16 replies to this topic

[Ralph_S]

This month's challenge on LUGNuts -the group for LEGO car lovers on flickr- is called Everything under the sun]. This was aimed at building a convertible car. I used to have a LEGO model of a Lamborghini Gallardo until a few years ago and for this challenge I decided to rebuild it as a convertible, or Spyder as Lamborghini call it.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr


I had a few false starts building this one. At first I decided to build a VW Golf convertible, but halfway through the build I realised that it wasn't going to come out right. Then I decided to go for the Gallardo. The first version I built was very close to my original version. I actually finished it yesterday, but it suffered from a few issues that the original had, and they bugged me. It was 10 studs wide, the wheelbase was too large, the front overhang to short and the front and back didn't taper properly. Today I rebuilt it almost from scratch, 11 studs wide and improving it a great deal.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr


This picture shows the real trickery and one major improvement over my original Gallardo: the luggage compartment in the front can actually open. On the regular Gallardo the engine cover opens towards the front. On the Spyder it opens towards the rear and even when open, much of the engine is covered by the folded roof. I briefly considered adding a working folding roof to mine, but there simply isn't enough space.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (7) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Cheers,
Ralph

Edited by Rufus, 12 August 2011 - 05:28 PM.
Indexed

[Legostein]

Hello!

What I like here in particular is that you used (for the first time here?) transparent panels to create the headlights. It's a great way to "include" them into the curved slope of the front.

Cheers,

~ Christopher

[Ceroknight]

That is a very good Lambo you have created!

Edited by ceroknight, 31 July 2011 - 10:01 PM.

[jonwil]

That is a NICE Lamborghini :)

[Ralph_S]

Legostein, on 31 July 2011 - 09:46 PM, said:

Hello!

What I like here in particular is that you used (for the first time here?) transparent panels to create the headlights. It's a great way to "include" them into the curved slope of the front.

Cheers,

~ Christopher

Thanks Christopher. The difficulty with the headlights on the Gallardo is that they sit very close to the edges of the body-work. I've seen other people use wedge plates mounted vertically to create the sides, but I didn't want to do that because it would interfere with the front mudguards. The panels provided a way out. I'm probably not the first person to come up with something like this, although I don't remember seeing it anywhere else and haven't previously done it myself either. Getting it all to fit was a bit of a fiddle, but I too am happy with how it turned out.

ceroknight, on 31 July 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

That is a very good Lambo you have created!

jonwil, on 01 August 2011 - 01:24 AM, said:

That is a NICE Lamborghini :)

Thanks guys. Even before I started building the Golf, which  then discarded, I'd looked at my growing collection of orange parts and figured it would make a nice colour for a supercar. I am glad you like the end result.

Cheers,
Ralph

[Ecclesiastes]

The hair is a nice touch!

[Ralph_S]

mcdenbesten, on 01 August 2011 - 08:17 PM, said:

The hair is a nice touch!

Thank you. I saw something similar on a picture of figure 'driving' a VW convertible in one of the LEGOLand parks and liked the idea, obviously.

Cheers,
Ralph

[lightningtiger]

Sweet looking ride 'Ralph', interesting windscreen....great job on the driver too !
Brick On Drive On !

[prateek]

Really nice. I like how the front turned out, and the opening doors are great too.
BTW, I had no idea it was orange, which makes it even more awesome.

Edited by prateek, 02 August 2011 - 04:24 AM.

[Legocrazy81]

That's great. Instantly recognizable(which is sometimes a challenge). I like the windshield and the fact that the doors, hood, and trunk all open. All the details are there, that could be recreated in Lego, of course.

[Ralph_S]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm about to leave for a trip in an hour or so, but am glad I checked into eurbricks before shutting down my computer :-)

Cheers,
Ralph

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Awesome Gallardo 'RalphS'. Excellent work on the details building this car. It looks spot on. Great job

[blueandwhite]

Awesome build!  It's awesome seeing those orange bricks being used so effectively.  The fact that the car is immediately recognizable as a Gallardo is amazing.  The fact that you've managed to squeeze so much functionality into such a small design is downright mind-blowing!

[Ralph_S]

Thanks guys. Orange simply seemed to be the right colour for this one.

Cheers,
Ralph

[buddy]

Excellent MOC! It looks just like the real car and your model is highly detailed. Also, I too particularly like the choice of colour for this, Orange works perfectly for this car.  
Extremely well done.  

~buddy~

[Rufus]

Very nice, Ralph!  The contours are perfect, and as others have said, it's instantly recognisable.  I love the streaming hair of the driver - impressive that you've brick-built a figure for it!

[Ralph_S]

buddy, on 12 August 2011 - 11:02 AM, said:

Excellent MOC! It looks just like the real car and your model is highly detailed. Also, I too particularly like the choice of colour for this, Orange works perfectly for this car.  
Extremely well done.  

~buddy~

Thank you. I wanted to raise the bar a bit compared to my old model. It wasn't bad, but the Spyder I built based on it looked a bit bland among my other cars. I guess I learned a few new things over the years. As it was I figured I'd take it apart soon after taking pictures for the challenge. After the rebuild, however, it's one of the nicer cars in my collection and I gave it a place on one of the shelves in my lounge.

Rufus, on 12 August 2011 - 05:30 PM, said:

Very nice, Ralph!  The contours are perfect, and as others have said, it's instantly recognisable.  I love the streaming hair of the driver - impressive that you've brick-built a figure for it!

Thanks. She doesn't have full legs I'm afraid. There was just no room for that. The idea of building a figure with the streaming hair was the first thing that came to mind when I read that the challenge was for convertibles. All I needed was to build a car for it  

Cheers,
Ralph