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I don't have any yet, but this may be interesting for me in the near future as one of my very early WIP projects is a wrecker. However, it will be something like american trucks, maybe inspired by a Ford F350 wrecker / tow truck. I'm also more interested in off-road wreckers.

Hmm, that's interesting, the Bolide is a nice and cheap parts pack, so may be useful in another color. Good question, although my first thought was dark blue, because the Ford GT has many similar parts so that's something they already have. Though the utility of such releases could be to increase the parts availability in different colors. But all kinds of blue are welcome :)

Wow, that's pretty insane that such a thing can be done purely mechanically, looking at the video first I thought it is programmed with Mindstorms :) Even that would be a great feat, but this is next level. Very impressive work!

Thanks guys for all the responses, I'm really happy that this model is getting liked a lot both here and on RB / FB :) So am I glad, it's always inspiring to have such discussions with like-minded people, usually results in many cool ideas :) Thanks, indeed, I think I will use orange-black in more builds in the future, and also orange-DBG has a lot of potential I think! Thanks, in retrospect it does seem obvious, not sure why it didn't come to anybody's mind sooner.. And two sets that complement each other have much potential, while still making it easy to reproduce the model. Thanks a lot for the nice words :) Also, I'll look into the Raptor Bronco version. I am interested in building a version with independent front suspension. Maybe I'll even give the floating diff a try to see how well it would work out. Thanks, glad you didn't skip :) Truth is I did not try the IFS version yet. I somewhat quickly decided that I'd go with the floating axle setup. But now I am getting more intrigued about the IFS. Especially that I have just seen a nice example for that from @HorcikDesigns One thing that would be different with IFS is the steering, which has advantages and potential problems as well. On the plus side a rack based steering would be more powerful than this linkage based variant. On the other hand, the steering motor would need to be centered, and that way there wouldn't be enough space for the gearbox motor (and all the related gearing and clutch protection) next to it, as it is placed now.. So not sure the if that could be redesigned while keeping the complete clip-on body.. Thank you! So what's your experience so far with the floating diff IFS with planetary hubs? Any weak points so far? I saw you did 3D print a custom diff cover and chassis strengthening piece for it. What did warrant that? Needed for structural rigidity or more for aesthetics and gear protection? Thanks a lot! Agree they look great, definitely wanted to use these instead of the buggy tires. And actually I find that the tires fit the wheel arches better than I anticipated. The rear ones just perfectly sink into the fender flares when it articulates, and even when it rubs it it does not get stuck. On the front, as it turns, it goes nicely behind the edge of the fender flare, so it does not get stuck as easily as I thought it would. However, it can get caught up in the rear mounting point of the front fender flare on the inside (as the wheel is pushed back by a rock), as that axle hole sticks out a bit, the inner surface is not smooth (maybe the flare part could be made better if the orientation of the mounting point would be perpendicular).

Hi Guys! I'm happy to share my latest build: an RC Ford Bronco built out of the Raptor and Zetros sets. A while ago, we were lamenting with @kbalage over how cool this Traxxas RC Bronco is, and how nice it would be to have something like that in Lego form. We concluded that the Ford Raptor set would provide a good base for the body, even the color is a nice match. Looking at the wheels, the Zetros set came into my mind, and that it provides a good set of electronics and heavy duty drivetrain components as well. So the idea was born :) After a few days of sketching the body, it was apparent that it is indeed pretty much possible to shape it quite well just using the Raptor parts. Naturally the fenders are excellent for this model, the orange paneling was just enough and the few system tiles and slopes were great for shaping the iconic edges on the hood in a fairly simple way. And of course the available black front panels were screaming for custom stickers that provide the distinctive Bronco finish. To keep the spirit of the Traxxas model, I made an effort to build the body as a single clip-on piece, connected by only 4 pins. Easy removal and access to the chassis and battery. Features - All wheel drive with 3:1 gear ratio RC gearbox - Well articulated live axle suspension on both axles (4-link front, 2-link rear, with Panhard rods) - Detachable bodywork as a single piece, easy access to battery - Complete interior including 4 seats and a dashboard - Openable doors, hood and trunk cover - Expedition kit: spare wheels, roof rack, roof lights, toolbox - The model can be controlled with the Zetros profile of the Control+ app Action video Here I'd like to share the design process and more details about it. Bodywork and interior Let's start at the beginning :) Strange as it may sound, this model was developed from outside in, and the complete body was designed virtually first. And I have to say it was a really good process for a couple of reasons. I started with scaling to the Zetros wheels to give me a wheel base length/width to work with. Those wheels are a nice match for the fenders in the Raptor, though I was a bit afraid that it would be hard to avoid them rubbing when steered, so I decided to build it fairly lifted. That gave the fender positions immediately. I started the body with the key part, the front. For one, it is a stud shorter (flatter) than that of the Raptor, but still I wanted to build it so that some stickers (lights and Bronco text at least) could nicely be applied to it, as I knew they would be key to make it look authentic. Then the iconic ridges on the edge of the hood; at first I though they would be hard to build, but some flip-flop beams allowed the attachment of both the fender and another beam above it, while some curved sloped system bricks, brackets from the Zetros and small orange tiles make a perfect corner piece at the front, luckily attachable from below in a stable way. I've got to say I see a lot of potential in using system slopes/tiles to complement technic builds. The openable hood itself is simple, but as it's narrower than the Raptor's, its front silhouette could be shaped more smoothly using the wing panels. Onto the doors; I tried to make their hinge and the area in front of them blend in nicer than on the Raptor. And those phones from the Zetros add a great touch as handles :) Rear doors could not be made openable, but at least this way the body continues seamlessly and also integrates nicely with the rear fenders and the slight upwards bend above them. I added some black tiles as stripes below the doors to avoid too much beam stacking and make the side a bit more decorated and not so flat. The top is just the right length for some available large black panels, and the side pillars were slanted to give it a nice rounded shape from all angles. The black connectors from the Zetros were instrumental here. Also, luckily the Zetros includes some bricks for lights, so I could brick build the rear ones at least. Finally, I used the buggy wheel as spare one, but covered it with the big dish from the Zetros's poles to make it more color consistent. I knew those parts would be useful for something, as well as those fake spokes :) This gave me the complete size of the model and I was able to see how much space I have for the internals, so I could move on to building a chassis. Chassis, drivetrain and suspension I must admit that my first attempt to build a chassis failed completely. It was a bit too ambitious I think, I tried to squeeze too much in. I had the idea that maybe there would be enough space for the V6 fake engine of the Raptor along with all the electronics. Also, I wanted to see if I can build a rear axle with a diff-lock in a smaller package than that of the Zetros itself. I did build these, but the chassis was weak and flexing at the front, the rear axle had a key gear that could slide out of place and was impossible to fix properly as the diff locker clutch was right in the way, and the cables were impossible to route in a way that the body could be placed on top of it. (I haven't yet given up on the diff-locked rear axle idea though) So I abandoned these ideas and designed a less packed but compact and sturdy chassis instead. Instead of the rear diff-lock, I went for a high/low gearbox, and I discovered that with a simplified rear suspension, I can make enough space to allow the usage of the old differential piece and make a 3:1 gear ratio. The suspension came out pretty clean for both axles. The front one is a complete 4-link setup, with an additional Panhard rod. It has a fair amount of articulation, but not too much, which is good so that the front wheels don't get stuck in the fenders so easily. Now I know that the real (modern) Bronco has independent front suspension, but I built it with a live axle for some reasons. The Traxxas model has live axles (maybe because they use a generic chasiss), and building a 15 wide independent driven and steered suspension is only possible with a floating differential (even the Ford GT's new joint part will not be useful for planetary hubs), which is a bit of a dirty solution for an RC model, and the independent front suspension would not provide as much ground clearance either. Also, the classic Bronco had live axles, so I think it's okay here as well :) The rear suspension is simplified with only one CV joint and two lower links. It's like the ball joint suspension in the Raptor set, but without the ball joint itself to save space and allow the usage of the heavy duty CV joint. With a Panhard rod placed low enough to keep the axle properly centered this setup works surprisingly well. It is essential to keep it properly centered, otherwise it would exert sideways force on the incoming drivetrain as it is not able to follow sideways movement due to the single joint, and would result in significant friction. Also, the placement of the rear springs is quite realistic I think, and it prevents the axle from tilting forwards under power (a problem I had with my Jeep Wrangler alternate of the Zetros with a similar setup). Furthermore, as here I am using a 4L axle with stop in the middle as the incoming drivetrain, the axle is stopped at the pinion gear end, so it cannot slide towards the rear diff and out of the CV joint (it happened with my Wrangler as that one used a 3L axle with no stop in the middle). The rear axle can use both hard and soft springs, and articulates quite well with both. Naturally, it has more flex with soft springs, but sits in slightly (depending on how heavy the batteries are). Once the chassis was working, it was ready for marrying it with the body. I definitely wanted to try make it modular, and the body detachable in a single piece. Somewhat unexpectedly, the most challenging part here was the routing of the cables in a way that they are not in the way for the body. The battery being placed low in the chassis helped a lot here, and I managed to route the cables on the floor and in between the chassis beams on the sides, guided by cable clips (see some images in the gallery). Also, the cable length of the medium motor used for the gearbox is quite short, so I had to place the motor counterintuitively such that its output is at the front so that the cable can reach the battery (just barely enough this way). So in the end, the body is not fixed to the chassis in the middle, only at the two ends, held by 4 pins and it simply clips on from the top, but is still quite stable, does not fall off easily (the model can even be lifted carefully held at the two ends). Interior Finally, the interior was designed after the chassis was ready when I saw how much space was left. As I could arrange the electronics nicely out of the way, I was able to fit 4 seats in, and cover the battery in the trunk, making the cover openable to allow turning on the battery. The dashboard is also mounted onto the body, hanging in from the top. The whole body & interior was then redesigned in terms of connectivity to be able to build it in a single piece while keeping it somewhat solid. The build sequence was not easy to make in a way that things are neither hanging in the air for a long time, nor are the two sides required to be bent out to fit the internals in. Interestingly, it is the rear seats that hold together the two A pillars, which form the backbone of the body. The gearbox mechanism is right between the two front seats, which are fixed to the sides of the body. Expedition kit This time I decided to add more decorations in the form of a roof rack, as the car looked a bit naked with the flat roof (although true to the Traxxas model). I added a light kit, a roof rack, and some ideas borrowed from a friend: a spade, a toolbox, a handheld reflector, along with another spare wheel and the fire extinguishers from the Zetros. Here are some images of the model in its natural environment. More images are in my Bricksafe gallery. Building instructions are available on Rebrickable, and stickers are available from Forwart Sticker. Let me know how you like it! Cheers, Viktor

I'd be surprised, the fuselage is quite narrow and seems pretty packed already, he even mentions that in the video.

That's a bummer, I wanted to order from those pins!

I think axle length of 2 studs would have been the optimal choice, also allowing it to slide into the existing counterpart a bit if required. It has been discussed and rendered in the General Parts thread already, towards the bottom of this page: BTW, the model itself looks quite nice, I love the scale, the great amount of dark blue panels and the function density!

Indeed this is cooler than I expected, and it's good to see the new flip-flop beams being used in more and more models.

Have you tried setting the channel type to StepperMotor? :)

That's a pretty cool build! I like the way it looks, simple but efficient usage of panels and slopes, and such a raised body is an excellent match for the form factor of the buggy motor. I also like the build of the axles, that it's raised a bit in the middle, and that the ball joints are used horizontally and so does not result in a negative caster angle in the front. Although, the ground clearance could be improved on both axles by better mounting of the planetary hubs!

Thanks for the link, looks good, and indeed I agree that 75mm tires are very welcome as this scale is really good for lego RC cars, and I was just looking for something in this scale but more fit for street cars / SUVs than the buggy tires. That's what I experiment with too! BTW, what is the central L motor doing? Is that for the winch? And do I see it right that the front axle has a positive caster? Is it offset half a stud both at the top and the bottom (in opposite directions) to get the center correctly positioned right on the stud grid? I see that you cut the new CV joint to 2L axle at the rear :) I miss that part so much from the official lineup.. Thought that section could be built with the 3L one as well I guess.

Cool model! I really like the design of the suspension and drivetrain, with two buggy motors geared slightly up, it should indeed be flying :) I like the rear part of the drivetrain going between the two motors (in case of the L motor version), but I never dared to use such a solution because the driveshaft may be rubbing the motors as the rear axle moves a bit left-right while it articulates. Or did you manage to eliminate sideways movement of the rear axle? Your rear panhard rod seems to be pretty optimally placed for that. Have you seen any wear on the driveshaft connectors / edges of the motors? I like the overall shape, but the bodywork itself is quite messy for my taste, full of uneven surfaces and non-connecting edges. It can be seen on the photos that many panels on the body just kept moving around as you made the photos. Wouldn't a simple 11x3 curved panel work for the sides for example? The rim/tire combo looks especially great. Are the rims custom printed? What size are the tires? Something around 80mm? Does that work with standard rims as well? Any link for that?

This is a fascinating mechanism, really nice build. I feel like I need to study the instructions (thanks for that) until I understand how it works, because I actually have a clock like this at home that I inherited from my grandfather. And it's still working :) Too bad this one is silent, as my favourite thing about the real one is the sound it makes; it's so relaxing for me. Just out of curiosity, can you tell what the operation time depends on? How is it related to the weight / length of the pendulum? My real clock is about 1m tall and runs for 1 week with a reset.

Same experience here. The build was really nice, with great techniques for half stud off-setting, and it has lots of useful small parts in good color.

Cool looking new versions! Interesting to see though how the PU system makes it much harder to build a car chassis at this scale. Every component got bigger, and somewhat weaker compared to the PF counterparts, so it really requires such tricks as putting the hub in the middle of the cab if you want good center of gravity and modularity. The PF version looks more elegant and realistic in terms of placement of components. I like the auto diff-lock especially, nice idea and simple to implement, wonder how it actually performs in practise. I guess the lock does not turn full 90 degrees even at max articulation, but as far as I see, the orange selector is a bit already turned in neutral position as well. So I guess it's enough for it to turn a bit more to lock in, but maybe not fully? Doesn't it click when it's in kind of a half locked position when half articulated for example? Though it may be still be better than having completely open diff.

Thanks for that reference, it is indeed almost the same idea, and nice trick to use the planetary hub for that. So in your version you need to add the rubber part to force the drive axle to take the planetary housing with itself in fast gear (but in slow gear it is causing excess friction which is not so good, as it is both inefficient and wears out). I am guessing that without that rubber piece it would always go in slow gear, at least for your heavy model, right? Or even with a lighter model, it would go somewhere in between fast and slow until it hits some obstacle, where it would slow down. Now if that's true, then we'd only need the mechanism to enforce fast gear, which is just the job of the clutch on this 3d printed version. So the whole gearbox might work with a simplified setup with just a classic clutch mechanism, which would not need the second 3d printed custom selector with the rotated axle hole, but an existing selector (even the wave selector) could be used. Only the custom planetary housing would be needed, and even that could be simplified as it would not need the winglets on the side, so it would be a bit narrower. Do you think that could work? Oh no, I forgot that if the housing is not fixed stationary then it can counter rotate and the model is not moving, so that does not correspond to slow gear. Then indeed both mechanisms are required.

Nice model, I like the free swinging rear axle. Though seeing the whole suspension work feels a bit like watching a fast buggy rather than a trial Unimog, which is usually taking things slow. You guys hack the hell out of the lego system, I also love all those extra RC components that you guys print. The gearbox is really interesting. If I understand correctly, in one position it locks the planetary housing to the drive axle (1:1 ratio), and in the other position it locks the housing to be stationary (1:5 ratio). I wonder if only one of the two locking mechanisms would be sufficient for switching gears though. Or even whether this could function as a continuously variable automatic transmission. What happens if you just leave out the whole locking mechanism? :) I could imagine that if there is little friction, the drive axle would take the planetary housing with itself, but if there is more friction then the housing could spin slower and result in higher torque. Maybe it does not work out like that in practise, but it would be nice to see what happens! At the end of the video there's a lower suspension arm for the planetary hubs that I'd like to have as well.. :)

How do you know if he's not referring to the already rumoured size reduction? We don't even know if that was true, as we never knew the original size for sure, but now assuming another size reduction is kind of very speculative and counterintuitive. Also, the price was never confirmed either, and inflation was like 20% in one year, so it could easily change.

That was obvious from the images so far. I wonder how you can tell it apart from LBG? The top end seems pretty LBG to me, and nothing would warrant flat silver in a hidden position. That's something pretty hard to see on the video, but maybe there's some movement in the cockpit as she steers the HoG.. I really could not tell though.

Thanks for the info, nice setup, I'll try to message the seller and see if it's possible to get something. Interesting idea as well, but I was wondering what is stopping the links from sliding apart and the whole axle sliding backwards? Because the 2x4 L-shaped beams can't seem to be holding the O frame in position either as they are only flexibly connected to the H beam on the ball joint, so they would also allow the O frame to move backwards. Is there something that fixes it on the top (which seems hard as the chain is in the way), or did you maybe glue the links together? :)

I find them pretty useful in linkage based steering mechanisms for example. But basically anywhere where the linkage moves and needs space, so it is good to have the mounting point of the ball pin further away from the ball so that the link does not hit the scaffold structure.

Nowadays I tend to use Studio more and more for prototype building, and also for going beyond that, for finalizing MOCs. And this really allows me to test many ideas in parallel without worrying about parts and failed protoypes. As for early prototyping, the first thing I want to see is whether an idea can theoretically be built with lego parts in a given scale/available volume. Many ideas fail already in this stage, and so I don't need to sacrifice parts and time for dismantling on this process. Just delete the file, or sometimes keep it for further refinement, it does not cost anything. If it seems to work out virtually, then I try the key mechanical parts out in real life. I have almost all types of technic parts that I can think of using for the kinds of builds I like, so I don't really need to bricklink parts for this (I do that when new interesting parts appear), and even colors don't matter in this stage. If the build works out in real life, I often get back to studio to build the non-technical parts as well, like bodyworks. The whole process is much faster for me in Studio than in reality, because iterative redesigning is much faster. No need for dismantling the whole thing just to change a few pins in the middle. It also allows for easier scale modeling, because it makes it possible to position key parts 'in the air' without the need for connecting tissue, and see where they would need to be placed in the final build and how things would look like. This again saves a lot of rebuilding, and you can more clearly see what connecting tissue you need to build. This also allows building from outside in. You get a picture of how the model would look like and how much space there would be left on the inside for mechanisms. The last project I built was almost fully done in studio before I touched any bricks. I started with scaling, built the body, clearly saw how much space I have on the inside, and could design the mechanics accordingly. Even this way, my first idea for the mechanics (car chassis) failed (was too ambitious), but I got it done for the second try. It also has another advantage: you can work on your model even if you don't have access to physical lego parts and only have a short amount of time. Say you have one hour in the evening (commuting home on train) and you have your laptop with you.. Also, if your time is up, you don't need to clean up your room from lego parts afterwards :) But to answer the question as well, I mostly have 1-2 models in a stage where it is visible that it will become something. And a whole bunch of half baked prototype ideas built only virtually, maybe some of them tested and dismantled to free up parts. When I get the key mechanical or visual aspect of a build done, and it reaches a stage where I can see that it is doable and only needs more fairly easy work, I try to focus on that one to actually finish it. It is finished when it is tested and published.

That's a pretty complete package for a Lego car! Complete RC drivetrain with relatively small motors, working fake engine, steering, suspension, all packaged in a neat looking body. Really nice stretching the limits of what could be possible with lego. And shows how far official lego is from reaching its full potential. Just compare this with the official Charger.. I love those large motors, something powerful in a good form factor. So are you saying that the motor itself is a much more powerful one than the XL, the planetary gearing is from the XL, and the case is the only 3D printed part? That sounds like a nice combination. Is it possible to buy it somewhere? I haven't found much by searching the internet.. I'd also be interested in the rest of the electronics. What power source are you using? Can RCBrick control a regular PF motor / PF servo and a Geekservo too? As far as I understand a Geekservo requires a different PWM signal than a lego PF servo, and has different connectors too. Does RCBrick include an ESC as well? Also, the rear suspension seems to have some funky building techniques in it, such as those linkages. Can you show more details of that? The Godzimotor is on the axle itself, right?

Good to know, thanks for the info and @mla2 for the picture.