John Deere Forwarder

The John Deere Forwarder

This forwarder is state of the art. In terms of design it is giving direction to the future being right here.

Personally I  have a soft spot for outstanding land machines. The first machine I saw when I was about 10 years old was the MB 1000 tractor. I really liked the unconventional and (for that time) stylish design. Later when the Claas Xerion was introduced I saw it as a direct accessor of the MB 1000 with a refined shape. When the Claas was released as a set I felt super stoked. Unfortunately my initial attraction vanished as I'm not a fan of pure technic models although I still admire the look and the functions of it. Me being basically a system builder prefer brick built models over technic, not to mention preferring smaller scales.

There are a few other great land machines, but which one really struck me and even directly made me build a version with LEGO bricks was the John Deere Forwarder. That was some years ago, before the Claas model was at the horizon. (On a side note: As a proof you are welcome to check out the date of my first version of the Deere forwarder back in 2010 at my Flickr photo stream ;-)

I was pretty satisfied with the outcome and when I made some new photos I felt this could be a great playset. So here we are.

About the build

There are many LEGO model sets of existing vehicles. Unfortunately they are often at different scales, and only few are at minifig scale. Even if they are minifig scale they tend to be over simplified.

There are some farm vehicles as official sets. But there has never been a forestry vehicle in minifig scale of which I know. Another fact is that the design is state of the art and will not only appeal to the customers interested in the city theme, but also reaches an audience which tends to to be orientated towards science-fiction and beyond.

This creation fills a gap and provides an attractive land machine at minifig scale as a playset. In regard of the scale I believe this render is pretty close to the original, which males it even more attractive. 

LEGO Ideas might be a chance to offer a set which is complex and close to the original design while remaining minifig scale.

Play features

• a 360° rotatable cabin

• a boom with three articulation points

• exchangable boom heads for different purposes (exemplary the actual tool is a milling cutter)

• a ball joint connection between the tractor and the trailer allowing to steer not only sideways, but also vertically
• 3 logs of wood
• including two minifigure workers for increased play value

The above mentioned play features show that this creation is not simply a model, but an extraordinary yet classical playset.

If you like this creation and would love to see it become a LEGO Ideas set, please vote for it.

With kind regards

- Cole Blaq

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Cole Blaq@Flickr