Posted June 29, 20231 yr 42042 was a no brainer for me as I have extensively modified and played with it years ago and was the first set I bought after 30 year Hiatus on Technic. Plan is to: -stick by the rules -use only parts from 42042...so far so good but that plan might probably not last when I get to the tracks and claw. -build about 55% reduction in size -enjoy the build So far I came up with this which mimics 42042 setup quite nicely with each gear switch in the same position as the original. Drive axle to the tracks through turntable setup just like original and the slewing sorted out also mimic's the original model with its position. powering the gearbox and the functions will be manual HOG from the rear where the 8L axle is. Biggest problem I see is my inability to panel this up to look like the original so this is why I'll make a big effort to replicate the insides as best as possible in this tight space. Edited August 21, 20231 yr by MangaNOID
June 30, 20231 yr Author So much for designing stuff in my head than building it. Below is the drive mechanism HOG for the gearbox. Some reason I thought I would need to use 8T gears for driving the gearbox to stop them clashing with each other meaning lots of half studs offset. just realised after building it last night that it’s not necessary 😅 even though it works a treat I’ll change the 2 drive 8T gears to 16T gears and loose the half stuff. Hard to see from just photos I guess. anyway a bit more other structure and pulley wheels in place (for now?) still able to only use 42042 parts so far, except for 2 different placeholders you may notice, but that will end soon but I’ll document what and how much I use of non 42042 parts to see how ‘staying true to the original’ I am.
July 2, 20231 yr Author Parts restriction philosophy is still going ok but I have use recolours on 5 parts now to make for a better build…IMO. HOG power has been changed and made everything so much simpler and better than previous post. The ‘mast’ or whatever it’s called is in with correct angle of lean and I changed to smaller cable reel wheels to ‘better’ align with the scale. Im trying to use the original panels. This is where I get headaches but I’m getting happy with the results and I think it’s worth carrying on on that path. Edited July 2, 20231 yr by MangaNOID
July 2, 20231 yr Wow this is a really interesting build. Will be following along closely as 42042 is also one of my favorites and one of my longest owned technic sets after the dark ages.
July 6, 20231 yr Author I appreciate the encouraging comments people 👍 very busy the last few days but I cracked on with this and found a lot of hours (on a week leave because of school holidays) to get the tracks done and figure out the boom. Te tracks almost ruined me. So many fails to get them how I wanted which was to have the same profile as the original of course with the little wheels and looks and design features of the original…IMO. I also used the original tracks which are now relationally wider than source material but there was nothing else that would keep the looks together. I have to say the trying and trying to get them right has paid off in my mind as I am very happy with the result. I also, after a lot of upper carriage redesign fitted in the switches for the gear box. Ill post an image of the bare chassis soon so it’s easier to see how this is put together. Here is the boom which had to be 4x4 studs in my view for it to look in scale with the rest of the crane. So now with the tracks I have used the first non 42042 set element in the build, that being the small track drive wheels. Quite a few recolours of elements now though… maybe 10 elements.
July 6, 20231 yr Looks really good. I wonder how much cranking will be required when playing with it. Are you going to move the tracks with the input passed through the turntable or is there going to be a knob at the back of the base?
July 6, 20231 yr I really like this project, and the results so far. This look just like 42042 but smaller, and I'm happy you kept the 5l tracks. I think that was the right decision. Keep it up.
July 8, 20231 yr Author On 7/7/2023 at 12:16 AM, SaperPL said: I wonder how much cranking will be required when playing with it. Are you going to move the tracks with the input passed through the turntable or is there going to be a knob at the back of the base? I like your comments! After reading this I decided to test the functions out… and found indeed that the slewing felt awefull. I had (in the very first pic of this topic) a 24T meshed to a 12T driving the turntable with a 2.5:1 ratio. that’s now changed to a worm gear so a lot more turning of the crank input to slew it 👍 I had to re do the drive input too which was very tricky and I unfortunately had to use my second non 42042 element. But this setup all feels and works really nice so worth a compromise or two. the boom and hoisting may be a little slow but I’ll use a crank handle on the power input instead of a gear knob and then it’s a lot quicker if you want and feels great! hard to see what’s going on as it’s all very dense now but this is a secondary chassis setup where I could fix the slewing and drive. This is the only drive input for the functions. No knob on the undercarriage.
July 8, 20231 yr 5 hours ago, MangaNOID said: This is the only drive input for the functions. No knob on the undercarriage. Oh cool that there is a single spot for the input. I'm not sure about the crank versus knob though. Consider how it'll work when you have the whole boom attached with something hanging on it. The knob is something you're applying twisting force from both sides so it should be more stable than when you're cranking the crank. I would expect the whole thing to be affected especially when everything is sitting on a turntable. Good progress though, keep it up, I want to see this big crane in small scale and full functionality picking stuff up :D
July 10, 20231 yr Author On 7/8/2023 at 6:15 PM, SaperPL said: I'm not sure about the crank versus knob though. Your right! Turns out…😅… a crank is not very good. Last update for a while as back at work and normal life this week. I did manage to get finished the grabber. What a nightmare. I could not get a small scaled down version of a 4 way grabber especially one that performed well. So I am down to 2 way grabber. I am ok with that as it performs way better than my expectations! And the scale is pretty good. More non 42042 elements. The red half lift arm thing locks in between the 2 cogs to stop the grabber opening. It just drops in with gravity. Just flick it up to unlock the grabber which springs open from the elastic band. nothing really new but for me it is, as I never built one like this so very happy. One hand operation. it holds very strong too and it holds my modified 42042! Although I was lifting from a lift arm with a 3l pin sticking through it. quick size comparison…
July 10, 20231 yr The grabber is super clever. I like the locking feature and is a great solution to the space constraints of the scale.
July 11, 20231 yr Author On 7/7/2023 at 12:32 AM, Thirdwigg said: I'm happy you kept the 5l tracks. I think that was the right decision. 15 hours ago, Thirdwigg said: a great solution to the space constraints of the scale. Appreciate your input here! These two decisions may just loose points but this build is one I’m very excited about and is ultimately for me, so we got to build the way we are happy with 🙂
July 25, 20231 yr Author The cab has caused a few headaches because of the very small size, so what i have landed on (so far?) is a slightly larger than what should be scaled down cab. Why? because I like how it looks and also because I cant really use any other tracks to keep the look of the original 42042. A very small cab made the tracks look even more bigger and perhaps out of place. Other things that I have been working on are a few build quality improvements. below highlighted in green is the new link to the mast thingy. before this I have Pins connecting with different alignment to this (see previous images above) Lifting anything would have caused the mast thingy to pop out Edited July 25, 20231 yr by MangaNOID
July 25, 20231 yr 2 hours ago, MangaNOID said: A very small cab made the tracks look even more bigger and perhaps out of place. Its hard to really see the relative size of the cab to superstructure from the pic you submitted. It is zoomed in on the cab while the rest of the superstructure is far in the background. But from what you posted I like the looks of the cab. Once again, overall great build this is coming along nicely!
July 25, 20231 yr Author 2 hours ago, nerdsforprez said: zoomed in on the cab Yes good point after re looking at it! This shows it better…or worse 😅 still got some work to do I think to really capture 42042…
August 14, 20231 yr Author Not much time recently so I really struggled to get this to where it is. Just some decent photos and a vid to go I hope… cabin tilt works similar to original but different… the boom thing really tried me as it’s 4x4 studs. I tried 5x5 which made life real easy but it looked to big and not shrunk enough. lengthened the claw grabber to grab better. Controls work well but the boom and claw raise/lower are a little slow so I have a joint HOG with crank. slight tilt when picking up a class tyre with wheel on full boom extension. Big tilt with just the tyre with full boom and almost full extension. A counter balance after the contest will work wonders as fake battery box not as heavy as 60% of the original 😆 Unless I’m mistaken all functions and all features are present?
August 14, 20231 yr Author 1 hour ago, MangaNOID said: Unless I’m mistaken all functions and all features are present? Actually I am very mistaken 😅 it’s only a two way claw, there is only one controller stick in the cabin and the fake battery box orange ‘switch’ doesn’t move. 52 minutes ago, Davidz90 said: So cute! Amazing job recreating all the functions. thanks!
August 14, 20231 yr Oh man. I really might be calling in sick when voting opens Voting for this contest is going to be very difficult. Another just fantastic submission.
August 15, 20231 yr 12 hours ago, MangaNOID said: Actually I am very mistaken 😅 it’s only a two way claw, there is only one controller stick in the cabin and the fake battery box orange ‘switch’ doesn’t move. thanks! Some time ago you mentioned you haven't done a 4-way claw. Somehow, that came to my mind, and I took some time to see if I could do one. The result is here, hope you like it. BTW, very cool contest entry!
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