[MOD] 40th Anniversary Chassis

[Seasider]

Hello all,

Firstly please indulge me for a while, at my desk at work I have this little display ...

... the MCU Heroes (plus Bucky if you look carefully). I work in the Engineering Design office for a well known Car company and its not unusual to see Lego on display at peoples desks, especially mini-figures (mainly star wars I may add or something relevant to the person eg all the Scots). But I'm more a Technic fan, mini-figs are down to my love of Marvel films. So why this thread ?

Well I'm a little unsure about buying any of the 2017 sets, none of them were grabbing my attention and urging me to buy them. I did however build this from the bricks I had in my collection as I already had 90% of what I needed so it only too a small Bricklink purchase ...

... it's great fun by the way. But when the H2 videos and images appeared something grabbed my attention, the 40th Anniversary Chassis / Combination model, I won't put an image here as there's plenty in the 2017 set thread. I have the original set as part of my "Classic" Technic collection from when I was a lot younger, its in pieces at the moment and I don't think I have the complete model anymore (something to Bricklink later) ...

I like the 40th Anniversary Chassis, I think it's quite a nice little model and a good replacement for the MCU guys on my desk, as I said I work in a Car company, my main interest is Technic and the model doesn't look that big so I think it ticks a lot of boxes.

But why I have named this a [MOD] thread, well my long term plan is this ... in good engineering traditions I'm going to try and reverse engineer the display set, I might then try and create an LDD of this, and then finally I'm going to "improve" it, by making some of the colours better and a few other things along the way, but more on that later.

So where do we start, well the logical place is this ...

... these are the parts from the 3 sets (42057, 42061 & 42063), well actually thats a big lie! You'll notice I'm missing a few parts, some deliberate and some as I don't have them. Firslty you'll notice no bike wheels, propellor blades, boom arm or tapered curved panels as none of these appear in the chassis set (I've got 3 of the light grey fender/seat curved panel on their way to me via a Bricklink order, along with a "40th" brick), also you'll notice I don't have 45 5L light grey beams from the BMW. Looking at the pictures of the chassis I can't see 45 of them being used, so the 20 that I have will have to surfice. What's also very apparent at this point is there are going to be a lot of parts left over, especially our friend the black pin. Oh and I had to do some colour subsitutions, and I'm missing the dark brown axles with stop (also on order)

So where have I got to and what have i discovered so far ...

Front Bumper and Dash, the bumper is complete and I'm now looking into how the steering works, the obvious answer is via a tie link from 42057

Seats, as you'll notice the driver and passenger seats are different due to there only being 3 of the cranked red beams. My plan for the [MOD] version is to make the seats the same for both and also to make them completely red, I might even try to add some adjustment to them (but that may be a step too far for me).

Engine and rear suspension, starting from what I can see on the top and working down and assuming a few things this is where i've got to with the rear. Oh there's a second "40th" brick at the rear of the car too (I guess like a rear number plate), shame I found this out after my Bricklink order!

So whats next, well I'm now working on the tunnel/gearbox area, basically I'm working through the images and using what I can see to gradually use up the beams that I have in the pile. Good old process of elimination. I can see a grey frame hiding under the chassis but there isn't a "money shot" (underside view) of the chassis available as yet so it might take some detective work to deduce which of the frames are being used and where.

It's going to take me some time to do, but I've got until August (I'm guessing) when the proper instructions get issued ?

I may use this thread for requesting help on where and how bits go, but not yet so please don't give me pointers.

Oh and it's all Jim's fault ! Well that's my excuse ... actually I couldn't be bothered to start my Porsche (including the additional 30 pieces) or modify the CLAAS and Jim hasn't started the next competition. So I'll blame him :)

 

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by Seasider

[Appie]

Nice, reverse engineering something from pictures is good fun. I look forward to more updates.

 

On a different note, I also made the 42065 tracked racer from my own parts, in the exact same colour scheme

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

cool! can't wait to see the finished model!

[Seasider]

Update from me.

I've made some good progress and now I'm at this stage ...

... with these bits left from my (non)complete parts bin ...

... so where am I ?

 

Well I have the steering worked out, the seats do slide fore/aft (with friction) but I have a detail on them still to fix, I have the gearbox sort of sorted in that i have the gears working and driving the engine I just haven't connected it to the wheels yet.

 

Things to work out:

How the dash is mounted - I'm hoping the front curved panels help me unlock this (waiting in the post for this)

How the gearbox is ultimately mounted - its a bit floaty at the moment and bendy in the middle where the Blue 3L beams are

How the engine is attached - I need to remove the long Black beams currently there, I think these go under the seats?

How the rear suspension lower arms are attached and how the rear wheels are connected to the engine - i have some thoughts on this just need some time

How the exhausts and rear detailing are attached to the engine

 

Well that's it for now, next update will be Sunday or early next week.

Enjoy

 

[Seasider]

Well my bricklink orders have come in but I'm at an impasse.

i can't work out how a few things mount or what a few bricks I can see in the images are for.

but also something more interesting has come along ... in the shape of BrickMonkeys Miata/MX-5.

so I'll pick this up again after then ... or in the summer when the instructions come out and I'll just do a MOD

[Chr.Maglekaer]

Don't forget the 1991 Technic Combi model: 

 

[Andy D]

@Seasider Great job duplicating the model! It amazes me how some folks can duplicate models with only the photos available.

Looking forward to your updates, also looking forward to your evaluation on how close you are to the official model when the instructions are available.

I have 1 of the sets and the other 2 sets coming this week, so they will just be waiting for the instructions to be available, but I guess that will not be until August... But,  lots of other LEGO to build between now and then.

Andy D

[Weeeee]

looking good

Would have been nice if Lego could post a picture taken from below

There is a couple of things i can't figure out

 

[Weeeee]

Finally done with this one

 

http://bildr.no/view/SmxqUFgy

Edited March 27, 2017 by Weeeee

[Seasider]

Time for an update from me, so if you've seen Andy D's thread you'll have seen my comments.

Since the instructions came out I looked over my model and was surprised at how well I'd done. But I had somehow missed a cranked black liftarm (which was why i was having issues with the "dash") and I hadn't considered Lego having "floating" parts (the back of the gearbox).

So continuing on from Andy D's and my original thread above here I finally go ...

Firstly this is the parts list (now corrected) ...

... and it should look something like this (notice some colour swaps as I don't have all the parts in the right colour) ...

... or this ! It's actually quite a small parts list ...

... and you'll end up with this ...

... so now to the MODs.

This is the list of what I plan to do (well at the moment plan to do!):

1. Bigger wheels - I've currently swapped the originals out for some 43.2x18 wheels (4496707) and tyres from the 8285 Tow Truck. I think they look more in proportion and have a good wheel to tyre ratio. It does mean I'll need to MOD the front bumper as this now fouls the steering.

2. Add a Differential - one thing the model is defintely missing due to is "borrowed" parts list

3. Narrow Gearbox / Move Seats inboard - I don't like how far out the seats are, they don't line up with the steering wheel (out by 1 stud), the gearbox/tunnel just looks too wide and the seats just seam too far outboard/spaced apart in the original model

4. Update Seats - I'd like to get some recline function in like the original Chassis model this is a homage to

5. Steering Wheel - a bigger wheel, any suggestions ? and also repositioned as I think it's too raked at the moment

6. Colour update - you'll see I've been working on this already (but short of some bits in various colours). Current plan is Light Grey Chassis (due to the Open Square frames only being in this colour), Red seats, Black floors under the seats, Blue Gerabox/Tunnel, Light Grey Engine, Black Dash and Blue/Light Grey front Bumper

7. Remove the Asymmetry - there are a few non-symmetrical areas due to the original parts list, passenger seat and the front of the gearbox to name the 2 i can think of.

8. Tidy and "poor" connections - some connections are left floating or just a bit odd, again I think this is down to the original parts availability. anyone know why there is a random 2 x 4 L Liftarm on the bottom of the Chassis near the front of the gearbox ? I can't work out its purpose.

 

But I don't want my final model to look too different to the original (may be difficult!)

 

So to start with I built a SECOND (!) Chassis ...

... mainly so I still have the original to compare back to ... you can see I've been working on the colour scheme ...

... looks a bit more purposeful here ...

... time to work on the Differential ...

... it disconnects reasonably easily.

 

Stay tuned for more updates !

Edited April 26, 2017 by Seasider

[Andy D]

Nice assortment of mods! The first thing is that the larger wheels do look really good! When I get time I may follow your build with a new build of my own (copy yours). But not that much time for a couple of weeks. But I will still be following.

Andy D

[Jurss]

Starts looking like some kind of dune buggy on Beetle base.

[Didumos69]

11 hours ago, Seasider said:

5. Steering Wheel - a bigger wheel, any suggestions ? and also repositioned as I think it's too raked at the moment

Yea, it's too raked. I would also suggest to move the steering wheel closer to the seats. In real life a steering wheel usually hangs right above the front edge of the seat.

Nice project, btw!

EDIT: A bigger steering wheel would be nice, but no wider than 4 studs I think. The belt wheels are 3 studs. Maybe something like this could serve as inspiration:

Edited April 26, 2017 by Didumos69

[Seasider]

Yes the wheel needs to be angled down but also brought rearwards in car.

 

I was thinking of 2741 but I'm not sure how many studs this is, i think it'll be a trial and error as there aren't many wheel options and i want it to have a round wheel and not a yoke

 

PS i know a "little" about car design :)

 

[Andy D]

@Seasider Any more progress with your MODs?

Though not a set, the Chassis is my favorite model of the year.

Andy D

[Seasider]

Hi Andy,

I've been working on the rear of the chassis. I have a diff in and I've reworked the rear suspension because of the Square Frame i've used to house the Diff. The problem I'm trying to solve at the moment is the gearbox where I need to take into account the gear selector axle sliding significantly rearwards but also I've run into the unplanned problem that with the gearstick in the rearmost position one of the original gears now connects to the gear I've added to drive the diff. This will be easy(ish) to solve as it means shifting all the old gears (gear shifter, ones in the bottom of the chassis and the one on the front of the engine under the fan) all forward by 1 stud.

I was away over the weekend as it was Bank Holiday here, but I plan to do a little bit (the odd hour) either tonight, tomorrow and perhaps a bit Friday afternoon/Saturday morning.

This should get me to a stage where the rear diff all works properly and I'll most probably have moved the seats 1 stud inboard as I'm tackling more than 1 job at once as a lot of them overlap.

So I'll try and post an update photo at the very latest this Sunday night (UK time)

 

 

[Seasider]

As promised an update ...

I think I'm doing pretty well on my tasks.

I've added a Diff, which required all the gearbox related gears to move forward by 1 stud.

I've redesigned the seats, made them symmetrical and moved them in by 1 stud.

I've started to do a recolour on the model, some of which is limited by my current part collection (a bricklink order is planned).

 

Still to do ...

Fully mount the gearbox as its floating at the moment, but I think I know how I'm going to do this.

Make a new dash and select a steering wheel ... still not sure what wheel though

Most probably raise up the grey curved panels to match the new dash.

finish off the colouring.

More updates to follow ...

[Andy D]

@Seasider Very interesting seeing all your changes, quite nice. The side-by-side photos highlight the changes. The color changes, are quite nice and interesting but the photos of the dark areas with not much color contrast make it difficult to see just what you have done in some of those areas, I realize the color changes are part of your enhancement. Looking forward to your next changes.

Andy D

[Seasider]

Sorry it's been a while. Here's a few shots of my final model next to what was left of the original instructions model. It's now sitting on my desk at work.

 

Time to work out what to build for TC12

[Andy D]

Very nice! I notice right hand steering and a differential in your mod'ed version, and some changes to the undercarriage. Are there other mods?

Andy D

 

[Seasider]

I did lots of little updates but still wanted it to look like it's based off the Official Anniversary Chassis.

the main things I did were to add the diff and fix the colours of the car. Also added some larger wheels and steering wheel.

[ThatOneBuilder]

Hmm... I think it would look better with a dash..

Otherwise it looks pretty amazing!