We love a good crane here at The Lego Car Blog. After supercars, cranes are one of the types of model that we seem to blog the most. Be they teeny tiny or monstrous, cranes are a favourite topic. Today’s crane comes from TLCB regular Galaktek. Many of the working features that you’d expect to see in a big Technic MOC have been included in this elegant 4-wide model. It also comes with its own back-up truck, which you can see in Galaktek’s Photostream.
This neat classic Scania 112M truck complete with a huge dropside trailer and crane comes from previous bloggee and truck-building specialist Arian Janssens. Measuring over 100 studs long and built during September it probably qualifies for the current community bandwagon too*. There’s lots more to see at Arian’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
*It definitely doesn’t.
TLCB favourite ShineYu is back, and this time he’s brought a truly massive erection – an enormous, fully RC, and fully working, Liebherr LTM 1350 all-terrain crane.
Measuring almost a meter long and weighing over 10KG, ShineYu’s creation is of genuinely epic proportions, so much so that photographing it must’ve been a real challenge (we’ve even relaxed our ‘exclude any clutter from shot‘ rule to accommodate it!).
The model is driven by four XL Motors with two Medium Motors controlling the four steering axels. A further Medium Motor rotates the crane turnable whilst another two XLs take care of the boom elevation and extension. A final two XL Motors power the lifting winch. All of that power means that ShineYu’s LTM can lift a load of up to 2KG to 2 meters using unmodified official LEGO parts.
You can all the details of this incredible build at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where there’s also an extensive image gallery and a link to a video of the crane in action.
This incredible 1970s DAF FTT 2600 crane truck arrives courtesy of previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and it’s one of the most beautifully detailed models of the year so far. Behind the stunning realism Nanko’s truck is built for play too, and features a host of remotely controlled functions.
A third-party SBrick gives Nanko bluetooth control for the DAF’s drive, steering and that superb rotating crane. There’s lots more to see of this beautifully built, decalled, and photographed model at Nanko’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the trip.
Following a post earlier in the week featuring a build from a large collaboration one of our readers got in touch with another creation from the partnership. Now we love your suggestions, but when you suggest sci-fi builds it does fill us with fear, because we know nothing about sci-fi at all. So… here’s a Space Crane by Flickr’s Gilcelio chagas, featuring much Spaceness and even a little Spacenicity, and if you’d like to see more you can check it out at the link!
We’re not really sure why hoist platforms are called ‘cherry pickers’. They must be useful for picking cherries, but other tasty fruits are equally pickable. In fact, we’ve only ever seen these things in operation fixing street lights or telephone cables, with no fruit of any kind involved at all. Anyway, whatever they should be called, this Technic version by Eurobricks’ TomasHubik is a nifty bit of kit.
Underneath the slightly bland (but therefore pretty realistic) bodywork there’s a fully remote controlled 4×4 drive-train complete with front and rear differentials and rear-axle suspension. But can you pick cherries (or other fruits) with it? Yup, because that complicated-looking lift-arm arrangement on the back is remotely controlled too, with two Medium Power Functions motors propelling the platform skywards and rotating it towards the tastiest plunder. You can even use it for marooning Elves in high places. Not that we’d do that.
There’s lots more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where there’s also a link to a video the cherry picker in action. Click the link above to get picking.
Everybody knows the moon is made of cheese. Flickr’s Galaktek is exploring the tasty future of lunar expedition with this professional-looking cheese mining team, who are working hard to bring the bountiful harvest to unadorned pieces of toast and dry crackers everywhere.
Complete with crane, cheese barge and a space mouse, the cheese miners look well equipped to extract the lunar-gold and transport it to earth for human consumption. Sadly the helmets necessitated by the moon’s lack of atmosphere prevent the plucky mini-figures from enjoying any of the cheese themselves, but we’re happy to report back on its quality should we be provided with a sample. Grab a cracker and head over to Galaktek’s photostream for a tasting.
We’re not sure that a floating tow-truck is the most suitable vehicle in the event that your hovercar breaks down. An ambulance might be more appropriate. Or a hearse. No matter, redfern1950s‘ ‘Flying Pick Up Truck’ looks a delightfully whimsical way to haul stuff through the clouds. Float over to see more via the link above.
TLCB favourite shineyu is back, and for his latest build he’s built big. This spectacular creation is a fully working replica of the Caterpillar 390F, and it’s absolutely packed with stunning engineering.
Inside the lifelike bodywork are a range of Power Functions motors and infrared receivers that allow the complete remote control of all of the Caterpillar’s functions.
These include independent drive to each track with skid-steering, a motorised turntable enabling the rotation of the superstructure, and a powered on-board compressor.
Able to generate its own air pressure shineyu’s Caterpillar uses LEGO’s pneumatic system to control the boom arm’s elevation and extension, as well as the movement of the grab/claw-type thingumy mounted on the end (if you know what this is actually called let us know in the comments!).
With four small pneumatic cylinders the claw is powerful enough to lift a variety of fruits (lemon pictured above), or – if you’re a TLCB Elf – grab your head really very tightly indeed and then drop you in the food recycling bin. It was strictly in the name of research…
Anyway, whilst we explore the multitude of ways in which this incredible creation can be put to use terrorising our slovenly workforce you can check out all of the top-quality images via the discussion on the Eurobricks forum – click here to join in.
Huib van der Hart, aka LiftingBricks, likes to go big. So big in fact that LEGO don’t make wheels tough enough. His latest creation is this truly enormous Liebherr LTM 1750 9-axle crane and, apart from those wheels, it’s all LEGO. Six Power Functions XL motors power the drive, with another six Servos controlling the nine steering axles.
There’s more to come too, as currently the top half is a static display piece, but soon a further suite of Power Functions motors will bring life to the crane itself. You can see more of this remarkable creation, complete with sponsorship by Kanye West’s daughter*, on Flickr via the link above, and look out for the next stage of this build later in the year.
*Not really
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...
TLCB favourite shineyu is back with another glorious Technic creation; a truly enormous Scania G480 10×4 crane truck. Inside the superbly accurate bodywork are ten LEGO Power Functions motors and four infrared receivers, giving shineyu’s Scania a huge breadth of motorised functions, all of which can be controlled remotely.
The drive, steering, boom elevation, rotation and extension, stabilisers, and rear tail-lift are all remotely operational, being powered directly by a motor, linear actuator, or through some expert mechanical engineering.
There’s lots more to see courtesy of shineyu’s MOCpage or via the Eurobricks discussion forum – click the links to view all of the images available.
Tim Schwalfenberg returns to The Lego Car Blog with another beautifully clean creation. Following his Town rollercoaster published here last week is this exceptionally neat excavator with grab attachment, complete with some nice shiny pipes. You can see more of Tim’s latest build here, and you can spot what links this creation with his last via the link above.
TLCB staff are forever being told to fold stuff neatly and put it away by our long-suffering intern, so today we’ve done just that with two expertly engineered Technic cranes – although we’re not entirely sure this is what she meant.
First up is damienple‘s Technic cherry-picker, complete with Power Functions, working stabilisers and an extending boom, as found by one of our Elves.
Today’s second Technic crane truck was found by a reader, and comes from AttikaMoc. It’s a truck-mounted knuckle-boom crane and it also features Power functions, working stabilisers and an extending boom.
There are further images available for both builds on Brickshelf – click the links above for more.
The Lego Car Blog Elves like laying little pipes, but if they’re not laid in their cage room there is serious trouble. A few members of TLCB staff walk around the office bare-foot and there has been much anger directed at our Eleven workforce in the past for corridor mishaps.
Anyway, now that we’ve got mythical poo out the way we can move on to this – Makorol‘s brilliant Liebherr RL 64 pipe-layer. Both beautifully detailed and expertly engineered, Makorol’s creation not only looks superb but it functions near-perfectly too.
A suite of LEGO’s versatile Power Functions motors power the Liebherr’s drive, steering, winches, boom and counterweight movement, all controlled remotely via two IR receivers mounted within the body.
A full gallery of high-quality images is available to view at Makorol’s Flickr photostream via the link above, plus you can see the Liebherr pipe-layer in action in the excellent video below, which is complete with creator commentary.
YouTube Video: