I have always wanted to build an accurate scale model of a real machine. Most of the MOCs I've built up until now have been loosely based on real machines, and have only approximated their appearance and function.

A while back I purchased the book, Giant Earth-Moving Equipment by Eric C. Orlemann. This book describes (along with excellent color photos) some of the largest mining and earth moving machines ever built. There are many different categories of shovels and draglines, and one that caught my interest (well, they all did, but one in particular) was the section on hydraulic mining shovels.

They were like giant mutations of smaller excavators I'd seen at typical construction sites. The child in me was fascinated and spent hours staring at the photos. I'm also interested in them from an engineering perspective. As a structural engineer, I appreciate what it takes to design and build such machines. The fact that a machine weighing hundreds of tons can roll around on giant crawlers and take huge bites of earth and rock is interesting on many levels.

Needless to say, it did not take much thought and time to decide that I wanted to build one of these things.

Pneumatic Layout

I typically do not perform any detailed planning or design (such as CAD) before beginning a model. I generally think out a few important things, and then let the creative processes take over.

However, I did go through a few details prior to building this model:

• Source Information- The Liebherr website contains good information on their products, including PDF files with dimensions of the machines. I obtained a spec sheet for the R 996 that contained all the information I required to build the scale model.

• General Construction- The R996 excavator lends itself well to being modeled with Lego parts. It's boxy, rides on crawlers, uses large hydraulic cylinders, and is yellow (although there are some R996's painted in white too).

• Required Parts- I specifically planned out the vital electric and pneumatic components. These details can be found in the images to your left. I did not make any detailed plans for other parts. Instead, I made sure I had a decent supply of yellow bricks and plates.

I should note here that these electric and pneumatic plans were preliminary, and some things did change. You'll find more details in the Construction Notes.