MOC: Flatbed truck with Caterpillar excavator

[Ralph_S]

I built so many minifig scale vehicles last year that I basically swore it would be a very long time before I'd build another. However, in the last few days I got stuck working on a MOC and decided to build something small instead. Ultimately it did turn into a faily complicated little thing, but it was far more fun than what I had been building.

It's very much my own MOC, but I did derive some inspiration from various flatbed trucks I've seen here in the last months and Piotr's excellent Caterpillar 320D excavator. Mine is considerably smaller and a lot simpler, though (and a 320C).

The truck itself is 7 studs wide and the trailer 8. Unlike the excavator the truck isn't based on a particular brand or model. It was inspired by relatively modern US trucks such as the Kenworth T2000 and Mack Vision.

Anyway, pictures:

More pictures, as usual are on flickr.

(I'm about to head to the airport to go on a trip so I may not be able to read responses for a few days, but wanted to share this model nonetheless.)

Cheers,

Ralph

[Rick]

I saw this show up on flickr this morning. Both the truck and the excavator are amazing. I like that the truck is 4-, 5-, and 7-wide at the same time... excellent work on making all these transitions. And the orange stripe really adds to the look. The excavator also is one of the best I've seen at this scale. Nice way of making the cabin for the operator.

Have a safe flight.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME 'Ralph_S' totally awesome !

Fantastic prime mover - looks great in red !

Really fantastic excavator, interesting vehicle winscreen you have there !

I'm a conformist! !

[Big Cam]

I love it. I like when there is a piece of machinery and the a truck to pull it too. The scale looks about perfect. Being in an area that seems to always have construction going on, I see this exact setup all the time, you made it well.

[WesternOutlaw]

Very nice Ralph. I especially like the excavator. It reminds me of the old steam shovels. The way you designed the arm gives it a real hydraulic look. Nice use of the cheese-slopes as well.

Front-paged!

I'd stack your creation up against this, but I don't know that it would out dig the old steam shovel.

[Enilder]

that's tiny! 7 studs + 8 studs long?!

looks amazing! very nice detail!

[ImLost]

This MOC is stunning! The excavator's arm is so realistic and the truck is really sleek.

Quick question: do you keep all your MOCs intact or do you take some apart afterwards? I just can't imagine any of your creations getting scraped... they all look so good!

Edited February 10, 2010 by ImLost

[CommanderFox]

Thats one EXCELLENT MOC Ralph_S.

Really nice job on both vehicals.

I agree with Brickster, that the excavator's arm looks Great!

Both are really nicely built and I like the colours used for them.

Really nice job!

CommanderFox

[prateek]

Wow, you never cease to amaze me. This is one of your best pieces IMO. The hydraulics on the excavator and the design of the truck are so cool

[dr_spock]

Very nice, Ralph. I have a soft spot for trucks and low loaders. You did an excellent job of capturing the style of trucks over here.

Have a good trip.

[Selander]

Truck looks good, so does the flatbed, but what impresed me most was the excavator.

Nicely captured details on that one, Ralph

[Perterz]

Wow this looks great! The colorsheme and offsets are my favorite bits, I like how it has been done.

Brilliant MOC, the excavator looks very real aswell!

[Ralph_S]

Thanks guys. I'm back home after being away for about a week and really appreciate your comments. I too like this sort of vehicle. I remember that a cousin of mine had a toy truck that was similar to this when we were children and that I used to love it. I've built similar vehicles to a larger scale in the past, but this was my first attempt (as far as I remember) on minifig scale.

One advantage of having built many vehicles on this scale is that when building a new vehicle you can combine various bits of vehicles you've already done. Much of the cab design of this one is directly based on my older airport shuttle van, for instance. It's the sort of thing you can build in a few hours; not particularly challenging but a lot of fun. The colour scheme was mainly driven by the parts that I had that weren't yet earmarked for other projects. I didn't want to build it in red overall because that would make it look too much like a fire engine in my mind.

The challenge was building the excavator and I am glad that most of you seem to like it so much. This is probably about as small as I could make it and still fit a minifig in the cab. The upper part is nine studs wide and that gave me just enough space for a three-wide cab.

In the last few years I've kept the majority of my models in one piece. I have been dismantling a few older ones in the last few months, because I need the pieces, don't like them any more and because I'm running out of space. I also build some of my models specifically with public displays in mind and those tend to go after a few months.

Cheers,

Ralph