TLCB’s Lock-down B-Model Competition is go! The first of several entries to share today, this is Clemens Schneider‘s spectacular bucket wheel excavator, built solely from the parts found within the 42097 Crawler Crane set. With a rotating superstructure, working tracks, a hand-operated boom winch and bucket wheel mechanism, Clemens’ B-Model has as much going on as the set from which its parts are sourced. Best of all, there are instructions available too, so if you wish to convert your own 42097 set you can! Head to Clemens’ photostream via the link above for all the details, and if you’re stuck in lock-down with a LEGO set available, build us a B-Model like Clemens and you could win an SBrick pack!
Looking at gonkius’s PhotoStream, we’re pretty sure that he already owns a 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator. Is one enough? Obviously not, judging by this nice little bit of micro-scale building. Once again proving that it’s not how many bricks you have but what you do with them, our Elves’ tiny minds were instantly attracted to this tiny machine.
At over 1.2 meters longs, weighing 8kgs, and with 14 motors, 4 batteries, and 6 IR receivers, Desert752 Kirill’s replica of the 700 ton soviet ER-1250 bucket wheel excavator is one of the most spectacular creations that this blog has ever featured. It’s also, if you’re a TLCB Elf, one of the most dangerous.
Four XL Power Functions motors power the excavator’s two tracks independently whilst two M motors can swing the platform through 360 degrees. Another two M motors rotate the conveyor unloading arm so that it can remain at a fixed point whilst the superstructure turns around it, a third M motor powers the conveyor belt, and a fourth controls the arm’s height. An L motor performs this role for the main boom, with a further M motor powering the bucket wheel on the end. Finally two micro-motors control the unloading mechanism.
If all that sounds a lot you’d be right, and the only way to really appreciate Desert’s incredible engineering feat is to watch his bucket wheel excavator in action;
YouTube Video:
Now imagine that you are a TLCB Elf. An Elf who has been squashed several times during employment at TLCB Towers, and who has gleefully discovered this particular creation.
You can probably guess the outcome when an 8kg remote control tank complete with a viciously rotating bucket is under the control of a bitter and vengeful mythical creature. It’s safe to say that we have a lot of tidying up to do this afternoon.
While we try to piece together what remains of our Elven workforce, and get the body parts out of various Technic mechanisms, we suggest you take a closer look at this amazing creation – you can see more of Desert’s ER-1250 on both MOCpages and Eurobricks, plus you can read a hint about something LEGO themselves have got coming here...
