MOC: Mercedes truck for modern cowboys

[Selander]

This is my latest MOC truck, it is a 6 Wide Mercedes truck inspired by their Actros-series.

It features a red chassis and a light bluish gray "transporter box", 17 studs long.

Black sidemirrors and two Chrome fuel tanks and exhaust pipe.

Rear loading ramp is fully functional and have "slip-free" stairs to securly let in the cows.

The black grille of Mercedes truck is built up-side-down and connected to the plates below with a

technic plate 1x4 which reverses the direction of studs.

Also I made my own small Mercedes logotype as an adhesive and put in black grille.

And last, SORRY, but I have no Lego cows....I know that would have added more "realism" to pictures !

Any comments are welcome.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME really AWESOME 'Selander' - what a great front end on this truck - SWEET !

Rear loading area and sides of this stock crate is really nice !

Excellent work and I'm a conformist! !

[FelixTheCat]

Awesome Moc. Looks extremely realistic, not to mention has nice functionality. Should look great with the farm sets.

[dr_spock]

Very nice livestock truck. It can also be used to transport pigs if you have Lego pigs. It doesn't have to be cows.

[blueandwhite]

This is really a beautiful MOC. Simple and functional. The fact that the truck is easily recognizable is an added bonus. My only gripe is with the back ramp. I would turn it around and have the studed area facing outward when the ramp is raised. Maybe it's just me but I feel that the exterior appearance of the truck is very important. The underbelly of the plate just doesn't look quite right to me when the ramp is up.

Beautiful MOC though! Everything else is just stellar.

[mautara]

Very well done!

[michaelozzie]

Very nice truck. I love how well you have captured the front grille design on the truck. I must get my hands on some of those chrome petrol tanks too

[Peppermint_M]

I like this MOC

Now all we need is some other kinds of cattle....

[-zenn]

My only gripe is with the back ramp. I would turn it around and have the studed area facing outward when the ramp is raised.

Agreed. I really like the way how you did the bars with the headlight brick, nice!

[BARNET]

I think the front of the truck is the most amazing part of it! It looks just like the real truck! I wish I was this talented, I'd like to build a Mercedes Axor. :D

Snygg! :)

[Selander]

My only gripe is with the back ramp. I would turn it around and have the studed area facing outward when the ramp is raised. Maybe it's just me but I feel that the exterior appearance of the truck is very important. The underbelly of the plate just doesn't look quite right to me when the ramp is up.

Thanks for positive feedback, blueandwhite.

I have made several trial acc to your proposal (several others also suggested a similar modification).

It's possible to make a "beautiful" and smooth ramp, when facing outwards (in upright position)...but....

at the same time some unexpected problems occured.

1) Weight. Making the ramp otherway around as suggested, results in using more plates and tiles,

=> adding too much weight, which the current "mechanism" cannot support....

2) Geometrical. Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle on Side (Lego ref 2540)is not fully symmetrical.

This has an impact in the horizontal distance between ramp and rear parts of truck.

Meaning the "gap" is either too small (ramp not possible to close) or too big (looks ugly, and adds

even more "torque" on the mechanism => making the ramp not possible to maintain in an upright position.

I tried several work-arounds, without any success.

=> As it is now, provided keeping the exisiting mechanism, I cannot change the ramp.

Any new ideas or porposals are welcome.