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Didumos69

Eurobricks Dukes
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  1. Didumos69
    With rotating wheels:
  2. Didumos69
    In my last post I said I regard my Steppenwolf build as finished, but how could I have been so naive. A build is never finished I have been able to eliminate the last weak part in the front wheel hubs. Until now I used an engine crankshaft and a perpendicular axle-pin connector to keep the bottom side of a pole reverser handle in place. The combination of these 2 parts could easily get displaced and loose its function. By moving the steering links half a stud backwards, I could replace the weak parts with a stronger construction. It also meant I had to replace the tooth rack with one that allows the steering links to be attached half a stud more backwards. In addition, I had to replace the 3L thin lift arm attached to the lower wishbone with a 3L perpendicular axle-pin connector to avoid the wheel hub from turning too far. This also allowed for the use of a 4L axle with stop to attach the shock absorbers to. Moving the steering links backwards added to the stability of the entire steering setup. As a consequence I could remove one of the rubber belts (the red one) from the steering links. The front wheel hubs, lower wishbones and the steering links / tooth rack combination now look as depicted below. I updated my Steppenwolf building directions page and the LDD-files on Bricksafe to reflect these changes.
  3. Didumos69
    I think you have put exactly the right perspective to the topic. Having said that, I would like to add one more thing: Lego is all about making 'models'. And to me (sorry, I have an engineering background) 'model' means: Simplification of a system (or thing) that brings about one or more aspects of that system's (or thing's) nature. Models allow us to zoom in on certain aspects while leaving other aspects out. So it's all about what exactly do you want to tell with your model. Take a look at Nico71's Mechanical Calculator. It's an amazing machine and we probably all regard it as something beautiful. Not because of it's looks, but because of what it can do, and that it can be done with Lego bricks. So in this case Nico71 zoomed in on the 'how it works'-aspect rather than the aesthetic aspect. Now when it comes to cars, there is something delicate going on: There are typically two prevailing - yet quite opposed - aspects that make a car appealing: 1) the looks and 2) what's inside. On the one hand a car should look smooth as if it was cut from a single piece of stone and shaped by the wind. On the other hand it should cover up as many nifty features and powerfull functions as possible. So when it comes to supercars, it doesn't amaze me that using panels has gained popularity over the years. They make it possible to address both aspects. Personally, being an old-school Lego fan, I like it the most when a Lego model captures the essence of a car - be it a real car or an imaginary car - with a minimal set of lines. Just like a portrait painting, it doesn't need to be as realistic as a photo, as long as it captures the essence. Source: http://www.scottdesi...-im-working-on/ EDIT: I would like to add one more thing: When I started regaining interest in Lego Technic, all Lego supercars I found on the internet appeared to me as insects - also the more recent ones. I had to get used to them first before I started to actually perceive them as great designs. Just to illustrate that it's all a matter of perception.
  4. Didumos69
    It's already great to have four users showing interest in building instructions - and counting. Thanks sofar! I will have to see how I'm going to do this. It will probably be something like a photo sequence or a video. If others are interested too, then please let me know with a reply. The more people interested, the bigger the stick that will make me bring this to a success. Btw, I'm slowly making progress in video editing, so I made a new version of the video presenting the final result:
  5. Didumos69
    So I finished my Steppenwolf build. Now the question is: Should I make real building instructions or not?
  6. Didumos69
    UPDATE: I regard my Steppenwolf build as finished. Here's a short video of the final result:
  7. Didumos69
    If the idea is to incorporate FWD or AWD (motorized), then caster angle won't get you there alone. Think of the caster effect as a wheel trailing the steering axis like the wheel of a shopping trolley. Now imagine drive is applied to the wheel and it's easy to understand that the trailing effect will be disturbed. For FWD and AWD you need a combination of positive caster angle and kingpin inclination. The latter adds to straight-line stability, because it causes the car to lift as the wheels are turned.
  8. Didumos69
    Many wise things have already been said here. Being someone who only recently came out of his dark age, I thought it might be useful to share some of my experiences. I started off with LDD instead of real bricks and I can tell you I did hit into a few pitfalls: - In LDD everything 'feels' rigid and sturdy. This will turn out differently once you start building, especially when you don't know the exact tightness and friction characteristics of all parts. Along the way I started to verify certain parts of my design with the few bricks I did have, just to get a feel of how sturdy or flexible certain constructions are. - It's easy to build things in LDD that you can't build in real-life. Sometimes this is obvious, but with complex designs you might end up with something that you can never actually build. A good practice to avoid unbuildable constructions is to start defining groups that express building stages right from the start. These groups may also serve as a starting point for making building instructions. Nevertheless, I do think I would start off with LDD again on my next project. I like to keep everything placed on a 1-stud grid, because I believe that leaves the most options open for subsequent design steps. LDD is a great help in that. Also when using triangular constructions I always try to make use of the 3/4/5 property (Pythagoras: 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2, 5/12/13 is another example). Most of the existing 'bent' liftarms have been based on the 3/4/5 property. In LDD I can easily put some teporary liftarms in place to help me count studs and make my angled liftarms an exact fit. Here's an image with two angled constructions that work out perfectly on a 1-stud gridded design. Both fully rely on the 3/4/5 property, the left example even in two dimensions: LDD also helped me in setting up a main structure for my Steppenwolf-project without filling in the details. I used that as a point of departure in designing the suspension modules and the gearbox module. Not making any compromises to the main structure to make sure I ended up with a sturdy chassis.
  9. Didumos69
    If meshes with tooth racks also count: LEGO Set 31030-1 - Red Go-Kart uses an angled bevel gear - tooth rack mesh.
  10. Didumos69
    I've been able to actually build the bodywork that I had in mind for this platform (see the Steppenwolf Bodywork topic). The extra weight that came along with this bodywork caused the front wheel hub to bend a little bit. As a result the steering pivot points moved slightly inwards, which in turn introduced a little toe-in. This weight-dependent toe-in worried me, so I decided to strengthen the front wheel hubs. See the image below for the difference between the old hub (red parts have been removed) and the new hub (green parts have been added). These new stronger hubs do not affect max steering angle and suspension travel. I updated my Steppenwolf building directions page and the LDD-files on Bricksafe to reflect these changes. The new front wheel hubs go hand in hand with a slack reduction method that boils down to tying rubber belts around the ball joints attached to the steering links. This method is described in the Finalizing-section of the building directions page (see also this topic).
  11. Didumos69
    I can't help you with the LDD-file. But maybe these more recent MOCs are of interest to you too: Zblj's Fox 8x8x8 (lxf instructions) Madoca1977's Tatra 813 Trial Truck (photo sequence instructions) And maybe there are more...
  12. Didumos69
    Complete and to-the-point review. Enough to decide whether to buy this set or not.
  13. Didumos69
    Warning: The suggested solution may not be regarded as perfectly 'legal' by some of you. Find out for yourself whether you want to go as far as this when it comes to fine-tuning your build. Everyone who has ever played around with custom steering setups with realstic features such as caster angel and/or camber angle knows the hassle of finding the most optimal tie rod and tooth rack position. Optimal in a sense that effects like toe-in, toe-out and bump steer are avoided as much as possible. And when you have found the optimal placement, there is still so much slack in the ball joints that your build is always left with a certain amount of toe-in or toe-out, When all seems fine when driving forward, there will be some toe-in/toe-out when driving backwards. It may not be the most aesthetic solution but I found a very effective way to reduce the slack in the tie rod / ball joint connections. Simply tie one or more rubber belts around the ball joints, just below the ball part of the joint. In my case the combination of a red rubber belt (24mm) and a white rubber belt (15mm) worked out perfectly, see image below. Note that in a standard steering setup with all ball joints perfectly aligned on a 1-stud grid, this approach will prove hard to apply, as it will pull the pivot points slightly away from their ideal position. It is particularly useful in custom setups that try to obtain non-standard features such as caster angle, camber angle or Ackermann steering.
  14. Didumos69
    @DrJB: From the video (1:38) I got the impression that the car seats have only been attached along a single rotation line somewhere at the front of the seat. Maybe that helps, if you didn't already notice this yourself.
  15. Didumos69
    I fully second this line of thought.
  16. Didumos69
    Here's the red one:
  17. Didumos69
    Changed bodywork from black to red in 35 minutes. Changing the rims took another 30 minutes, haha.
  18. Didumos69
    Thanks! I actually decided to go for black, red and yellow. Red will be next... me neither!
  19. Didumos69
    Thanks a lot! I'm sure we can make something out of this.
  20. Didumos69
    The black parts were the first to arrive, so the first real-life appearance of the Steppenwolf is a bit menacing, sorry for that ;-). I had to put up the torsion tension a bit because of the extra weight (EDIT: compared to the platform without bodywork). The torsion bar ends are now fixed to the chassis with perpendicular axle and pin connectors. Due to the extra weight I also had to re-tweak the tie rod positioning a little bit to avoid toe-in. I replaced the tooth rack with one that allows the track rods to be attached half a stud more backwards. UPDATE: Instead of replacing the Tooth rack I strengthened the front wheel hubs to carry the extra weight without changing the overall steering geometry. See the image for the difference between the old hub (red parts have been removed) and the new hub (green parts have been added). Bodywork and platform now consist of 2574 parts. Some details:
  21. Didumos69
    Sorry for replying a bit off-topic. My son wants to build this design. Would it be an option to share the LDD-file! Thanks!
  22. Didumos69
    The seat is floating, I used some temporary parts to get it more or less into place. Sorry to disappoint you. For rendering I use Bluerenderer. Click the link for directions. I used a slightly modified scene file. If you want I will share it via Bricksafe.
  23. Didumos69
    I've been playing around with LDD a little bit more and made some cutouts showing only all rotating parts. I was quite overwhelmed myself, haha. You can also see the gears inside the seats.
  24. Didumos69
    My compliments for this great build! I didn't see this topic before, but I'm truely impressed. I like your building style, nothing has been left to chance and that's the hard part of desiging or building constructions like this. @DrJB compliments also for the effort you're putting into the digital counterpart of this build. I see you are using groups, that's a good thing. I know the LDD-file is still work in progress and Blakbird can probably make much better renders, but I just couldn't resist making a single render already.
  25. Didumos69
    In my case it wasn't a set but a MOC that woke me up: Nathanaël Kuipers' Concept 4x4. I started oiff with 850: Fork-Lift Truck, 8844: Helicopter, 8845: Dune Buggy and 8848: Power Truck, which my parents gave me for subsequent birthdays. But quite soon I was only interested in building my own car, a car that should be able to go anywhere without really showing off. So as of 1982 or so I was no longer interested in specific sets and started ordering individual parts from Lego. But over the years I lost my interest. But now my son is gardually becomming as enthousiastic about Lego as I was when I was a child. He builds his sets over and over again and sometimes even likes to read building instructions as bedtime stories, haha. This has revived my own interest in Lego as well, in Lego Technic to be more specific. So since a few month I continued where I left off 25 years ago; in pursuit of this self-designed adventurous though modest vehicle that can go on any terrain. In that process I stumbled upon a model that really appealed to me: the Concept 4x4 from - the master himself - Nathanaël Kuipers. That model has been a great inspiration and triggered me to explore my own ideas again. That's how I got out of my 'dark age'. Regards, Diederik
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