MOC - long nosed truck WIP

[Criga88]

Hi all, after a bit of a road trip I had a pretty good idea on how to construct the trucks that are commonly seen driving between cities in Australia. I decided to go with a general long nose truck with a sleeper cab and not a specific make or model to allow a bit of freedom with the design, but with minor bodywork or accessory changes it could be changed.

I based the dimensions on the 3221 LEGO truck set from 2010. As it stands now, the truck is 6 wide (with nothing but the side mirrors and wheels protruding out past the fenders), 22 studs long and just over 10 bricks high.

The entire truck is built on a 2x16 plate for a sturdy chassis with a fair bit of weight down low for stability. I borrowed most of the rear axle and tail light area from 3221 for commonality between the two but will be tweaking it as it is pretty boring back there right now. The sleeper cab can accommodate a minifig on the bed but it is a bit of a tight squeeze and I haven't built in any luxuries back there yet. Up in the cabin the driver is a bit confined too and I still have to get a steering wheel in there somehow. Moving forward to the bonnet and a couple of the parts are still floating, I'll fix this up when I figure out how to build a hinged bonnet and add an engine to the mostly empty space in there. I left the two studs on the nose to use as an attachment point for a bull bar when I can think up a beefy enough design and the jumper plate below represents the hitch where multiple trucks connect up.

For access to the cabin, both doors are hinged but the side mirrors limit how far they swing out. The roof is made of two sections with the front consisting of the windshield and cabin roof floating but secured in place by several key points. The rear section is the sleeper cab roof which rest on the cabin roof and the back wall of the sleeper cab. Two studs secure this in pace but should allow for easy removal.

I'll keep fine tuning this for a little bit longer, it only took a couple of hours to knock this first version out so it shouldn't take too much longer to get it finished. In the mean time let me know what you think.

Update:

I ended up tweaking the bonnet so now it's attached by a 1x2 plate with stick to 2 1x1 plates with upright holders on the frame. There's also a simple engine block underneath but it's main purpose is to hold the air filters and doors in place as they are still floating. A steering wheel wedges the air filters and door assembly in place nicely and I think the nose is done now. I still have to do a bull bar but for now I'm trying to build this with what I have on hand.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Criga88

[grum64]

Very nice. Could easily be a retail set. Well done.

[jfbat]

Nice! Might give it a try to make my own version of this...

[lightningtiger]

Very nice prime mover 'Criga88'...........Brick On Truck On !

[Criga88]

Thanks Grum64, Jfbat and Lightningtiger.

[mkeller234]

Looks really nice. I think you captured the likeness very well. That is a whole lot of detail packed into a small amount of space.

[jimmynick]

Very nice! The black bonnet is distracting (would bley work instead?) but you've done a great job fitting a sleeper cab into such a small space.

[eurotrash]

Mad Max's Truck!

I like it! The hood is a good looking shape. I think we all need to see you do an 8-wide version...... and get the Feral kid in there as well.

[Criga88]

Thanks Mkeller234, Jamesn and Eurotrash. Jamesn, I'll give dark bley a try but it is still intended to be anti-glare paint. Also, if you think that's distracting you won't like the chrome front end and accessories that I plan to trick the truck out with when I do build it . Eurotrash, where's the fun in cramming details into a huge 8 wide build?

[droomangroup]

Bull bar? don't they call them roo bars is Oz? I was going to say you don't need it, but then saw you were from Australia, then I got it. I don't think I've seen a picture of a truck in Australia without one

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Very nice, I love this MOC and this kind of truck is awesome (also unusual in Europe)!

Great Work!!!

[Criga88]

Thanks Droomangroup and LEGO Train 12 Volts. Droomangroup, they tend to not have them for main roads, but if it they go through the outback it's kinda essential.

[Kayaderosseras]

NIce -- The hood and grille shape remind me of the narrow-nosed, non-aerodynamic trucks we used to see in the US a few decades ago.

[Criga88]

Thanks Kayaderosseras, there's still a fair few of those trucks out and about down under, the newer ones are slightly more streamlined though.

[jfbat]

Tried to build it and encountered quite a few riddles and - well for me anyway - impossibilities, some caused by not having the right bricks, some caused by not quite understanding how you pieced yours together. In the end I decided the nose was too hight for me, so I lowered that. The bonnet can be opened, but I have not put in a mock engine yet. The sleeper cab is cramped and I decided not to put an interior in it.

Anyway, this is what I have arrived at:

Sorry for the crappy pictures, dark, phonecam, you know the drill...

[Criga88]

That looks great Jfbat. A lot of mine is small sections of SNOT so I'm not surprised that it was tricky to replicate. If you use 1x2x2 panels as the walls of the sleeper cab, you'll buy yourself a bit more room. It also looks like the cheese slopes on the front of your sleeper cab point outwards, if you point them forward you'll clear a little bit more space in there, but that's if you wanna give a functional sleeper a go. Good luck with an engine block too

[jfbat]

I imagined as much re the SNOT sections. I tried quite a lot of those, but for the sake of a more rigid build decided to implement some more rugged, but also a bit less detailed solutions. I had another solution in mind for the front bumper/lights combo, but lacked the neccesary bricks for that. Same goes for the sides of the sleeper cab, where I wanted to use 1x2x3 plates but only have them in clear, not in the desired red. Having slept over it (again) I also have some other small altertions in mind, but again am not sure if I have the necessary bricks for that.

It was a great build, and many thanks for the inspiration, Criga88!

[Criga88]

No worries Jfbat. I built it as well but was missing a dozen pieces in the right colours, and yes, that is the ghostbusters 2x2x2/3 as the doors, I ran out of plain ones. I also added a bull bar which still allows the bonnet to be opened.

[jimmynick]

Ah, I understand about anti-glare paint now. But it looks much better with the larger expanse of black on the bonnet, rather than just slapped on top.

[jfbat]

To not further hijack your topic, Criga88, I opened my own here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97222

[2LegoOrNot2Lego...]

It surely is impressive, nicely done!!!

[Criga88]

I finally made some trailers to go with the truck MOC after a busy weekend of parting out. I went with a couple of simple rigid trailers to get rid of the white wall panels from all of the old city sets I had, plus it'd be easy to add refrigeration units if I wanted. I'll get round to building a few different types of trailers in due time, and as usual let me know what you think.

[cgarison]

Nice work on the trailers. The back one would look nice attached to the tractor by itself.

[Yzalirk]

The trucks look awesome! The trailer is great, too, but maybe a decal or two on them?

[Criga88]

Thanks Cgarison and Behemoth. I'm not really a fan of decals but I might try and brick-build a logo on the trailers at some stage.