The Lego 42043 “Arocs” is regarded as the best technic set to date by many. It has motorized functions controlled via a gearbox, features a pneumatic arm and also uses an actuator. Furthermore, all axles have a suspension and it features two-axle steering. So no matter what functionality you are interested in, this set probably has it.
Unfortunately, the set went out of production in 2017. So if you want to experience the build today, you have to search for a used set in good conditions. As the model is quite popular, chances are high that you will have to pay more than the original cost.
Fortunately, Mould King released its own version of the “Arocs” which keeps the set alive today. Instead of being a verbatim copy of the set like the Models by Lepin/ King (which are also hard to come by nowadays), Mould King did modify the set in several ways, which we will look at in the following.
Note, that the set is still a copy of the 42043 set, which was designed by Markus Kossmann (see the original license plate). But if you want to literally pay him tribute by buying one of his sets, you will have to get the Liebherr 42100, which is the only one still available today.
Color Scheme
The most obvious change that Mould King did is using a different color scheme. While it feels strange at first if you are used to the original Arocs looks, it is actually quite accurate.
The gray cabin is indeed more common than the white one. It makes sense as this is an off-road vehicle traveling over dust and dirt.
But also the orange loading area exists in reality – even though one still can argue that it looks off there as well.
When we get over this difference, we can turn to some details that are strictly improvements.
The first thing to note here is the all yellow-black pneumatic arm. Mould King uses a yellow gear-rack here, which makes the pneumatic elements neatly blend-in. Furthermore, all pneumatic hoses are black. Although this requires more attention while building, the result looks much better than the red-gray-yellow soup of the original.
Next, the bottom part is now mostly black. The useless yellow bricks are gone and we get black axle-pin connectors instead of original red ones. They overdid it a little here though, by making the wheel-stoppers black as well.
Full remote control
In contrast to the original model, the Mould King version also adds motorized driving to the set. The drive is handled by a single L-Motor, while the steering is handled by a servo motor.
Both motors included in the set support proportional controls, but unfortunately the included battery-box does not handle proportional steering. I used one spare battery box from the excavator instead.
As a nice touch they include a metal universal-joint for the drive-train. This is needed to handle the torque if you decide to hit reverse while the 2.4 kg heavy set is moving forward. The rest of the parts will still ache in pain though.
Due to motorization, the wheels no longer drive the pistons below the cabin. Here, Mould King went totally over the top and included a separate M-Motor to do that. To make room for it, they had to reduce the pistons from 6 in the original to 4.
Note, that you can just skip the motor at Step 170 and use it elsewhere as it is not needed otherwise.
Remaining differences
As this is not a licensed set, there are no Mercedes brandings anywhere. If you are in dire need for some, you can get the shield with the printed logo off the new Zetros set for about 5€.
Furthermore there are no small panels in the front of the cabin – for whatever reasons.
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Tilted Cabin Fix
Due to the larger depth of the battery box compared to the original, you cannot fully close the cabin. The beams that hold the seats will get in the way. This results in a increased gap at the front radiator region.
Fortunately, this is fairly easy to fix at Step 228:
Only use the Axle-Pin connectors for the L-shaped battery holder to give it some play and place the pin in the middle on the other side. This will move the battery-box by one stud and allows the cabin to fully close.