Tag Archives: Tipper

On the Fly

The most hated vehicle in TLCB Office, and very probably the entire of TLCB’s home nation, is the tipper van.

Often seen with tatty and deeply ironic ‘Eco Recycling’ type decals on the doors, they are used to collect people’s waste (for a fee), and then dump it at the side of the road. Or in the middle of the road. Or in farmers’ fields. Or in lay-bys. Or anywhere that isn’t a recycling centre.

Cue this superbly-engineered Technic example by kralls_workshop, which features working steering, an opening bonnet, and a two-way tipper that can tip both rearwards and sideways for maximum illegal dumping ease.

It doesn’t include an indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbag at the wheel though, which would’ve been nice for maximum realism.

Anyway, there’s more of the truck to see at Krall’s ‘Tipper Van’ Flickr album, and you can vandalise a quiet lane in the countryside via the link above.

The Best a Man Can Get

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.

Tippin’ it Old Skool

We love simple mechanical models here at The Lego Car Blog, particularly if they’re recreating simple mechanical vehicles. Cue regular bloggee Thirdwigg, and his thoroughly excellent Mercedes-Benz 917 AK truck.

Featuring no electric motors, zero app-based controls, and completely devoid of bluetooth, Thirdwigg’s truck is an old-school homage to vintage Technic sets, with a range of mechanical hand-powered functions in place of the software-based wizardry now commonplace in Technic construction.

Working ‘Hand of God’ steering, a piston engine connected to the pendular-suspended rear wheels, a high/low gearbox, tilting cab, and a three-way (snigger) tipper with dropsides pack the model with mechanical functions, and there’s more to see – including free building instructions – at Thirdwigg’s ‘Mercedes 917’ Flickr album, Rebrickable page, and Eurobricks discussion topic.

Click the links to tip it old skool.

Yuletide ‘Mog

What’s more Christmassy than a Mercedes-Benz Unimog? Ok, pretty much anything that’s not a Mercedes-Benz Unimog. But then the title wouldn’t work.

This excellent 1:20 scale Mercedes-Benz Unimog U423 comes from TLCB favourite Thirdwigg, who has recreated the off-road tractor/truck rather brilliantly in the style of recent Technic sets, blending Model Team aesthetics with Technic functionality.

That functionality includes mechanical steering and drive to a piston engine, rear suspension with portal axles, front and rear power-take-offs, and a tilting cab with opening doors.

A variety of attachments can also be fitted, including a three-way (snigger) tipping bed, a crane and winch, or a snow plow and gritter. See, it was Christmassy after all! There’s more to see at Thirdwigg’s ‘Unimog U423’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found – click the link above for a Merry Christmog!

Threeway Knuckle

The excellent Technic Iveco Eurocargo off-road truck was discovered by one of Elves today, and it comes from previous bloggee Thirdwigg aka Wigboldy.

Eqiupped with both a three-way tipper and a knuckleboom crane, Thirdwigg’s creation is packed with mechanical features, including a piston engine and high/low gearbox, pendular suspension, steering, a two section extending and slewing boom, a tilting cab, and working outriggers.

All are hand operated via an assortment of hidden knobs and gears, making the model a fantastic homage to the way Technic used to be.

There’s much more of the build to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where a link to free building instructions can also be found, because Thirdwigg is awesome. Take a look via the links above.

Rolling Coal

No, not morons polluting the air in diesel-powered pick-up trucks, but this utterly wonderful 1930s Scania-Vabis 355 tipper lorry, complete with a heavy load of the default fuel of the time, as built by previous bloggee SvenJ. The aforementioned load of coal can be tipped out, there’s posable ‘steering’, and beautiful detailing throughout. See more on Flickr via the link.

Technic Tipping

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.

2-4-1

The LEGO Technic 42128 Heavy Duty Tow-Truck is big, heavy, and able to take a hefty load. Just like your Mom. With more than two-thousand pieces – including pneumatics – 42128 is also a rich source of parts for creating a B-Model, with two great truck alternates featured here so far.

Newcomer Repkovsky has gone one better though – literally – having reconstructed his 42128 set into not one but two B-Models, which are able to be built simultaneously.

The first is a rather excellent material handler, complete with a two-stage pneumatic boom, a linear-actuator operated grab, working outriggers, steering, and a raising cabin.

The material handler has a vehicle to extract a load from/deposit a load into too, with Repkovsky’s second alternate being a neat tipper truck, which itself features working steering, a piston engine, and a linear-actuator operated tipping bed.

The pair are a brilliantly clever use of pieces, and there’s more of each alternate to see at both Bricksafe and the Eurobricks forum, where a video and a link to building instructions can also be found. Click the link above to claim your 2-4-1!

My Other John Deere is a Tractor

We love B-Model building here at The Lego Car Blog. It’s LEGO in its purest form, as even a limited quantity of pieces can generate infinite creative possibilities. Cue Thirdwigg, who has repurposed the parts from the LEGO Technic 42136 John Deere 9620R Tractor set to create this articulated dump truck. Working steering and a tipping bucket provide the Technic functions, and there’s more to see of Thirdwigg’s alternate – including building instructions – on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum.

Rise of the Phoenix

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.

Tips Welcome

We like workhorsey-type vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog. This is perhaps because, whilst we frequently blog Ferraris and Lamborghinis, we’re rather far removed from those in the real world; this writer’s current vehicle is an office chair held together by duct tape.

Cue mpj’s excellent little Iveco Eurocargo tipper truck, which is about as unpretentious a Technic model as it’s possible to get. No motors, no bluetooth remote control, no V12 engine. Just mechanical steering, a tipping load bed operated by hand-turning an axle, and dropping sides so the load can tip out. Marvellous.

It’d make a fine official Technic set, and there’s more to see at mpj’s ‘Iveco Eurocargo Tipper Truck’ gallery on Brickshelf. Click the link above for a good tip.

Tiny Trakker

Small scale, but enormously detailed, Damian Z.’s creations are firm favourites here at TLCB Towers.

His latest, an Iveco EuroTrakker tipper truck, is a perfect example of his prowess. There are ‘working’ stabiliser legs, an ingenious four-stage folding Palfinger crane, and a two-way tipper, all constructed from standard System parts.

Damian’s presentation is beautiful too, and there’s lots more of the build to see at his ‘Iveco EuroTrakker’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to see just how good small scale can be…

Twin Tatras

You wait ages for a Czech off-road truck, and then two come along at once. Or something like that.

Anyway, we do have two awesome brick-built Tatras today, each representing a real world counterpart and chosen LEGO building style beautifully.

First up (above) is Horcik Designs’ T813 8×8 Technic trial truck, complete with remote controlled eight-wheel-drive and four-wheel steering, functioning suspension, and much more besides.

Building instructions are available and you can find a link to them and a video of the model in action at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can check out all the images via Bricksafe by clicking here.

Today’s second Tatra switches from Technic to Model Team, but is just as feature packed. Arian Janssens‘ T815 6×6 also includes a working drivetrain and steering, plus a neat tipping container that can stand on its own legs to allow the truck to back up underneath it.

A variety of other trailer options fit Arian’s T815 and there’s more to see of the them and the iteration pictured here on Flickr – click the link above to take a look.

Ice Lorry

This is a Scania XT crane/tipper truck, and it has been constructed entirely from the parts found within the enormous LEGO Technic 42128 Heavy Duty Tow Truck set.

Builder mpj hasn’t used all 2,000 pieces though. In fact the donor set’s pneumatics have been foregone completely, but that doesn’t mean this appropriate-if-accidentally Ice Planet coloured alternate is short on functions, with working steering, a lifting third axle, a folding, rotating and extending crane, working stabilisers, and a tipping bed.

We say appropriate, as even with all of that functionality quite a few pieces remained, so mpj has utilised a few more of 42128’s parts to equip his Scania XT B-Model with a gritter (which spins by drive from the truck’s differential) and fully positionable snow plow.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of mpj’s airless icy alternative to see on Brickshelf and at the Eurobricks discussion forum – Click the links to plow your way there.

Yule Logs

We’re back on track! With today’s other posts being a vehicle we vehemently hate and one with no tenuous Christmas link whatsoever, here’s one that ticks both boxes.

We love the classic ’70s Mercedes-Benz Unimog, and Lego recreations of it surely don’t come any better than this; proran’s beautiful Christmas-coloured Model Team U406 tipper, a creation five years in the making.

One image in particular caught our eye, in which proran has replicated a real-world U406 beside a log pile with wonderful attention to detail. We rarely publish images of real vehicles, but this is such a gorgeous composition we simply had too. Plus it makes the title work.

Alongside the stunning exterior, proran has faithfully recreated the Unimog U406’s mechanicals too, with solid-axle suspension, working steering via the wheel, four-wheel-drive linked to a 4-cylinder engine, a tipping bed, and front and rear PTOs selectable from within the cab.

A Power Functions motor can be applied to demonstrate the model’s functions, which you can watch via the excellent video at the end of this post, and an extensive gallery of imagery is available showing proran’s creation and the real-world U406 that inspired it via Bricksafe.

Click the link above to take a closer look, or here to visit the Eurobricks forum for full build details and to join the discussion.

YouTube Video