[MOC][WIP] Grapple truck with fast-erecting crane

[Jundis]

Hi guys and gals,

for long time, I had a model of a truck in mind, which initially started out as a long timber transport with a dolly in the scale of 42043. But due to stability reasons and weight of the machine and crane itself, I abandoned the project.

Just when the small 49.5 tires were released and especially with the inspiring truck from the 42175, I started again, but with another idea in mind: I had a toy as a kid which I adored very much: A truck with a fast-erecting crane (hopefully it's the right word forf the german Schnelleinsatzkran, taken from english Liebherr website). This truck/crane combination was so stunning, but just when I saw one in real life many years later, where the truck itself had a grapple crane and used it for mounting the weights onto the main crane, it really clicked for me. Again, when the new weight elements were introduced with the 42146, I knew the time had come to tackle this model.

My main two goals are playability and modularity. I already thinking about using the truck platform for other projects, even returning to the long timber transport is maybe possible in this scale... but for now, here are the first pics of the truck without the cab. Especially the suspension with the rubber part and 10197 works very nice and is very compact.

Not sure about the cabin, yet. Maybe I will try to make it generic, but thinking about modelling it losely based on a MAN TGA truck. Creative input is always welcomed :-)

[Paul B Technic]

That is a great start.

[Appie]

Great start, I like how you did the suspension on the axles and those panels for the fenders work great

[Mikdun]

Yeah, the rear fenders and the whole section looks great.

[Jurss]

Good start!

No suspension? 

[amorti]

2 hours ago, Jurss said:

Good start!

No suspension? 

It's kind of a live axle, using the rubber block for suspension.

[Jundis]

Thanks, guys!

3 hours ago, Jurss said:

No suspension? 

As @amorti said, it's just two pendular axles with rubber stops. The front axle will be fixed though, as steering+inline 6 is planned.

[1gor]

Somehow you like very small scale like your CLAAS Cougar

[aeh5040]

Looks very interesting...

[Jundis]

14 hours ago, 1gor said:

Somehow you like very small scale like your CLAAS Cougar

You are right, the scale of the Claas is nearly the same as the truck. But I wouldn't count this as "very small" scale, instead it's the "regular" scale, as the 42098 defines the most used scale for both trucks (49,5 tires) and cars (43,2 tires). ;-)

As I mentioned, it's also easier for stability reasons. The long timber truck failed cause there was no way the crane could lift the dolly onto the carrier truck, which was a main goal in the abandoned model. This crane however, with a few tweaks, might do the trick. Shrinking down from 62.4 wheels to 49.5 wheels (factor 1,26) means half the mass (1,26^3 = 2).

Even the crapple crane on the truck in this model is kind of overscaled when compared to the real one.

Also I like to go for the principle of "as big as needed, as small as possible".

But I will surely go for a bigger scale in a special agricultural vehicle I had an eye on for 2 years :D 

Edited March 19 by Jundis

[1gor]

So my 1:18 is big scale...hm...

[Jundis]

Small update from the truck: After changing the middle part over and over again to get good connection points for the front part, I finally settled with a very stable design. The overall height of the cab is now exactly the same as the 42175. The cab has no suspension and no ackermann steering, but a very nice steering angle.

The only downside is: The steering wheel is 1.5 studs too high :-/ ... now I wish for a CV-joint male part, like cutting this part in half... Workaround would be placing the final 12T bewel gear for the steering wheel under the 20T tan bewel gear, but this would mean the front wouldn't be that rigid and also it would steer in the wrong direction :D

 

[1gor]

Somehow barrel piece on front wheel looks almost like Fred Flintstone made it... IMHO this part suits better

 

Edited April 10 by 1gor
Type error

[bruh]

The front fenders look good

[Divitis]

On 4/10/2025 at 9:56 AM, Jundis said:

The steering wheel is 1.5 studs too high :-/

Maybe you can remove the cv joint entirely and angle the steering column by meshing two bevel gears at the desired angle?

Of course, you'd have to rework how the movement is transmitted there so that the final gear stand straight on the chassis (basically oriented the same way as the wheels)

[Jundis]

15 hours ago, 1gor said:

Somehow barrel piece on front wheel looks almost like Fred Flintstone made it... IMHO this part suits better

Yeah, I know... but somehow this has been done too often, and I like the little dents on the outside :-)

7 hours ago, bruh said:

The front fenders look good

Thanks! Mostly inspired by the MAN TGS truck.

9 minutes ago, Divitis said:

Maybe you can remove the cv joint entirely and angle the steering column by meshing two bevel gears at the desired angle?

Of course, you'd have to rework how the movement is transmitted there so that the final gear stand straight on the chassis (basically oriented the same way as the wheels)

Didn't thought about doing it this way, very cool idea! I will try ;-)

[Jundis]

Hi guys+gals,

finally I came up with a solution for the front I am satisfied with, so I can present the final model of the truck.

It is unbranded but inspired by an MAN, especially the fenders. Sadly, there are no 7 stud flip-flop-beams in blue so far, so there is a black beam on the cab visible next to the grill.

@1gor Please excuse my choice of the front wheel cover, but it makes the model "special" :D

 

Thanks to the idea of @Divitis it now has a workable steering wheel additional to the HOG on the warning light on the cab. It also has an fake inline 6 with the small yellow cylinders.

The whole model can easily be stripped down to sub-assamblies. So it is easy to switch out the cab or have other attachments or rebuild the model into a tractor truck. I already have another version in mind: Long-timber truck :-)

 

To finish this up:

The truck actually was the easy part, now the challenge begins with the fast erecting crane... :D

 

[Thirdwigg]

Good job @Jundis, this turned out great. I like all the functions of the truck, and the crane looks great. I'm interested to see how the fast erecting crane turns out.

[1gor]

Looks like you made good modular design...I'll see what you will manage next with this trailer crane...

[Jundis]

Thanks, guys :-)

I know how much @efferman struggled with the crane and the wiring of the rope. I'll try to start with just the rope for erecting and extending the main boom as well as the boom. 

[ludov]

This looks great! I really like this scale and admire how many functions you managed to squeeze in. The modularity is a great plus!

[Jundis]

16 hours ago, ludov said:

This looks great! I really like this scale and admire how many functions you managed to squeeze in. The modularity is a great plus!

Thank you!

I try to follow the rule to make models only as big as they need to be, so the "formal normal" Arocs scale for trucks wouldn't have add others functions than what we get with this smaller scale.

Progress right now on the crane is the mechanism for the outriggers, actuated with a small LA, pushing 2 gear racks engaged in 12 t gears.

Still unsure, if I will go with full motorization on this crane, maybe the erecting would be too much manual work otherwise.

[2GodBDGlory]

Ooh, that's a cool mechanism, with it all synchronized and the one set moving a much larger arc!

[Jundis]

On 9/21/2025 at 10:55 PM, 2GodBDGlory said:

Ooh, that's a cool mechanism, with it all synchronized and the one set moving a much larger arc!

Thanks, man :-) I really like this one, too.

Here is the first test of the erecting mechanism for the crane. It's only 1 PF M-motor and a winch.

The only big downside right now is the orange "security" pin. If the boom isn't held in place, it would instantly trigger the telescope mechanism first instead of the lifting the main boom.

Also no weights are added, but it still functions very nice, gotta change the batteries, though :D

 

Edited October 5 by Jundis