Car transporter scale cars - MOCs - 3rd MOC now added!

[NRE]

I've been meaning to put some background info on here for a while for a few of my 42098 scale cars - both MOCs and Mods of official sets that are to the correct scale. This week I've given one of the cars a front end facelift (I was never completely happy with the original) which has spurred me on to start this topic. 

I'll post each one up at a time, with a few days in between, to give people chance to comment!

First up is the (facelifted) V6 supercar - here goes!

A V6 turbocharged supercar built to fit the 42098 Technic Car Transporter, featuring double wishbone suspension front and rear. This was a challenge to package at this scale, the front suspension in particular called for an interesting asymmetric building technique! 

Also includes fairly unique 'stealth HOG' steering - can you spot it? ;-)

The body design was was mainly led by my limited supplies of red Technic panels, but has aspects of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Audi from different angles.

Features:

• Double wishbone suspension front and rear
• Rear wheel drive including floating differential design
• V6 micro engine with intake and exhaust details, plus twin turbos
• Dihedral doors
• Opening bonnet and engine cover
• Detailed rear diffuser
• Stealth HOG steering - easy to mod to use a cog or wheel if you prefer!

Instructions for the both V1 and the 22MY facelift version are available here!

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by NRE
Update

[brickhead_07]

Looks really nice! Great that you were abled to put suspension inside. Looking forward to see more in this topic!

[johnnym]

2 hours ago, NRE said:

Also includes fairly unique 'stealth HOG' steering - can you spot it? ;-)

Wow, that was not easy to find. I stumbled upon it when inspecting the rear and at first didn't thought it was the steering "knob" but instead wondered, why the left black bionicle tooth isn't fixed in its position. I wondered what you could have used there, 2L axle with pin or black 4L axle but the first felt unusual considering the remaining construction of the car and than it seemed clear.

Beautiful car and design and the facelift is especially appreciated. And lot's of functionality, suspension being my favorite. So happy to see it on EB, too. Hoping for the AWD sports car soon.

[NRE]

Thanks for the comments.

Well done @johnnym for spotting the stealth HOG, left it with a bit of steering applied to help give a clue ;-)

It's actually not very playable using the bionicle tooth to be honest, but makes for an unusual feature.

I'll take that as a request for the AWD sports car next - watch this space!

[jorgeopesi]

Awesome car, for its size one the best I have ever seen.

[johnnym]

56 minutes ago, NRE said:

Well done @johnnym for spotting the stealth HOG, left it with a bit of steering applied to help give a clue ;-)

It's actually not very playable using the bionicle tooth to be honest

Well, I assume it's much better usable as is than the exhaust end of my HamEx which you need to extend using the steerring knob, unless you have very strong finger tips.

56 minutes ago, NRE said:

I'll take that as a request for the AWD sports car next - watch this space!

Great!

[Void_S]

Wow, that's really a diamond in a scuh limited scale. 

Since we have more and more 42098-Transporter comptible models, will it worth to have some common tag for them, for ones who wants to see all the possible cars which could naturally* fit here?
Like "TC18", or "42098-compatible", so a simple click on it will open all the compatible models.

* I mean the vechicles which can normally roll into/over the Car Transporter with no tricks, wheels removal, etc. Like TC18 restrictions were.

[alpinesman]

Yes ! Great idea, it would be great to list all the vehicles in this scale.

[Jurss]

Best car in this scale I have seen.

Would be good to have closer look on front and rear suspensions.

[NRE]

13 hours ago, Void_S said:

Wow, that's really a diamond in a scuh limited scale. 

Thanks - I have really enjoyed the challenge of packing technical features into cars at this scale. The official Lego models (Corvette and the blue car from 42098, my mods to which will be included later in this thread!) are not that feature-rich, so I wanted to try and pack suspension, opening doors etc into my MOCs if possible.

36 minutes ago, Jurss said:

Best car in this scale I have seen.

Would be good to have closer look on front and rear suspensions.

Thanks again! So, onto some extra details on the tight packaging I had to come up with for this car...

Front suspension was challenging to keep low enough for a supercar bonnet line, and took quite some time to come up with a solution which worked. The shocks are driven off the top wishbone using T-shaped liftarms, with the left and right shocks positioned asymmetrically so that they overlap in the front view. The steering is also unusual in that it does not use a steering rack as such, but is driven by a linkage.

The rear suspension uses the fairly standard solution of a floating diff to package wishbone suspension at this scale, but is packaged with a central 'spine' which coincidentally looks rather like the typical transmission housing for a mid engined supercar which makes for a rather neat powertrain and rear suspension module. Fitting in the steering link through to the rear of the car was a major challenge, the UJ sits really tight to the 2 16t gears that drive the engine, and the steering shaft also acts as the pivot for the left hand upper suspension links. I feared that the loads from the suspension would create friction in the steering shaft, but the inclination of the shocks seems to counteract this well, and the steering is smooth even when compressing the rear suspension.

 

[Jurss]

55 minutes ago, NRE said:

Front suspension was challenging

Thank You!

[sirslayer]

Holy moly!!   I love building and creating  in that small scale!! It’s beautiful, the rear engine detail is top notch and very cleaver design!!   Best in class.. 

[Gray Gear]

Amazing functionality in such a small package! Awesome!

[Hrafn]

21 hours ago, Void_S said:

This is really great.  Thanks for sharing the suspension details, it is a very clean build in this scale.

As for terminology, TC18 is a little cryptic, but specific; I have seen it called mid-scale as well.  I too wold like a common term for it as I am working in this scale as well.

[NRE]

13 hours ago, Gray Gear said:

Amazing functionality in such a small package! Awesome!

 

12 hours ago, Hrafn said:

This is really great.  Thanks for sharing the suspension details, it is a very clean build in this scale.

Thanks for the comments!

[Jundis]

Truly, this could have been a winner car for TC18!

Can you show the underside? I am unsure how you did the rear drivetrain... there seem to be not enough space for CV or universal joints?

[letsbuild]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:45 AM, NRE said:

I'll take that as a request for the AWD sports car next - watch this space!

Looks like we'll be in competition 

[NRE]

35 minutes ago, letsbuild said:

Looks like we'll be in competition 

Mine is already built rather than in development!  More details next week...

Look forward to your finished 959...

Edited March 24, 2022 by NRE
Update

[NRE]

16 hours ago, Jundis said:

Truly, this could have been a winner car for TC18!

Can you show the underside? I am unsure how you did the rear drivetrain... there seem to be not enough space for CV or universal joints?

Thanks for your positive comments!

At this scale one solution is to use a 'floating diff' design with only 2 universal joints on the axle, and then a third joint between diff and engine. This way the diff can move up and down with the suspension. Although it is not geometrically correct (relies on tolerancing between parts) in practice it works very nicely. It does require you to be careful that the diff doesn't catch on any parts as it can move and twist relative to the chassis. Hopefully this image helps to show the drivetrain setup (including the steering shaft routed through to the rear):

 

[NRE]

Note: Facelift version instructions now on Rebrickable!

[Zerobricks]

Very well and compact solutions, impressive indeed.

[NRE]

16 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Very well and compact solutions, impressive indeed.

[_TLG_]

Cool shaping, nice features!

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Very compact engine and suspensions ...amazing!

[NRE]

20 hours ago, _TLG_ said:

Cool shaping, nice features!

 

2 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Very compact engine and suspensions ...amazing!

Thanks for your positive comments!