Madoca 1977

Fortunately I had a chance to see you driving this monster in the event. Amazing model. I especially love the bodywork. It looks like a Moby Dick, but also runs unbelievably fast!

That picture is rm8's studio. I'm surrounded by HIS creations! Anyway, I drove this truck in Russian community event. Pictures and videos of the event can be seen on the site of LEGO Technic Russia. From now building instruction is available at Rebrickable. And the picture below is how it looks with 120mm tires. I think these RC4WD tires are the same ones as Sariel had used for his Crawler and Baja Truck.

Last night I visited the studio of my friend rm8. We made a review of my Monster Truck! Now we arrived Moscow and will join the event of Russian Technic fans. Instruction will be available after coming back to Japan.

Thank you for watching! I wanted to use dual shocks only because its look. As the black version does, using single hard shock for each wheel is enough to hold the body. But dual soft shocks was a little bit unstable.

Hello everyone. As a monster truck MOC was one of my earliest creations, the time has come to remake it! Weight: 2030g - Powered by 2 SBricks - 4 XL motors for propulsion - 2 Servo motor for steering - M motor for switching steering mode (normal/crab) - M motor for raising front hood and rear bed - LED lights for headlights - Openable doors and tailgate Those old-school power functions components still work sufficiently in this MOC. The body was inspired by 80's monster trucks made from lifted and modified Ford pickup trucks. The under structure was designed for robustness. Eventually it looks more like modern tubular chassis. There could be multiple options for the sets of dual shocks. (Hard/Soft, Hard only, H/H, S/S) Vertically placed M motor moves Polarity Switch connected to rear Servo motor. Horizontally placed M motor is for two functions. Front hood opens via worm and 24T gear. On the other hand rear bed is raised via small actuator. That requires two driven axles of different torque and rotational speed for each side. Center differential enables single motor to transmit the power to both sides. One of the benefits of portal hub is easy to change gear ratio. Body parts could be replaced with different color scheme, though they are not fully modular. On November 2nd and 3rd, Monster Jam live was held in Japan for the second time. I did go to the event and took photos of amazing real monster trucks and drivers. Thank you, Bari Musawwir and Neil Elliott! Building instructions available at Rebrickable.

2: 10 5: 6 4: 4 7: 3 1: 2 8: 1 Actually I fell in love Seasider’s custom sticker of technic pin flying over the mars:)

Nothing has changed in using parts and building results. Just a few parts were connected before they should be in older 24-25 steps photos. Perhaps builders who noticed that may jump step 23 to 26 and follow the rest. Don’t worry, I see you built it perfectly right. Thank you for building!

I am very sorry, I rechecked instructions again and noticed that I have used wrong photos for step 24-25. I just fixed it. If you have already copied early version of instructions, please check the (tiny) differences and use correct photos. Turns our concentration on working became lower than in my 30s...

3810g is more than 1kg heavier than the old one. The inclination in the last part of video is 40 degrees. Surprisingly there was no gear clicking in that scene. I think because all wheel (8 pairs of bevel gears) equally shared the load.

This odd suspension linkage was necessary to make chassis narrower because steered axles with portal hub move wheels deeper toward the center of frame. For years I’ve been searching how to conquer terrain and gravity. And I’m still looking up your 8 XL powered FOX 8x8x8. This is yet another answer to it.

Thank you! For me sharing MOC is purely enjoyable. Making money is not. Even though I’m not rich at all. The truth is, I’m a stubborn cynic who wants to go against the grain.

I’m sure that will lead to even more clicking because it is much heavier and putting larger tires.

Hello everyone. This is my second Tatra model.Comparing to previous Tatra 813 Trial Truck built in 2014, it is bigger, heavier and a little bit faster. Weight: 3810g Length: 62.4cm Width: 24cm Height: 25cm -Powered by 2 SBricks -6 L motors for propulsion -2 M motors for steering -M motor for 2 speed gearbox -Working steering wheel and V12 engine -Openable doors, front grill and roof hatch The model was specifically inspired by a unique truck of Jansa Team participating at real truck trial events. I tried to replicate overall look as possible without using any stickers. The cabin became one stud longer than it should be. Also using many system parts was somewhat compromising as a Technic builder. This time I omitted offset axles because symmetrical structure was more robust and efficient. Each side of half axles are independently driven via two parallel drive shafts. That enables slightly smoother turning than previous one adopted single drive shaft. Body parts are removable by pulling out both seats and two 5.5L axles behind the rear bed. When I completed the chassis early in 2018, it never came to my mind that LEGO would officially release "game changing" planetary wheel hub. Admittedly those bulky half axles using portal hub look outdated in 2019. The core of chassis contains bunch of L motors which I called 'Six Pack Abs'. The gearbox is simple yet packed 16 gears into tiny space between L motors. Although suspension mechanism is not like real Tatra, pairs of swing half axles move like real one. That realizes good off-road capability. The steering angle of 1st axle is twice as 2nd axle. Two hard-coupled M motors move 13L gear rack via dual pinion gears. For more powerful steering, I did not use white clutch gears. Consequently geared down motors keep rotating and make clicking noise when gear rack reaches end position. After all, this MOC ended up to be just a big truck driven by old technology. (Strangely it sounds like aged Tatra 813 in modern truck trial events...) Still I am happy with the result and sharing another massive 8x8 model. If you like it, feel free to put colorful stickers on it, make alternate cabin design or build more accurate chassis with new hub parts. Building instructions available on Rebrickable.

Thank you for your kind words! Actually this gearbox was inspired by rm8’s idea of assisting rear axle by another motor. It is always interesting to make it simple, effective and reliable. Some models without instructions are still in my to-do list. I will fix or improve them like I did for Dacoma truck.

Hello everyone! Thanks to the purple Titanian, it took 18 months for coming back from yet another dark age in my life. Now I am here with yet another pickup truck. Design was inspired by Ford Raptor, Dodge Ram and GMC Sierra. Dacoma 4x4 Redux Weight: 1360g -Powered by Sbrick -2 L motors for propulsion -Servo motor for steering -M motor for two speed gearbox, (sort of) limited-slip center differential and lockable rear differential -LED for headlights -Openable hood,doors and tailgate Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMUH1YmF1F4&t=1s This is an improved version of my Dacoma pickup truck and TLC 80. I could not finish building instructions for them because they had fatal drawbacks on their drivetrain. In low gear, bevel gears in center differential often skip and pop out by the torque of propulsion motors. To make it reliable, it was necessary to reduce the stress on center diff while handling higher torque in low gear. The gearbox works sequentially. (1 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 1) 1: High - 2: Low - 3: Low with rear diff lock In low gear, center diff works like limited-slip diff. In high gear, two L motors are coupled and rotate center differential together. Front and rear axles are driven via open center diff. In low gear, only one L motor rotates center diff. Another motor is connected only to rear axle. (In other words, it just supports rear half of drivetrain.) Which means rear half of axle in center diff is (nearly) locked. That means front half of axle in center diff is locked as well. Maximum suspension travel is not as long as older Dacoma truck. But new one articulates better thanks to softer front suspension. Years ago I happened to get some rare blue parts from old sets. So I could build it in blue. With a few tweaks, it can be built in white, orange or black. Building instructions: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-25520/Madoca1977/dacoma-4x4-redux/#comments I hope you will like it. And I will work hard not to take a long time for sharing next model.

At first I thought putting fourth gear into differential would prevent gear skipping because of tighter meshing than three bevel gears. But I noticed that floating fourth gear was just lying on two inner bevel gears, which means there would be no tighter meshing between them. Then I realized that the point was not the fourth gear but inserting a piece (with pin hole) between two inner bevel gears. That piece can hold both axles almost in line. (Of course it also prevents gears sliding inwards.) Thus, inner three gears would hardly disengaged. ...At least on paper. Actually higher XL torque broke the theory. But I think it is still a better way to reinforce 4L differential. Also 1L technic brick is better than 1L liftarm because its slightly thicker and square shape leaves less room around it.

You always give me inspirations. Especially I like the way of pure technic (without slack) building. Thank you for sharing great ideas! In this case, I used a shock absorber instead of rubber bands for 90 degree stepper.

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I last posted on this forum. In November I tripped to Russia again for participating LEGO event held in Moscow. This year, my friend Rm8 gave me the opportunity to make video review of my models together at his studio. You might have seen the review of Jeep Wranglers. And this is the other model that I first had a presentation to Russian builders in the event. Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Weight: 1520g -XL motor for propulsion -Servo motor for steering -M motor for front winch -M motor for two speed gearbox and center/rear differential lock -LEDs for front and rear lights Everything started from the issue of center differential in the drivetrain of my previous Pickup. After driving on serious off-road I found that bevel gears in center differential got damaged and often slipped. So I tried to find the way to reinforce gear meshing in 4L differential. In conclusion, I still have not succeeded. Every attempt was not strong enough for transmitting the torque of geared down (3:1) XL motor. In extreme situation floating fourth bevel gear was pushed out by the force of twisting differential housing. I was even hoping new red 4L differential could hold four bevel gears tightly in it, but it does not. So I used the second one in the picture above. (just insert 1L technic brick for holding both side of axles tighter) While attempting several ideas of transmission, I was building another 4x4 model using three differentials. Eventually it became the most advanced version of my SUV models yet being over complex and less reliable. The main feature is sequentially working gearbox and diff lock system. I used Didumos69's Compact 90 degree stepper idea for switching four modes. (0→1→2→3→0 ...) 0: high gear 1: low gear 2: low gear with center diff lock 3: low gear with center/rear diff lock You can see it working in the second half of this video filmed by Rm8. I used M motor instead of Servo motor for switching modes because there was no space for it under the driver's seat. It is necessary to stop motor rotation when stepper axle comes to the right position. Actually this model is too heavy for real off road driving. Center differential often suffered the load, and it was a little bit tricky to operate sequential mechanism precisely from a distance. So I built a lighter and simplified version only using XL and Servo motor. It has softer rear suspension, manual gearbox and center/rear limited slip differential. (Weight: 1260g) Ironically it worked better than fully equipped version even lacking diff lock system. Thanks to soft suspension it has better axle articulation. All four tires well kept contact with the ground. I put it on rocky surface just for taking pictures. Actually it could not climb over those rocks, though. I am making building instructions for both versions. I hope you will like it!

The performance is amazing! And the way you used actuators is very clever. I've never seen like this before.

Luckily I often see this car in my hometown because I'm in Japan. Even though it was designed 30 years ago, it still looks very cool especially among modern rounded shaped hybrid cars. You captured every details even in small scale with Technic parts! Thanks for sharing! By the way, my current private car is peaceful FWD Mazda 2. I've never tried drifting cars.

Sure it looks better using 4L axle. But, as Paul pointed out, it won't be capable of tough offroad driving. I wish LEGO would produce at least 4.4L axle with stop.

I do remember your trial trucks using linked suspension! Mine is much smaller, lighter and unstable. When climbing steep slope, the front section of the Jeep lose weight. Then the force of twisting front axle by motors lift the front section sideways. That makes the model rolling to the side easily. Connecting modern steering wheel hubs to C-frame (with differential) made front axle inevitably bulky. I chose U-joints rather than wheel hub because of simplicity and higher ground clearance. Of course there might be another solution using old (small) wheel hub like this beautiful Jeep. But I wanted to avoid using discontinued parts. Besides, I liked unusual idea of using actuator holder together with C-shaped pin connector.

The move of front axle does not affect steering angle. Wheels could be used inside-out. That would be narrower looking, but 5.5 axles were sticking out to much. For those who can cut axles or use non-official parts, putting wheels inside-out is better way.

Thanks! The truth is, I remembered your Jeep Lower Forty and used your technique in a smaller scale.

Hello everyone! This is another Jeep which I built while leaving some unfinished projects on the shelf. For three months I have had no time for LEGO mainly because of my nursing job. (Did you see Wolverine taking care of Professor X in the movie "Logan"? I do something like that ) I really needed to take a new step forward for my motivation. Instructions of former two MOCs are still work in progress. I am sorry to keep you waiting. Jeep Wrangler Weight: around 1100g (with hardtop) -2 L motors for propulsion -M motor for steering -Front and rear open differential -Linked pendular suspension without shock absorbers -Openable hood, doors and tailgate with lock -LED for headlights -Detachable body The chassis is not realistic at all. It was new to me to build the suspension without using shocks. It even doesn't have sway bars. Suspension travel is long enough for this scale. It worked fine when driving over small obstacles. But on a steep incline (40+ degrees), it became unstable and tended to roll over sideways. That move was understandable because it had no anti-roll mechanism. I tried to put the battery box close to the center as possible for better weight distribution. Passenger seat was sacrificed for it, but the whole model with hard top is still slightly rear-heavy. Jeep Wrangler is known as one of the most modifiable vehicle on earth. So I made a few options such as 2-piece hardtop, tube doors, bumpers and another color scheme. But the best way is building more realistic chassis for this body. Unfortunately I could not make it this time. Maybe in the future... Building instructions for red version with those options above available at Rebrickable. I hope you will like it!