[TC25] 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245

[fosamax]

It could really also be released with small linar actuator as well as using the old pneumatic system  will not happen from TLC.

[2GodBDGlory]

8 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

This is looking awesome so far, really curious about its functioning with that mini pneumatic system!

Thanks!

It's working pretty well, but I think the tight hose routing is putting some resistance on the system.

5 hours ago, johnnytifosi said:

This is so great! Unfortunately it's very sad too, realising that Lego could release this as a 50-60 euro set instead of all the lame 1:16 cars and make some serious bank. Oh well. Do you intend on releasing instructions?

Yeah, something like this would be a cool set! I'm not sure if it'd really be that cheap, though, since it's very densely built, and has pneumatics. I'd be quite curious to know the part count!

As for instructions, it's not something I typically do. I had thought about making a Stud.io model of it, but I'm still way at the bottom of the learning curve for that, and the model is pretty complex. I'll see!

4 hours ago, fosamax said:

It could really also be released with small linar actuator as well as using the old pneumatic system  will not happen from TLC.

Yeah, or just make the model a little bigger so there's room for the extra hoses modern pneumatics would require

[2GodBDGlory]

Alright, here's my presentation of the completed model! There's probably not much new information here if you've been following the WIP updates, but it's good to have all the info in one spot for future reference, and I've now got better pictures and a video:

 

Aesthetics:

Luckily, the original set isn't very complicated, so I was able to make a decent rendition of it under the limitations of small scale, few white parts, and, of course, a general lack of skill and excitement for building bodywork. I am rather pleased with the result, with a detailed grille, and otherwise inoffensive proportions (I suppose inoffensive is a rather subjective word--I may not be offended by it, but if even one person out there decides to be offended by it, my claim will be proven false!)

Spoiler

Steering:

The steering was mildly complex, using a compact system of a 8:24 gear setup, and then a rotating beam used to steer both of the front two axles. Different lengths of the lever points on this beam meant that the second axle didn't steer as much as the first, as it should be. (Image from the WIP stage)

Suspension:

All four axles technically had solid-axle suspension, with the front two axles being supported by small Lego springs placed over flick-fire missiles, the latter of which allowed for a good amount of play in the system, allowing the two sides to be sprung independently. The rear used a sort of swing arm system, with rubber bands for the spring. The model was really too light (and flimsy) for the suspension to be of any effect, but it had a good amount of travel.

Outriggers:

The outriggers were based on old 8L gear racks, and were operated by a knob, through a few bevel gears. The legs were simple pins that could be pushed down manually.

Bed:

The bed could be tilted with a manually operated small linear actuator, and there was a small manual latch on the rear to determine whether the rear gate could swing open or not, just like the original set.

Crane arm rotation:

The crane could be rotated using a knob on a tall axle (simulating the original set's exhaust pipe), which then ran two 8T gears that meshed with the 28T turntable. It was simple, and worked fine, though I generally had to press the control axle inwards to keep its 8T gear engaged when stresses got high. (Space was very short for reinforcement, unfortunately)

Pneumatics:

I wanted to keep the same pneumatic functionality as the original set,  which meant four cylinders on the arm, to run the two joints, extend the arm, and close the bucket. Because it would be completely impracticable to run eight hoses down from the crane arm, I decided to operate the cylinders on the single-acting system used in official sets in the '80s. This meant that any cylinder could be used as a pump (I used an '80s vintage red cylinder), and that an external distribution block would be required to separate the compression and suction strokes. This block then sent its two outputs to the two outer ports of each of the four valves (in the cab), which then sent a total of four hoses to the arm from their middle ports. The system worked quite well, though extension and bucket operation often required many pumps (and their cylinders tended to stick during the first operation of a session--simply moving them by hand once would free them up to work normally).

 

This picture shows some of the pneumatic components in better detail

This one shows them in action

 

Overall, the model was quite satisfactory! All the functions worked fine, and it looked pretty good by my standards! It was regrettably floppy, with pretty much everything being built off of a frame like this one, but I'm not sure how I could have improved it without sacrificing functions or increasing the scale. It wasn't catastrophic or anything, just not nearly as stiff as an official set!

Spoiler

Anyways, I've enjoyed this project, and I think the result is a fitting tribute to this great set--the first Technic set I ever bought!

Here's the video: 

 

More pictures at: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/tc25-mercedes-benz-arocs

[SaperPL]

Nice that it actually works. Great achievement doing this at this scale.

I love how it looks as this is a good depiction of the original set, but at the same time I feel that going so small to this scale may not have been worth it in context of playability. But I also don't like knuckle boom cranes and excavators having knobs at each stage of the arm, so that's just my bias.

[Berthil]

Nice work! Great achievement to get the boom working at this scale as already mentioned by SaperPL. I also think the overal look suffered somewhat from the very small scale but great engineering achievement.

[2GodBDGlory]

Well, I've just finished building this model in Stud.io!
  

It's the first time I've built one of my MOCs digitally, so it's a bit messy (I couldn't get the hoses for the windshield to bend the way I wanted to; I left out all the pneumatic hoses; and the pneumatic cylinders aren't connected at both ends), but it should be enough should anyone want to try building a copy, though I'm not sure it's built to a standard that other people would enjoy! I think you had at least asked about instructions, though, @johnnytifosi, so if the Stud.io file is good enough for you, it's on my Bricksafe page: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/tc25-mercedes-benz-arocs

Also, this is a 738-part model, which sounds like an awful lot for the scale!

Edited July 23, 2023 by 2GodBDGlory

[SaperPL]

I checked the studio model - it's nice to have if if someone were to dig into something like this later on, but you should put separate chunks of it into submodels and order it by steps, because your whole experience of the order in which it has to be assembled will be lost without it.

[TechnicMOCer]

31 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

I checked the studio model - it's nice to have if if someone were to dig into something like this later on, but you should put separate chunks of it into submodels and order it by steps, because your whole experience of the order in which it has to be assembled will be lost without it.

I am going to test the model as well, maybe I will have enough patience to make submodels and fix A-pillars, but it later

[TechnicMOCer]

I made proper A-pillars using LDCad, and some render:

[1gor]

And your model is not dark bluish gray? Anyway you made lots if functionalities in such small space; TLC sould have released something like that as they released mini Unimog (9390 set).

Great work 

[2GodBDGlory]

On 7/23/2023 at 6:14 AM, TechnicMOCer said:

I made proper A-pillars using LDCad, and some render:

Cool! And thanks!

On 7/23/2023 at 3:52 AM, SaperPL said:

I checked the studio model - it's nice to have if if someone were to dig into something like this later on, but you should put separate chunks of it into submodels and order it by steps, because your whole experience of the order in which it has to be assembled will be lost without it.

Hmm, ok. I've never done that before, but it's probably worth learning, and I might as well learn it now! I am feeling slightly time-crunched to finish my Lada Niva WIP for a race in two weeks, but hopefully sometime I'll get to that 

On 7/23/2023 at 2:50 PM, 1gor said:

And your model is not dark bluish gray? Anyway you made lots if functionalities in such small space; TLC sould have released something like that as they released mini Unimog (9390 set).

Great work 

Well, the bed is my trademark LBG, but it's not the main color, so yes, I have effectively broken my tradition!

Thanks! A mini Arocs set would have been pretty cool, though I wonder how simple it would have ended up. 8067

is a pretty good example of a lot of functionality in roughly this scale, and probably a mini Arocs could have had more than this, but it certainly wouldn't have had as much as mine, due to their pesky "standards" :) . I'd actually be really interested to see somebody with a style (and reliability/durability standards) closer to TLG's take a stab at that idea!

[1gor]

Probably TLC could make it as small set but without pneumatic (to cheap to introduce  small cylinders) and without suspension

[SaperPL]

4 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Hmm, ok. I've never done that before, but it's probably worth learning, and I might as well learn it now! I am feeling slightly time-crunched to finish my Lada Niva WIP for a race in two weeks, but hopefully sometime I'll get to that 

On 7/23/2023 at 8:50 PM, 1gor said:

That's exactly why you should do it while you're building the studio model and not afterwards when it gets cumbersome to select parts and laziness/other projects kick-in :)

[gyenesvi]

1 hour ago, SaperPL said:

That's exactly why you should do it while you're building the studio model and not afterwards when it gets cumbersome to select parts and laziness/other projects kick-in :)

Grouping parts into submodels while building the model certainly does help with managing parts (such as hiding) and later making instructions, but ordering parts into steps while building would be pretty hard for me at least, since I don't know the proper sequence until I see the bigger context (especially in heavily form locked builds, that can have a long reaching consequence in terms of steps). And unfortunately Studio is lacking heavily in this respect, it does not have good commands to order parts in the main building mode (such as moving parts to previous/next steps, only in instruction builder mode, where you cannot add parts), so this sucks, and hence this is one of the most cumbersome part of making instructions.. I have already filed issues about this long ago, but they never bothered to fix it.

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, gyenesvi said:

And unfortunately Studio is lacking heavily in this respect, it does not have good commands to order parts in the main building mode (such as moving parts to previous/next steps, only in instruction builder mode, where you cannot add parts), so this sucks, and hence this is one of the most cumbersome part of making instructions.. I have already filed issues about this long ago, but they never bothered to fix it.

It does have functions where you select parts to move to specific step, but this has to be done in step list. The bigger problem is that when you're in specific step, adding new parts is happening at the newest step and not in a step which you're in context of at the moment, so it is making a mess and you have to manually manage it. It's made as if assumption is that you're always working on the last step and you've finished previous steps already so new parts are landing in the last step always by default.

[gyenesvi]

21 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

It does have functions where you select parts to move to specific step, but this has to be done in step list. The bigger problem is that when you're in specific step, adding new parts is happening at the newest step and not in a step which you're in context of at the moment, so it is making a mess and you have to manually manage it. It's made as if assumption is that you're always working on the last step and you've finished previous steps already so new parts are landing in the last step always by default.

Yeah, that's exactly the problem. And moving to a specific step is also very cumbersome if you have a large number of steps, and also if you forgot to create a new empty step before selecting parts..

But let's not derail this topic too much.

[nerdsforprez]

Getting around to viewing more submissions this morning of this contest.  I really like how builds are shaping up!  This one is also a great submission.  Terrific functions at this scale, as others have said. I also think you focused more on appearance than other builds of yours, which is a plus in my book.  Great job on this one!

[Thirdwigg]

Yeah, this looks really good @2GodBDGlory. If you release instructions, I'm sure there are a lot of builders who would like to recreate it.

[2GodBDGlory]

10 hours ago, SaperPL said:

That's exactly why you should do it while you're building the studio model and not afterwards when it gets cumbersome to select parts and laziness/other projects kick-in :)

Alright, good to know! Like I said, I've never done this type of thing in Stud.io before, so I wouldn't know. Do you know of a good example of a finished Stud.io model with these steps and sub-assemblies in it that I could refer to? 

 

7 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

Getting around to viewing more submissions this morning of this contest.  I really like how builds are shaping up!  This one is also a great submission.  Terrific functions at this scale, as others have said. I also think you focused more on appearance than other builds of yours, which is a plus in my book.  Great job on this one!

Thanks! 

4 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

Yeah, this looks really good @2GodBDGlory. If you release instructions, I'm sure there are a lot of builders who would like to recreate it.

Thanks! Honestly I'm not sure it's all that worth recreating, what with a few parts I couldn't reinforce adequately, and the usage of some rare old parts, like the distribution block. Still, I'd be honoured if anyone wanted to try! 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Just now, 2GodBDGlory said:

Thanks! Honestly I'm not sure it's all that worth recreating, what with a few parts I couldn't reinforce adequately, and the usage of some rare old parts, like the distribution block. Still, I'd be honoured if anyone wanted to try! 

I can arrange an instruction for you if you allow me to.

[Thirdwigg]

10 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I can arrange an instruction for you if you allow me to.

Me too. I'm sure we could get it posted for you.

[SaperPL]

15 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Do you know of a good example of a finished Stud.io model with these steps and sub-assemblies in it that I could refer to? 

The aim is to have submodels that make sense and split building into similar amounts of parts per step as Lego does. Not much big philosophy here apart from the fact that you should identify modules that make sense they are together for the specific model you're making. Make axles in submodels, put them in a chassis submodel, separate parts of the cab that can be assembled together and connected together to the main model etc.

[2GodBDGlory]

8 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I can arrange an instruction for you if you allow me to.

 

8 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

Me too. I'm sure we could get it posted for you.

Yeah, I'd be happy to have some help to get instructions done. Thanks!

8 hours ago, SaperPL said:

The aim is to have submodels that make sense and split building into similar amounts of parts per step as Lego does. Not much big philosophy here apart from the fact that you should identify modules that make sense they are together for the specific model you're making. Make axles in submodels, put them in a chassis submodel, separate parts of the cab that can be assembled together and connected together to the main model etc.

Got it, thanks

[2GodBDGlory]

I spent a while this evening breaking up the Stud.io model into submodels and then steps within the submodels, so I think it should be more user-friendly now? Some of the steps do have a lot of pieces in them, but I can't say I feel like putting any more time into breaking them up, so hopefully what I have is workable?

Anyways, if any of you want to take a look at the model (In the same Bricksafe folder linked above) and let me know how the steps look, I'd appreciate some feedback while I learn the program! (I definitely see why it would have been easier to do this while I built it!)

Edited July 30, 2023 by 2GodBDGlory

[gyenesvi]

@2GodBDGlory I noticed in the entry topic that your entry does not have a picture of the original model, while the rules mandate it. Just thought I'd let you know..