VintageCharlie

Seasider, sorry for the late response! No, i have not touched the project for quite some while now, as i got loads of work lately. But eventually i will get back to it at some point and post the updated files here. Just not there yet. Good luck and, please, let us know how your version turns out!

Serg, is there any update on your side? Have you received the parts for the project?

The visually finalized design and my favorite versions. In the end, i think it will be the 69 mopar police version. Will post the most up to date LXF file as soon i have finalized it and worked it out technically.

Great, thanks for pointing out some cheaper alternatives for the sound modules! The SOMO 14D is very expensive at 25$ a piece.

Great news, thanks! I think i will go ahead and order the Arduino Micro, a breadboard and a couple of IR receivers - maybe the TSOP4136 and then something that is specwise identical to what you bought. Hence, could you please share the specs of the IR receivers you purchased?

Btw. here is an easy way to get the TSOP 4136 receiver: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VISHAY-TSOP4136-PHOTODIODE-IR-RECEIVER-36KHZ-/390852082600?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item5b00997ba8 It ends up being quite expensive with the shipping for just one part, but on the plus side, it has been confirmed that it works well with the LEGO IR remote, so despite the price, this might be an option.

Ok, cool, really happy that this stone starts to roll :)

Serg, thank you very much for participating in this project! Unfortunately i don't have a spare controller. Besides, it is not that expensive (the 2 joystick version is about 10$ new) and if i'd ship one, the shipping would be probably more expensive than if you'd bought a new (or used) one from an internet shop in your country. But in case you do not want to invest into a new LEGO IR remote for this project (which i'd understand), please let me know where you're from and i'll see, if i can purchase one online and send it your way for a reasonable shipping price. I'm sure other photo diodes would work too, but i read in the blog that i linked, where the guy copied a LEGO IR, that the TSOP4136 is one of the few easily available receivers that does 6 cycles (or something along those lines) which supposedly is why it works well with the LEGO IR remote. I understand too little from this, to help with specs and which alternatives would work well. Maybe a more knowledgeable member here might give some advice? I will order an Arduino Micro as soon as we have an idea which IR receiver will work well with the LEGO remote (want to order these things together, as they are hard to come by in my country and i want to avoid double shipping costs).

A modernized police version along the lines of the reissues of vintage muscle cars that have surfaced in recent years:

Grum64, thanks for the links. I have seen their products. They are prbably a good bet, if you just want to add simple light systems. But you end up paying a lot if you want to make something more complicated (each module about 20$) and the programmability/customization of the more complex system is quite limited. Also, rotating beacons would not be possible, neither an extra IR receiver, etc. Bzroom, i started a new thread because the previous one helped me to grasp what might be possible and what might be the most effective platform (mostly thanks to your extensive and valuable input) and it dealt with various alternative ways for a partial set of features. The concept became quite a bit more ambitious than i initially thought and i arrived at a more clear idea about the system. Hence i wanted to begin a new thread that takes off with this basic concept, with Arduino at heart. Serg, thanks for the note! It would be great if you would be willing to participate in the development of the controller. I imagine it would be a great open source project - i would not be into making money from this - it would be based on volunteer participation. I hope this would be ok with you. I'm about to buy a Arduino micro board and am looking into an IR receiver best suited to operate with the lego IR remote control. Here is some information on the LEGO IR receiver (which to me is mostly alienese): http://www.philohome...ons_RC_v110.pdf For now it looks like TSOP4136 would be a good choice (it was used by a builder, who made a custom small form factor IR receiver for the LEGO remote): http://www.hackvande...id=547#buildlog Do you have some sort of Arduino board at your disposal for the development?

I understand it is an ideological question. As i noted above, i am not a purist - i think the builds can become much more attractive, interactive, playable, functional and fun with custom light controls, also custom chrome parts is another area where the builds profit greatly in regard to the aesthetics. Why not - i mean, we are not official LEGO designers who have to deal with restrictions from production and sales volumes, etc. And many guys have done some elements of all this one way or another for their builds. I think it would be great to have a highly customizable system and one would not have to reinvent the wheel each time he would like to add something as simple as flashing turn signal to his build. Also, look at the third party market for custom LEGO electronics (mostly lighting) there are so many products, but none of them would come even close to this. Also in regard to cost, this would be unbeatable compared to what you would fork out for ready-made solutions.

Hi guys, for my 69 muscle car project i decided to try building custom electronics. I get the idea of a pure LEGO approach - it is an interesting challenge, etc., but the solutions take up lots of space and the possibilities are rather limited. So what i was thinking about is a package that would handle most of the typical automotive needs for lighting (and maybe additionally also the sounds, but that is optional, which is fine, as this approach would be pretty much modular by it's nature), it would be compatible with the standard LEGO IR control, IR receiver and battery box. Functions/features would include: LIGHTS (All lights would go on and off with a short and smooth natural intensity gradient like on real lights): - automatic left/right turn signals - automatic reverse signal - rc on/off switchable rear and front day lights - rc on/off switchable main headlights - rc on/off switchable emergency lights - rc on/off switchable rotating beacon lights (8 LEDs in each of 2 beacons) - rc switchable flashing patterns for beacon lights SOUNDS: - rc switchable automotive and/or thematic sounds From what i could gather, it would be possible to make such a system out of the following (of course there are many alternatives, but Arduino seems to have many advantages over most other ways): - Arduino Micro board (~2x5cm) small IR receiver (for the extra RC switchable, non-automatic signals). From what i read here: http://www.hackvande...id=547#buildlog , seems like the TSOP4136 is a good option: This would be it for the main parts, if no sound functionality would be desired. For sound one would need to add these: An SD card based audio module like the SOMO-14D (2x2cm) Ideally also an amplifier, here is a TPA2005D1 (but there are even smaller options than 2x2cm boards out there): If sound functionality is desired, then one would additionally need an SD card audio module, a tiny amplifier and a small speaker. The lights only controller which would essentially be handled by the Arduino micro board (~2x5cm)) would fit easily in a 5x11 LEGO flat panel and leave additional space for other components. For sound you would add a ~2x2cm SD card based audio module and ideally also an amplifier (can also be found in ~2x2cm size and even much smaller). A system with integrated sound functions could be sandwiched within 2 5x11 flat panels like this; without sound modules it would fit a single 5x11 flat panel: The flat panel-based housing would allow many ways of connecting it to builds and also leave some room for additional parts/modules, if necessary. It also enables various ways for wire-routing. A single flat panel without the modules for sound (if these are not desired) could be easily fitted into roofs, hoods, base plates, etc. and the system would not be challenge to be structurally integrated and/or hidden from sight. A fitting name might be - The Black Box Controller The arduino micro has 7 PWM outputs, which allow for modulated LED intensities and hence realistic lighting effects can be achieved. If i am not mistaken, then this system would allow all the standard lighting functions of a car, plus the control of an advanced rotating beacon system, similar to what Zmei has made. I found this one, made by Catmacey: http://catmacey.word...sing-pic12f683/ Some more info: http://catmacey.word...raid-to-use-it/ And here it is in action: http://catmacey.word...eacon-for-lego/ The cool thing about this design is that it can run 8 LEDs on just 4 pins, which minimizes number of wires, makes the whole thing more reliable and easier to manage. Hence, the 3 other PWM outputs left would be even enough for more realistic turn signals (with smoother transients than just on/off) and even for the reverse and day-lights to go on with a short and smooth transient, which would result in a more realistic and aesthetic lighting. The beacon LED's could be programmed for any other layout, not just rotating beacons. On the control side of things, the standard LEGO IR joystick remote could be used with this. The simplest and most efficient way (and most appealing to me personally) would be to set the controller up so that the automated signals (left/right tun, reverse) are received from the standard LEGO IR receiver along with the corresponding drive commands for the motors. While the switchable lighting options would be available from the same remote, by selecting a different channel to which the additional IR receiver is tuned. By adding a second joystick remote control it would be possible to get instant access to the switchable functions without the need to switch channels - but that would be optional and easy to configure either way. This is approximately, what i would like to attempt building. Initially probably without the sound funcitonality - to keep cost lower and to make things more manageable, as i am an electronics beginner at best. I have seen people making various kinds of such functions in many different ways, but it's mostly just one or the other function and each time with different parts. I thought it would be great to make an attempt of an integrated system that can be easily improved/programmed and that is modular in its nature. Something, that almost everyone willing to go with custom electronics for his build, could easily utilize for his needs. This would also be a quite cost-efficient solution. The most expensive part being the micro Arduino board at ~25$. The advantage of it is, that it does not require any additional hardware to connect to a PC for programming. And the size/functionality is hard to beat and it is totally modular. If one only needs the automated turn and reverse signals, you can even leave out the extra IR receiver. Well, so far my idea. My problem is that i am a noob in electronics, and totally ignorant in regard to programming. Hence i am very intrigued, if there are people here, who would be interested to participate into developing something like this and making instructions available to public. It would be a cool arduino project and it would make great custom electronics for lego (and other) builds easily accessible to almost anyone.

Yup, really! You too? As i wasn't involved with LEGO yet, don't know any other guys from Latvia on the forum. Just looked up gregorijs3kivi - great, only other latvian guy you know and he is banned? :D

That sounds good to me, as there are so many different kind of builds that people are into and often specific fields in which they are real masters. Focusing everything on one project might leave many skilled brains out of the game only because they are interested in different kind of things. The risk is though that it might end up being similar to [HELP] threads, in which people participate with advice, but don't get really involved. Though i suppose that, as soon as someone sees it as a collaboration, he is ready to participate in a completely different and much more involved and ambitious way, as it is also about his own creation, which he shares with others.

Couldn't this thread spark a couple of collaborative projects? Or do you think it would be better to decide on one thing, so it would be more intense and focused on one particular project?

I would be totally into it - a collaborative "open source" project :) If it is kept open and more people participate with input, ideas, solutions, i'm sure really great results can be achieved. The body design of my 69 has also been developed in LDD, but has not seen any real-life tests yet. As mentioned i'm glad to share it and i have no intention on charging money for instructions or the LXF file. I haven't updated the LXF file in my original thread for a long time, but that's just because i have been constantly working on it and it became tedious to upload every incarnation to an external file server. I'll put up a couple of new LDD files of various versions that i have done so far soon - i want to polish them a bit before i do so. There are things that i still have to iron out, but the basic design has reached the stage, where i can't think of much that could be improved or changed (at least aesthetically). A different question would be alternative ways to structurally make it more stable/rigid, how to implement door/hood/trunk opening mechanisms, etc. But it would probably make more sense to solve structural issues (at least some of them) once it is known what are the requirements or limitations set by the chassis and vice versa.

Zblj, i'm a noob and don't have much to bring to the table, except my 69 muscle car body design, but i would sure want to know, if anyone would be interested in making a compact, functional and efficient chassis (which would leave as much free space inside the body as possible - for a proper interior, etc.) for it, which is technically on par with the visuals of the body design. It could be either a chassis for a normal or a monster truck style chassis - either would be fun and the body would look good on both. If you or anyone else here is interested, i'd be very intrigued.

Wow, ok that is a huge difference - thanks for the comparison - it was hard to tell from individual pictures. Now imagine the 8466 rims in chrome!

Trawler, looks cool. To my eye the rims still look like the ones i used in LDD though, maybe they are bigger, but otherwise the design is the same, no? But, yeah, this wheel/rim combo looks marvelous compared to the standard ones. Would be even cooler if the rims were chromed. (i do plan to use custom chromed parts in the spots that appear as chrome in my renderings).

Btw., as dad is so slow, my son got the 4x4 Crawler lego set for his 5th birthday. It was a big success. He managed to put together all of the mechanics, gears, connect the motors, etc. etc. all by himself - i was just sitting there and helped finding parts and i helped to put some pieces together that required quite a bit of physical force. So proud that my son could assemble differentials, while his dad barely knows what these things are :D So, as you might have guessed, the deadline is now pushed much further away - either for the next birthday, christmas or other big event (over here in Latvia we are lucky as we also have names days :) ) This gives me time to polish the design and to go nuts with the electronics.

POVray finally got the police version of the 69 ready. It was supposed to be a quick test, so i didn't bother to put the body onto a police-car-appropriate body, but i was very pleasantly surprised by the results and just had to post it. Here you go: I'm looking into various options to create realistic rotating beacon lights, similar to what Zmei has done already, but i would like to attempt it with an Arduino board, which would also handle turn signal flashing and maybe some other things. Now, just for kicks, i'm cooking up a blue version that sports a modernized look - similar to the reissue dodge charger or mustangs, etc. Also, as you can see, i finally found a simple way how to make the headlights look good in the POVray renderings - behind the transparent dish is a silver colored round disc.

Here's the police version, which also includes the police light beacons - this model includes all lights which i want to get functionality for through the Arduino based system.

Thanks, Trawler! I can't wait to post the police version :) I know you're not a fan of the side stripes, but in context of the monster truck theme to my eye it livens up the whole design a bit, otherwise the only black side starts to look meh after a while (and i've been staring at this model for a LOT). I am asking the knowledgeable guys here from the forum on some help in regard to the lights/electronics in this thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97056&st=25. After i got so far with the model, i want to attempt to get as far as i can with the lighting and it's control. This is a spot where i will diverge from a pure lego path as there are some things that really can be done in Lego, but they are not efficient solutions ,to put it mildly (for example flashing turn signals). Sorry, i would like to render with the Power Puller tires (rims are the same though, right?), but afaik it can't be done in LDD. But i agree, they look like eye-candy and i certainly want to get them for this model (although i've read that they are not that great of a match for the 9398 chassis).

Thanks! Looks like in order to realize all this the most important bits i'd need are the headerless Arduino micro board, ir receiver module (like this http://www.dx.com/p/...64#.U6tWlrFaeLQ or a TSOP1738 maybe) and for audio a small audio module with sd card compatability (like the somo 14D), a simple (maybe this thing: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11044 or something LM386 based?) amplifier and a small speaker. If anyone has some advice or experience with some of these parts, please let me know if these would be good choices and what might be better alternatives.

Bzroom, thanks for all the valuable input! But it is possible to load your own prerecorder wav files? I will look more into what Arduino is all about and try to wrap my head around it. I found a clip on you tube where a guy plays a chip-tune generated by the Arduino ( ). So i guess sirens, horns, etc. should be doable with the quality it can provide.Btw. the small lego remote controls are not too expensive - i could get another one and use it for the functions that would ideally need instant access. Now i'm looking for the IR receiver options for Adruino.