[BPD] Loader and dump truck

[iragm]

Here's a minifigure-scale dump truck and loader, fully playable.

 

Video of play features: 

 

This is part of the Bricklink Designer Program, if you like it please check out more images and support it here: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-9/3546/Road-Work-Ahead

[dimka_ya]

Cool Model :)

[FGMatt]

Is anyone else thinking Top Gear Burma special here?

Fewer rear axles, yellow tipper body and replace the squirrel with a "jam bear" and you're right there!

[ER0L]

The truck looks great! I also love the movable hood and the “Rubber Duck” idea.

One thing though: the tires are way too small, even for a 6w truck. I guess there are quite a few alternatives that would make it look even better.

[OddyBuilds]

It's pretty great that it seems LEGO truck MOC designers all agreed upon using the frog for the hood ornament. I mean, it's perfectly fitting (something even LEGO would probably do), so I can see why it's a thing!

Overall a fun truck build with good play functions! The loader having working engine pistons on top of its Hand-Of-God control features is just the icing on the cake. Fantastic stuff!

1 hour ago, ER0L said:

One thing though: the tires are way too small, even for a 6w truck. I guess there are quite a few alternatives that would make it look even better.

I've been using wheel 11208 with tyre 5033 for my truck MOCs which seems to work quite well for 6 (and even 8, to an extent) wide scales. The high profile tyres would be a bit of a tight squeeze with that mudguard 49097, though. So I think the smaller wheels/tyres were a decent intentional choice.

Oh and one more thing while we're talking about tyres, I noticed that the render preview for the truck and loader on the Bricklink Designer Program page uses the black shiny plastic material which makes it look like LEGO plastic instead of rubber. Bricklink Studio, for some reason, won't let you pick the Rubber Black material for rubber tyres unless you disable the blue funnel icon in the top right when you click the colour droplist... Which is weird because you can upload Studio files with the Rubber Black material perfectly fine. Just as a tip to anyone reading this who also might not know this quirk of Studio!

[iragm]

On 10/7/2025 at 7:23 AM, FGMatt said:

Is anyone else thinking Top Gear Burma special here?

This was originally intended to be an American-style dump truck, but I can see the resemblance here!

 

2 hours ago, ER0L said:

the tires are way too small, even for a 6w truck

I wanted to use 56890 but it wasn't available in the BDP 9 palette.

 

38 minutes ago, OddyBuilds said:

It's pretty great that it seems LEGO truck MOC designers all agreed upon using the frog for the hood ornament. I mean, it's perfectly fitting (something even LEGO would probably do), so I can see why it's a thing!

I mean...9463...I also experimented with a 1x1 round plate (boring), a 15070 tooth (which looks good but isn't as "fun" as the frog), a 41835 bird available in black which was knocked off too easily, and a gem which wasn't available in the right color.  The frog was hands-down the best.

 

41 minutes ago, OddyBuilds said:

I've been using wheel 11208 with tyre 5033 for my truck MOCs which seems to work quite well for 6 (and even 8, to an extent) wide scales. The high profile tyres would be a bit of a tight squeeze with that mudguard 49097, though. So I think the smaller wheels/tyres were a decent intentional choice.

Those are a great suggestion, I'll experiment with them in future revisions.  I designed with the BDP 8 palette and only realized my tires weren't available when I went to submit the design.  I didn't want to redesign the whole chassis around Technic pins so I went with the largest tires that still use the old school wheel holder.

 

44 minutes ago, OddyBuilds said:

Oh and one more thing while we're talking about tyres, I noticed that the render preview for the truck and loader on the Bricklink Designer Program page uses the black shiny plastic material which makes it look like LEGO plastic instead of rubber. Bricklink Studio, for some reason, won't let you pick the Rubber Black material for rubber tyres unless you disable the blue funnel icon in the top right when you click the colour droplist... Which is weird because you can upload Studio files with the Rubber Black material perfectly fine. Just as a tip to anyone reading this who also might not know this quirk of Studio!

I absolutely love that you spotted this, I thought I changed them when I swapped out the lights for luminous colors but I must not have saved or something.  I hate renders, they always look like garbage compared to a real pic no matter what I do.

 

I appreciate the posts and feedback here, it's extremely helpful and this place continues to be my favorite Lego forum.  As soon as this BDP series is over, check back here for a link to free instructions.  

[ER0L]

19 hours ago, OddyBuilds said:

I've been using wheel 11208 with tyre 5033 for my truck MOCs which seems to work quite well for 6 (and even 8, to an extent) wide scales. The high profile tyres would be a bit of a tight squeeze with that mudguard 49097, though. So I think the smaller wheels/tyres were a decent intentional choice.

The wheels are too small - simply because they’re passenger car wheels. As a result, the ratio between the vehicle’s height and the wheel diameter doesn’t really match. Of course, that’s an intentional design choice - and with LEGO you always have to make compromises. But it still affects the overall proportions that usually define a vehicle’s character.

Take a look at this 8w dump truck, for example: here the wheels fit nicely and emphasize the truck’s nature as a heavy-duty vehicle.

With larger wheels, iragm’s already beautiful truck would look even better – I can say that with some confidence, as I’ve been dealing with these questions for years.

[OddyBuilds]

True, bigger tyres on truck MOCs are nicer, but as you said you always have to make compromises. I use the round mudguard piece (part ID 1846) for my trucks which limits tyre sizes to 24mm in diameter, but at least I get to have my classic truck mudguard to look pretty much perfect for me!

23 hours ago, iragm said:

I wanted to use 56890 but it wasn't available in the BDP 9 palette.

I designed with the BDP 8 palette and only realized my tires weren't available when I went to submit the design.  I didn't want to redesign the whole chassis around Technic pins so I went with the largest tires that still use the old school wheel holder. 

Oh wow, yeah and speaking of compromises that's pretty awesome that you managed to make two playable builds with a restricted parts list. I didn't even know this was a thing (just checked and it's a built-in feature in Studio, which is neat), but it looks like a fun challenge! I'll have to try it myself some day.

23 hours ago, iragm said:

I absolutely love that you spotted this, I thought I changed them when I swapped out the lights for luminous colors but I must not have saved or something.  I hate renders, they always look like garbage compared to a real pic no matter what I do.

I appreciate the posts and feedback here, it's extremely helpful and this place continues to be my favorite Lego forum.  As soon as this BDP series is over, check back here for a link to free instructions.

Yeah, Studio renders have a sterile look to them (even the scratches/discoloration options are lacking). I find I even have to tweak the colour curves of the renders in Photoshop/Krita/Gimp and boost the saturation/contrast values a bit because the renderer's "sensor" gets blown out with light strength above a value of 3, but then makes the colours lose all energy and become drab and grey with lower light strength values. And no worries! I'm a big fan of this community too.

(And of course LEGO has already used the frog piece for a hood ornament, haha!)