[MOC] 7-seater Family Car (Digital File and Instructions DONE, now up on Rebrickable!!!)

[Rudivdk]

Hi all,

I present you my finished MOC of a 7-seater familycar with full functions:

DETAILED PDF INSTRUCTIONS NOW AVAILABLE HERE, REBRICKABLE ENTRY HERE

Separate PDF instructions for the roof implement available HERE, Rebrickable entry HERE

I got the idea for building a family car about 3 years ago, when looking for a bigger car IRL for my own family. I was intrigued by the fancy seat folding mechanisms seen on these type of cars and wanted to reproduce that. For the model, I took inspiration from the Ford S-Max, which in my opinion combines good looks with all familycar requirements. It also comes in some fast versions, so it is fun to drive as well (unfortunately, IRL this car is well above my budget... Ah well...):

It was clear to me early on that I would not be able to reproduce the exact looks (I'm not that good a scale model builder), but I wanted to stay as close to a real life car as I could in terms of mechanical features and looks on both interior and exterior. Meanwhile I wanted it to be structurally sound as well, based on modern "box structure" car frames. I built numerous iterations, starting in 1:8 scale, and later switching to 1:10 scale after having to much trouble with the larger scale when it comes to chassis stiffness. I have worked on this on and off for over 2 years, finally resulting in this build.

The model has:

• 5+ R gearbox with linkage control:
• full suspension (independent McPherson with drive in front, dead trailing arm axle in the rear):
• 
• 
• 4-in-line transversally mounted fake engine in the front:
• 
• rigid box structure chassis 
• full interior with adjustable/folding seats on all rows:
• 
• Folding the seats movie
• opening doors (with lock), boot and hood:
• 
• parking brake (transmission lock)

I wanted the maximum available interior space for this car (that's what a family car is all about after all...), so I set myself some goals:

• no supports from bottom to roof inside interior space:
• 
• center console should be no wider than 5 studs:
• 
• front wheel drive with front engine and gearbox:
• 

I wanted to create a rigid chassis, which would not bend and is self supporting. Because I wanted as much interior space as possible, the bottom structure is only 2-3 studs high. I couldn't fit vertical frames in there (as they are 5studs high), so in the end the roof became an active part of the structure of the chassis. It is very strong and stiff, when one wheel is lifted, there is hardly any bending in the chassis, instead the opposite wheel suspension is compressed:

The whole car can be lifted safely with only one finger, from the midsection on the roof and by the B-pillars and C-pillars:

Here are some more pics:

For a full gallery and all WIP photo's, check my bricksafe folder.

============================

Below and further in this topic is all the WIP progress of making this car from July 1st onwards:

Pic of current chassis WIP with parking break (back yellow knob), gearstick (in front of parking brake) and linkage (beneath and in front of gearstick), and start of gearbox mounting and front suspension (McPherson with drive from Sheepo's MPS)

Edited November 25, 2017 by Rudivdk
Rebrickable links added

[Alex Ilea]

Looks very nice ! 

[Rudivdk]

Impression of what it will look like when finished:

I am currently rebuilding the entire car from scratch and improving on the design where I can. I will document that process and update in this topic.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Rudivdk
Typo...

[rm8]

Wow

I love the panel work. It's gonna be huge. It is very similar to minivan from Japan domestic market.

[Rudivdk]

Thanx @rm8, my inspiration was definately from minivans (or MPV as they are called in the Netherlands). Design is supposed to be a mix of Asian and European style, guess I did well enough to make it recognizable. 

It turned out bigger than I expected when starting, but proportions feel right.

[grum64]

It's coming on very well, I like it.

I've been thinking of building a MOC of my own 7 seater (which has been christened Gandalf by Jake as he thinks it's magical ) for sometime now but it's a daunting task, for me anyways.

It's a Kia Sedona (Carnival outside of the US) with a brilliant convertion which if I were to build it I'd want to include.

I'd like to think I'll get round to building it one day. One day.

[Jeroen Ottens]

It is not often that we see familycars here, but it looks like you have all the ingredients to make it a top notch creation. I'll be following this thread with interest!

I do wonder whether a 3 high chassis will be stiff enough though. Or are you planning to further reinforce the central column?

Is the engine transversally mounted?

[Rudivdk]

@Jeroen Ottens, I've designed solid a, b and c pillars, so to roof will add to the stiffness of the 3high chassis as well. I'm using 5x11 plates in the bottom, and another 3high solid frame beneath the doors. Front end around the gearbox is reinforced with 5x7 frames. It adds up pretty solid so far.

Engine will be transversally mounted indeed, it turns out a bit too far forwards and up, but good enough.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Rudivdk

[Jeroen Ottens]

Just now, Rudivdk said:

@Jeroen Ottens, I've designed solid a, b and c pillars, so to roof will add to the stiffness of the 3high chassis as well. I'm using 5x11 plates in the bottom, and another 3high solid frame beneath the doors. Front end around the gearbox is reinforced with 5x7 frames. It adds up pretty solid so far.

Engine will be transversally mounted indeed, it turns out a bit to far forwards and up, but good enough.

Ahh, those pillars will indeed help a lot. I was mistakenly under the impression you didn't want to have any connection to the roof. Those 5x11 panels add a suprisingly amount of stiffness in my experience as well (or maybe I should have paid more attention during my lessons of static engineering ).

[Jurss]

6 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

It is not often that we see familycars here,

It could be first

Looks really good for family van. I didn't expected from first picture such result.

[Rudivdk]

@Jeroen Ottens i didn't want any structural elements running up to the roof through the interior (like between the seats), so I tried to make a box frame like in reallife car.

[Paknaloid]

I love this 

from the rear door to the back I think it looks like it could almost be a Range Rover

[Rudivdk]

Some more progress pics on chassis. Front end nearly done with gearbox and entire drivetrain (red) in place. Also steering axle (yellow) has been placed through the suspension mounts:

[Rudivdk]

@grum64 that is indeed a unique conversion. Would be quite a challenge to build. Take your time, my moc is already a process of over 2years and dozens of iterations. And thats the fun of LEGO for me.

[grum64]

15 minutes ago, Rudivdk said:

@grum64 that is indeed a unique conversion. Would be quite a challenge to build. Take your time, my moc is already a process of over 2years and dozens of iterations. And thats the fun of LEGO for me.

It's a rarity in this form as around only 20 were ever converted before Kia stopped selling the Sedona in the UK. The only vehicles that can have this conversion now are the Fiat Doblo & Mercedes Citan.

As for me building it, I think that's a very long way off. I've many other things to build before I get to it. I'll just enjoy watching your build evolve.

[Jeroen Ottens]

A gearbox in the front... This is getting more interesting with the hour

[DugaldIC]

Looks like you've already been making some quick progress, it looks good so far! I like the remote linkage idea and I look forward to seeing how chassis progresses. 

[Rudivdk]

@Jeroen Ottens without spoiling all the fun, I can already say it will have a small "gearbox" in the rear as well...

@DugaldIC progress is good because I am actually building a second chassis. White car shown above is still built as a POC, and I have tweaked the design further in LDCad. So essentially I am just building from instructions right now. Total time to get at this point is over 2years now...

I have posted the gearbox in a separate topic some time ago, it has instructions also: 

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by Rudivdk

[DugaldIC]

@Rudivdk oh wow, that would make sense for the speed in which you're  building. I saw that a few weeks ago, it was actually my inspiration for a remote linkage set up for my next build. It's a similar concept but a much different mechanism and set up so the shifter can sit further away. It's also 6 speed forward gears. Very clever set up though! 

[Rudivdk]

Another update on the chassis:

- front suspension done (Sheepo MPS F.AD.1 McPherson with drive)

- 4-in-line transversally placed fake engine done

- panelling on center console added

- corrected the transmission axle running in the bottom to be entirely red now (red is color code for transmission circuit in this car, yellow is for all manual controls).

Edited July 1, 2017 by Rudivdk

[AFOLegofan66]

this looks great.....awesome job.

[Didumos69]

The front suspension is awesome - actually the whole build is very clever and though-through. And I love to see someone-else building rigid coachwork .

[Rudivdk]

@Didumos69 thanx, took a lot of time tweaking it to (near) perfection. I love Sheepo's work, his MPS design is still on par with current standards and very versatile to use. Only had to make slight modifications to make it fit my needs. Rear suspension will also be from Sheepo's MPS btw. And actually your FST NML seats were inspiration for the front seats in this one. 

I doubt it will be as rigid as your Hammerhead, but for me making rigid designs is one of the greatest challenges in LEGO, and that was driving this whole MOC.

Will post some updates tonight, made good progress yesterday. With last modifications it turned out even more solid that my POC chassis. 

[steph77]

So it seems you are able to build very compact and clever Mocs...

What is the center yellow lever behind the gearbox stick?

And how does the yellow springs work under weight?

keepit up, it's a very interesting project. Really not often seen.

[Rudivdk]

@steph77true, but there's no two functions running through the same space anywhere and overall scale is larger than your dumptruck.

Yellow lever is for parking break (transmission lock on red axle running through bottom of the chassis).

The shocks are performing suprisingly well in this setup, in current half built state a bit too hard. With full bodywork attached they are just right, no "dipping" at all.