Hello guys!

Let me start with a little confession, before I recently signed up I was one of those “ghost” on Eurobricks. I have been surfing on the forms from time to time for several years now, being amazed by a dozen of MOC’s, reading reviews, following rumors about new sets and enjoying discussion and modification / improvements topics. So before I start, thanks everybody for the great and helpful content around here! 

But alright now about me, I am a 27 year old fellow living in the Netherlands, I played a lot with Lego when I was younger but never really got into technic at that time. I grew older and lost interest, but then at a sudden moment Lego came with the Volvo L350 (42030). I work in the civil engineering field and have always had, and still have , great interest in construction equipment. I bought the set and really enjoyed the build and playing around with the loader. A while later it was my birthday and my little brother gave me the mining dumptruck (42035) which really kicked of the technic addiction for me, now we are several years and a lot of sets further!

From day one I dreamt of building my own great MOC’s inspired by some of the best you can find here on the forums. The wheeled volvo excavator (42053) is one of my favorite sets and at that time I decided to buy 2 so I could make a complete pneumatic excavator. I started with a boom section but never really got of to something bigger until a good 1,5 year back. I rediscovered the relaxing but also at times challenging process of building your own Lego technic creation and step by step finally completed my first moc, a volvo EC 250 El excavator. 

It was quit the journey with one total restart, a bunch of steps back but for now I am quit satisfied with the result. Although I do have some point of self criticism: 
-    the battery box is not really easily accessible meaning you have to remove quit a bit to replace the battery’s when needed, also when rotating it can collide with the tracks; 
-    the understructure is still a bit to weak for my taste, nothing breaks or is under to much stress but it sometimes feels and looks a bit wobbly..
But after seeing Lego’s go with the electric EC230 I have to say that I am quit proud of myself 

Anyway enough talking, time for some photos:

The pneumatic functions are power by two small pups driven with a PF L-motor, there are three levers on the back of the machine for the main and second boom parts and of course the bucket. There is also a fourth lever hidden in the site (hence the double hoses) which I wanted to use for a griper or “tilter” for the bucket, those are just not yet there… 

Some more WIP pictures for the enthusiasts:

You can check out the full gallery here.

Hope you guys liked what you saw, i already got something new i am working on but well i am not a really fast builder... 

Edited December 6, 2024Dec 6 by CK28

Nice job! At least you used a single bucket - TLG couldn't even manage that with the EC230. 

Also, great to see a fellow Penguins of Madagascar fan around here!

Really nice work and progress with this.

I really like the used of system part on the boom's first and second section, as well es the way you made the angle.

Especially the pump/switch section looks very compact and sturdy, though I intuitively prefer the switches to control the boom and the bucket by moving back and forth instead of moving sideways.

Can't wait to see the extension with double function instead of the bucket!

Do I see it correctly - the upper structure can be turned simply manually, without a knob, HOG or something similar?

*slapsLego* "That's how to do a Volvo excavator!"

Jokes aside, really great job, especially the boom and the substructure. Seems also very functional and cleanly built. Dumb battery Battery+Pneumatic is always great to play with :-)

Thanks for the kind words guys! 

20 hours ago, Maaboo the Witch said:

Nice job! At least you used a single bucket - TLG couldn't even manage that with the EC230. 

Also, great to see a fellow Penguins of Madagascar fan around here!

Well analysed private!  Yeah it's a real shame, when the first leaks happend i was real excited about this set but seeing it now and reading about the downscaling they did to the truck and trailer that turned more into disappointment... although i will probberly buy it anyway for some of the parts and mod'ing fun.

10 hours ago, Timewhatistime said:

I really like the used of system part on the boom's first and second section, as well es the way you made the angle.

Especially the pump/switch section looks very compact and sturdy, though I intuitively prefer the switches to control the boom and the bucket by moving back and forth instead of moving sideways.

Can't wait to see the extension with double function instead of the bucket!

Do I see it correctly - the upper structure can be turned simply manually, without a knob, HOG or something similar?

Yeah i can get behind that, moving them to the front and rear does feel more "natural" than going side to side in case of a boom, but i wanted to get as close to the orginal dimensions as possible and this way i won 2 studs.

Yes you are 100% correct, the functions stop after the pneumatics, the HOG just pushes gentle from the side in this case  

It has been quite a while but i recently restarted with a project i had in mind for quite some time now. The aim is to make one of those bigger scale technic wheelloaders, going for something that has to look like the volvo L260H. I started this project right after the EC250, but then TC27 happened and things kinda came to a hold. About a week ago i decided to go back to what i made before but couldn't really find myself in the dimensions, things where simply to big. So i started over (again, i do that a lot actually ) and now i am quite satisfied with the way things turned out. 

Old (left) and new side by side:

I took some heavy inspiration from Erictrax's Doosan for the rear axle, the turning mechanism is a placeholder for now to just test things out. There will be 3 motors (pf) attached for driving, steering and lifting the bucket, the fourth motor will be hidden in the front.

Motors and battery box are in place, the rear structure is taking shape:

Nice and structurally sound

Which tires are you intend to use? Maybe go for the newer hubs:

3468c01 or 46490c01