The Volvo EW160E wheeled excavator has become the latest piece of construction machinery to undergo the Lego Technic treatment, as the Danish toymaker has unveiled a 1:20 scale model with 1,166 individual elements and a built in pneumatic drive system.
Designed to resemble the real thing in both looks and functionality, Andrew Woodman, senior design manager at Lego Technic, noted: “We didn’t just want this product to look like an EW160E material handling excavator, we wanted it to work like one too.”
Almost two years in development, the Lego Technic excavator was produced following the success of the remote-controlled Volvo L350F wheel loader in 2014, and is set to hit the shops this summer.
The EW160E model takes a different approach to the remote-controlled model L350F, however, and is, as Woodman explains built to for ‘in-hand play’, and so the visual appearance of the excavator has been even meticulously and painstakingly recreated.
Volvo then went a step further with the addition of a pneumatic system that uses pressurised air to replicate how a real machine works with its hydraulic system – operating both boom and bucket.
The model also has other realistic functions, including the raising and lowering of the cab, the steering and the outriggers, which come down from the chassis to steady the machine when it’s working.
To ensure its design was as accurate as possible, Woodman and his team even got the chance to visit the factory in Konz, Germany, where real life EW160Es are put together.
“By physically walking down the production line, we were able to see the different stages of the design. We got the chance to climb onto the machine and get in the cab; it gave us a really good sense of how the excavator is built,” noted Woodman.
He added: “We even included the brand new orange handrails and guards, which are only now beginning to be rolled out on the real machines.”
