I love these Eurobricks contests, and these ones that focus on smaller builds are my favorite. So I'm in for another one. This contest, like TC22, is one where the research phase is super fun for me. I love going back through years of Technic sets on Bricklink to generate some ideas. For all the time we complain about new LEGO sets, and how they do not meet our expectations for whatever reason, I find myself getting excited about many of the sets that have been released as I look through all these ones that have been released. For all our negativity, there have been some great sets that have been released over the years. None of them are perfect (OK, there are a couple. Can you guess which ones I think?), but with some hindsight, many are really good.

I looked at set 42077 as a good option as it has great coloring, and some fun features that can be added into the 15 wide car size. Also, I have a front/all wheel hybrid drive idea that I want to try out, but I'm going to wait on that for a little bit longer. I also looked at 42024, but I was only interested in using tires no smaller than 43mm, and I felt this was not enough of at reduction in size to make it interesting. Finally, 42006 has some great opportunity, particularly with the new grabber claws, but this will be for another day.

In the end I decided on Set 8063 released in 2009 which was just as I was coming out of my dark age.

Source Bricklink.com. 

It's a larger set with some functions that can be recreated well at a smaller scale. I find the tractor a little unattractive as the front over hang is a little long for my eyes, and I have a love/hate relationship with flex axles. But the colors are good, it has a trailer, steering and an engine. And it's a tractor, so it gets some extra points for me. Also, the PTO is an interesting feature as well, so I'll try to keep this features. I may try to add a tedder for the PTO like included in Set 8284 as it seems the tractor is basically the same at 8063.

I played a little bit with the scale first. I first tried a draft at 86% of 8063 to use 81mm and 68mm tires. It didn't seem small enough, and it's basically the same as the Thirdwigg Farm scale, which one might say I have taken too far all ready. Let's try smaller!

OK, so dropping it another scale down results in below. Scaling down to 72% of 8063 results in the tire size of 68mm and 56mm for the tractor and 44mm for the trailer. This looked a little better.

I built a little mockup of 8063 to help me out, and you can see the two other drafts above. I feel good about this scale and set decision, so we'll see where this goes now.

Edited June 30, 20231 yr by Thirdwigg

Kyle, is it possible to make it with following tire combination?

Front tire: 56mm from Jeep

Rear tire 81mm from Zetros

Trailer tires 49.5 from 42128 set

1 hour ago, 1gor said:

Kyle, is it possible to make it with following tire combination?

Front tire: 56mm from Jeep

Rear tire 81mm from Zetros

Trailer tires 49.5 from 42128 set

Yeah, that's still an option for me. Then the size becomes close to the the Deere Scout:

Which may work, but it may be a little bigger than I want.

I'll try it out, and post in my next update.

And I was hoping you'd wait this one out xD

27 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

And I was hoping you'd wait this one out xD

Small, nostalgia based manual builds. Not a chance.

Well I was going to try to enter this compitition, but it looks like the top positions are now filled lol ......

Another great redesign. 

31 minutes ago, 2ndgen said:

Well I was going to try to enter this compitition, but it looks like the top positions are now filled lol ......

Yeah, for me it would make sense if notorious winners would already sit on a jury and weren't taking part in the contest competing against us, mortals xD

6 hours ago, 2ndgen said:

Well I was going to try to enter this compitition, but it looks like the top positions are now filled lol ......

Another great redesign. 

It's not done yet, so let's not assume too much yet.

6 hours ago, SaperPL said:

Yeah, for me it would make sense if notorious winners would already sit on a jury and weren't taking part in the contest competing against us, mortals xD

Maybe, but I have more fun building...

On 6/30/2023 at 8:22 PM, Thirdwigg said:

Small, nostalgia based manual builds. Not a chance.

I'm glad you're in, I'd be worried if you didn't.

On 7/2/2023 at 9:28 AM, GerritvdG said:

I'm glad you're in, I'd be worried if you didn't.

Thanks! So far, I'm happy to be here.

Just a small update today. I had 30 minutes to work on this today, so I did draft 2 of the chassis to make sure all the mechanical functions can fit.

Steering, drive, fake engine, and rear PTO are in and will work. I am missing the front pendular suspension, so I'll need to work on that too. The scale is correct so far, so we'll see how the rest looks while I start adding the body work.

Sorry @1gor, but I'm thinking I need to keep the balloon tires to pay correct homage to 8063. I'll try to directional tires, and post another photo when I get a chance. 

Buddy you know what is the best for your project; my ongoing project requires multiple steering modes, so I keep myself busy designing compact (as possible) both front abd rear axles that include PF servo...

So you also ended up with the theme that you are best at :) Nice choice, I haven't even known this model existed!

It seems we are working with exactly the same downscaling, using the same pair of tires (rear ones for you). I agree you should go with the ballon instead of the tractor.

15 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

So you also ended up with the theme that you are best at :) Nice choice, I haven't even known this model existed!

It seems we are working with exactly the same downscaling, using the same pair of tires (rear ones for you). I agree you should go with the ballon instead of the tractor.

Thanks, yeah, I'm right in my comfort zone. I applaud all the other designs that are still smaller than this project, but I can only go so small.

17 hours ago, 1gor said:

Buddy you know what is the best for your project

Thanks. I'm a long way from finishing, so I'll still leave some other options open for the time being. 

I spent some time on the trailer last night, and while I find the build a little too simple, it is true to the original. I'll sit with this for a little bit, and change as my eyes see fit. I'll need to order some green panels, so you are stuck with the Render for now, shown with the a full scale 8063 for reference.

Next up, I need to get the shaping of the tractor hood just right. It's causing me some frustration currently. 

Trailer looks very good 

1 hour ago, 1gor said:

Trailer looks very good 

Thanks, the scale was perfect for those panels. 

I finally spent some good time on the tractor. I placed the mechanical parts that I wanted and made a quick draft of the bodywork. The hood and fenders on the tractor were giving me some problems as the curves were never just right with the flex axles. So I switched to panels. What do you think?

I tried some ideas for the front fenders. I’ll let those simmer for a little bit too.

I took the PTO on/off switch out of the MOC at this scale, so it was hard for me to justify removing another function. So I had to keep the front suspension in. But the options in my mind were not perfect, and I didn’t want to do a different routing for the engine and steering. I try to keep steering to only three gears.

It was at this point I almost gave up. I lost a stud of ground clearance, and the rigidity of the chassis dropped a bit. But I kept building it to give it a decent try. 

This is where I ended. It’s not perfect, but it will work fine. The suspension works, and has good clearance. The space under the front axle could be better. But the steering no longer skips, and the fenders still clear the bodywork.

Next I’ll add the engine, and work on the cabin. 

Alright @1gor, I was playing around with some different tires, and now I am more unsure about the tire selection I have been working with. The mud tires look really good.

Top is original 8063 (with incorrect 68mm balloon, they should be 62mm truck).

Middle is F 56mm mud, R 81mm mud, and trailer 49mm truck

Bottom is F 56mm balloon, R 68mm balloon, and trailer 43mm truck.

The middle looks a little "overtired" but I tend to like this look in my builds. It also makes the fender panel looks a little smaller in proportion to the tire, which to my eyes, looks a little better. But is the difference in tire size between the front and the rear tires too much?

Also, if I go with the larger rear tire, I'll probably go with the larger trailer tires. I will then need to change the trailer design a little to update the ride height and tire clearance.

To keep the 70% proportion and the most similarity, I'll use 56mm balloon at the front while 68mm balloon at the back.

For the proportion of more modern middle-big tractor(250-300 hp or so, for example, New Holland T7), 56mm front tires need 75mm back tires at the best. From this perspective, the back tire size is too small on the original 8063/8284 set, 107mm will give a more modern look.

Imho it is always better to use those kind of tire that are ured on real machiery. For me baloon tires are unrealistic, to wide...and I have whole (traveling) bag of them...

Second picture is the best

Thanks @falconluan and @1gor, I think I'll keep the 81mm and 56mm mud tire for a little bit, and see how they feel as I progress. The only adjustment it will cause at this point is moving the steps and the height of the fender. I can keep these two parts loose as I start on the roof and finalize the engine.

I was able to spend a little time on the tractor again, so I rebuild the front of the chassis again and added an engine that I like. Then I built up the rest of the body draft that I have with the bigger tires, which I do think I like a little better. 

I'm now at the point where I need to decide if am I recreating a mini version of 8063 that stays true the look and feel of the original, or do I do a mini tractor build that is influenced by 8063. I started with the former, but I'm increasingly going down the path of the later.

Now I think the tractor leans a little too far forward (bottom) due to adding the bigger rear tires (I really wish there was a ~65-70mm tractor tire). So I added a one stud spacer to level the tractor better (top) just to see what rebuilding the front for a level ride height would look like. I like the height of the hood on the bottom, but the lean seems like too much. Rebuilding the front axle to level the tractor would allow me to gain some strength on the front.

What do you think?

 

I think, in discussions it was already mentioned, that this is shrinking contest, not upgrading etc. So better stay with some balloon tires, I think. 

4 hours ago, Jurss said:

I think, in discussions it was already mentioned, that this is shrinking contest, not upgrading etc. So better stay with some balloon tires, I think. 

Bases in this post, he can use tractor tires on tractor 

 

Of course, to be sure better ask @Jim about it

Like the progress :-)

Imho the only thing that aren't matching are the fenders. Have you tried these fender extension panels? I used them in my TC21 Robo-Tractor and they fit perfectly onto the tractor tires, although connecting them to the body is not that pleasant :-/