[TC25] 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245

[Jurss]

This is masterpiece.

Sadly, hoses will ruin little bit looks.

[SaperPL]

7 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I know that feeling well! Hopefully I can avoid it here, but maybe not

You're already halfway there with the front suspension :P but let's see where it goes.

Btw, here's a cool example of the steering for this kind of truck at this scale, as well as shape of the cabin: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-17765

7 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

It's a 4mm rigid tube cut to length. I think they're allowed, since cutting those tubes is a standard thing to do (I think required in certain old sets?), but I will admit that cutting them to 1L is somewhat bad form.

I would check that with Jim, because you know, the Jury vote. For me it feels kind of like cheating by gluing pieces together/overhauling the axle connectors in weird way, but at the same time, someone has to be the pathfinder when it comes to new techniques :D

7 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I'm noticing that the boom can easily hinge at that connection, though, which it isn't supposed to, so I'll be investigating ways to change that.

I just realised that it's not supposed to be a hinge, but slide those axles and extend the segment there. Well, get back to what I said about mechanisms holding just on themselves :D

But still, good luck, because I want to see how that arm is going to work. I'm also wondering how much the whole thing will rattle and jump when you're pumping the pneumatic system at a point in front of the first axle...

[pleegwat]

15 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

It's a 4mm rigid tube cut to length. I think they're allowed, since cutting those tubes is a standard thing to do (I think required in certain old sets?), but I will admit that cutting them to 1L is somewhat bad form. I'm noticing that the boom can easily hinge at that connection, though, which it isn't supposed to, so I'll be investigating ways to change that. 

I own sets from the 90s which would require cutting the flexible hoses, but if they ever required cutting the rigid ones that's even longer ago.

[2GodBDGlory]

12 hours ago, Jurss said:

This is masterpiece.

Sadly, hoses will ruin little bit looks.

Yep, they will!

8 hours ago, SaperPL said:

You're already halfway there with the front suspension :P but let's see where it goes.

Btw, here's a cool example of the steering for this kind of truck at this scale, as well as shape of the cabin: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-17765

That is good inspiration! That's even a whole two studs skinnier than mine, which is impressive

8 hours ago, SaperPL said:

I would check that with Jim, because you know, the Jury vote. For me it feels kind of like cheating by gluing pieces together/overhauling the axle connectors in weird way, but at the same time, someone has to be the pathfinder when it comes to new techniques :D

This is a technique I've used a lot in my personal models, but this is a contest with standards, so it probably is best for me to change it, especially since it... didn't even work for what I wanted it for. I've got a different solution on my desk right now, which is slightly bulkier, but not too bad, and still has some room for tweaking.

8 hours ago, SaperPL said:

I'm also wondering how much the whole thing will rattle and jump when you're pumping the pneumatic system at a point in front of the first axle...

Mmm, good point, Pneumatic control in general is going to be tricky.

Edited June 30, 2023 by 2GodBDGlory

[2GodBDGlory]

Whelp, here's tonight's update! I haven't really made any mechanical tweaks, but I've got the cab pretty well figured out:

I'm planning on using this 1980s-vintage single-acting cylinder as a pump for my single-acting pneumatic system, and this spot in the rear of the cab seems to work pretty well. After all, the original set had a cutout in this part of the cab for the battery box, so I reckon I can have a cutout myself if I want one!

The next big job will be trying to get all my pneumatic hardware into the cab, but I'll also need to work on a bit more aesthetic stuff, like mudguards, reinforce the cab attachments, reinforce the bed attachment and support, and then just generally reinforce everything I have space left to reinforce!

[Berthil]

On 6/30/2023 at 2:10 AM, 2GodBDGlory said:

It's a 4mm rigid tube cut to length

If it is a rigid hose it is probably a 3mm? The pneumatic tubing is 4mm.

Anyway, great progress so far! Cutting to 1L length is perfectly fine, especially because we have so little room to work with. I probably need a 1,5L hose to get some sort of working steering wheel in next to the HoG. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Berthil

[Jundis]

7 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

The next big job will be trying to get all my pneumatic hardware into the cab, but I'll also need to work on a bit more aesthetic stuff, like mudguards, reinforce the cab attachments, reinforce the bed attachment and support, and then just generally reinforce everything I have space left to reinforce!

The routing of pneumatic hoses, even in medium-sized models are really hard. Wish you the best!

I wish Lego would introduce a 90° angled piece with one female end to fit the connection of the cylinders and on male end to go into the hoses. This would really help here, too.

[suffocation]

9 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Whelp, here's tonight's update!

I've been following your progress since you started and been thoroughly impressed every step of the way. This latest update, though, is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

[TechnicMOCer]

Incredible functions in such a small scale! Love that crane, but isn't it possible to make it simpler? Also cab seems to be too boxy, but it's just my opinion.

Edited July 2, 2023 by TechnicMOCer

[2GodBDGlory]

On 7/1/2023 at 4:49 AM, Berthil said:

If it is a rigid hose it is probably a 3mm? The pneumatic tubing is 4mm.

Hehe! Years ago I mislabeled my drawer of those as 4mm, and even though I realized it was wrong, I never changed it, and I guess it's rubbing off on me!

On 7/1/2023 at 4:49 AM, Berthil said:

Anyway, great progress so far! Cutting to 1L length is perfectly fine, especially because we have so little room to work with. I probably need a 1,5L hose to get some sort of working steering wheel in next to the HoG. 

I'd agree that it probably is, and at any rate ought to be, a legal technique for this contest, but I think avoiding it is preferable where possible!

On 7/1/2023 at 5:04 AM, Jundis said:

The routing of pneumatic hoses, even in medium-sized models are really hard. Wish you the best!

I wish Lego would introduce a 90° angled piece with one female end to fit the connection of the cylinders and on male end to go into the hoses. This would really help here, too.

Thanks! Yeah, that does sound handy, but I'm not sure how you'd manufacture such a part, since it'd have to be a hybrid of rubber and plastic, wouldn't it?

 

On 7/1/2023 at 7:06 AM, suffocation said:

I've been following your progress since you started and been thoroughly impressed every step of the way. This latest update, though, is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

Thanks!

On 7/2/2023 at 3:23 AM, TechnicMOCer said:

Incredible functions in such a small scale! Love that crane, but isn't it possible to make it simpler? Also cab seems to be too boxy, but it's just my opinion.

What do you mean by simpler?

I've tried moving the grille out half a stud on my next variant (to be shown soon), which makes it look a bit less boxy, though maybe not quite like the original set. Anyways, I can get opinions on it once I post it!

[2GodBDGlory]

So, here's that update:

As you can see, the grille has been moved out half a stud. I don't need to do this, but I think it might give the front a bit of texture. I'd like to hear what people think about it!

In here you can see the four pneumatic valves

With the roof off, you can see the old red cylinder/pump, the distribution block, and the first part of my pneumatic tubing. So far I have all the hoses on the "control" side done, which is a lot of hoses on a single-acting system like this,  since you need two hoses going to each valve. I'm happy with how well everything has fit so far, so hopefully I can find space for the four additional hoses I'll need to route to the cylinders on the arm.

[SaperPL]

That's some tight hose routing, it looks cool.

What is your plan for holding that old pump? you will have to pull it back manually so it's not a press-down and spring takes it back like in the standard pump.

I don't like that the lower levers are so close to that black 1x6 tile marking bottom of the windshield. Feels like squeezing a finger there will be hard and you'll end up touching other switch easily.

[Thirdwigg]

I actually like the recessed grill a little better. But I tend to like "texture" to be subtly behind liftarms/panels.

I really like the valves in the cabin. That's a great idea, though I agree with @SaperPL that a little more finger space would be helpful if you can manage it.

[2GodBDGlory]

18 hours ago, SaperPL said:

That's some tight hose routing, it looks cool.

What is your plan for holding that old pump? you will have to pull it back manually so it's not a press-down and spring takes it back like in the standard pump.

Yeah, I'll have to manually pull the pump back up. Because of the single-acting system, pulling the pump back up is actually sucking air to run other cylinders, so it does require some power. The original old sets did put springs on these for pumping, but I don't have them, so it'll be manual (since I don't have room for any external spring mechanism). It also gives me the option to leave it stored in the down position, which looks quite a bit better. In theory, I could use a small cylinder as a pump here, but I couldn't get enough pressure with them, requiring the bigger one.

14 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

I actually like the recessed grill a little better. But I tend to like "texture" to be subtly behind liftarms/panels.

Yeah, I'm still undecided

18 hours ago, SaperPL said:

I don't like that the lower levers are so close to that black 1x6 tile marking bottom of the windshield. Feels like squeezing a finger there will be hard and you'll end up touching other switch easily.

 

14 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

I really like the valves in the cabin. That's a great idea, though I agree with @SaperPL that a little more finger space would be helpful if you can manage it.

Yeah, this was really the only place I could put them, but it's fairly convenient for control! I'd agree that it's unfortunate how close the levers are to that tile, but there's really no way for me to move them up, because the body of the upper valves are only 1.5 studs away from the roof, leaving only 0.5 studs between the output ports and the roof, which is really the bare minimum!

[pleegwat]

You could use axle extenders to lengthen the switches, but that would look weird and the switches might interfere with each other so you may have to pull them off again after operating the switch.

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, pleegwat said:

You could use axle extenders to lengthen the switches, but that would look weird and the switches might interfere with each other so you may have to pull them off again after operating the switch.

Yeah, I considered that, but they do stick out and look kind of ugly, and might not actually make it much easier to operate. It's not too bad as it is, so I'm satisfied.

[2GodBDGlory]

I spent a while on the model this afternoon, though it doesn't look a whole lot different. I finished all the pneumatic tubing, and now all the functions work! It honestly wasn't as nightmarish as I'd feared, but I'm glad it's done! I did have to cheat the roof up half a stud to get the extra hoses to fit in well enough, though. I moved the grille back in to sit flush, reinforced the crane rotation knob, and reinforced the steering knob. I also added some rearview mirrors

The next things I'll have to do are raise the first section of the crane arm (if possible without extending the hoses--I don't want to have to do that!), since on the original set it goes well above the roof, while mine is well below it. Otherwise, I'll need to build some fenders, add a rear bumper, and see how I can reinforce the outriggers and bed dumping. I think most of the challenging parts are done now, though!

[MangaNOID]

This is a very nice looking build!
A difficult choice with the pneumatics but you may be pulling it off! 
Looking forward to see it function.

[lcvisser]

Wow, looks great! Can’t believe you managed to fit all that!

I think you should also raise the walls of the bed a bit. The bed now looks too low  relative to the cab and crane. Probably the cab is too big relative to the wheels, so don’t make the bed too big either. Maybe one or two layers of plates. 

[2GodBDGlory]

7 hours ago, lcvisser said:

Wow, looks great! Can’t believe you managed to fit all that!

I think you should also raise the walls of the bed a bit. The bed now looks too low  relative to the cab and crane. Probably the cab is too big relative to the wheels, so don’t make the bed too big either. Maybe one or two layers of plates. 

Thanks!

Good suggestion! Checking it against my Stud.io model of the original set definitely agrees that it should be higher (though I thought I had scaled it correctly before--you're probably right that the cab is a bit too high). I'm thinking one stud would be about right, but I can experiment.

[lcvisser]

Scaling in LEGO is not an exact science   Add a stud here, lose one there. As long as the whole looks right! 

[2GodBDGlory]

4 hours ago, lcvisser said:

Scaling in LEGO is not an exact science   Add a stud here, lose one there. As long as the whole looks right! 

Exactly! Better to have something look right than follow a strict scale even when it looks worse.

[2GodBDGlory]

Well, I think this will be my final update!

Not a whole lot has changed since last time, but a lot of what I did was strangely hard due to lack of space and attachment points.

Basically I added:

• Orange lights on roof
• Second axle mudguards
• Red bits near the crane (Where the valves would usually go)
• Black beams over and under outriggers
• Rear mudguards
• Wheel chocks
• Rear bumper

Now I think all I have to do is put together some final pictures and video, and make a full presentation of the model!

[gyenesvi]

This is looking awesome so far, really curious about its functioning with that mini pneumatic system!

[johnnytifosi]

This is so great! Unfortunately it's very sad too, realising that Lego could release this as a 50-60 euro set instead of all the lame 1:16 cars and make some serious bank. Oh well. Do you intend on releasing instructions?