How to stretch rubber bands after they are inserted

[Jean-Philippe Ouellet]

I am building the 5763 Dune Hopper.

In step 16, it says to insert a rubber band like so:


Then in step 20, it says to stretch the rubber band like so:


Creating the rubber bands themselves shouldn't be a problem, I can just use LSynth. The problem arises when I need to stretch the rubber bands.

As far as I can tell, there is no provision for modifying or removing parts already in a model.

My first thought was to simply insert the rubber bands for the first time in step 20, but if you were to build this model with real legos, inserting them in step 20 would be impossible because they are attached to 4623 ("Plate 1 x 2 with Arm") which has a plate at the top of the arm, thus making the closed loop of the rubber band inside the closed loop formed by the bricks... it can't simply be slipped in.

What is the proper way of accomplishing this?



Also... How do we remove parts from steps in general. If my memory serves from helping a friend build the 8053 Mobile Crane it requires you to build an assembly to place on the axles of the vehicle while building the transmission to ensure that the wheels are all aligned while you assemble the transmission, and then remove the wheel-alignment assembly, and re-use those parts later. It would be easy enough to simply ignore the assembly entirely as it is not part of the final model, but I believe people should be able to build a real-lego model from the steps in the models in the OMR the same exact way as if they were following the actual instruction booklet.

[Willy Tschager]

As far as I can tell, there is no provision for modifying or removing parts already in a model.

There is. It is called Buffer Exchange in MLCad.

w.

[Orion Pobursky]

I believe people should be able to build a real-lego model from the steps in the models in the OMR the same exact way as if they were following the actual instruction booklet.

While I agree with this sentiment, following this rule 100% would make the model look "weird". What I mean by that is when you include all the callout steps, arrows, extra parts, buffer exchanges, etc... and you look at it in a viewer that doesn't process the instruction meta commands, it looks all jumbled. So when I create a model, I follow the instructions closely but sometime I make decisions to keep the file simple.

[Jean-Philippe Ouellet]

Thanks. You set me on the right track.

LPub's REMOVE GROUP meta command would satisfy my needs, but I've decided to take Orion's advice since the majority of people using models in the OMR will probably not be using them primarily to make instructions, and probably wont be using LPub.

I'm going to insert the rubber bands in step 16, but use their final shape from step 20.