[C-MODEL] 42050 - Lightning Rod

[Immo]

 

Finally, I got myself to build a 42050 C-Model out of the second set I bought purely because I liked the A-Model too much to tear it apart. Had some general ideas, but couldn't decide between a Hot Rod and Dragster, so I built both in one package. It has a hidden function of "adjusting the stance" which is purely for style and, if exaggerated, makes the car, uh, "un-dragable", but some moderate amounts of adjustment make for nice change of style.

Features:

► V8 engine with moving pistons

► twin carb adorned with velocity stacks + hood tach

► radiator + cooling system + front lights

► ribbed hose headers and dragster-style Zoomie exhausts

► rigid transmission w/o differential

► steering connected to HOG

► cockpit with a (non-functioning) steering wheel, dashboard and gear shifter

► adjustable "stance"

► wheelie bar (adjusted with stance)

►namesake "Lightning Rods" in the back of cockpit for decorative purposes

  

  

 

[Aventador2004]

Cool! Rake is definitely a cool Hot Rod thing.

[Immo]

1 hour ago, Aventador2004 said:

Cool! Rake is definitely a cool Hot Rod thing.

Had the set had two Linear Actuators instead of just one, I would also add an ability to raise front for some tail dragger/gasser action...

[mocbuild101]

I think this looks quite good for a C-model, there are a few things that look a bit odd, but for a Hot-Rod, I think that's just fine .

[Immo]

7 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

I think this looks quite good for a C-model, there are a few things that look a bit odd, but for a Hot-Rod, I think that's just fine .

Tell me what looks odd, there is still room for improvements
If you're referring to those "doorhandle" bars - they work as reinforcement - there was little space inside to fit the steering, so the main body must be as stiff as possible to prevent gears rubbing against various internal elements of the model.

[Jurss]

I like it.

[mocbuild101]

2 hours ago, Immo said:

Tell me what looks odd, there is still room for improvements
If you're referring to those "doorhandle" bars - they work as reinforcement

Well, other than that, the rear spoiler looks like it's a bit too far back, and the front wheels seem a bit too close together. (which could be improved by adding a bush to each axle)

[Immo]

The spoiler was so far back because of the structure of the whole mechanism, but you are right, it made no sense. You motivated me to incorporate changes. I moved the spoiler towards the front - the foil is now directly above the rear axle. I also found better ways to reinforce the car, so the "handles" are gone - moved to the bottom to become fake torsion bars for visuals. I re-done the whole model's bottom with new girding and set the front wheels a bit more apart. And as a final touch, I designed a bonus detail that really ties the whole dragster vibe together: a packed chute!

Edited November 21, 2017 by Immo

[I_Igor]

I must admit - very original crossower if not wacky crossower. With some secret wepon you could easily enter last content [TC 12] 

Edited November 21, 2017 by I_Igor

[Immo]

I managed to take a better photo of the upgrade. Thanks for hints, @mocbuild101


Oh, and I'm happy how the lattice of all the rolling chassis' girding came out:

[mocbuild101]

7 hours ago, Immo said:

I managed to take a better photo of the upgrade

It looks better now, but I still think the funniest part is the engine - it's so huge that the driver can't even see over the top of it!

[vectormatic]

4 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

It looks better now, but I still think the funniest part is the engine - it's so huge that the driver can't even see over the top of it!

Just as it should be in a drag-rod! (and this doesnt even have a supercharger in the stack yet :P)

 

Honestly, lego's fake engine parts are waaaaaaay too big for pretty much all models, im willing to bet even on the porsche you end up with a comedy engine displacement if you were to calculate stroked volume based on the car body as a scale reference.

 

By my measurement/calc, the swept volume of a lego cylinder is roughly 0.57 cc, times six gives me a 3,4 cc engine for the porsche.  Now going by Jims review the porsche is either 1:8 scale or 1:7.8 (real car length devided by model length), giving a scaling factor of either 512 or 474 for engine volume, meaning we end up with either a 1.6 or a 1.7 litre "boxer" engine, rather then the 3.6 that the real car has...

(i was honestly expecting the volume to be waaaaaay too large, but i havent had the porsche in my hands). Going by this i kind of expect the lego engine components work pretty well for larger models, a 1:8 V10 ferrari F1 car would have a 2.4 litre engine, close enough to the real thing at 3.0

[Immo]

1 hour ago, vectormatic said:

Honestly, lego's fake engine parts are waaaaaaay too big for pretty much all models (...)

And they even have no cylinder heads and the proportions are way too off - they are too long and too "shallow".
Anyway, that's why I called the engine on the Hob Rod a "mountain engine" (a slang term for a high displacement engines). The car's "lore" claims it to be a marine V12 - those suckers had displacement up to 40 liters! - cut in half .

I wonder if Lego will create an alternate design for a piston engine one day, designed specifically for engine block designs. The alternative designs presented by MOCers are cool, but require rubbers and/or gravity to work properly (now that I mentioned it - the 2018 Mack has an inline engine based on such design!). I'd like to see a new part design made specifically for such application. But there may be a problem with a crankshaft modules giving the pistons too much travel. Maybe meeting in the middle would do? Imagine a 1.5L wide cylinder with full 1L wide piston (at the size of the 1L ring connector) - the bare V8 would measure 7L if the frames keeping them together were .5L thick.

[vectormatic]

8 hours ago, Immo said:

And they even have no cylinder heads and the proportions are way too off - they are too long and too "shallow".
Anyway, that's why I called the engine on the Hob Rod a "mountain engine" (a slang term for a high displacement engines). The car's "lore" claims it to be a marine V12 - those suckers had displacement up to 40 liters! - cut in half .

I wonder if Lego will create an alternate design for a piston engine one day, designed specifically for engine block designs. The alternative designs presented by MOCers are cool, but require rubbers and/or gravity to work properly (now that I mentioned it - the 2018 Mack has an inline engine based on such design!). I'd like to see a new part design made specifically for such application. But there may be a problem with a crankshaft modules giving the pistons too much travel. Maybe meeting in the middle would do? Imagine a 1.5L wide cylinder with full 1L wide piston (at the size of the 1L ring connector) - the bare V8 would measure 7L if the frames keeping them together were .5L thick.

yeah, on my own personal wishlist would be a redesigned crank-piece (0.5 stud shorter), and a redesigned conrod, that way we could build true boxer engines where the cylinders are offset 0.5 stud, much nicer for stuff like the BMW motorbike, Porsche and pretty much every flat engine ever used in any technic set.

Cylinder heads with cams would be cool too, but there is no way we could do a proper head with moving/sprung valves in lego scale, i think just a simple block on top with an axle through it with gears/chains is about the best we can do, that would bulk up engine block size in build considerably

[Immo]

6 hours ago, vectormatic said:

yeah, on my own personal wishlist would be a redesigned crank-piece (0.5 stud shorter)

I'd love 0.5 stud longer one. This way it could extend out of a V engine block 1 full stud and attaching transmission would be way easier. In Lightning Rod pictured above I had to use the relatively new 5.5L axle with stop at 1st stud, as it was the only way of keeping the upper part of the driveshaft (the upper gear of the chain transmission) from slipping out of the crankshaft. This in return made designing the steering with HOG a nightmare because a large part of that 5.5 extends from the "transmission box" and just gets in the way..