Hi,
After nearly 10 months
of hard work I am finally able to present the LEGO Technic replica of
the Liebherr LTM11200 crane. It is one of the biggest roadworthy
cranes in the world and I have tried to do it justice in LEGO as
well.
This is actually a
redesign of the model I made in 2013. At that time I had designed the
carrier, the superstructure and the outer section of the boom. I have
gone through the entire design, updated it to improve on the weak
points of the original design and updated it to the newer parts that
are now available. I also designed the complete boom from the ground
up.
When I started this
model I wanted to make it the most complex remote controlled model
that I could think of. At the same time I didn’t want to exceed the
limitations that the LEGO PF system set. Which meant no more than 8
motors could be used in the model.
They are equally
divided between the carrier and the superstructure. In the carrier
one motor is used for switching, whereas the other three are used to
drive different functions depending on the position of that switch.
It has two positions. In position 1 the three motors are used for
driving, steering and switching the steeringmode (you can steer
normally, or you can crabsteer). In position 2 the three motors are
used to expand the outriggers, elongate the outriggers and finally
extend the outrigger feet.
In the superstructure a
similar setup is used, only this time there are four positions for
the switch. Which gives 12 different functions that can be remotely
controlled. Of these 12 functions 8 are located in the superstructure
itself:
- Rotating the
superstructure *
- Raising/lowering
the counterweight
- Raising/lowering
the hook
- Raising/lowering
the boom via the cylinders
- Raising/lowering
the boom via the rope-and-pulley system
- Raising/lowering
the arm of the operator cabin
- Rotating the arm
of the operator cabin
- Tilting the
operator cabin
And 4 functions are
routed onto the boom:
- Extending the 4
section boom *
- Spreading the
stabilizer arms
- Tilting the
stabilizer arms *
- Raising/lowering
the supporting legs (needed in case the boom has to be transported
separately from the rest of the crane)
This model was always
intended to push the edge of the possibilities with LEGO Technic. And
unfortunately that edge pushed back. The model is incredibly complex
(as an example: it uses over 300 gears) and doing all that in plastic
proved to be too difficult for some functions. The functions with an
asterisk require manual assistance when operating. And believe me,
even though lifting the boom is possible by combining the cylinders
and the rope-pulley system, it is really scary to see how much force
is going through all that plastic.
Nevertheless, I feel that this model does not meet my quality standards. I therefor decided that I will offer instructions at 50% of the intended price, which means you can buy the instructions for 37.50 euros instead of 75 euros. You will be able to pay full price for the instructions if you want to encourage me to keep pushing the Technic boundaries with my upcoming models.
A big thank has to go
to Merlijn Wissink who spend a huge amount of time on making the
instructions. The instructions are done to LEGO standards and fill a
book of 1174 pages. We did our best to make sure that every step is
clear, but as you can imagine I might have missed something. Please
let me know if there is anything unclear and I’ll try to explain what
was intended.
The partslist on
Rebrickable was also compiled with the utmost care, but also here
errors could have been made by me. If you find out there is a piece
missing (or too much), please let me know and I will update the list.
I hope you enjoy
building and playing with this model as much as I did designing it.
The end result is a nearly one meter long mammoth that can reach up
to 2.5 m high. It is by far not the biggest crane made out of LEGO
Technic, but it sure is one of the most complex.
Leg godt,
Jeroen
