Audi R8 Spyder RWD - 42083 B model

[Porsche96]

Audi R8 Spyder

Specifications

Length/width/height: 71s / 29s / 18s (57/25/25 cm)

Scale: 1:8

Weight: 2293g

Parts: 2701

Features

Front and rear independent suspension
4-speed sequential gearbox
Working V10 engine
RWD
Steered wheels by HOG
Working steering wheel
Convertible roof
Openable doors, hood and engine bay
A suitcase in the trunk

Recently, a lot of alternative models have been created, so I decided to make mine :)

I bought the 42083 in last year. I am big fan of automotive and supercars, so for me it was obligatory. After building the main model, I thouht that it would be cool to build something else. I set myself few goals: use only the parts from the set, improve the suspension and transmission (in Chiron it doesn't work perfect), reproduce reasonably realistic look and make a working convertible roof.

At the beginning, I was building the Lamborghini Huracan. I built the chassis and the rear part of bodywork, but when I started building the front it was really hard to model it. In the Huracan the front nose goes really low, with a large angle from the bonnet. With using Chiron's mudguards there was a huge hole between them and the nose. It wasn't looking good, so I decided to make a different model. I haven't had to think long. Lamborghini Huracan and Audi R8 are quite similar. They belong the same group, both have V10 engine and similar dimensions. I started the building of Audi this time from the front, it looked quite good, so I was continuing the building of Audi R8. Here are some WIP photos.

The car has steered front axle, by using the HOG with working steering wheel. There is no AWD, so the steering radius is quite good.

In the front and in the rear there is independent suspension, in both based on liftarms 1x7. This is due the fact that with longer wishbones there is bigger leverage and the suspension is stiffer. For this reason too, there is no Quattro transmission, short wishbones used in Chiron create too little leverage, and trying to extend them ends up with a colission of the inside part of the wheel with the wishbone.

Under the fake V10 there is a gearbox with "only" four gears. This is due to use the driving rings as a exauhst tips and maximum lowering of the V10 to place above it the roof. In my opinion more gears doesn't make sense, beacuse in 8-speed gearbox you can't see the difference in rpm of the pistons between next gears. The gears are changed sequentialy by a lever in the middle tunnel. In the mechanism there is a lock to prevent shifting from 1st to 4th gear and vice versa. The system of the gear change works on similar principle as in other MOCs of supercars - Charbel's McLaren 720s or T-Lego's Lamborghini Centenario. I think that this placing of the lever is better to use than the paddle shifters, esspecially that there is no roof.

I think that the best feature is the convertible roof. Designing appropiate geometry of movement of the roof and engine cover was quite a big challange. I started the work from designing the movement of the roof itself, which had to avoid the seats. The next problem was the engine cover, which firstly had to move while opening the roof, and secondly I wanted to make it openable to show the engine bay. At the end I had to synchronize both movements so that the both elements do not block each other. The roof and the engine cover slide out with using some links, built from liftarms and connectors. The whole convertible roof mechanism took me above two weeks.

While building it was important to me to replicate the details well. In the interior there are pedals, air-conditioning and at the driver's side a wall in the middle tunnel. In the real Audi R8 Spyder you can not look inside the engine bay, there is only a little cover at the end of the car, where are the basic fluids. However, I made openable rear cover to show the fake V10. I tried at my best to build the engine bay, and under the rear cover there is even an oil plug :)

Chiron comparison.

Thank you very much to Audi Poznań Franowo ASO for the interest and allowing me to take few photos with the real Audi R8.

I am happy with this model. Despite limited amounts of parts the car is not bad. I plan to make a RC version in one color. Don't forget to watch the video!

The Gallery

Rebrickable

 

[1gor]

Instantly recognizable, love the was you made front specially 

[grego18f]

This wasn't won at the beginning because of the poor perspectives given by the set 42083, especially the two tones color. But you succeeded. The R8 lines are here, there is a détailled interior, working sequential gearbox and foldable roof. Honestly, I would have build it if didn't sell my Chiron.

[Porsche96]

Thanks :D

1 hour ago, grego18f said:

This wasn't won at the beginning because of the poor perspectives given by the set 42083, especially the two tones color. But you succeeded. The R8 lines are here, there is a détailled interior, working sequential gearbox and foldable roof. Honestly, I would have build it if didn't sell my Chiron.

Yeah, the two tones color was an impediment. After designing whole car I changed color of few elements to make it look more consistent.

[thunderl]

WOW, just wow.

Edited January 23, 2021 by thunderl

[langko]

I like it! Well done for making a B model out of the Chiron set, you don’t see much of that, for good reason too. The roof mechanism is awesome, it works very smoothly. 

I think it could be possible to make an all dark blue version by swapping out the dark azure. Most of the parts are available in dark blue. The flex hoses could easily be changed to rigid ones, and I’m sure there’s a few work around for the other pieces. That would look very good I think.

[Gray Gear]

Very good B-Model!

The side view does look a little blocky and does not really represent the lines of the real car, but the front and back are made very well! I especialy like the selector ring exhaust tips  

A 4 speed sequential transmission is not something to write home about, but what to do with 2 selector rings used up for the exhausts right? It seems to work well.

The roof mechanism is is working very smoothly and really makes the build special.

Well done, and thx for sharing!

Edited January 24, 2021 by Gray Gear

[WvG_853]

Cool that you managed to build it as a B-model. You even found the parts to create the Audi sign! This makes it much easier for others to build. To my knowledge there are not many Bugatti B-models. Thanks for sharing and for making instructions!

[T Lego]

Excellent work sir!

Considering it's a B-model, it's a fantasic rendition. You've nailed the front and rear profile views, your solutions for the head and tail lights are superb. Great functionality as well! I don't like the side view though. The top part of the front and the rear end seem too flat.

Thanks for sharing, along with the extensive presentation!

[brunojj1]

Nice Audi R8 ! An interpretation which Helge Myhre can only dream of . And thank you for sharing a bit of the background story and WIP struggles with us.

Considering the given limitations regarding colors, squarish arch panels and others, you have done an amazing job. I love all the mechanics you have managed to put in, especially the retractable roof / engine cover !

AWD would be mandatory to me which I would have never sacrificed for a better turning radius but keep the authentical basic Audi feature. I have to agree with @T Lego about the „flatness“, but only regarding the rear of the car, the front seems to be within proportions for me.

Edited January 24, 2021 by brunojj1

[trekman]

That is a nice bit of work, especially with a very constrained set of parts.  The two tone colour is a little distracting.  This is can be overcome and that is the challenge of creating a "B model".  Well done.

[LvdH]

Fantastic B model! I agree with the above that the sides are the weak point of this model, but the front and rear are fantastic. I would love to see this in a full dark azure color spec.  

[SNIPE]

Great model.

Is it possible to motorize the roof at all if I wanted to? (using a safety clutch)

Edited January 24, 2021 by SNIPE

[Porsche96]

Thank you all for the nice words :D

You are right about the side line, espesciallly at the rear. In real Audi the whole rear descends under a low angle, in mine only the engine cover. The limitation were the flat mudguards and the convertible roof mechanism, which took a bit of place.

23 hours ago, langko said:

I think it could be possible to make an all dark blue version by swapping out the dark azure. Most of the parts are available in dark blue. The flex hoses could easily be changed to rigid ones, and I’m sure there’s a few work around for the other pieces. That would look very good I think. 

Yes, you are right. I want to make a RC version in dark blue.

3 hours ago, SNIPE said:

Is it possible to motorize the roof at all if I wanted to? (using a safety clutch)

I think yes. If you remove the gearbox, there would be enough place for motors and worm gear with the clutch gear.

[DrJimbo]

Just finished building this - a really enjoyable build. 

The roof mechanism never gets old - really well-executed and satisfying.

I made a few minor modifications - put on an Audi logo and tweaked the mirrors.

And I thought the black panels were because there was not enough light blue, but then saw that the real car has this too (mostly). To me, it is ugly in the real car also, so I tried to replace with light blue. I also tweaked the doors so they catch when closed. 

Thanks for the creation!

[Celeri]

I confirm this is a great ALT for the Chiron. I have built it 3 months ago and did not disassembe it since then: it is both nice and faithful to the original car, but also very playable. The convertible roof never ceases to amaze all people I show it to  — but I am still unsure to understand fully how it works. The sequential gearbox too was an original thing for me in its implementation, and really enjoyed discovering it.

I changed a little the mirrors too, because I found them a bit too flimsy. I also found the HOG being a little too loose and strenghten it a little bit to avoid crackeling gears. Beside that, it's excellent!

[danielhstahl]

This is an excellent MOC and probably as good as it can get using only Bugatti pieces.  After having it built for a few months I started to wonder if I could improve on it from my collection of lego I had on hand.  My goals were

• 4WD
• At least 4 gears+N
• Widen to be the same width as Bugatti (this actually is more accurate to the R8's actual dimensions)

I (mostly) succeeded.  I stole ideas from many people to make this happen; almost none of the functions are my own.  Despite having more pieces I wasn't able to quite achieve the looks of the original R8.  My gearbox was too wide and the engine too far forward.  Still, I'm fairly satisfied with the result given that this is my first large scale MOC.

 

 

Having trouble uploading more pictures...here are links to more pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qr8pFMuVtpfbhqGD9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ab6ktKALaRqVtUdFA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JW4GHtjYo22fJDif7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZNoRbFBmqDJeWrHLA

Video of my 5 year old doing the convertible flip:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4TdDskTXqg4VWBxPA