[TC18] VW Rally Car

[Surffikoira]

Hey guys! First time posting let alone participating in a contest on this talented forum. After all the amazing entries started dropping in I felt my limitations as a Lego builder and almost chickened out. 

Theme

Ever since the disappointing Top Gear Rally Car I wanted to build a proper rally car with the white fenders. I started to build the VW Polo WRC but after a while didn't feel my representation was authentic enough to use the model name. Especially the fenders and the short overhangs gave me problems which could've possibly been solved with flex axles by a better builder but I really wanted to use those white fenders.

Functionality/design

I'm not a great Technic (or a car) mechanic so no fancy suspension or gear box. Here was my checklist starting out:

• Working steering wheel and HOG
• Fake engine (no moving parts)
• Openable hood
• Openable doors
• Openable trunk
• Slight incline on the sides
• Roll cage & spare tire
• Room for driver and co-driver minifigs

Pictures

Update: I updated the chassis (no diff, added suspension) and the body color scheme

Rest of the new pictures are in the comments.

----

Old pictures:

I'll be taking better pictures for the entry, but here's what I got so far:

Chassis and body broken down. There's still things to do with the roll cage and miscellaneous tuning but I'm pretty much there.

 

Fake engine. I have a pretty hazy image of what actually happens under the hood so no claim to realism. The yellow bit especially is just for show 

 

Hood closed. Took me a while to figure out how to keep the hood as wide as possible while still mounting the fenders and keeping the inclination.

 

Side view without paneling. The hard part was tilting the body while keeping the doors openable. In the end I used the roll cage side bars for the tilt: despite relying a lot on friction it's pretty sturdy as is but can be reinforced with a crossbar on the side.

The front mounting points are a bit of a mess.

 

Side view. I tried the roof in white but in this case it just looks better black. The blue, black and LBG highlights come from the WRC Polo R. Unfortunately my selection of blue parts is really limited.

 

Rear view. Still some work to do there.

 

Everything opened.

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited May 9, 2020 by Surffikoira

[Gray Gear]

It looks pretty good, bit I wonder...Whats the point of the rear Diff if there is no working fake engine?

[Surffikoira]

Just now, Gray Gear said:

It looks pretty good, bit I wonder...Whats the point of the rear Diff if there is no working fake engine?

Thanks! Well originally I was going to leave the differential out to keep things cleaner but there's been some talk about better playabilty with it so I'm not really sure.

[Gray Gear]

Well, as far as I see there is no point to connect the wheels to anything, not even to each other, when they are not driving andything/being driven by anything. But at least the diff looks cool 

[Jurss]

Nice looking car.

Maybe then it is really better to create really fake differential also. And additional something that looks like full drivetrain, that is visible from bottom.

[Surffikoira]

Thanks guys, I'll lose the differential 

[Surffikoira]

Work on the chassis: ditched the diff, added a REALLY simple suspension & a fire extinguishing system, reworked the safety frame and changed colors a bit (I'll be going with a more traditional and aggressive white, red and black combo on the body). 

Not very realistic I know, but a bit of fun I hope.

[agrof]

OH, yes! I love what I see. 

[Surffikoira]

@agrof Thank you, I really appreciate it! 

Here's the body with the new color scheme. I also tried out some stickers from the 42109 on the other side. What do you think, with or without them?

(Forgot the 2x1 liftarm from the front on this side)

[agrof]

I would say, almost there. You must do something with the roof, the A-pillars are too short, the C-pillars are too long. Try to move the roof along it's radius backwards at least by 1 stud.

[captainmib]

This is looking great.

I agree on the roof, the A-pillar needs some extension.

[Surffikoira]

@agrof @captainmib Thanks for the help guys, your assessment of the pillars was spot on! It's funny how blind you get to your obvious design mistakes after a while  

I extended the A-pillars by one stud and shortened the C-pillars a bit and it does look a lot better, I hope. What do you think? 

I'm not super happy with the way I had to secure the roof to the safety frame in addition to the C-pillars, but it seemed like the path of least resistance and my brain is scrambled (couldn't resist adding that silly STIG sticker to the spoiler).

 

[AMX]

It now looks great 

[agrof]

Now, this looks spot on! 

I would love to have such an official set. Do You have plans for instructions?

[Lakop]

I like your car. A great entry. Instructions would be nice or more detailed chassis images.

H

[Surffikoira]

On 5/10/2020 at 8:15 PM, AMX said:

It now looks great 

 

On 5/10/2020 at 8:27 PM, agrof said:

Now, this looks spot on! 

I would love to have such an official set. Do You have plans for instructions?

 

On 5/10/2020 at 10:30 PM, Lakop said:

I like your car. A great entry. Instructions would be nice or more detailed chassis images.

H

 

Thanks everyone! It flatters me that there's interest in instructions 

Unfortunately this is my first proper Technic MOC and I've never done instructions before. I'm also not sure if my build quality would be up to snuff with all the angles and offsets going on.

I did do some structural tuning to the cockpit and the boot area. Here's some quick photos of the chassis, I'll be taking better entry photos at the office tomorrow.

The cockpit is pretty stripped as in rally cars usually. There's pedals, gear stick, handbrake, shielded display for the driver and footrests for the navigator.

 

I managed to simplify the rear bumper mounting, stabilize the fire extinquisher and add a sticker fresh from the 42111.

This is the source of my greatest shame: the steering rack mounted under the chassis. I tried to mount it on top, but in the back it interferes with the hood mounting and in the front it interferes with the engine. I thought I'd use the old 3x1 rack with steering links but ithat was 2 studs too wide. So I hid my shame. But all crimes must see the light of day eventually. I also tried to do a fake rear differential but I think I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Surffikoira]

Alright, took some better photos (product photography is hard!). Next is entry post time. Thank you all, it's been a fun experience! 

 

[falconluan]

wow, the throttle and brake pedals are very well made at the small scale like this.

[ArsMan064]

This is amazing!

[letsbuild]

This is awesome! 

Are you thinking of making instructions? If not, I'll go ahead and start reverse-engineering the bodywork.

[Silvavasil]

The Best!

 

[steph77]

One only function+direction, as many other participants get gearbox, complex suspensions, and sometime more.

This is not suffisant for this contest.,...It is just perfect!

I wouldn't beleve i'd say that but i must admit that your car just pop-up between all other ones for me.

Well done.

Edited May 17, 2020 by steph77

[Lipko]

2 hours ago, steph77 said:

One only function+direction, as many other participants get gearbox, complex suspensions, and sometime more.

This is not suffisant for this contest.,...It is just perfect!

I wouldn't beleve i'd say that but i must admit that your car just pop-up between all other ones for me.

Well done.

I feet the same.

[Surffikoira]

On 5/16/2020 at 5:21 PM, falconluan said:

wow, the throttle and brake pedals are very well made at the small scale like this.

 

23 hours ago, ArsMan064 said:

This is amazing!

 

21 hours ago, letsbuild said:

This is awesome! 

Are you thinking of making instructions? If not, I'll go ahead and start reverse-engineering the bodywork.

 

8 hours ago, Silvavasil said:

The Best!

 

Thank you all! I'm afraid there won't (probably) be any instructions as I've never done that before and time is an issue.

 

7 hours ago, steph77 said:

One only function+direction, as many other participants get gearbox, complex suspensions, and sometime more.

This is not suffisant for this contest.,...It is just perfect!

I wouldn't beleve i'd say that but i must admit that your car just pop-up between all other ones for me.

Well done.

 

4 hours ago, Lipko said:

I feet the same.

 

Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it!

[ipe4kin]

It's one of the most beautiful models with new lego technic arches i've ever seen!

good luck! awesome model!

Edited May 18, 2020 by ipe4kin