Lixander`s lodge - W.I.P.`s and MOC`s

[Lixander]

I tinkered at the REVii to fit into it a ”conventional” steering system and also modified the rear-wing attachment points and the majority of the rear suspension frame.

Plus, I redone the batteries hub frames too. 

The bodywork isn`t changed too much, it has just some small rigidity updates on the inside, so it wasn`t needed any 2nd render with the truggy from the rear.

Side note: I put the Studio file for the 2x servo-motors version on the Bricksafe page of the model .

Edited February 7 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I tested a little the REVii in a small parking lot........aside that the 5L liftarms which holds the top and bottom front suspension arms pop-out, at harsh shocks or at high-speed and tight corner the wheels come out from time to time and the pretty limited battery-life, everything was good.

I use 3x MouldKing 4.0 hubs (yup, with 3x remotes; if anybody is curious, I will show you the remote set-up, which I think it is user-friendly), but one of the hubs powering 2x motors was fully drained after about 15-25 minutes of running in which I drove at least 350 m (around 1148.30 ft).

Surprisingly, the front-links from the motor to the wheels and the steering had no problems. I took the model out with the 1.55” RC tires I put on the Trophy-truck.

Anyway, the top-speed of the model was about 13 km/h (around 8 mph). I expect to get at least 15 km/h (approximately 9.30 mph) in a bigger space.

 

Edited February 8 by Lixander

[2GodBDGlory]

Wow, three remotes coupled! I am curious! I don't think I've ever seen anyone run that many buggy motors from multiple low-power sources, so nice job!

[Aurorasaurus]

Nice work! Out of curiosity, do you know how much a MK 4 port unit weighs? Perhaps you could go faster with more power to weight. Regardless, 13km/h is still pretty quick and not to be scoffed at.

[Lixander]

9 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Wow, three remotes coupled! I am curious! I don't think I've ever seen anyone run that many buggy motors from multiple low-power sources, so nice job!

Thanks. I will return with a photo with the remotes.

7 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

Nice work! Out of curiosity, do you know how much a MK 4 port unit weighs? Perhaps you could go faster with more power to weight. Regardless, 13km/h is still pretty quick and not to be scoffed at.

I really don`t know the weight of a MouldKing 4.0 hub as it isn`t found anywhere, so I put my food scale into function.........it shows 53 g (1.86 oz) for a fully charged 4.0 hub (just the hub).

But 4x buggy motors on 1x hub it doesn`t sound too good, especially when 1x BuWizz 3.0 has an official limit of 2x buggy motors, so I really can`t reduce the number of MouldKing hubs. Also, now I am wondering if 2x BuWizz 2.0 or 3.0 will be enough for this model.

But in any case, thanks ;)

 

 

Edited February 9 by Lixander

[Aurorasaurus]

45 minutes ago, Lixander said:

But 4x buggy motors on 1x hub it doesn`t sound too good, especially when 1x BuWizz 3.0 has an official limit of 2x buggy motors, so I really can`t reduce the number of MouldKing hubs. Also, now I am wondering if 2x BuWizz 2.0 or 3.0 will be enough for this model.

My general rule and what most people seem to follow is a buwizz 3 can run 2 buggy motors at full power and a buwizz 2 can run 1 at full power reliably and 2 if youre super duper careful. With buwizz 3 you would also have to swap to a C+ L motor for steering. In my experience, after the firmware update, a buwizz 3 runs 2 buwizz motors completely fine and never cuts out. You just need to be a bit grown up with your driving, which took me a little bit. Gentle throttle and such. Hope this helps :)

[Lixander]

35 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

My general rule and what most people seem to follow is a buwizz 3 can run 2 buggy motors at full power and a buwizz 2 can run 1 at full power reliably and 2 if youre super duper careful. With buwizz 3 you would also have to swap to a C+ L motor for steering. In my experience, after the firmware update, a buwizz 3 runs 2 buwizz motors completely fine and never cuts out. You just need to be a bit grown up with your driving, which took me a little bit. Gentle throttle and such. Hope this helps :)

It helps a lot, don`t worry. So, for the BuWizz 2.0 I have to put a 3rd hub :/

[Aurorasaurus]

1 hour ago, Lixander said:

It helps a lot, don`t worry. So, for the BuWizz 2.0 I have to put a 3rd hub :/

And you cant use C+ motors.

With such a large model the buwizz 2 would really be struggling, buwizz 3 is really the only good option imo. Or maybe two MK 6 ports, but I dont know how good they are from personal experience.

Edited February 9 by Aurorasaurus

[Lixander]

40 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

And you cant use C+ motors.

With such a large model the buwizz 2 would really be struggling, buwizz 3 is really the only good option imo. Or maybe two MK 6 ports, but I dont know how good they are from personal experience.

I see. I will continue to search for a solution for putting the BuWizz 2.0 in the REVii.

Most likely I will add a 3rd hub if it works theoretically at least. 

Edited February 9 by Lixander

[Aurorasaurus]

Why do you prefer buwizz 2.0 over buwizz 3.0? I know buwizz 2.0 is cheaper but 3 of them is roughly the same as two buwizz 3.0s, but with IMO reduced performance and functionality.

[Lixander]

42 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

Why do you prefer buwizz 2.0 over buwizz 3.0? I know buwizz 2.0 is cheaper but 3 of them is roughly the same as two buwizz 3.0s, but with IMO reduced performance and functionality.

I would prefer the 2.0 because of the price and the connections, as you said. I don`t expect to use any PU motor in the ”medium” future and in Romania the currency is a little ”weaker” than the euro (take the price in $ or in euro`s and multiply it by about 4,90).

So I don`t own any BuWizz electronic and I ”avoid” buying any because I tend to be harsh with the models I make and also I tested some RC hobby-grade electronics on some of the buggy-motors I had and all of them (3x motors) got fried and I am still thinking on putting hobby-grade RC electronics in my models (I still have to figure out a way to transfer the power of the RC motors to the wheels within a budget that doesn`t need breaking a bank)..........so paying 380 euro`s (that is about 1950 RON in Romania) on 4x BuWizz motors and 2x BuWizz 2.0 hubs is clearly not a good choice for me.

Don`t get me wrong, I am aware that the BuWizz electronics are superior than the ones I use and would really like to own some BuWizz motors and 2.0 hubs, but the way I test my models sometimes, the price and the budget I have, it really makes BuWizz ”out of my league” :/

Edited February 9 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I managed to took a photo of the remote @2GodBDGlory

This is how it looks like:

The ”M1” and ”M2” horizontal remotes represent the ones that need to be connected to the motors hubs (1x hub for 2x motors) and the vertical ”ST” remote is for the steering, needing to be connected to the hub with the servo. The servo-motor should not be put on the usual D channel, but on C or on the A channel. The D channel is usually for the steering because that channel can not be bind to the others. The buttons at the top of each remote are made for binding A and B or A, B and C channels.

Edited February 9 by Lixander

[2GodBDGlory]

So you just have to manually press both drive buttons at the same time?

[Lixander]

1 hour ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

So you just have to manually press both drive buttons at the same time?

Yup, but it is not that hard compared to the first remote set-up I had on the first truggy. In there, the 3x remotes were parallel and the bottom one was the steering one.

I am used to controlling 2 remotes (it is quite easy too, just have to get the hang of it) because I usually put at least 2x MK 4.0 hubs into the models, if there is enough space.

[Lixander]

I managed to make the REVii`s body-work shorter, but the digital renders will look off because there are some angles that are hard to reproduce and some lift-arms that seem to collide.

I got off the model 100 g (3.52 oz) by making it shorter and also made a rear-wing that looks a little better and it is cheaper but heavier with about 10 g (0.35 oz). Anyway, now that it is shorter, the body-work touches the front-frame and it tilts backwards because of that, but it is hard to reproduce that, as I said, and in Studio the body-work collides with the chassis because of that.

I will see what I can do about that ://

Also I reached almost 14 km/h - 13,94km/h more exactly (8.70mph - 8.65 mph) in the last test-run, but the smartwatch had a bug and didn`t managed to record the run in the app (yup, for measuring the speed and the distance I use a smartwatch on the bicycle training mode).

Edited February 11 by Lixander

[Aurorasaurus]

25 minutes ago, Lixander said:

Also I reached almost 14 km/h - 13,94km/h more exactly (8.70mph - 8.65 mph)

yup, for measuring the speed and the distance I use a smartwatch on the bicycle training mode

14 is good for such a heavy beast!

For measuring speed I use a cycplus g1, available on aliexpress for quite a reasonable price. Sometimes it takes a minute to connect to a satellite if you're standing still, but overall its a really good product, especially for the price.

[Lixander]

32 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

14 is good for such a heavy beast!

For measuring speed I use a cycplus g1, available on aliexpress for quite a reasonable price. Sometimes it takes a minute to connect to a satellite if you're standing still, but overall its a really good product, especially for the price.

Thanks for the tip and for the kind words!

Also, the speed is decent for a 1kg Lego model, but still I am not fully satisfied with the speed of the REVii, as I believe I can make it even faster. But I am really pleased with how its suspension turned out.........the REVii driving over bumps is a pure delight to watch; I will make a video when I will take it out again. Moreover, the model drives quite easily over grass and large obstacles, such as those roadside bricks.

Edited February 11 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I managed to find a solution so that the shorter body-work will stay at a straight angle - raised the rear connection of the bodywork with the chassis. Also I made some small improvements on the chassis too. Plus, I already added the new wing.

[Lixander]

The REVii is on Rebrickable!

I improved a little the rear frame some days ago and today I tested the last version.......it got around 16 km/h - 15.95 km/h to be more exact (10 mph) when getting down a small hill, but on flat ground it almost got 14 km/h (8.70 mph), as I said before. 

Edited February 17 by Lixander

[Lixander]

Also, here is the photos and videos from the last test run - https://bricksafe.com/pages/Lixander_A./truggy-revii/test-runs

 

Edited February 17 by Lixander

[Lixander]

Today I modified a new small chassis, based on the Small 4x4 chassis made by KucMocs. I replaced the L motor with a buggy motor and the Lego battery with a BuWizz 2.0 / MouldKing 4.0 hub.

But I don`t have all the parts to test it and also it is so small that I can`t make a body-work for it. And anyway, I think I can`t make it rigid enough for the power of the buggy motor, so I will just leave it in the archive.

You can find the Studio file on my General archive on Bricksafe, in case you want a better look or to mess with it.

 

Edited February 19 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I am thinking for some while if I should do a 2x motors version of the Beach buggy that I managed to finish in the summer of 2023.

But after a while, I decided to do it.........so here is how it should look. I still need to test-build it, but I will do that after I take the REViI for a run at least one more time and then finish the replica of the Tamiya BBX BB-01.

Edited February 21 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I skipped everything else and went directly to test-build the 2x motors version of the Beach buggy. The main issues were at the rear, where the suspension was too saggy and had a small travel. The sag was reduced with adding another 2x pairs of shocks (thus replacing the pneumatic cylinders), but the small travel is something I couldn`t find a solution for now. So I had  to lower the front too by modifying the position of the shocks (and this means that the small pneumatic cylinders were removed).

The majority of the original model was kept, as just the back was built from scratch.

I will return these days with some other renders or photos, I will see.

Edited February 24 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I made some photos....you can see the HD ones on the Bricksafe page of the 2x motors W.I.P.

Edited February 25 by Lixander

[Lixander]

I updated the Studio file.........but as I didn`t managed to test-run it, I am still reserved in making the instructions public. My biggest concern is that it would lean on its back too much while speeding, as I had problems with the suspension because most of the weight is at the rear-end.

Also, while the Studio model showcases 2x pairs with 2x hard 6.5L shocks for each pair, I tried and I still use 1x pair of extra-hard 9.5L shocks. There is no big difference in using the bigger shocks , just the price, as the suspension is just a little higher. the number needed of shocks is smaller and as I mentioned price: it is around 6-7 times higher for one of the bigger shocks :/

That is why I kept the pairs of small shocks in Studio.

But anyway, here are the last renders I made........hopefully these will be also the final ones.

                                                                                                                                        

Edited March 2 by Lixander