HorcikDesigns

Wow, I have seen many H1s, but this one really stands out. And the portals are also very well designed. Is it your own design or teamwork with someone else? Are they available for download or purchase somewhere?

@m00se That is my custom 3D printed watertank, volume approx. 400ml.

@2GodBDGlory Thanks for the feedback. :D

Warning - following article depicts a use of extensive number of non-LEGO elements (custom 3D printed parts, Aliexpress parts, RC components, painted and cut LEGO bricks, which together are still less than approx. 10% of total MOC weight (not counting motors and water tank)). They are used only there, where no suitable LEGO alternative was available. Hello, I have a quite a long story about a Firetuck MOC. It is a follow up of my 2 years old topic, which I decieded not to revive. Well, if you are interested, here is the full story. Long time ago, for some of you not that far away, (ok, to be specific - January 2024, central Europe), one man (me) has decieded that his AFOL journey will not be complete without large scale 6x6 firetruck. … (switching to first person) So, if I remember correctly, it started with and old prototype of Tatra trial truck chassis with one central driveshaft, and Control+ motors with mounted 3rd party 82mm tires for 1:14 trucks, and the rest you can find in the old topic. Big plans, but as a first generation of a MOC built in slight hurry, it had some flaws. You can see that in this stage it looks more like TATRA offroad vehicle than Airport firetruck. Well, by this time it was still more Tatra than anything else. It has one interesting feature, due to chassis construction which has wheels offset by 1 stud, the construction of mudguards is also offset by 1 stud when comparing left and right - which led to some issues with build symmetry. It also had easy access to batteries and working rolling doors on sides. You can also see different approach to arm construction. Well, then I visited an Technic themed exhibition in Germany (Technic Welt Leipzig 2024), met new people, seen some awesome and also famous Technic MOCs, and after testing the sluggishly slow chassis on the exhibition track, I decieded I need new and better performing chassis for my new MOC. You can see Instagram videos and some photos from that event in the window below: ____________________________ GEN 2 So after I got back home, I started with second iteration. I have decieded that I will go slightly heretic way with more 3D printed parts and 3rd party brick compatible RC controllers. Two MK 6channel bricks covered planned 12 channels well. The functions were – All wheel drive, 2 axle steering, 2 speed transmission, front water gun operation (2CH), top arm operation (5ch) and 2 pumps. More on that later. chassis detail, where you can see 3D printed parts and differential that connects left and right side. Well, this drivetrain was not used in later versions, altough the central differential and dual driveshaft stays. Halfaxles do not rotate around the driveshaft, so there is no additional load to the drivetrain from the weight of the vehicle. Again, Instagram videos if you want to see the WIP truck in action What the MK battery boxes were not good for, were two buggy motors or a custom motor I have built some time ago. They all drained the battery very quickly and the contacts did not liked it either. Unfortunatelly, I figured it out too late, there was no time to improve and rebuild it before next exhibition of my local LUG. You could see both generations side by side on that event. By that time I also started researching ways to build custom Remote controller from Arduino and game controller joysticks to control all functions of the truck more comfortably, or investing into more advanced remote controller. Well, I can tell you that there are some detailed instructioons, but I have decieded to not build or buy that, and made „a very unique solution“ instead. More on this later. Instead of the remote, I spent the time designing the fire fighting water gun arm and making it to work well enough - that means smoothly and quickly. I wanted it to have quite vast reach, telescopic section and positionable water canon at the end. This part was kept unchanged for next iterations of the truck. Here you can see the arm that survived to the current version. there was one version that used ropes to move the telescopic boom, but it was not reliable enough, so traditional rack and pinion is used here. Also with custom built 3D printed micromotor. Well, then 2025 hit me hard with other non-LEGO related tasks, and the firetruck was left resting. I knew it had to be redesigned, its 2 speed transmission does not work well (due to gear meshing issues it was capable of only going backward), and I was not in the mood to deep dive into that MOC that time. While the MOC was collecting dust on WIP shelf, I slowly started collecting neon yellow parts for the next big plan. _______________________ GEN 3 (chassis GEN2.1) Sometimes around 10/2025 I woke up, picked the truck from the shelf and started disassembling the body that I was not satisfied with. It did not make practical sense to me at that time. After that I did some quick sketches, researched images of Airport crash tenders (like Rosenbauer Panther and similar) and Tatra trucks (I still had parts of working chassis for a Tatra truck), and while doing that and putting drawers with stored neon yellow bricks on my desk, I found my 3D printed Brushless motor reduction gearbox and unused brushed motor. Well, this one I could not power with the MK 6CH remote. So another reduction was made, and the motor was built into the chassis. I ditched the 2 speed transmission as I wanted the MOC to be reliable for exhibitions, so the current version has only single speed – It is electric, so it does not necessarily need it after all. And it is too heavy so I guess I will never make it go offroad. But, who knows. The chassis has 2 differentials - one on front axle, one for rear axles - this time it works as it should. After calling the chassis ready (not finished) I could start with the GEN3 body. Firstly, I kept the front bumper that I liked and tried to build can on it. Well, it was short, high, ugly. It was not working either - just judge by yourself. GEN 4 (chassis GEN2.4) After that, I finally decieded to choose the way of Panther-like concept (on Tatra chassis) to keep me unconstrained with the design, and I could have started with the (currently) final iteration. Here you can see my fire-dummy built to scale, and below some moments from build process https://www.instagram.com/horcikdesigns/p/DSxtntzDF4N/ (link to IG post with sketches on the end) Well, since then the build was straightforward (more or less, like typical MOC development). Funny moment was ordering 20, 30 and then finally 50 2x2 trangular tiles. Hope now I am finally well stocked. Shaping of the door strongly rely on friction between bricks. The trans clear windows are already replaced with trans brown ones that fit the dark cab theme more. Opened and closed side compartments, after painting. They are used to hide not tools but electronic wires. Hope that one day I will find a way to clean it up and do proper wiring and use the compartments to hide some useless but aesthetically pleasing brickbuilt fire fighting equipment. Testing of LEDs. And here it is in its current state. Panelling nearly done, wiring messy, but done, water system ready to shower random visitors (just kidding - they will not be random, only those who will ask will see it in action - firsthand) Flashing lights video: https://www.instagram.com/horcikdesigns/p/DTvxT7mjMjq/?img_index=2 All photos: https://bricksafe.com/pages/horcikdesigns/airport-crash-tender/wip-photos IG stories (development diary): https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18291669121088051/ _______________________________ Well, here we are in the present days. The water tank is mounted, the hoses connected, lights flashing, and I need to finish the panelling, and make a video of this long-term project. So, what do you think? Which generation do you like the most? What can I improve or completely scratch? Which part do you want to see in more detail?

Curved gear rack with this orientation of teeth? Sounds like some unorthodox (and unorthogonal) teeth geometries were used to make it work. The train will then need precise positioning while going on that curve, which will probably add some stress and friction... Looking forward to see how the gear wheels meshes with it under different conditions and loads.

Well, I am sure that I will not be getring this thong, bit I am not sure what to think about it. Mainszream Technic vehicles or model Team MOCs will not probably be equipped with these bricks, but I see many use cases where they will be useful. Technic is not only about vehicles, right?

Good job!

@Krzychups The wierd hole is previous version of coupling with the output shaft. It had to transfer the torque (thus not circle), and help with centering and alignment of cross axle inside the output shaft. Before releasing the file (but after photo session) I realized that square hole will serve this purpose much better. And good job with the car! Do I see right the in-wheel motors?

Yes, it is designed to take up only 32mm (4L) of space.

@everybrickasculpture. Wow, thanks. :D @gyenesvi@gyenesvi yes, keeping the ground clearance was my intention to improve from the previous model. Well, the gears are still plastic, and they can be easily re-printed when needed. After that transmission gearbox I have planetary hibs in wheels, so that makes addotional reduction. Originally I have used 1000KV motor, then tried it with 2000KV which seems OK. I would like to keep the RPMs as low as possible to minimise the wear of the parts. Of course, there is axlehole inside the output. However, there is round hole on the end to allow new CV joints to be inserted flush with the pinhole matrix.

Hello Brushless motor fans, I am back with new 3D printed accessory for our MOCs. This time it is compact 33:304 (approx. 1:9) gear ratio gearbox. Files available for free download: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1908460-gearbox-for-custom-motor-for-brick-models#profileId-2046273 It was designed as evolution of my previous motor-to-bricks adaptor, so they use similar parts. I also tried to make it very compact with good variety of attachment points Originally it was supposed to allow gear shifting, but it seemed as too complicated for now. In future I would like to make more versions with different gear ratios. This one is very slow. It uses module 0.8 and 1 gear teeth, so you can use standard 20t LEGO wheel and some pin connectors as output instead of the printed parts, if needed. Questions? Ideas for improvement?

Nice idea to make boxes for the components! Can they be snapped onto studs?

I doubt they use Formlabs Fuse for this task. There are many more industry-focused machines out there. Do not forget the cleaning of the parts that would take some time and cost too.

Well, you deserved this for one of the best and most complex review content these days. Well done!

Do we have more information about the material and technology that was used for printing the small locomotive? It looks like SLS (sintered powder) which would allow for large quantity of pieces.