[WIP] Race Buggy

[JLiu15]

I have been busy the past few months, so I have not had much time to build despite much larger MOCs sitting at 95% completion. It was difficult to get things rolling again as I had not planned any MOCs for a long time. With Brickworld Chicago just over a month away, there wasn't much time to plan anything major especially with a 6000-piece MOC nearly complete. There's a number of things I've been wanting to try for the past few months, and one of them is the new elements from the 42160 Audi set. The new hubs from the set are perfect for double wishbone independent suspensions requiring heavy duty CV joints, and the tires are a great fit for any off-road vehicle.

Since acquiring two RC buggy motors I've only configured them to drive a single wheel/track each and never with a proper drivetrain, so for this MOC I decided to do that - the drivetrain consists of two RC motors placed with their inner outputs connected, and drive is connected to a differential before going to the rear wheels. I've also thought of doing a 4WD setup, but figured it would overcomplicate a vehicle designed primarily for speed. The use of a proper drivetrain also means I can connect a piston engine to it - an inline 4-cylinder fits perfectly into the space in the rear, and because I went with clear engine blocks the pistons' movement is visible from all angles. When I tested it, the pistons move very fast as there is no gear reduction from the RC motors' output.

I decided to go with a dark blue color scheme for this model as it's a color not commonly used in Technic and I have a good amount of dark blue pieces from the 42083 and 42154 sets. I've also considered red, but since I have just made a trophy truck MOC in red last summer, I figured it was too soon to go with red again. I also wanted to keep the design here unique and not look like a copy of my Azure Racer XL MOC from a few years back, but there are already plenty of internal differences as this MOC has a double wishbone rear axle and a piston engine in the rear. I'm looking forward to how this MOC performs - it has a piston engine connected to the drivetrain like my original Azure Racer but also has full independent suspension. It'll be interesting to see for sure.

If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know.

Photos:

[Lixander]

Looks good until now, good job!

Also, it resembles a little with the Caterham 7 for me :)

Edited May 2 by Lixander

[gyenesvi]

I like the dark blue color scheme, looks nice so far. One thing about connecting the piston engine to the fast output of two coupled buggy motors; I've tried something like that, and found quite a bit of plastic powder in the pistons afterwards.. So I won't do that again :) Lubricating pistons isn't a way to go either.

[JLiu15]

4 hours ago, Lixander said:

Looks good until now, good job!

Also, it resembles a little with the Caterham 7 for me :)

Thanks!

2 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I like the dark blue color scheme, looks nice so far. One thing about connecting the piston engine to the fast output of two coupled buggy motors; I've tried something like that, and found quite a bit of plastic powder in the pistons afterwards.. So I won't do that again :) Lubricating pistons isn't a way to go either.

Thanks for the warning - guess I'll have to be careful lol. Especially with these being the clear engine blocks.

[JLiu15]

I've also been debating on alternate rim colors - besides black rims, I've considered gray and gold rims. Which option (black, gray, gold) do you guys think is best? Thanks!

Black rims:

Gray rims:

Gold rims:

[gyenesvi]

Grey looks best to me, then black. Maybe red? Goes with the springs, especially if you add more red accents..

[Paul B Technic]

Very cool, I love the colour of this.

[Jurss]

White rims?

[NV Lego technic]

The Golden rims are a perfect match with dark blue, although they are quite rare.

[JLiu15]

UPDATE 5/16/24

The model is essentially finished with just over 800 pieces. Thanks everyone for the input on the rims - initially I decided to switch to gray rims but in the end went back to the original black rims. I'm still debating on adding PF LEDs to the model (for front and rear lights) - power shouldn't be an issue as I can keep them off when requiring full power for the RC motors, but not sure how manageable the extra wiring will be.

After putting on the wheels, the suspension turned out very well with a large amount of travel and is not too soft or hard. There are a number of modifications from my original Stud.io model, most notably the rear wing which has been changed to a simpler and more robust design. I've also changed the front hubs to the older design with integrated towballs for a more robust design.

Photos:

[Lixander]

Looks good!.........even better than the Studio screenshots (in my opinion).

I am curious to see it in action.

[JLiu15]

7 hours ago, Lixander said:

Looks good!.........even better than the Studio screenshots (in my opinion).

I am curious to see it in action.

Thanks! I also felt it looked better IRL than in Stud.io.

[Jundis]

What a cool thing! The dark blue and the tires are perfectly selected :-)

[JLiu15]

1 hour ago, Jundis said:

What a cool thing! The dark blue and the tires are perfectly selected :-)

Thanks! It's a great color and I love that it's used more in Technic now (e.g. the 42154 set)