9 replies to this topic

[Ralph_S]

I know there are a lot of military builders who build for minifigs. I've built a few minifig scale military vehicles myself, but I prefer a larger scale. This is my latest effort: a US Army LMTV truck.

In the mid-nineties the US Army started replacing a lot of their older trucks with a new 'Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles' or FMTV for short. The trucks were based on the Austrian Steyr 12M18 truck, but built in the US. FMTVs come in a large number of different versions, including 5t 6x6 cargo trucks, wrecker trucks and trucks with van bodies. The model I built represents the lightest version, the 4x4 M1078 LMTV 2.5t cargo/troop transporter, where LMTV stands for 'Light Medium Tactical Vehicle'.


As usual with my large-scale models, I've added some functionality. The doors can be opened and the spare tyre, normally stowed behind the cab, can be lowered.


Normally I don't spend a lot of time detailing the undersides of my vehicles, because they aren't visible anyway. However, because the real truck sits fairly high on its wheels a lot of the mechanical bits are visible, so I spent some time on making them look right on my model as well.


One of the things I decided I wanted for this truck was a working tilt cab so that you can see the Caterpillar engine.


Cheers,
Ralph

Edited by Rufus, 02 July 2011 - 03:31 PM.
Indexed

[Legostein]

Hello!

Another great vehicle! And again you've used excellent techniques and details. The holder for the replacement wheel is particularly nice. And the mudguards using hinge bricks are truly amazing. One of my favourite detail is the box on the underside where you used brackets for cover. I don't know what exactly it is because I am no expert im truck technology but it's bricked great!

Cheers,

~ Christopher

Edited by Legostein, 04 March 2010 - 11:57 PM.

[MacK]

You've out done yourself with this Ralph S! So much detail has been packed into this thing, everything seems to be in the right place. I'd love to see you tackle a minifig scale one of these sometime.

[prateek]

Another great vehicle, but I agree with MacK. You should attempt to make a minifig scale military vehicle, even though I know you will blow us away with that too.

[lightningtiger]

'Ralph_S' you are a genius !
This is possibly the best MOC you have ever done in my opinion !
The details, tillt cab with big engine and desert sand paint job - I think you would see one of these in Iraq - brickstorm !
AWESOME job and keep on bricking !

[Tobbe Arnesson]

Well done!

[Ralph_S]

Legostein, on Mar 5 2010, 12:57 AM, said:

Hello!

Another great vehicle! And again you've used excellent techniques and details. The holder for the replacement wheel is particularly nice. And the mudguards using hinge bricks are truly amazing. One of my favourite detail is the box on the underside where you used brackets for cover. I don't know what exactly it is because I am no expert im truck technology but it's bricked great!

Cheers,

~ Christopher

Thank you. I think I'm usually fairly conservative when it comes to techniques, preferring old-fashioned studs up building over fancy SNOT techniques. However, if a particular shape requires it I can get creative. I too have no idea what the box is for. I just model them    

MacK, on Mar 5 2010, 02:17 AM, said:

You've out done yourself with this Ralph S! So much detail has been packed into this thing, everything seems to be in the right place. I'd love to see you tackle a minifig scale one of these sometime.

Thanks. I'm not sure whether a minifig version of this would be all that interesting, really. I had a lot of fun building the tilting cab and the details on the underside, but on minifigscale (which I;d take to be about half the size of this one) I'm not sure I could do it justice.

prateek, on Mar 5 2010, 05:42 AM, said:

Another great vehicle, but I agree with MacK. You should attempt to make a minifig scale military vehicle, even though I know you will blow us away with that too.

I built some minifig scale military vehicles a while ago, but I prefer this larger scale. It allows me to add far more detail and functionality. It's also the same scale as my Abrams tank, so that I can possibly put a few vehicles together in a diorama.

lightningtiger, on Mar 5 2010, 07:12 AM, said:

'Ralph_S' you are a genius !
This is possibly the best MOC you have ever done in my opinion !
The details, tillt cab with big engine and desert sand paint job - I think you would see one of these in Iraq - brickstorm !
AWESOME job and keep on bricking !

Thanks. I'm happy with how it turned out, although it's hardly the biggest or most complicated MOC I've built. I enjoyed building it, but most of it is fairly basic stuff.

Tobbe Arnesson, on Mar 5 2010, 11:48 AM, said:

Well done!

Thank you.

Cheers,
Ralph

[Perterz]

Mindblowing model!
I like the bigger scale and this one is extremely detailed. It almost looks real  
Tan suits well, maybe a mix it with dark & light bley to create a camo?

Anyway, another inspiring model, thanks for sharing.

Kevin

[Ralph_S]

Perterz, on Mar 7 2010, 12:19 AM, said:

Mindblowing model!
I like the bigger scale and this one is extremely detailed. It almost looks real  
Tan suits well, maybe a mix it with dark & light bley to create a camo?

Anyway, another inspiring model, thanks for sharing.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin. I agree that some disruptive camouflage would make it look more interesting than just tan overall. However, it's based on a real-world US Army vehicle and they use one of two camouflage schemes: this desert scheme with tan overall and a disruptive scheme consisting of brown, black and dark olive green.

Here's a tan one:


I would have preferred to build it in the disruptive scheme, but recreating it in LEGO is tricky. Dark green is a reasonable approximation of the olive green, but the selection of parts available in that colour is very limited and so are my supplies
I intend to use some of the dark green that I currently don't have tied up in MOcs I don't want to part with for an armoured vehicle sometime soon in disruptive camouflage.  

Cheers,
Ralph

[Miguel]

wow...   THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!  love all the detail