Technic

GBC: Lift & ZigZag

Posted on Saturday, 6th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Great Ball Contraption / MOCs / Technic / Video

The GBC test day in Caterham went well, and while the Big Bird was being tested, Alistair and I managed to put together another module with the Technic bits I had taken with us. The conveyor is a straight lift from the Bucket Wheel Excavator, with some pins stuck in at regular intervals. The ZigZag ramps were again built from BWE bits, the siding plates from another conveyor forming the bottom surface. I’m quite pleased how these turned out too.

When I got home I made a little video of my two modules running together:

GBC: Big Bird & Pinball

Posted on Friday, 5th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Great Ball Contraption / MOCs / Technic

As a complete novice, I have been doing some research to find a fairly simple GBC module to build. I found plans for a Classic Marble Pump on Planet-GBC, then went rummaging in my parts drawers to see if I had enough bits to put it together. This is what I came up with!

The plans built me the input side, which I dubbed Big Bird. Then of course I had to add some wings and eyes! It is built from mainly System bricks apart from some gearing and the motor hidden behind. I didn’t have enough of the same coloured bricks to build it out of one colour, but who cares – multicoloured is more fun!

Then I had to get the balls back down again to the right height for the next module’s input. I decided on a pinball type board, built from Technic beams, with pins stuck in them in a triangular pattern, built to my own design. I think it works quite well. Tomorrow we are taking it to Caterham for a test run with other GBC modules made by the London AFOLs.

Technic: BWE Dismantled!

Posted on Wednesday, 3rd January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Storage / Technic

I only bought the Bucket Wheel Excavator (42055) for the parts to make GBC modules, so having finished it off the other day, I set about taking it apart again today. I left one or two sections built, such as the conveyor belts, as these will be immediately useful as they are for GBC.

However, having done all the sorting (there are a lot of bits!), I realised I didn’t have enough storage to put them in. A quick visit to Home Bargains in town and I had some more compartment storage boxes for the bargain price of £2.49 each. Marvellous. Now I can think about what to build for the show in a couple of weeks.

Technic: Bucket Wheel Excavator (42055) – Part 4

Posted on Saturday, 30th December 2017 by Caz
Filed under Technic / Video

Time for another final hit at the Bucket Wheel Excavator (42055) set. Bags 7 & 8 produced the final pieces to finish the model.

And after more hard work, here it is!

I wasn’t expecting the finished thing to be so huge. It barely fitted on my white photographic background foam board!

And of course, it is motorised, so here’s a quick video showing it in action. The forwards/backwards motion is VERY slow because the thing is so damned heavy, but the conveyors tip rubble into the truck quite quickly.

Technic: Bucket Wheel Excavator (42055) – Part 3

Posted on Thursday, 28th December 2017 by Caz
Filed under Technic

I’ve had a break from Technic for a few days, while I enjoyed building the Architecture themed sets I got for Christmas. But today it was back to the Bucket Wheel Excavator (42055), which I still haven’t finished yet. It was time to attack the biggest stage – all those bags numbered 6.

This gave me the eponymous bucket wheel and another bit of conveyor, mounted onto a frame. It’s still not done yet, but I’ve run out of time for today.