MOC: Road Rescue Flatbed

[lightningtiger]

Some people have asked for it and here it is.

Comments welcome.

(Just remember a picture speaks a thousand words, thats why I'm letting the pictures tell the story.)

Edited December 18, 2009 by TheBrickster

[5150 Lego]

Very cool. I like the sliding mechanisim. my only suggestion would be to use a standard flat plate instead of the ramp being used. It would look a little more smooth and probably allow loading and unloading eaiser. I also love how you incoperated the winch. Looking good!

[meyerc13]

I happen to know that my 4 year old son is getting a second tow truck for Christmas. My plan was to convert one into a flatbed, so I'm excited to see your version because I found your other mod of this set a few weeks ago while I was searching for ideas and really loved it.

I like the method you've used to make the bed slide down. I too wonder if a flat plate might work better than the ramps. When the bed is at an incline, the angle of the ramps is too steep and the gap between the towed car's wheels and the bed is larger than I think it would be with a plate. Also, is there any way to lower the ramp on the chasis? Most of the real life flatbeds I've seen have fenders in the front, but not in the back. (Similar to the flatbed that comes with the 7898 Cargo Train). If you remove the rear fenders, would that free up room to drop the bed a bit?

Overall I really like your version, and can't wait for my son to get his second tow truck next week so that I can take a shot at modifying one into a flatbed.

[lightningtiger]

See which one you like folks the first posting - yellow traytop or the second (here) - dbg traytop.

Comments welcome.

[Anders Nolberger]

I like them both very much but maybe the second one is even better. Great work!

[Rick]

That mechanism is really simple but very clever. I don't have a clear preference for either of them, but with the second one the 'bed' may extend a bit too much in the back, so you might want to consider lengthening the chassis.

[lightningtiger]

Now I have added another axle so here we go again.

Whew !

Keep those comments comming.

[Rick]

Keep those comments comming.

Looking good

[meyerc13]

I really like that last one. In the picture on the left, it may just be the camera flash but above the third axle the white is really standing out. Perhaps extend the grey back a bit more? Other than that I'm really liking this version.

[sens1992]

Good work. Well tought. That would make for a nice LEGO set (flatbed instead of tow truck)...

[lightningtiger]

Really glad everyone likes the second one.

'Meyerc13' I try and find a dbg 1x6 tile for the back instead of the white one.

Let me tell you it was not an easy build, the first flatbed itself took over two hours to design the mechanics, etc.,.

I'll finish the trimming on it and post pictures once complete, again to everyone thank you for your comments.

[-Jim-]

Really like the look of the twin axle version, is it possible to drop the height of the bed down closer to the axles, so that the overall height of the loader truck is not so high?

[lightningtiger]

Really like the look of the twin axle version, is it possible to drop the height of the bed down closer to the axles, so that the overall height of the loader truck is not so high?

Sorry , 'Jim' I don't think the tray can be lowered and still allow the tilt to the ground ability like a real one - call it Legoism - the limitations of the stud !

Thanks for the comment anyway.

[Ralph_S]

Sorry , 'Jim' I don't think the tray can be lowered and still allow the tilt to the ground ability like a real one - call it Legoism - the limitations of the stud !

Thanks for the comment anyway.

I love this sort of vehicle and getting the sliding and tilting mechanism to work is no mean feat. However, when I saw this thread yesterday I had the same idea Jim has. You can fiddle around with the bed as much as you like, but it sits very high. If I count correctly the top of the tile on the edge of the bed sits 14 plates above the ground.

Moving it lower whilst maintaining the ability for it to slide back will can definitely be done. I know because I built a similar vehicle a few months ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/3857208370/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/3857204690/

The height from the top of the tile at the edge of my bed to the ground corresponds to 11 plates or a full brick height less than on your truck. Looking at yout truck I feel you should actually be able to gain at least two plates without having to completely rebuild it yet again, although I suggest that you get rid of the white frame around the back as well. Most of these trucks have the moving flatbed and mechanism bolted directly onto the chassis.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Captain Blackmoor]

Looking good, and the system to haul the car on the truck is nice.

I would add orange lights on top instead of blue. Blue lights are only for emergency verhicles like the police. In the Netherlands at least.

Keep it up!

[lightningtiger]

I love this sort of vehicle and getting the sliding and tilting mechanism to work is no mean feat. However, when I saw this thread yesterday I had the same idea Jim has. You can fiddle around with the bed as much as you like, but it sits very high. If I count correctly the top of the tile on the edge of the bed sits 14 plates above the ground.

Moving it lower whilst maintaining the ability for it to slide back will can definitely be done. I know because I built a similar vehicle a few months ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/3857208370/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/3857204690/

The height from the top of the tile at the edge of my bed to the ground corresponds to 11 plates or a full brick height less than on your truck. Looking at yout truck I feel you should actually be able to gain at least two plates without having to completely rebuild it yet again, although I suggest that you get rid of the white frame around the back as well. Most of these trucks have the moving flatbed and mechanism bolted directly onto the chassis.

Cheers,

Ralph

Thanks for the comments 'Ralph'.

My design or be that redesign of the 7638 tow truck uses the large vehicle base plate, if i was going to do someting like the 'madphysicist' did I would have redesign the entire chassis and use lots of plates to build a chassis with a lower mounted slide/tilt mechanism. I will give it a go and see if I can keep the externals the same but lower the tray like you suggested.

Also a big thank you everyone else for your feedback.

[Rick]

Thanks for the comments 'Ralph'.

... if i was going to do someting like the 'madphysicist' did ...

Ralph_S *IS* the madphysicist. He should really keep his usernames the same across sites.

[Ralph_S]

Thanks for the comments 'Ralph'.

My design or be that redesign of the 7638 tow truck uses the large vehicle base plate, if i was going to do someting like the 'madphysicist' did I would have redesign the entire chassis and use lots of plates to build a chassis with a lower mounted slide/tilt mechanism. I will give it a go and see if I can keep the externals the same but lower the tray like you suggested.

Also a big thank you everyone else for your feedback.

You can fiddle with the number of wheels and play around with what sort of plate you use for the tray, but I think lowering it will really improve the look, even if it means getting rid of the vehicle base. The large vehicle base used in the set makes the set easy to build by children and sturdy enough to play with, but indeed limit what you can do, which is why I never use them for any of my vehicles. The chassis on my truck is indeed built with one-wide plates so that part of the mechanism can drop between it.

Thanks for taking the criticism well.

I look forward to seeing what you'll come up with. Feel free to drop me a line if there's anything I can do to help you.

Cheers,

Ralph

edit: Indeed, Ralph and madphysicist are one and the same person

Ralph_S was the name I used back when I joined Eurobricks more than four years ago. Mad Physicist is a nickname given to me by some people in Brickish, so that's what I use for flickr.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Ralph_S

[lightningtiger]

I'm back !

Another redesign completed - comments again quite welcome.

Man I found this one of my hardest designs yet and I hope I can now move on to another project.

WHEW !

[Rick]

Man I found this one of my hardest designs yet and I hope I can now move on to another project.

WHEW !

It looks pretty much 'finished' now (given you're not going to overhaul the chassis again, which I can imagine): especially the area around the back wheel looks much better now. You're allowed to move on...

[Ralph_S]

Looks like you managed to loose two plates in height! Excellent. I hope you agree that it looks a lot better now.

Cheers,

Ralph

[lightningtiger]

Now I can move on and update the rest of the orange 'drives-me-crazy' vehicles , like extending the current tow truck, adding a tow hitch to the original breakdown/tyre repair truck and a little bit of extra work to the hydraulic repair truck.

'And the beat goes on' - Sonny & Cher (and I'm not that old - I love current dance, a bit of rap and a huge slab of rock so there - OH YEAH !)

By the way thanks goes to 'Ralph_S' and everyone else - I'm very greatful for your help - again thank you.

[meyerc13]

That looks great, much improved!

[-Jim-]

Thats a pass with distinction.

You got me looking at my one now with plans, I suppose I best get a second model so I can Mod it.

Jim.

[Captain Blackmoor]

Welcome back!

That looks even better! It has better lines now and some parts are less angular I see.

I'm still wondering why there are blue lights on it?