Renault Magnum 6x2/4 with Floor stepframe trailer
Van der Vlist is a well known name within the world of transport. You can see the conspicuous orange trucks everywhere. It's a company
which operates in the field of exceptional transport and has various subsidiaries/sister companies within Europe. Holtrop Van der Vlist
is one of those and is based in Assen NL. It's an independent operating company. Next to their own vehicles Holtrop has a lot of charters
and they put the most fabulous vehicles on the road. They have the most big brands in this color scheme but Renault has always been
quite rare in their fleet. The Magnum has quite an impressive appearance of its own but in orange its even more impressive.
The reason I've chosen for this Renault is quite logical; for the windshield I always use
plate hinges
and you don't have those in orange. Of course you have the newer
locking hinges
but I think this is one of the biggest mistakes LEGO made so far. I cannot use those and all trucks with sloped windshields
were no option. The only truck left to be build in orange was this immaculate Magnum. With it's straight lined driver's cab and,
what I thought, possibly to be build in orange. However it should because a difficult task but I succeeded to build it and
the pictures shown here proves this.
Renault
I already had experience with building a Renault Magnum. In 1998 I built the red bulk truck. So I knew
it is possible to build a proper LEGO model of a Magnum but I guess this should be possible with any truck. At that time I got
respond like 'easy to build' and 'it's just a squared box'. But this isn't true. It might be a simple task but you can make it
yourself (maybe unnecessary) as difficult as you could.
Before I start building a model I first try to collect my information which I need. Just like asking for brochures, chassis drawings
and making detailed pictures of the real thing. The 6x2/4
configuration is quite rare in the Magnum range. I also wanted to know how the second axle is connected to the chassis.
The Magnum of Svenco I saw at once during a truck festival in 2003 when it just left the painter. It was brand new at that
time. Eventually I made some pictures of each side then not knowing I would build a LEGO model of it some years later.
Later, in 2005, I also took lots of pictures of the Magnum at the Renault stand on the European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam.
I already get started with the model and I was very pleased that I've taken many interior pictures. When looking on the internet I found some
chassis pictures because you can barely see something of it on the Magnum. A friend of mine took some pictures of the engine at a Renault
dealer when one was being serviced. Very useful material to build a model as accurate as possible.
Parts
In the summer of 2005 I went to LEGOLAND in Gunzburg. Of course there you also visit the Pick-a-Brick shop. Many bins
full of orange bricks and plates where placed there. At first I let them for what they were but eventually I couldn't hold myself
grabbing a few bags full of orange pieces. The idea of building a Van der Vlist model was born there but I didn't knew
which truck to build from their fleet. Via the
Bricklink color catalogue
I was looking which pieces were available in orange and then I discovered the limitations of this color; 1x1 plates didn't
exist as wel as four and six wide plates.
Those larger plates could easily be replaced by two wide but the small ones really were a need. During the building period
I found a few Bricklink shops in which they where available. Not cheap off course but I wanted to have some because
sometimes it was better using the 1x1s instead off other plates. I was less hopeful about the
macaronis.
I also used them for the old Magnum for the edges of the driver's cab at the front. Actually those edges shouldn't be round
but sloped. Those very usefull
small slopes
were no option as well (the angle should be 45 degrees). But I probably will find a better way during building the model I
thought. It's quite a challenge building a model in a color of which the inventory is much smaller than of the
traditional colors. The orange of the LEGO pieces is not exactly the same as the color of the real vehicles but when
you look at the real vehicles you can also spot some slightly differances. And when you see the model seperately it's
hardly conspicuous. Anyhow the colors other models I've built aren't also equal to the original. For me it's no need to
work wit RAL codes.
The tractor
The starting point was the Magnum of 98. I broke this model off very quick but in my archives I could find how I built
this. The chassis and engine were completely renewed. I used the same cab at first but in seven years my building
techniques have improved so the old cab was too simply for my today's standards. It was to straight forward and
I wanted it to make it myself more difficult. It's livery put me that way as well.
I made the chassis black. It's a little bit longer than of a standard 4x2. The air suspended back axle is supplied with air bag
for which I used
very old tyres.
The second axle has to be a lift axle but because the wheels would hit the mudguard I didn't made it adjustable. Besides that I might need some more
axle pressure while the chassis is more wide at the front. This means a weak point when you want to have the chassis beams
going smooth to the front with the help of
plate hinges.
But the big advantage of the Magnum is the front axle is totally at the front and the connection of the leaf
suspension is on the wider part of the chassis so I didn't had to connect them between the hinges. A disadvantage of the
Magnum is the cab would be very heavy. Therefore I had to take care of a solid connection of the lower module on the
chassis (the module with the steps on both sides). You can't manage this by just stabling blocks otherwise everything
would fall apart. The solution here is 'SNOT' and than you make it more compact as well. The front of the lower module would keep its
'temporary' look for a while. The headlights didn't had its right shape and the front grille was not in place. I really didn't
knew how to create them; another issue which I had to solve with pieces that didn't exist officially.
The engine block comes from a Mack (yes, this Magnum actually is a Mack!). The straight six I've built with the help of
lots of pictures and brochures which I found on the Mack website. Not a very easy task but because I had a bulk of
pictures at my disposal I could add any detail to it. I had to create a very well connection of the radiator; the radiator must
keep the driver's cab in place and also when it's in tilted position. The cab would be quite heavy indeed!
The flat floor of the cab made it relatively easy to set it up. However I regularly took the cab apart because I placed
some parts at the wrong place for several times and the tilting mechanism wasn't robust enough. Such things does takes
you a lot of time and because of lack of inspiration and parts I stopped the project temporary for a few times. Even I was
thinking about to stop the project definitely because I was hesitating if I would manage to build the Magnum as I wanted
to be. I was thinking about breaking of everything I had build so far and starting to build another old Scania
in the color scheme Holtrop had during the seventies.
But this would not be quite original and actually I didn't like the look of the Scania in orange with black. I was building
this model in a meanwhile but stopped with it shortly after. In the autumn of 2006 the Renault seemed to be ready but
I still wasn't satisfied with it. It didn't had the right look. Maybe because there were still colors on it which had to be
removed. So parts were red and green because I didn't had them as orange in my collection. For another time I stopped
with it for a while and I continued with the CAT dozer which I was building in parallel.
I succeeded in building the dozer very quickly and it was finished in April 2007. Then I was in the mood again to
continue with the Magnum as well and then I worked on it quite constantly. Maybe because the trailer was getting well
as well.
The sun roof looked like nothing. To big, the wrong shape. Also the round pieces on the side of the roof weren't right. I once found lots of those
curved bricks
in a Pick-a-Brick at the toy store. I replaced them all by slopes which I ordered especially for this model. That looks much
better and all the edges of the cab are sloped like the underside. The front had to be similar as well and the macaronis of which
I thought I really needed them I didn't need at all. Before I actually started with this project I was hesitating because of those
macaronis which LEGO hasn't in its inventory. But it still took me hours of thinking before I found the right way to build this.
With slopes, off course, just like the rest of the cab. The doors cab be opened and because of the box type cab
it was easy to make it fit.
The interior has three seats and a table and an upper bed which is adjustable. This cab is built according to the
so called 'one-driver concept'. Such a cab also function as a mobile office with relaxed seats and a fold up table in the middle.
There's enough space to stand right up. Inside the cab is totally covered with grey plates so you nearly can't see any
orange pieces.
As usual my supplier took care of the lettering. This time I placed two layers on each other to get the lettering white. If you
put one single layer on orange or red the letters more looks grey. First I also got water transfers of the striping but that
didn't looked well. To complicated to print it in the correct proportions and the colors weren't right as well. At a graphical
store I bought some foil in to different green colors and I created the striping myself. After to evenings of cutting and
pasting the striping was put on the cab.
The trailer
Most of the Holtrop charters are pulling Floor
stepframe trailers which are especially constructed for this company. They are really multi functional because I see them
carrying anything. From excavators to articulated trucks, from dozers to piling equipment. The trailers are extendible and have
a steered axle at the back. Since this trailer is especially produced for Holtrop I had to find out the measurements myself.
Because I visit the Truckstar Festival, which is hold at a racing circuit nearby Holtrop, I always go to Holtrop first. At their yard
I took some pictures of their trailers and measure it to create a starting point. It's not that complicated but the model has to be
like the real thing. Because of
this I also needed dark bluish grey pieces. At first I built the trailer totally black. No, this wasn't it. Far too black. Dark bluish grey
is quite a nice color for my purposes and I started to order lots of those because I didn't had many of them in my collection.
And there are many different pieces available in this color. The base of the trailer I drawn in
LeoCad
first to have a good reference what to order exactly. Otherwise I would order too many pieces. ill then I already spent lots of
money for pieces of the tractor. The grey pieces for the trailer didn't costs that much but because there are bulks of them
available on Bricklink. At bits and pieces the orders arrived my place.
Mostly the goose neck is the weakest point of a trailer. By using studless beams you can make it more stiff without
spoiling the looks of the model. Those
angled beams
very useful. Now the wheel tubs
are the weakest point because the first axle is hang up just behind them. A dis
advantage of the new parts, like the new
dark bluish grey pieces, is that they sometimes don't fit very well and especially when the trailer is loaded. It's always a
compromise between sturdiness and appearance. That last thing always gets a higher priority.
The backside is sloping and supplied with ramps. The trailer has side protection and support legs. There's a frame
on the front with all kinds of tools like chain lashings. Those little chains are very handy and gives a
messy and realistic look.
The earlier mentioned dozer was meant for the Magnum but could also be laden on other mid heavy weight low loaders.
With a D7R this truck is a little bit too high. A D6R might be better for a stepframe trailer. However I think the D7R looks much
better. The blade can be separated and put at the back of the trailer but with the blade still on the machine it looks
more heavy.
This is a project which took me a lot of time and costs me lots of money. For the tractor and trailer I maybe 40% bought
additional. I took me more than two years to build it and as I'm not always satisfied
at the first time I had to change and remove some things for lots of times. In October 2007 it was the
first time I showed it on modelshows but also then I wasn't complete satisfied. The green mudguards were not as I wanted
to have them and the studs at the front of the cab were still visible. Those were the two issue I had lots of thinkings about but
I think I solved them on a proper way. I'm more than satisfied with the result and have added an immaculate model to my
collection.
I am not the only one who has built an orange truck from the Van der Vlist fleet. When I was busy building my Magnum
Frank Buiting
also started to build a Holtrop - Van der Vlist vehicle. He has made a very nice model of the six axle Scania.
Other data
Length: |
129 cm |
Width: |
19.2 cm |
Height: |
30 cm |
Wheelbase: |
35 cm |
Construction: |
more than 2 years |
Date: |
July 2005 - September 2007 |
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