[MOC] - Retrospective - Alvis Stalwart 6x6

[Brickend]

This used to be on the MOC pages, but following that services demise, I thought I'd post it here, after holding off posting for a decade because I couldn't be bothered with the resizing!

This was built in 2009.  It contains a lot of the Lego bulldozer set 8275 - I think this was the first time I had gotten hold of 3L universal joints, without which, achieving the correctly scaled width would have been impossible.  It has 2 XL motors for drive, 1 M motor for steering, is all wheel drive with independent suspension and the leading 4 wheels steering.

Looking back, there are a lot of connections and constructions that seem inexplicable with today's Lego, but I will say that overall, the aesthetic still suits my personal taste. Whilst I appreciate the skill of some of the smooth 'fill all the gaps and hide all the studs' builders, I generally enjoy Lego that is not afraid to show it's 'Lego-ness'.

Somethings that may seem odd at first is the configuration of the drivetrain, with the two driveshafts running the length of the vehicle, powering each side and then going into a single differential to connect them to the two XL motors. This was done to mimic the original vehicle and to my knowledge, none of the other Lego Stalwarts that I have seen replicate this.

Looking at the drivetrain, with modern pieces in mind, it appears to be something of a disaster, but in reality, functionally it was not too bad - the older style tires have much less grip than modern equivalents and introduced an element of slip that actually meant it never broke a gear or UJ. If you read about the real thing, you'll see that also had a similar issue with drivetrain wind-up. Bump steer and wheel offset was a real issue however but I'm sure this could be easily remedied with modern pieces.

Hope you enjoy this retrospective

dpp_0008 by Brickend, on Flickr

dpp_0004 by Brickend, on Flickr

dpp_0003 by Brickend, on Flickr

dpp_0006drive by Brickend, on Flickr

dpp_0007 by Brickend, on Flickr

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Brickend

[arieben]

Such beautiful styling on this beast, you achieved a perfect ratio of old and new technic.

I agree with you, about LEGO showing its LEGO-ness.. if I want an RC car with a filled out frame that's what I'll go buy. no offence to the guys who build those kinds of things, this vehicle is just exactly what I love about technic. Great work.

The stalwart drive train is spectacular, by the way. Such a strange yet effective way of doing it, and well replicated.

Edited November 30, 2020 by arieben

[MangaNOID]

how does the front suspension work? I cannot see any springs for the front 2 axles? yet they are independent of each other?

great looking build 

[Jurss]

2 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

I cannot see any springs for the front 2 axles

I think, that black part is shock absorber on of the ends.

7 hours ago, Brickend said:

the older style tires

But today there are no tires with similar proportions, and also they really good represent tires on original

It is interesting to see today something nice lloking oldscool model.

[howitzer]

I love it! It's the kind of build where all the visible studs add to the character of the vehicle and make it seem more real, kinda like 8868. Today's studless construction certainly has its advantages but I do miss the days when Technic looked like this...

[TeamThrifty]

10 hours ago, Brickend said:

I generally enjoy Lego that is not afraid to show it's 'Lego-ness'.

Me too!

This reminds of my early lego days.. its how lego used to be. A lot less special pieces, and a lot harder to make some things work.

[Brickend]

5 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

how does the front suspension work? I cannot see any springs for the front 2 axles? yet they are independent of each other?

great looking build 

The front suspension - I'd kind of forgotten myself, but in a photo I didn't post because it was too similar and with a poor white balance, it's easier to see the front springs. Springs doubled up because I didn't have access to harder springs at the time:

img_8126 by Brickend, on Flickr

2 hours ago, Jurss said:

I think, that black part is shock absorber on of the ends.

But today there are no tires with similar proportions, and also they really good represent tires on original

It is interesting to see today something nice lloking oldscool model.

The tires are so important to the look and you are right about proportions; modern lego tires tend to be overly wide, with tread that is too shallow. The proportions of the latest tractor tires are a step in the right direction towards greater realism though I guess.

38 minutes ago, TeamThrifty said:

Me too!

This reminds of my early lego days.. its how lego used to be. A lot less special pieces, and a lot harder to make some things work.

At the time, I suppose the only special pieces that would have worked were on 8880, but then you were limited to those tires. 

Certainly, functionally, there is no question that studless produces a more robust and functional model and I guess we at least have the option of making 'resto-mods' now!

[JintaiZ]

Amazing build! I'd love to see a video demonstration, too.

[Brickend]

2 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Amazing build! I'd love to see a video demonstration, too.

Thanks - unfortunately this was dismantled 11 years ago and I'm not sure I kept any video files (which I now regret!). 

[captainmib]

Love the oldskool look of this.

Could you reverse engineer it using Stud.io?

[Brickend]

14 minutes ago, captainmib said:

Love the oldskool look of this.

Could you reverse engineer it using Stud.io?

Thanks 

It sounds weird but I don't really have an interest in revisiting it, at least not until a better wheel / offset solution arrives. The obvious answer at the moment is to 3d print some hubs, but that kind of goes against the whole point of it...and I also don't want another MOC ending up on Aliexpress, but that's a story for another day.

 

[captainmib]

You mean the instructions, or would a company dare it to release it like a set.

[trekman]

Now that is a nice build.  For you to have six of those wheels would have meant that you had two fairly significant sets.  It has a strange sort of resemblance to the alternate model of 8859, albeit with four wheels and different colour.