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After four years of on-and-off work, I completed my first 1:8 Technic car, a detailed Lexus LC500 powered by Mindstorms EV3.

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Why Mindstorms EV3? The project started before I purchased a BuWizz 2.0 along with PF motors, I also wanted to build the best car I could with EV3, as it first got me into Lego Technic almost 7 years ago.

After those previously mentioned years of on-and-off, which were for designing the chassis, it took five months to make the exterior, as close to the real car as possible.

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The LC500 EV3 has opening doors, hood, and trunk, working steering and drive with working steering wheel and paddle-shift* 4-speed gearbox, retractable "Performance Package" spoiler controlled by a medium motor, full independent suspension, fake detailed V8 engine with moving pistons, DNR shifter, adjustable front seats*, rear seats, functioning glove box, and custom stickers.

*Special thanks to @Jeroen Ottens for his great DB11 instructions! Greatly helped with the chassis, front adjustable seats, and paddle shifters.

 

The LC500 EV3 is more of a display model than ideal RC car (due to popping cv-joints in the differential and stressed motors due to weight) so I decided to keep it as is.

More pictures on Bricksafe: https://bricksafe.com/pages/StudWorks/lexus-lc500-ev3

Thanks to the EuroBricks community for helpful feedback along the way.

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First of all: props for the video! The cut from the car at the beach with calming presentation music to dead silence exept the whining of the motors with the car going comically slow gave me a good laugh :grin: (I am very sorry if this cut was not intentional, but I thought it was very funny. I don't want to offend you :innocent:)

I followed the progress of the car you posted here on EB, and I always thought the combination of EV3 drive and a working transmission was very ambitious for the first 1:8 car MOC. Making a 1:8 car RC with working transmission that works well and drives fast too is a very hard thing to do. I am not sure I could do it myself. So do not be discouraged.

Main issue for me is the EV3 stuff sticking out the rear window. That doesn't look nice, but I am sure that's not something I have to tell you.

The bodywork so-so for me. The side view isn't bad at all, and I really like the transition in front of the rear wheel arch. 

The front is good i'd say. I would suggest to use some gray in the headlights as well to give them some more visibility

But the rear is really not for me. What bothers me most is the system assembly at the bottom. Looks like a plastic piece on a passat or sth with fake exhausts on it.

 

Overall I think this is a good first try, and I bet you learned a lot while building this. 

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I think it looks quite good as the real car has quite difficult shape to replicate, but there are a few spaces which I don't like that much.

The first one that caught my eyes was the rear diffuser - it somehow seems that it doesn't below to the car while is a bit flat.

The other one is the bonnet - for me it looks strange when the curved shape of the 3x13 panels suddenly becomes flat as it goes towards the front (but I'm not that sure it'd look better if it was completely flat).

I can clearly see the rear wheelarches very similar to @Jeroen Ottens DB11, but hey, everyone needs some inspiration here and there...

Otherwise the car is nicely shaped (I like the front part the most). I'm even fine with the sensor sticking out of the back, because it's EV3 and the performance of robotic functions is also important then. 

However, I don't consider myself a good car builder (I'm always stuck with the bodywork), so please don't be disappointed when reading this, I definitely don't want to discourage anyone.

Keep having fun with LEGO!

Best regards

EDIT: I've just noticed custom stickers, which also look well, especially on brake calipers

Edited by MP LEGO Technic creations
inattention

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Pretty good representation of original complex shapes, but You need to improve bonnet hardly.

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Your car is recognizeable and deserves respect due to the amount of time and work went into it. The result is somewhat disappointing though to be honest, especially when I hear gears klicking. As a non-American car guy I despise the engine sticking out. If it´s on purpose - let it be, I can accept that. But not due to lack of space. Anyway - you don´t need to apologize for anything, enjoy it :thumbup:.

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Thanks so much for all your helpful replies, I respect your opinions about the EV3 setup. I'm looking forward to making my next car with BuWizz! :classic:

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A very impressive first time 1:8 scale car. It may be a bit unrefined in certain areas as mentioned by others (the bonnet, the rear diffusor, the EV3 elements sticking out) and maybe the area below the headlights would benefit from a more smooth transition between the side and the front, but again, for such an ambitious project it is really not a bad first try I think.

Keep up the good work, live and learn.

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Overall it looks good. I really like the orange color with the black and gray details. However, EV3 is just such a pain to work with in Technic models - you can really tell that the components are made for robots and nothing else. The components are bulky and difficult to conceal, and I guess it was pretty much inevitable that the IR sensor had to stick out. Despite having gotten the 31313 set shortly after its launch, I haven't used EV3 in my MOCs much for this reason - that they are just so difficult to integrate into vehicles that aren't robots. In fact, I'm thinking of selling my EV3 components in the future, especially as I now have Robot Inventor which is much easier to integrate into Technic models.

You'll have a much better experience with BuWizz + PF for sure. Those are made with Technic models in mind, not some bulky robots.

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@JLiu15 I agree. I built this model in the beginning before I got a BuWizz 2.0, so that and the nostalgia is why I made it an EV3 car. If you asked me, I don't think you should sell your EV3 components, EV3 robotics are still fun today. I bought another EV3 set because I liked EV3 so much, I just didn't know I'd end up making mostly BuWizz cars (I really want a 3.0 and the new BuWizz motors!), but I'm keeping the other EV3 stuff anyways. :classic:

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22 hours ago, StudWorks said:

@JLiu15 I agree. I built this model in the beginning before I got a BuWizz 2.0, so that and the nostalgia is why I made it an EV3 car. If you asked me, I don't think you should sell your EV3 components, EV3 robotics are still fun today. I bought another EV3 set because I liked EV3 so much, I just didn't know I'd end up making mostly BuWizz cars (I really want a 3.0 and the new BuWizz motors!), but I'm keeping the other EV3 stuff anyways. :classic:

Yeah you can still do some pretty interesting stuff with EV3 that works well for a Technic build. I made a crane in 2020 which has an automated distribution gearbox whose position is determined by a touch sensor. Wonder how you controlled the gearbox on your model.

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