[WIP] LaFerrari Aperta 1:8 (March update)

[ibessonov]

Hello everyone! Today I'd like to show you the model that I've been working on for more than two years, it's my first MOC in this scale that is actually close to being finished. It was rebuild from scratch dozen times and still requires bodywork.

The MOC is LaFerrari in 1:8 scale:

Origially I had a lot of ideas and great ambitions, but over time I realized that I just don't have enough skill to make everything I wanted. So current version has following features:

• independent suspension;
• 2 L motors for driving;
• Servo motor for steering;
• working steering wheel;
• 8 speed sequential gearbox driven by M motor;
• spacious interior with low seats positioning;
• powering with standard LEGO PF.

Proportions:

• width - 29 studs;
• height - 15-16 studs;
• length - about 70 studs, don't know yet.

Originally I wanted to use bigger wheels but then I stopped on 68.8. The thing is that front section of the car are too low so there won't be any place for arches with bigger wheels.

 Battery box is located in front of the car because everything behind seats is one huge gearbox. It just lays on its own weight and will be covered on the top with something black. This way you won't see most of gray and light gray parts through the bonnet.

 

Distance between seats is only 3 studs and every seat is 7 studs wide. There's no free space between them - only a few hidden cables there. This is how it looks without seats:

 

Top and bottom views:

 

The whole core of the car is basically done. It's pretty sturdy and doesn't bend when you hold it. In current state it has about 1600 pieces.

The most challenging part of the build at this point is a gearbox. It had to be very compact because car is so low. In this LDD file you can investigate all gears: https://bricksafe.com/files/ibessonov/wip-moc-laferrari-technic-2018---1/8 speed gearbox.lxf

Here are some renders of gearbox without stepper. Green axles are input from motors.

 

 

There are 3 clutches here and they give 8 unique combinations of their engagement.

L motors are slowed down significantly. This is because they are not powerful enough to make this car fast.

 

Here's a stepper mechanism that I used to move all 3 clutches:

 

 

 

Green things should be connected with white rubber bands, they hold axles in fixed 90-degrees positions.

 

There's a strong resemblance with 42056 Porshe's gearbox here, I know it. That model helped a lot with the inspiration.

My plan is to finish bodywork but it's the hardest thing for me. This is the exact reason why I'm creating this topic - to get help/critique while I'm finishing the model. LaFerrari has quite complex shape and I should have chosen something more simple for my first MOC. But I already spent way too much time so I have to finally finish it.

Leave your thoughts here, I'm very curious of what you might say. Thank you!

Edited June 7, 2018 by ibessonov
resized images

[Aventador2004]

Great so far, very well built! Good luck and i hope to see this finished.

[LvdH]

Great progress! I do think you might have to make a compromise to get the bigger wheels. I think a slighly off fender will look better than completely wrong wheels. Maybe rigid hoses could be used instead of soft axles. They are thinner and thus can be closer to the wheel. 

[ibessonov]

On 01.05.2018 at 4:33 PM, LvdH said:

I do think you might have to make a compromise to get the bigger wheels.

I might try it, but this would cause reworking of a big chunck in front section of the car. Doors mechanism is the thing that I'm most worried about - it's very close to the wheels when they are turned.

Anyway, if I change wheels then it's going to be 81 tires from set 42000.

EDIT:

It looks good actually and required only minor changes at this point. I'll probably stick with bigger wheels, thank you!

Edited June 7, 2018 by ibessonov
resized image

[grum64]

Looking good. I’ll be following this with great interest 

[1gor]

Looks good so far 

[letsbuild]

Good progress, topic followed!

[Erik Leppen]

Much better with the larger wheels. Also, I really like that interior, and that gearbox seems like it has been a nightmare to design and test. I like how the front half of the car looks fairly normal, like nothing is going on really, but then when you see the back half it's basically nothing but one big chunk of gears. Especially the underside photo shows that. Wicked. Looking forward to see more of this, curious how you will be doing the doors and bodywork.

[Lox Lego]

This is great! Really do love the interior. ITs shaping up well, I'm interested in seeing the performance of the transmission. Nice looking seats too 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Lox Lego

[Leonardo da Bricki]

Oh boy! A La Ferrari Aperta! It's one of the cars on my "future builds" list, so I am excited to see this topic! Following now!

That gearbox is massive! I love it already! The interior is excellent as well, and the bb in the front is a god way to distribute the weight.

[AFOLegofan66]

Larger wheels for sure!! So far so good...real shaping up!

[Myers Lego Technic]

I like the way this is shaping up! 

[Meatman]

I wonder how well those 2 Large motors are going to move that vehicle having to travel through that complex gearbox.

Edited May 3, 2018 by Meatman

[ibessonov]

13 minutes ago, Meatman said:

I wonder how well those 2 Large motors are going to move that vehicle having to travel through that complex gearbox.

With current weight it works fine. If 'll have any problem with performance I gust gear them down even more. Sheepo's Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 uses 2 L motors as well so this is clearly possible, just very slow...

[Meatman]

19 minutes ago, ibessonov said:

With current weight it works fine. If 'll have any problem with performance I gust gear them down even more. Sheepo's Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 uses 2 L motors as well so this is clearly possible, just very slow...

Yeah, as you add the weight of the body, it is going to get worse. Good Luck though. I'll be keeping an eye on this project!

[LvdH]

1 hour ago, ibessonov said:

With current weight it works fine. If 'll have any problem with performance I gust gear them down even more. Sheepo's Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 uses 2 L motors as well so this is clearly possible, just very slow...

Only with full batteries and even then it doesn't drive in 5th gear...

[ibessonov]

There's been over a month since first update. Sorry for delay. In this month I got my extension wire and finally connected all electric components. Other things are in photos.

Front of the car is almost done.

Hood is openable. Under it you can see black 5x11 panel that covers battery block. It's connected with 2 long red pins and easily removable.

The hood was a very hard subassembly to design. You can see that I used system pieces and 2 short black outer cables to achieve required shape. You can see it on the bottom view:

 

Now doors. Well, one door =)

I don't like top section that much so I'll try to figure out what to do with it. Maybe angle it somehow, don't know yet. Opening geometry is weird. I'm not sure that it's authentic but at least it looks somewhat similar.

Door is mounted on these two pieces:

 

They have enough clutch power to hold the door at any angle.

Back section is also looks nice already, but I'll redo it anyway. Or at least fill all gaps.

Next thing is wire management. Not the finest looking arangement but it doesn't stick from the car. It's good enough.

Last thing is the rear cover. It's unfinished prototype, but V shape looks nice and I'll probably keep it.

I hope that next update will be sooner the Jule but we'll see.

Edited June 7, 2018 by ibessonov
resized images

[Milan]

@ibessonov

Hi,
max image size should be 1024x768.

[ibessonov]

Thank you, I resized all images in my posts to 1024x576.

[Aventador2004]

Pretty good, though the doors move out more I thought.

Edit, no, you have them fine:

Edited June 7, 2018 by Aventador2004

[Milan]

3 minutes ago, ibessonov said:

Thank you, I resized all images in my posts to 1024x576.

Thanks!
Looking good! (both the pictures' size and the model)

[technic_addict]

Looking promising so far!  I would not use the red gear for a tail light though.  I suggest a 2x2 round trans RED clear brick or plate.

Edited June 7, 2018 by technic_addict
italics

[AFOLegofan66]

This looks great but you have to work on the rear end a bit especially the tail lights.

[ibessonov]

28 minutes ago, technic_addict said:

I suggest a 2x2 round trans clear brick or plate.

16 minutes ago, AFOLegofan66 said:

you have to work on the rear end a bit especially the tail lights.

Absolutely, I don't like current tail lights either. There's a lot of work to do.

[ibessonov]

3 hours ago, Aventador2004 said:

the doors move out more I thought

They really do actually. Car on your photo is regular LaFerrari, Aperta has no roof so doors geometry is different. But I can live with this, next time I'll be more careful.