Well I have 4 more bags left to go and my Sandcrawler build will be complete.  Hopefully it will rain this weekend so I can work on it.  I am going to finish one of the front side panels with brown flat 1x4 and 1x2 tiles to cover the studs.  I will post pics but want to see how it looks before coving the entire vehicle. 

 

I want to add power functions and picked up a 9398 Crawler last night and before I open it up to pull the power elements wanted to get others with some experience doing this advice and/or point me to a link with some tips. If anyone who has built the Sandcrawler and the 9398 could chime in and tell me about the feasibility I would appreciate it.  Also does anyone know how many sets of 8870 Power Function lights can be hooked up to the power pack.

 

Any advice is appreciated as I have never built a technic power set and don't want to open a MISB for nothing.

Well I have 4 more bags left to go and my Sandcrawler build will be complete.  Hopefully it will rain this weekend so I can work on it.  I am going to finish one of the front side panels with brown flat 1x4 and 1x2 tiles to cover the studs.  I will post pics but want to see how it looks before coving the entire vehicle. 

 

I want to add power functions and picked up a 9398 Crawler last night and before I open it up to pull the power elements wanted to get others with some experience doing this advice and/or point me to a link with some tips. If anyone who has built the Sandcrawler and the 9398 could chime in and tell me about the feasibility I would appreciate it.  Also does anyone know how many sets of 8870 Power Function lights can be hooked up to the power pack.

 

Any advice is appreciated as I have never built a technic power set and don't want to open a MISB for nothing.

 

Isn't the Power function set available seperately for like 39.99 rather than opening a big set like that? I could be WAY off, but thought i'd seen that. 

 

either way, cant wait to see your project.

I have not built the new Sand Crawler, but I have built 10144 many times. I am guessing that your goal is to add controlled movement to the Sand Crawler. That will be challenging. Making it turn left and right is as simple as adding a motor to the existing mechanism assuming that the tank treads provide enough friction to allow it to turn. For forward I would recommend adding a set of tires to the underside and adding power to those. And you can buy a power function kit by itself, as well as individual motors.

This may sound odd, but I wonder if a train motor with rubber tires would be strong enough to move a crawler, it would be much easier to mount on the underside.

I looked at the train motor but didn't think it would be strong enough and wasn't sure about turning left and right.  The steering mechanism on the Sandcrawler is in the rear while the two front sets of wheels are fixed.

 

Once I figure this out then I would like to work on the front hatch opening and closing but that mechanism has a lot of resistance. 

 

I will have to look into the power functions kit as most of the parts I saw were on BO like the IR receiver.

It would have to steer from the back, using a train motor to "pull" from the front and having the tires lift the front tank tracks just slightly off the ground. My Lone Ranger train had no problem moving 5lbs, but that was on a track.