Tuesday 24th January 2012

Meet the monster truck made from K'nex...

...shame this Grave Digger can't actually be driven

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One of the most famous monster trucks of all time - the distinctive 'Grave Digger' - celebrated its 30th birthday in 2011 and, to mark the anniversary, this rather cracking full-size K'nex* model has been created.

The model, an exact replica of the Chevy panel van Grave Digger monster truck famous for its rivalry with Bigfoot (the truck, not the mythical creature), has been created by the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI). This is a not-for-profit charity and social enterprise based in Kent and provides support and employment to those with disabilities or health conditions, particularly those from the armed forces.

The successes made from commercial activities such as the Grave Digger 30th Anniversary K'nex monster truck are re-invested into RBLI's charitable programmes.

Unsurprisingly, the creation of the K'nex Grave Digger took months of planning, around 1,000 man hours and 250,000 K'nex pieces to create. And the result is impressive. Just a shame it can't do what the real Grave Diggers can do.

The truck will spend the remainder of the year touring North America, accompanied by a specially trained team, able to make any necessary repairs that the Monster Truck may require as it tours from city to city. When the tour completes, the K'nex Grave Digger will live at Digger's Dungeon in North Carolina, a museum dedicated to the history of the iconic monster truck.

*For those who don't know, it's like Lego, only not

 

[JonyTVR]

awesome!always much preferred K'nex to lego! still got a suitcase full in the shed!

[garypotter]

Monster trucks - only the USA can come up with something like this.

[vixen1700]

Thought it would be made of tissue paper, read the title as Kleenex. :facepalmatself:

[Madmatt74]

Its not an exact replica, Its the wrong colour!

The top of the original van was black not green.

maybe they ran out of black pieces?
Just like Lego, you never had the one bit you really needed to finish something!

[Roadru77er]

My girlfriends son works for RBLI as a forklift driver. He was elected to load it into the container it was shipped in, said it was a very tight fit (He was sweating a bit)

[TonyHetherington]

Brilliant effort, all for charity too. Fantastic

[RyanOakley]

I can't wait to have kids just so i have an excuse to buy mountains of k'nex and build stupendous structures!!

[dirty boy]

That video is pretty impressive, especially as it only had 3 wheels for most of the display!

[vrooom]

I love the monster truck. if the UK legalise one. i would drive one!

[CrimsonAvenger]

You mean it's like Lego, only crap.

[russy01]

• for those who don't know, it's nothing like Lego. Lego is building blocks and bricks, k'nex is more like meccano, yet plastic and It pushes together.

[soad]

All show and no go
Looks good though

[vz-r_dave]

garypotter said:

Monster trucks - only the USA can come up with something like this.

Have you come up with anything recently? Anything to add to the world? No.... I thought so.

[will261058]

Thats a fabulous thing, great effort. Real Monster Truck Madness!