42152 Firefighter Aircraft Question

[Michael Veroukis]

Hi everyone, first time poster here. Got a question. Got this set for my son, he did pretty well but is stuck on page 189, step 271. He was able to attach the L shaped piece for the landing gear on the wing (see circled part in the photo attached), however, it's about 45 degrees off what it should be - the long part should be perfectly vertical. And yes, the front landing gear is fully extended. When the wheel to raise/lower the landing gear is spun it does turn the part in question, as well as the front landing gear, so it is all connected. But the fact that it's off by 45 degrees tells me something is not right here. I looked at the instructions and it seems the mechanism for what that shaft attaches to is really early on in the book (around page 29, step 31). Any thoughts as to what to do at this point would be appreciated.

This is our first Technic set. I'm a little upset that we create a mechanism so early on in the process and we can't test until we're almost at the end of an 1100+ part puzzle. Some validation should be part of that at an earlier stage. This makes me want to never buy another.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. Any help would be appreciated.

[pow]

Here is a link to the instruction in case someone wants to dive into the problem. https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6493802.pdf

I'll give it a try: How good are your fine motor skills? You have the black gear wheels on the left and right in front of the wings and behind the cockpit that retract the landing gear.
In step 60, a long grey 9L axle is pushed in and you put these black gear wheels on it.

...I would remove the cover (the roof?) above. Then pull out this axle (not completely please!) and let the light tan gear wheel fall out. Then position everything as desired and shake the gear wheel back into place. Put the axle back in and you're done.

Note: With this approach, you can first finish building and then see at the end whether you want/need to do this.
Maybe it will correct itself!

Does anyone have a better solution?

Edited December 29, 2023 by pow

[Gumalca]

Pushing the gear out will do nothing. This setup is not influenced by gear alignment. Many MOCs have this problem, but Lego avoids this. So here front and back wheels are only connected through a linkage.

The problem is most likely that one of the linkages was connected to the wrong hole. For example on page 33.

Can you even retract the front wheel completely? If your linkage is short of one hole distance I think you can't do this.

That's why Lego tells you to test the linkage on page 33 and again on page 46 with the front wheel attached.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Gumalca

[Michael Veroukis]

Hey, thanks for the replies. Sorry, I didn't get an email notification so I figured no one replied.

Anyway, Pow, I thought that perhaps what you mentioned in step 60 could be the issue, but looking more closely the front and rear landing gear aren't connect via that gear system. I think the issue might be on step 40 (page 33), as Gumalca suggests. How it's connected to that long black (8 hole) piece might be the issue. At least I hope it is. I'll have time later today to take the roof off and see if that's the issue, perhaps it's just connected one hole over. Maybe that's it. Doesn't mean it's a trivial fix, but I'd like to at least diagnose this before ripping everything apart.

@Gumalca, yes the front landing gear works perfectly. And yes I did test it, however, the image on page 33 indicates that turning the right-most shaft (with orange arrow) moves the black piece back and forth (which eventually links up to the front landing gear). However, it doesn't really make it clear that the same shaft needs to be in a particular orientation at the end of your little test. And the same on page 46, it indicates that turning the dial should raise/lower the front landing gear, doesn't make it clear that the rear landing gear shaft should be in a particular orientation. I mean, the image does have it in the correct orientation, but it's a shaft that spins and it's not clear that orientation matters here. So ya, a little frustrating.

Anyway, thanks again and I'll keep you posted.

[Michael Veroukis]

Ok, I had the time to remove the roof, which includes a good chunk of the wing. The problem wasn't exactly what I suspected but pretty close. The problem was related to step 30 on page 29. The two connecting parts were not aligned properly. Surprisingly, the other pieces were still able to connect to that long black piece on step 40, with the result being it was off by 45 degrees.

Putting it back together was trickier than tacking it apart. Thankfully these pieces are very bendy and I managed not to break any of them.

Thanks for your suggestions guys.

[Gumalca]

Good to hear that you were able to solve it! Right, taking the wings or top off is not that easy in this model. Everything is connected in multiple directions.

[pow]

@Michael Veroukis Happy to hear that you were able to fix it without completely disassembling it!

Happy new year to all of you!

[Michael Veroukis]

Here's the final product. Thanks again and Happy New Year!

Edited January 1, 2024 by Michael Veroukis