You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby. Welcome to The Lego Car Blog’s latest comparison of old and new Technic models; Some genres of Technic model age better than others – a 1977 tractor is every bit as good as a 2012 one, and better than those in between – whereas others, I guess, just need a bigger parts palette to look and work right. There’s a reason why excavator models were very rare from Lego until very recently, but it can be done with the old stuff. The blue machine in the picture above is built from instructions in the (completely wonderful) 8888 ideas book, published in 1980, and using only parts from that era. It’s movements are cunningly controlled using only racks and gears (lots of gears..) and it works OK, if not brilliantly. If it was a set from 1980, it would merit at least a 6/10. Lego didn’t attempt an actual excavator set until the advent of pneumatics in 1984, with the 8851. It’s the red beast on the left, and it looks like a step up from the blue one.

The problem was the early single-outlet pneumatic pumps. These extended under pressure, but returned via vacuum, controlled by a block of one way valves plumbed in between pumps and switches. This tortuous system had to be crammed in to 8851’s compact body, and unless you were VERY careful, there would be kinks in the pipework. (TLCB Top Tip: instead of using 8cm and 6cm grey tubes between the 3rd switch and the valve block, use 6cm and 4cm. They’ll be crushed a bit less.) It also made it that rare thing; a Technic model that’s not fun to build. Please confirm you are not a robot by checking the box. Search AllLEGO ArchitectureLEGO BioncleLEGO BooksLEGO BrickStixLEGO CityLEGO ClassicLEGO CreatorLEGO DC Super Hero GirlsLEGO DC SuperHeroesLEGO DimensionsLEGO Disney PrincessLEGO DuploLEGO ElvesLEGO FriendsLEGO GamingLEGO Home & FoodwareLEGO JuniorsLEGO LightingLEGO Limited DistributionLEGO Marvel SuperHeroesLEGO MindstormsLEGO MinecraftLEGO MinifiguresLEGO MixelsLEGO Nexo KnightLEGO NinjagoLEGO Party SuppliesLEGO Speed ChampionsLEGO Star WarsLEGO StationeryLEGO StorageLEGO Storage BagsLEGO TechnicLEGO the Batman MovieLEGO Watches & ClocksLEGO What's Coming

Under 22 - 4 Years5 - 8 Years9 - 12 YearsOver 13 Years Select a Price Range Under $10$10 - $20$20 - $60$60 - $100$100 - $150$150 - $200Over $200Items 1 to 60 of 2579 Items 1 to 60 of 2579Model of a Liebherr excavator with tunneling arm. Features a blend of electric and pneumatic functions, custom stickers and lights. Power: electric (Power Functions) / pneumatic (external manual pump) Dimensions (with arm in driving position): length 40 studs / width 16 studs / height 35 studs Propulsion: 2 x PF Medium geared 1:1 Motors: 4 x PF Medium, 1 x 71427 Model of a regular Liebherr excavator with an uncommon tunneling arm. Model of the very same machine created in larger scale was released in 2010 by my fellow LUGPol member M_longer and is available here. M_longer introduced me to this excavator before he started to build it, and I liked it so much that I intended to build it first. Eventually my timing kind of failed, because my model was finished 10 months after his 🙂

My version of the excavator was intended to be much smaller than M_longer’s: his was scaled to the new tread system, and I decided to use the old one for mine. Tbuy lego lucyhe resulting difference in scale means that my model is roughly 40% smaller. Slego buying limitseeing that the model would be quite small for its number of functions, I have been planning to use pneumatics wherever possible and to have an external pneumatic controller permanently attached to the model. Twhere to buy lego ice trayhis solution is sometimes called a ‘pneumatic leash’ and it was used in many of the models created by my idol builder, Jennifer Clark. Ibuy one get one legoland florida

have never really used it before and I thought of this as of opportunity to feel like Jennifer 🙂 never buy a lego set While I was in the process of cramming the mechanics inside the hull, it occurred to me that I will be able to integrate all four pneumatic valves into the hull at the cost of making its upper surface uglier. I buy the lego movie dvddecided it was worth it, and eventually the model’s only external element was a single manual pump, which allowed for more accurate control of the pneumatic system than a motorized compressor would. As for the aesthetic side, I didn’t want the hull to look like a box, which was pointed out with my earlier Caterpillar excavator, so I decided to build the sides and the back of the hull using body panels and SNOT (studs not on top) technique. I think the model looked generally worse than M_longer’s version, which is disadvantage of the smaller scale, but it did include a number of details that were omitted by M_longer in his model – such as e.g. the side and rear view mirrors.

The model had 5 motorized and 4 pneumatic functions. The propulsion system was obviously motorized and consisted of two PF Medium motors geared 1:1 and located in the chassis. The chassis also housed a third PF Medium motor, which rotated the superstructure. The fourth PF Medium motor was located inside the superstructure and drove two large linear actuators that controlled the elevation of the arm’s first section. As the actuators were effectively handling the weight of the entire massive arm, I have assumed that pneumatic cylinders would be too weak or too inaccurate for this task. Finally, there was a  71427 motor located at the back of the hull, and it was chosen because it’s shorter than a PF Medium motor. Its function was driving the milling head, which was done by a single long driveshaft that went all the way from the back of the hull to the tip of the arm and which was articulated in five places. The 71427 motor was not controlled remotely, like the other four motors, but was instead connected to a switch located in the front right part of the hull. Th

e same switch controlled two lights on the arm, as there was simply not enough space inside the hull to connect them together with hull’s front and rear lights. As a result, the lights on the arm lit up as the milling head works. The whole electric system was powered from a single 8878 rechargeable battery located in the rear left part of the hull. The battery was accessible through a hatch in the left side of the hull, and was lying on its side in order to stay aligned with the side body panel. The pneumatic system consisted of a single large cylinder that controlled elevation of the dozer blade in front of the chassis, two small cylinders that tilted the arm’s second section left and right, two large cylinders that controlled elevation of the arm’s third section and a single large cylinder that controlled the angle of the arm’s head. The arm itself was a fully studless structure partially covered by a studfull shell. Its range of movement was reasonably close to that of the original machine, and it was robust enough to support the model on one side. Th