[MOD] Koncept Mantis - Free instructions

[astyanax]

 

===== 2020-05-17 UPDATE =====

New acceleration and racing footage! Finally after 2 months of corona lockdown it was possible to go out and record better the speed of this vehicle!

 

===== 2020-04-29 UPDATE =====

Free building instructions are now available on Rebrickable!

 

===== 2020-04-23 UPDATE =====

I've published a little video of my physical build.

There's a little acceleration test at the end, but more racing footage could not be shot yet, due to the lockdown where I live.

And yes, my apologies to the purists who don't like painted parts... When built in orange, 90% of the parts can come from set 42056 (the Porsche 911 GT3 RS).

Building instructions are virtually complete, currently being reviewed by the original designer of this beauty.

 

===== ORIGINAL TOPIC =====

Please allow me to grab your attention first:

SamBellCar-23 by R. Skittle, on Flickr

I fell in love with this creation upon seeing it featured on http://www.thelegocarblog.com and resolved to build it for myself. I succeeded in doing so using the photos from R. Skittle's flickr album, and a few kind hints from the designer himself. I've even given the model a speed upgrade: with 4 PF L motors propelling less than 1700g, it's blazing fast!

Moreover, I built a virtual model in LDCad (.ldr), and with the designer's express approval already granted, I'd like to have a go at making and sharing building instructions. This is the first time for me. :)

Now my request: I'd love to hear any experience, pitfalls, and hard lessons you've learned trying to produce high-quality PDF building instructions! Any and all pointers are welcome.

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by astyanax

[KD123]

Congrats on reverse engineering this and doing it the right easy.  IMO most people would be more than happy with photo instructions.  Good luck

[astyanax]

4 hours ago, KD123 said:

Congrats on reverse engineering this and doing it the right easy.  IMO most people would be more than happy with photo instructions.  Good luck

Thanks! In fact I constructed the virtual model first, in order to verify my understanding of the model's construction, and to get me a parts list for ordering missing pieces. 

I'm not a great photographer and I already have the virtual model anyway. I've seem some beautifully rendered instructions by others, and I'm interested to learn how that's done. I'm scouring the web for resources on that front, but any further hints and pitfalls are greatly appreciated!

[emielroumen]

I would love to see instructions, PDF or photo, and am willing to pay for them! I prefer manual control, no electronics.

Edited March 15, 2020 by emielroumen
Manual vs. motorized

[Rudivdk]

Have you also built the model in real life? I see you are using LDCad. What I always do is disassemble the reallife model in small steps. Every few parts I take off, I put in a 'step' in LDCad. When you take off a subassembly, put that in a step inside a submodel in LDCad and do the part by part stepping inside that submodel. So you can get your entire stepping done. Then load the 'stepped' file in LPub3D and watch the magic happen

I always edit a lot in LPub3D afterwards as well, just to make it look pretty. See here for an example .mpd file with LPub3D code in it, and here (scroll to bottom) for the resulting instructions after LPub3D editing.

Be sure to also snoop around in the digital building sub-forum here on EB, lots of useful info over there.

Good luck!

Edited March 15, 2020 by Rudivdk

[amorti]

That looks beautiful, congratulations!

I'd love to build it, especially with 4* L motors.

[astyanax]

On 3/14/2020 at 7:40 PM, emielroumen said:

I would love to see instructions, PDF or photo, and am willing to pay for them! I prefer manual control, no electronics.

Although I sunk quite some time into reverse engineering the model, it doesn't feel right to charge money if it's not my design. HOG steering should be easy to mod, given that the model is pretty much empty if you take out the motors and batteries, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding space.

 

On 3/15/2020 at 9:11 AM, Rudivdk said:

Have you also built the model in real life? I see you are using LDCad. What I always do is disassemble the reallife model in small steps. Every few parts I take off, I put in a 'step' in LDCad. When you take off a subassembly, put that in a step inside a submodel in LDCad and do the part by part stepping inside that submodel. So you can get your entire stepping done. Then load the 'stepped' file in LPub3D and watch the magic happen

I always edit a lot in LPub3D afterwards as well, just to make it look pretty. See here for an example .mpd file with LPub3D code in it, and here (scroll to bottom) for the resulting instructions after LPub3D editing.

Be sure to also snoop around in the digital building sub-forum here on EB, lots of useful info over there.

Good luck!

Great, this is a very useful pointer! I installed LPub3D and that looks like magic indeed. I'll be playing with that for a while...

 

On 3/15/2020 at 9:20 AM, amorti said:

That looks beautiful, congratulations!

I'd love to build it, especially with 4* L motors.

I'm planning to shoot a video showing how fast the model is. For that I need to go outside and find a flat surface. Both are hard right now here in the Italian Alps...

In the next few days I'll post an inventory so that interested people can check ahead for missing parts.

But if you own set 42056 (the orange Porsche), you'll have 91% of the pieces already!

[LegoTT]

These are very beautiful shape with few panel, way better than official lego !

[emielroumen]

11 hours ago, astyanax said:

Although I sunk quite some time into reverse engineering the model, it doesn't feel right to charge money if it's not my design. HOG steering should be easy to mod, given that the model is pretty much empty if you take out the motors and batteries, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding space.

 

 

Agree that the original designer should be supportive :) keep us posted please.

[astyanax]

Update: still working on the instructions; progressing slowly but surely.

Even in case of utter failure to produce step-by-step instructions, I can resort to publishing the virtual model as is, so anyhow I'm positive y'all will get something to build!

With that in mind, let me share with you the inventory: Rebrickable parts list

If you're eager, you can check already if you have enough parts, and start ordering otherwise.

For your convenience, here the list of parts used by the Koncept Mantis that are not in the orange Porsche: Inventory minus set 42056. As hinted in the topic title, the overlap is 90%

This inventory does not include any power source (I'm using 2x BuWizz, which is needed for getting 'ludicrous' speed), but there's enough space in the cockpit for battery boxes and IR receivers.

In the next few days I'm also planning to share some photos of my physical build. And later also a video of how it drives.

Edited April 23, 2020 by astyanax
updated hyperlinks

[Raymonndo]

This looks fantastic!

[astyanax]

(first post updated with video)

[Aleh]

Hey! Just watched the video - the whole look is antastic! Model is so shiny - have you used only new lego parts, especially panels? 
Does this suppose to be a LMP car?
Doesthe  car contain 1205 parts only???

btw - 1000th post!!

[amorti]

Outstanding model. I love a nippy Lego RC, and that certainly is one! Looking forward to building it.

[astyanax]

1 hour ago, Aleh said:

Hey! Just watched the video - the whole look is antastic! Model is so shiny - have you used only new lego parts, especially panels? 
Does this suppose to be a LMP car?
Doesthe  car contain 1205 parts only???

btw - 1000th post!!

I only emerged from 25 years of Dark Ages in 2019, so I have a bunch of non-shiny Technic from the nineties, plus a bunch of rather new Technic gathered over the last year.

According to the original designer, it's "Inspired by the Vanda Dendrobium and the Hyundai N2025 Vision GT".

And yes the car contains only ~1200 parts. Basically, it's the powertrain from @Madoca 1977's brilliant Icarus supercar, covered in a bunch of the largest Technic panels available, making it (almost) comparable in size to the orange Porsche (set 42056). There is no interior. The only "gimmick" is the airbrake. Despite all the power functions it weighs less than 1700 grams. So yes, when you send 12V through those 4 L motors, the acceleration is something to behold.

 

 

 

[astyanax]

Free building instructions are now available on Rebrickable!

Thanks again to @Rudivdk for pointing me toward LPub3D, which did the job.

[Rudivdk]

Nice, I'm happy I was able to help. Instructions looking very good! I have over 98% of the parts already, so I'll give this a go sometime

[MegaRoi]

You got my attention with the first pic! Thanks for sharing the instructions for free for this beauty.

The only thing I have to mention are the painted parts. The original color scheme was quite good and now it looks a bit to shiny to me and has the appealing of a copy cat, rather than an encouraged MOC.

However, I have to build this, because I think it would push the quality of my exhibited models.

[astyanax]

1 hour ago, MegaRoi said:

You got my attention with the first pic! Thanks for sharing the instructions for free for this beauty.

The only thing I have to mention are the painted parts. The original color scheme was quite good and now it looks a bit to shiny to me and has the appealing of a copy cat, rather than an encouraged MOC.

However, I have to build this, because I think it would push the quality of my exhibited models.

You are right of course. Especially the chrome rims are overkill haha! Personally I just like shiny things, what can we do...

But fear not! The inventory & instructions on Rebrickable are using the original orange & black parts from set 42056 (the Porsche 911 GT3 RS).

[astyanax]

I just realized that, with a small recoloring, one can turn the Mantis into a Lobster....

I'll show myself out...

[Rudivdk]

10 minutes ago, astyanax said:

I'll show myself out...

 

[Jim]

I have taken the liberty to edit your first post with the lobster picture, and I have featured the topic (it will be frontpaged).

2 hours ago, astyanax said:

I'll show myself out...

[astyanax]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

I have taken the liberty to edit your first post with the lobster picture, and I have featured the topic (it will be frontpaged).

Awesomeness! Many thanks for taking that liberty, this is a great honor! 

[Jerry McGlade]

So cool!

[nerdsforprez]

Oh this is a beautiful build.  Well done!  And given that I have 42056 (which I do not like all that much) I will have to built this. 

But, forgive me, the acceleration footage looks to me that it is all downhill.  Significantly.   Please tell me I am wrong...