KevinMoo

A brief update on building instructions: Chassis is complete, around 1300 parts, right about half way done of photo shooting. But post editing work takes much more time, I’m assuming two more weeks at least.

Thanks I do prefer a lower body, but the body is already too wide, and I was planning to make it even more higher to compensate the width.

Like I said in my last topic, I’m a big fan of Japanese cars. Today I’m bringing you a new MOC based on a popular off-roader. Inspiration & Goals This MOC was inspired by the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado series. I didn’t want to make an exact copy of the original car, but focused on the chassis and drivetrain. Also it should have a full-length body with five openable doors. Specs / Features / Functions Dimensions: 420mm(L) x 210mm(W) x 190mm(H) Weight: 2.1Kg Parts count: 2700 pcs Propulsion: PF XL motor x 2 2-speed gearbox Working steering wheel / headlights / taillights Rear alxe: live axle with diff lock Front axle has independent suspensions with positive caster angle. More Details Compromises & Inperfections 1. The model has about 2700 parts. Given the functions that I achieved, that’s a huge number. I was expecting it to be around 2000. 2. It is WIDE. Even with those beveled window frames it looks wide. (It is wide. The body covers the whole tyres from top view) 3. Gear ratios are 5:1 at 1st gear and 5:3 at 2nd gear(differentials not included). Safety fuse kicks in quite often when steering at full speed on 2nd gear(As shown at the end of the video). I have to use 9V AA battery pack instead of Li-Po and stick to 1st gear most of the time. 4. A real Land Cruiser Prado has central differential & central diff lock. They were on my prototype. Rear diff lock and central diff lock work simultaneously. But they are quite unreliable. 12-teeth half bevel gears inside the central diff got damaged after only a very short period of test drive. I have no choice but to remove them from the drivetrain. A short video showing the prototype: Anyway, I’m basically satisfied with the overall performance and looking. Building instructions will be ready in a while. Hope you enjoy!

Genius design for the steering! I think it should be more than 1 stud(from A to B), correct me if I’m wrong

It’s always an embarrassing thing for me to talk about something related to China on EB. I can imagine it will always be something bad and it will always be the fact. Sorry for the off topic. I still don’t recommend knockoffs, the quality sucks.

Guys, building instructions is available now: http://rebrickable.c...car-with-sbrick Sbrick is not included in the parts list. There are 257 pages in total. It is big step forward compared with my last building instructions. But the number is still too high. hope you don’t get bored scrolling. Also feel free to let me know if you find any mistake.

Thanks for the advices. I totally get your point. Here are just some of my own opinions: ･I never wanted to build an exact copy of the original car. This should be a total fictional car, but with a little relationship with the Mazda brand. This “relationship”, and the ONLY connection, is that front grille. ･I don’t like soft axles quite much, neither rigid hoses. Basically it ruins everything IMO. ･It’s absolutely fine that people tend to like curved lines. But it just don’t work for me. Some designers use soft axles passing through multiple beams to shape a curved panel(e.g. a rooftop or fender). To be honest, from the bottom of my heart, it’s terrible. ･I need pieces to fill in certain gaps. I can’t leave it wide open. I tried to use as less pieces and maintain the lines and curves of Technic panels as possible. Rear part looks messy compared to the front, indeed. That is the result of pursuing complex curves with no gaps, within the range of my capability. ･Top of the doors are aligned to the top of the rear fenders(wheel arches). Rear part is 1 stud higher than the front part, that makes a perfect overall shape for a race car. To me, at least. So I think perhaps it all could be concluded down to “personal preferences”. Again thanks for the kind advices.

Yes indeed. It’s affordable, reliable, and beautiful.

A quick tip: do not point your lights at your object directly, try to use diffuse reflections to create even brightness.

EDIT: Building Instructions Available: HERE ________ I’m a big fan of Japanese cars, mostly because of its reliability. In the city I live in, there is a car factory which manufactures some models of Toyota and Mazda cars for the Chinese market. Among them is the Mazda 6 Atenza, the latest model of Mazda 6 series. (via Internet) I like this car a lot. A family sedan beautifully shaped like a supercar. Also you can choose hatchback or wagon configuration, but you don’t see a two-door race car model in this series. So I decided to build one out of LEGO. After a long winter, now I present you my latest MOC: A Mazda Race Car with SBrick. This project started with this iconic front grille. I don’t have a concept of the overall scale for this MOC, everything was decided by the scale of the grille. Ironically, I didn’t realize part 32192 in LBG is rare until the prototype is finished in LDD, and I don’t have a single one of it. Finally got my hands on it after quite a long time. Let’s have a look at a video first. (4K @ 30 FPS, watching in full screen is recommended) Weight: 1130g Dimensions: 350mm (L) x 160mm (W) x 127mm (H) Parts count: 1390 pcs Working headlights / taillights Servo motor cable has to go between the two seats due to length concerns, otherwise I can put more details in that area. A tiny fake engine for a tiny space. I must say I’m not a big fan of soft axles and I don’t use them too much. But they look great when used to shape wheel arches. The car is heavy towards the back, so rear suspension looks kind of weird. It gets the job done, though. Drivetrain is quite simple. Also you could find some inspirations from Madoca’s Supercar and Corvette. :thumbup: More photos: Building instructions is on the way. It will be available very soon. SBrick can be easily replaced by PF IR receiver. Enjoy and stay tuned!

Fantastic! I wish my forklift could be fully functional like this at this scale. Could you be more specific on editing? I’m really curious about this kind of “duplication” technic in video editing. Thanks!

This is what I can get by reverse engineering so far, Think I should stop and let Madoca himself reveal more details:

Really nice shape! I made a simple replica:

An update of lighting experiment: I’m kinda satisfied with the new result. Background, highlights, shadows on the ground are much better.

Proper lighting does make a difference, I’m still trying to get the hang of it.

Much obliged for the compliment. I still think computer generated instructions could be a bit better in showing how a part/section is mounted to a specific position. Anyway, I will stick to photo instructions on my future projects, since I’ve moved to Mac OS platform for quite a long time, and some softwares are not supported, like the very useful MLCad. I will try to reduce page numbers for future instructions by putting more steps in one page. Images could have less compressions and become sharper at the same file size.

I just found out that two of my MOCs were added to the HoF, this is unexpected and I’m so grateful for that. Just something I noticed which are actually not so important: For my flatbed tow truck, there is no link to the original topic; and for my forklift, the link leads to a wrong topic. It will be great if Alasdair can fix that. Thanks.

A dark wooden table that you would find in all my videos, background papers, lamps, a newly bought tripod, A Canon 50D DSLR, A Panasonic camcorder, A 27-inch iMac.Software includes: PS, AI, Acrobat Pro, Final Cut Pro X, LDD, etc. I’m not sure if L motor can provide enough torque for propulsion, you probably need to gear down, say, 1:3, I guess.

Oh, it’s the AAA battery that matters. I got it. Think I will order a rechargeable battery box for some tests.

Thanks, a decent camera and some Photoshop work will do the trick. By the way the instructions have been compressed for a smaller file size because there are too many pages. I should probably be considering putting more steps in one page on my next project. Definitely worth it.

Hi Blakbird, it is the AAA battery box. I used it simply because I don’t have a rechargeable battery. Here is the battery I used: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-BK-4HCCA4BA-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00JHKSL0A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1446700723&sr=8-3&keywords=eneloop+aaa It seems to work fine on this project. To be honest I’m not an expert on electrics. Any other differences between the two battery boxes, except for capacity and discharge voltage? Like current limitation? I’m afraid it is very hard to achieve. None of the holes on the front of the L-motor is used for mount.

At the bottom of this page:http://rebrickable.com/mocs/musenkevin/lego-technic-custom-forklift-mk-ii

Thanks! I’ve taken over 1000 photos and even more time on post work in Photoshop. But it is still not as perfect as LDraw-based instructions. I hope it will be an acceptable compromise to most skilled builders.

Guys, I have finished the instructions! I made some modifications on the exterior, a major change is that the rear part of the chassis is 1 stud shorter now. It looks like this: Parts list and building instructions available at: http://rebrickable.c...-forklift-mk-ii Enjoy

That’s for load capacity test, they are not actually broken, that sound indicates the gears are slipping under heavy load.