[MOCs] Land Rover Defender + Monster Truck

[KevinMoo]

There is one thing which has a great influence on off-roading performance, that is differential.

Open diffs will severely cripple off-roading capability of a vehicle, but without a diff, turing radius is going to be awful.

Can you really balance the two?

I’m showing you two new MOCs regarding this topic: a Land Rover Defender & a monster truck.

(There will be two new official LEGO sets which happens to be a Defender and a monster truck, I think this is pure coincidence...)

 

 

1. Land Rover Defender

 

 

I have never tried building a model with no differentials. So maybe I should give it a try to see how it performs.

The drivetrain is pretty straight forward:

 

 

 

 

Then I started adding details to it.

I was expecting it to be a lightweight model, but when it seems aesthetically acceptable to me, the final weight (1.3kg) is beyond my expectation (around 1kg).

Other than that, the actual turing radius is really bad, something I can’t take.

So Let’s not talk about performance, just take a look at some details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say this MOC is not too sucessful, so I didn’t bother making a video for it.

Even it is fully remote-controlled, to me it is still a display set.

 

2. Monster Truck

 

 

So how can we really get maximum performance without losing the benefit of differential while cornering?

Most of us know the answer: diff lock.

We’ve seen so many great builds with manually or remotely controlled diff locks, and I want to make something different.

Then I came up with an idea: Can I design an automatic diff lock, which locks when the vehicle goes in a straight line, and unlocks when it takes a turn?

Of course in many cases the vehicle also needs that diff lock to be locked when it takes a turn, but considering it’s a fully automatic action without an extra motor to control the lock,

This is an acceptable trade-off. Besides, other factors could somehow compensate for that, like grippy tires, responsive suspensions, etc.

 

 

I soon realized that this is not going to be a tough job. I only need a simple mechanism that somehow links the diff lock to the steering motor (Servo motor).

A video (4K) to show it all:

 

The concept of this MOC came from Monster Jam trucks, that’s why it has roll cage and detachable body. The chassis and axles is no way near a real monster truck,  it is built solely for the purpose of demonstrating the auto diff lock.

And I think it performs great and seems reliable enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you like these two MOCs!

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by KevinMoo

[agrof]

First I just saw two nice MOCs, after seeing the video - I am in awe!

What an ingenious solution with the diff lock, hat off Sir!  

[BusterHaus]

That monster truck is fantastic, it's like a very nice evolution of 9398. 

[Lakop]

The monster truck is fabulous. The land rover is good (better than the 2019 set coming out) but there is something not right about the front for me. I will have to build it and see for myself.

H

[dpi2000]

KM，很高兴看到这俩。大脚车的自动差速锁挺妙的。小卫士，原来没拍视频，外壳，跟以往的‘俄派卫士’有不小的改变，我挺喜欢。

[MxWinters]

Awesome models @KevinMoo, love the auto-diff lock, great work :D.

@dpi2000 This is an English speaking forum, please use English and not Chinese. We accept that for some users, English is not their first language but please make an effort. Full forum guidelines can be found below.

 

[sirslayer]

Wow, great job!!!  It seems a little jerky... Does automatic diff lock work with high speed?? I wonder what makes it tick?...

[letsbuild]

I would really like to see a video (even a short one) on that Defender. 

[dpi2000]

2 hours ago, MxWinters said:

Awesome models @KevinMoo, love the auto-diff lock, great work :D.

@dpi2000 This is an English speaking forum, please use English and not Chinese. We accept that for some users, English is not their first language but please make an effort. Full forum guidelines can be found below.

 

 

2 hours ago, MxWinters said:

Awesome models @KevinMoo, love the auto-diff lock, great work :D.

@dpi2000 This is an English speaking forum, please use English and not Chinese. We accept that for some users, English is not their first language but please make an effort. Full forum guidelines can be found below.

 

 

sorry～

[MxWinters]

Thank you.
Welcome to Eurobricks by the way

[Samolot]

Wow. I'm impressed. Beautiful clean design. Land Rover is proportional and, despite its small scale, recognizable.

Monster Truck Very compact and beautiful

[Sariel]

The automated differential lock idea is brilliant. It's such an obviously very handy mechanism for any off-road vehicle that I can't believe nobody has thought of it before.

[MxWinters]

@Sariel, I can't believe you didn't think of it 

[896gerard]

15 hours ago, Sariel said:

The automated differential lock idea is brilliant. It's such an obviously very handy mechanism for any off-road vehicle that I can't believe nobody has thought of it before.

2016. 

 

[LegoTT]

Canceled

Edited June 26, 2019 by LegoTT
wrong link

[KevinMoo]

On 6/24/2019 at 8:04 PM, 896gerard said:

2016. 

 

 

Hey Gerard,

Firstly, it doesn’t matter who came up with an idea in the first place, to me it’s not important at all. 

secondly, I don’t believe you have read this topic or watched my video thoroughly, but I have studied your video well enough to believe that our models have completely different structures, serving completely different purposes.

What I have designed is a differential LOCK that locks when the vehicle is driving straight to achieve maximum off-roading performance, and automatically unlocks when it takes a turn for better maneuverability.

In your video, I don’t see an actual lock.

 

[KevinMoo]

33 minutes ago, LegoTT said:

2015 : Nico71 did comment this and said "let's see under weight". mine was in smaller scale

 

This seems to be a legit auto diff lock, but I don’t know the existence of it until now.

If you ask me “Is this your original idea”, yes it is, but I will never know if I’m the first one to have such an idea.

Again, to me it doesn’t matter who did it first.

I never claimed to be the first to do anything, and I don’t want it either.

If someone just want to claim “1st prize”, fine, just take it.

But it’s meaningless to discuss topics like “the first one to do something” in my opinion,

So please, stop posting time marks.

[LegoTT]

Canceled

Edited June 26, 2019 by LegoTT

[KevinMoo]

@LegoTT I can really appreciate that, and this is definitely not personal, especially not against you.

I was just trying to stop a trend in this topic, and you don’t need to apologize.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[896gerard]

 

On 6/25/2019 at 5:09 PM, KevinMoo said:

What I have designed is a differential LOCK that locks when the vehicle is driving straight to achieve maximum off-roading performance, and automatically unlocks when it takes a turn for better maneuverability.

I understand. You are right. I was assuming the general idea of 'making an active controlled differential'. The implementation of this idea is different for our models. 

On 6/25/2019 at 6:04 PM, KevinMoo said:

Again, to me it doesn’t matter who did it first.

I never claimed to be the first to do anything, and I don’t want it either.

If someone just want to claim “1st prize”, fine, just take it.

I was not trying to take the price. I think you have made a brilliant and good-looking model around an original technical principle. That's a good thing. 

[KevinMoo]

hey guys, I have completed building instructions for the Monster Truck:

Besides the change of color scheme and other minor improvements, I’m using a new full-frame camera to shoot all photos for a better picture quality.

It’s now available for free on Rebrickable: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-26278/KevinMoo/monster-truck-with-automated-differential-lock/

 

Hope you like it and enjoy building!

[AFOLegofan66]

this MOC is absolutely brilliant!! Just got the instructions off Rebrickable and they are awesome...many thanks!!

[dabo]

What software did you use to make the instructions? They are the best I've seen so far.

[iLego]

Everything you do is such high quality ! I am amazed. Your work ethic is inspirational. Thank you so much for sharing.

[nike-stars]

the monster truck is cool, but i wouldn't use that gear ratio, it makes the moc just to slow, 2 xl motor is more than adequate to drive that moc offroad with higher speed