Subject:
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Re: Another Technic Creation
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.technic
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Date:
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Wed, 15 Nov 2000 01:28:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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2329 times
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There have certainly been some interesting points made here, and I think
they are relevant to a greater or lesser extent depending on many things.
First of all, as Mike points out, not all kids have a problem with complex
lego kits. Having seen quite a few people assembling Technic stuff from
instructions, I've come to the conclusion that it is nothing really to do
with the depth of mechanical understanding a person has - after all, they
don't have to understand how it works to make it. Rather, it has to do with
their ability to concentrate, keep focus and follow instructions.
Most mistakes seem to be made by people who think they are smart enough not
to count out all the bits in the "inventory" box before building each step;
inevitably they miss something out and find themselves stuffed several steps
down the line. This applies to adults and kids alike - adults can be even
worse as some of them take the Smart Alec bit to an even greater degree and
think "I don't need a 5 axle there, a 6 will do fine", with the inevitable
result - they get stuffed at a later step.
Second of all, if the finished model looks great on the box, there will be a
greater incentive to build it. I don't think this should be underestimated,
and again, it applies to kids and adults alike.
Thirdly, remember that people approach building in different ways. Some go
for the big splurge and try to get it finished in one session; others do a
little at a time, assimilating things slowly. Some build a model and put it
on a shelf; some build it, take it apart, and build something else. Some
build it, take it apart, build it again, take it apart ad nauseum. And some
do a little bit of all of these.
So what am I trying to get at here? I think that basically, if someone can
follow instructions, they will be able to make surprisingly complex models,
certainly way above their current technical knowledge. I had never even
heard of differentials before I got my 8860 as kid; but after I built it I
figured out what it was for. Much of the joy in making these models is being
halfway through and thinking "what on earth is this working towards?" and
being able to figure it out when the model was complete. I recently got this
with the gearbox on the 8448, which is surprisingly complex - even the
mechanical engineers at work had to check it out for a while before they
groked (sp?) it :-)
I do think it is important to challenge people's minds - if you are always
building stuff you understand, at least from my point of view, it quickly
becomes boring.
When it comes to my own models, I would certainly not have been able to
create them from scratch when I was ten - absolutely no way. However,
building them from instructions would have been within my grasp. The crane
is of similar complexity (IMHO) to the 8480 Space Shuttle; the Bobcat, while
very tricky to design, is not vastly complex mechanically and actually quite
straightforward to build - the 4-bar linkage boom makes an interesting
talking and thinking point though. The only really tricky one is the
excavator, which has a couple of steps, mainly to do with pneumatic and flex
tube routing, which require a fair degree of manual dexterity. I agree that
this would have to be simplified for "consumer" use.
Something I'm going to do in the future is to set myself the challenge of
building a model within reasonable cost, complexity and marketing
constraints - a maximum of two motors, one of which is preferably a micro
motor, which is relatively straightforward (although time consuming) to
build but difficult to understand once you get there. This is the type of
model I liked best as a child!
Jennifer Clark
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Another Technic Creation
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| (...) I agree with this, and most all your other points. (...) "Grokked". Sorry, I had just looked it up, and needed to do something with the soon-to-be-useless knowledge. I know what you mean about the 8448 gearbox. I just can't quite make that (...) (24 years ago, 15-Nov-00, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Another Technic Creation
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| (...) Yes, this is indeed quite true. As many people have noted, children below the quoted age bracket on a set may very well successfully compile the model. With the introduction of the Expert Builder sets in the late seventies, I was lucky to get (...) (24 years ago, 16-Nov-00, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Another Technic Creation
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| My own building experiences: (...) That'S the first step of getting into the buisness of creatin own models. Building by instruction gives good ideas of how the technic bricks could be used. But that just covers just 20% (or less) of the reasonable (...) (24 years ago, 17-Nov-00, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Another Technic Creation
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| (...) Completely agree on that. When I was first built my 8860 when I was 10 or 11, I never had seen before mechanisms like reciprocating engine, transmission, differential, etc. Even I first assumed that the transmission of 8860 was a hand brake, (...) (24 years ago, 18-Nov-00, to lugnet.technic)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Another Technic Creation
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| (...) I'm not quite sure I agree, I think some kids are probably are a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for, and I think they are getting brighter?? Where Jennifers models really score for me is the attention to detail and that sort of (...) (24 years ago, 14-Nov-00, to lugnet.technic)
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