[TC16] Marsupial

[MangaNOID]

hello, I thought I would try to make a TC16 entry.

time and parts may get the better of me but I have a small $20-30 budget to spend on bricklink (which is how most of my Lego is bought these days so its not so noticeable to the wife )

I have just about finished my recent MOC so I started thinking about this TC16 concept and liked the idea I had...Which failed immediately after building one wheel hub as it would require lots of parts and much more time than given.

first of all the name RaHT WaRRR might not fly with the Captain @Jim so I will work on something more pronounceable, but it is an acronym (no way!) for Remote and Heavt Transport with a Remote Rotating Restuarant.

strange combination but I thought that all things taken to Mars would be expensive so best to get multiple uses out of them 

It may be manual or powered/manual. Those decisions will happen as build progresses but it should have if all goes well:

 

-8 wheels (in 4 sets of 2)

-8 wheel drive

-8 wheel steering with full 360 degree rotation of steering

-4 steering modes

-raising and lifting of main structure for ground clearance and lifting of objects

-ability to lift objects. This will mostly be standardised container freight which is no doubt how it would all arrive to Mars surface of course...standardised cheapness.

-restuarant on top with panoramic view of Martian landscape (rotating...sort of)

-matter/antimatter collision engine... just as backup for when the power functions batteries go dead 

 

 

below was the first draft that failed after realising how many parts and time I needed to finish a 6-wheel-set NASA rover (next on my MOC list I think now)

 

so I now have CLASS tyres and a diff in the hubs as I have 8sets of those tyres already.

drive to the wheels is the top yellow input and steering is the bottom yellow input. 

a differential between the wheel ofcourse to help turning.

hopefully I can get the raising and lowering of chassis at least 7 studs. suspension is still very much WIP but at least I have the philosophy to continue now.

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by MangaNOID

[XG BC]

nice! this kinda reminds me of one of these moving airport gates where the wheels look quite similar

XG BC

[MangaNOID]

I like this challenge! its bringing out the 10yo in me and something I would never had built otherwise.

I had to change my hub setup as the range of movement of the suspension was just not good enough with uni joints etc.

thankfully remembering the old Randimonium from a failed TC14, I had a setup that allowed drive through multiple 90 degree bends so implemented that, on this, for betterness.

ride height change of the main body of the Mars RaHT will be about 26 studs! awesome. This could allow for large cargo and large changes in terrain.

 

 

 

an idea of were it is going to keep me excited...cargo is carried underbelly such as long thin sea space containers.

 

Restaurant may be left off this hence name change.

Edited June 22, 2019 by MangaNOID

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

This really cool! One question though: the wheels will undoubtedly need to move outward and then inwards again when you're changing the ride height. How do you plan on overcoming the friction that 8 tractor tires induce?

[MangaNOID]

good question, but the hubs allow 360 degree steering angle and one steering mode will be crab so I should be able to get the wheels 90 degree to the vehicle and when in neutral the wheels will just roll in or out as needed when operating the height adjust.

there is a lot of possibilities with this setup if I can only find the right way to operate it all!

[MangaNOID]

Its been a long week of thinking on this and LDD plus a couple hours yesterday to build the below to test.

here is the prototype with the start of the chassis and input to the drive at the top and steering down the bottom with worm gear so this thing wont 'trolley' float everywhere? there are some cogs missing but i'm short of a few perpendicular cog drive elements. 

I had to go with Pneumatics for the lifting/lowering of the vehicle. Probably just one small pump slowly pumping so the vehicle will not lift/lower too quick as this is kind of minifig scale. I'm making this a bit like 'brutal' look with functioning elements hopefully not too hidden away.

I have much more progress in LDD for design etc but I'll just show the real build progress I guess.

plan is now to have one XL motor for all motorised functions, steering, drive, pneumatics and other.

 

 

 

[Jim]

Sweet! 

This is a concept I have been thinking about for quite some time. I want to make this with my EV3 units. So I'm following with great interest  

[MangaNOID]

Controlling similar steering with programming would be great! But all I can do is try a workable playable manual solution with gears and levers. We shall see 

last physical building for some days...

not just trying to re live childhood space LEGO memories but these colours are all I have enough of to build this with.

gotta try some technic greebling if it’s sci-fi.

[MangaNOID]

Not much TC action posted lately...

so here is my steering gearbox. 

I put the operating levers sideways to make the visual aspect more appealing...?Steering modes are selected this way for each wheel. Wheels are used to look like cooling vents or something.

Steering and drive will now be RC due to lack of parts.

 

[MangaNOID]

I wanted a brutal sci-fi look... I think its gone beyond Brutal! It should all come together when the axles and wheels are on I hope.

I had a few hours last night to mount the motors and battery box. No excuses this thing is big so should be easy to fit in.

M motor for steering, M motor for the pneumatic pumps, XL motor for the drive with a neutral switch so it can roll when lowering or lifting the chassis if need be.

LA’s are for the control cab (yet to be built) to be raised or lowered.

Maybe too much yellow going on, not sure yet until the end.

 

next I will have to work on the lifting/grab mechanism.

 

[Jim]

4 minutes ago, MangaNOID said:

Maybe too much yellow going on, not sure yet until the end.

I like it so far. Don't think there is too much yellow.

[Seasider]

Loving the classic sci fi colours of the blue and yellow

[dabo]

As I swede I love the color scheme. Very interesting model too.

[fosamax]

Yeah, it could very well be sold as a modular build at Ikea.

[MangaNOID]

I guess the yellow stays, thanks for the input. I won’t change the name to IKEA delivery service though as much as I love Sweden (my partner is Swedish too).

name change coming up for more fun sounding name.

The most challenging part of this build has finished. The lifting mechanism/clamp. Took me an embarrassingly long time to work out but it works quite well and can, so far, in testing hold 2.5kg which is a tiny bit more than this will weigh in itself. Very happy with that as I wanted this to work well and not just look...ugly

The two Mini LA’s that control the clamps are operated by either of the orange warning lights bricks. 

I’m very happy with this setup.

 

The next two photos are kind of upside down as the cargo is of course carried underneath.

all the weight carried is taken by the 4 bent 5x3 liftarms.

A flat undercarriage for the cargo to but up against. 

Containers of cargo can be longer than the main body of this thing (about 46 studs)  And 15 wide by 15 high, although I will not have enough LEGO to build a container 

Edited July 16, 2019 by MangaNOID

[MangaNOID]

Name change.

one corner finished. Just waiting for some perpendicular gear connectors (9 on each axle!) and 3 small turntables to finish the other corners.

Vertical movement is ~16 studs. 

having doubts it will work when finished but remain hopeful.

 

 

[1gor]

Very interesting marsupial, despite I was expecting this (when I red topics title)

https://pin.it/vpoqm4ykmaojrx

[MangaNOID]

ha! well if it fails, yes, a Koala, but I am hoping it will be more like a strong Wombat.

 

[1gor]

4 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

ha! well if it fails, yes, a Koala, but I am hoping it will be more like a strong Wombat.

 

When writing about strong there were much stronger ones (but they are no more among us like thylacinus...)

Personally my favorite is Tasmanian devil

Back to topic; it is very unusual but at the same meaningfull vehicle for another planet like Mars, it has Shire size, massive off-road tires, high ground clearance... really good 

[MangaNOID]

the more I build the worse it gets.

 4 legs are on.

steering didn't work so I had to get rid of the worm gears.

diffs in the wheels doesn't really help as I still have to drive it on gravel...at least Mars is full of that.

the pneumatics didn't lift it up so I had to re locate them to attach to the body.

Its looking very complicated to operate.

Its getting uglier and uglier.

so just a typical MangaNOID build really.

 

 

[XG BC]

how is this ugly? i think it look beautiful in a way and in the "real" mars vehicles its always function over form and the function is defenitely given here! I still like it!

XG BC

[MangaNOID]

Thanks for the nod of confidence  but at the moment looks is the least of my concern 

I have just ripped out all power functions to see if it can be manually operated with success. 

Torque steer type of thing was the worst of it. Not sure there is time to reinvent  the hubs for a worm drive to turn the wheels to then ‘lock’ the wheels in place when not turning, but without the PF it’s probably not worth that thought now.

[MangaNOID]

OK its getting close now with manual functions but I still haven't lifted anything with it or properly got the HOG setup. but at least the Marsupial has a face.

still a few days to go. we shall see.

 

 

[Seasider]

That looks great. Fingers crossed you get it finished.

[1gor]

@MangaNOID sci-fi moviemakers should contact you. This is literally out of this world. 

Keep building, I know you can do it