2020

December 31, 2020 Leave a comment


Another year comes to a close here in Thirdwiggville. A couple of little MOCs were completed in a year that was different. As a review, here is what I made this year. For 2020 I made the following: 2C Sports Car, 1E.R Track Car, John Deere 5115, LMP C Turbo, 8081 SRT Tremor, 8640 Update, and the Atmos Tractor.

Recapping last years goals I accomplished a good deal.

  • Another Unimog!!!! (Nope, but watch tomorrow)
  • Something PF (Nope)
  • An excavator (Nope)
  • A mini helicopter (completed)
  • An LMP car (completed, but not what I expected)
  • Thirdwigg Motors first EV! (Completed)
  • 7 completed builds (Completed)

This year was a little more prolific than last year, which saw more builds than 2018. Each of the builds were small or mid-sized, which is becoming my design language. Additionally, I am finding myself not making anything electrified. It has now been three years since I have made something powered. Finally, I am finding more of my builds are system based in that they allow lots of different additions and modifications of one main build. Tractors and Unimogs work well in this regard.

I loved the 2C Sports Car. It was stiff, functioned well, and met my aesthetic desires. More of these kind of “Thirdwigg Motors” cars will be coming. The Atmos tractor came together very quickly, and all the options I made for the front and rear kept my creativity going for much of the year. Frankly, it was like I made another four MOCs based on the time it took for all the trailers and implements. 8640 Update was a fun little quick build that turned out great and brought a smile to my face.

One final note, last year, I expressed concerns about LEGO buying Bricklink.com. So far no significant limitations have been implemented, which is great. I hope this continues in 2021.

For 2021, here are my goals.

  • A motorcycle
  • A sports sedan
  • Another midsized car (EV)
  • Something yellow
  • 7 completed builds

After 2020, it will be interesting to see what 2021 looks like, but I hope to continue some more fun builds. As always, watch The Queue to see what’s coming up. Happy Building!

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Atmos Tractor

December 19, 2020 4 Comments


I guess I am on a little bit of a tractor kick lately.

Instructions for the tractor may be found here, which links to instructions for attachments, implements, and trailers.

Atmos Tractor

I had recently rebuilt my 9393 MOD, and as I took it apart, I wondered if I could make another tractor with the same implement attachments, improve the esthetics, and use different sized front and rear wheels. Then I thought maybe a pneumatic pump would be fun. My builds as of late have become much more dynamic, in that I like to be able to quickly change them or add a feature. Tractors work great for this, as adding a new trailer or implement can change the build dramatically. Additionally, I enjoy the challenge of making a system that supports lots of additions, while retaining the mechanics that my builds have always had.

Atmos Rear

The tractor came together very quickly for me. In 10 days I went from having a size draft of the tractor to a final MOC. I used the same driveline, albeit stretched, as the 9393 MOD so the mechanical parts were easy. Direct steering is used, and goes through a rear wheel drive system that connects to a two cylinder engine. A PTO is present at the rear of tractor, but not at the front. Adding a pneumatic pump required a stronger frame which was quickly modified, as well as a hose running to an attachment point at the rear.

The bodywork took the most time; about four days. I wanted to keep a simple hood, so I kept the design of 9393. I added some headlights to dress up the front, and the interior left some room for a steering wheel. Shaping the roof and the cabin was a little tricky due to all the half-stuff offsets of the front windshield. The fenders are simple, but match well. Just like that on day ten, the tractor was done. At the time of writing, the tractor can be built in orange, lime, white, and black.

Atmos with Mower

Part of what attracts me to building tractors is all the options one can present with a tractor: implements, trailers, plows, and on and on. The design of the tractor needed to support all of these possibilities. There is a hard point on the front, a hitch on the rear, and a three-point hitch on the rear.

Once these hard points were set, I began to spice it up. It’s no secret that set 8049 is one of my favorites, and since this tractor had a pneumatic pump, I thought a forestry trailer was needed. But then I wanted a snow plow, and a hooklift loader, and a dumper, and some farming equipment. So of course I built them all. You can find links to instructions for the tractor and most of the additions in my instructions tab.

Atmos Tractor with Trailers

The build was great little addition to my portfolio. The system supported a lot of different trailers and implements, some of which are still coming. The design language is consistent with my other builds, and the size is right in my sweet spot. I hope you enjoyed it too. Until the next build, happy building.

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John Deere 5115

February 29, 2020 1 Comment


Sometimes you just do not want to shovel your own snow. Why not get a machine to do it for you?

The full gallery may be found on Flickr.com.

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I have enjoyed building a number of tractors over the years, and I think it is mostly because I enjoy building all the implements. This little Deere is no exception. When I was making instructions for the Claas Atos, I found some inspiration from this picture. I wondered, “could I turn this into another tractor?” Yes, yes I could. So I was off on another mid-power tractor.

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I decided on the John Deere 5115, which is a mid-power, open cab row tractor. I used the chassis of the Atos, so the tractor retained the drive, steering, front and rear PTO, and the front and rear three point hitch. I added a green fake engine, a new hood, and some new wheels and tires (Batmobile!). So it was a simple modification of a simple previous build.

I added a variable V-Plow on the front from M_Longer, and a simple spreader on the rear powered by the PTO.

The MOC worked just as well as the Atos, which it should. But the Deere looked a little better. The hood looked more complete, and the proportions looked a little better. Plus the color of the green and yellow always looks sharp.

Happy building.

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2C Sports Car

January 1, 2020 2 Comments


3T Sports Sedan was the inaugural car for startup Thirdwigg Motors, and the market requested another, smaller, sportier offering. The board of directors approved development of the 2C to fill this need.

Full gallery including instructions may be found here.

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I wanted to keep the scale and keep many of the best parts of the 3T in this design but change the body style and add a couple of features. Very early I decided on a two door with a mid or rear engine. I wanted to get a better transmission, so with this, I set of to work. I scaled the car to the Porsche Cayman, and started fitting in parts. I used the same suspension from the 3T in both the front and rear, which constrained how the driveline would have to be routed.

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It was at this point that the interior setup got a little complicated. When I started this car, the new Wave Selector was just release which optioned a lot of gearbox options. After seeing this great little transmission, I knew I had what I wanted: a four speed sequential transmission. After playing with some options, I place it in the middle of the car. I toyed with having the engine behind the rear axle, but settled on a mid placement. Nothing larger than a Flat 4 was ever considered. The four speed gearbox worked and a changeover axle ran to the front under the suspension where a simple rotation limiter was placed. The steering HOG and steering wheel had all of their mechanics in front of the transmission, so everything fit.

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I had intentions of having a ratcheting gear selector to work with the slick sequential  transmission. But I was running out of space. The center of the car was taken up with the transmission, suspension at each end, and placing one in the rear did not give a way to connect to the transmission. So the only place left was under the front hood. There were a number of great change over options that work well. I tried each. Some fit, some worked great, but each had the same problem: there was not good way to seamlessly integrate the “button” into the bodywork. I had visions of pushing on a grill to actuate the mechanism, but the grill was not very big, and required even more space than I was already using. In the end I decided to scrap the idea of a changeover, and use a simple rotary selector. It is not fancy, but it works well, and keeps the bodywork clean.

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Through out this process I was toying with ideas for the body work. Generally, I add parts as I like them, and when everything is placed, I rebuild the whole car with structures in place for all the final placements of critical internal and external parts. But this car had a large transmission in the middle which meant there was no frame running from the front to the rear. I added a structural frame under each door, and tried to build up the frame under the transmission as best as I could. It works, but there is still a little car flex under heavy center load.

First, the bodywork on this car works better for my eyes than the 3T, even though I tend to like sedans a little better. Second, the gearbox worked flawlessly. It was smooth, and even though I had the open the hood the change gears, the smoothness was worth it. Finally, the suspension worked great as it had proved itself in the 3T. It now adorns the desk at my work. Hopefully you enjoy it too.

Don’t worry, Thirdwigg Motors is already hard at work on the next car.

Happy Building.

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