Original Year	1984
# of pieces	119
Categories	Other: Universal Sets
Dimensions	various
Models	Van Land Rover Garbage Truck Plow Windmill Helicopter

8020 Universal Building Set

Set 8020 was released in 1984 as the smallest Universal Set to date. It includes full instructions for 6 models. There are a number of parts left over when any of the models are built. The set is small but versatile and is an excellent introduction to Technic.

The models in this universal set cover a wide variety of subjects, but most feature the common function of rack and pinion steering and little else. The van, rover, truck, and plow all feature rack and pinion steering. The windmill vanes turns via crank. The helicopter rotor turns via crank.

It is somewhat unusual that this set includes 5 sets of tires and wheels since the 5th is only ever used for overhead steering. This is the only set from 1984 to not have pneumatics included.

I find the Windmill the most interesting, and it is the model I chose to keep assembled for my display of this set. This is probably just due to the fact that it is different from most other Technic models.

1^st Model: Van
This little van has rack and pinion steering. The front wheels can be steered using an overhead "hand of god" wheel. The wheel drives a pair of 8 tooth pinions through a crown gear. The pinions drive the steering rack. The steering mechanism itself uses control arms and toothed links.	Click to download the LDraw file of this model. Model by Jerome Boulanger Click for an animation of the steering in motion.
2^nd Model: Land Rover
This little truck has rack and pinion steering and looks much like a Land Rover. The front wheels can be steered using an overhead "hand of god" wheel. The wheel drives a pair of 8 tooth pinions through a set of 24 tooth crown and spur gears. The pinions drive the steering rack. The steering mechanism itself uses control arms and toothed links.	Click for an animation of the steering in motion.
3^rdModel: Garbage Truck
This little truck has rack and pinion steering. The front wheels can be steered using an overhead "hand of god" wheel. The wheel drives a pair of 8 tooth pinions through a set of 24 tooth crown and spur gears. The pinions drive the steering rack. The steering mechanism itself uses control arms and toothed links.	Click for an animation of the steering in motion.
4^thModel: Plow
This little plow has rack and pinion steering. The rear wheels can be steered using an overhead "hand of god" wheel. The wheel drives a pair of 8 tooth pinions through a crown gear. The pinions drive the steering rack. The steering mechanism itself uses control arms and toothed links. The front plow can also be manually raised and lowered but does not remain perpendicular to the ground.	Click for an animation of the steering in motion.
5^thModel: Windmill
This little windmill is nothing but some gears on a stand, but yet is a fun model. A steering arm used as a crank turns a 24 tooth spur gear. This drives an 8 tooth gear, followed by another stage of 8 and 24 tooth gears. This results in a final gear ratio of 9:1 which allows the vanes to turn very quickly indeed. The animation shows only one revolution of the vanes since one revolution of the crank would have required 72 frames.	Click for an animation of the windmill rotating.
6^thModel: Helicopter
This little helicopter features a rotating main rotor. A wheel used as an input crank turns an 8 tooth spur gear. This drives the main rotor shaft through a 24 tooth crown gear. The gear reduction of 3:1 ensures that the main rotor rotates slowly. The tail rotor can be rotated manually.	Click to download the LDraw file of this model. Model by Jerome Boulanger Click for an animation of the main rotor rotating.

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