This is a Liebherr LTM mobile crane, and it shows that sometimes small-scale building isn’t actually small at all.
Built by Flickr’s Keko007, this Liebherr can get really very large indeed, thanks to a three stage elevating boom with a working winch. There’s also four-axle steering, functional outriggers, and a tilting control cab, and you see lots more of Keko’s surprisingly large erection at his ‘Liebherr LTM 1230-5’ album via the link above.
When is a DAF not a DAF? When it’s a GINAF. No, us neither, but this is indeed a GINAF, specifically a M3132-S 360 ATI, which admittedly sounds like a washing machine.
It comes from DAF-building specialist Arian Janssens, who has captured the enormous three axle hook-lift / tipper / crane / trailer arrangement superbly.
Multi-axle steering, a working crane, removable tipping container and hook-lift all feature, and you can see more of this giant GINAF on Flickr via the link.
We’ve featured a lot of Unimogs over the years here at The Lego Car Blog. Some of which are very big, very detailed, and packed with working features. Today’s is very small, very detailed, and packed with working features.
Built by Flickr’s Reddish Blue, this Unimog U5023 isn’t reddish-blue at all, being rather yellow, and has got as much going on as models ten times its size. There’s working steering and suspension, three drop-sides, working stabiliser legs, and an incredible posable Palfinger crane complete with a functional winch.
An astonishing amount of visual detail joins this wealth of functionality, and is all the more impressive given the model is barely 8-studs wide.
Exquisitely presented, there’s a huge amount more of Reddish Blue’s phenomenally rendered creation to see at his ‘Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 5023’ album, where links to building instructions can also be found. Take a look via the link above at the best small-scale ‘mog you’re likely to see this year.
Are cranes required in space? There’s no gravity… We’re a car blog so we won’t think about that too deeply and instead revel in the deep coolness of Ivan Martynov‘s ‘RS11200 Space Craft Type’. Lift something science-fictiony via the link above!
No we’re not talking about ‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement’ officers again, but rather this utterly splendid Volvo FH 8×4 truck, complete with a rear-mounted Fassi knuckleboom crane. Constructed by TLCB Master MOCer and regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, the model recreates a truck in use by British heavy haulage firm ‘Rawcliffe and Sons’, with accurate decals replicating the livery of its real-world counterpart. Brick-built outriggers and posable four-wheel steering also feature, and you can drag your knuckles over to Ralph’s photostream for more superb imagery via the link above.
We’re a Lego car blog, which is why all of today’s posts haven’t been cars… OK, we sometimes suck at our brief, but this is a lovely model nonetheless. A DAF FAS 2200 DU, it comes from serial bloggee Arian Janssens, who has both constructed and presented his latest classic truck beautifully.
Working steering, folding drop-sides, a posable grab crane (complete with a mechanism to slide it along the load bed), a steered drawbar trailer, and loaded pallets all feature, with almost two-dozen images of the model available to view showcasing its exceptional attention to detail. Take a closer look at Arian’s ‘DAF FAS 2200 DU’ album via the link above.
It’s time to take down TLCB Towers’ Christmas tree, which gives us the chance to pretend to be lumberjacks! This means removing any remaining decorations that the Elves haven’t eaten, chopping it up, and chucking it in the garden waste bin that is usually otherwise only used to dispose of Elven casualties.
Proper lumberjacks however are far more skilled, and once their tree is expertly felled it’s transported from the forest on vehicles like this one; Keko007’s fantastic Volvo FH16 500 timber truck. Packed with detail, Keko’s creation includes a deployable folding grab crane and a drawbar trailer, with lots more to see at his ‘Volvo FH16 500 Timber Truck’ album on Flickr. Shout ‘Timber!’ via the link above.
*Today’s title song. Obviously.
This magnificent vehicle is an AM5 crane, mounted atop a Roman SR113/114 truck, and it comes from Pufarine of Flickr.
Beautifully recreating the real Romanian truck and crane combo, Pufarine’s model harks back to LEGO’s vintage Model Team line whilst incorporating a range of mechanical Technic features within.
The truck features working steering, deployable stabiliser legs, and a wonderfully detailed engine under a raising hood, whilst the huge intricately constructed lattice crane can slew and raise, with a superbly replicated winch system controlled via neatly hidden cogs at the rear.
There’s much more of Pufarine’s fantastically presented model to see at their ‘AM5’ album on Flickr, and you can take a closer look at this exquisite creation via the link to it in the text above.
This is a Casagrande C400XP2 hydraulic crawler, a machine built to, um… hydraulically crawl. OK, full disclosure, we don’t really know what it’s for, but it looks the business.
Powered by nine motors, this remarkable Technic replica of the C400XP2 comes from Aleh, and features subtractor tracked drive, a rotating superstructure, a multi-stage winch and boom, and a motorised 6-cylinder engine.
Even cleverer, all nine motors (even those driving the tracks) are fitted within the rotating superstructure, and with internal renders and building instructions available you can find out how it’s done.
There’s much more to see at Aleh’s Bricksafe folder and via the Eurobricks forum, and you can hydraulically crawl you way there via the links above.
We’re not sure why trucks with two axles at the front and one at the back are known as ‘Chinese Sixes’. Probably something to do with casual racism. We won’t delve any further then, but we will highlight this splendid example by prolific DAF-builder Arian Janssens.
A DAF FAB 2500 DHS, Arian’s beautifully detailed model captures the classic truck in its unusual ‘Chinese Six’ configuration brilliantly, and includes a folded crane behind the cab and a drawbar trailer in tow too.
Excellent presentation compliments the model’s stunning realism and there’s lots more of the build to see at Arian’s ‘DAF FAB 2500 DHS (Chinese Six)’ album. Take a closer look via the link.
The Technic 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs is one of the highest rated LEGO sets of all time. Now a decade old (where did that time go?), the 2015 flagship united Power Functions and pneumatics into one of the most technically advanced sets ever released.
Today’s creation pays homage to LEGO’s original masterpiece, only rather smaller. Constructed in 1:35 scale (vs. 42043’s 1:17), TechnicMOCer‘s half-size tribute features twin-axle steering, three-axle pendular suspension, a working piston engine, tipping bed, and mechanically-operated crane and outriggers.
Building instructions are available, to which you can find a link, as well as further imagery, at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to shrink your Arocs.
It’s New Year’s Day, and there’s already a hooker in the office. Nope, we haven’t gone ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ for 2025 (we’re still very much a ropey Lego blog rather than a stock market scam); this one is of the Lego variety, being a splendid fully mechanical Technic hook-lift truck courtesy of TLCB Master MOCer Thirdwigg.
Fitted with front and rear axle steering, a working piston engine under the tilting cab, a functioning hook-lift plus tipper mechanism, and two roll-off containers (one of which is also fitted with a slewing crane grab), Thirdwigg’s truck is an excellent creation with which to begin the new year.
There’s much more to see at Thirdwigg’s ‘Hook Lift Truck’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found, and you can click the link above for the hook.
Technic vehicles are one of the reasons this backwater of the internet was created over a decade ago. Making things move is one of our favourite aspects of Technic, and today’s brilliant crane tipper truck by Alex Ilea exemplifies this wonderfully.
Controlled via BuWizz bluetooth brick, Alex’s creation replicates the movements of its real-world counterpart thanks to three Power Functions L Motors, and ingeniously a fourth M Motor that switches the model between ‘drive mode’ and ‘crane mode’ via a gearbox.
In drive mode the aforementioned electronics allow the model to drive and steer, and tip the load bed, whilst switching to ‘crane mode’ automatically deploys the stabilisers, with the motors then operating the crane’s rotation and two-stage elevation.
It’s a great example of how motors and mechanics can bring motion to a Lego model, and there’s lots more of the build to see at both Eurobricks and Alex’s Bricksafe gallery.
We love functions-packed creations here at The Lego Car Blog, and few this year have come packed with as many as Wiseman_2’s spectacular three-axle crane.
Making their TLCB debut, Wiseman_2 has constructed the model for a Eurobricks contest, equipping it with working steering on the first and third axles (via both the steering wheel and ‘HOG’), all-wheel suspension, a six-cylinder piston engine connected to a four-speed gearbox driven by the un-steered axle, and working two-stage outriggers that both extend/retract and lower/raise.
Of course a mobile crane needs a boom and winch too, and Wiseman_2’s is superbly served in that department, with a three-stage boom that extends to over a hundred studs in length, raising and extending via mechanics on the right hand side of the rotating superstructure.
It’s a fantastic feat of Technic engineering and one of the finest models of this type we’ve featured yet. There’s plenty more to see – including work-in-progress and photos showing the crane’s mechanics – at both the Eurobricks discussion forum and Wiseman_2’s ‘Three-Axle Crane’ Flickr album. Click the links above for a very good lift indeed.
We like merging words here at TLCB, but – much like a bulldog and a shih-tzu – we’re not sure merging ‘crane’ and ‘tipper’ has worked particularly well…
No matter, because the creational cause of the linguistic faux-pas is rather excellent, being both a crane and tipper truck, and a beautifully engineered one at that.
Constructed by previous bloggee Thirdwigg (aka Wigboldy), this neat all-mechanical Technic crane-tipper combo features functioning steering, working support legs, a 6-cylinder engine under a tilting cab, a two-way tipper, and a three-stage extending and rotating crane grab.
It’s all brilliantly packaged and highly playable, and there’s more to see of Thirdwigg’s model on Flickr. Click the link above for a cracker of a crapper.
