New member with question on getting help for a MOC design

[nzmike]

Hi all, pretty recent (in the last year) return to Lego, this time as an AFOL and have read lots of posts and stuff here but not posted myself until now. 

I mostly build Technic sets and MOCs and am currently thinking about the design of a new MOC - a Tucker SnoCat 743 as used in the 1957-58 Transantarctic Expedition. (I'm fascinated with any sort of Arctic or Antarctic exploration and have read and studied a lot of the history.)

So, as per the title, what at is the best board on this site to post in to get advice or opinions on how I might go about a particularly tricky part of the design? I am after some expert opinions and ideas on how I might go about designing the curved rear of the body of the Tucker SnoCat 743 as seen here: https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/07/tucker-snow-cat-pioneering-vehicle-of.html (see the last two photos for a good view of the rear of the body).

I'm pretty sure I'll build the chassis, tracks and suspension (etc) with Technic but am still trying to decide whether to build the body using all Technic or with  a studful body so as i said, just after some ideas on how to do that curved rear of the body.

Thanks,

Mike

Edited July 13, 2018 by nzmike

[Venefic]

I'm no expert, but I would recommend you look at some of the current and past Arctic themed City sets. If you're looking to build this as a technic set, some useful parts I could imagine lie in the Porsche 911. You may have to use hinges on the back slope, especially if you want to include the door with a window. 

[deraven]

If you're more concerned about the aesthetics of the design (for this piece) than functional elements, I would take a look in the Model Team / Scale Modeling forum and potentially pose the question there as well.

I think the #1 thing you need to do is define your scale for the vehicle.  It seems logical that you'd use one of the sizes of Technic treads for the tracks which would then define the rest of the size, but until you've figured that out it's hard to say what would work best for the body shaping.  I can think of both a number of System elements as well as Technic panels, etc., that could work well, but it all depends on the final size.

Happy building!  

[nzmike]

@Venefic - thanks for that. I'm actually basing it loosely on the Technic Arctic Truck (42038 B model) as I think the chassis, steering and suspension will be very similar. Plus I get lots of good orange bits to start off with!

 

@deraven, Thanks for the pointer to the Model Team / Scale Modeling forum - I'll check that out and possibly post there too.

I have already completely and (hopefully) accurately scaled it at 1/15 using Technic "stud" sizes and as a result it will be about 51 studs long, 23 high and 19 wide (the tracks are much wider than the body as the tracks need to be to rotate up and down as well as steer left and right as you can see from the image below).  Each track will be 22 long as I am going to use two of these 11 long panels http://bricker.info/parts/64682/#FF7E14 joined together as the front piece - so the scale of the model means I'll be using the large tread size at https://tinyurl.com/ybpvksr5 - possibly even doubled up to get the width of the tracks in scale.

Although it would probably be easier to do a Technic body I think I will try to do it in studful pieces to get a more realistic finish - plus I'm guessing it'll be easier to try and replicate that sloping rear panel and door.  I have Sariel's brilliant Technic Builders Guide book which shows some really cool ways to join a studful body to a studless chassis so at present that's probably the plan. So the rear will probably use sloped tiles of some sort though how I'll hold it all together and get a door in it will be a real head-scratcher I think!

Edited July 14, 2018 by nzmike