RoLUG RTXP 2023, My Models

[Alex Ilea]

Hi everyone,

Today I want to present you my models for the Romanian LEGO competition, called RTXP, that took place last Saturday, 30/09/2023.

RTXP= RoLUG Technic Xperience is a yearly LEGO Technic contest that we organize in Romania, where we bring LEGO enthusiasts together and compete against each other for the fun factor and for new experiences.

We had the pleasure to have @Zerobricks as a participant this time, therefore the competition was fierce!

4 Challenges for this contest: Drift Cars, Mini Trial Truck, Mini Racers and Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTV).

I will give a brief description about what each challenge is all about, then show each of my models with a summary of the features and powertrain. 

FYI, we give points for the finishing of the race, and extra features (opening doors, lights, fake engine, working steering wheel, etc..). Then at the end we add up the total points for each person and create a final standing. ***If one person builds multiple models for one challenge, only the best one counts, and the other gets 0 points for the final score.

 

Drift Cars

Rules: Sports car looks, most be a proper body, max tire size 43-56mm (tape allowed for easier drifts), any motorization combination is allowed (BuWizz products also)

My model: Hoonicorn

Features: 4WD, working steering, suspension, V6 fake engine, opening trunk, detachable bodywork, 2 BW 3.0, 2 BW motors  and 1 PU L motor. 

It drifted insanely good on my wooden floor at home, but less so on the tiles at the location. This challenge was super messy with lots of crashes since nobody knew how to drift properly. We have seen that most of the people chose RWD.

 

 

 

Mini Trial Truck

Rules: 4 wheeled off-road vehicle, full bodywork, tire size 56mm (tractor style is preferred), max 1 motor for drive (forbidden BW motor or buggy motor)

My model: Redux

Features: Opening doors, detachable bodywork, fake L3 engine, working steering wheel, 1PF L for drive, 1PU L for steering and 1 BW 3.0

For this one I tried to make an accurate multilink suspension and I must say it turned out just awesome! 6 links per axle to be exact. The main drawback was the steering which had tons of play...

 

Xellow

My second model for the mini trial race. This one is built more traditionally, with no features, and it just performed really badly. Not very proud of it, but of course, it is my fault for that.

Features: 1 XL PF for drive, servomotor for steering and BW 2.0 for control.

 

Mini Racers

Rules: Sports car in the scale of the mustang/ Bugatti bolide, proper bodywork, tire size 42-44mm, max 2 PF/PU motors for drive, any control unit permitted.

My model: Renault Clio RS

Features: Opening hood, working 2 cylinder engine(no room for the V6), active steering wheel (with rubber band), 2PF L for drive, 1PU L for steering and 1 BW 3.0

This was the most fun challenge I would say. All of the cars drove well, everyone had good driving skills, but the tiled floor made some cars drift while taking some tight turns. I am actually super surprised how well my MOC performed, considering the weight of the complex bodywork.

 

Utility Terrain Vehicle

Rules: UTV style vehicle, 4x4 with 2 or 4 seats, proper bodywork, tire size 75-82 mm, only PF/PU motorization allowed.

My model: Maverick

Features: Working steering wheel, fake engine, 2PU L for drive, 1PU L for steering, PU hub for control with powered up app.

Now thinking about it, we should have maybe allowed some stronger motorization options, since the cars had ok speed but not spectacular. All of the cars had suspension and we could see how some people chose differentials for better cornering, and some direct drive for a balanced speed/torque combo.

 

The mandatory group photo:

 

Final scoring (loc=place)

 

Full gallery with all of the models here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/ILEAALEX/rtxp-2023

 

Highlights video:

 

 

Thank you!

[2GodBDGlory]

Looks like a super fun event!

[msk6003]

Yes. Looks very fun!

And in real RC drift vehicles, most use gyro and RWD. I considered using a C+ hub to program the gyro, but it seemed like it would be too much complicated. And in my experience, 4WD with tireless wheels performed the best as a Lego drift vehicle. I am attaching a video of my Mustang RTR drift modification.

Use 1 BW 2.0, 1 servo, 1 buggy motor/BW motor for 1:1 gear ratio 4WD drive.

 

Or if you have more room, you can use some 'trick'...

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by msk6003

[gyenesvi]

Really nice builds, I love the drift car especially, great looking design! I also like the mini trial one with the realistic suspension. Though wonder what the 6 links are for, I can understand 4 + a panhard rod, but what's the 6th? Steering link?

The event and the race categories also sounds interesting, I like that you kept the model sizes fairly small and restrictive on the electronics. I would like to participate in such events in the future, I wonder why it was not advertised around here? (or is it just me not knowing about it?) It would have not been too far for me..

[Alex Ilea]

1 hour ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Looks like a super fun event!

It is!

 

42 minutes ago, msk6003 said:

Yes. Looks very fun!

It is super fun, especially with international guests.

And yes, in my experience 4WD is very good for drifting, but it really depends on the surface. On my wooden floor my hoonicorn did really well, but on the tiles it was a mess to maneuver it.

27 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

Really nice builds, I love the drift car especially, great looking design! I also like the mini trial one with the realistic suspension. Though wonder what the 6 links are for, I can understand 4 + a panhard rod, but what's the 6th? Steering link?

The event and the race categories also sounds interesting, I like that you kept the model sizes fairly small and restrictive on the electronics. I would like to participate in such events in the future, I wonder why it was not advertised around here? (or is it just me not knowing about it?) It would have not been too far for me..

Thanks for the compliments! The 5th and 6th link I consider are A arms that hold the shock absorbers. The other 4 are the diagonal ones. No steering link for this one, just cv joints from the motor to the steering system.

We try to keep the models as accessible as possible, because we want new participants (we are 6 recurring and 2-3 on and off guys).

We also want to make some non motorized challenges (pullbacks) for future contests, because there are some people who would like to participate but don't want to spend money on electronics.

We are definitely excited if you would join us, after all, we are "neighbors" :) We were in talks with some Hungarian lego builders that we met at Buwizz camp, but in the end they didn't come.

I mean, we don't "market" contests on Eurobricks, it wouldn't be nice I think.

We are still debating on whether to make a winter contest or not (we usually do) but we need to come up with some cool challege ideas. 

I suggest that you join our forum (it's in Romanian) and see the "technic contest" section. There we post the next contest.

https://forum.rolug.ro/viewforum.php?f=59&sid=f0b1f798184fb5506edac60ecd32f4e3

[Zerobricks]

Indded, Alex has put a lot of effort into the models, both mechanically and aesthetically and the results speak for themselves... So, congratulations for being the overall winner of this really fun contest!

Afain, it was a real pleasure to visit, mingle and have fun again and I would highly recommend others to join too if they can.

I will create a topic showcasing my models in the following days and probably some videos showing their performance.

[Thirdwigg]

Thanks for sharing, and lots of fun ideas and designs here.

I love the little black and lime UTV. Is there any more information or pictures available?

[Alex Ilea]

2 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

Thanks for sharing, and lots of fun ideas and designs here.

I love the little black and lime UTV. Is there any more information or pictures available?

Thanks for the interest!

Yes, it has been built by Zerobricks, and he will post a topic with his models in th next few days.

[Lipko]

Your UTV is beyond lovely.

[Alex Ilea]

4 hours ago, Lipko said:

Your UTV is beyond lovely.

Thanks Lipko! I expected people to comment on the orange Clio, but I see that the others are more popular.

[Teo LEGO Technic]

23 hours ago, Alex Ilea said:

https://forum.rolug.ro/viewforum.php?f=59&sid=f0b1f798184fb5506edac60ecd32f4e3

I just love that Hoonicorn!! So much detail is packed in for a car at that scale. 

Si mie mi-ar place sa particip data viitoare la eveniment, dacă sunt in Romania, fiindca locuiesc in Canada dar vizitez aproape in fiecare an . Cel putin osa ma inscriu la forumul Rolug!

 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Teo LEGO Technic

[2GodBDGlory]

3 hours ago, Teo LEGO Technic said:

I just love that Hoonicorn!! So much detail is packed in for a car at that scale. 

Si mie mi-ar place sa particip data viitoare la eveniment, dacă sunt in Romania, fiindca locuiesc in Canada dar vizitez aproape in fiecare an . Cel putin osa ma inscriu la forumul Rolug!

Maybe we'll have to try an event like that here in Canada sometime!

[Teo LEGO Technic]

17 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Maybe we'll have to try an event like that here in Canada sometime!

Yeah totally! I wonder if it isn't worth having a thread somewhere specifically for advertising LEGO-related events, it'd be nice to gather more people here in Canada. Anybody know how to go about that? @Milan Sorry to bother you, perhaps you have a suggestion? 

[Milan]

10 hours ago, Teo LEGO Technic said:

Yeah totally! I wonder if it isn't worth having a thread somewhere specifically for advertising LEGO-related events, it'd be nice to gather more people here in Canada. Anybody know how to go about that? @Milan Sorry to bother you, perhaps you have a suggestion? 

Will talk to the staff, and see what can be done.

[Teo LEGO Technic]

14 hours ago, Milan said:

Will talk to the staff, and see what can be done.

Awesome, appreciate it!