42129 - 4x4 Mercedes-Benz Zetros

[HectorMB]

Comparing with 42114 (1 "servo motor", 1 L motor, 1 XL motor, 1 gearbox and the actuators), the new Zetros has 1XL motor (driving) and 1L motor (or steering motor) for steering. Given a similar price, I would expect a gearbox or diff lock and another XL motor for acceleration. Nevertheless, the 42114 counts with the actuators, bit seems that the Zetros will bring new tires. 

Anyway, let's wait until official description, but, honestly, I don't expect much complexity (in particular considering the last models on precedent years).

 

 

[efferman]

i have shrinked the Xerion tires to the expected tire size. .part

Edited April 6, 2021 by efferman

[Scoar Sonander]

It looks like the wheel arches should come down more at the front. Otherwise looking great! 

[1gor]

Very nice Michael, I suppose noone will count treads on shrinker tire (Class tire has 20, Zetros has 18 and Jeep has 16), so shrinking is acceptable

[efferman]

7 minutes ago, Scoar Sonander said:

It looks like the wheel arches should come down more at the front.

i dont think so source

[Scoar Sonander]

Oh. My bad!

[allanp]

12 hours ago, efferman said:

i dont think so source

Apologies for quoting a picture but it does show a detail that I see in pretty much every real life truck that I miss in Technic sets and that's the prop shafts. In real life you can mostly always clearly see the spinning prop shafts going to the axles when looking at the vehicle as it drives by, not so much in Lego sets though. Too much stuff in the way.

[Bartybum]

39 minutes ago, allanp said:

Apologies for quoting a picture

You can edit the quote to backspace/remove the image

 

[Void_S]

4 hours ago, allanp said:

Apologies for quoting a picture but it does show a detail that I see in pretty much every real life truck that I miss in Technic sets and that's the prop shafts. In real life you can mostly always clearly see the spinning prop shafts going to the axles when looking at the vehicle as it drives by, not so much in Lego sets though. Too much stuff in the way.

It comes from the LEGO nature - the truck frames are made of ABS plastic, so they must be additionally secured in comparison with real-life steel ones. So try are bigger in size and have not some many space inside to put the inclined prop shaft. The horizontal one better fits the horizontal frame with horizontal pinholes 

[gyenesvi]

10 hours ago, allanp said:

In real life you can mostly always clearly see the spinning prop shafts going to the axles when looking at the vehicle as it drives by, not so much in Lego sets though. Too much stuff in the way.

I observed the same with live axle suspensions, it seems impossible to build a slim axle with only a compact differential housing in the middle just as it is usual in real vehicles. Lego axles always seem way too bulky, especially with steering involved.. I wonder what the key missing pieces may be for simplifying.. Maybe liftarms with perpendicular holes would allow for more compact builds via more connection options. Has anybody spotted those new type of liftarms on the leaked images of upcoming sets?

[lmdesigner42]

On the image you can clearly see 3 pins holding the wheel on, indicating the presence of a hub. Given the weakness of the standard CV joint hubs and the difficulty fitting wide 81 mm tires to portal hubs, I think they will probably be the new planetary hubs from 42099.

I also wonder what kind of suspension there will be space for. The small gap between the front wheel and fender makes me think the front axle will be fixed, while the small amount of lengthwise space between the rear axles due to the 81 mm wheels makes two separate live axles unlikely. I suspect the rear axles could have simple stabilized pendular suspension like 42122, or a tandem live axle like 42043 in the best case.

[Jundis]

38 minutes ago, lmdesigner42 said:

I suspect the rear axles could have simple stabilized pendular suspension like 42122, or a tandem live axle like 42043 in the best case

If they really go with the cheap Jeep-solution, I will skip this model completely and get the new wheels on B&P. To have a fixed front axle is 42070 all over again.

I kinda get the idea of Lego to go with the sturdiest (mostly the simplest) solution as possible to make it playable for kids. But making a trial truck with 3 axles, I wanne see the suspension working on the ground and axles twisting and turning like this:

[AVCampos]

3 minutes ago, Jundis said:

To have a fixed front axle is 42070 all over again.

You can have a fixed front axle and still get good off-road capabilities: the 8273-B does that.

[Milan]

I have made a new topic for Testing the strength of Technic liftarms and bricks.

Let's keep this topic for the Zetros.

[efferman]

21 hours ago, AVCampos said:

You can have a fixed front axle and still get good off-road capabilities: the 8273-B does that.

Even articulated dumpers have a suspension on the front axle, and going offroad needs ground contact. Then even 3 open diffs are working on hard terrain.

i know. it is a bit underpowered.

Edited April 8, 2021 by efferman

[Void_S]

On 4/8/2021 at 4:05 PM, efferman said:

Even articulated dumpers have a suspension on the front axle, and going offroad needs ground contact. Then even 3 open diffs are working on hard terrain.

Historically, very first models had a fixed front axle (the "cabin" half-frame's artuculation was enought to act as pendular suspension) however it was nearly impossible to drive them 20+ km/h. So, they quickly got a suspension. 

I wanted to say that fixed axle will work too but only for crawler-speed machines only...

Maybe, this Zetros will not be so fast? 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Milan
Let's not quote pictures/videos from the same page.

[Brickend]

I think it's way too early to judge from the image going around as there's something wrong with the angles on several bricks. I think it could possibly have a forward opening hood and perhaps it's just not sat right, or the mechanism to tilt hasn't been fully resolved. The oddness of the angles also suggests that it could be posed in a slightly 'flexed' position.

[Maaboo the Witch]

There should at least be an oscillating joint between the cab and rear axles.

[Zerobricks]

24 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

There should at least be an oscillating joint between the cab and rear axles.

 

No, that's just chassis flexing, just like with the Unimog.

[spongebrickpl]

42099 Extreme Offroader had good idea for front axle suspension but it was designed badly (poor ground clearance).

Today I realized that Unimog 8110 was released 10 years ago. For collectors it would be better if Zetros was the same scale - 4x4 on Claas or Unimog tires. It will look better together. I still hope it will not be 6x6. 

[Bartybum]

9 hours ago, spongebrickpl said:

I still hope it will not be 6x6. 

May as well swallow the pill now and get used to it, because the leaked images are of a 6x6 trial truck

[N-4K0]

For the 2H in general, if the idea about the prelim pics being fake to fool copycats would end up being true, it would be a really good idea, but I guess it would be more (too much?) work for them as they would also have to have some designers take time and effort to design fake sets.

Or maybe it would be easier cos I guess they could just take a little extra time making the first drafts, then tape images of those and use as potential "fake set prelims" before the designers kept improving the drafts and making the actual sets.

[agrof]

I don't understand why people keep sticking to the idea of prelim pictures being fake - especially to fool copycats.  Lockdown => too much time => overcomplicating.

The Zetros looks good in my opinion, but I expect no front suspension, and the price is totally out of place. In overall I see lot of disappointments coming after the release.

 

[Gray Gear]

@agrof I agree. The pictures arn't fake.  It'll be 42070 all over again, and even the chinese realized there was no point in copying it 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Gray Gear

[Jundis]

1 hour ago, N-4K0 said:

For the 2H in general, if the idea about the prelim pics being fake to fool copycats would end up being true, it would be a really good idea, but I guess it would be more (too much?) work for them as they would also have to have some designers take time and effort to design fake sets.

Or maybe it would be easier cos I guess they could just take a little extra time making the first drafts, then tape images of those and use as potential "fake set prelims" before the designers kept improving the drafts and making the actual sets.

I don't think it would be too much of an effort as there are always first drafts of the model. I remember watching an interview of Markus Kossmann saying they always build different prototypes (scale, colour, functionality) and the settle on one design to polish and make it real. On the other hand, I also agree with @agrof : Comparing two years ago, we already had many pics of the models coming in 6 months, now we only have vague blurred things for a model coming in 3,5 months.

17 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

No, that's just chassis flexing, just like with the Unimog.

The idea of using a big turntable to simulate the twisting of the chassis isn't that bad (or better two turntables as the bending would be too stressful), but given the prelim pic and the position of the motors, I highly doubt this.

I just realized, that in the pic, the roof of the cab has no A-pillars, which is really strange, as this will be the first point to lift this thing, while playing with it outdoor. Hope they'll fix it in the final model. Effe's rebuild seems way sturdier.