Ribbed Hose
Building on the idea on using flexible pneumatic tubing
as a decorative element, flexible ribbed hose was introduced. It
serves the same purpose but is more prominent with a larger
diameter. In early sets, the hose had to be cut to length by the
builder.
Beams and Liftarms
The studless system was expanded significantly. A 6L and 7L thin
beam were added to compliment the existing 5L. The 6L remains the
only even length studless part. There was also a 3x3 L shaped
corner liftarm.
A strangle thick liftarm with a joggle was released. It was used
in two sets this year and then never seen again.
Miscellaneous
- A 2L brick was introduced with an axle hole instead of a
pin hole which allowed axles to be structurally locked.
- Since the angle connectors had been introduced a year
earlier, the toothed bushing and toggle joint were no longer needed and
were therefore replaced with smooth versions this year.
- Finally a "knob wheel" was introduced (shown in
yellow). This serves the function of a 4 tooth gear but has the
advantage of being usable as both a spur gear and a bevel gear.
Additionally, it is very easy to engage and disengage which is useful
in mechanisms which need to decouple. It pays for this increased
versatility with decreased efficiency and extra friction.
Competition and Suspension
The Competition Cannon is a spring loaded canister with a rubber tipped
projectile. I can only imagine the arguments between the part
developers and the lawyers as they tried to develop a firing weapon
that was not too dangerous. They made it quite difficult to
disassemble so that children (like me) who wanted to take it apart and
put in a stronger spring would be thwarted.
Suspension
A new type of suspension part was introduced which included a steerable
control arm and a support bracket. With only two parts, this was
quite easy to assemble for younger builders. The flat tab on the
top of the gray part slides into a slot on the black part, then locks
in place once rotated. Although very simple, these parts were
used on some very large models including this year's flagship.
Wheels and Tires
A new type of very unusual futuristic wheels and tires were introduced
this year and then never used again. All of the Tech Build models
this year used them. The wheels have 3 spokes and are painted a
metallic silver. The tires are NOT pneumatic. They are very
low profile solid rubber strips which are quite difficult to assemble
and take apart. It is presumably this last fact that lead to
their short tenure in the Technic line. The advantage of the
solid rubber is that these tires can support very heavy loads without
deforming and therefore have low rolling resistance.
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