As the new 42144 Material Handler was often compared to 42128 Heavy Tow Truck in terms of number of elements and price, I decided to make an experiment and build Material Handler from 42128 to see if the similar functionalities can be achieved using its parts only. As a result I was able not only to reproduce Material Handler, but also introduce some improvements and build Dump Truck using remaining parts.

Two thin pneumatic cylinders were used in the upper part of the boom, which actually better resembles design of most material handlers. Small pneumatic cylinder was replaced with small linear actuator, which makes the grabbing far more robust. To keep the location of all controls at the back of superstructure, the drive of small LA is transferred all the way from knob at the rear wall of superstructure, through the middle of body and boom, to reach the grabber at the end of upper arm. Upper arm has full range of 90 degrees movement, thanks to the special orientation of universal joints. HoG steering is located opposite to the steerable wheels. 4 outriggers and cabin raising are operated similarly to 42144.

Dump truck has 4-piston engine connected to rear wheels using differential. Cabin has openable doors, dump is raised using two small linear actuators.

More pictures at https://bricksafe.com/pages/Repkovsky/42128-material-handler--dump-truck-moc-123531

Instructions are available to buy at https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-123531/Repcovsky/material-handler-dump-truck.

Wow, that's a really impressive job.  This would have made a great official B model, looks like a real set.  Actually it's better than most official B models I'd say.  Very well done.

Incredible. In good old days this would have been official b model.

Wow! Now that is one (or two) epic alternate model! Great functionality and great looks, I love the color consistency you achieved, the way you used all the bit messy color scheme of the original and turned it into two separate models, it's as if all the parts were meant for two models :) Even really well working claws without special parts! Congrats!

3 hours ago, Jurss said:

Incredible. In good old days this would have been official b model.

I miss those days.

This is very cool!! (Except the engine that is right in the cabin  )

Nicely done!

On 9/22/2022 at 5:43 AM, mdemerchant said:

Wow, that's a really impressive job.  This would have made a great official B model, looks like a real set.  Actually it's better than most official B models I'd say.  Very well done.

On 9/22/2022 at 7:05 AM, Jurss said:

Incredible. In good old days this would have been official b model.

Thank you! Maybe that is because I was less constrained by time and allowed building techniques than LEGO designers.

On 9/22/2022 at 10:55 AM, gyenesvi said:

Wow! Now that is one (or two) epic alternate model! Great functionality and great looks, I love the color consistency you achieved, the way you used all the bit messy color scheme of the original and turned it into two separate models, it's as if all the parts were meant for two models :) Even really well working claws without special parts! Congrats!

Thanks! 42128 is great set for building alternative models, but the color scheme is indeed a bit crazy, adding another level of complexity to building nice-looking MOC :).

On 9/22/2022 at 10:58 AM, Maaboo35 said:

I miss those days. 

I think most of the AFOLs community does...

On 9/22/2022 at 1:26 PM, MangaNOID said:

This is very cool!! (Except the engine that is right in the cabin  )

Yeah... I didn't want to build yet another cab-over-truck design, since there is a couple of such alternatives to 42128 already. As a result, I decided to build smaller truck with lower cabin, but that constrained a room for engine very much. Even with this location, steering was quite hard to accomplish, as there is small room under the engine.

Incredible alternative!