[WIP] McLaren MP4-12C Spider

[starx]

Hello everyone,

I want to introduce the new project I have been working on for about the past month, a manual 1:10 scale McLaren MP4-12C Spider. I plan for the finished model to be white, but I do not have most of my collection with me in lockdown so there are a lot of working colors still. The features will be:

-Independent suspension
-Steering with HOG and working steering wheel
-Fake V8 engine connected through rear wheels
-Butterfly doors
-Convertible roof
-Raised and lowered rear wing

I am attempting to make a semi-modular chassis. Removing 8 pins and 2 axles allows the cabin + roof mechanism to detach from the rolling chassis.

Convertible roof:
This is only the folding roof and does not include the deck lid yet.

Roof mechanism

Butterfly doors:
The doors are operated through the same HOG as the steering by utilizing a distribution-type gearbox ahead of the front axle.

Butterfly doors

I would appreciate people's opinions on whether this gearbox function is worthwhile keeping, or should I simply run the doors to individual gears that will be located under the hood. Using the transmission gears does introduce significant backlash into the system, but I do like the simplicity of one external gear for all three functions, which was the original goal. Additionally do people have ideas on where the best place is to put the control gear for the roof? Somewhere on the rear of the car? If I remove the gearbox at the front I would probably be able to place that gear under the hood as well.

I have also gone back and forth on the door design. I'm very happy with the function and range of motion, but the looks don't really match the real car yet so that might require some further work.

Other comments and questions are always appreciated too! Thanks!

[Gray Gear]

Looks promising so far! I only build in 1:8, and I dont like to see a manual car modelwithout a gearbox/transmission, bit I guess that's just the 1:10 style 

The suspension setup looks solid and will easily ba able to support the models weight.

Not sure about the modular chassis idea tho... I for myself never liked the it as it is likely to introduce unnecceary weakpoints to the model.

Using the Land Rover wheels is a good decision.

Are you planning to use the wheel arches of the white 1:10 Porsche? If yes, what are you going to do about the prints?

[Jeroen Ottens]

Very interesting concept so far. Ingenious roofmechanism with the 3x5 quarterellipse. Are you going to make the movement of the decklid synchronized to the roof, or will that be operated with a separate knob?

The door mechanism looks very good indeed in terms of function and range of motion. How did you achieve that? Ideally the would be tapered inward a bit more to the rear I think. Styling of these doors is a bitch, the details are quite small in this scale and those curved lines are hard to capture.

I think that gearbox in the front is quite innovative, so I'd keep it. Maybe it is possible to reduce the slack in the system by pretensioning at least the steering geartrain. Not sure how to do that though.

I like the idea of the semi-modular chassis, but I fear the compromise on stiffness. If I had to choose between adding a gearbox and this feature I'd choose the gearbox.

 

[aniking]

It looks promising ?. Also i think you should put most your emphasis on the outer look rather than the mechanism. 

[starx]

@Gray Gear  Thank you! Was planning on using 19L flex axles for the wheel arches since I prefer those in this scale. Main reason I haven't bought the Porsche RSR is because those wheel arches are printed and therefore difficult to use. The goal for this model was to practice implementing cool features like the doors and roof, so I have sacrificed the gearbox for that. Sometime in the future these will be combined in a 1:8 model where they will all fit:)

@Jeroen Ottens Thanks! Yes the decklid will be synchronized with the roof, that is the current project. Below is the door mechanism, the black parts are attached to the door panels, the gray is part of the chassis, and the red is the input. So the orange axle rotates up and at the same time the green link rotates the door outwards on that orange axle.

@aniking Thank you! Looking forward to working on the outer look once the chassis is perfected.

[Jeroen Ottens]

That door mechanism is sweet! I might want to reuse that on one of my next cars if you don't mind.

I look forward to the synchronized lid, that is a serious challenge as well in my experience.

[starx]

@Jeroen Ottens Don't mind at all if you reuse it

I have a rather big update for this project. While redoing some scaling measurements more carefully I found that my original dimensions were off and I had to either decrease the width (and accompanying dimensions) by 2 studs to fit with LR wheels or increase the width by 2 studs to fit the Bugatti wheels. It seemed like I would sacrifice some functionality by going smaller, so this is now a 1:8 scale Mclaren MP4-12C Spider. The functions will be the same as before, but now including:
-7 speed sequential gearbox operated by a Didumos69-inspired shifter in center console
-Drive and park gears operated by push buttons in center console

I have begun a rough fleshing-out of the rear contours:

Here is the shifter along with the 2 push buttons for park and drive:

The convertible roof has also been essentially finalized, along with the synchronized deck lid:

Convertible roof

Quick question as I begin to think about bodywork: do the 42096 Porsche's wheel arches fit the Bugatti wheels? I know they are smaller than the Bugatti arches but seem to recall seeing somewhere that they still fit.

Any other comments and questions are always appreciated, thanks for looking!

 

[imvanya]

On 5/29/2020 at 4:07 AM, starx said:

Quick question as I begin to think about bodywork: do the 42096 Porsche's wheel arches fit the Bugatti wheels?

Did a quick render in Stud.io with Porsche wheels (same size), they seem to fit in the wheel arches:

The arch is 2 studs narrower than 24118, so depending on the steering geometry the wheels may or may not scrape. It is a tighter and more realistic fit, in my opinion.

Edited June 1, 2020 by imvanya

[starx]

@imvanya Thanks, I agree it looks a little more realistic