6x6 Trial Truck

[Umbelina Baublitz]

HiI would like to show you my new MOC (technically almost one year old today, but officially unreleased yet) I have built for Truck Trial Championship (LTTT) in 2022.

Maybe you sy to yourself now - wait - I have seen this MOC before. And youre halfway right. I re-used the "body" (cab and bed cover) from my older MOC ...

(one of the trucks on the championship used very similar steering system without the big turntable, it worked like a charm, so I applied basic engineering workflow principle - madr dome photos, and tried to improve the solution with turntable. Well, great minds probably really think alike)

Mechanically, it is as simple as it could be (chasing the reliability) - no diffs, no difflocks, no switches, just 2 buggy motors, one for front, one for rear axles, mounted in the middle, geared down, connected to two drive axles like in Madoca1977's Tatra MOC. I routed the driveshafts in a way, where, in theory, the torsion in axles is partially used, together with backlash in gears, as locked differential substitute - again: in theory.

Then the steering mechanism (more photos soon), suspension - halfaxles do not turn around axis coincident with the driveshafts, light frame, detachable cab, and wire remote control to save weight.

This Tatra looks brutal! It would be interesting to see more derails about the electronics (how many motors for propulsion is used), transmission (what is the gear ration) and total weight of the car.

@Daniel-99 It uses 2 buggymotors (mentioned in text above) and one L motor for steering. More technical details are going to be submitted with additional photos of the chassis. Total dry weight of the vehicle is something about 2.4 kg

In the meantime you can check more action of the truck on videos from the championship, which I joined with this truck.

Great trucks, great shots, I simply love it. I'm still gathering experience building smaller models, but I think this is my ultimate goal to build capable trial truck in this scale which will be able to compete in such championships.

@Zerobricks official rues of the championship are proclaimed to be as close to the rules of the "big" trial as tehy could be, while as the refference is taken Czech Truck Trial events.

That means, that the rules of the LTTT (Lego Technic truck trial) are quite complex, but basically - you can not touch the car while in section, you can not leave the section other way than exit gate, and all gates are directional - it is defined the way the truck moves (going up or down the gate), does not matter wheter steered axles go first or last.

There are then some rules about size and weight of the vehicle in each category (class), the bumper is mandatory (expect Prototype class), and driveline scheme, etc.

Full length rules are on link below (only in czech, auto-translation needed) .

Link to photos from older seasons: -bin/gallery.cgi?m=KTT

Regarding the exposed gears, yes, it is issue while going through high grass or fallen wood sticks, but this way it could be much easily cleaned, and the ground clearance is usually in this scale one of the most important feature of the car.

Well, here are the promised detailed chassis photos - enjoy! - I know, there is enough space in the chassis for RC battery/control system, but remember - the batteries should last through the entire race day. ;)

INTRODUCTION

This is the second set of the 2H wave of 2021 I will be reviewing. To be honest; this wasn't a set I was really looking forward to building. We've seen a few preliminary pictures of this model and it has changed quite a bit since its first appearance. This model started as a 6x6, but ended up as a 4x4. Due to the smaller sized wheels, it got dubbed "sausage dog truck". While I absolutely agreed and had a laugh about it, I do think the final design looks better than I expected. The smaller diameter of the wheels provide more torque, so I do expect outstanding performance. I am looking forward to seeing this bad boy climb hills like there's no tomorrow :wink:

This set is designed by Milan Reindl who has been working at TLG for nine years now. Time flies. It seems like yesterday, he was churning out B-models here on Eurobricks hehe. In those nine years he has really made a name for himself and he has delivered an impressive list of cool models. Let's find out if this one can be added to that list.

DISCLAIMER

The CEE Team of TLG has provided this set. It's not my goal to promote this set. It's my goal to give you an honest opinion about it. Therefore, the opinion in this review is my own and is in no way linked to TLG.

THE BOX

The front of the box shows the trial truck in action. Apparently, it's perfectly fit to deal with rugged terrain. Looks like a ton of action. Makes you wonder how aggressively this model will climb steep hills.

ELECTRONICS

This set contains four motors. Three PoweredUp L motors and a WeDo 2.0 motor. I would have prefered a new PoweredUp M motor, but it does show that other motors can be used in Technic models as well.

2x3 QUARTER ELIPSE LIFTARM

This part already appeared in the Ferrari and two other 2021 sets. Actually, I have taken the wrong picture, because this set also contains these parts in dark bluish grey, making its first appearance.

THE BUILD

Upon opening the bags for the first step, I found a selection of various black panels and frames. These are used to build the center section of the chassis. The manual shows we will be using three of the four motors, which are probably used for the drivetrain. Besides two L motors, the WeDo motor will be used. I wonder how that motor is incorporated in the chassis and which function it operates. Let's find out!

As with most trucks, we start by building some sort of gearbox, placed in the center of the chassis. Two motors are connected to the center differential and the WeDo motor is connected to the gearbox. While I am not really sure, it looks like the WeDo motor is used to lock the center differential. It is linked to the gearbox which incorporates the two clutches.

Having a gearbox makes a build more complex and interesting. While this step wasn't very complicated, it was less straightforward than the tow truck build. I almost missed an axle connector, which could have been hard to add at the end of this step. I strongly recommend hooking up the hub and testing the build with the Control+ app. At the time of building, I didn't have the update Control+ app to test the build. Of course, I could have used other apps to test my build, but I took the plunge. Who needs testing anyway?!

The second step is all about adding the rear suspension to the chassis. The bags for this step reveal another modest selection of black panels and frames. The parts also contain the new differential housing and as expected the recently releases planetary hubs, commonly referred to as Technic Steering Axle with 2 Pin Holes, 2 Axle Holes and 2 Tow Ball Arms with Dark Bluish Gray Wheel Hub

The picture below shows the rear suspension added to the chassis. While this build is totally different from the tow truck, I am equally enjoying it. It's been a while since I built Technic, so it's great to be building a gearbox and suspension again. The mechanism to lock the differentials is genuinely intriguing. I love the number of gears packed in such a small space in the rear suspension. I am looking forward to building the next step, which is the front suspension with steering mechanism.

Here we are at the end of the third step. I noticed my building speed is significantly lower than during build of the tow truck. Not that this is a difficult set to build, but it definitely is more advanced than the tow truck. So far it's a solid build. I'm not an experienced trial truck builder, but I reckon the experts will be quite happy with the chassis.

The fourth step is the one with the most parts. We will be adding the cabin and hooking up the wires to the hub. In my review of the tow truck I mentioned the huge number of pages. This manual isn't too shabby either, counting 634 steps for 2108 parts. Again, a nice selection of panels, but this time they are dark bluish grey. A nice overall selection of dark bluish grey parts in this step (and this model entirely). We also get the smooth axle pin connector toggle joint in dark bluish grey. This set is turning out to be an incredible parts pack, in case you don't like the main model.

The cabin packs some nice details, like the windscreen wipers, exhaust and floodlights. Quite a few left-over pieces, even some duplicates. Made me wonder whether I missed a few. But since they all are the usual suspects, I'm probably cool.

The hood is attached to the chassis/cabin and it has indeed been reinforced with two liftarms. The doors (and entire assembly attached to it) still feel somewhat flimsy. Nothing to really worry about, but this being a trial truck, I'd expect it to be firm to stand a chance to the rugged terrain it will be traversing. But like I said, no biggie.

Like the tow truck I have built this model without stickers and really think it looks awesome at this point. One can argue that it looks a bit boring with the grey and black, but I actually like it. Time to open up bags numbered #6 and finish the model. This step will add some color to the model, so it won't end up in boring grey

Pay attention when you attach the rims to the tires, because it's easy to mess up. Like the Claas and other models, there will be a lot of "you attached the wheels incorrectly" comments on social media.

FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS

This being a trial truck is only fair to judge the set by its capacity to handle rought terrain. I have composed a video to show the truck in action. I'm sorry that one of the cats is photobombing the video, but he has severe FOMO, so I can't do anything without him checking it out. He is sorry for the hairs in some of the foto's

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