The excavators produced by LEGO
®
Technic vary widely in size and in the way that their
functionality is achieved. Two use pneumatics for the bucket and
boom motion, while others (especially the smallest) are purely
mechanical. The most
recent use linear actuators instead of pneumatics which require many of
rotations of an input crank. The flagship hydraulic excavator,
8043,
is one of the most complex Technic sets ever with 4 motors and 6
motorized functions including propulsion. Interestingly, the
historic models tend to be medium in size while the newest models are
either much larger or much smaller. A case in point is the
42055
bucket wheel excavator, the largest Technic model ever made by a wide
margin. It looks nothing like the other models, and fits in the
same category only by the fact that its function is to remove earth.
