Lego Adventure: Technic Tracked Crane Part 3 [Final]

Obvious downsizing, but not without having its own specialty
Another non-Gundam related review to be featured on this blog after the work on 1/1 scale HoiHoi-san as shown in the previous posting. ^^ It's back to Lego building blocks with the assembly of Lego Technic No. 9391 Tracked Crane's alternate model, a mini bulldozer. ^^

The main model was done in late October, and I really enjoyed putting it together and playing with it when it was done. Between Tracked Crane and the previous Lego Technic set I built - No. 9392 Quad Bike, I definitely like the former more, so I hesitated for a while before deciding to take it apart for this review. ^^; But I guess since this Lego set is much smaller as compared to No. 9392 Quad Bike, assembling/reassembling it between main and alternate models should be relatively simpler anyway. ^^


The Tracked Crane is dismantled before the (re)assembly work. ^^



First component to be done is the basic engine block with worm gear.
The gear will be used to control the movement of the vertical steel blade's arms.



Added parts to build up the bulldozer's head.


Connected the rod with a small gear to the worm gear.
Using a button behind the body to turn the worm gear, how the blade arms' gimmick works is quite easy to visualize. ^^


Video clip showing how the button behind the bulldozer's body controls the gears and blade arms' movement.
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.



Added parts to restrict the blade arms' range of rotation.



Added parts to build up the cockpit.
This is the rear side of the vehicle.


The two clear orange signal lights on the roof are part of the model's highlights on details I guess. XD


Progress of the bulldozer's assembly so far. ^^



Assembled the pair of shank rippers behind the bulldozer.


With the shank rippers equipped to the back of the vehicle, a few more parts are appended to complete the cockpit.


While there's no gear or trigger mechanism incorporated, the shank rippers are indeed movable. ^^


For some odd reason, the cockpit module can be tilted vertically. ^^



Added parts to form the wheels for the caterpillars.


Each track is formed with 32 pieces (one piece less than that on Tracked Crane).


The tracks are fitted onto the bulldozer's wheels.
Even though the assembly is the same as that on Tracked Crane, I still enjoyed it immensely. ^^


Another pit stop to check on the bulldozer's assembly progress. ^^
Only one more component to go before the entire model is done. ^^


Assembled the wide but very short vertical steel blade. ^^


Very easily, the blade is attached to the moving arm's connectors.


And the entire model is done. ^^


Quite a lot of leftover parts from the assembly. ^^;More images of this just completed mini bulldozer:










Closeups on the details:















Bottom view:






The full length of the bulldozer with its shank rippers lowered is 15cm.



The blade can be lifted to a much higher position actually, and this is done via the button behind the bulldozer of course. ^^
A "summary" of all its gimmicks:


Video clip showing all the mini bulldozer's gimmicks.
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.
As I mentioned in the introductory posting for Lego Technic No. 9392 Quad Bike, many alternate models of the series are way less impressive than their main models. That observation is proven true again with the mini bulldozer. ^^; This should be pretty obvious with many special and important joint parts used on Tracked Crane being omitted for this alternate model. Not only are are there less gimmicks and movable components on the mini bulldozer, there's only two among them that feature linked movement design - the tracks and blade. In comparison, Tracked Crane has four.

Still, it's a very compact and comprehensive mini bulldozer model in my opinion. ^^ It's small, but important functions like the tracks, blade and shank rippers work well and pretty realistically. Also, even though I don't have a second set to make an accurate comparison, by looking at the tracks' size as compared to the bulldozer's body, I'm fairly certain that it would be in the right scale when displayed with Tracked Crane. ^^ So, you can start collecting and assembling a whole team of construction vehicles which would be in the right scale when compared to one another. ^^



Technic No. 8045 Mini Telehandler compliments the mini bulldozer very well. ^^




Prowling through a whole lot of unused parts for this Lego set.


With Transformers Prime's Legion Class Cyberverse Arcee.
Overall, this is a very fun Lego set. The assembly for both models is very simple but fun. I experienced many new interesting types of the parts through this set, with the little black bar pieces that form the tracks when put together being my favorite in the entire set. ^^ The thread to pull/extend the tracked crane's hook is a very fun part as well. ^^

Between the two models, the original Tracked Crane is definitely my favorite one. ^^ So I'll will probably dismantle the mini bulldozer soon to reassemble it into the tracked crane.

All reviews on Lego Technic No. 9391 Tracked Crane:
Part 1: The most exciting Lego parts to play with yet
Part 2: Put on some weight, junior!
Part 3 [Final]: Obvious downsizing, but not without having its own specialty

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Lego Technic No. 9391 Tracked Crane