Off road truck "Albatross" from the game Mudrunner Expeditions (added video)

[Appie]

Based on a truck called the Albatross from the game Mudrunner Expeditions, I made this MOC:

 

The truck in the game:

 

It has the following functions:

- 6WD powered by 2 PU XL-motors

- Front and rear axle steering powered by a PU L-motor.

- V8 fake engine.

- Winch at the front and rear of the truck, powered by a L-motor and through a little gearbox you can select if you want to power the rear or the front one.

- Independant suspension.

 

A video of the model:

A few more photo's:

The "fuelcap" (the black ball) on top of the "fueltank" turns on the hub. The bionicle tooth you see below the bed at the rear is the gearbox switch for the winch.

 

 

Technic fig compatible

 

I am really pleased with how the suspension works. The first 2 axle have 1 hard spring per wheel, the rear axle has 2 hard springs per wheel, because of the hub in front of that axle and the overhang at the rear that houses the motor for the winch (and with this setup it can actually carry a load of cargo too )

 

To remove the batteries I have to remove 2 liftarms and a part of the drive axle, which I build so it can be easily removed by me.

 

A few things I didn't manage to do, but wanted to are stuff like a 2-speed gearbox and diff locks. but I simply could not make them fit while keeping the functions that did make it into the model. I wanted to keep the central column of the chassis slim (like the truck in the game) and keep the bed clean for actual cargo, so that put a limit on the space I had available. Diff locks either meant a higher drivetrain (at the cost of the V8 and bed probably) or a wider model (I can't think of a diff lock mechanism that takes less than 7 studs in width). A greater desire to use these parts for the independant suspension combined with the planetary hubs meant it would get 2 studs wider, which felt too wide for this tiresize. I also feel like the front of the cabine should be 1 stud longer forward at the expense of the hood, but I loved this Technic panel on the hood too much to let that go (and the tiles on the sides would be very hard to attach if I put it 1 stud forward, so hard for me that in the current build I stole a stud from the door instead to secure the A-pillars ).

Sorry for no video yet, I might make one in a few weeks. The problem is at the moment that I have to use the one thing that could make a video to control the model through the Brickcontroller app

Thanks for watching and reading!

Edited November 2, 2024 by Appie

[Lixander]

First, the ”real” truck looks interesting and you completely nailed the look.

Second, while there are not many functions, there are all motorized and pretty hard to make them work properly (from my point of view).

So, yeah, good job! Keep it up ;)) 

Edited October 19, 2024 by Lixander

[gyenesvi]

This looks really neat and compact! Only thing I wonder if the real truck (at least in the game) has fully independent suspension?

[MangaNOID]

Very nice design work on the cab! The panel and plates work real nice together on the fenders.

Its a strange vehicle design with 3 evenly spaced wheels and a big overhang at the back but you got the look of the original for sure.

Nice undercarriage with lots of protection of gears etc.

[Appie]

Thanks everybody!

1 hour ago, gyenesvi said:

This looks really neat and compact! Only thing I wonder if the real truck (at least in the game) has fully independent suspension?

Yes, in the game the springs are behind the wishbones though. I had a setup of 2 springs on each wheel (first axle had hard-hard, middle had soft-hard), but that turned out to be overkill for the first 2 axles. Anyway, they could be mounted at the rear of the wishbones, but for the front axle I opted to place them in front of the wishbones so I could make the section around the steeringmechanism even sturdier. For the middle axle its partially because I made this adjustment once the model was pretty much finished and I had no desire to remove the rear of the chassis to remove the hub so I can move the 5L with with stop that has the spring attached the other way around

The truck from the game is based on a Russian truck, the ZIL 4972. They made all sorts of these kind of trucks as can be seen in the video below (I think the ZIL 4972 is clear in the video at 1:10), some types had live axles I think and others got independant suspension.

I considered quite a few times to make it live axles instead, to get the diff locks in for example, but in trying to stay true to the game truck, I felt it had to be independant suspension.

 

[mahjqa]

This is just glorious. From the functionality to the excellent likeness to the original, I'm massively impressed.

[Appie]

Thanks Mahjqa and thanks for introducing me to the truck in the game that fueled the desire to make it in Lego

[gyenesvi]

On 10/19/2024 at 2:13 PM, Appie said:

The truck from the game is based on a Russian truck, the ZIL 4972. They made all sorts of these kind of trucks as can be seen in the video below (I think the ZIL 4972 is clear in the video at 1:10), some types had live axles I think and others got independant suspension.

Thanks for the info on that Zil, that's a pretty interesting vehicle, indeed it seems like it has independent suspension, based on this photo I found it even seems it has portal axles (the driveshaft seems to be on the top of the wheel hub)

[Appie]

Looks like it yeah, that's pretty cool with the portal hubs.

[Axadder]

Great model!

I love how in such a big model, you found place for the independant suspension.

And the superb look of the frontal part.

Good work!

[Mikdun]

I love it.

I wish there were more 6x6 in that configuration. I can see nice protection of the underside gears.

Any chance of more chassis photos (without the bed and cab maybe)?

Edited October 22, 2024 by Mikdun

[Appie]

Thanks you both for the compliments.

1 hour ago, Mikdun said:

Any chance of more chassis photos (without the bed and cab maybe)?

This is from earlier in the build, with hardly any bracing for most parts. This was when I was still getting a rough idea where things would end up (which hasn't changed from this picture on the final model). At this stage I still had 2 springs on each wheel too.

If you also think those 8T's on the steering axle aren't ideal, I agree, but it was the best I could think of for the given space. Luckily, the steering works very well.

[gyenesvi]

On 10/22/2024 at 7:44 AM, Axadder said:

I love how in such a big model, you found place for the independant suspension.

What do you mean? In a big model there's more space, and independent suspension takes maybe the least space of all, typically the easiest to implement in lego.. This would have been really hard with live axles, maybe with pendular ones. That's why this model is interesting, I actually wondered if there are real trucks out there with independent suspension.

[Appie]

4 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

In a big model there's more space, and independent suspension takes maybe the least space of all,

I don't agree actually. To do independent driven and steering (without bumpsteer) you are pretty much locked to the 6L wishbones, 6L links and the heavy duty cv-joints (I am not equipping this kind of truck with less, not because it needs it, but because the model asks for it). That's 12 studs of space I can't use. To keep the model in proportion for 81mm tyres, that's alot of wasted space. 

I agree the setup of independent suspension is simple, but in the same space I could have easily made diff locks if this truck actually had a live axle setup. 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow this truck looks totally cool! 

[gyenesvi]

8 hours ago, Appie said:

I don't agree actually. To do independent driven and steering (without bumpsteer) you are pretty much locked to the 6L wishbones, 6L links and the heavy duty cv-joints (I am not equipping this kind of truck with less, not because it needs it, but because the model asks for it). That's 12 studs of space I can't use. To keep the model in proportion for 81mm tyres, that's alot of wasted space. 

I agree the setup of independent suspension is simple, but in the same space I could have easily made diff locks if this truck actually had a live axle setup. 

I agree that unfortunately, you are locked to 6L suspension parts, so making a smaller one is hard. But I didn't mean width, I meant longitudinal space. Sure that live axles are better in that respect, allowing you to build narrower driven axles, and to include diff locks. But they take up a lot of longitudinal space and also require quite a lot of space upwards, which makes it harder to build a tight solid chassis around them. Yet still, I prefer live axles, especially for slow vehicles and trucks. Just I had the feeling that building trucks with independent suspension would be kind of cheating and unrealistic (for example in competitions), but this truck shows that at least there is a real world example. For example, this 6x6 truck has 4-wheel steering and probably a small turning radius due to the independent suspension (big plus for trial). That would be really hard to do with a realistic 6x6 truck with live axles, that has the two rear axles further back close to each other. Even driving both (non-steered) rear axles is non-trivial if you don't want to couple them in a simplistic way.

[Appie]

@gyenesvi

I see what you mean, fair point.

[Lipko]

That is very very pretty. Perfect scale and topic for Lego Technic. A pleasure to look at.

[Appie]

Thank you very much Lipko. 

I have another picture of how I put it on display for an event with its little off-road buddy I posted here earlier:

 

[Thirdwigg]

Sorry I missed this earlier. This MOC is great; the old Russian truck look is spot on. And any MOC in Dark Azure gets my vote. Also I love the way the front fenders are made.

Thanks for sharing. 

[langko]

Great looking model! I do hope you get to make a video to show of more of the features, it looks very interesting. 
Great job blending the system pieces with the technic panels at the front, it flows really nicely. A+ part choice for the a-pillars as well! 

[Appie]

Thanks everybody! Much appreciated.

On 10/29/2024 at 9:58 PM, langko said:

A+ part choice for the a-pillars as well! 

I stole this idea from another MOCer, but can't remember who, but I kept it in the back of my mind ever since.

 

On 10/29/2024 at 9:58 PM, langko said:

I do hope you get to make a video to show of more of the features, it looks very interesting. 

Thanks to the joys of Pybricks, I was able to make a video since that freed up my phone to make it:

Hope you like it!

 

Recently I got the the truck in the game and I noticed I made a mistake on the fenders. This was blocked to me before due to the limited camera angles I was allowed when not owning the truck (was only allowed to rotate around the truck, no up or down) and the external roll cage blocking some of my view.

As you can see, the fenders on the inside actually go down again, I did not know this. I am not sure if I can fix this on my model since that section houses alot of the contruction that holds the fenders on the outside at their current angles. Moving that outward would cause issues with the wheels touching the construction under the fenders when suspension is compressed. Also changing this, would basically mean that I'd have to use something else for the Technic panel behind the headlights (and I really like that panel there with the angle of the fenders and how that section looks on the truck in the game). I did notice the cooling vents on the side of the hood based on a picture similar to this shot with the stock fenders for this truck:

But thought they had simply been removed when selecting the other style of fenders.

Just figured I'd mention this in case somebody else plays the game and noticed this discrepancy from the game to my model