tricks out of the
Technic bag. I missed out on 8421, but managed to get the 8466 and, although it
has some failings, I love it. Most of their sets though, to my eyes, could be
better.
Not only is Technic about model making, wheeled vehicles, cranes and heavy
equipment, its about mechanics. Simple machines combined to make complex ones. Mechanical assemblies that are
creative and useful. Technic can be used to stretch the mind and discover
engineering.
Lego doesn’t actively market any of this. They should start a up a system of
technic sets that work together. They wouldn’t necessarily need any new parts.*
Each set would be a mechanical sub assembly for a task. Heres some examples:
Gearbox toolkit. Parts and instructions for both a 6-speed manual and an
autmoatic gearbox. Ideas section for variations.
Steering toolkit. This would include instructions and parts for motorizable,
steered, wheels (maybe with suspension) and
whatchamacallit
steering. Ideas in
the back of the booklet might include combining two for either crab or normal
4-wheeled steering.
Air-ride toolkit. This would include four pneumatic cylinders, linkages, and
hubs. There would be instructions for various types of suspension, dependent
and independent, powered and unpowered, and bountiful ideas for more.
The list could go on. All these examples are for a car, but it should
definitely not be limited to that. There could be basic gear ratios,
differential adding machine, clutches, mechanical power splitter, weights and
balance, fans, logic gates, basically anything fun with gears! They could also,
for example, have a whole kit dealing with lever geometry - mechanical
advantage, direction of force, and reciprocal motion.
Back to cars. Lego should also produce a basic frame. It would have to be
completely modular. It should have a 6 cylinder engine, basic steering, and a
diff in the back. Also, a launching point for building a *studded* body. The
key here is modularity. For example one section of the frame is an empty box
with an axle going through it. You can buy the separate, reasonably priced
(9.99?), gearbox kit and try different ones easily, swapping in and out with
technic pins. The same would go with the other car sub-assemblies.
This would be great. Basic intro to studless building and encouraging
creativity. The point would not be “Ooh look at this cool vehicle” but “ooh
look at these cool funtions.” This could be easily marketed as both a toy and a
tool (at the same time!)
Misc:
I’m not sure as to the scale. The smaller the cheaper, the larger the more
guts. Somewhere between the smallest of the Model Team sets and the largest
(Black cat!)
Thoughts? Mindless piffle? post away!
--Peter
1. although I wouldn’t say no to any of these gems!
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=185759
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