Thirdwigg Posted January 13 Posted January 13 (edited) I needed a little break from the 6542 Bigger project, so I put some parts together for a TC30 entry. Who doesn't like a TC contest! I decided to say within my wheelhouse, so I decided to make a truck and a tractor. I quickly threw together a truck, and built it in Studio. I want to make some tractor/loader/excavator/swingloader, but so far everything is coming up short on design. Here is a loader draft with the truck in real bricks, but I'm not sure I like it. The truck is about 180 grams, so I have some space to go up in scale, which I might do to get the tractor just right. It features steering, and tipping bed, and opening doors. I'll post the truck to Rebrickable soon, whether or not I use it for the contest. Edited 17 hours ago by Thirdwigg Added a build Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 13 Posted January 13 Cute little truck and nice to see you in, Mr. Wig! Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 18 Author Posted January 18 I wasn't really happy with where this was build was going, so I started over. The little truck is done, and I'll publish instructions for it soon, but it's not quite right for this contest. I've had on my list to build a swingloader for a while, so this was the time. This little guy is not done, but the weight will be right on the nose. It features four wheel steering, bucket lift and tilt, and rotation of the arm. Then I built another little truck, this one a little bigger. The weight is getting a little high, so I'll need to keep track of that as the project progresses. The below draft is right at 224g. The truck has steering, tipping bed, and has some space for an engine. I'm feeling a little better about this version of the project. So hopefully some progress will move quicker now that I'm happy with what I have going. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Looking even better indeed. Keep it up! Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 19 Author Posted January 19 OK, the Swingloader is done. 291 grams and 366 parts. I'm happy with this, so now I just need something to work with it. The little truck is getting a little heavy... The Swingloader has four wheel steering, rotating front boom, boom lift, and bucket tilt. Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 20 Author Posted January 20 I'm having some trouble with this contest, as my ideas keep starting, stopping, getting stuck, and trying again. This is now MOC draft number 4, but I finally feel like I am getting closer to where I want to be. This is a little site dump truck. And to further integrate a theme between the two, the dump bed can be rotated to each side. Maybe I'll change this entry "Swinging Dirtmovers" or something. The dumper seems a little too big for the loader, so I'll see if I can fix that. It looks out of scale (too big) with the Dump Forward design, but when I switched it to a Dump Rear design, it seemed to look a little more in scale. I'll work a little more on the bodywork and add in the steering, HOGs for the tilt and rotate, and see where I am at. Above is at 188 grams, so I have a little bit to work with. Quote
1gor Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Kyle, perhaps this dump truck can give you some idea... Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 21 Author Posted January 21 1 hour ago, 1gor said: Kyle, perhaps this dump truck can give you some idea... Yeah, that is the general idea I have going right now. I kind of want to do one with a cab, like this. But in order to get the bed to work with the tires and liftover of the Swingloader, it looks too big next to the swingloader. I may need to try your idea without the cab with only the roll bar just to make it look a little smaller. It might just come down to weight. I have the chassis done now, but no cab, and I'm at 205 grams. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 21 Posted January 21 1 hour ago, Thirdwigg said: I have the chassis done now, but no cab, and I'm at 205 grams. I feel the pain. You'll find a solution, I'm sure! Quote
1gor Posted January 22 Posted January 22 That is my suggestion with no cab, or with rollbar only...so you have more playground to reach 300grams Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 22 Author Posted January 22 10 hours ago, 1gor said: That is my suggestion with no cab, or with rollbar only...so you have more playground to reach 300grams Thanks, I tried a little rollbar/open cab design, and the proportions looked off. But I do have a little room to play with in terms of the weight. This is a build with the cab, and it's at 259 grams. All the gearing for the HOGs are in. Steering, tipping, and rotation of the bed all work the way I want them to. Next I'll clean up the bed a little more, build out the cabin, and tie it all together. Based on how things are going, I should be able to do that with the 40 remaining grams. I love these contests with a global constraint like size or weight. My kitchen scale hasn't had this much use in months. Quote
1gor Posted January 23 Posted January 23 (edited) Light bluish gray frame is lighter than black? It loocks cute Edited January 23 by 1gor Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 24 Author Posted January 24 16 hours ago, 1gor said: Light bluish gray frame is lighter than black? It loocks cute Maybe! My scale can't measure that small of a difference. I hope you still find it cute. Alright, all done! And I have a gram to spare. I would have liked to do a little more on the front styling and rigidity, but I'm happy with how everything works. It matches the swingloader perfectly too! I really hope my scale is accurate. I have the studio file and instructions done, so I'll post them after I post the 6542 Truck and Trailer this weekend. And here are the two TC30 builds together. I'll take proper photos in the next couple of days, and release the instructions for free so you all can see what I did. I'm happy to be done with these. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 24 Posted January 24 This loader looks very cute indeed ! And the duo work very well, great job. Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 25 Author Posted January 25 Thanks @1980SomethingSpaceGuy and @2GodBDGlory. I'm glad you like it. OK, the Swing Loader is done, and you may find instructions for free at Rebrickable.com. Hopefully you may have fun building it, or discover a useful idea. Some photos. A video for both builds. You may notice a couple of parts are the incorrect color, so those are on order. I'll publish the Swing Dumper sometime this upcoming week. Quote
Appie Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Such a cute couple with nice functions Great work! Really getting a "this could have been real sets" vibe from these. Quote
Jundis Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Especially the cab of the dumper is brilliantly designed! Checks all boxes for me :-) Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 25 Author Posted January 25 10 hours ago, Appie said: Such a cute couple with nice functions Great work! Really getting a "this could have been real sets" vibe from these. Thanks! I'm glad you like how it turned out. 10 hours ago, Jundis said: Especially the cab of the dumper is brilliantly designed! Checks all boxes for me :-) I'm happy you like the shape of the cab. I was struggling with how I wanted it shaped, so thanks for the affirmation. Quote
gyenesvi Posted January 27 Posted January 27 These turned out really cute, matching each other both in functional theme and shaping style, really in spirit of the contest! Quote
Thirdwigg Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 On 1/27/2026 at 7:43 AM, gyenesvi said: These turned out really cute, matching each other both in functional theme and shaping style, really in spirit of the contest! Thanks, yeah they ended matching better than I though they would. Considering all the starts and stops I had with this theme, I'm happy with where they both ended. 20 hours ago, 1gor said: Dump truck looks even better now with yellow parts. Agreed. After all these years, I'm still surprised how just a couple of color changes can go a long way on a build. Quote
Thirdwigg Posted Thursday at 02:39 AM Author Posted Thursday at 02:39 AM I was finally able to get the required parts for this tractor, and take some better photos. Also, free instructions for the Swingdumper are now posted on Rebrickable. Enjoy! Features: Steering with HOG Tipping with HOG Bed swinging with HOG Opening cabin Bed tilted to the side. Bed tilted to the rear. And both of the swing tractors together. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed building them. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted Thursday at 09:47 AM Posted Thursday at 09:47 AM Those two turned out great; neatly built with matching scale, style and features. Top class entry! Quote
MangaNOID Posted Thursday at 02:08 PM Posted Thursday at 02:08 PM Very nice entries you ‘simple’ clean styling works again 👍 Quote
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