Hey all,

Finally, four years after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake our driveway is being rebuilt so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to test out the 42030 Volvo L350F Wheel Loader in the landscape it belongs in

In the instruction book for this set, one of the first pages says 'Indoor use only' but the loader would be nowhere near as fun if you couldn't go out and move some dirt/sand! Sorry if some of the pictures are a bit hard to see but my only opportunity to get out while there was a large pile of dirt was at 7:00am

Looks like the perfect environment for a little loader work, too good to resist! Play 'guess which earthmover is Lego!'

The mountain goat heads up for another attack.

The Loader needs more torque/grip to get a good scoop but it did the job. (Note the very sandy 'dirt' where I live )

Got a good scoop of sand, time to take it to the offload point,

As you can imagine the loader gets quite dirty quite quickly

With the hole filled in, it's time for the loader to do its other job, compacting.

Job done.

My feedback on the loaders capability on the sand doing some proper work:

For a proper set by TLG it did pretty impressively, though a locked differential would come in handy many, many times. It doesn't have as much torque as it needs to dig in to the sand cliff for a big load but you can get enough of a scoop. The power is certainly more than enough for where Lego wants you to use it

This set is definitely a purchase I don't regret, getting me RC and an XL motor, plus working very well and looking great!

As with all photos I upload to EB, you can find them and more in a higher resolution on my Bricksafe: http://bricksafe.com/pages/Kiwi_Builder

How long and how many batteries will it take you to clear the driveway this way?

Nice to see it getting dirty.

Sorry but, to me, it's a crime to subject lego parts to abrasive/destructive conditions.

Edited March 31, 20159 yr by DrJB

Nice to see the Volvo at work . I must admit I never took any of my sets outside but maybe someday will. Have the gears survived the dust ?

It looks awesome!

I'm sorry for what happened in 2011. I was in NZ at that time and it was a terrible feeling when I learned what happened to Christchurch :(

Hah, good job! Put that bad boy to work!

Sorry but, to me, it's a crime to subject lego parts to abrasive/destructive conditions.

You're forgetting to use smileys again

Sorry but, to me, it's a crime to subject lego parts to abrasive/destructive conditions.

So you mean like kids playing with them?

So you mean like kids playing with them?

Who are you calling 'Kids' ? .... grown-up AFOLS who are possessive/protective of their bricks?

You're forgetting to use smileys again

I did? I was merely voicing a 'personal' opinion

The next thing I'd need to do would be to use Phonetic Punctuation ... ... a la Victor Borge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bpIbdZhrzA

Edited March 31, 20159 yr by DrJB

Sorry but, to me, it's a crime to subject lego parts to abrasive/destructive conditions.

Guilty as charged.

Sorry but, to me, it's a crime to subject lego parts to abrasive/destructive conditions.

I am always like that.

I broke a servo because i had submerged it in water when playing with the 9398

How long and how many batteries will it take you to clear the driveway this way?

Yeah it's fair to say I've been hard on my rechargeable batteries, this sand sucks the power like nothing else

Nice to see the Volvo at work . I must admit I never took any of my sets outside but maybe someday will. Have the gears survived the dust ?

You'll enjoy it, you really get to see how well your build performs in the real world. Most things I build nowadays spend a bit of time outside working

Guilty as charged.

That's what I like to see

It looks awesome!

I'm sorry for what happened in 2011. I was in NZ at that time and it was a terrible feeling when I learned what happened to Christchurch :(

Yeah it's made for an interesting part of my life, driving around the roads even now is like having a death wish for your shocks But hey we now have a better house than we started with and a driveway to match

I dont know... I'm AFOL and set 42030 introduced me to the technic lego area year and half ago... So this could be a right thread to little open up... I'm ordinary working guy but I have little problem with alcohol, some might say I'm alcoholist... And recently I had quite alarming back problems which are making my ordinary every day life a bit of hell... But I think that power of Lego and this site, and nice people here could be my saviors cause now it's time to me change my life or go down in the sewers... I'm sorry for this stupid opening but I kind of had to... I'm a decent guy, please understand me, my dear friends.

PS. Power comes from inside, I know that and I'm not giving up.

Thanks and sorry about this

PPS. Offtopic and not nice, but sometimes you have to open your heart

Edited March 31, 20159 yr by MacKaiwer

We all have our own reasons why we use Lego, whether it's a distraction, a passion for gears, or replicating whatever we learned in college. Welcome aboard, and thanks for sharing your 'perspective'.

You might find the link below 'humbling' and for sure you'll be able to identify with many of us, as we all have few things in common ...

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=86895

I don't like the 42030 still however, subjecting Lego sets to harsh conditions that will scratch it is not my thing, sure I've put and and taken my Lego sets outside for some photo sessions but never played with them, consider me overprotective too because I don't let my cousins touch nothing more play with them, and they are well kept on their own totes. Still nice to know this set can actually lift serious dirt but not my stuff.

I agree. Looks fun, but playing with Lego sets outside where they can get dirty is not my thing.