The last in this recent Season of Lego this is a road sweeper and repair unit.
At work:
Last view (a fish-eye!):
Lego 50 Model 60152
Lego 46 Model 42055
Now, the final communication. Here’s the bucket wheel working:
Here’s the machine turning the bucket arm:
Moving forward:
And general operation:
Overall this was great fun and very relaxing. Hour for hour entertainment it was about the same as watching an IMAX film.
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 10
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:
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 9
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
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 8
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.
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 7
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:
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 6
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.
Lego 49 Model 6346
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!
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 5
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:
Lego 46 Model 42055 Part 4
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.
