Take that Audi Q7! We hate the Audi Q7, and the other pointlessly-enormous, overly-aggressive, status-symbols-on-wheels in the segment in which it occupies. We’ll happily take one of these though, as if you’re going to have a vehicle that’s impossible to park, won’t fit down a country lane, and drinks fuel, it may as well do all of those things to absolute excess!

This is an articulated 8×8 off-road truck, loosely based on those by companies such as Foremost, and resembling some of the Soviet Union’s more impressively weird machinery. It’s been built by previous bloggee and Technic-building genius Nico71, and it’s an astonishing piece of engineering.

Using eight wheels and tyres from the brilliant LEGO Technic Claas Xerion 5000 set, Nico’s truck features all-wheel-drive, with one XL Motor driving the front two axles, and another the rear. None of the axles are steered as the entire truck articulates in the middle thanks to an L Motor and a pair of linear actuators.

Each axle is suspended by an ingenious leaf-spring system, there’s an inline-6 engine next to the asymmetrical cab, and a set of four outriggers stabilise the truck for when it’s using the neat folding crane mounted over the articulation point. Powered by another two Power Functions motors this can extend, rotate and winch (see the image below), and like the drive and steering is operable remotely via bluetooth thanks to two third-party SBrick bluetooth bricks.

There’s loads more to see of Nico’s ridiculously impressive build at his website, where full technical details and instructions (yes really, so please don’t message us!) are available, plus the complete gallery of images is available to view via Brickshelf.

Nico has also become the sixteenth Master MOCer to be awarded such status here at The Lego Car Blog, joining an impressive roster of builders including Sariel, Crowkillers, Bricksonwheels and Firas Abu Jaber amongst others.

Read Nico’s Lego-building story and and find out how he created his amazing Technic vehicles such as this one via the link to his Master MOCers interview below!

Master MOCers Season 2, Episode 5

Nico71