Yet another Trophy Truck - MOC | Work in progress

[keymaker]

Hi,

I have bought Buwizz 3.0 and two Buwizz motors and decided to put them to test. I choose Trophy Truck. Model is still work in progress, so any suggestions are welcome, especially related to the colour of the body. Some parts of the car I am happy with: front bonnet, front lights and grill and what is underneath them, roll cage, but some I am not so sure: bull bar shape, rear looks a bit unfinished to me compared to front, rear shock absorbers (yellow) are a bit too hard, but on the other hand black ones are too soft and saggy. What do you think I can do to improve this model and what colour choose (only original Lego parts) to make it shine in crowd? :)

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by keymaker

[GerritvdG]

Nice, that's a lot of power. I like colors like orange or lime in combination with black or some stickers, or maybe blue? The rear is ok, I think it should look like that.

[MajklSpajkl]

Oh my,... that's just brutal... Is thereanything left of the tires?

[keymaker]

2 hours ago, MajklSpajkl said:

Oh my,... that's just brutal... Is thereanything left of the tires?

They look fine, minimal signs of worn out. But after playing with those Buwizz motors I can say I understand why TLG abandoned this kind of motors. They ARE powerfull and other parts - plastic elements of the drivetrain or any other parts, which ultimately always hit floor/wall are no way near to be able to withstand conditions which are created by those motors.

Edited September 19, 2021 by keymaker

[Rebel_Lego]

Maybe for the rear schocks use two black or lbg ones?

I think the rear looks fine, and I'm curious to the performance

[2GodBDGlory]

2 hours ago, MajklSpajkl said:

Oh my,... that's just brutal... Is thereanything left of the tires?

I've got some 30mm tires with brutal tread wear, but haven't had problems with larger ones, personally.

18 minutes ago, Rebel_Lego said:

Maybe for the rear schocks use two black or lbg ones?

I think the rear looks fine, and I'm curious to the performance

I assume you're using 9398 (95292c01) yellow shocks on the back? If so, I think the older yellow spring from the 8466 (2909c02)  could be a bit softer, though it is expensive.

[keymaker]

28 minutes ago, Rebel_Lego said:

Maybe for the rear schocks use two black or lbg ones? 

I think the rear looks fine, and I'm curious to the performance

Unfortunately no place for additional two shock absorbers. In case of driving performance of the model itself, you can see some on the video. In case of suspension performance itself, I need to prepare some video to show it, it would be better than describing it.

 

12 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I assume you're using 9398 (95292c01) yellow shocks on the back? If so, I think the older yellow spring from the 8466 (2909c02)  could be a bit softer, though it is expensive. 

You are right, 95292c01. Those 2909c02 are out of the reach for me.

As I am playing with paint job, some monster energy vibes:

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow it's amazing how powerful and fast it is!

[MikeTwo9398]

Very nice looking and fast riding Trophy truck.

When I looked at the video the back axles seems to bend through (at 2:09)

This might cause more damage to the crossaxles. I would strengthen the rear axle so it doesn't sag.

I have made a Trophy truck aswell (based on Madoca1977 Baja Trophy Truck) and yes with the buggy motors the axle started to worn out after a while.
I geared it down to gain more control of the car and gave it more power to drive over rough terrain.

[Zerobricks]

I'd suggest you redesign the rear axle to the motors are flipped to face each other and use the stronger hubs to hold the wheel to reduce bending and possibility of the wheels falling off. I'd also extend the rear axle's ball joint as far as possible forward to reduce the hopping effect when accelerating. Other than that well done!

[keymaker]

18 hours ago, MikeTwo9398 said:

When I looked at the video the back axles seems to bend through (at 2:09)

Right? I noticed it to, but I am not sure what is the reason. Because there is only a little bending even when rear suspension is fully compressed (and remember there are hard yellow shock absorbers there). Check the photo:

18 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

I'd suggest you redesign the rear axle to the motors are flipped to face each other and use the stronger hubs to hold the wheel to reduce bending and possibility of the wheels falling off. I'd also extend the rear axle's ball joint as far as possible forward to reduce the hopping effect when accelerating. Other than that well done!

Decision about direction of the motors was made at the very beginning of the design. If it was the right one or not, I am not entirely sure. Model is still work in progress, I was managed to eliminate most of the bending in rear axle (check the photo above). But as I havan't tried this other way of placing motors, but I will. It can be interesting if I will be able to come up with better design, because this one above has many advantages. The risk of wheel falling of is addressed by using parts 4185 insiade (rear) and outside (front and rear). They do the job. In case of moving ball joint to the front, I tried this way, but resigned (too much length of the frame, too heavy rear bridge).

I would also wish to give credits to great designer @rm8, who designed very capable trophy truck couple years back. Rear axle, shock absorber mounting points and rear part of the frame are based in his creation, yet modified and improved by me. At least in version I presented above, which doesn't have to be the final one if I manage to achieve better results with different placement of the motors.

I believe I should also share some (briefly ofc) story behind my MOC. It is WIP topic after all.

I started from this monstrosity:

Then I designed solid rear axle. It was too long and too heavy:

I improved it. I made it stiffer, lighter, stronger:

And then put it to the whole frame:

But after all I wasn't satisfied with this state, tired of the model and I almost abandoned the project. After a week or two I decided to check, how more talented designers dealt with this type of cars and came across RM8s model. I was so impressed that I used his design in rear part of the car, try it out extensively and started to redesigning, addressing problems I find out. Present state of rear axle (presented in action in the video and photos) is this:

I do not know where I will finish with this one, but definitely RM8's model helped me out to come back to working on this MOC, thank you!

Edited September 20, 2021 by keymaker

[Igor1]

The project is really interesting and I really like the front of the truck, but the rear arches made of corrugated tubes do not look very good. To be honest, I don't like these tubes at all when modeling anything - looks like a cheap garden hose. It seems to me that it would be better to use some suitable arches or flexible axles as in the front. I would also like you to provide a place to install two BuWizz 2.0 to power the BuWizz motors. As BuWizz 3.0 is still rare and very expensive.

As for the rear shock absorbers, you can try to play with the place of their installation. Then the lever and stroke will be different, thus the stiffness of the softer springs may already be enough. And of course you can use the slightly softer 2909c02 shock absorbers, but unfortunately they are rare. The most important thing is that the shocks is correctly installed so that its stem does not bend during compression. Then it will work in any case, even if the spring is stiff.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Igor1

[keymaker]

44 minutes ago, Igor1 said:

I would also like you to provide a place to install two BuWizz 2.0 to power the BuWizz motors

This is not a problem, inside the cab there is place for two or three Buwizzes 2.0. The problem is that Buwizz 2.0 do not work with C+ line, so you need to redesigne front axle or put C+ battery box next to Buwizz 2.0 - which also is not a problem - there is place for that. All you need is to remove driver seat and steering wheel.

[Igor1]

@keymaker Cool! For me personally, redesigning the front axle will not be a problem, there is even interest in this. But you could also initially make the PF servo replacement less of a problem for other users. But these are just wishes. Of course, if you would not like to go back to using PF electrics, then this is your choice, which I also respect. Buwizz 3.0 in this regard should be a very compact solution, given the fact that it has 6 ports. It's a pity that it is not yet fully supported by third-party applications such as BrickController. It's the matter of time. It also seems to me that the popularity of Buwizz 3.0 will not grow immediately, as many people already have Buwizz 2.0 and even SBrick.

P.S. I really like this scale that you have chosen. I definitely want to build your trophy truck already! In the near future I will most likely order Buwizz motors and your moс is another reason for me to do this.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Igor1

[keymaker]

@Igor1 Thank you! In case of redesigning front axle. It shouldn't be a big problem, because I used C+ L motor and PF servo is not so different. Only connection points need to be adjusted. I very like PF and I won't resign from using them. Main reason behind creating this MOC was to test new Buwizz motors. And as they are power hungry, I decided to use Buwizz 3.0 (which I also bought along with motors). I was forced to use C+ L motor because two reasons: only C+ ports available on Buwizz 3.0 unit (motors took PF ports) and range of motion in steering mechanizm - half a stud to right and to left (but I perfectly know that this can be adjusted on PF servo when using for example Buwizz 2.0).

And yes, such fast models desperately need some possibility to use physical controller. I am not able safely control this car with touch screen. I know that Buwizz 3.0 is expensive, but I believe it not the problem to replace it with Buwizz 2.0. I simply wanted to test motors and prepare my first really fast model.

[keymaker]

Working on this project gives me a lot of joy, and thanks to your advices, it develops into something much better that it was at the beginning. Thank you @MikeTwo9398, @Zerobricks, @Igor1 and others!

Update:

- rear axle is completely redesigned, now it is very stiff, zero bending, wheels are supported on hubs, axles is only for power distribution and whole module is made in the style of the rest of underside of the car, on minus: it is a bit heavier and ground clearance is worse (I totally aware of the fact, that I overdid with panels in rear axle, added some dead weight, but... I like how it looks now and how it match the rest:) )

- rear arches are changed, now they look way better in my opinion

- front arches are slightly changed to meet style rear ones

- mounting points of rear shock absorbers are moved to the front of the car, angle is changed so whole suspension should be softer, more bouncy

- rear section of the frame is redesigned to meet new rear axle

- slight changes in the back section of the body

- bumpers madness :D (please share opinion which you think is best looking)

To do:

- still color scheme need to be determined

- using portal hubs in rear axle is very promising, need to prepare version with better ground clearance and some gear reduction options available (but I am still not totally convinced to using gears in drive train for those motors)

And some bumpers models, is there anything good?

[2GodBDGlory]

That rear axle does look nice and tough, and also good for sliding over obstacles without getting stuck.

My favorite bumper would be #2, but if you could combine it with #3 it might be even better!

[Igor1]

Bumpers 2 and 4 look stylish without overlapping the beautiful grille. I don't think that this type of car needs a bumper guard at all, but if you do, then something small from the bottom. All the same, the appearance of the muzzle of the car in itself you managed to do well. It looks aggressive. The bonnet edge is perfectly fit - the look of the car is expressive. And the radiator grill turned out to be very realistic, let Lego see what can be used instead of stickers. All other bumpers with such nostrils turn the buggy into a piggy or a wild boar. But number 6 is missing fangs.

But again, I don't really like arches in this loxlego style, to be honest. Would you render arches with flex axes only, please? Just to see, as the first version of the front arches was not bad.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Igor1

[Bartybum]

On the contrary, I prefer bumpers #1 and #3. #3 is *chef’s kiss*, and #1 would be better if it were lower by about half a stud

Edited September 24, 2021 by Bartybum

[MurlosTehnik]

1, 3, 7 

[Hrafn]

I like bumpers 2 and 4 the best, but 3 is good too.  2 and 4 don't block the view of the angry "face" formed by the headlights and grill.

As for color scheme, how about black with a white stripe or two down the middle to make it resemble a skunk?

[Zerobricks]

I'd go with the number 3, it's simple and not too much stuff in front.

[keymaker]

21 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

My favorite bumper would be #2, but if you could combine it with #3 it might be even better!

Here you go :D

21 hours ago, Igor1 said:

I don't think that this type of car needs a bumper guard at all,

You are right. When I researched for ideas for a bumper or bull guard I find out, that most of models do not have them, and they look aggressive even so. The problem with my model is that from the siede it looks like this:

A bit "toothless" I would say. I really don't want to lose aggressive look of this front you mention. Most my efforts are concentrated to get aggressive look which will harmonize with speed this construction can achieve. But I was able to come up with some options without bumper:

or with very little bumper:

21 hours ago, Igor1 said:

All other bumpers with such nostrils turn the buggy into a piggy or a wild boar

Totally agree xD

21 hours ago, Igor1 said:

But again, I don't really like arches in this loxlego style, to be honest. Would you render arches with flex axes only, please? Just to see, as the first version of the front arches was not bad.

No problem:

[MajklSpajkl]

Front arch definitely better with flex axles, rear one too, but could need a bit of a tweek, the gap seems quite big between the flex axle and the body.

Great work on the iteration! Looking forward to see more.

Best regards,

Miha

[Bartybum]

I think the open gaps in the bodywork when just using the flex axles are fine. Too much obsession with closing up bodywork - what you have now keeps that Lego charm just right