This was my first attempt at a large crawler crane. It is seen here lifting my Artic Rescue Unit (set 8660) . This was the beginning of it all (my crane interest, that is). This was built back in 1988 or 1989 (long after set 8660 had been released).

My biggest challenge was to make a turntable capable of not pulling apart under high loads. This was in a time before the Technic turntable . I could have made a simple turntable that held together with a threaded axle, but I didn't have one of these axles at the time. My only choice was to buy a long 3/16" bolt from the hardware store. It worked just as well.

The crane was motorized with one motor. Through a crude transmission, the one motor was used to drive the lifting line and the boom holdback line. The transmission would disengage one winch and engage another. The transmission had 3 positions: motor engaged, disengaged (free spinning), and locked (engaged a fixed, non-turning gear). The small axles sticking out of the top of the cab were the handles used to change gears.

This was the second attempt at a crane- a slightly better modification of the first. Actually, this crane used the boom from the first crane, with an extension in the middle (the red section mid-boom). It is seen here lifting my Power Crane (set 8854) .

Shortly after completion of this crane, set 8854 came out (around 1989). The set contained a threaded axle, but I had already used a 3/16" bolt for the turntable on my crane. Nevertheless, I was extremely thrilled with set 8854 and it has become one of my favorites. I did use the metal hook from set 8854 on my crane.

This crane used the same transmisison concept as the first. However, unlike the first, two motors were used. One drove the winches for the main line and boom holdback (using the transmission) and the other motor drove a separate winch for the jib line.

A different concept. You could call it an "Alternate" crawler crane. This was built around 1991, sometime after the second big crane.

This crane rode on a crawler base with 8 small tracks. There were four main radial arms with a double track on each end.

Two motors were used with this one (no transmission as before). I used my only threaded axle for the turntable, or rather to keep the turntable together. I succeeded in twisting my only poor threaded axle beyond its elastic limit thus warping it. I guess I'm lucky I didn't break it!

A different approach to the crawler crane. This one belongs in the Legoland town.

I built this just for fun, after having built only large Technic cranes before. I think I did this sometime in 1992, maybe 1993.

Ahh, a break from the cranes. A simple, small forklift. This model was completely hand powered.

The forklift rails tilted back with a pneumatic cylinder. The forks travelled up and down the rails by use of chain links. The forks tilited on the same axle as the driven gear for the chain.

What the..? A drastic departure from my normal Technic creations!

This ship was about 5 feet long and was built mostly from bricks and plates. I didn't have enough bricks to complete the hull, so I used plates instead. You will see that the side of the hull looks like it is made of several "panels". These panels are the plates.

The bottom and deck of the ship were made of mostly road plates. The ship would slide smoothly over carpet, as the bottoms of the road plates were smooth.

The keel (backbone) of the ship was a long frame made of Technic beams (much like the booms of my cranes). The ship could support its own weight and be lifted quite easily.