[TC12][MOC] The Banana Scorpion

[mocbuild101]

Progress has been a bit slow, but I probably should do another update:

 

Days 18-20: Improving scissor mechanism, trying to work out how to attach LA.

Day 21: I realized 1 LA wouldn't be strong enough, so started trying to figure out how to fit 2 LA's in such a small space.

Day 22 (today): I worked out how to power 2 LA's with a L-motor:

Hopefully I will have something better to show for the next update...

Edited September 7, 2017 by mocbuild101

[Jim]

Nice to see you making some progress 

You don't need to use the spoiler tags for your updates. You can simply post the information in your topic.

[mocbuild101]

39 minutes ago, Jim said:

You don't need to use the spoiler tags for your updates.

Yeah, I guess not, but it does keep it neater...

[1gor]

9 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

Yeah, I guess not, but it does keep it neater...

...but it is complicated on slower machines and in area where is bad signal (and piece so you can concentrate on LEGO) 

[mocbuild101]

9 hours ago, I_Igor said:

...but it is complicated on slower machines and in area where is bad signal (and piece so you can concentrate on LEGO) 

Yeah, okay, I have removed all the spoilers - except the one in the first post. You should be able to figure out why if you look at it again...

[mocbuild101]

Okay, it's time to get back to work... And update this topic...

 

Days 23-29: I made very little progress, as I had quite a lot of distractions... (I got a new phone, I got a SBrick, and then found the clinometer control wasn't working)

Day 30: I decided it was time to start building again. I also made a fairly major design change: get rid of the LA's and motor, and save some space! (which means I completely removed the mechanism shown in the previous update)

Day 31 (today): I made even more design changes (of the better kind), and changed the name accordingly. Made concept drawing.

I haven't got any photos to show of the actual model at the moment (as it's currently in pieces...), but I hope to have some(thing) in the next few days (although I have updated the first post with some more information, so you could just look at that...)

Edited October 9, 2017 by mocbuild101

[mocbuild101]

Sorry for the double post...

I just thought I'd show you a video of the engine I'm going to use, just because it sounds so cool!!!

https://bricksafe.com/files/mocbuild101/tc12---banana-tank/wip-section/Engine Test.mp4

Note: I compressed the video down to 720x480, because the original video (1920x1080) was too big.

 

Hopefully I will have photos tomorrow... (and a proper update!)

Edited October 9, 2017 by mocbuild101

[Superkoala]

Your idea of design looks really great, i hope you will be able to built it the way you want

[1gor]

hm now tank body should look like cartoon scorpion, but let's wait and see final product

banana guy should be this

or this?

Edited September 18, 2017 by I_Igor

[mocbuild101]

3 hours ago, Superkoala said:

Your idea of design looks really great, i hope you will be able to built it the way you want

Thanks, and I hope I can build it too!

36 minutes ago, I_Igor said:

hm now tank body should look like cartoon scorpion, but let's wait and see final product

What I was thinking, starting at the giant mouth, was a gentle banana-like curve for the hull, which then curves into the scorpion tail (with cannon).

36 minutes ago, I_Igor said:

banana guy should be this...or this?

It's going to be the CMF banana suit guy: (I should have said that before...)

By the way, I think those images might need shrinking, they are quite huge at the moment...

Edited September 18, 2017 by mocbuild101

[mocbuild101]

Update time!

 

Day 32: Brickstormed some ideas for the revised lifting mechanism, the mouth (with not much success), and the tail.

Day 33: Put together the V10 engine (now V12), then tested it, and made a video of it. (because of it's awesome sound!)

Day 34: I realized that the engine was too long to fit in the space I had, so I changed the design, and also added two more cylinders!

Day 35: Decided to cover the outside of the tracks - to make them look better. (also, do you think it looks a bit like a banana?)

Day 36 (today): Built the other side of the tank. (just a mirror of what I had already built)

 I know I have made some decent progress, because it's starting to get quite heavy!

Edited October 9, 2017 by mocbuild101

[Superkoala]

I like the shape of your tread. Very yellow.

Where do you plan to place the linear actuator to lift your tank ? There is not much room available.

[1gor]

I see that banana development is taking form... Tread shape associates together with color on banana, but IMHO development is OK. Question that @Superkoala may have I and one suggestion - if you make V8 or V10 engine perhaps you'll get a space for linear actuator(s) 

[mocbuild101]

2 hours ago, Superkoala said:

Where do you plan to place the linear actuator to lift your tank ?

As I said in an earlier post, I removed them, and make the lifting a manual function. The main reason why I decided to do that is because they took up too much space, and weren't quite strong enough to lift the hull anyway. I did want to keep them, but I decided a big engine would be a better ( and cooler) use of the space.

I think I should try using them again, but I doubt that it will possible without sacrificing most of size of the engine.  I will give it a try tomorrow...

2 hours ago, I_Igor said:

if you make V8 or V10 engine perhaps you'll get a space for linear actuator(s) 

Yeah, maybe V12 is a bit overkill for this, but then again, it is meant to be wacky!

Edited September 20, 2017 by mocbuild101

[1gor]

4 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

Yeah, maybe V12 is a bit overkill for this, but then again, it is meant to be wacky!

Hm...perhaps some different config of engine would also be wacky like H-12 cylinder engine which is made of 2 flat 6 cylinders (e.g. from Porsche) one on another and you will save on length 

[Thirdwigg]

I'm liking all the parts, but it would be great to see it start coming together. I love the concept drawing, so I'm am looking forward to how it comes together.

[mocbuild101]

Quick update...

I have started work on the lifting mechanism again, and it seems to work (and fit ) quite well. Here's a video (without tank attached).

Also, I will probably be shrinking the engine a bit (most likely to V8), and I may possibly lose the mouth too, but still keep the eyes/headlights. Not to say that I won't try though, as it would be great to have a giant mouth on the tank!

11 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

but it would be great to see it start coming together

Didn't you see this photo:

 

[1gor]

Most important is that after lots of work endresult caused your face to be like this 

It seems that chassis is very sturdy and not to complicated 

[Thirdwigg]

11 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

 

Didn't you see this photo:

 

Sorry, I guess I'm a little anxious to see the stinger arm too. 

[mocbuild101]

8 hours ago, I_Igor said:

Most important is that after lots of work endresult caused your face to be like this 

Agreed, after all, the main point of these competitions is to be creative, and to have fun!

7 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

I'm a little anxious to see the stinger arm too. 

I haven't really been working on the tail, but I will make sure to build it, and include it in my next update. (which should be in a day or two...)

[mocbuild101]

Another quick update...

I have built the scorpion tail @Thirdwigg, what do you think?

I personally think that it's got a few too many holes in it, but I can't really find a way to fill them in... 

Also, do you think that I should leave the rubber-bands on the cannon, or should I remove them? (I added them because there wasn't much yellow at the end of the tail)

[Thirdwigg]

I like it. I don't mind the holes, and I like the rubber bands. Does the assembly match the scale of the rest of the tank well?

[mocbuild101]

9 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

Does the assembly match the scale of the rest of the tank well?

Well, I would say yes, it's slightly too big, but I think that it will be okay after I have added the big engine...

I'm currently putting everything together, so I should have photos (and a update) of it later today.

[mocbuild101]

Main update time!

 

Days 37+38: I started work on the motorized lifting mechanism again (it seems to work quite well!), and made a short video of it (without tank attached).

Day 39: More work on lifting mechanism - building the hull around it, fitting it between the tracks.

Day 40: Built scorpion tail (with cannon attached!), some more work on tank hull and engine. (see photo in post above)

Day 41 (today): I put all the major components together (tracks, lift mechanism, engine, and tail), and this is what I came up with: (and yes, the V10 is back again!)

And I think is starting to look very much like the drawing (minus the mouth/eyes, and the space for the driver)... what do you think?

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by mocbuild101

[ColletArrow]

Very nice, I love the vibrant pictures. I was thinking of doing something similar with raising tracks, but starting Uni got in the way... never mind, you've done far better than I would have been able to.

How are you going to fire the cannon? Could you tie some string around the trigger, and route it back to a servo in the hull, or are you going to leave it manual?