[MOC] 1:16 McLaren F1

[OnyyX]

Hello everyone!

This is the Legendary McLaren F1 which was designed by myself as well as a friend interstate that had created the original model which was the McLaren F1 GTR Chassis #10r and tasked me with converting it into the road going version.

The model is super accurate, and we went through a lot of design changes to make to as accurate as possible. He wanted to add as many functions as possible and also make the car super rigid, so we kept those. The model features a fully detailed interior and engine bay as well as opening doors, engine cover and exhaust cover, complete with gold 1 x 2 grills for the gold plating.

 

Before we had begun the project, he had already done most of the car, but called on me to help him with the door hinges, as the way the F1 doors open is quite a difficult thing to replicate in Lego. 

These are some pictures of the development of the car. After the initial version, we reworked the front end to make it a lot rounder and smoother, as well as making the line across the door into a bar and used pneumatic hoses to connect them to the headlight brick. He also wanted the half windows to be done better, so he combined 4735 with the ratchet utensil to give it the angle. The last modification was extending the car by 1 stud as the scale didn't look right. A controversial design choice was to add the 1 x 1 with clips just in front of the headlights to cover up the ugly gap that was left there, if you have any suggestions on how to cover, please let me know. 

First version of the car (Pay close attention to the front of the car as well as the doors):

GTR first version:

My version:

This

Finally, I made instructions for the model, and it is available here: https://reb.li/m/91119 in RED, WHITE or BLACK (LBG wasn't available as the front wheel arches don't come in that colour, I had to paint mine.)

The instructions for the GTR version will also be available soon

This was a huge undertaking, thank you to everyone for looking, we are very proud of this model.

[Good old Lego builder]

It looks nice. I like the front and back and roof! Not entirely sure about the side?

[OnyyX]

14 hours ago, Good old Lego builder said:

It looks nice. I like the front and back and roof! Not entirely sure about the side?

Thank you, we agree! If you mean the lower doors and slopes under there, I agree. It was hard to get the smooth underbody right and that was what we settled on. The mixture of headlight bricks makes the problem worse as well. Thanks for your input.

[Brickend]

I also have to agree about the side. The F1 is not a super low car, but here it is almost touching the ground, with the sills visually sitting lower than the front and rear bumpers.

In reality the ducts emanating from behind the front wheels blend gracefully into the rear flank before the rear wheel, rather than going up and over it - have you considered using plates to capture this more subtlety than is possible with a full stud? 

[Gray Gear]

Hm. Overall the look isn't bad at all, but the side profile looks very...system. I like the details in the engine bay and interior. But there are a lot of building techniques used that look like they'll fall apart if I take a closer look. That 1x8 tile running up to the roof is connected by 1 stud only, and that stud is even connected to another single stud brick... 

Probably pretty good for a system car, but too fragile for my taste 

[OnyyX]

7 hours ago, Brickend said:

I also have to agree about the side. The F1 is not a super low car, but here it is almost touching the ground, with the sills visually sitting lower than the front and rear bumpers.

In reality the ducts emanating from behind the front wheels blend gracefully into the rear flank before the rear wheel, rather than going up and over it - have you considered using plates to capture this more subtlety than is possible with a full stud? 

Yeah now that people have pointed it out, its annoying me a lot more. Might just try and removed the slopes all together.

Hm yes I see what you mean now. Guess I really didn't take a look at that as the other builder had done that before I took over. Will definitely look into that.

40 minutes ago, Gray Gear said:

Hm. Overall the look isn't bad at all, but the side profile looks very...system. I like the details in the engine bay and interior. But there are a lot of building techniques used that look like they'll fall apart if I take a closer look. That 1x8 tile running up to the roof is connected by 1 stud only, and that stud is even connected to another single stud brick... 

Probably pretty good for a system car, but too fragile for my taste 

The sturdiness of that 1 x 8 tile was a challenge for me as I added that later on. I have since changed the plates underneath to a 1 x 1 square plate and a 1 x 2 plate instead of round ones which has made it a lot sturdier. The brick behind it is also a 1 x 2, not a 1 x 1, otherwise that would be very unstable.

Thanks for your kind words! 

[Hrafn]

The doors are a little thick and blocky, but I think you really did a great job on the front and back, and the cabin.

[OnyyX]

6 minutes ago, Hrafn said:

The doors are a little thick and blocky, but I think you really did a great job on the front and back, and the cabin.

Thank you! Yes the doors are blocky, we were going for sturdiness with this model, and the doors were very flimsy before we did so. Somehow the hinges can still hold up the weight!