[MOC] 1:12.5 RC Car

[Chade]

Hi there,

Hope everyone is having fun building cranes for TC8. This MOC was created as I'd just bought the horrifically expensive rechargeable battery box from the LEGO shop, and I wanted to incorporate it into a build. I decided to build something compact, and the below picture is the result.

This chassis was designed around the new MX5 convertible at 1:12.5 scale. While it's very simple, I'm quite proud of the fact that I managed to fit all the power functions into it, while keeping it to scale. The height of the car (not including seats and windscreen) needed to be a maximum of 8 studs. The turning circle is tight on the car as well. I then tried to build the body, and this is where things became a lot harder and more frustrating.

The build is OK, but nothing great. I wanted to use more panels, but I found them bulky and quite unwieldy for a model this size. The car is also a bit blocky and dense, maybe using flex axles through the body would be better? I don't know. The model has nothing fancy, only the doors open and close and power functions (L motor, servo, Battery & IR receiver) which steer and move the car.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

More images at http://bricksafe.com/pages/Chade/112.5-rc-convertible

[Vectormatic]

Looks cool, good job keeping all the guts underneath a low body like that.

I wonder though, if you manage to relocate the receiver whether you could mount the drive motor longitudinally and work a diff in there, and maybe increase the drive ratio if the L motor has the torque to handle it.

[KirTech LAB]

Nice car!

[GroundskeeperWillie]

What a nice car! Looking at just the chassis, it looked like it would be a little too long and maybe not look that great, but this is not the case at all.

[zux]

Don't worry about the body! I find it very good, keeping in mind you managed to build open body MOC with all PF stuff hidden.

[Kman860]

I like that idea with the chain drive straight from the motor, great way to save space.

[Victor Imaginator]

Very nice looking car for that scale. And i like using chains, chains are great)

[Chade]

Thanks for the comments everyone

Looks cool, good job keeping all the guts underneath a low body like that.

I wonder though, if you manage to relocate the receiver whether you could mount the drive motor longitudinally and work a diff in there, and maybe increase the drive ratio if the L motor has the torque to handle it.

I originally had the diff + motor setup like this but there wasn't enough room for the seats / interior. I was also going to put the ir receiver more forward but it looked terrible. The chain drive was the best setup I could think of to fit the motor in the back.

I like that idea with the chain drive straight from the motor, great way to save space.

Very nice looking car for that scale. And i like using chains, chains are great)

I found a MOC using chains on rebrickable and I realised this was the best solution. I'm still new with all of this so I've got a lot to learn.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Chade

[Kristof]

Hey that's very nice! And it performs really well, I like both speed and narrow turning radius. I very much prefer this to all these huge models powered by dozens of motors that can barely drive in the end :) Excellent model!

[Coola1]

You might not think the build is great, but I sure do! It looks awesome considering the scale, and really compact too, good job! And really small turning circle, Im impressed!

[Chade]

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. My goal is to get better at these smaller types of models.

[Technic Jim]

This is a really impressively sized model and it looks fine. Perhaps it could be geared up a bit to make it a bit quicker

[Edwin Korstanje]

I like your small scaled car and know how difficult it is to squeeze so many functions in that space .

[DamonMM2000]

Very nice car, nothing short of clean!

[Chade]

Wow, thanks for all the nice comments! I was only expecting a few people to respond.

This is a really impressively sized model and it looks fine. Perhaps it could be geared up a bit to make it a bit quicker

The model was struggling a bit with acceleration (it doesn't run well on carpet), so I'm not sure how well it would run with less torque. I've pulled the car apart but I might test it out at a later date.

Edited October 4, 2015 by Chade

[Vectormatic]

Wow, thanks for all the nice comments! I was only expecting a few people to respond.

The model was struggling a bit with acceleration (it doesn't run well on carpet), so I'm not sure how well it would run with less torque. I've pulled the car apart but I might test it out at a later date.

Carpet is kind of the equivalent of running in very thick grass or very lose sand though, not something a real life MX5 would be excellent at either. If you are OK with moving the receiver to the passenger seat, you might be able to fit a second L motor in the back for extra torque

[Chade]

Carpet is kind of the equivalent of running in very thick grass or very lose sand though, not something a real life MX5 would be excellent at either. If you are OK with moving the receiver to the passenger seat, you might be able to fit a second L motor in the back for extra torque

Thanks for the post. This car is so low I don't think it would move on grass , but I get your point. The 2nd L motor isn't a bad idea. Overall though I'm pretty happy with the performance with one motor.

[flyboy01]

awesome job doing this chassis, do you think you could add more pictures so i can reverse engineer it?

[Chade]

awesome job doing this chassis, do you think you could add more pictures so i can reverse engineer it?

Thank you. The model is up on rebrickable http://rebrickable.c...e/rc-sports-car so the work's been done for you .

[Vectormatic]

Thanks for the post. This car is so low I don't think it would move on grass , but I get your point. The 2nd L motor isn't a bad idea. Overall though I'm pretty happy with the performance with one motor.

Yeah, i meant a lego car on carpet is the equivalent of a real car on think high grass or lose sand, could've written that a bit clearer :)

I think performance looks good as well, im just your regular gear-head, always trying to go faster, but i think once i get around to getting ym own PF RC stuff, ill quickly find out that having a small car move fast makes it hard to find a good space for toying with it.

[Chade]

Yeah, i meant a lego car on carpet is the equivalent of a real car on think high grass or lose sand, could've written that a bit clearer :)

I think performance looks good as well, im just your regular gear-head, always trying to go faster, but i think once i get around to getting ym own PF RC stuff, ill quickly find out that having a small car move fast makes it hard to find a good space for toying with it.

Ah so that's what you meant, now the post makes more sense . If you get into the RC, I definitely recommend the rechargable battery box. Even though it's very expensive, it's incredibly light and fantastic for small MOCs.

[Vectormatic]

Ah so that's what you meant, now the post makes more sense . If you get into the RC, I definitely recommend the rechargable battery box. Even though it's very expensive, it's incredibly light and fantastic for small MOCs.

Thanks for the tip, im a bit on the fence about all the RC stuff, even a basic set (servo, L motor, controller/receiver and AA battery box) would cost me €80, which seems like a lot of money for just a bunch of parts, adding the rechargable box... oof. Although i can easily see it being worth it in terms of size, i think a chassis the size of your moc is excellent for RC, and fitting the AA box in such a space...

[Chade]

Thanks for the tip, im a bit on the fence about all the RC stuff, even a basic set (servo, L motor, controller/receiver and AA battery box) would cost me €80, which seems like a lot of money for just a bunch of parts, adding the rechargable box... oof. Although i can easily see it being worth it in terms of size, i think a chassis the size of your moc is excellent for RC, and fitting the AA box in such a space...

I know, it's very hard to justify the cost. However I don't regret the purchase of PFs. RC is fun to play with .

[Vectormatic]

I know, it's very hard to justify the cost. However I don't regret the purchase of PFs. RC is fun to play with .

Yeah, i really want to, but damn... The servo in particular is a hard pill to swallow, it costs the same as 250-300 part sets, but replicating its function with an M-motor is not easy, nor good for the electronics.

I will have some extra budget for lego purchases soon, but i might hold off until we know what the "ultimate IP supercar" set ends up being, if it ends up being as ultimate as rumoured, itll be a budget buster, but also a must-have :)

[flyboy01]

Thank you. The model is up on rebrickable http://rebrickable.c...e/rc-sports-car so the work's been done for you .

okay, thanks. I will try to post images of my attempt.