34 replies to this topic

[Bricksonwheels]

Hi there,

I am new here. My name is Dennis and i live in Europe. Besides many other hobbies I like building american trucks as scale models.
Last year my work was featured in 10-4 Magazine.
I have been building plastic kits, customized metal ones, but i prefer to work with Lego, because of the flexibility of design.

Here is some of my work, i hope you enjoy it.

This is a 379 daycab, in Harley livery. Like most of my trucks it is 100% genuine Lego, with some parts chromed (real metal plated) for realism. This is a 1:13 truck.
I made an edited picture so you can see the engine as well.






The next one is a 379 with sleeper on a longer wheelbase. It is the same 1:13 scale, and consists about 4000 bricks. The weight is around 4 kg.







I hope you like them.

[JamesW]

WOW, that is some VERY impressive work.

[pete3522]

wow that is awesome

[BigBad]

Very nice work! I used to play with these as a kid and built all kinds of smaller trucks, but never like this! By the way, how did you get the chrome bricks???

[signguy2108]

WOW, just when I thought I had seen it all! Way cool trucks, hmmm, I think I still have my son's old lego's stored in the attic!

[Nocky]

NIce!

[jay1968]

ive seen models like these before but let me just say one thing....AMAZING!!!!! how exactly did you do something like this because i have tried some many times and was never able to?

[Bricksonwheels]

Well thanks for all the reactions, they're really appreciated. To answer some questions:

The chroming I arrange at a factory who chromes ABS plastic parts. The proces is called plating on plastics. The guy likes Lego, so he helps me out with some non-industrial batch sizes, to keep it affordable. Some use painted stuff, but i really prefer this approach.
The way i work is basically from scratch. I download chassis drawings and use pictures as refference. The starting point of the scale are the wheels, as they are fixed in Lego sizes. The big ones on these are not in production anymore since the early 90's, but on internet you can still find them. They are the biggest Lego wheels that are 'real' enough to use for trucks.

I also build in 1:16 scale, here is one example:



These are a bit easier, as parts are more close to actual Lego sets, so the wheels are much easier to find. Currently i work on a 1:22 milk trailer combo.
However, i prefer the big scale ones.

[Ben]

WOW!!!!!!!!!! Those are some really awesome builds!!!!!! My son is 12 and really into Legos right now. He's gonna get a kick outa your builds!!!!

[Jim B]

Those are amazing! Great details.

You might look into K'Nex for your tires. They look similar.

[chuckyr]

Welcome to the board Dennis. Those Peterbilts are fantastic. How do you create the chassis? Have you ever attempted a 53 foot van trailer?

Edited by chuckyr, 25 July 2012 - 04:51 PM.

[Bricksonwheels]

Thnx for all your kind words.
To anser some questions: I don't think i would use Knex tires, i have set myself the goal to make the models 100% Lego, that is just more fun to me.

About the chassis:

The chassis is like the real thing, you can construct Lego stiff enough to make it look real and carry the load. My models are also full on detail where the eye does not see it instantly.
I often attend shows, so now and then i glue a crucial part to avoid damage during transport, but I try to avoid it as much as possible, as i actually disamble most of the builds after a certain time. Lego is quite expensive so i don't have unlimited amounts of bricks. One truck can carry up to 5000 bricks, so i guess you understand

A 53ft flatbed i have here. I use that because it is flexible to use at shows. I have build reffers in the past, but in smaller scale (1:16). These things are more then 3 feet long, so my wife starts complaining when there are too many of these 'giants' in our home.

Here is an older 1:16 reefer combo (as close as i had to a 53ft van trailer), which was also remote controlled, all made with the relativly new Lego Power Functions technic parts for the drivetrain and controls. This one is an old model which is not existing anymore as such:

Edited by Bricksonwheels, 25 July 2012 - 09:52 PM.

[camaro73]

These are awesome! I have never seen so much detail with Lego before. I like them alot!

[jay1968]

NO WAY i saw that red and black lego truck on google images awhile back and dang i have to say it looks amazing and outta curiosity would you be interested in selling the red and black one or any of them for that matter.

[camaro68]

All i can say is WOW !!!!!!!!!!!

[Bricksonwheels]

Thnx, i am glad with the nice repsonses. I am sorry jay1968, the red one is not alive anymore, i disambled it about a year ago. A reefer combo is on my list again though. Generally i don't sell them, as Lego is quite expensive, and you can use it again.

[Ironman63]

Man, these are some incredible builds! All we could make were houses and such when I was growing up(I'm almost 50). I didn't know lego had come this far. Impressive!

[towman1271]

I never built anything like that with my legos.....AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

[jekylljr]

very cool superb workmanship

[Volvoman]

Hello there Dennis my name is Mark and I too am new to this forum. Firstly I would like to say that I am blown away by your lego trucks, I myself had lego as a kid and would never had thought that such works of art could be achieved with what are essentialy plastic bricks.
When I first saw your thread, I thought you were a guy who I had read about in a magazine that I subscribe to here in the UK called Truck Model World who is from Italy and he has built some european trucks from lego such as Volvo's and Scania's. I do not know if you are familiar with this magazine and they do have there own website forum so it may well be worth checking them out. Once again, stunning builds and well done.