[TC19] Suzuki Nuda Concept

[Gray Gear]

Very cool gearbox design. I made a strong frame. If I will ever build a car with a sequential Gearbox I'll use this for sure!

[pleegwat]

I'd watch it with that bracing - while it is a very tight friction fit, it's still a friction fit. See if you can form-lock the 3l thin liftarms somehow.

[2GodBDGlory]

7 hours ago, Gray Gear said:

Very cool gearbox design. I made a strong frame. If I will ever build a car with a sequential Gearbox I'll use this for sure!

Nice! I came up with the basic idea quite a while ago, but I wasn't sure how I could make it strong enough for an RC car, so I never used it until now, where its compact nature is a huge plus and its weakness was not much of an issue!

Your bracing does look pretty good, though, so I may try it in a future RC model

5 hours ago, pleegwat said:

I'd watch it with that bracing - while it is a very tight friction fit, it's still a friction fit. See if you can form-lock the 3l thin liftarms somehow.

As it is, I imagine it would work fine for one of Gray Gear's manual supercars, but I would feel better with a bit more reinforcement for the higher stress an RC car undergoes, but it shouldn't be too hard to do. I might give that a shot once I get off the computer...

[Gray Gear]

I agree I could brace it better towards the sides, and I would in an actual model. This was just to assemble the gearbox and check out if everything is working properly. 

Very cool gearbox concept!

[2GodBDGlory]

Here is what I came up with:

Also, it seems I may have been wrong in supposing that one has to do a 14:20 ratio to get the speeds in order; I think the more common 12:20 should be fine.

[Dazzzy]

Man this hurts my brain in trying to figure out what everything is doing, (i mean that in the best possible way). It really is impressive in it's complexity with all those functions. Can't wait to see the finished build. Looking really good. 

[2GodBDGlory]

I have put the bodywork together now, and am reasonably happy with it, though the model is not necessarily done yet. It is using a more skeletal approach, since I couldn't see how I could fill it in without: A. Using more System slopes than the "no Model Team" rules allows, B. Using my painted light blush grey panels, which is not allowed, or C. Making it ugly.

I am well aware that bodywork is not my forte, so feedback and suggestions are welcome!

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Dazzzy said:

Man this hurts my brain in trying to figure out what everything is doing, (i mean that in the best possible way). It really is impressive in it's complexity with all those functions. Can't wait to see the finished build. Looking really good. 

Thanks!

[langko]

I like the top half of the bike. For me the bottom looks way to wide, the bike wouldn’t be able to corner very well as it would scrape the ground too easily

[2GodBDGlory]

I think you're right; it can hardly lean at all. The drive side is greatly limited by the presence of the swing arms, but I'll see what I can do.

[2GodBDGlory]

Here is an updated design, with the lower part of the bodywork bent in as much as possible:

 

 

 

 

[langko]

That’s looking a lot better 

[syclone]

Oh this looks absolutely fantastic with that wireframe bodywork, great work, not to mention the fact that there's 2WD and a gearbox inside, mindblowing

[2GodBDGlory]

13 hours ago, langko said:

That’s looking a lot better 

 

2 hours ago, syclone said:

Oh this looks absolutely fantastic with that wireframe bodywork, great work, not to mention the fact that there's 2WD and a gearbox inside, mindblowing

Thanks a lot! I didn't really expect people to like the the aesthetic much.

[Dazzzy]

I agree with langko, it looks a lot better with the bottom of the bodywork tucked in now. 

[Thirdwigg]

Great job getting the front wheel drive in. It's so hard to do, so well done.

[2GodBDGlory]

Now is the time to make my final presentation of this model. If you've been following the WIP of this model, you might be wasting your time reading this, but I want to add a more concise summary of the final model. I finished it and took it apart weeks ago, but am prone to procrastination in posting stuff. The only change made since the last update was the addition of a couple black stiff hoses to shape the seat cushion.

As most of my contemporaries will know but future viewers may not, this model was built for EuroBrick's TC19 motorcycle contest. I decided to go for an all-in complexity approach because: A. I like building extremely complex stuff, and B. There's no way I can compete with the masters in the fields of appearance and refinement.

In the end, I settled on making a model of Suzuki's wild 1987 Nuda concept, and stayed fairly true to its mechanical features. My model had the following ones:

-Dual Swing-arm suspension

-2WD, with shaft drive

-Hub-centered steering, with a bit of a virtual pivot

-6-speed sequential gearbox (pedal operated, no ratchet)

-Clutch (lever-operated)

-Front disc brake (lever-operated)

-Rear disc brake (pedal-operated)

-I-4 piston engine

 

More details follow!

Aesthetic:

I was pleasantly surprised with the final model. It had a tubular frame, because, and I quote (myself) "It is using a more skeletal approach, since I couldn't see how I could fill it in without: A. Using more System slopes than the "no Model Team" rules allows, B. Using my painted light blush grey panels, which is not allowed, or C. Making it ugly."

Spoiler

 

Suspension:

Both wheels had a swing arm suspension, with the front one sprung by two 6.5L hard shocks, and the rear one sprung with one shock. Unfortunately, both sides ended up requiring a vertical axle to prevent the wheel from tilting side-to-side. The suspension ended up being stiff, particularly in the front, where the semi-rigid hose for the front brake worked as an additional, unintended, spring.

Spoiler

 

 

Drive:

Both wheels are driven by shafts. The rear wheel was simple, with merely a pair of bevel gears, but the front had to use bevel gears, two universal joints, and a sliding section of axle, to drive it. After going through the clutch and gearbox, the wheels drove the I-4 piston engine.

Spoiler

 

 

Steering:

Steering was meant to be hub-centered, and used a virtual pivot setup. In the end, though, after I added the axle to stabilize the suspension, the working pivot likely ended up being around this axle, which was at any rate very close to the wheel. The handlebars pushed a 6L link, which moved a beam forwards and backwards, which moved a 9L link forwards and backwards, to steer the wheel.

Spoiler

 

Transmission:

The model had a 6-speed sequential gearbox, with three driving rings controlled by a single rotary shifter, thanks to unusual spacing. The shifting mechanism was very simple, though, with a simple pedal that would rotate 360 degrees to shift through all the gears. It was also very easy to shift the gearbox into multiple gears at once, because of the tight spacing of driving rings.

Spoiler

The spacing for the gearbox can be pictured with the above image. This design of bracing was thought of by Gray Gear, and was not actually used in my model, but the spacing is the same.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Clutch:

The clutch was controlled from the handlebars, where a lever would pull a string through semi-rigid tubes, where it would eventually pull a changeover catch to disengage the driving ring from a 16T gear.

Spoiler

 

 

Brakes:

The brakes used the discs from the Ducati set, and pressed a rubber track link insert against the disc, while a short section of semi-rigid tube on the other side of the disc gave it something to push against. They were not especially strong, but were noticeable. The front one was controlled from a lever on the handlebars using the flex system, and the rear one was controlled from a foot pedal, also using the flex system.

Spoiler

Front brake off

Front brake on

Rear brake off

Rear brake on

The rear brake is controlled by the black pedal near the center of the image.

I was quite pleased with this model. Its appearance was not a disaster, a ton of functions were crammed in, and all of the functions worked tolerably well, though not perfectly reliably.

More images can be seen at: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/suzuki-nuda