[MOC] 7-seater Family Car (Digital File and Instructions DONE, now up on Rebrickable!!!)

[Meatman]

This is coming along very nicely! I love it!

[Rudivdk]

Update on yesterday's work:

Mid section of chassis is done, starting on the rear. B- and C-pillar also starting to emerge.

First and second row of seats will be moveable forwards and backwards manually. All seat frames with guide rails are added in the bottom structure which is now solid two studs thick. Black gear in center of all frames has friction pin in it, keeping the seats in position when moving the car.

Rigidity is very good lengthwise:

Diagonally the midsection still flexes when stressed, but I can live with that. Roof construction will give some more strength in that matter.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Rudivdk

[grum64]

Going by what I've seen so far I've a sneaky feeling that when completed this will be making it's way into the HoF.

[Rudivdk]

Update of tonights progress. Rear end almost done, passenger front seat is in.

Sorry for photo quality, don't have pro equipment and it was getting dark...

Front passenger seat (modified version of @Didumos69 FST NML seat) in three positions:

Backwards and tilted up

Forwards and tilted back

And since its a family car, it can be folded down for carrying long objects (thats why the 3l axle w. stop and yellow halfbush is there). Drivers seat will be similar, but not folding down.

Middle row seats (only the frames for now...) have three positions as well: folded down (front), normal up (middle), and outside seats can be tilted forwards for easy entry to back row by loosening the yellow pin (back)

And finally back row seats can be folded into the floor (LBG 3x1 half liftarms) using black 12t gears in the trunk space

Been getting lots of positive comments, thank you all for that! It keeps me motivated to build and post here. Please don't stop sharing your thoughts and comments.

[Jeroen Ottens]

The density is amazing. It reminds me of the excavator of Sheo. Are you sure you will be able to take it apart again?

[Rudivdk]

7 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Are you sure you will be able to take it apart again?

There are no locks built in, so it should be possible. Dunno if I want to though, will take a looong time...

[Rudivdk]

A quick update before I am off to a 2week holiday... Photo's are a bit sloppy, had to do it quickly...

With rear suspension added, it is now a rolling chassis

All seats are in, and like a real family car you can put them in all sorts of arrangements. Here's a closer look at the seating rows

Next update will be in a few weeks from now, since I won't be having access to my LEGO during my vacation...

[Lox Lego]

Amazing work, I like how you tore down thw whole bodywork to perfect the Chassis. We have all been there before! This is a large scale indeed, look forward to seeing this shape up!

[Jeroen Ottens]

I somehow had missed that it is a frontaxle driven car. Silly me. Do you have to take apart the chairs to get the flat bottom in the trunk? Or am I looking to the back of the chairs now?

What is the suspension setup in the rear? Also McPherson?

It just keeps getting better (and bigger )

And of course enjoy the holiday

[Rudivdk]

@Jeroen Ottens thanx!

All seats can be folded without taking anything apart, it all hinges on several places to make that possible.

Rear suspension is trailing arm with torsion bar from sheepos mps. It relies on the LEGO ability to bend, so I guess it is actually an illegal build...

Will post some better quality pics of it later

[Rudivdk]

I am back from my vacation, so its time for an update

First some videos to give a better answer to @Jeroen Ottens questions two posts back:

Video: Folding the seats

Video: Rear suspension

Now on to current state. The chassis is finished and the roof has been put on. Only the front window frame and dashboard need to be done to finish the entire box structure.

The roof is curved and has a small slope in the front and in the rear to give it a smoother look:

I tried to give it a glass roof look by using DBG around the actual roof windows. The DBG will actually come up all the way from the front window.

In the trunk with all seats upwards there is still some storage space left (the 42056 handbag fits nicely in here). You can also see the two black 12t gears for raising and lowering the 3rd row seats:

Most work to be done will be on the front section, as the rear design is almost finished. I'll try to post another update tomorrow with some more bodywork attached. 

[Jeroen Ottens]

Thanks for the videos, they show clearly how designed this whole car is

A yellow 3L pin with bush?? Nice to see someone using parts of my first set

[Erik Leppen]

I'm not a fan of the sporty wheels / wheel covers. Are there other options there?

All the rest looks amazing, and I like the uncommon subject matter. Keep up the good progress!

[Rudivdk]

28 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Thanks for the videos, they show clearly how designed this whole car is

A yellow 3L pin with bush?? Nice to see someone using parts of my first set

Forgive me my ignorance, but what set was that? I've got mine from 8435 and 8421.

6 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

I'm not a fan of the sporty wheels / wheel covers. Are there other options there?

All the rest looks amazing, and I like the uncommon subject matter. Keep up the good progress!

On the finished model (as seen in 3rd post in this topic) I think the wheels and wheel covers are not that bad actually. For the wheel covers it might be possible to do something different, but the actual wheels (tires) are the only available width in this size I think. They are way too wide for a normal family car (and it actually made the build somewhat more difficult when it comes to creating interior space), but with the bodywork attached they are less dominant.

And thanx for the compliments

[Jeroen Ottens]

1 hour ago, Rudivdk said:

Forgive me my ignorance, but what set was that? I've got mine from 8435 and 8421.

The 8457

[legolijntje]

3 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

The 8457

I take it you designed that set? Or it was the first set you bought?

More on-topic: hadn't seen this topic yet, but looks really cool! It's something else than the usual supercar we see pretty much daily here  Your building style looks quite compact and dense (and heavy) but it looks nice and seems to work well. Gonna keep an eye on this one to see the end result 

[Rudivdk]

27 minutes ago, legolijntje said:

More on-topic: hadn't seen this topic yet, but looks really cool! It's something else than the usual supercar we see pretty much daily here  Your building style looks quite compact and dense (and heavy) but it looks nice and seems to work well. Gonna keep an eye on this one to see the end result 

Thanx! Its heavy indeed, guess it will end up weighing at least the same as some supercars with PF and BB added... Shall put it on the scales tomorrow just to get an idea... But for me it was all about rigidity, and on studdless technic that is just eating parts (due to limited height on chassis of 3studs, frames where no option). At least the yellow shocks can still handle it .

[grum64]

Really great work. I look forward to its completion 

[offroadcreations]

I like the progress, I'm sure it will be great when it's finished. In it's current state, however, it looks like a hot rod.

[Jeroen Ottens]

9 hours ago, legolijntje said:

I take it you designed that set? Or it was the first set you bought?

More on-topic: hadn't seen this topic yet, but looks really cool! It's something else than the usual supercar we see pretty much daily here  Your building style looks quite compact and dense (and heavy) but it looks nice and seems to work well. Gonna keep an eye on this one to see the end result 

Yes I did. And I now realize that that was actually my second set...

[legolijntje]

11 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Yes I did. And I now realize that that was actually my second set...

Cool! Did not know you designed the 'legendary' power puller 

You should create a Bricklist on Brickset containing all the sets you designed (possibly with some cool backstories): link.

[DamianT]

Never thought a family car could look so cool. Nice job ;)

[Rudivdk]

30 minutes ago, DamianT said:

Never thought a family car could look so cool. Nice job ;)

Thanx, I figured even a family man deserves a cool ride...

[Rudivdk]

Hi everyone, time for another update of last few days. I've been tearing up my POC model for the bodywork, and progress is quite good I think. It's finally starting to look like a real car now:

I actually put it on the scales to see what it weighs, currently it is at 2,2kgs. Final model will be around 2,5kgs I guess.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Rudivdk

[Alex Ilea]

Looks awesome  Very sturdy and proffestional build ! I hope the front will be as good as the rest of the car :)