Project M- Introduction and Excavator

[ZCerberus]

Project M-

I will be updating the first post here as I get projects done.

I am not a “City” builder guy. One look at my Flickr and you’ll see it is castles- and once and a while a spaceship- but nary a car or boat or truck to be seen (except for the LEGO sponsored alt model challenge). This year, however, something has changed that has made me reconsider my self-imposed City embargo. My son, Miles, will be 2 and 1/2 in December and he LOVES construction trucks. My wife and I bought him the Juniors Garbage Truck when he turned 2, but he wasn’t very skilled at handling it and pieces went flying everywhere. I put the garbage truck back up on the shelf until we purchased another Juniors construction set as a gift for a family member last month. We also picked one up for Miles so he could join in the fun and it became clear to me that not only did he love the new set, in the 4 months since he had turned 2, he had become much more adept at handling a model without breaking it. So here I am, looking at our two somewhat under whelming Juniors models now wishing I had more construction vehicles for our play.

After deciding I would embark on a construction truck building mission, I decided I would check out past LEGO construction vehicle sets for some inspiration. I was surprised a bit by the somewhat limited range of minifigure scale offerings over the years. Technic has dozens of construction trucks while the normal City theme has been somewhat lighter over the years. There have been construction themes in a few years 2005, 2012 and now again in 2015, but I was surprised to only see one or two excavators or bulldozers have been made over the years (though admittedly the bulldozer models have been fantastic). While construction is a current LEGO theme, my 2 year old is not the best sharer, so if I want to play with him, I am going to need to build some trucks to join in the fun. I decided while I would purchase some of the current city wave- those would be primarily his play things while I would build advanced models for myself.

This project could go anywhere, so I am going to need some ground rules to help shape my decisions.

Rule 1. Minimal Bricklink ordering. Since the 2012 and 2005 are the relative recent past, I can get some nice yellow and black specialty parts for my builds, but I have to be strategic and not order a ton of parts I already have or can scrounge myself. If part of the MOC process is to save some dough, especially since I will be picking up a few of the City sets for Miles, then I can’t go crazy on BL as well. Luckily, I am blessed with a rather large collection, so it won’t be as challenging for me as it would be for others.

Rule 2. LEGO minifig illusion scale. Since I want to be able to play with my son, I want them to be minifig illusion-ish scale to blend in with his Juniors and city models. This will be a bit challenging as I am used to building big. I realize there is a stud or two leeway here, so I think I can do it. With no specific part count, hopefully I can pack the small models with some nice detail even at their scale. Still, I plan to conform to the typical 6 wide truck cab and four wide single person cabs on the construction vehicles as much as possible.

Rule 3. I am not going to model my construction equipment after any specific brand or model. They will merely be based on whatever source material and ideas I like.

Rule 4. I have decided that while I will make the models reasonable stable, I am not going to try to make them “Miles proof”. In other words, I will use SNOT and other delicate technics to get the forms to look good with the knowledge that my son will have his trucks and the MOC ones will be “daddy’s” models when we are playing- as much as it is possible to keep him from wanting to play with daddy’s models that is…

Okay. So now that I have the rules, let’s get started with picking the vehicles. I am from the USA, so I will use the terms as I know them- you may have to google image search to know a “dump truck” is essentially the same thing as a “tipper truck” etc. The common names and the official construction names also vary widely even across locations in the US, so while I will do my best to explain the piece of equipment I am talking about, let’s not get too picky about the official name of a certain piece of equipment.

1. The first thing I want to attempt is an excavator. Where I live, we have a lot of summer road construction. As such we see a lot of excavators around here. Those things just scream construction to me, so that is where I want to start. Some may also call an excavator a" trackhoe" or maybe a digger- though backhoes (see below) are sometimes also called diggers, so I’m sticking with excavator for this one!

Click image to jump to excavator.

2. Dump truck. Miles’s garbage truck has been subbing in for the real thing (his garbage truck is actually structurally more or less exactly like a dump truck) but I think we can do better. One interesting note about the dump trucks I see around here- they are usually not yellow or orange like other construction equipment, they are often blue, white or red or some other more subdued color. It will be a good spot to save on some yellow to use on other construction equipment.

Click image to jump to dump truck.

These builds will pair nicely with LEGO 60075- which I bought on discount at Walmart.com, though I am not going to build them for Miles until my MOCs are complete and we are ready to play together. It looks like the “excavator” in the LEGO version has something like a crane attachment on it and is a wheeled instead of tracked version.

3. Bulldozer. I must admit, the 2015 LEGO version is pretty sweet (as is the version before that). I am not too sure mine will be that much better than what LEGO produced.

This one is an obvious pairing to LEGO 60074

4. Backhoe (and front loader). A front loader is a term for a truck or tractor that has large square bucket on the front that can lift, move or load other materials usually into a dump truck or onto a conveyor belt. A backhoe is just a hoe/digging bucket attached to the back of a tractor or a front loader. In the US, the combo of a front loader with a backhoe is often just referred to as a backhoe. This is a great piece of equipment- very versatile and seriously bad megablocks!

Click image to jump to backhoe

There is a front loader in the demolition site set- LEGO 60076. This one will be a gift from Santa (purchased during double VIP days), so I still have a little bit of time to build the backhoe and decide if I should also build a crane with wrecking ball and another small dump truck to match the LEGO model.

5. Anything else I come up with...

Click image for jump to skid steer loader and compact tracked loader

Click image for jump to forklift.

Click image for jump to telehandler.

Click image to jump to front loader.

Click image to jump to crawler crane.

Any piece of sweet or essential construction equipment missing from my plan?

[dr_sarcophagus]

I think you pretty well have it covered. Although once the team have finished the foundations they'll need a large crane, scaffolding, a cement mixer (and the hosy sucky thing to get the concrete to the upper floor formwork) and prefab concrete panels on a low loader..... :)

[Russ424]

I too am hopping to build a Lego excavator. The technic ones are great but I agree that Lego should have a decent excavator. Can't wait to see what you come up with

[ZCerberus]

First up is the excavator.

This is my second attempt- the first one being too big. I managed to shrink attempt 1's 14 stud main body width down to 10. I also stabilized the arm a bit more and shrunk the cab from 6 down to the more LEGO appropriate 4 stud width.

As you can see it is pretty "posable" with the arm having good articulation. The arm is still a bit fragile- it tried several different arm/piston type assemblies to find the one with the clutch strong enough to keep the arm from flopping, but light enough to not rip the arm apart in other areas when trying to articulate.

A close up of the cab. My first attempt had a 6 wide cab which allowed for much more room to add controls and color design. It was just too big. This cab is better scale but a bit fragile.

And a shot from the rear for some of the finer details going on in... de tail... Excavators are clearly not street legal so they don't have tail lights. They do, however, have red reflectors on the back to keep people from running into them.

You'll have to excuse the photos a bit- it is dark in Minnesota when I leave for work and when I return, so I have to use a few camera tricks to get the photos looking solid.

[ZCerberus]

I also built this little skid steer loader affectionately known around here simple as a "bobcat" after the brand made in North Dakota.

I also built a tracked version which I think is actually even better!

[kabel]

This looks like a lot of fun Z! I really like how you made the mocs to fit the minifigs so you can play with you son, yet keep them rather realistic looking at the same time. I'm actually doing the same for Western for my kids but havn't bothered to post the images yet. Maybe I should ... ...

[ZCerberus]

Yes! The ability to share the hobby with your kids is totally rewarding! Miles can talk very well for a two year old and he lights up when he sees a new build. It is also teaching him the names and roles of the equipment. He can now identify the "excabators" and "skid steer lowders" when we see the equipment in real life!

[ER0L]

This looks nice indeed - especially the combination of System and Technic parts on the excavator arm to get the right shape (via System) plus function and stability (via Technic). I was just thinking if this part (snotwise) could help to stabilize it even more, if necessary: http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=2744#T=C

However, since I'm always interested in that subject: Could you tell what you mean by "minifig illusion scale"? Guess I've never heard that expression before.

[ZCerberus]

However, since I'm always interested in that subject: Could you tell what you mean by "minifig illusion scale"? Guess I've never heard that exp<b></b>ression before.

Sure. The shape of the mini figure isn't really in scale with a human. They are too wide for their height which stops them from sitting two people in a cab at the standard car width. LEGO trucks are similarly out of scale. Standard car width of 4 is too small for a real sedan but the width of 6 studs would be too big. 6 is probably a bit under a true truck width, but 8 would be too wide. Go stand next to your car. Are you taller than your car? Unless you drive a huge pickup truck, you probably are. Have your minifigure stand next to even a small Lego car- which is taller? The car. Hence your typical LEGO car isn't really in scale with the figure. That is why I call the LEGO standard minifig illusion scale.

The term actually first cropped up when discussing pirate ships. Real ships are 20-30 meters wide when scaled-up, while LEGO ones are only 3-5. Way out of real scale, so the LEGO standard became known as "minifig illusion scale".

[ER0L]

Have your minifigure stand next to even a small Lego car- which is taller? The car.

Not necessarily :

But I know what you mean. As a car builder I'm dealing with that problem all the time. However, I have the impression there is no such thing as a genuine Lego minifig scale - be it "illusional" or not - in the sense that the fig could serve as a common ground even for Town purposes - you may spot 10w sports cars like a DeLorean combined with 6w trucks within the same City layout. That's why I'm dealing with a range of scales (between about 1/35 and 1/43) to get a proper graduation between vehicles - where such illogical combinations are impossible. Anyhow I'd be interested to know the scale of your excavator - even if it's no copy of an existing model.

[ZCerberus]

But I know what you mean. As a car builder I'm dealing with that problem all the time. However, I have the impression there is no such thing as a genuine Lego minifig scale - be it "illusional" or not - in the sense that the fig could serve as a common ground even for Town purposes - you may spot 10w sports cars like a DeLorean combined with 6w trucks within the same City layout. That's why I'm dealing with a range of scales (between about 1/35 and 1/43) to get a proper graduation between vehicles - where such illogical combinations are impossible. Anyhow I'd be interested to know the scale of your excavator - even if it's no copy of an existing model.

The hair is just barely above the car- and those are low riding sports cars. In my little car, my whole head is above the top of the car.

Well that is the whole thing for me here- I am not even trying to bother with dealing with a realistic scale- just whatever seems "reasonable" as compared to the figure and other trucks- hence the reason I call it "illusion scale"... Whatever size or scale is necessary to give the illusion of being realistic as compared to the figure.

If you really want to determine how well I did... for the excavator- real ones are widely variable in size. Small ones can be only about 2 meters wide while larger are more like 4 to 4.5. They vary greatly in depth and height as well. This one is 10 studs wide on the body so it is on the larger side. The base is SNOT built, so I would have to examine closely to get the stud length.

[ER0L]

Well, proportionwise minifigs don't seem to be the tallest people around ... Anyhow I just wanted to prove the fact that that there may be cars being lower than figs yet having enough room to fit them in.

Well that is the whole thing for me here- I am not even trying to bother with dealing with a realistic scale- just whatever seems "reasonable" as compared to the figure and other trucks- hence the reason I call it "illusion scale"... Whatever size or scale is necessary to give the illusion of being realistic as compared to the figure.

I see, you just decide case by case what's looking good, regardless of a certain scale.

If you really want to determine how well I did... for the excavator- real ones are widely variable in size. Small ones can be only about 2 meters wide while larger are more like 4 to 4.5. They vary greatly in depth and height as well. This one is 10 studs wide on the body so it is on the larger side. The base is SNOT built, so I would have to examine closely to get the stud length.

I can see you did well proportionwise - I'm just interested in the real scales of City mocs. In a 1/40 scale a width of 8 cm would mean 3,20 m which sounds like a realistic measure to me though I don't have a proof for that. Anyhow thanks for the explications!

[SearchFunction]

Depending on what they are building, you could add a lot of equipment. Wasn't even aware lego had made one of these :

http://brickset.com/sets/7746-1/Single-Drum-Roller

but I have seen a similar one during road construction. You could also add an asphalt paver machine. And where do the crew eat? Where is their office? They probably have a few pick-ups/vans as well for surveying and similar tasks.

If we are talking building construction there are carpenters, bricklayers, electricians and more to add as well

[Captain Dee]

Z, your Miles is one lucky kid. Not many people master the castle universe, yawn, and whip out such a fine collection of heavy machines. What you have here is great.

Scrapers (drawn behind big ag tractors or self-propelled) are often used to help level big commercial lots, plus they see heavy use in road construction. Road graders are common machines too. And who doesn't like a good articulating front-end loader? Those are 3 more common examples that would add to the collection.

The skid-steer looks good, but I agree the track model looks better. A real challenge would be making it vertical-lift vs the fixed radial swing as shown. It would be tricky at that scale. I can't help but notice the hinges at the bottom of the front of the cab - it makes it look like it would tilt, just like the real thing!

Good work.

[droomangroup]

That excavator is awesome!

[Gunman]

Hey ZC I didnt expect you in the city forum, I guess kids change us

That tracked "Bobcat" is so cute.. :wub:

(Lets hope my lil girl wont move me to the friends theme )

[ZCerberus]

It's been a while since I've updated this, but I have added a load of new construction trucks in the last 2 weeks in preparation for BrickWorld.

Models to expect to see soon (complete but awaiting photos):

Backhoe

Telehandler

Frontloader (articulating)

Forklift

Pick-up truck

Crawler crane (my favorite)

I am posting here so I can continue to link the models to the first post here.