You don’t have to build big to build well. Jakeof_‘s superb Volvo truck, complete with tipping trailer, is only 8 studs wide. Small in parts, big in realism. There’s more to see on Flickr – click the link above to visit the Volvo at Jakeof_’s photostream.
These excellent Town-scale trucks were suggested to us by a reader. They come from Flickr’s Smigol, and they are wonderfully realistic. Above are a pair of MAN TGS Dakar race trucks, whilst below another MAN is joined by a Volvo FH, this time in logging specification. There’s more to see of all the details, including several posable working features, at the link above.
It’s been over two years since Flickr’s Jakeof has appeared here at TLCB, but we correct that today with his superb Volvo hopper lorry. His latest creation is one of the most intricate and accurate small scale trucks we’ve seen in, well… over two years probably, and there’s lots more to see at Jakeof’s photostream.
This beautifully built Volvo EW205D excavator comes from a newcomer to TLCB, Flickr’s Davy Linden, and including the bucket, boom and platform the model is almost one meter long! There’s lots more to see at Davy’s photostream – click here to make the jump.
This beautiful Volvo NL12 long-nose truck comes from Master MOCer Dennis Bosman (aka Lego Trucks).
As with all Dennis’ builds the Volvo’s detailing is spectacular, but it’s the paint job that excited the Elves – yellow and red meant two Smarties for the lucky finder. To us it looks like it was inspired by the country of Macedonia*, who probably have – if you’re an Elf – the best flag of any nation.
You can see more of Dennis’ truck at his photostream via the link above, and you can read about his Lego story in TLCB’s Master MOCers series.
*If you’re an American, click here.
LEGO would probably call this a Refuse Collection Truck or something, but round our way these are bin lorries and that’s what this shall henceforth be called! Anyway, it might just be a bin lorry, but what a magnificent one it is. Zbiczasty has recreated the Volvo FM cab and Anaconda compactor so brilliantly we had to click on the thumbnail image of the real truck in his recently modified Brickshelf gallery to check it wasn’t Lego too. See what we mean by clicking the link above.
P.S. Recycle!
We continue our run of Town vehicles here at TLCB with two more mini-figure delights. Suggested to us by a reader, Brickshelf’s keko007 has built a pair of superb construction vehicles. Both his MAN cement truck and Volvo L60 front loader feature a few working functions too, making them nicely playable creations. You can see more of these and keko’s other models via the link above.
Following our review of LEGO’s own 42030 Technic Volvo Front Loader set it’s time for one of yours! This little front loader by TLCB debutant Appie might be much, much smaller than LEGO’s flagship set, but it packs very nearly as much inside. A pneumatic raising/lowering and tipping a bucket, all-wheel-drive connected to a working piston engine, articulated steering connected to the steering wheel and pendular rear suspension are all squeezed in. We think it would make a most excellent official set. See more on Eurobricks by clicking Appie’s name above.
There was a time you had to watch out for Volvo drivers; unpredictable, incompetent pilots who felt ‘safer’ in their tank while putting everyone else at greater risk… then two things happened. The unsure drivers migrated to even more tank-like SUVs and Volvo started making decent cars. Terrible drivers don’t like good cars so the ones who didn’t fancy a 4WD got themselves a Peugeot, who as luck would have it stopped making good cars at about the time Volvos got better. So now you know who to watch out for. You, of course, are a perfect driver…
For the ultimate get-out-of-my-way, bog-off-Range-Rover experience you’ll need one of these…
Coming Soon To A Town Centre Near You..
Yes, TLCB has finally got around to reviewing the set that everyone’s talking about… last summer. It is of course the Technic 42030 Volvo L350F Loader.
The Technic range is always best topped off with something big and yellow and this is bigger and yellower than most. It’ll drive right over a Peugeot, and it rivals the 8110 Unimog for sheer size. So it should for 170 smackers….
At just over 1600 pieces, it doesn’t scream value at that price, but the 4 PF motors and remote control gubbins makes the outlay more palatable. And you do get a very big box for your money; not the fullest box in the world, exactly, but there’s plenty of good stuff in there.
One innovation I really like here is the single, thick instruction book. So much better than half a dozen thin ones… now how about another one for the B model? Anyone? Hello? Nevermind… let’s crack on and build the thing. What’s surprising here is how easy it is compared to other recent large sets. This is mostly down to each function having its own dedicated motor so there’s no complex gearbox arrangements to contend with. There’s not even that many gears… it’ll only take about 3-4 hours to assemble, but it still makes for an enjoyably lazy afternoon.
As for pieces, there’s little new here, apart from that huge bucket – the biggest Technic piece ever, apparently – although ‘Mog wheels in yellow are nice to have, and engine cylinders in green are a thoughtful and accurate detail. I did see some ‘5L axle with stop’ which fortunately are a different colour to the older ‘4L axle with stop’ but that’s about it for elemental innovation. Maybe Technic has enough connectors and brackets and beams and so on to be going on with. There certainly seems to be plenty of choice now.
You might think 170 quid is a lot to pay for 3 hours of building, but consider the many hours of playing this fully remote controlled beast will give you… this model actually does do quite a lot:
Engine: An inline six, as per reality, and it’s 4 wheel drive. It’s green too, but I don’t mean environmentally friendly… It doesn’t turn terrifically quickly but it’s always a nice thing to have. It’s impressively accessible too; the grille on the back will hinge open, as will both side panels. You can even unlatch the rear mudguards to open another panel and walk right in! It’s driven, as are all four wheels, by the XL motor beneath it, at what seems to be an appropriate pace. Not too fast, not too slow. Just right.
Steering: This is articulated in the middle, just below the operator’s cab, and it’s actuated by a PF Servo Motor. These do make the steering easier to operate than a standard motor, but with the standard remote control it’s all or nothing. I think I’d still prefer an M or L, geared down to make it controllable unless I had the speed controller. This is minor quibbling really; the system works very well and PRAISE BE! The in-cab steering wheel is connected!! There’ll be dancing in the streets tonight! Or maybe just in my house…
Suspension: Yes, there is some. Sort of. The rear axle is pendular, albeit unsprung. It’s one of those features that doesn’t need to be there but I’m glad they made the effort.
Bucket Elevation: Controlled by two large linear actuators driven by an L motor, the bucket will move up to impressive height, and it’ll maintain the tilt angle through the upper two thirds of the travel. All very good. The box makes the proud boast that it’ll lift up to 1Kg, and this it will do. It absolutely will not lift 1.1Kg however. You can’t fault LEGO for honesty…
Bucket Tilting: A single linear actuator, controlling the bucket’s angle through a wide range of movement via some clever leverage, this works seamlessly and well. An M motor does the driving and it proves to be strong enough. If you feel the need to lift 1.1Kg, I’d swap it for an L at the same time as stuffing in an XL for the bucket elevation though. Having said that, it sounds like the limiting factor is the LAs’ internal clutches rather than the motor.
42030 feels like a belated successor to the sainted 8043 Excavator, in that it does all it sets out to do, and it looks pretty good doing it. It’s not quite as sophisticated as that model, and styling-wise, while it looks enough like the actual Volvo to wear it’s stickers with pride, the areas beneath the cab and under the bucket are a tad sketchy. This may be just because the back half is so thoroughly detailed, with all the railings and panels and so on that give this some real visual heft.
The B model looks good as well – it’s an articulated, tipping quarry truck, modelled after another actual Volvo, for which there’s a complete second set of stickers; presumably you just have to peel off the A model’s stickers first! It’s got the typical Technic tipper see-through bed however… I’d stick with the better, more sophisticated Loader.
Overall, I’m very grateful that a Technic designer has a mate who works for Volvo (true story – it’s why this exists) and it deserves it’s place at the top of the range. Like all good RC vehicles, it’s excellent for spooking the dog. 9 and a half / 10.
You might have noticed that we haven’t been posting as frequently as we normally do at The Lego Car Blog. The Elves have been struggling to find suitable MOCs and have started to look a bit hungry. Fortunately we’ve been able to give out a shiny yellow Smartie today, thanks to this yellow monster from Marek Markiewicz. The lucky Elf has kindly split his reward with his colleagues but a single Smartie will only go so far between 213 Elves. Hopefully they’ll find more MOCs in the next few days, or we might have to actually feed our workforce for free.
Marek’s Volvo L250G is built at 1:20 scale, using the bucket from the 42030 Wheel Loader and is even more impressive than his previous Liebherr L580. It’s beautifully detailed, including fully glazed instead of implied windows on the driver’s cab. The loader is also fully remote controlled, via two IR receivers with an L motor for traction, an M motor for steering and L & M motors to control the bucket. You can see full diagrams of the internal working of Marek’s loader by clicking this link to its MOCpages listing. Marek also has an impressive back catalogue on his Flickr Photostream.
N.B. In an attempt to be more environmentally friendly, TLCB has started recycling. We’ve already used this title twice before. Cut and paste it into the “Search” box, at the bottom of the page, to find out where.
This beautiful Volvo F88 dropside truck is the work of the fantastically talented Thomas Graafland. Thomas is – believe it or not – a Teen Fan Of Lego, but such is the quality of his building we didn’t feel he needed the ‘Featured TFOL’ accolade (but you can claim it if you like Thomas!).
Underneath the Volvo’s impeccable red and yellow bodywork is a 6-cylinder engine, working solid-axle suspension, working steering and a two-speed gearbox. Thomas has uploaded a superb gallery of images to both Flickr and MOCpages. View all the photos via the links, whilst we very generously give a lucky Elf both a red and yellow Smartie. And possibly diabetes.
Silos are a common sight on any farm, used to store and dispense grain, animal feed, and er, …poo. One of the ‘net’s best Technic builders has taken the unusual step of building both a silo and the mechanism for erecting it from Lego Technic.
Sariel‘s Volvo FH12 truck and Silo placing trailer were discovered by one of our Elves on MOCpages, where Sariel details his build and includes a video demonstrating the placing mechanism in action. See more at the link above.
YouTube Video:
Twilight, the favourite fantasy of teenage girls everywhere, is not well understood in TLCB Towers. There are no cars (apart from the odd Volvo advertisement), little discernible acting talent present in the movies, and a there’s plot-hole* large enough to park a Steampunk Airship in. Which is handy, as that’s exactly what we’ve got here. Castor Troy’s ‘Vampire Hunter’ is full of phyiscs-bending whimsy and would be just the thing to liven up a dull love story between the undead and the world’s most boring teenager. You can see more of Mr. Troy’s magnificent ship on Flickr.
*Edward Cullen, whilst he likes to suck blood, possesses none himself. No blood means no… er, you know… Quite how he managed to conceive a child with Kirsten Stewart defies even TLCB’s rudimentary knowledge of sex-ed.
Following on from Dennis Bosman‘s incredible Kenworth Wrecker and his Master MOCer interview published yesterday, the Elves are feeling quite trucky; one of them arrived back at The Lego Car Blog Towers this morning with no less than six amazing trucks!
So, six meal tokens for the lucky Elf? Er, no. You see we’ve featured several of these trucks here at TLCB before, but builder Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton74) has recently posted all six of his current creations together in one awesome six pack group shot. We tried to think of other good things that come in sixes but ran out after beer, eggs and iced buns.
See all six of his brilliant ’80s and ’90s European trucks by clicking the links to MOCpages and Flickr in the text above.
A few of our Elves have been on a secret mission recently, and today we get to show you why! After revealing LEGO’s new Technic sets for the first half of 2014 we can finally review the last set to join the Technic line up in the second half of the year.
This is it, a new addition to Technic’s officially licensed range, and the new flagship at the top of the 2014 line-up. LEGO has partnered with Volvo trucks to bring us a replica of their huge L350F Front Loader and, as you can see from the slightly dodgy picture above, it’s loaded with Power Functions goodies, including two RC controls, two RC receivers and a multitude of motors.
Functions are all remotely controlled, and include a linear actuated front bucket (itself a new part, attached by two other new-for-2014 pieces), articulated steering, and drive. 42030 also includes the portal hubs first debuted on the 8110 Unimog and a rear-mounted piston engine in a new green colour, which is going to look great in classic car MOCs.
42030 includes, as always, instructions for a second vehicle. This time it’s an articulated Volvo dump truck and it’s, as B-Models go, quite a good one. The Volvo Front Loader will reach stores in the second half of 2014, priced well out of reach of most children’s allowances, and it looks like it’s going to be one of the best Technic sets of the last few years. Start saving!