Tag Archives: Tracked Vehicle

Building Big

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Really, really big.

The human in the above picture is Beat Felber, a Lego builder of gigantic proportions. His models we mean.

Surrounding Beat are ten spectacular fully remote controlled pieces of mining equipment, many of which have featured on these pages over the years, including the Komatsu D575A-3 Super Dozer, the Marathon LeTourneau L-1200 loader, the Marion 204-M Superfront cable-operated mining shovel, the Terex 33-19 Titan mining truck, and the astonishing Marion 5760 ‘The Mountaineer’ 2,750-ton mining shovel. 

Beat’s assembly is even larger and more impressive than your Dad’s collection of speciality magazines, and we suspect it makes Beat more than capable of tunnelling underneath his own house should he choose to.

Head to Beat’s photostream via the first link for a closer look at the jaw-dropping image above, and you can check out some of the individual models pictured within it via the links in this post or via the search function on this page.

Twiddling Knobs

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We like a good knob twiddle* here at The Lego Car Blog. Get your minds out of the gutter – we’re talking hand-powered mechanical functions.

This is one such creation imbued with knob twiddling goodness, and it comes from previous bloggee M_Longer, who has repurposed the pieces found within the LEGO Technic 42121 Heavy Duty Excavator set to create it.

Loosely based on a JCB skid-steer loader, M_Longer’s 42121 alternate utilises a pair of knobs to mechanically control the arm and attachment tilt, so you’ll need to play with the knobs a bit before you can get forking. Ask your Mom.

There’s more of M-Longer’s B-Model to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where links to both further images and to building instructions can also be found. Twiddle your knob via the link above!

*Except in this case. As it’s ridiculous.

Rope & Bucket

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Today’s post sounds like an English pub, but it is in fact a fully operational recreation of the Caterpillar 7295 rope excavator, as built by Ivan_M in a spectacular 1:40 scale.

Inside Ivan’s model are six Power Functions motors that drive the tracks, superstructure rotation, and the winches that lift, extend, and open the bucket.

It’s a complicated movement but one that Ivan has managed to replicate beautifully, with his model demonstrating some of the most impressive action on video you’ll see today. Ok, we can’t guarantee that – the internet’s a big place – but it’s nevertheless properly good.

There’s more to see of Ivan’s stunning Caterpillar 7295 rope excavator on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can watch that impressive action in the ace video below!

YouTube Video

Dananananana Bateman!

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This is a Bateman Assault Bridge Carrier, an experimental tank-bridge-laying-combo based on the excellently-named ‘Medium Dragon’ Mk.1 artillery tractor that was trialled by the British Royal Engineers in 1926.

It’s one of the more obscure vehicles to appear here then, and it’s been recreated brilliantly by Tarix819 of Eurobricks in a colossal 1:8 scale.

Weighing almost 10kgs, Tarix’s creation features two coil-sprung tracks, each with its own mechanical tensioner and independently powered by an SBrick and three XL motors.

A working V8 engine lives within the armour, and a functioning searchlight is able to light up the obstacle ahead in need of crossing.

And cross an obstacle the Bateman can, as Tarix’s model can deploy the huge bridge mounted on the top of machine. The real Assault Bridge Carrier relied on hand-powered winches (which are also recreated here), but Tarix’s build utilises a Power Functions Medium Motor to complete the model’s suite of remote control functionality.

It’s a monumentally impressive piece of Lego engineering and you can see how Tarix has done it at the Eurobricks discussion form here, and via the brilliant video below.

YouTube Video

Brick Built Bucket

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LEGO’s new Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer set revealed here earlier in the week is a spectacular (and spectacularly expensive) way to push LEGO pieces around your floor.

Of course the online Lego Community has been building super-sized RC bulldozers for some time, and this magnificent Liebherr PR 776 by Flickr’s Dawid Szmandra is one of the best we’ve seen yet.

With four motors, a Mindstorms EV3 for control, and perhaps the best brick-built bucket we’ve ever seen, Dawid’s creation gives LEGO’s 42131 set a run for its (considerable amount of) money, and it’s a creation you can build for yourself as he’s made building instructions available too.

There’s more of the build to see at Dawid’s ‘Liebherr PR 776’ album on Flickr, where a links to building instructions and even to the custom decals can also be found.

YouTube Video

Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer | Set Preview

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Household pets and TLCB Elves don’t usually get on. From October 2021 however, we expect they might share a common nemesis; this is the brand new LEGO Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer. All 3,854 pieces of it.

Measuring 57cm in length and 37cm wide, 42131 brings the Caterpillar brand into LEGO’s burgeoning array of official partnerships – alongside equipment manufacturers such as Volvo, Claas, and Liebherr.

Four ‘Powered UP’ motors and a Control+ hub enable the set to be controlled via your mobile phone, with the huge yellow tracks, blade elevation and tilt, and ripper height all powered and remotely operable.

Those yellow tracks are new for 2021 too, making their debut on 42131, and featuring a tightening/loosening mechanism that we expect will make them highly sought after for builders’ own tracked creations.

A working piston engine complete with details such as brick built turbo-chargers, realistic (and – we must admit – rather excellent looking) decals, and a high level of visual exterior detailing including rails, ladders, exhausts, and lights, make for very impressive looking set, and one we expect will become mighty popular.

Aimed at ages 18+, the new LEGO Technic 42131 App-Controlled CAT D11 Bulldozer is expected to cost around £420, which – much to the relief of our Elves – is comfortably outside TLCB’s budget. If it’s within yours you can get your hands on all 3,854 pieces from October 2021, and your cat will never be able to relax again.

8 Out of 10 Nazis…

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It might sound like European cat food, but the Kettenkrat was altogether weirder than that. Half motorcycle, half tank, the Sd.Kfz 2 Kettenkrat was designed by NSU, powered by Opel, weighed 1.5 tons, and could climb slopes of over 24°, even in sand.

A unique drive system delivered power to both tracks simultaneously on hard ground, or – when the driver selected – operated via a subtractor to skid-steer on soft ground, and it was used throughout the Second World War to lay cables, transport troops, tow aircraft, oh – and to invade Russia.

This amazing motorised Model Team recreation of the Sd.Kfz 2 Kettenkrad comes from previous bloggee Samolot, and not only does it feature the most terrifying LEGO figure we’ve ever seen, it also includes a fully working remote controlled version of the real bike/tank’s ingenious steering system.

Exactly how it works is beyond the collective minds housed here at TLCB Towers, so the best way to see if you can figure it out is via the video below. There are also more images of both Samolot’s model and the real 1940s contraption at Bricksafe, and you can read the full build description and join the discussion via the Eurobricks forum here.

YouTube Video

Micro Construction

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Tiny, and yet totally identifiable, Flickr’s KosBrick shows that just a few dozen parts can create models with amazing recognition. It’s like looking at large scale Lego models, only from very far away… Head to Kos’s photostream via the link above for more really tiny construction.

A Giant Red Digger

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Things TLCB Elves like; Things with Guns. Things with Racing Stripes. Megan Fox (although she’s equipped with neither). Giant Red Diggers. Today is therefore a good day.

This Giant Red Digger is the work of previous bloggee Levihathan, and it’s a Poclain HC 300 – or rather a 2,000 piece remote controlled fully working replica of a Poclain HC 300.

There are no less than six motors, two bluetooth hubs, dual differential tracked drive, a V12 piston engine, and some suspiciously metallic looking linear actuators.

An extensive gallery of imagery is available to view, showing the construction, inner mechanics, and the amazing reach of the excavating arm. Head to Levihathan’s ‘Poclain HC 300’ album  via the link above for more Giant Red Digger goodness.

Towering Inferno

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This is the NASA ‘Launch Umbilical Tower’, designed to send the world’s most powerful machine – the Saturn V rocket – into space, and carried by the world’s heaviest land vehicle.

LEGO’s enormous 92176 NASA Saturn V set has allowed space fans to conduct their own bedroom-based lunar missions, but the ‘blast-off’ bit (in this writer’s opinion, the coolest bit) requires a few additional accessories not supplied by LEGO…

Fortunately Janotechnic of Eurobricks – here making his TLCB debut – has the answer, not only building this incredible 1:110 scale Technic Nasa Crawler and Launch Umbilical Tower, but doing so from three official LEGO Technic sets; the 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator, the 42082 Rough Terrain Crane, and the 42098 Car Transporter.

That expansive parts supply has enabled Jano to equip his B-B-B-Model with a huge array of motorised functions, including drive and steering, crane rotation, retractable support swing-arms, and even a working lift within the tower!

It’s an incredible creation and one that (in simplified form below) you can build for yourself, as building instructions are available. There’s more of Jano’s amazing NASA Crawler and Tower to see – including a video of the model’s motorised and mechanical functions – at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above and prepare to blast-off!

Modular Building

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LEGO’s brilliant line-up of modular buildings have been a roaring success, but they’re not really TLCB fodder. This awesome Neo-Classic Space ‘T-ATV’ by Flickr’s SweStar is though, and it’s ‘modular building’ too. Sort of.

A superb tracked chassis can carry an assortment of spacey things atop it, including a cabin that doubles as a spaceship, a pair of containers for important spacey-looking devices, and there’s even a mini-figure jet-suit arrangement concealed in the back!

Each module can stand alone as a thoroughly good build, and add them all together and you have a model with such great playability that this TLCB Writer could happily spend an entire afternoon swooshing and tracking and doing other suitably spacey stuff with it.

Whilst he does that you can see more of SweStar’s brilliant build at his ‘T-ATV’ album on Flickr – click the link above for more modular building.

My Other Tracked Vehicle is an Excavator

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We’re not sure that this title really works as a bumper sticker, but as this snow groomer by Dyens Creations doesn’t have a bumper it’s moot anyway. Dyen’s creation is indeed constructed from another tracked vehicle though, being built entirely from the parts found within the Technic 42121 Heavy Duty Excavator set. There’s an adjustable elevating blade, a rotating and extending crane, and an attachable ice grinding thingumy too. Building instructions are available and there’s more of Dyen’s snow groomer B-Model to see on Flickr, at Eurobricks, and via the video below.

YouTube Video

Caseload

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This is a fully remote controlled Case QuadTrac 620, built by mktechniccreations, and it’s really very good at squashing Elves. It’s also one heck of a build, with no less than six Power Functions motors, two BuWizz bluetooth batteries, and a pneumatic system with on-board compressors. And that’s before we get to the Elmer HaulMaster 2000 trailer.

Back to the Case, where two L Motors drive the fully suspended tracks, whilst a Servo articulates the pivot steering (the rear section of which can also oscillate independently from the front to keep the vehicle level on uneven ground).

Two M Motors power the on-board pneumatic compressors/switches, a third drives the rear PTO, there’s a suspended cab, swing-out ladder (that automatically pivots out of the way of the tracks when the tractor articulates), a rotating driver’s seat, and pneumatically operated hitches.

The Elmer HaulMaster trailer features a few trick of its own too, with the Case’s PTO driving the conveyor belt and auger worm-gear, pneumatically operated auger boom extension, and pneumatically deployed support legs.

It’s an unfathomably complex and wonderfully engineered build, and there’s lots more to see of mktechniccreations’ incredible creation at the Eurobricks forum via the link above, where complete technical details, further imagery, and a link to building instructions can be found.

You can also see all the amazing working functions of both the Case Quadtrac 620 and Elmer HaulMaster 2000 in action via the video below; click play to take a look at one of the best models of 2021 so far.

YouTube Video

The Pusher

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This TLCB Writer’s peaceful afternoon watching Top Gear re-runs working hard to keep TLCB wheels in motion was unwelcomely disturbed today. Disturbed by the unusual sound of distant Elven screaming, getting increasingly louder, before fading away again, only to be repeated a few minutes later.

Sigh. Whatever was going on it probably wasn’t good. A trudge out to the corridor revealed the cause; a rather unique vehicle, powerfully pushing a cohort of several enraged Elves up and down the halls of TLCB Towers with a large blade.

Upon seeing a ‘hoomun’ arrive to interrupt the fun, the Elf at the controls raised the blade so its colleagues passed underneath it, only for them to be squashed not once but twice by the following tracks, whereupon the delighted perpetrator promptly abandoned the controls and ran off.

Order restored we can take a look at the vehicular cause, a fully remote controlled Technic ‘Snow Dozer’ by Kirill Mazurov (aka desert752), powered by no less than thirteen Power Functions motors.

Eight of these drive the tracks, with two more powering the articulated steering, another two the rear crane, and the last the blade elevation used so effectively by the Elf that found it. A pair of third-party BuWizz bluetooth batteries provide the power (eight times as much as LEGO’s own system) and control mechanism, allowing Kirill’s machine to both push an impressive quantity of snow (or TLCB Elves) and to travel far faster than it has any right to.

There’s much more of Kirill’s strange yet spectacular creation to see at both his ‘Technic Snow Dozer’ Flickr album and via the Eurobricks discussion forum, plus you can watch it in action in the snow via the video below.

YouTube Video:

*Today’s wonderful title song. Which could be about a different kind of snow.

Giant Vibrator

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Get your minds out of the gutter. This is a Vibroseis Tracked Vehicle, designed to send shock waves through the ground to map rock density for the oil and gas industry, and it is – in effect – a giant vibrator.

This intriguing Technic recreation of one of the world’s more unusual vehicles comes from Master MOcer and multiple previous bloggee Nicco71, who has built it using only parts from the 42100 Technic Leibherr R 9800 excavator set.

The three repurposed XL Motors drive both sets of tracks plus the piston engine mounted in the rear section, whilst the set’s four L Motors power the winch, the articulated steering, the vibrator height, and the vibrating action.

There’s loads more to see of this remarkable creation at Nico71’s website by clicking here – where building instructions can also be found so you can use this giant vibrator for yourself at home – plus you can watch it in action in the only safe-for-work vibrator footage on the internet via the video below.

YouTube Video