1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 21 Author Posted January 21 I felt those two were not well aligned in terms of style. Whirl needed to be lighter; more streamlined, and Wheel needed more details; its cabin better dressed up. For this, I chopped everything that was not absolutely necessary from Wheel's chassis: panels had to go, eventually... I painfully gained 8g, which I could invest into better seats, mirrors, additional lights and a gear stick until I was back to 300g again. On Whirl's side, I could increase the size of the cockpit, move the seats back and lighten the tail a bit. This along with a touch of re-coloring create a better harmony between the two models. As always, thanks for watching! Quote
Jundis Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Love the heli, this is a superb entry! For the truck, you can even get rid of the rear fenders, but just my humble opinion. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted January 24 Author Posted January 24 (edited) On 1/23/2026 at 6:59 PM, Jundis said: Love the heli, this is a superb entry! Thanks a lot! On 1/23/2026 at 6:59 PM, Jundis said: For the truck, you can even get rid of the rear fenders, but just my humble opinion. Well indeed, thanks a lot for the heads up. Since there were none in front, I wonder why I was keeping those. And they didn't really look good either. I moved all this precious weight forward, which allowed for proper front fenders, a slightly taller cab which improves general proportions and a couple details to improve looks. Edited January 25 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy Quote
TheLegoRoleplayer Posted February 4 Posted February 4 Very well done. The helicopter's functions surprise me the most between the pullback motor and the old hockey gear box (or spring box?) being used. I need to start experimenting more with both those parts. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 Thanks @TheLegoRoleplayer! Yes, it's a spring box; an uncommon part I initially bought to use for a pull-back MOC with steering. The spring was a little stiff for the purpose so I had to adapt ratios, but here, it does the job very well. Only drawback is the trigger has to be strong enough to push this away from the 24t gear (hence the strong spring shock absorber) and the whole system ends up taking a lot of space. But it's 100% reliable and does not grind parts, which is my priority. So I kept this and integrated it the best I could in the tail. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 (edited) After some last tweaks, I shot the final images for the entry. Of course this truck could benefit from more dressing up, but I hit the 300g limit. And altogether, I like it this way: stripped down to the essentials. And the helicopter: Together: A short video will come soon. Edited February 5 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy Quote
MangaNOID Posted February 5 Posted February 5 27 minutes ago, 1980SomethingSpaceGuy said: Of course this truck could benefit from more dressing up, No! These two are Technic. Dressing up is where technic has gone wrong (IMO) a separate topic of course… These two look fantastic well done!! Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 23 minutes ago, MangaNOID said: These two look fantastic well done!! Thanks a lot! And agreed; I kinda miss the pure, naked vibe of old models sometimes... Anyway, here's the video: Quote
gyenesvi Posted February 5 Posted February 5 These turned out pretty nice, great that you made a trailer too for showcasing. The pullback motor for the heli works pretty well! Quote
Thirdwigg Posted February 5 Posted February 5 (edited) I love the little helicopter. Also, both harken back well to the original set. Great job. Also, the pullback for the blade rotation is awesome, and seems to work flawlessly. Edited February 5 by Thirdwigg Quote
langko Posted February 6 Posted February 6 They look great together! Great functionality on the helicopter and the old type panels at the top really suit the model. Quote
Jim Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Hi, Can you add two pictures (or one combined) in the entry topic with each model on the scale showing the weight? Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 6 Author Posted February 6 (edited) 18 hours ago, gyenesvi said: These turned out pretty nice, great that you made a trailer too for showcasing. The pullback motor for the heli works pretty well! Thanks a lot! A trailer was needed to put that MOC on the shelf anyway, so I had to... 18 hours ago, Thirdwigg said: I love the little helicopter. Also, both harken back well to the original set. Great job. Also, the pullback for the blade rotation is awesome, and seems to work flawlessly. Thank you! Yes, that may be the aspect I'm most proud of in this build; it is rock solid and perfectly reliable. The use of 2 springs (shock absorber + hockey block) create a proper trigger mechanism that I find quite satisfying. This starting a reasonably long rotation of the blades make for one of the most swooshable thing I've ever build, for sure. 7 hours ago, langko said: They look great together! Great functionality on the helicopter and the old type panels at the top really suit the model. Thank you very much! The scale I chose to get proper wheels/differentials and the weight limitation pushed towards a minimalist design with no panels for the body. I figured since one was needed for the spoiler on the truck's roof, I could use a pair on the heli too. I agree, those old school ones with "air intakes" do a good job of dressing up the rotor base. 18 hours ago, Jim said: Wow, also very cool entry!! Thanks a lot Jim, means a lot to me! 3 hours ago, Jim said: Can you add two pictures (or one combined) in the entry topic with each model on the scale showing the weight? Sure thing. Done! (in the entry as well) I must admit it was quite a head scratcher to get this truck into the weight limit. But once it was done, that same rule also helped preventing me from endlessly tinkering with the build; I knew I could not just add one piece here or there and none could go easily, so I was able to leave it be and feel happy about it. Edited February 6 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy Quote
Jim Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Yup. If you can add the last picture to your entry post, that would be great. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 6 Author Posted February 6 1 hour ago, 1980SomethingSpaceGuy said: Done! (in the entry as well) Yes yes, I got it and complied already. See my entry post: Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 6 Author Posted February 6 You're welcome. This was not in the rules yet yesterday when I did my photo shoot so I skipped it, but I was going to raise the subject on the TC discussion topic when you timely intervened. Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 (edited) Last minute update; Whirl's flight controls were made more realistic with proper sticks and collective and the cockpit got a few tweaks. Nothing major, but I had to shoot some more photos this morning. Edited February 8 by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy Quote
1980SomethingSpaceGuy Posted February 12 Author Posted February 12 (edited) The trailer is not included in the TC entry but it'll eventually go along with Whirl and Wheel on the shelf, so it had to be on par in terms of design and features. Which are quite basic of course, but needed to be made light and reliable. I adapted the support wheels' gear ratio to minimize input rotations per transition and implemented a release button in the back for the helicopter attachment system. The latter locks the heli in place and allows to grab either it or the trailer to transport both. It'll even sustain shaking. The heli can be placed on the trailer and a push on the button will lock it, or through a single move, similar to a ski boot locking into bindings. The coupler is 2 studs long to prevent the trailer from detaching on a doorstep or carpet, since no locking mechanism could be implemented on the truck's side. The front axle has some slack to accommodate pitch when on support wheels. Finally, I added a few details like air tanks and pipes to match the original model. It's definitely not the most impressive build ever, but it really binds the duo into a meaningful set with simple but perfectly reliable play features. That concludes this project, which I very much enjoyed. The work around weight reduction on the truck and the more creative features for the helicopter were both interesting and fun. I'm happy with the outcome; a very solid build that handles a table drop with grace, reliable play features that even young kids can enjoy, some creative solutions I'd never seen before and a wink to a legendary set of my childhood. Thanks again to the admins for organizing this TC! Edited Monday at 09:03 AM by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy Quote
Jundis Posted Saturday at 11:42 PM Posted Saturday at 11:42 PM Cool that you complete the set with the trailer :-) Quote
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