Balrog

I just stumbled again over your Prado. Initially, I was looking on Brickshelf for a C-Model of 9395. But then I saw the Prado. I am really in love with the style of this car. And its size and features of course. I'd really love to rebuild it in red (though I guess it won't look as good as black). You don't have, by any chance, have a partslist? I hope you make instructions for it. I would guess, 10€ sounds very reasonable.

Wow. The truck and trailers look very nice and detailes. I also like your custom stickers. They give a good touch of realism. I bet with a little distance and focal blur you couldn't tell if it is real or not.

I'd also wrap the drawers and the boxes in plastic foil. They can still package it additionaly, but the plastic foil should ensure, that nothing gets lost.

You are right. Now that I have thought about it, that totally makes sense. I chose to make it flexible, because of when you drive over angled surfaces, so the wheels stay on the ground. I will change that anyway. The trailer was just a quick build and since I finished the tractor, I can now concentrate on the attachments. When I fix it, the angle of the hitch should be ok so the trailer stays straight. I wasn't satisfied anyway, because the hitch was always pushed down because of the pneumatic hose. So thanks for pointing that out.

Long time no update. Well, I was pretty busy. In the meantime I have built my motorized version of the MB Trac. But before I show it off, I want to show you guys a video of the unmotorized version. More pictures and a video of the motorized version will be available soon. Hopefully we have good weather tomorrow.

Thanks for the pics.

If they are new, I will be most interested. And Hi-Res is always good.

I'd like to see more of the Ford Sierra. Not only because that was the first car I have driven and so on :D

Well, more complex often isn't better ;) But, I would guess it should be "easy" for you to find a solution that uses this mechanism AND create a straighter ramp. Or not?

Wow. This is really a huge beast. I am so impressed. The design is very good and all, but ... - the truck is very front-heavy. I know that. But I think, this is bad for the performance, steering and the suspension. - the trailer suffers from the large weight and the last axle isn't even touching the ground. - the ramp of the trailer needs a redeseign in my opinion. I guess it should go straight from pivot point to the ground, without having the step. That would lower the angle the tank has to overcome.

I have some pictures of my progress for you guys. On Sunday, I tried to build a replica of the center structure and including the motor, gearing and the mounting point for the pump. I had prepared it in LDD and wasn't really satisfied, but the idea was good already. The geartrain worked as expected. And I could also mount the first half of the pump well (the two 2L thin liftarms). But the whole thing wasn't very stable, since I had to leave out some of the main structural liftarms. So I discarded the idea. Again I looked at my finished model, these pictues and my digital model, until I realized, that I could mount the motor higher. This time I took LDD and tried to do it properly there. For now I haven't had the chance to build it, but I want to share the results I got. Here you can see the motor being mounted. It is well hidden behind the steps for the driver. You can also see some of the gears. The motor is not only attached to a liftarm I have placed additionally, but also through some technic bricks below. In this next picture, you can see the "pump" and it's mounting. Again I used the 2L blue thin liftarms for the driven side. The other side is sitting loose on the axle that drives the motor through a Liftarm 1 x 2 Thick with Pin Hole and Axle Hole. I had to lengthen the motor axle, but that was no problem. I additionally reinforced it's other end, so it won't experience to much bending. At least I hope that. And finally, how I want to mount the battery box. Please note, this is just preliminary. I will propably change how it is mounted. But it will most likely be somehow like this. I didn't change the gearbox directly. Currently you have to use the pump by hand and the gearbox is driven when the tractor is driving. If you raise the lever to enable the function, the rear PTO will move as you drive around. I disengaged the rear PTO from the drivetrain. The PTO is now always running, when you switch on the battery box. And the gearbox works in reverse. So the axle with the driving ring stand still. When the driving ring engages the gear, the axle starts moving. And now when you rise the lever, the pneumatic pump will be driven. Perhaps I should make a video or two to explain all this. So that's it for now. It turns out to be serious engineering what I am doing here. But it is so much fun. Please stay tuned for more updates.

According to the part-list on Rebrickable, they are 14L http://rebrickable.com/sets/8285-1/tow-truck-traffic-2006

The MOC I am currently modding gets all the effort. I obtained the photo instructions from Brickshelf. Then I first built the MOC in LDD (because I had something else assembled). After tearing the car apart I had enough parts and built the MOC with real bricks. In the meantime I got some Bricklink orders and exchanged several parts. Now I wanted to modify that MOC to include power functions. So I took my digital model and created some copies for different stages of the modification. I tried if I could fit the PF parts into the model and how I could make them work by trying to adjust the gearbox, connect the features and so on. The next step was to try with real bricks again. I kept the MOC assembled as it was and used the other parts I have to rebuild the center of the model where the new functions and all the drivetrain and gearbox stuff is housed. As it turned out, I couldn't build it as I planned first, without severly destroying the structural integrity and stability. But I instantly had a new idea. I took some photos of the fail, teared it down and sat at the computer again. I did the modification again, at a different position and a little bit more simple (in regards to gears). I could build it digitally like a charm and it looks relatively stable. I will need to implement the other mod as well in the digital model today and on Wednesday, I'll try to build it again. I guess it will work just fine if manage to build some good mounting points for the pump. After that, I'll incorporate the modifications into the real model by building it anew. And perhaps, I'll convert the digital model to LDraw and attempt to make instructions for it.

This u-joint mod is brilliant. And it is still "original" parts, since you didn't cut or glue.

I just played around with a LDD. I can fit the battery box. I can fit the motor. Only thing to solve is the pneumatic pump. But I have an idea already. This is gonna be so cool if I manage to work all that out. Well, I have to re-work the whole center, but that is worth it. Stay tuned.

Oh Lego ... seriously? You are draining me! As if the other LotR sets wouldn't drain the budget enough. Oh well... so be it.

Thanks for the replies and compliments. In the meantime, I received the most of my Bricklink orders and I was able to update the tractor a fair bit for details. Mainly I properly replaced parts on the roof and the rear fenders. Now it is properly colored there. I guess the rest will be made properly, when I rebuild it. Again, please go to my Brickshelf folder for more pictures after they are moderated. I really like these outdoor shots. Hopefully I'll get ahead with equipment, so I can put the tractor to labor I also worked on the trailer. But I have no new pictures yet. It works better now, but I still have to improve the mechanism a bit.

I really love timelapse videos :D And yours are well done. I like how you let the bags float out of the boxes. That is really cool. It reminds me of stop-motion films I have seen as a kid.

I would go with DLuders suggestion. Some option like "shrink to fit" or "fit to page" or something like this. You usually need to set this when specifying the printer settings for the print process (like how many copies and such).

Here are the links to the items: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3743 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2905

The .lxf can be downloaded here! Please note, that the round 1x1 trans-clear plates should originally be 1x2 trans-clear plates. The position for the pump and the switches can be easily reviewed in the original instructions.

Since I do not have any PF parts for remote control yet - no, I simply can't.

Hi everyone. Today I want to present my latest build. It is a Mercedes Benz Tractor. The famous MB Trac. The design is not by me. It was made by arhthra08/ vttdirty08. He also provided instructions in his brickshelf folder. I was in search for a tractor that had 4 wheels of the same size. Now if you go searching for a vehice like this, you will most likely find the Claas Xerion and the MB Trac. But nothing much else. Also I looked around to find some probably ready instructions. Now I found the MB Trac including instructions from arhthra08. I looked through the instructions. I knew, I wouldn't build it in yellow (since I have not many yellow pieces yet), but I could build it in red. So I did that. And since I couldn't find any evidence, that it has already been presented here, I thought I'd share my own version. The tractor features the following: - all-wheel drive - 4-cylinder inline engine - suspended and steed front axle - steering via HOG - openable hood and doors - rear PTO - rear PPTO - trailer hitch - pneumatic drawbar for attachments. First, I made a digital model in LDD. Not visible in the pic are most pneumatic parts. I just skipped them (except for the big cylinder). That showed me the progress of the build and later enabled me to make an approximately correct parts list. Here is a render: So far so good. When I had the digital model finished, I could create the parts list. Easy. I just had to upload the .lxf to Rebrickable and include the rest of the parts I missed out. But since a large portion of my parts was occupied, with my version of Crowkillers DS2, I had to disassemble that first. But last weekend I pulled through. On Saturday I pre-counted the pieced and began the building, finishing on Sunday afternoon. I was so eager to go on, that I even built a trailer. So here are some pictures. I know the roof is orange. You are allowed to laugh. But I yet have the panel only in orange or grey. And I wanted to keep the grey for the trailer. Also, please forgive me the ill-coloring on some spaces. But, once my BL orders are here, I will finish this properly. On the next pic, you can see the trailer attached to the hitch, completely with PPTO attachment and drawbar. And finally a pic of the trailer. I know the trailer is nothing fancy, But I like it. It was build spontaneously and I managed to make a sturdy frame and even a pneumatic linkage that works. It is operated from the back of the tractor, since only one hose is attached. Though, I am not yet satisfied with the angle that the bed can reach. I will need to turn the pneumatic and linkage around to make it better. So this is it for now. I am very happy with the result for now. There are more pictures available in my Brickshelf folder (once moderated). I am not finished yet with this. I am currently highly motivated due to this build. To be frank, I planned to build Crowkillers Porsche next. But, this came inbetween and I will stick to it for now. I made some Bricklink orders to mainly supplement my inventory for the Porsche, as well as a re-build of the DS2 and the Vampire GT later. But I also purchased some parts for the MB Trac. As you can probably see on the bigger pictures, it is lacking the front logo. It also lacks some smaller parts. So what am I going to do to this MOC? Plainly I want to rebuild it entirely (once I have all parts). I already fixed the loose gear rack of the steering. Also I put a handle on the small pump and changed the hose layout, so I only have a single PPTO. I found a fault when steering to the maximum where the inner wheel won't turn anymore and want to fix that. I also want to widen the center chassis and incorporate a more complex gearbox and include power functions to have the PTO motorized and a motorized compressor. From my estimates, there should be enough room for this with the given dimensions. And I want to build some more attachments and tools. Todo: - fix error in steering where inner wheel won't turn when steered to the max. - fix colors - include motorized PTO - include motorized pump I will update this thread when I have made notable achievements. Also, I want to give 'making instructions' a try. But that will not happen after I finished the Todo list. I hope you all like the model so far. Thanks again to arhthra08 for making the original instructions and building it. If you have hints or ideas I could use, please let me know. Also, I welcome all comments and criticism (as long as it is not about the colors). Update #1 Update #2 Update #3

@legosamigos your trucks and trailers all look very cool. I am somewhat jealous about that huge parts investment. All those wheels and tires alone. Very impressive. The only thing I need to mention is, that all your trucks look very similar, but I guess that comes with building longnose trucks. Anyway, pretty good work. Looking at the upload dates, it is hard to believe they have gone unnoticed until now.

I really like the looks. I am really looking forward to more pictures and video. The only thing, that strikes me, is that it seems to be a bit to long. Or is it just the perspective from the pic DLuders posted? Oh and: Do you plan to make instructions or at least a digital model of it?