2GodBDGlory

Oh, that's disappointing that you couldn't get the drivetrain to hold up in the end! That is understandable, though. You're working with a lot of power, weight, and drivetrain complexity. Is there any way to software-limit your motors? Maybe with greater limitations you could at least have a functional model, even if it's not as fast as hoped?

Looks really good! I never really thought about looking up ideal crawler geometry, so that's really cool that you're working with that! I wonder if that same geometry is also considered ideal for scaled-down models, but I don't have any particular reason to think it wouldn't be. Yeah, I think turning the motors sideways could be a good call, and I agree that you probably have enough ground clearance. I'd also agree with @lmdesigner42 that castor angle doesn't really exist unless the axle is steered, so I wouldn't worry about that angle on the rear axle.

I really like it! LBG always makes me happy, of course, and Mazda3s are quite nice little hatchbacks, with a bit of tuner culture around them! I'd say I prefer the left(?) headlight, with both Bohrok eyes upturned. I love how the mismatched rims (for now at least), number, and maybe just unfinished look make it look like a low-budget, grassroots racecar! I do wonder about the gearing, though. Why not do a 1:3 upgearing before the differential and then skip the gearing after the differential? Wouldn't that give you equivalent speed and more efficiency? It seems that you'd have room to move the motors and O-frame forwards to make that happen

Yeah, I definitely could lock the lever into place, but the train remote is already a pretty ideal solution, since the dial will stay where it is and the position will be held by default. The only downside is that one of the other motors has to be run off that controller. I could use a locking mechanism on a normal remote's lever, but then it's burning batteries all the time

Huh, cool! YESS! I have so many MOCs sitting around just waiting for these colors to be released! /s

Yeah, programming could be a nice solution, but it would most likely require using a Buwizz, which I don't have (or using PU, which is possible but rather bulky). I think I've seen some programs that can control PF from a smart device, so there's probably a theoretical way, but not an easy one

Thanks! You're right, the plan is to use the -90, 0, and 90 positions for the three modes. That could be done by just holding a stick in position for long periods of time, but another possibility would be to use the PF train remote, since it can hold a position

Well, I have a bit more progress to show! The only catch is that this is where the progress was at as of maybe three weeks ago, and I haven't worked on it since, as my summer schedule is a bit busier than my college one, and other hobbies have been taking up my time lately. And I now want to build a Crawler MOC for our Toronto truck meetup later this summer. With all that going on, I have given up any intention of finishing this model in time for the end of the contest. However, I do still think it's an interesting model, and I do hope to finish it at some point, even if it's not until the winter! Anyways, this is the progress that I have: I finalized a lot of the base of the model, and added the scraper blade. As explained earlier, this blade is the third function below the turntable, and so is activated by pressing down on the LBG axle going through the center of the turntable, like this: After that, I started working on the distribution gearbox, but didn't get very far at all: Anyways, I probably won't be competing in this contest after all, but I just thought I might as well get my progress to date put up here!

Wow, that has nine motors! I would not have guessed that. What do they all do? I like the usage of those old small steering arms in the steering linkage

Nice work on the body! I think that was my big struggle when I made a large-scale snowmobile years ago

Great job! I've probably said it before, but I always love seeing models that have both very good aesthetics and good performance

Nice Why fill in the wheel wells, though?

Thanks! It got pretty complicated trying to make sense of all the modularity. I'd love to see you try it! If you're content with a manual version, there are instructions for that too. Thanks! I've only spent about 24 hours in Australia, but it was pretty fun seeing these on the road there Thanks! It's nice to get feedback from the builder who inspired the model in the first place! Here's a few pictures of my LC70 with your FJ40 and Hilux:

Yeah, you're putting a lot of time into your projects, and I feel like we've been watching your building skills improve very quickly!

I like the look of that! Getting 1:8 supercar wheel covers to work for off-roaders always looks really cool to me

Ooh, that's some interesting subject material, and I love how the bizarre-looking track matches the real vehicle so well!

Well, it's been a while since I posted a model on here, but I haven't been idle! What I have to present today isn't my largest or most complex MOC, but it's definitely the one with the most modularity, and definitely the one with the most complex documentation, including free instructions! So, to back up, I spent some time abroad last summer, and seeing abundant 70-series Land Cruisers over there got me excited about them all over again. I've built plenty of models of them before, but the new idea this time was to try building a modular system to allow for components to be combined to build models with any of the major front-end styles, and any of the rear bodystyles. Combined with that was an appreciation for @rm8's legendary Toyota models, especially the modular nature of his Hilux models, inspiring me to make something at a similar scale, with similar attributes. In the end, I think my models lost some of the elegant simplicity of his, with more complex and fragile bodywork, and slightly more functionality, but I guess that's just my different building style. So, In the end, I developed a system of components that allows for building: -Either manual or motorized chassis -Either 1984, 2007, or 2024 front ends -Either Short wheelbase, Medium wheelbase 2-door, Medium wheelbase 4-door, Long wheelbase, Single Cab Truck, or Double Cab Truck bodystyles -Either fixed or convertible roofs for the short and medium wheelbase 2-door SUVs -Either Stock, Tray, or Flatbed beds for the pickup trucks -Either I4, I5, I6, V6, or V8 engines for the manual chassis -Either roof baskets or roof racks for every body style -Either a basic or jerry-can-carrying rear door for the SUVs Functionality: I'll start by summarizing the functionality, then get on to the bodywork and modularity. Anyways, functionality wasn't too extreme, but I think it was respectable enough for the scale (at least the scale of the shortest-wheelbase SUV, where it was packed in! There's more room to spare when those same functions are transferred to the long-wheelbase trucks). Motorized Chassis: Suspension There is full three-link live axle suspension, with soft shocks in the front, and hard shocks in the rear. I had two longitudinal links for each axle, and one panhard rod. Steering Steering was done using a PF Servo motor through a bevel gear set running a linkage for steering. Because of the gearing, it wouldn't have been possible for the steering to center properly, so instead I set the second 12T gear at a 45° angle, and then built a small assembly for the arm that moves the steering link to make up for that 45° offset. There's also drive transferred back to turn a working steering wheel through a rubber band. In the end, the steering wasn't too precise because of the gearing and linkage, but improving it would likely have required going the unrealistic route of mounting the motor directly to the axle, which would also get in the way of the drive motors. Drive: Drive was done using two PF L-motors placed directly next to each other and hard-coupled using 24T gears (requiring one motor's polarity to be reversed with a PF switch). This fed through the transmission to drive all four wheels. In the front I used a 28T HD differential, while in the rear I relied on a fixed 12:28 gear ratio. I could have gone with open differentials all around for better indoor performance, or locked ones all around for better off-road performance, but I thought that having a mixed setup would give a good compromise between the two. Gearbox I like my models to have at least slightly more complexity than drive and steering, so I worked to include a basic two-speed transmission, shifted by a PF M-motor. It runs a wave selector through a 24T clutch gear, allowing for shifting between 1:1 and 3:1 gear ratios. Manual Chassis: Suspension The manual chassis had essentially the same suspension setup, though with soft shocks all around. This image here does do a good job of showing how the rear suspension links are lengthened for the longer wheelbase options, though: Steering Steering was also essentially the same, just without the servo motor. There was no HOG, so all steering was done through the steering wheel, which unfortunately had a rather weak 8:8 gear coupling that tends to skip, making it difficult to operate. Drive Drive was again 4WD, but this time from two open old-school 28T differentials. After going through a transmission, it could drive one of a large number of piston engine options. To my knowledge, over the real-world Land Cruiser's very long model run, these could be ordered with an I4, I5, I6, V6, or V8 engine, so I made an effort to recreate all of these engine options. In addition, I made (digital) variants of the I5 and I6 for both Kawasaki engine parts and traditional axles. Engines just drop into place, and a 20T single-bevel gear on the crankshaft meshes with the blue 12T spur gear visible above. Gearbox: The gearbox here replaced the motorized 2-speed with a manual 4-speed, with a joystick for operation. In order to get the gear selector to mesh properly when tilted, I ended up offsetting the rear mount for it downwards by half a stud, which isn't exactly legal, but works just fine in practice. Bodies Alright, lets talk about the different body styles. First of all, I built three different front ends for the rig, being the 1984 front end, the 2007 front end, and the 2024 front end. This is the 1984 one. I think it looks quite nice, but it is the most fragile. (It's not as long as the others, so fitting it over the V8 engine option made it hard to reinforce properly) This is the 2007 one. I think it looks quite a bit worse. It's hurt by the fact that I had to build it in LBG, which takes away the contrast around the grille, and made me design workarounds for the 3x7 panels in the hood that aren't available in that color. but even in proper colors I don't like it as much. I'll add a screenshot below with it in white: This is the 2024 one. I like it quite a bit as well! It's probably the heftiest front end, with a large part count and lots of detail. Now for the different body styles, of which there were a lot! This is the Short Wheelbase SUV, with the convertible roof option Here it is again, but with the roof removed and the windshield folded down. The rear glass on the doors is still there, which is awkward, but my research seems to indicate that that's how it was on the original as well. Here's that short-wheelbase one again, but with a fixed roof Medium wheelbase 2-door SUV, with convertible roof up Again, but with the roof down Medium wheelbase 2-door, with fixed roof Here's the medium wheelbase (though actually one stud longer), 4-door SUV Long wheelbase "Troop Carrier" SUV Single cab truck with base "Stock" bed Single cab truck with Tray bed Single cab truck with Flatbed Double cab truck with base "Stock" bed Double cab truck with Tray bed Double cab truck with Flatbed Modularity Notes: So, I'd like to explain the modularity a bit. Within the motorized or manual model options, you would build one standard front chassis part, one standard rear chassis part, and one standard rear axle. You'd then select a specific Frame assembly and specific rear suspension links to assemble the correct wheelbase from those parts. You would then potentially add a few parts to mount any rear seat in the right position, and an engine if it's the manual chassis. After that, the bodywork is assembled from one front end component, one main body component, doors, a windshield/windshield base, and potentially a bed or removable roof. Now, the modularity isn't the smoothest thing to assemble and take apart. Ideally you'd want to just have to push in a bunch of pins to join all the modules, but if there was a way to make it all like that without compromising appearance, functionality, or strength, I couldn't find it. Because of that, assembly feels more permanent, and it's not expected that one would regularly be changing configurations, but it does make the goal of having a huge number of configurations achievable! Final Pictures: Thanks for reading down this far! I feel like I've used up all my picture slots above with uninspiring profile pictures to demonstrate configurations, so here's a few prettier ones to end with: If you're interested in building the model, I've got free instructions available at Rebrickable. I made one default configuration with easy-to-follow consecutive instructions, and then linked to a document with complex instructions for building your own modular configurations: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-219640/2GodBDGlory/modular-toyota-land-cruiser-70/#details If you just want to poke around the Stud.io model, which has some additional options for a few different colors, and variants without fender flares, you can find it here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/modular-lc70/stud.io-files If you want more images, they're hosted here: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/modular-lc70/images And if you just want a video, it's embedded right here: Thanks for reading this far! It's been quite a fun model to work on, even if the instruction-making and documentation process was long and tedious enough to make me never want to do it again! I'm really happy with the way it looks, and the mechanical side of things seems to work well, though there's not enough ground clearance to make it a really good off-roader. It seems like I may have now built my definitive version of my favorite vehicle, which feels good!

The pace you build at is truly remarkable!

That is very good looking! I always like it when MOCs can convey that they're based on a modified real-world car accurately. Any particular reason not to include suspension? It seems like it could have easily been done. Is it important to keep costs down for people on Rebrickable?

After deciding to enter this contest, I went through a few different model ideas before settling on some kind of excavator. Now, there's been a fair bit of discussion lately about how the latest Volvo excavator set has failed to advance on the legacy of 8043, so this seemed like a good opportunity to see how that classic set could be improved, while retaining its basic spirit. Coincidentally, the contest motor limit of 4 corresponds with the motor count of the original set, so a similar gearbox approach will be needed to create an RC model! Now, in order for my model to actually advance on 8043, it can't just have one motor for shifting between two modes, for six motorized functions. No! It must have at least three different modes, for nine motorized functions! However, that means that I need more things to actually motorize, which brought me to the Mini Excavator topic. My model is certainly not going to be "mini," but it will be a model of a real-world "Mini Excavator" I've worked around these cool little machines on a few occasions, and have always thought they'd make a good Technic model, on account of their extra functions, which typically include an adjustable blade on the base, a claw for the bucket, and a rotatable arm. I don't have enough motorized functions to do the rotatable arm, so I'll gladly leave it out to avoid the absolute nightmare of trying to route all the driveshafts for the arm through both vertical and transverse pivots! So, the functions will hopefully be as follows: Motorized: 1x Servo motor for switching between three modes. 3x other motors for running three functions per mode Functions: Mode 1: Drive track 1; Drive track 2; rotate superstructure Mode 2: Lift arm; bend arm; operate bucket Mode 3: Operate blade; operate claw; tool change/PTO To expand on a couple of those. Operating the blade is a challenge, because I've already got two functions going through the turntable for drive. What I'm hoping to do to get around that is to use vertical motion of the inner drive axle (going through the turntable) to operate the blade. It's got a sliding 8T gear on the bottom, and will be able to slide through a gear on the top as well, which should allow some other method pushing down on the axle to push down the blade (A rubber band will have to work to lift it up). It sounds complicated, but should be interesting to try to make work. I'd like to have a tool change function to match the Volvo excavator set, and I think having a PTO for some other attachments would be nice. To fit that within my function limit, I'm hoping that I can use one motor for both, that will run the PTO while slipping a clutch on the tool change function. We'll see if that works or not. Anyways, most of that is far in the future, but this is what I've got so far! It's always fun when a 40T gear turns out to be needed! Note the small linear actuators being used for manual track tension adjustment. It seemed like a fun function to include, and I had room for it! I realize that this is an ambitious model, and I'm in very early stages, but hopefully it comes together according to plan! I just finished college for the year, and I have yet to find summer work, so for the next while, I do have a disturbing amount of time on my hands to build Lego!

Surprising that we would get a 4L steering link before a 5L one! It should definitely be useful, though. Lots of great suspension parts this year!

Great work! I really like having all the different drive modes

I think a snowmobile is just fine! I'd say the criteria should be something like "The vehicle must have tracks contacting the ground, and must not have wheels contacting the ground."

Good timing! I was just sitting here wondering what I should build next, at which point I hopped on Eurobricks and noticed a new contest! I guess I can now filter down my ideas!

Welcome to Eurobricks! Your images don't seem to be working for me. Are they uploaded to another website and embedded here? That's usually how images need to be uploaded here