My Second MOC: Red Cabriolet

[Lipko]

Here is my second MOC, a cabriolet.

I was building it for about a month. It's a bit hacky as my first MOC and I still don't have too much experience and pieces to work with, but I'm getting better. Some parts came together very good, like the cabin of the car. The body is very simple and spacey by design, but I still don't have enough pieces and panels to make a clean design. Just take a look at the rear of the car. And that's why it's a cabriolet...

Anyway, my girlfriend helped me a lot with the body with her opinions (but that's not the reason why the car is a bit "girly" and not an aggressive beast...).

Features:

5 speed synchronized gearbox with reverse

rear wheel drive

rear/middle V-12 engine

independent suspension on all wheels

flip-up headlights

opening hatches

butterfly doors operated by knobs

Hand of God steering and working steering wheel

About the gearbox:

Since I don't have any of those "extender" pieces (which are around since 1999?) for the clutch gears, I had to come up with a somewhat hacky solution for the reverse speed. The 5th and R are placed in an awkward position. This, and some other "optimizations", like placing a differential hub into the gearbox for reducing the number of gears, make the structure of it quite weak. In fact, the gearbox is the weakest part of the chassis, which makes the car quite flexible, since it doesn't have a roof either. This hack also makes the gear-rations a bit unrealistic especially for the 5th speed.

Gear-ratios:

1st: 0.5

2nd: 0.625

3rd: 0.833

4th: 1.042

5th: 1.736

R: 1.111

I'm happy with the result and I'm glad that I can actually finish projects with good results.

Some pictures, and you can check my gallery too (sorry for the poor quality).

Thanks for any feedback in advance!

Edited February 19, 2012 by Lipko

[DLuders]

I like the narrow "coke-bottle" waist and the flip-up headlights. I recognize the wheels from the 8880 Super Car set; they look good on your MOC!

[jorgeopesi]

I like the headlights. It is a big model, I know well how hard is working in this scale models.

[timslegos]

I really like the flipping lights. Overall the body looks pretty good, although it could use some filling in.

tim

[DLuders]

There's a lot of functionality built into this cabriolet (19 photos on szecs' Brickshelf gallery):

[Lipko]

Thanks for the comments!

To be honest, I expected a little more attention, as these Technic cars always interest many builders (including me), and I thought this model is more interesting than my first one.

Anyway, I'll make some more photos and maybe a video this weekend, for some reason I make pretty boring photos...

I prefer not filling the body to show the functions internal mechanisms better. In my opinion, too much filling places these models somewhere between Model Team and Technic but without that truth Model Team look.

Maybe the spacey look makes models more boring because you don't really want to open the hatches? I don't know, if I'll have more pieces, the next car will have much more filled body. Or maybe current filling is enough but I'll have to define the shapes better next time.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Lipko

[Meatman]

it's a very nice model. I am sure that you'll gain more attention as you build more and more models and continue to improve. some of the most respected builders out there didn't gain their recognition overnight.

[Alasdair Ryan]

On his brickshelf gallery Lipko has added photo instruction's on how to build his car.

Instruction's

I am still faster than a posting Dluders.

[DLuders]

I have compiled all 217 of Lipko's Lego Technic Red Cabriolet Building Instruction pictures, and placed a 12.7-MB PDF file on SkyDrive for downloading here. All the pages are numbered, and it is easy to flip through to see how the Cabriolet is constructed.

[88high]

Hello! I like the model you have made! TONS on functions, and I like how you added the old technic styles into the tires, yet you used new panels and new gears! I especially like the doors and the headlights! But, I think that the bodywork is very gappy and i do not like the rear end of the car. Good creation however!

[Lipko]

Thanks guys!

About the instructions:

There are mistakes with the universal joints. I didn't look into the topic, and the U-joint pairs are oriented wrongly.

I'm talking about this thing (is this added to the reference material?):

[Tomik]

You've built great and complex model - good job. When I was looking at first picture it didn't impress me much but when I saw picture with opened headlights I changed my mind. I am sure it took you much time to built it with all thouse funcions and if you improve degign of body little bit it will be excellent model. I like rear part of body but I'm missing some panel or cover right above headlights - there is BIG empty gap there...

[Lipko]

Well, the body has big gaps because pretty much all the red pieces I have are built into the body. I don't think this model is worth improving either, because it uses obsolete and hacky solutions due to the lack of pieces (like that driving ring expansion thingy). I'll buy the 8070 in a few days or weeks, then I'll build a completely new car.

BTW, does anybody try to build this model? It shouldn't take too much time. If so, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.