Tag Archives: motorgrader

Top Grades

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After extolling the virtues of creations that don’t need a suite of electronics earlier today, here’s one with a suite of electronics. Because shut up, that why.

It is astonishing though, coming again from Flickr’s Beat Felber who is on something of a mass upload. This one is a Champion 100-T motor-grader, a Canadian design from the 1970s, and the world’s largest.

Powered by one LEGO Power Functions L Motor and eight third-party CaDa micromotors, Beat’s grader can drive, steer, lean its front wheels, pivot the cab articulation, plus raise, lower, angle, pitch, and side-shift the blade, all remotely operable via bluetooth thanks to three SBrick controllers. Which would make it an unmatched Elf-squishing device if it wasn’t so slow.

Still, whilst the TLCB Elf that found Beat’s Champion grader may be disappointed, we certainly aren’t, and there’s more to see of this astonishing creation at his ‘Champion 100-T’ album. Click the link above to receive top grades.

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.