[C-MODEL] 42009 Tow Truck

[OG_technic]

Hello lads,

First time poster here, I just recently bought my first Technic set in almost 8 years, the 42009. Loved the set, fun build, great looking model but the most exciting part about Lego isn't just merely following the instructions, it's seeing what you can come up with it yourself. Please be nice because my Technic skills are quite shaky at best

I love euro style tow trucks, so I thought I'd take a shot at seeing what I can with almost 2600 parts. It's far from perfect, the winch is free to rotate when the gearbox is in neutral, and the whole system has almost little to no torque because I used a worm gear+Clutch early on in the powertrain. Also the steering is incredibly heavy. Any tips on how to fix it?

The model isn't finished, I plan on stripping it down tomorrow to rework the internals and solve some of the issues. But I'm quite happy with how the bodywork turned out.

Cheers

Full album here

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=551376

Edited January 3, 2015 by OG_technic

[kisper]

Looking forward to end product !

[Dalafik]

Looks promising. But I think that front window should be larger. See how MrTekneex did it with his Tow Truck.

[OG_technic]

Looks promising. But I think that front window should be larger. See how MrTekneex did it with his Tow Truck.

Good idea. Right now it looks like more like a transformer than an actual truck

Edit: But I also think that a front window that big would look kinda weird on this model. I'm going for a Scania inspired front end and they usually have rather short front windows.

Edited January 3, 2015 by OG_technic

[Pluto_MkII]

Great tow truck, can't wait to see how you improve it.

[Josephiah]

Looks good. I'm a big fan of the C-model concept (limiting parts to one source set), and there seem to be several good ones for the 42009. Any plans for instructions once you reach a version you're happy with?

[Richard Dower]

its 42008 in Yellow!

[Balrog]

Looks good so far. But I too think that the cabin should be taller.

[Lakop]

Great C model. I'm sure you can improve it and I look forward to the completed model. I like the heavy recovery vehicles and hope to build one.

H

[arik]

Nice model!

I think the steering is heavy because you have only 1M lever for the first set of wheels. Maybe you should change it to traditional 2M and use even longer for the second set of wheels. Also try putting the white clutch gear only before the winch, the LA's don't need it.

[OG_technic]

Thanks a lot everyone! Instructions are a possibility although I can't make any promises since school starts in about a week.

Also, arik, what do you mean by a 2M lever? I'm new to the game so I'm not familiar with part names yet :)

And are you sure that LAs don't need clutch gears? Because in the 42009 I found that once the crane reaches its maximum angles the gears would start grinding if you left the motor running. But it's all good anyway, I had enough clutch gears for every single function.

Quick update - made a lot of progress last night, outputs are much faster, gearbox is smoother, functions are more linear and I got rid of a lot of redundant beams.

Also made the window taller, what do you guys think?

[arik]

By 2M lever I mean that the length of the steering arm (lever) is 2 units, i.e. length of 3 studs. The first set of wheels have very short steering arm, and that's probably the reason for heavy steering. Make it longer (which means longer travel in the gear track, but that shouldn't be a problem). Compare to original 42009 steering setup.

The Linear Actuators have internal clutch, which makes the noise (I'm fairly sure it isn't the gears grinding). It's safe to use as a clutch, although I don't want to keep them running against the clutch for long (just to be safe not to wear out the clutch). If you use the white clutch gear, you probably loose quite a bit of power that the LA's could use.

[OG_technic]

Ahh, gotcha.

I deliberately used a shorter lever for the first set of wheels because it meant that I could get 2:1 steering ratio for the two sets of wheels without having to use different sized gears and rack offsets. But I have a lot of gears left over so I could try to come up with a solution. Thanks a lot mate

I see. Do you know if the mini-LAs have the same built in clutch?

[arik]

Glad I could help. Mini-LA's also have the built-in clutch that works the same way, although the clutch implementation is different. For more info, see for example http://www.eurobrick...=25#entry932264

Oh, also, when having two steered axles, you want them to point to a point that lies on the same line as the rear axle(s). So if you have 2:1 steering angle, the rear axles should be as far from 2nd steered axle as the steered axles are from each other. Looking at your current setup, the steering angles ratio should be maybe something like 4:3 or so (you can count the exact ratio by comparing how far each of the steered axle is from the middle point of rear axles).

[OG_technic]

Glad I could help. Mini-LA's also have the built-in clutch that works the same way, although the clutch implementation is different. For more info, see for example http://www.eurobrick...=25#entry932264

Oh, also, when having two steered axles, you want them to point to a point that lies on the same line as the rear axle(s). So if you have 2:1 steering angle, the rear axles should be as far from 2nd steered axle as the steered axles are from each other. Looking at your current setup, the steering angles ratio should be maybe something like 4:3 or so (you can count the exact ratio by comparing how far each of the steered axle is from the middle point of rear axles).

Wow, lots of useful information. You're the man. I will be back with updates tonight hopefully.

[OG_technic]

It's 99% done, just gotta clean up the engine bay and switch some of the clutch gears to normal 24 tooth gears. Pretty satisfied with the way the bodywork turned out.

Functions are as follows -

HOG steering

Lever operated battery switch

Wheel lift, winch, main crane/boom structure and stabilizers controlled by pf

Tilting cab

Dummy V8 engine

Front 4 wheel steering 4:3 ratio ( thanks arik :) )

Manually extendable wheel lift

I will post some nice outdoors pictures once the wind calms down and I completely finish building it.

Cheers

Edited January 7, 2015 by OG_technic

[gevans12]

Pretty awesome truck! Can't wait for the instructions!

[Rishab N]

Great work!. The 42009 seems to be a very versatile set as there have been a couple different C models for it

[arik]

Looking good! It's amazing what you can do with just a single set. Are all stickers at the same pieces as in the model?

LDD or some photos of internals would be nice.

[OG_technic]

Thanks everyone!

I changed a few things since the last photoshoot, gave it a (slightly) better interior, made the engine somewhat detailed and made some other general stylistic changes to it.

Arik, whats LDD? I've also been meaning to ask how you guys make instructions. Do you use CAD or something?

Meanwhile I'll post some detailed pictures tomorrow

[NXT45]

Thanks everyone!

I changed a few things since the last photoshoot, gave it a (slightly) better interior, made the engine somewhat detailed and made some other general stylistic changes to it.

Arik, whats LDD? I've also been meaning to ask how you guys make instructions. Do you use CAD or something?

Meanwhile I'll post some detailed pictures tomorrow

LDD = Lego Digital Designer. You can use that program (download at ldd.lego.com) to make instructions.

[OG_technic]

Looking good! It's amazing what you can do with just a single set. Are all stickers at the same pieces as in the model?

LDD or some photos of internals would be nice.

I only applied a handful of stickers when I was building the 42009. I've had the idea of building a tow truck even before I finished building the 42009 so I skipped out on most of the stickers.

[therealjustin]

I think it looks fantastic! Nicely done!

[neoconagenda]

The wine glass adds a touch of class

[OG_technic]

Thanks everyone! Means a lot.

I went ahead and removed the imgur photos because they represented an outdated version. I have made a lot small changes since then and finally settled on a version that I can happily claim is 100% completed. A big shout out to arik for helping me solve a couple of issues and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who followed this thread from the start. I will download LDD today and play around a little to see if I can make instructions, but no promises

Cheers!

Dimensions -

Length - 73.6 cm with wheel lift deployed, 48 cm without

Height - 19.1 cm

Width - 15 cm

Part count -

~ 2450 pieces

Highlights/Functions -

Motorized Winch, wheel lift, crane arm and outriggers

Manually extendable wheel lift

Hidden battery box operated by a lever located behind the cab

Hand of God steering

Tilting Cab

Opening doors

Dummy V8 engines connected to the 2nd rear axle

4 wheel steering - 4:3 ratio

http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=551556

Edited January 7, 2015 by OG_technic