I wanted to start a topic on my entry for the competition.

2 Receivers

4 Motors

7 Functions

1 M Motor switches between the 1st and 2nd functions for the other 3 motors.

M Motor 2 - Steering, Winch

M Motor 3 - Stabilizers, Boom Extension

XL Motor - Drive, Boom Raise/Lower

7th function is an automatic vehicle lift using a Lego rubber band.

A couple teasers of work in progress:

Functions are working good so far, but I'm dreading the appearance.

Great start, can't wait to see the end result ;)

Can't wait for the finished product :)

Great teaser :p

Looks promising. Looking forward to more progress

Great start!! Can i suggest you only one thing? I would move the attaching point of the LA a bit farer..at the moment it's in the middle of the boom more or less....if you move it 1 or 2 studs closer to the end of the boom it will have more lever-torque, and the boom won't erase too high....which will look more realistic!

But anyway looks very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

TheItalianBrick - Thank you for your idea. As fas as performance goes, the boom works the way I want it to.

More pictures. I believe I'm 95% done with this project.

Just need to work on looks. It's one of my downfalls with Lego.

That just looks fantastic, good luck in the contest; this is a very good entry, worth the recognition.

Are there any videos? Because I wanna see this thing in action.

I plan to make a video when I am finished. I plan to take 1 more day going over it before then. Thank you for the compliment!

Wow that was fast and really good, looks like I have some competition!

That was insanely fast as a build! It'd take me most of that time to just find the pieces

Yh I'm building a motorized supercar, and I started around 3 months ago, yet haven't finished the chassis. And I only decided on the gearbox 2 weeks ago.

But once I built a supercar in just 3 days, and it turned out to be the supercar on my profile picture XD

Wow! I'm impressed with the progress you've made in such a short period of time - great work gmshades!

Your biggest "problem" will be the excess of time. Are you planning to put some stickers on it?

Wow! Very cool moc! It looks os good!

Final touches done.

Exhaust pipes.

Visor shortened from 3 high to 2 high.

Clearance and marker lights added.

Boom changed from black to yellow.

And, I made a video! Please don't make fun of my driving skills, I'm still perfecting it.

WOW, looks great. Minor changes really do something to a MOC. great job!

You build like a hurricane. You made it within just a few days and I spent the whole month designing just one axle.

One remark though. Does that rear thing (which lifts front wheels of towed vehicle) should be attached to the boom? I thought that it is connected to the chassis. But I've never seen US-style tow trucks in real life, so I might be very wrong.

The US uses both types.

This is the truck I based mine on:

This is the type most wreckers have:

Thank you for the compliment. I don't always get to build, but when I do, I'm determined to finish before walking away. I have about 25 hours working on this project.

Glenn

I really like that yellow stripe on the body work. Just I think the rear wheels should have more covering them. Brilliant

The motor setup in the first images is scarily similar to my first idea. I had exactly the same motor setup. (Fortunately for you I scrapped that idea.)

Anyhow, I like your model, it looks pretty nice. I like the double rear tyres. I also like the orange lights at the sides, a nice little detail that really improves the look. Also, very nice how you managed to add the V6 engine in there as well.

I have a few suggestions though. First of all, you're done within a week, and there's a lot of time left. I'd use the time to try to optimize your model wherever possible. Play-test it, and see if there's anything that could use work, and build an updated model. If you have the parts, you can leave your current model in-tact and build your second model parallel so you always have your reference.

1. The frame seems to sag at the front. You might want to add some bracing there. If you have 5x7 frame liftarms use those; they are perfect for bracing.

2. I wouldn't do the studded roof, it "breaks style" with the rest which is all studless.

3. The side panels are "staggered". Maybe you could add something to make it really sloped rather then "stepped". Don't "break style" by adding studded details on a studless model though.

4. The cabin is rather "square". Maybe you could add panels to make it more curved, and to let the grille "sink into" the front a bit instead of sticking out

5. Don't forget the licence plate :)

6. It's (still) reeeaally black... (even with the yellow). Maybe you can add some details in another color, or use the same trick as 8285 does and use another color for the chassis, e.g. light gray. Or if you look at your reference, some details are silver, like the front bumper frame or the frame that holds the large orange lights. You could have those in light gray. That would add some variety to the color scheme.

Good luck in the contest anyway. You have set the tone for others, I think, which is great. :D

Great video, at least the truck performs as well as it looks. Erik leppen, not all mocs are perfect;

there are no perfect mocs. I hate it when adult pro technic builders like you, are so judgemental to

newer builders and less experienced builders. He has done very well to build a moc of this class, in

a short space of time. It takes most builders like you, several months to build an all round moc. Yet this builder has done that in a matter of days. And always when pro builders like you see and comment

on mocs by builders on a similar level to you, even if there are minor errors you won't highlight them.

And that sometimes confused newer people to technic, that mocs built by people of your standard, have

no errors, and can't be questioned. The only common criticism is whether a supercar is slow or fast.

It should only be constructive criticism like:'put a clutch gear on the L motor, so the car doesn't

lunch the motor' or 'use a XL motor to get more torque' or 'try a limited slip differential, for

a stable torque flow', Not 'its too square and cramped' or whatever. That's a mock to all the hard work,

time and effort the builder has put into preparing, building and sharing his or her moc; it leaves

the builder with a new perception that all their work has come to nothing, thus making them feel

dissatisfied with their moc.

I feel I have to chime in here.

LeocornoProductions, thank you for defending me, but I do not feel that Erik was degrading my moc, but to suggest upgrades to improve the looks of the model.

Erik, thank you for your constructive criticism. I will take your ideas into consideration to make the model look better. I do have time to improve it, and will update the pictures as I go.

Thank you for your comments.

Glenn

.....Erik leppen....

Erik's post was very polite and constructive. He did not write anything bad about the tow truck, in fact he liked it. And also he took time to make great suggestions for OP to improve it.

Very nice first entry. I would also suggest you to follow Eriks ideas. Time is on your side, and you have great model already :)

LeocornoProductions,

Please let me explain why I am cricital.

Feedback/criticism is crucial to learning. You try your best on something (anything), show it to others, others judge it critically and provide their knowledge, applied to the thing shown, point out how you could make it better, and you then have learned something new. You then try to apply the new knowledge and receive new feedback again. That's how all learning works. So by providing feedback, I help people learn. (Not only the receiver, but everyone who reads along can see other people's thoughts, which could help them in some way).

This means however that the receiver has to be able to handle feedback. This is a skill in itself that has to be learned as well. But you cannot learn how to handle feedback in a useful way if you never actually receive feedback. So if receiving feedback were to be a skill gmshades had not yet acquired, I'm helping him with that as well. (However, looking at gmshades's reply, he knows perfectly fine how to take feedback.)

Also, I expect that when people post their stuff on an internet forum, they want feedback. I assume they want to improve (who doesn't?) and welcome all tips and ideas they can get. That's at least my incentive when I post a MOC. If you only want praise, you should make that clear in your post. Otherwise, expect feedback, because everyone has different talents and, as you say yourself, nothing is perfect, so everything can be improved.

I'm not an expert builder by the way. It's very flattering you see me as one, so thanks for that! But many people here show stuff I can only wish I could build. So if I post here, I want to have them take a good look at my model and give me tips. (Actually this happened with the Model Team competition, which helped me improve my model by miles. So I have experienced the importance of feedback once more there, so why wouldn't I return the favor?)

By the way, you said the OP built his model very quickly, and this is a talent by itself. If you read my post again, you'll see I say the same thing. Now, given the OP has built a pretty nice model in a week, for a two-month contest, you could do two things. You could leave it be, but you could also use the remaining time to try to make your model as good as you can get it with all the help you can get. OP can build a good model in a week, so if he continues at this pace, then he could blow us all out of the water.

One more thing. I'm also joining this contest. This means gmshades is a competitor. I could also have decided to not bother helping him, so as to improve my own chances in the contest. So why did I help him? Simple: because I care about helping people much much more than I care about winning a contest.

Oh, and of course, thanks gmshades and Milan :)

Edited December 25, 201410 yr by Erik Leppen

Erik, I made a few changes as you suggested:

1. The frame seems to sag at the front. You might want to add some bracing there. If you have 5x7 frame liftarms use those; they are perfect for bracing.

5X7 Frame liftarm added for support. Much stronger now.

2. I wouldn't do the studded roof, it "breaks style" with the rest which is all studless.

Roof is now studless.

3. The side panels are "staggered". Maybe you could add something to make it really sloped rather then "stepped". Don't "break style" by adding studded details on a studless model though.

Added a couple sloped panels to the back. May work on it some more.

4. The cabin is rather "square". Maybe you could add panels to make it more curved, and to let the grille "sink into" the front a bit instead of sticking out.

Took ideas from 8258 Crane truck for inspiration. No more square look.

5. Don't forget the licence plate :)

Oops! Next time.....

6. It's (still) reeeaally black... (even with the yellow). Maybe you can add some details in another color, or use the same trick as 8285 does and use another color for the chassis, e.g. light gray. Or if you look at your reference, some details are silver, like the front bumper frame or the frame that holds the large orange lights. You could have those in light gray. That would add some variety to the color scheme.

Changed the frame to gray, and the rims to yellow. May try to add stickers to break it up some more.

Good luck in the contest anyway. You have set the tone for others, I think, which is great. :D

Thanks again!

Glenn

That truck looks MEAN!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Love the color scheme