No we’re not talking about the utter scumbags who tip their trash on the side of the road, but – today – all of us, because this lovely mini dump truck can be built for free, courtesy of previous bloggee Thirdwigg.
It features working steering, a mechanically raising tipper, opening doors and dropsides, plus those free building instructions (a hundred TLCB Points to Thirdwigg), and you can dump for free on Flickr via the link above.
Anyone that’s worked in the restaurant industry likes a good tipper. Particularly in America, where in many states the minimum wage can be set below the legal amount so that tips make up the difference. Which means that they aren’t tips at all, but rather subsiding corporate greed. Sigh. Sometimes America sucks.
Still, in Europe tips are tips, paid on top of a minimum wage, and thus today we have a good European tipper; a Mercedes-Benz Arocs 4143 8×4. Constructed by regular bloggee Keko007, the Arocs is very detailed indeed considering the small scale, and it can really tip too.
There’s more to see Keko’s ‘Mercedes Arocs 4143 8×4’ Flickr album, and you can make the waitress’s day / subsidise their wages because your tip in fact goes to the owner via the link above.
Revealed here earlier in the year, LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco brings the blue oval’s newest, but retro-est, 4×4 to bedroom floors everywhere. It also provides just under a thousand pieces for B-Model building, with previous bloggee damianPLE doing just that, by turning his Bronco into this excellent Technic off-road dump truck.
Like the set on which it’s based, Damian’s alternate includes working suspension, ‘HOG’ steering, and a V6 engine under an opening hood, whilst adding a manually operable tipper too. Building instructions are available and you can find all the images, plus that instructional link, at Bricksafe and Eurobricks respectively. Dump your horse via the links above!
Sometimes you don’t need a big dump, and a small one will do you just fine. Cue ER0L‘s Peterbilt dump truck, which at only 8-studs wide is indeed rather small. It kinda works though, with both a tipping dumper and sort-of-suspension on the rear wheels. Neat detailing and excellent presentation prove it doesn’t have to be big to be blogged, and you can take a small dump on Flickr via the link above.
We’re dumping double today, courtesy of regular bloggee Arian Janssens and this brilliant DAF FAS 3300 DKX in ‘Bas Van Buuren’ livery.
A huge tipping bucket is mounted behind that DAF FAS’s cab, whilst behind that a drawbar trailer is fitted with a second enormous tipper.
Both are exceptionally well detailed and presented (although we’re not sure you’d dump the load from the truck whilst the trailer was hitched…) and there’s more to see of the whole rig at Arian’s photostream. Take a look via the link whilst we congratulate ourselves on successfully avoiding a minefield of double-entendre.
It’s two days after ‘Liberation Day’, when the enormous global tariffs enacted by the Trump administration bite. And bit they are, as investors are dumping stocks at the fastest rate since 2020.
Cue today’s creation, this classic dump truck by Flickr’s JLiu15. A working piston engine resides under the opening hood, there’s remote control steering / (all-wheel) drive, and you can dump stocks faster than the Nasdaq thanks to the hefty load bed which tips pneumatically.
There’s more to see at JLiu15’s ‘Classic Dump Truck XL’ album, and you can head there to take a dump via the link above.
Nope, not Detroit, but this; an utterly gargantuan Terex Unit Rig MT 6300AC. Designed to work alongside the world’s largest rope shovels, this 400-ton truck operates in an Australian open-cast ore mine, and is pictured here – to scale – alongside a Hilux-style pick-up, showing just how huge it really is.
Powered by a twenty-cylinder with electric assistance, the MT 6300AC produces 3,750bhp, and is now – like every piece of mining equipment it seems – part of the Caterpillar empire.
This incredible replica of the Unit Rig MT 6300AC still wears its Terex livery however, and has been recreated in phenomenal detail by recent bloggee Beat Felber, who is on something of an upload spree.
His latest build merges System and Technic building with several well chosen third-party components, including RC tyres (LEGO don’t make any large enough), SBrick bluetooth control, and a CaDa micro-motor, along with a suite of Power Functions parts to provide remote control drive, steering, tipping, and lighting.
There’s also working suspension, opening doors and hatches, plus deployable ladders, with much more to see at Beat’s fantastic ‘Terex Unit Rig MT 6300AC’ album on Flickr. Take a look via the link above, whilst we await an angry comment from a Detroit resident.
Discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks, this fantastic model is an Iveco T-Way, a heavy-duty 8×4 truck outfitted – in this case – as a huge tipper.
Built by previous bloggee mpj, the truck includes remote control drive on the rear two axles, steering on the front two, all-axle suspension, and – of course – a massive tipping body driven by a motorised linear actuator.
LEGO’s Powered-Up components allow the truck to be operated via bluetooth, and you can see more (and find a link to building instructions) at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above for a big tip.
Don’t worry, we’re not exposing your Mom’s side hustle. Rather this excellent brick-built Petebilt 389 dump truck, the full-size version of which is owned by the uncle of its creator StudWorks of Flickr.
StudWorks’ aforementioned uncle is apparently “dash cam sensation” ‘Joey Whispers 1776’ who we… er, hadn’t heard of, but a quick look at his videos shows he doesn’t whisper at all. He does swear though. A lot.
Stud’s homage to his uncle’s truck includes a working dumping mechanism with lift-gate, posable lift-axle, and some splendid detailing, with more to see at his ‘JoeyWhispers1776 Peterbilt 389 Dump Truck’ album on Flickr.
Click the first link in the text above to find all of the imagery of StudWork’s Peterbilt, or the second to watch ol’ uncle Joey swearing at traffic.
There seems to be only one measure when it comes to marketing razors; The More Blades the Better. “You have three, well we have four.” “Well now we have five.” “Alright then, six.” It’ll only end when razors have a different blade for each individual hair on your face.
Trucks are much like razors, being marketed primarily as masculine tools, and where – at least according to Flickr’s Martin Nespor – more is more.
Cue Martin’s excellent fully remote controlled cab-over dumper, with not two, nor three, but five axles. It’s the Gillette razor of trucks.
All five axles are suspended, axles three and four are powered, whilst axles one, two and five are steered. There’s also a huge tipping dumper, operated via a linear actuator, with a self opening and closing bucket door cleverly linked to the tipping mechanism.
Well presented on-location in a sandpit, there’s more to see of Martin’s razor… er, truck at his photostream, and you can take a look via the link in the text above before someone builds one with six axles to beat him.
This week marks the start of a brand a new year, and thus, as is customary, our sneaky Elves have unearthed all the brand new for 2023 LEGO Technic sets! So, following our reveal of the awesome looking 42154 Ford GT earlier in the week, here is every new addition to the LEGO Technic line-up due to reach stores in the first half of 2023…
Kicking off the new 2023 Technic range is this, the 42147 Dump Truck. Consisting of 177 pieces and aimed at ages 7+, 42147 looks like a great way to introduce Technic to younger builders, with working ‘HOG’ steering, a tipping bucket, and a good level of visual detail that reasonably approximates any number of generic compact trucks common across Asia in particular. 42147 costs around £9, can also be built as a rather decent looking excavator, and is available to buy now.
Alternatively, with the same target age and just one difference in the piece count, your £9 for a Technic starter set could be spent on this; the 42148 Snow Groomer. 42148 also looks pretty good to us, and includes mechanical levers to operate the front blade and the rear smoothing, um… thingy. Like 42147 above, an alternative model can also be constructed (in this case the worst-looking snowmobile we’ve ever seen) and is available to buy now.
It wouldn’t be a New Year Set Preview without a pair of pull-backs. Fortunately after some dismal efforts a few years ago, LEGO seem to have struck gold with the officially-licensed ‘Monster Jam’ series, which are perfect for pull-back tomfoolery. 2023 sees another two real-world monster trucks from the American arena spectacular immortalised in brick-form, one of which is giant dog. There’s a green dragon or something too, but if you don’t want the giant dog there’s something wrong with you. Each set costs around £18, and both are available to buy now. Buy the dog.
Continuing LEGO’s partnership with Bugatti, which has produced such sets as the huge Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron, comes the 905-piece 42151 Bugatti Bolide. Nope, we hadn’t heard of it either. Apparently the Bolide is a $4million track-only hypercar limited to just 40 units, due for delivery some time in 2024. Unless you buy this one of course, which is available now for £45. That price still seems rather a lot for a set that has only working steering and a miniature V16 piston engine for its technical features, but hey – it’s got lots of stickers, some new panels, and lightsabers for rear lights.
This is more like it. Looking a bit like a Canadair CL-215 water bomber (but distinct enough not to require licensing…), 42152 brings some decent technical functions to the Technic line-up in aircraft form. And it can dump blue bricks from its hold.
Retractible landing gear, a working tail rudder, propellors that spin when the model is pushed along the floor (with its landing gear retracted), and a lever to dump the ‘water’ all feature, as do a few new pieces not seen before – including some curved corner sloped panels that’ll you’ll soon be able to find listed on Bricklink at an enormous cost. Aimed at ages 10+, 42152 is a welcome addition to the Technic hangar and will reach stores later this quarter.
It’s time for some double branding with this; the 42153 NASCAR Next-Gen Chevrolet Camaro. Looking rather good (albeit in a very be-stickered way), the new 42153 set brings next-generation NASCAR to the LEGO Technic line-up. And by ‘next-generation’ we mean, ‘exactly the same as NASCAR has always been’. Cue angry comments from NASCAR fans.
Costing the same £45 as the 42151 Bugatti-we’d-never-heard-of above, but with some 230 fewer pieces, 42153 looks to be even poorer value, featuring only a working miniature V8 engine and ‘HOG’ steering. It does look nice though, and will reach stores in March 2023.
2023’s final new addition is this, the 42155 The Batman – Batcycle, which we should write in all-caps but can’t bring ourselves to. We haven’t seen 2022’s ‘The Batman’ movie, having decided that ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy cannot be bettered, but apparently this features in it. It’s no Tumbler…
But it is quite a nice looking motorcycle we have to admit, and includes an H4 engine, working suspension (via new shock absorbers in black), steering, and a phat set of tyres on new black rims. Expect 641 pieces, a 9+ target age, and £50 price-tag when 42155 lands on shelves in March 2023.
And there you have it, the complete line-up of new LEGO Technic sets for the first half of 2023. Which new Technic sets do you think are worth having? Us… we’ll take the Ford GT.
This neat Technic tipper truck was discovered by one of our Elves today, and they’ve all had great fun sliding down the raising tipping load bed. Flickr’s JLiu15 is the builder, and has included Power Functions motors, LED lights, a working miniature piston engine under an opening hood, and the aforementioned linear-actuator powered slide tipping bucket. See more at JLiu15’s ‘Classic Dump Truck’ album via the link.
We were going to title this post ‘Rise of the Phoenix’ until we realised that there was no suitable image of the tipper of Porsche96’s Tatra Phoenix 6×6 actually rising. But then we couldn’t think of any other titles…
No matter, because the tipper of Porsche96’s Tatra Phoenix 6×6 does rise, thanks to an L Motor driving a linear actuator, which is controlled remotely via BuWizz bluetooth brick.Two further L Motors power all six wheels, all of which are suspended, whilst an M Motor steers the fronts (along with the steering wheel too), and there’s an inline-6 engine under the tilting cab.
It’s a top quality Technic build and there’s more to see, including a video of it in action (tipper rising and everything) at the Eurobricks forum, with the complete gallery of images available on Bricksafe. Click the links above to see the Phoenix rise.
This TLCB Writer was having a peaceful day scrolling through the delightfully tedious entries our Festival of Mundanity competition in collaboration with BrickNerd. There’s a bar of soap, a rental car lot, a white Toyota Corolla… and the sound of Elven screaming. Sigh.
A wearisome trudge to the corridor revealed the culprit, and the vehicle under their jurisdiction; this huge BuWizz-powered Komatsu HM300 6×6 articulated dump truck.
Discovered on Brickshelf by the jubilant Elf at the controls, gkurkowski‘s creation had churned several of our smelly little workers into the carpet, before – admittedly rather cleverly – deploying the linear actuator controlled tipper to dump a load of glitter on them. How it got into the stationary cupboard we’re not sure. And why is there even glitter in there anyway?
Whatever the reasons, the result is a very sparkly mess, which this writer now has the pleasure of tidying up.
Whilst he gets on with that you can check out gkurkowski’s seriously impressive build at the Brickshelf gallery, which includes extensive imagery, renders, close-ups of the 6×6 drivetrain and tipping mechanisms, plus a link to building instructions should you wish to create the Komatsu HM300 at home.
Click the link above to make the jump and here to read more about the awesome third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery that’s powering it
Like cars, trucks seem to amass popularity geographically. TLCB’s home nation is full of white DAFs, the forests of Malaysia are filled with the diesel fumes of ancient Mercedes-Benz ’round bonnets’, and much of East Asia seems to be only populated by Toyota’s Hino haulers.
This is one comes from Marco Gan, replicating one of the countless Hino trucks used to transport just about everything across the continent. Accurate details and a working tipper make this worth a closer look, and you can do just that at Marco’s ‘Hino Truck’ album via the link above.