Cessna 172P

[Feuer Zug]

The Cessna 172P is not always about the hottest, fastest, or coolest aircraft out there. They are know for training many pilots. This aircraft was created to commemorate a first solo. Built to have one minifig in the cockpit, the larger size allow for more detail such as the landing gear, lights, and hinged flaps, ailerons, and elevators. The new road plates make for great runways too.

[icm]

That's one of the best Cessna 172 models I've ever seen.  The runway is nice too.  Do you have a Flickr account so I can conveniently "fave" the photos there?  Better yet, are any instructions available?  I would love to build this myself.

I did about a dozen hours of flying lessons a few years ago, but I gave up partly because I was too short to reach the pedals and see over the instrument panel without great difficulty even in the tiniest of training aircraft, the Cessna 152 :(

[Jerac]

This photo has a sound :D

Great recreation of a great little plane!

[AColtsFan]

Sorry about your shirttail...

Really love this--the articulated control surfaces are a very nice touch!

I've often wondered about a solution to the main-gear fairings on these smaller light pistons (such as the SP has, setting it apart from most earlier versions of the 172) that's workable at minifig scale.  I've been struggling with it on a Piper Cherokee Dakota, which has a low wing and landing gear struts coming directly from it; it'd be even more difficult on the 172.

[Jerac]

2 minutes ago, AColtsFan said:

Sorry about your shirttail...

Really love this--the articulated control surfaces are a very nice touch!

I've often wondered about a solution to the main-gear fairings on these smaller light pistons (such as the SP has, setting it apart from most earlier versions of the 172) that's workable at minifig scale.  I've been struggling with it on a Piper Cherokee Dakota, which has a low wing and landing gear struts coming directly from it; it'd be even more difficult on the 172.

Hmm I see two approaches here.

First, considering the wheel is mostly hidden within the failring, would be simply building the fairing and just hinting at the wheel with a black tile or an ingot on the bottom. They wouldn't turn, but perhaps this would not be a big deal?
Another I can see is using those hollow bricks:

For sure there is a tyre which would fit here with enough friction to stay there, and then you can finish off the top and front with some curved slopes.

[AColtsFan]

What's the part # for those bricks?  I didn't even know they existed!  That said, I'm not a fan of the modern jumper plate undersides, seeing it on full bricks just makes me nervous.

Also, I kind of got ahead of things anyway--for some reason I read the topic as saying it was a 172SP (technically a 172S on the cert, but it's marketed as SP) rather than 172P (which doesn't have the fairings).

Edited June 30, 2022 by AColtsFan

[Feuer Zug]

Based on feedback from the pilot, the Cessna 172P has been modified. The radio antenna on top of the cockpit has been added, along with the fuel caps over the wings.

[/url]Cessna 172P LEGO fueled IV by alpha tango, on Flickr

22 hours ago, icm said:

That's one of the best Cessna 172 models I've ever seen.  The runway is nice too.  Do you have a Flickr account so I can conveniently "fave" the photos there?  Better yet, are any instructions available?  I would love to build this myself.

I did about a dozen hours of flying lessons a few years ago, but I gave up partly because I was too short to reach the pedals and see over the instrument panel without great difficulty even in the tiniest of training aircraft, the Cessna 152 :(

Thank you. I do have a Flickr account, and have left the URL in with the most recent update. I don't have instructions for this MOC. I do all my building on the workbench, nothing digitally. I will note the bottom of the tail, and the underside of the cowling from the propeller to the struts is inverted. I used the trans-clear angled pieces from the superhero collectable minifig sets to build the landing gear.

21 hours ago, Jerac said:

This photo has a sound :D

Great recreation of a great little plane!

Thanks.

20 hours ago, AColtsFan said:

Sorry about your shirttail...

Really love this--the articulated control surfaces are a very nice touch!

I've often wondered about a solution to the main-gear fairings on these smaller light pistons (such as the SP has, setting it apart from most earlier versions of the 172) that's workable at minifig scale.  I've been struggling with it on a Piper Cherokee Dakota, which has a low wing and landing gear struts coming directly from it; it'd be even more difficult on the 172.

It was fun trying to recreate the control surfaces at this scale. I gave up on the rudder early and went for the one piece design, but it took me a while to give in and only do partial ailerons.

Due to the connection of the wheels to the angled pieces, the main wheels don't rotate on this model. Depending on how particular you (or the recipient) are, you could fake it. Maybe have a round 1x1 plate at the bottom of the wheel fairing and call it the tire.

[Toastie]

On 6/29/2022 at 8:53 PM, Feuer Zug said:

The Cessna 172P is not always about the hottest, fastest, or coolest aircraft out there.

Could be, I don't know, no clue.

BUT: For sure, your MOC is the hottest and coolest aircraft, resembling the 172P! What a nice model - fantastic!!!

All the best,
Thorsten

 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Very nice model ...very similar to the real one!
I also like the section of the airstrip on which the model is displayed

[Feuer Zug]

13 hours ago, Toastie said:

Could be, I don't know, no clue.

BUT: For sure, your MOC is the hottest and coolest aircraft, resembling the 172P! What a nice model - fantastic!!!

All the best,
Thorsten

 

Danke. There don't seem to be many Cessna MOCs around, but it IS the most produced aircraft in the world. Funny how that goes.

6 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Very nice model ...very similar to the real one!
I also like the section of the airstrip on which the model is displayed

Grazi. I did my best to make it accurate for the scale. And as mentioned (and seen in GBW), the road plates are highly versatile. Roads, airstrips, docks, bunkers, and more.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

A one seater, very nice.

[firefabric]

Ok that is really nice! You have managed to get the proportions correct and I think that's one key point in any Lego model to make it look "right", regardless of the complexity of the building technique.

This definitely looks "right", I especially like the landing gear and wing strut designs. One observation though, to me it actually looks exactly like a Cessna 152 instead of a 172, especially in the 2nd picture in the first post (of course they look very similar so this can easily represent either).

 

 

[Feuer Zug]

@firefabric Thanks. I went for the "look" to be "right" on my Cessna 172. After looking at some C152 pictures, I can see they are extremely similar. It's almost like the C150 is a smaller copy of the C172. The pillars between windows are about the only differences visually. With a small modification to the aft cockpit section it could become a C162 pretty quickly too.

On 7/2/2022 at 4:37 PM, Viper Knight said:

A one seater, very nice.

Thank you.

[firefabric]

This is not significant but interesting nonetheless to look at the details... I think for me the main reason for this resembling C152 more is because of the windshied/engine cover (hood) area is proportioned exactly like in a C152. C152 is a significantly smaller aircraft than C172, so the proportional height/size and the rake of the windshield matches the C152 exactly. In a C172 the windshield looks smaller and the hood bigger in proportion. Also the top of the hood in this one is straight from the side view (like in C152) and C172 has a bit of a sloped down hood. And a C152 almost never has wheel pants (covers) whereas C172 almost always does.

All that aside, this is the best GA/Cessna model I have seen, I have actually considered making something like this myself every now and then, but wrote the idea off thinking it will never work with Lego... Well done.

[Feuer Zug]

18 hours ago, firefabric said:

All that aside, this is the best GA/Cessna model I have seen, I have actually considered making something like this myself every now and then, but wrote the idea off thinking it will never work with Lego... Well done.

Many thanks. I looked at first to see if there were any Cessna models out there and was surprised at the lack of them.

I was given two pictures of the Cessna 172P to work from. I started with the windscreen as the basic size reference and worked from there. The rest is sized to "look right". If it is more C152 than C172, it is. The recipient is happy with it (once I added the radio and fuel caps.)

As for the lack of wheel pants, the C172 in question is at a flight school. Probably easier not to have the wheel pants on with students.

[Brickwolf]

Great plane!

[Feuer Zug]

20 hours ago, Brickwolf said:

Great plane!

Thank you.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

You're welcome.

[dignow]

That little guy would be a great addition to any city airport!

[Feuer Zug]

3 hours ago, dignow said:

That little guy would be a great addition to any city airport!

Thank you. It's not much bigger than most LEGO small aircraft, and would be great for general aviation. Might look a big outsized against some of the LEGO jet airliners.