That's the first time I post anything here, but there's a first time for everything, right?

To be honest, I can hardly be considered a proper AFOL as building a MOC is still something I only look forward to. All of LEGO building I've been doing lately is fooling around in LDD. However, in the last year I've actually got a couple of LEGO sets and I plan to get a couple more :) I especially like the "Great Vehicles" LEGO produced this year, one of which - the 60018 Cement Mixer - I have standing on a shelf right behind me.

60017 Flatbed Truck is another one of those. I built it in LDD and immediately forgot about it, but just the other day I stumbled upon a Youtube channel of an American company producing tow trucks. It gave me an idea of a nice mod. In the actual set the angle at which the bed touches the ground is ridiculous, and pulling the car onto the bed looks a bit clunky.

So what I wanted was to allow the bed to slide back just like it does on real tow-trucks, and to make the angle still more reasonable I hinged the rear section of the bed, just like in those Youtube videos I'd watched. The end result looks like this:

Bed lowered:

I'm pretty happy with the result, I even tried to recreate the bed itself and the build proved to be quite sturdy. In my flickr there are a few more pictures of the set including step-by-step instructions on how to build the modified bed. There's also an .lxf file attached just in case

I know that LDD isn't quite like building with real bricks, but the idea seemed interesting enough to share it with someone who could actually test it. Therefore, feedback is more than welcome

Flatbed official mod.lxf

 

Edited June 10, 20204 yr by imvanya

Excellent digital modification 'imvanya'.....now lets see someone built it for real......even I'm tempted to buy another one just to try it.

Brick On LDD On 'imvanya' !

great mod, i like your sliding feature similar to real flat beds. however despite the sliding function of real flatbeds and the hinged rear end, they still use extended planks they mount manually especially for lowered vehicles. so on my modded flat bed, i still added some removable planks just in case flat bed will tow a lowered vehicle. if you could add that, it'd be perfect.

What a great mod! I've been thinking of doing exactly this using the same sliding method you used. You've saved me a lot of thinking since I now have a design to try. I'm open to other methods as well, I think there are probably some Technic pieces that could be used somehow, but I don't have a lot of Technic pieces so I'm not as familiar with them. The pieces you used I have and have seen used in some sets for a sliding feature, hence my idea to start with them. Thanks again for not only coming up with this but also for sharing! If I find time to dig out the pieces I'm going to give this a try.

Howdy and welcome to Eurobricks!

Nice modification of 60017: Flatbed Truck! If you keep the bed rigid and move the pivot point for the bed forward a couple studs, you'll be even more prototypical.

Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA!

Dave

What a great mod! I've been thinking of doing exactly this using the same sliding method you used. You've saved me a lot of thinking since I now have a design to try. I'm open to other methods as well, I think there are probably some Technic pieces that could be used somehow, but I don't have a lot of Technic pieces so I'm not as familiar with them. The pieces you used I have and have seen used in some sets for a sliding feature, hence my idea to start with them. Thanks again for not only coming up with this but also for sharing! If I find time to dig out the pieces I'm going to give this a try.

Thanks a lot, I am glad my mod is actually useful for someone)

Howdy and welcome to Eurobricks!

Nice modification of 60017: Flatbed Truck! If you keep the bed rigid and move the pivot point for the bed forward a couple studs, you'll be even more prototypical.

Cheers from Claremore, Oklahoma USA!

Dave

I guess you're right, I will probably try that. And that's the problem with LDD - all of the bricks are digital and you can't actually see some things that are obvious in a real MOC. Dark ages are dark, I have to get more sets asap)

excellent job

excellent job

Hi Ardypro,

Welcome to EB!

You have just bumped a very old topic, just to say it's excellent. Please be aware that you bumped a topic. Please read the site guidelines before you continue (link in my signature).

Thanks!