[MOC] American Style Semi Truck

[SaperPL]

Hello

I'd like to present my small-scale RC semi truck.

It has PF Servo, XL motor and sbrick mounted in the cab/frame and the battery is neatly mounted in the trailer that also has a two-stage ramp driven by single L motor and Technic strings.

The cables go through the hole in trailer saddle (big turntable) to connect sbrick with battery and ramp motor with sbrick at the back of sleeping cab.

Full gallery:

https://imgur.com/a/2uPHku

There is an alternate configuration for potential standalone/without trailer use:

Hope you'll like it :)

 

[brickless_kiwi]

I like the good turn of speed the truck has and I like the loading ramps on the trailer. It looks a lot of fun to play with. Well done. 

[SaperPL]

Some newer videos:

Instructions coming soon for free on Rebrickable. Please support my submission on Ideas if you like it: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/5723b2c0-d393-4519-aa23-3012be24bf94

[MajklSpajkl]

I don't know how this topic got missed out... excelent job making it RC at such a small scale. Well done I love the ramp movement a lot! The second version with PU is even more unbelievable - great achievement and looks good too.

Well done.

Best regards.

[SaperPL]

Thanks. I've got some more builds at this scale.

I'm really fond of those small wheels. I recommend building this MOC of mine which has free instructions made already: 

Also check out my channel if you like such simple videos showing off various mechanisms and tricks with Technics. I'm not really good with video capture and post-processing yet, but will get there at some point. For now I try to make something cool once in awhile - no schedule, but I had a lot of time recently to do it, so videos were pretty frequent. I don't do model-team approach yet, but I plan on making Cyber Cruiser-chassis based chassis for a model team approach for such small scale builds so you'll be able to connect bricks easily to it. Haven't started yet, so I can't promising anything, but I have high hopes for this.

Back to the American Semi - I'll start making the model in studio for this semi truck instructions soon since I've figured out how to build the front in a clean way.

I plan on making a trailer as well, but I'm not sure if it'll be one with some mechanisation this time or a simple box one. Mechanised one sounds pretty cool and I have motors and I have a way to handle cables, but that means using big turntable and messing around when connecting the trailer so I'm not sure if that's optimal approach. Without those motors connected, I should be able to make some kind of neat fifth wheel and also for the ideas submission, more motors doesn't always mean better product. Simple box trailer that has proper quality/detailing might be better than something with motorised functionali that gets overcomplicated and shows motors through the sides.

And yeah, this ramp design is pretty cool and doesn't necessarily need to be motorised:

I've made one version where it was just spring-snapping in place:

For this model:

Generally go check my Ideas submissions and / or my videos if you like small RC (or manual) builds at this scale.

[proran]

Very nice truck. The solution for a differential is brilliant. The photo from behind the cab really shows how dense it is. Good job!

[Gray Gear]

I like how there is no space wasted :)

[SaperPL]

Thanks guys!

By the way, you can see on my ideas submission page how the platform is broken now - older submissions have issues of the embedded content disappear from the submission description and the support doesn't respond to emails, sometime they fix something, sometime nothing happens. You can have whole additional year after reaching next milestone, but that doesn't matter if your submission description is gutted out of embedded content, especially showcase videos...

[m00se]

That ramp is very satisfying to watch.

[chlego]

5 hours ago, m00se said:

That ramp is very satisfying to watch.

I agree!

Great build, I feel like the ramp is VERY fast compared to real-life, but it makes the experience fun!

[SaperPL]

Thanks again guys! I'm glad you like it.

I get a question though - do you like the roof of the cab in my American Semi? Do you have some ideas that it could be improved?

I'm finishing the model in studio right now and I'm trying to find a clean way to make the roof not that tall and without so much gaps.

[SaperPL]

Free instructions for the Powered Up version of this American Semi Tractor available on Rebrickable:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-62325/SaperPL/mini-rc-american-style-semi-truck/#details

[SaperPL]

This time I'm revisiting my Mini American Semi Truck with some additional explanation how trailer motorised functions should be connected to the tractor with an example lowboy trailer that has steering: