You did a great job on this Ladder Truck! It's awesome. Love the details you added, especially the opening doors, the ladder and the outriggers are really nice. Great work

thanks for the credit! this is a great truck!

Figs have short legs and have eaten a little too much cake. :P ... Scale wise, in my opinion, 8-wide is probably better suited for them. I believe height makes the difference. ... American firetrucks are typically square or slightly more flat when seen from the front as in the picture posted below. Plus tractor trailers (semis) can be bigger depending on the chassis since they are built as big as possible. A crane isn't a good comparison in my opinion since they can vary widely. ... This particular model may look a little high for scale, but that comes back to the figs as mentioned. Overall the dimensions look fine.

Oustanding work! Thanks for the credit. As for the width discussion, it's probably impossible to resolve. Minifigs aren't built to the correct scale as they're too wide for their height. Build in whatever scale works for you.

Steffen, you've made some great points. I agree that minifigs are too wide for their height, which can be problematic. I'll explain why I chose to build in 8-wide. Take a look at this picture: http://fitzgerald5.net/Connor/Connor%20Fire%20House/Big%20Red%20Fire%20Truck.JPG As you can see, there is space between each headlight and the edge of the truck. In order to achieve the same effect in LEGO, building in 8-wide is a must. Also, note the size of the headlights in relation to the rest of the truck in the photo. I feel building in less than 8-wide will make the headlights look too big. You are right though, building in this scale does make the truck seem too tall compared to the minifigs, but I feel it is necessary in order to capture the distinct look that American firetrucks have. Furthermore, there are not a lot of 8-wide builders in the LEGO community, so I feel me building in this scale makes my creations stand out. I think no matter what scale anyone builds in, sacrafices will always have to be made. Thanks for your analysis.

I have actually had a similar discussion with Calum Tsang. He built a very nice looking Bombardier CRJ-200 jet, very realistic looking in itself. But in relation to the minifigs, it looked huge. See here: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/98340 The real thing´s fuselage is not that much wider than a person´s height: 2,69m. Now Callum gave the plane a fuselage diameter of 10 studs. That´s just a little less than 2 minifigs put on top of each other. Too much, I think, when you atribute maybe a general average height of 1,80m to a real guy. Two guys on top of each other would be 3,60 - too much (real fuselage of CRJ-200=2,69m) considering the height ratio. Making the Lego CRJ-200 narrower of course makes it even harder to fit in the 4-seat-rows - impossible actually. But the dimensions of a narrower plane (maybe 7-wide or 8-wide) would make the whole thing more realistic, because to me, the height ration is what I notice first/perceive with priority when looking at Lego models.

Maybe you´re right and I under-estimate the size of such a vehicle. Cause I thought that they aren´t much wider than big semi trucks. Maybe think of it this way: aren´t big mobile crane trucks always a tad bigger than fire trucks? (example: the width of the mobile crane and fire truck in Terminator 3) Which width would you choose for such larger vehicles, then? Or compare city fire trucks with airport fire trucks - you´d have to build those even wider (probably 12-wide (!)since they have a configuration of 3 windsreens, usually), which I think would be unrealistic. The problem with Lego is the dimensions of the minifigs: they are generally too wide. So everything´s always a compromise: the figs are either in the correct height ratio with vehicles, aircraft, etc. (which means they´re too wide - that´s the case with 7-wide trucks or - even more - 6-wide trucks) or they´re in the correct width ratio (your fire truck, I believe), but then the vehicle itself gets a little large. So I guess I just prefer that vehicles are less wide, but in correct height ration. Just a question of preference, I guess.

wow, this is really awesome!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Thanks for your comment. But I have to ask, why is 8 wide too big for minifigs? If you look at photos of real-life American fire trucks, their size in relation to their crew is very similiar to an 8-wide in relation to the minifigs.

Other than it being 8-wide which is too big for minifigs (8-wide works for trains or giant mobile cranes rather - 7-wide would be better for this kind of truck), this is an amazing build! Love all the realistic details. Great stuff!

Wow, i just like it. Like the details

Amazing the detail you can add to an 8 wide. Looks like the Sutphen's Matt J and I created. Excellent creation!

Looks like it's a Sutphen. -Lee

Lost, this is really amazing. I really like that you build in 8 wide. You are very brave. This is one awesome truck. Very well built. Regards, Eric.

This is a really nice truck. Good proportions and details.