Tag Archives: Caterpillar

Two For Tuesday

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It’s a TLCB double today, with a duo of top-notch pieces of construction equipment, each wonderfully detailed, and affording us some ‘Your Mom’ references too.

First up (above) is Ralph Savelsberg‘s fantastic Caterpillar D9T bulldozer. Born in the mid-’50s, the D9 has serviced more construction sites than any other competitor, thanks to its weight, size, and low operating costs. Just like your Mom. Ralph’s Lego version captures the heavy tracked tractor brilliantly in brick, and you can bulldoze your way to it via the link above.

Today’s second constructional creation (below) is Keko007‘s excellent JCB 531-70 telehandler, complete with more varied implements than your Mom’s ‘special chest’. A raising and extending boom means that the model can replicate the reach of the real JCB 531, and you can reach for it yourself at Keko’s photostream via the link above.

And Now For Something Completely Different…

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Um… well this is… Ok, it’s a… well there’s a school bus, and a Metroliner, and a truck atop a V10 boat engine, and, um…  Perhaps it’s just best if you visit Renuad Petit Lego‘s Flickr album. There’s no explanation there either, but it’s probably better that way.

Backwithanotheroneofthose…

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…block rockin’ beats!* OK, we don’t often feature a title referring to the builder rather than model, but seeing as Flickr’s Beat Felber appeared here only two days ago with another spectacular model, it’s warranted.

His follow-up is even more impressive, an enormous 1:28 scale fully remote controlled (and working) replica of the world’s largest hydraulic excavator, the near 1,000-ton Caterpillar 6090.

Powered by two Cummins diesel engines the 6090 makes over 1,400bhp, and is able to move 43 cubic meters of material with each chomp of its bucket. It’s also, like Beat’s recently-blogged coal excavator, actually an O&K design that now wears Caterpillar branding.

Unlike his previous build however, Beat has chosen to recreate the 6090 in its current Caterpillar livery, creating one of the most visually lifelike creations this site has ever featured. But it’s the lifelike mechanicals that we’re more interested in…

Powered by three Power Functions battery boxes and controlled by four third-party SBricks, Beat’s creation features (deep breath); motorised crawler tracks (one XL Motor per track), a slewing superstructure (two M Motors), a fully operational boom, stick, bucket tilt and clamshell opening (each operated by pneumatic cylinders, controlled via four servo-motorised valves, and an on-board compressor driven by twin Buggy Motors), two motorised boarding ladders (one M Motor each), spinning engine and oil cooling fans (two 9V Motors), plus full LED lighting (five pairs of Power Functions LEDs).

It’s a truly spectacular feat of Lego engineering, and there’s much more to see at Beat’s ‘Caterpillar 6090 FS’ Flickr album, where over thirty incredible images and a video of the model in action can also be found. Click the link above to take a look, where we get the feeling we might be back again with some block rockin’ beats imminently…

*Today’s (excellent) title song.

The Cat’s Out of the Bag

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‘Oh cra…’ thought this TLCB Writer upon entering TLCB Towers this morning. Locked during Sunday, with the Elves left to their own devices, Monday is always a riskier day to come in to the office.

And so it proved, as one of their number grinned at him from eye level, sat as it was atop a bookshelf, thumbing through a classic car magazine.

A brisk jog through the office revealed other elevated Elves, although fortunately none in off-limits areas following to our revised key-storage-policy, but all either curiously exploring things, or – less harmlessly – eating them.

The cause of the chaos then came trundling down the corridor, a rather brilliant fully remote controlled Caterpillar telehandler, commanded by an Elf sat atop the forks wearing a paper crown on its head.

With the King for a Day removed and order restored, we can take a look at the vehicle the Elves had used to access various previously inedible objects, including a book, a photo, a wooden ornament, and – perhaps most surprisingly – a potted cactus.

Built by previous bloggee LegoMarat, this superb Caterpillar TL642 telehandler is powered by no fewer than four motors, driving the wheels and steering, the boom elevation, and the fork tilt, all of which can be controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party BuWizz battery.

A life-like body is constructed from system pieces, enhanced by some excellent decals, and there’s more of Marat’s exceptional remote controlled Caterpillar to see at his photostream. Click the link above to take a look, whist we set about returning an undetermined number of Elves to ground level…

Dozing Cat

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Cats are best when they’re dozing. Because then they’re not scratching something, killing wildlife, or crapping on your lawn.

Dig at cats in general complete, we can tenuously link to this Cat ‘dozer, a Caterpillar D6N LGN as built by regular bloggee Damian Z. Building instructions are available and there’s more to see of his wonderfully detailed creation on Flickr via the link.

Crazy Cat

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This magnificently obscure vehicle is a 1910s Holt 75hp Caterpillar, a part-track tractor produced by the company that would later become the world-renowned Caterpillar brand. Powered by a 23 litre 4-cylinder gasoline engine, and weighing 10 tons, the Holt Caterpillar was quite fantastically slow, but was reliable and could haul almost anything almost anywhere.

With war raging in Europe and limited photos of the newfangled British ‘tanks’ operating in the mire, Holt even converted one of their 75hp Caterpillars into a ‘tank’ as a PR exercise to parade to U.S citizens with the phrase ‘America First’ painted on it, dubiously attempting to take credit for something they had nothing to do with. Make your own Trump link…

This charming replica of the Holt 75hp Caterpillar (in conventional tractor form) comes from previous bloggee Nikolaus Löwe (aka Mr_Kleinstein), and includes BuWizz controlled drive and steering, as well as accurately reflecting the bizarre exterior of the original.

There’s more to see of Nikolaus’ Holt 75hp tractor at his photostream via the link in the text above, and if you think this is weird here’s a bonus link to the ‘tank’ version, which might just be the oddest thing you see today….

Rope & Bucket

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Today’s post sounds like an English pub, but it is in fact a fully operational recreation of the Caterpillar 7295 rope excavator, as built by Ivan_M in a spectacular 1:40 scale.

Inside Ivan’s model are six Power Functions motors that drive the tracks, superstructure rotation, and the winches that lift, extend, and open the bucket.

It’s a complicated movement but one that Ivan has managed to replicate beautifully, with his model demonstrating some of the most impressive action on video you’ll see today. Ok, we can’t guarantee that – the internet’s a big place – but it’s nevertheless properly good.

There’s more to see of Ivan’s stunning Caterpillar 7295 rope excavator on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can watch that impressive action in the ace video below!

YouTube Video

Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer | Set Preview

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Household pets and TLCB Elves don’t usually get on. From October 2021 however, we expect they might share a common nemesis; this is the brand new LEGO Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer. All 3,854 pieces of it.

Measuring 57cm in length and 37cm wide, 42131 brings the Caterpillar brand into LEGO’s burgeoning array of official partnerships – alongside equipment manufacturers such as Volvo, Claas, and Liebherr.

Four ‘Powered UP’ motors and a Control+ hub enable the set to be controlled via your mobile phone, with the huge yellow tracks, blade elevation and tilt, and ripper height all powered and remotely operable.

Those yellow tracks are new for 2021 too, making their debut on 42131, and featuring a tightening/loosening mechanism that we expect will make them highly sought after for builders’ own tracked creations.

A working piston engine complete with details such as brick built turbo-chargers, realistic (and – we must admit – rather excellent looking) decals, and a high level of visual exterior detailing including rails, ladders, exhausts, and lights, make for very impressive looking set, and one we expect will become mighty popular.

Aimed at ages 18+, the new LEGO Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer is expected to cost around £420, which – much to the relief of our Elves – is comfortably outside TLCB’s budget. If it’s within yours you can get your hands on all 3,854 pieces from October 2021, and your cat will never be able to relax again.

Big Red

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The halls of TLCB Towers were a bustling place today. Several Elves have recently returned with finds, TLCB staff were pretending to be busy to avoid sweeping up the cage room, and the Le Mans 2020 livestream was ticking over in the corner. All of which meant we were thoroughly distracted from the Elf proudly riding atop this rather brilliant remote control Caterpillar D10 bulldozer until it was too late.

‘Too late’ in this case means we now have a bit more than sweeping up to do, as several Elves have been smeared across the corridor (and over the front of the bulldozer) thanks to builder keymaker‘s inclusion of four Power Functions motors and a third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery, controlling the drive, steering, and ripper and blade mechanisms.

Individual suspension on the tracks’ jockey wheels plus track tensioners meant the blade stayed at Elf-smearing height even if one of them went under the tracks, whilst a working V8 engine, detailed cabin and engine bay, and opening doors and tool compartment add to the realism, if not the Elf-smushing capabilities.

We now have some considerable floor cleaning to do, as a number of our smelly little workers were caught off guard and fell victim the the D10’s blade, then tracks, then ripper, which doesn’t sound fun at all. Whilst we get on with that you can see more of keyworker’s most excellent creation at both the Eurobricks forum via the link above, or on Bricksafe, where over forty high quality images are available to view.

Lastly, if you’re wondering how mechanisms such as those found on keyworker’s ‘dozer work then come back to The Lego Car Blog later today where we’ll be sharing an awesome new tool that does just that!

Rat Cat

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Heavy duty applications such as pick-ups, trucks, boats, and trains all benefit from the fuel efficiency and torque that diesel engines offer.

However the passenger car market, which here in Europe was once around 50% diesel, was sold a lie. Now realised, the diesel car market has collapsed, and manufacturers can’t get rid of their diesel products soon enough.

However an engine type that’s noisy, dirty, and obsolete may be wholly unsuited to a small European shopping car (apart from to dodge CO2 taxation), but it’s literally everything you could want in a rat rod!

Cue Sin City Motors’ wild Caterpillar diesel engined half-track rat rod, recreated here by TLCB favourite Redfern1950s in superb form.

Red’s Model Team interpretation of Sin City Motor’s spectacular creation captures the insanity of the real rat rod beautifully, and there’s a whole lot more to see on Flickr via the link!

Stalin’s Cat

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It wasn’t the British or the Americans that sacrificed the most in the Second World War, but Russia, with more lives lost than almost every other country put together. It was fitting then that it was Stalin’s army that victoriously made it to Berlin first to end the war in Europe.

Things quickly changed once the common enemy was defeated though, with Stalin killing millions of his own people to add to the wartime total, and the Soviet Union developing nuclear weapons to match the U.S, ushering in a decades-long Cold War.

Stalin’s wartime victory (and totalitarian regime) led to everything being called something with ‘Stalin’ in it, including the vehicle in this post. Built in Stalingrad, the Stalinec T130 bulldozer was actually an American Caterpillar manufactured under licence, despite the fact the two countries were on the verge of annihilating one another.

We’re not sure if Joseph Stalin ever drove a Stalinec, but he was probably pleased it – like everything else – was named after him, even if underneath it was actually designed by evil capitalist Americans. This lovely Lego recreation of the Stalinec T130 comes from Flickr’s martin nespor, who has also built an impressive Skoda Xena / LIAZ 400 Series truck and low-loader trailer to transport it.

All three models are beautifully constructed and detailed, with both the Skoda Xena and Stalinec T130 featuring remote control drive and steering via bluetooth. The Skoda also includes integrated LED lighting and authentic stickerage to add to the realism, whilst the Stalinec T130’s blade can raise and lower via Power Functions too.

A wealth of imagery is available via Martin’s ‘Stalinec T130’ album on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump to check out the complete gallery of Stalin’s Cat, and here to see more of the more modern Skoda Xena transporting it.

Making the Grade

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Slow, ponderous, usual looking, yet servicing the needs of countless motorists*, road graders are always the bridesmaid when it comes to LEGO. They have appeared as B-Models several times over the years, but we don’t think that they’ve ever made it onto the front of the box. Which is shame really, as they’re more technically complex than much of what drives on the roads they help to build.

Helping to rectify this is Jundis of Eurobricks, who has built this amazing Technic Caterpillar 120M2 motorgrader with an enormous array of functions.

Pneumatics allow the front blade and rear ripper to raise and lower, whilst the middle blade can move up, down, sideways and tilt, thanks to three separate pneumatic cylinders. The model features a variety of mechanical functions too, including working steering (both via the front wheels and central articulation), plus blade turning, pitch, and lateral movement.

It’s a properly clever creation and one that’s definitely worth a closer inspection. Head to the Eurobricks forum via the link above to read the Caterpillar’s full build details and watch a video of all those functions at work.

*Just like your Mom.

Big Body

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Discovered on Flickr today, this is a Caterpillar Challenger MT 865 tractor, and not only does it look properly cool for a tractor, it’s towing something that has so many ‘Your Mom’ jokes we don’t know where to start. Keko007‘s Krampe Big Body 500 is as detailed as the Caterpillar pulling it, and you can see more at Keko’s album via the link above.

One Man Went To Hoe

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This slice of yellow brilliance was discovered by one our Elves on Flickr today, and – whilst we know it’s early in the year – for a model of this size this is going to take some beating!

Damian Z aka Thietmaier of Flickr is the builder behind this utterly brilliant Caterpillar 432E backhoe, which not only looks about a billion times bigger than it really is, it kinda functions too.

A huge variety of ingenious building techniques have been deployed to enable the Caterpillar’s buckets to be as positionable as those fitted to the real thing, and you can see all of the images at Damian’s Caterpillar 432E album by clicking here whilst we congratulate ourselves on making it the entire way through a post about hoeing without mentioning your Mom.

Damn.

Dumping Cat

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As has been documented here before, TLCB Team – as a rule – dislike cats. We appreciate that’s a controversial thing to say on the internet, which is very possibly ruled by cats, so prevalent is their content, but we’ve probably said worse.

We do like this cat though, Sariel’s huge Caterpillar 797F dump truck – which is currently filled with Elves riding it up and down the corridor here at TLCB Towers – and it’s packed with functions.

Firstly, that enormous bucket they’re piled into features a remotely operable dumping mechanism thanks to a Mindstorms EV3 IR sensor, which we’ll test out on our unsuspecting workers shortly. The choice of a Mindstorms control unit is an usual one, as they don’t often feature in models here at TLCB, but Sariel’s decision to use one is rather cunning…

The Mindstorms EV3 not only controls the tipping bucket, it also measures the suspension tilt and applies an automatic motorised correction to keep the Caterpillar level. Self-levelling suspension is a system relatively common on SUVs (as well as mining trucks), but it’s one that requires such ridiculous ingenuity in Lego form that we don’t even know how Sariel began. But then our cleverness peaked with the title on today’s other post, so it’s no surprise that this is way over our heads.

Sariel’s Caterpillar also features remote control drive and steering via LEGO’s Power Functions system, non-LEGO ‘Baja Claw’ RC tyres fitted to standard LEGO wheels, and a host of accurate details and decals to replicate the real 797F.

A complete gallery of imagery is available to view at Sariel’s Caterpillar 797F Flickr album by clicking here and you can join the discussion plus watch a video the the model in action (including a demonstration of the clever suspension) by visiting the Eurobricks forum here.