Yesterday's Lego purchases
15%-off at Kmart, and a bunch of the new 2009 sets have arrived.
I thus felt compelled to pick up some consecutively-numbered Lego construction vehicles:
One #7630 Front-End Loader
Two #7631 Dump Trucks (their 15%-off price is particularly good when compared with the US list price)
One #7632 Crawler Crane…
…which is a big almost-Technic set (see also, #744) whose main boom looks distressingly POOP-y. But it’s actually not so bad, since the boom is made out of these and these, both new pieces for this set.
The new crane particularly appealed to me, and not just because it’s got the nifty new chunky tracks. I’ve been re-reading J. E. Gordon’s classic Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down, and this crane provides a perfect demonstration of how real cranes stay in one piece - it has a strong-in-compression-but-weak-in-tension boom, which is kept in compression by a strong-in-tension-but-useless-in-compression cable. The result is a simple tensegrity structure which, in a sense, gets stronger the more you load it.
If I give the crane to a kid, I may require them to endure a lecture on this subject.
If I give the crane to a kid, I may require them to endure a lecture on this subject.
Who are you kidding? You aren't about to let some grubby child foul that pristine lego.
Comment by Stuart — January 25, 2009 @ 1:25 am
I wish I'd had these as a kid. Probably would've spent hours lifting increasingly heavier objects, eventually seeing how successfully I could lift things after reducing the structural integrity of the boom.
Comment by FuzzyPlushroom — January 25, 2009 @ 5:24 am
For that very reason I try to buy two sets.
Comment by Ziggyinc — January 25, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Man, all I ever did with my legos as a kid was make variable sweep wing planes with retractable landing gear...Then run around by room making wooshing noises.
Comment by TwoHedWlf — January 25, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Same here, but rather space vehicles
Comment by Boran_blok — January 26, 2009 @ 6:47 am
I believe the word you may be looking for to describe toys well-suited to this activity is "swooshable".
Comment by Daniel Rutter — January 26, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
My son chose 7630 as his reward for toilet training. I have to say I'm pretty bloody impressed - NZD$16.95 for a set with a lot of non-POOP parts and rather nice minimalist design; I'm particularly fond of the radiator grille on the back. The hydraulic analogue on the front has a tendency to fall off, however.
Comment by Camping Fag — February 22, 2009 @ 11:34 am