Gabi_BC

Impressive set and, as i've stated before, my favorite so far. However, i would have gladly spent a larger sum just to have a separate motor driving only the bucket wheel. Also there's some jerking of the bucket wheel while in operation that's kind of shitty. Since i mainly keep my sets for display i don't find that to be a deal breaker but it still annoying. I've made some little modifications to the set: 1. I have replaced the knob used to extend the actuators with a crank, works much better and faster 2. I changed the position of the lights at the front of the main arm. In their original configuration i guess in real life they would have been taken out pretty soon by rocks and dirt coming loose from the coal face while digging. I think the modified position would be better in a real machine 3. I added some detail to the bucket wheel area, to simulate a real life large electric motor/reduction gear/driveshaft assembly. That area looked empty and crude 4. I added some details to the operator cab area, an antenna (although it now prevents the cab lid from being opened, that feature was rubbish to begin with since you can't fit a minifig inside a minifig-scale machine ) and an AC-unit on the side, since the summers can get pretty harsh in opencast mines 5. I added a counterweight to the back arm between the battery box and the gearbox. It is the "cargo" cylinder from 42038 filled with whatever large coins i found around the house. It reduces the forward droop of the superstructure to some degree, not completely but acceptable. All the clutch gears are replaced with regular ones. And so the table-sized version of the machine that first got me interested in heavy industry is complete. Now i have to get some 4-5 minifigs in proper hard hat outfits to go with it I am really curious to see the next Technic set to beat this one in size. That will be a real challenge for TLG.

Might be a little biased since i have a soft spot for giant mining machines but building this machine is the best technic fun i've had so far. It seems to be a never ending process, but in the best sense of the word. Since i'm approaching that building phase, is replacing the clutch gears with regular ones a reasonable solution to make up for the under-powering of the Bwe ? I've seen this idea put forward but has anyone applied it? My main worry would be not to damage the XL motor. I don't think that would happen but i'd rather be safe than sorry. Side note: as a demonstration of Murphy's laws, the gear you accidentally forgot to add to the model will of course be at the heart of the thing thus requiring you to retrace your last 30 steps. Not that i'm complaining though.

What with the battery box in the front? I doubt it. Like others here said, i think it was a cost-cutting issue. Good thing that cost cutting was applied on the attachment and not on the tractor itself.

^^ We already have the large Xerion wheels, this would require a smaller version of them for the back wheels. Would also make for a good display, harvester filling a trailer carried by the xerion

what website, you totally made me curious.

Usually when a BWE digs below grade the wheel rotates in reverse and the buckets are installed the other way around.

the hamster-to-parts ratio is certainly disappointing

One of the mods i have in mind for this is making the counterweight arm fixed and the bucket wheel arm raised/lowered via a wire and pulley mechanism, as it is the case for larger machines of this kind. Another possible modification is making the discharge conveyor arm longer (possibly made out of 2 segments, one gliding under another) and rested on a tracked transfer hopper. A third idea is moving cabin to the front of the bucket wheel arm. You would need to come up with a way of keeping it upright at all times, but it is doable. So many possibilities, one crucial step needs to be taken care of first - getting one of these monsters.

The hype train arrived ahead of schedule. There will be a large dent in this summer's budget but at least it was anticipated and planned for

3 extra steps for such a missed opportunity here

Backhoe, grader, rope shovel, proper mining dump truck. The rope shovel and the mining truck would make a great pair.

^^ Something with large rubber tracks would be great. That was my main thought while building the 42038 arctic truck - "some rubber tracks would fit perfectly here"

I would like to see some specialized vehicles as technic sets. The first would be a steel mill slab or coil straddle carrier, i guess we can all agree these beasts look interesting While in the steelmaking department, ladle carriers also look great in my opinion B model for this, given the wheels, could be a large tractor. The ladle itself could be a problem since it is a large round object. Problem is i don't know the appeal these sets would have with the young lego target audience. One set i guess would be successful with everyone would be a proper, well done, large mining truck. Not articulated. Your standard big-as-a-house dump truck. IR-remote controlled, fake V12 engine, PF lights. Could be a licensed Liebherr/Caterpillar/Komatsu set. Could either use 6 unimog wheels or some newer, larger ones. I have seen MOCs of mining trucks using unimog wheels and they look great. A large mining shovel would complement this perfectly. Could be done inside the new record number of parts set by the BWE. Another great thing would be a continuous surface miner

...so much time left until august arrives...

Did not encounter this problem, same as the use above, i have the completed 42042 in the room. Since page 58 is at the beginning of building phase #2, retrace your steps, maybe you used one extra part in another step?

^^^ That's an amazing model, sadly i haven't found anything else related to it, other than that video. If anyone knows anything else, do share However, i was thinking of a smaller BWE model: It's the first bwe i ever saw "live" and also the most common model used in my country so i'd probably be able to study it in it's "natural" environment. Also it should be a little lighter on the part count compared to something like the Bagger288. Anyway, "smaller than..." is not the defining term for it when you see it in 1:1 scale. I was also pondering another idea:

The 42042 is great fun, just built it yesterday

Definitely build it! It is a great set and i enjoyed the building process. The only thing i found somewhat boring was building the outriggers, since you have to do the same thing 4 times over. As for the lifting capacity, it can be easily increased if you modify the pulley system a little. I did that with very few parts and managed to lift the 42028 dozer. If you plan on buying more technic sets, you can mod the 42009 to be full-rc. When completed, the set is impressive, you'll definitely like it.

The actual digging can be supervised by one operator from a cab overlooking the bucket wheel. On some BWEs there are 2 cabs, one on each side of the bucket wheel. One aditional cab can be present and responsible for operating the discharge conveyor belt. While moving to another position the whole operation is supervised by crews on the ground using 2-way radio communication.

That would require stopping the bucket wheel and then the belts each time the dump truck is full while another truck gets into loading position. This works well with shovels since they work in a cycle, scoop, rotate, dump, repeat. In some open pit mines (especially in the former soviet union) they use trains instead of the fixed conveyor system. This would be an interesting idea for a technic/train lego mix. As for the mobile conveyor belt (the secondary machine) - the bwe moves forward into the coal face, digging away. From time to time, the fixed conveyor needs to be translated forward. This is somewhat time consuming and i guess the mobile conveyor reduces the number of such required translations. Where they use trains, they need to shift the rails when the bwe advances. This can be done using dedicated rail shifting machines. Speaking about opencast mining...if you think a bwe is big...get a load of this:

Since this is my first post here, i'd like to say hello, fellow lego enthusiasts. I cannot wait for the BWE to hit the shelves in august, however, there are some aspects of it's design that are worth discussing. The first thing i would mention is the way the main arm holding the bucket wheel goes through the vertical column and continues with the motor and battery box, that act as a counterweight. At the same time, this main arm is supported by 2 linear actuators. In real BWEs it's either one or the other. On smaller BWEs like those that serve as inspiration for the 42055 the main arm is supported by 2 hydraulic cylinders but there is no counterweight, as can be seen in this (already posted before) picture: When there's a counterweight, the bucket wheel is usually raised or lowered via a pulley system. This is the case for most german-designed BWEs. This is probably an arrangement we'll see in many future MOCs since it is commonplace in reality. Another solution (only used in 2 or 3 models from what i know) is using a rigid bar connected to a bogie that travels along the counterweight arm, like this: There is, however, a version in which we have both counterweight and hydraulic cylinders, but in a somewhat different configuration The discharge conveyor is usually connected to a conveyor belt that carries the (usually) coal out of the pit and to the (usually nearby) power plant, as can bee seen in the photo above. In most cases, a secondary machine is used to link the BVE to the conveyor belt, like this: This is another thing we might see in MOC form. The second thing i would mention is that in i guess all the lego BWE MOCs so far the bucket wheel arrangement is limited by the usage of available lego excavator buckets, that are very different from those used in BWEs. Usually the back of the BWE bucket is hollow to allow the discharge of material and there's a round, fixed shield that holds the coal in the bucket until the bucket arrives to the top, where it's content is discharged into a chute. Replicating this in LEGO form would probably require either building each bucket from multiple pieces or using some 3rd party, 3d printed buckets. Same thing for the fixed shield. Anyway, the 42055 is a fairly accurate depicition of a BWE and i will most certainly buy the thing, just wanted to add some mentions since i am really interested in mining equipment and heavy industry in general