The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book, Vol. 2: Cars and Contraptions

Excellent book for the younger (and older) Lego Technic fans who are looking to start building their own non-Lego builds. The use of motors really helps as it is a large part of why my seven year old son finds this book interesting. Minimal to no words, but the pictures are detailed enough to build it (much like a Lego instruction book). The pictures are in color and it's clear that the author chose Lego pieces in contrasting colors when there might be difficulties understanding the pictures. My one criticism of this book and all the others by this author relating to Lego Technic is that it is next to impossible to obtain a "kit" with all the Lego pieces necessary to build ALL the models illustrated in the set. Even a Rebrickable.com listing would be a happy substitute if one was willing to pick up all the parts in your own, but that doesn't exist either (and I know the author uses rebrickable.com because he has a custom model on the site). So knowing that there is no companion "set" that is prepackaged or easily obtained, I would say that despite my high recommendation of this book, it is only for the kid, family or AFOL who already has a good collection of LARGE (1,000+ pieces) models. I'm an AFOL (adult fan of Lego) and have 23 sets so far... but ALL of the small to medium sets you can buy do NOT have Lego PF pieces (motors specifically) or don't provide enough gears and other pieces to provide a good inventory. The larger sets DO. So five stars for quality and usefulness BUT only if you have some large sets already in your inventory (and are willing to take them apart).Last note that is somewhat of a saving grace to the enterprising parent/AFOL. The book DOES list the parts needed in detail for both Lego PF Ideas Books, but you'all have to go thru a third party site (rebrickable.com) and create your own list which isn't fun and is time consuming BUT do-able.

He’s been making and improvising the different projects. The book is amazing, bright, detailed pictures of each step. If you have a Lego master builder budding this book is a must have.

I used this book with kids in our co-op to build some remote control cars. It gave some great examples of how to use a servo motor for steering (including rack and pinion steering) and how to use differential gears for the driven wheels. It also showed other methods for driving and steering (e.g., using two drive motors, caster wheels, 4 wheel drive). The builds require many specialized pieces, but we were able to use many of the ideas in the book using the pieces from the LEGO Education Machines and Mechanism set, however, I would highly recommend also purchasing an IR remote control and IR receiver if you don't already have one so you can operate the motors remotely.

I think this book is better than his Simple Machines and Power Functions (Vol 1) books. Gets into some reasonably interesting (but still reasonably "simple") designs. As with Vol 1, you have to be rather visually/spatially oriented to reproduce his designs, since he just gives a few views of the designs--no stepwise building instructions. Second favorite of my 6 Lego-style books. Favorite is "The Unofficial Lego Technic Builder's Guide," which is essentially a detailed textbook on Lego Technic construction concepts.

My Grandson is a huge fan of Legos. When he saw this book he immediately pulled out his bricks and began building. He liked it because while it showed technique and ideas he could use his imagination and build his own contraptions. Great Book

My 12 year old son is so inventive, I find I use this more than he does when he wants me to build with him.

Fantastic book for nine year old venturing into learning how to get the most from Technics. Lots of examples and explanations but not step by step, so it requires a little higher level thinking. Not so hard that it frustrates my 6-9 year old grandchildren.

Great books, great activities. But I need to buy more LEGO Technics parts !!

Seldom good book, not interesting.

レゴロボットの多彩な組み立て方を知るのに貴重な本です。

息子に買ってやったのですがどのページも持っていないパーツがあって何か足らず、結局まだ何も造れていません。まともに造ろうとしたらかなりの費用がかかりますね。ただ、造りたいと思えるものではあります。

Cumple con los establecido. Muy buen libro y cumple con las características de ser nuevo. Lo recomiendo mucho. Si van a empezar a trabajar con máquinas simples es importante considerar estos temas.

Excelente, para mejor comprensión de la mecanica en un grupo de robotica