MOC: modern US rescue pumper

[Ralph_S]

During the last two months I've been happily building minifig scale cars and trucks. All of these are going to be part of a large collaborative display at the Great Western LEGO show in Swindon in the UK in early October. I've never made it a secret that I really like fire engines and I've built a fair few. However, until now I didn't have a model of a contemporary minifig scale US pumper truck. I originally wasn't going to build a fire engine of any sort for this display, but I've really been itching to build one, irrespective of whether it'll be on the display or not.

As usual, pictures are links.

more pictures

I wanted quite a lot from this one: working doors, working equipment hatches, a typical paint job with stripes running down the side and an overall realistic look. I'm very happy with the result and I hope that Eurobricks members will appreciate it too.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Matt Dawson]

I wanted quite a lot from this one: working doors, working equipment hatches, a typical paint job with stripes running down the side and an overall realistic look. I'm very happy with the result and I hope that Eurobricks members will appreciate it too.

Cheers,

Ralph

Why aren't you working for lego?

[k100m]

Exellent, as always! There's something to learn.

[Milan]

Beautiful, I just love that stripes, and SNOT, of course.

When proportion and shape is good, model is good, no matter what.

And this has everything.

[Big Cam]

Great fire truck. I have an older set from LEGO and yours has much more detail. Is there a way to submit your design to LEGO for production? If so do it.

[Ralph_S]

Thanks guys. As a hobbyist I've got a number of advantages over LEGO's set designers: my models don't have to be built by 7-year olds and I don't have to keep the price and parts count low in order for my model to be able to compete with other toys. Some parts of this thing are very fragile and very complicated and would never be suitable for mass production.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Rijkvv]

Nice to see how even minifig-scale vehicles can be so detailed.

[prateek]

The window in the front could be cleaner, but my favourite part has to be the blue striping. Great job

[aawsum]

A real nice look a like, very well built

Good to see how you were able to built this one in minfig scale, and also fit those small guys in there.

Excellent

... and SNOT, .....

I my opinion this model has very limited SNOT, of am I mising something ....

[Rick]

This is again a technical masterpiece. Sometimes you're pushing it a bit to far in terms of techniques and looks versus sturdiness and play features (although this actually has a lot of opening doors and compartments), but that's just an issue of personal taste. So there can be no argument about that. But I'm always amazed with what you can achieve in terms of 'looks' with all all those little bricks and plates. Well done!

[Ralph_S]

Nice to see how even minifig-scale vehicles can be so detailed.

Thank you. that's what I try to do, make my minifig vehicles just that little bit more detailed.

The window in the front could be cleaner, but my favourite part has to be the blue striping. Great job

Windows are the main drawback of building 7-wide. There simply aren't any suitable windscreen pieces. I could have tried to fit a six-wide one on there, I suppose, but filling in the half stud spaces on either side would have been awkward.

A real nice look a like, very well built

Good to see how you were able to built this one in minfig scale, and also fit those small guys in there.

Excellent

I my opinion this model has very limited SNOT, of am I mising something ....

I think you may be missing something, or more precisely, confusing two things: SNOT and studless. Studless means you;ve got no studs showing. SNOT is a name most AFOLs I know associate with a whole range of building techniques that involve mounting parts such that their studs aren't pointing up (or in case of tiles, that the gaps the studs stick into aren't just pointing down). Depending on what you build, you can build studless without using any SNOT techniques, by slapping tiles on every surface, for instance. My truck obviously isn't studless, but it has SNOT techniques all over the place: in the striping on the equipment doors, the mudguards, and the entire front of the truck from the front doors forward.

This is again a technical masterpiece. Sometimes you're pushing it a bit to far in terms of techniques and looks versus sturdiness and play features (although this actually has a lot of opening doors and compartments), but that's just an issue of personal taste. So there can be no argument about that. But I'm always amazed with what you can achieve in terms of 'looks' with all all those little bricks and plates. Well done!

Thanks. I know you value 'playability', but my minifig stuff is mainly built for display purposes. Most of it is reasonably sturdy (I don't want things to fall to pieces), but looks to me are by far the most important part of models like this. I am glad you like it.

Cheers,

Ralph

Edited September 18, 2009 by Ralph_S

[MetroiD]

Ralph, that's absolutely stunning!

I myself love minifig-scale vehicles, but the real problem with those is the fact that such a small scale limits the builder to a place where he has to choose between keeping as close to the original as possible, playability and sturdyness... I completely share your view that looks should come first even when building in this scale, since the other two problems are things that the original LEGO designs focus on - which is why they turn out a bit more kiddish. Yet somehow all your minifig-scale vehicles combine spot-on looks with a level of detail that's hard to believe, and that takes _some_ talent. Studying what you've come up with over the years has been a huge inspiration, I must admit... And I'm thrilled to see that you're still building these wonderful models :) Keep up the great work!

Looking forward to seeing that display, btw

[Ralph_S]

Ralph, that's absolutely stunning!

I myself love minifig-scale vehicles, but the real problem with those is the fact that such a small scale limits the builder to a place where he has to choose between keeping as close to the original as possible, playability and sturdyness... I completely share your view that looks should come first even when building in this scale, since the other two problems are things that the original LEGO designs focus on - which is why they turn out a bit more kiddish. Yet somehow all your minifig-scale vehicles combine spot-on looks with a level of detail that's hard to believe, and that takes _some_ talent. Studying what you've come up with over the years has been a huge inspiration, I must admit... And I'm thrilled to see that you're still building these wonderful models :) Keep up the great work!

Looking forward to seeing that display, btw

That's a lot of praise. Thank you. I love the trucks LEGO makes for their city sets -certainly compared to what they used to look like five years ago or when I was a child- but there's comparatively little fun to be had in essentially copying what they do. My models aren't built to be played with, so I can choose to push things a bit further. What helps, of course, is that I've been building a lot of minifig cars in the last year or so and I;d like to think I keep getting better at it.

Cheers,

Ralph