"Nothing but the rain"
This is the final push. The operators cab and safety railings is built. Along with adding lights and ladders this now completes the Bucket Wheel Excavator.
This was probably another hour and a half so total build time is roughly 11 hours. I would argue it was worth every penny.
Some detail photos for you now:
This part of the Bucket Wheel Excavator is to build the power section. This includes a motor, battery pack and the gearing system to turn on and off different drives.
This was another hour after a few mistakes were made! Then I had to connect it to the main bucket wheel arm.
A top view:
Then this arm had to be connected to the main body.
Then the bucket arm was secured and the top superstructure was built.
Current total time: 9 hr 15 mins
The next section of this mammoth build was the conveyor away from the bucket wheel.
This was another hour. So current total time is 8 hr 15 min.
And, one more for luck.
This latest in the occasional series of the Bucket Wheel Excavator build chronicles my building of the bucket wheel arm, although only the first half. This took about an hour and an half so the total time so far is 7 hours 15, I think. I did make a mistake on this one, I put the buckets on facing the wrong way and was too tired to work out if it mattered and so I wasted about ten minutes refitting them correctly.
Another view, showing more of the mechanism.
Now, for completeness of record, here is a view of my working space:
And the reverse view:
This next section of the bucket wheel excavator is the main conveyor belt from the body to the truck. This was about an hour to build. So far total build time is 5.75 hours. I think I’m over half way now.
I was really tempted to start the bucket wheel part of this but it was feeling late in the evening!
I think I’ll be sad once this has been finished. It really is quite therapeutic building this stuff.
This one marks a change as this is a model I bought from EBay from a charity. All money to good causes then. While I didn’t have all the pieces in this kit there was enough to make the orbiter.
And a view with the cargo doors / radiators shut:
This kit was released in 1993. It amazes me how basic it seems to be!
Now I have a working base unit for the Bucket Wheel Excavator it’s time to make the rotating base which serves as the connector for the conveyors and bucket wheel arm. This build took two hours. I had only really budgeted about ninety minutes of time and so I was feeling quite tired towards the end, but the result is gorgeous.
Here’s some detail of the build.
I’m about a third of the way through the instructions and not quite halfway through the separate bags!
Here’s the conveyor superstructure part way through the build:
This is the initial joining of the pieces but with more work still to do:
Another of the completed sections so far:
Caterpillar time! The big boy needs wheels (or similar). Build time for these was about an 45 minutes for both.
And here are the caterpillars attached to the base chassis.
This Lego model is being constructed in sections. These communications are in line with the numbered bags of legos in the kit. The first part of the kit was to make the dumper truck covered here, this took about an hour.
Here is my workspace:
I use pasta bowls to hold the pieces while I work. This saves them from dropping into the fireplace or bouncing under furniture on the floor.
This was the first main part of this part of the build:
More of the framework:
And this is the final part of this build. This section is the base unit with driver gears for the caterpillar tracks.
This took about an hour. So far, total time is two hours.
Another in this mni-Lego season. Here we have Qui-Gon fighting Darth Maul in the Naboo power station (?). Obi-Wan awaits to avenge what is about to happen!
You are being spoilt these days as we have another gallery for you!
It is a mini-Lego season here and so there’ll be a couple more models to show along the way.
This Lego is so lovely it needs its own gallery to show it off properly!
Part two of the journey into the largest Technic Lego kit ever available. I made the dumper trump that comes with the bucket excavator. It’s a nice little kit with steering and a raising bed.
The bed raised:
And finally, a mean front view.
This is part one of a series of communications about Lego Model 42055. It’s a monster and so will be spread in sections as I am looking forward to categorising my journey.
This is the box:
There’s a Lego DeLorean on top to give an idea of scale. It is a very big box. It is the largest Technics set. The box has a gatefold style to it and so opens out to look like this:
The next exciting part was opening the box and spreading out the various part-bags. There are nearly four thousand pieces in this monstrosity and here some of them are:
The white box on the right has the instruction book and also more part-bags in it!
And finally for your delectation I have an image of the instruction book.
Thus ends the first communication concerning 42055.
Here’s a Lego Nexo Knight. I think there are things you can do with the shields in a game. That is the sum extent of my knowledge.
Here is the Lego City Cargo Aeroplane.
It’s a pretty neat little model.
On immediate inspection I think it looks a lot like the Lockheed S3 Viking, but I will soon be corrected if it doesn’t.
This particular Lego model is coincidence. It has nothing to do with the excursion yesterday. Surprisingly the shop at the Identities Exhibition had zero Legos!
I tried to coast the car as far as possible to Rochester cinema today, but there are too many uphills in the way and I had to use a fair bit of fuel. I do tell myself that all journeys that start and end at home are potential energy neutral [given particular losses for downhill and energy conversion] but still, hills annoy me. I also don’t want to be a particularly sad Prius driver, I do like power mode. I went to see Lego Batman and I rated the film on IMDB, perhaps I could trouble you to read this communication about the rating system.
I rated The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/aL4hyefXad
— Ian Parish (@iparish) February 14, 2017
Well, overall I would say I was largely not affected by this film. The opening was good, I liked the Batman character and his voice-over. but I think I’m too old for these films now. It all seemed just a little too busy. There was always so much going on in the film and on the screen it was hard to keep up with the characters and potential jokes that were happening. I am positive it was funnier than I thought, but I only smiled a couple of times.
While I guess this film was inevitable after the Lego Movie, I think Batman has been done to death. Putting it in Lego didn’t change or improve it. If anything it possibly messed up the Lego brand a bit. This film could have just as easily been live action or animated [not Lego] and it would have been the same. There wasn’t any reason for it to be Lego.
I didn’t leave the cinema amazed with what I had just seen, I left feeling “huh”, or whatever letters spell the equivalent of a “shoulder shrug”. It is quite possible that I just don’t like Batman. I remember seeing the Tim Burton version and thinking “whatever”, I do now recognise it as great though. All versions since have left me cold and irritated. I’m just not made for Batman.
I think this is the last one of the Lego Season. This is a Batmobile and some baddies.
And here he is coming for you!
Another in the series of “Lego Season”. Here’s a Lego City Ferry. It’s a nice little model, though not that little.
It is well worth the build:
‘Tis the Season of Lego. Another model for you to peruse. This time it’s a Star Wars thing. I will admit that I am not boned up on Star Wars vehicles, perhaps I need some more Top Trumps cards. Most of my early knowledge of planes and vehicles came from Top Trump cards.
![Imperial Tank [or something]](http://fooyah.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20161226_114640368_iOS-e1482935880208-974x1024.jpg)