[MOC] Light Sport Aircraft - Two Seater Cruiser

[Lipko]

The model is originally designed for an Aircraft building contest, but the ordered parts didn't arrive in time.

The model and filming/photographing was done with one week delay but the time I could allocate for the project was already used up so I could only edit the material another two weeks later.

Anyways:

 

This is a custom light sport two seater aircraft. It wasn't modeled after a particular type.

Features
Flight controls:

• ailerons (from cockpit and HOG)
• rudder with return to center (from HOG)
• elevator (from cockpit and HOG)
• flaps (from cockpit)

Other:

• flat V4 engine
• propeller pitch control (from cockpit)
• retracting landing gears (with knob on the bottom of the plane)
• nose gear with drag steering
• manual propeller drive with ratchet (on the left side of the plane)
• canopy door and engine cover opens

Play features and operation
There are two main groups of commands: cockpit and hand-of-God. The cockpit (apart from the working dual joysticks) has the controls that are less frequently used: propeller pitch and flaps control. The HOG area has the main operational features: ailerons, rudder and elevators. The rudder has return to center, because its levers are close to the joystick and it's easy to unintentionally touch them.

The color vomit in the chassis is intentional, there is also some level of function coloring inside but I didn't force it too much.

I want to release the 3D file for the model but I have no idea when I will be able to work on it.

You can find all pictures here and you can read about the struggle in more detail here:

 

Video:

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited March 14, 2019 by Lipko

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

This would have been a winner for sure. Amazing MOC and I congratulate you on finishing it! Totally worth it.

[Rudivdk]

12 minutes ago, BrickbyBrickTechnic said:

This would have been a winner for sure. Amazing MOC and I congratulate you on finishing it! Totally worth it.

Yep, absolutely top notch stuff. I would be surprised if this would not have won the competition. Looks fantastic, and the controls are perfectly executed, both functionally and from playability perspective. Dual joystick AND HoG all controlling the same function and seemingly frictionless and without real slack, just wow... And the slight upwards angle on the wings really tops it all off

I too am glad you stuck with it and finished it, the model deserves it and you deserve the praise!

[Lipko]

Thanks for the comments on potential winning, but if I want to be honest to myself, the project was too ambitious for the contest. It would be stupid to blame the post office. If other contestants had spent that amount of time I did, winning wouldn't have been that sure... (I'm pretty sure I screwed up the tenses)

Edited March 14, 2019 by Lipko

[1gor]

Mate, this one is the most realistic plane that I have seen so far, despite that I really like @Rudivdk's P-38.

You is so smooth and without holes... It is great that you decide to finish this model despite the fact that your project was actually screwed by parts arrival

[Rudivdk]

9 minutes ago, Lipko said:

If other contestants had spent that amount of time I did, winning wouldn't have been that sure...

Guess we'll never know... but it's a fact that your plane as it now is is a really really great MOC. Posting it here after the contest means it does not have to share the spotlights with 10+ 'similar' builds, and that seems fair to me.

[KD123]

Nice creation, great functions and looks.

[Didumos69]

This has come to a great finish! Well implemented function and a joy for the eye. I can now understand it was more important to finish it the way you had in mind than to finish it in time for the contest. Sometimes builds turn into a creative necessity rather than just a creative design.

It would have competed well with @Rudivdk's entry.

[braker23]

Awesome plane! I love the color scheme, overall looks and especially the functions, which are more than you can ever want, in a plane of that size. Congrats, you built a winner MOC 

[agrof]

Well worth the wait, top notch level, as it was expected from You Máté! 

Thank You for sharing it. 

[steph77]

Excellent MOC!

Great achievement and Worth the wait.

There is a little thing that hurts me, it is the size of the main landing gear wheels. Wouldn't it be possible to grow them up a bit?

[Lipko]

Thanks for the comments!

44 minutes ago, steph77 said:

Excellent MOC!

Great achievement and Worth the wait.

There is a little thing that hurts me, it is the size of the main landing gear wheels. Wouldn't it be possible to grow them up a bit?

Yup, it would be, but I didn't have proper wheels (and didn't want additional weeks of delay), though it may decrease the space for the wheels in retracted state. Maybe a minor redesign of the way the wing is mounted would be needed. I searched for many reference pictures and some of this sort of aircraft do have very small wheels. I guess these are not designed to land on grass...

There are other compromises too, for instance I'm not too satisfied with the movement range of the ailerons. I think it's acceptable but I would have been happier with a differential aileron setup. I literally tried over 20 versions for the linkages but either was too flimsy, the central position was off (in central position the surfaces should point slightly downwards to preserve the wing shape) or the range was small. I had to stop somewhere...

[Rudivdk]

1 hour ago, Lipko said:

There are other compromises too, for instance I'm not too satisfied with the movement range of the ailerons. I think it's acceptable but I would have been happier with a differential aileron setup. I literally tried over 20 versions for the linkages but either was too flimsy, the central position was off (in central position the surfaces should point slightly downwards to preserve the wing shape) or the range was small. I had to stop somewhere...

I know that feeling, and I've seen the same for other contestants as well... I have the same issue with my control surfaces, and still not entirely satisfied (my ailerons are not pointing downwards enough in centered position, although range is good). Non of it is fool proof when it comes to building it, it takes alligning the teeth on the gears involved and tweaking the length of the linkage axles to get the movement just right.

"Acceptable" is indeed the only correct word here... Still, it made for an excellent building/MOCcing experience, and I really enjoyed all the tweaking and the endresult it provided. And that's what this hobby is all about after all right?

[bekesizoltan]

Amazing!

[suffocation]

Stunning work, both in looks and functions!

[nerdsforprez]

Wow.  I equally really like this build and love that you took the time to produce some cutaway shots.   Wonderful looks, but even perhaps better functions.  Job well done.

[KirTech LAB]

It's a masterpiece!!! Photos without body are very impressive!

[MajklSpajkl]

Hard to say more than members before me, amazing job indeed.

[saabfan]

What a wonderful creation!

[Shiva]

Best technic plane I have seen.

[Anio]

This is really a nice model.

Very good looking, very nice flow all over the craft, and well engineered features. Not to mention the playability which is excellent too.

You achieved a smart build by using Lego elements in a very effective way, resulting in a optimised design.

 

The only small suggestion I would do is using 2 flexs for the front windscreen (one on the left, one on the right). I can see why you used only 1, as it make a nice line from the side view. But it looks a bit odd from other points of view.
Two flexs would give a better result I think.

 

Hope to see more MOCs from you in the future. :)

[Hibernvs]

On 3/14/2019 at 2:16 PM, Lipko said:

I want to release the 3D file for the model but I have no idea when I will be able to work on it.

 

How’s the model coming along? I’d love to see how this masterpiece works.

[Lipko]

On 9/12/2020 at 5:57 PM, Hibernvs said:

How’s the model coming along? I’d love to see how this masterpiece works.

Hi, thanks for the interest! Only a few hours of work missing, but I find it impossible to find these few hours nowadays...

[coffee]

Man,

you soo need to submit this to ideas.lego , they really need this in their plane lineup. Or at least I'm happy to give you a few buck for the instructions! I even created this eurobricks account to encourage you!

[GerritvdG]

Very impressive indeed!