TheMindGarage

It really depends on how many motors you're planning to use. LEGO say that one battery box will run 2 XL motors (more for smaller motors). If you try to exceed a battery box's maximum current, overload protection will kick in so they won't run at full power. However, in most cases you can get away with one battery box. The most important thing to do to strengthen your drivetrain is to sandwich your gears between two beams. This means they have no way of slipping. If there is one part of your drivetrain that is particularly delicate, you can gear up before it and down after it to reduce the amount of torque passing through it, but this increases friction so only do this as a last resort.

There are way to use other programming languages - I've heard of leJOS but I think that uses Java. Under the Advanced tab, there should be a "Raw Sensor Value" block. I've never tried it since I don't have a NXT, but that might get you something. You'll have to do all the behind-the-scenes stuff (converting the raw value to something meaningful, then doing all the "wait until xxx happens" stuff that's normally handled by the sensor blocks).

Looks incredible! I'm not convinced LEGO will be able to make the 42083 match this...

What program are you using to control the motors? And what ports are the motors plugged into?

The very first tanks were parallelogram-shaped. This helped them cross the WWI trenches. That said, they often had no suspension, so they had a habit of knocking out the crew due to the impacts.

Awesome! I like the diagonal panels on the sides - they almost look F1-inspired.

My usual process: Choose tyre size (for road cars, I almost always use the biggest I have - the 68.8x36 ZRs) Calculate dimensions Decide on functions Fudge dimensions if necessary (for example, a car that is supposed to be 23 studs wide may be bumped up to 25 to fit driven independent suspension, with length and width increased appropriately). This can also be done to exaggerate certain features of the real car if you wish - just keep it within reason. Build the most mechanically-dense components (usually gearbox and suspension), keeping in mind the position and shape of motors. I prefer to build in real-life, and I will often go through dozens of gearbox designs before settling on one. Build a "rail chassis" consisting of the front axle, rear axle, drivetrain and a pair of rails (usually 5 studs apart to fit O or H frames between them) connecting everything. Now is a good time to test any electronics. Some bodywork may be done at this stage, especially if it is structurally important. After that I usually build from the front to the back, adding any manual functions (doors etc) as I go.

Nice idea, but I'm not sold on the suspension axles. With only one universal joint, the camber will change considerably as the suspension moves, and because the drivetrain joint isn't aligned with the suspension's joints, won't the wheel shaft slide in and out as the suspension compresses? I like the drivetrain though - am I right in thinking each motor powers one side of the car?

Maybe it's something to do with the direction of rotation of the two crankshafts? If the two crankshafts are rotating in the same direction, because of the symmetry of the engine, one bank will experience different rocking forces to the other.

Ingenious! Looks great and runs well - only criticism is that the inner banks of cylinders seem to vibrate quite a lot since they're only supported by the 157.5 connectors.

Looks cool, even if it harms performance. I wonder if it'd be able to spin its wheels if you put some PF in there.

Very interesting gearbox. Do you think adding a reverse gear is possible?

So far, I've improved the suspension (about 2 studs travel) and fitted 4WD. When I finish my current MOC I think I'll take out the V6 and put an XL motor in there.

Unless you build your suspension extremely well, it is probably more likely to break than a vehicle with no suspension whatsoever. If you only need to absorb shock (ie no side-to-side movement), you might want to consider a simple hinge or a sturdy floating axle.

Looks amazing! It's like a cross between an Ariel Atom and a 1980s F1 car.

Indeed - in the 42077 Rally Car. But the chassis on that seems to be a mixture of black, white and grey. Would help if they also made the "H" version of those frames in black.

Nice and instantly recogniseable! I love the folding roof mechanism - any chance of showing some of the internals? The only thing I'm not such a fan of is that the bonnet has some rather large gaps in it.

I have 42077 on order and it's supposed to arrive on Wednesday 10th. It seems a little pricey but I suppose having suspension helps its case. 4WD would have been nice though. Also, the car looks like a modern rally car, but the mid-engined V6 layout makes me think it was intended to resemble a Group B car (the MG Metro 6R4 comes to mind) - if that's the case, some side intakes and front wings would have been nice.

I don't think the motors will be the problem - it'll be the complexity. Your gears will grind and possibly break, especially if you use adders and subtractors. It probably depends on other factors like the power sources, but I reckon 4 XL motors might be enough (2 on each tread) to get it to crawl along, given that one is enough to drive the BWE (admittedly extremely slowly). You might need 6 or 8 if you want it to achieve the speed you want. What's probably more important is having extremely robust gearing. Ideally each motor should have its own gear reduction - you might be able to group them in pairs if you sandwich the gears between two well-braced beams. However, I think with this much torque going through the final shaft leading to the sprockets, twisting them might be a possibility. If you are using the larger sprocket wheels (those with an axle hole in the middle, six pin holes and room for 10 track links around the circumference), you should definitely consider attaching them to the LEGO portal axle hub (they fit!) which also provides a sturdy casing for a 1:3 gear reduction. I wish you luck with your project, but 12-15kg is no laughing matter. Above about 5kg, bending becomes a serious issue. For a tracked vehicle, it'll probably be a case of the middle sagging as the only things supporting the vehicle's mass are the two tracks at the far ends - how much of a problem this will be depends on your chassis and how wide it will be.

Thanks! I think it's definitely the best I've built (at the very least equal to the Atom 500) in terms of looks. I already have quite a bit of progress on my next build - the steering works well and the power unit (the most powerful I've ever used...) seems to be pretty robust. When it's done, I might even try driving it outdoors and get some on-board footage.

Not to mention that EV3 is rather heavy and inefficient compared to the PF system. And don't even get me started on that graphical EV3 environment...

It's either that or that primary-school WeDo stuff :(. The last real development on EV3 was the phone controller app, and it's so limited feature-wise and so bad at connecting that I just use the EV3's IR system.

If you're interested, go ahead. I'm beginning to worry that LEGO has started to ditch the MINDSTORMS line. The community on the official LEGO gallery is dying, and they've changed the interface to a terrible one that doesn't even seem to allow comments. It's been at least four years since EV3 came out and there haven't really been any new updates, kits or announcements for a new system.

Thanks for the advice. I do have plans to build non-specific cars, but I have a couple of things in the queue already. Hopefully they should be easier than this one in terms of bodywork.

The 2017 Ford GT is effectively a GTE race car converted to road use. After the 2016 race car won at Le Mans, exactly 50 years after Ford's historic win with the GT40, they had to build some road cars for homologation purposes. These road cars have a 3.5-litre twin-turbo Ecoboost V6 producing 647 horsepower, and an extreme amount of downforce from the active rear wing, diffusers, front splitter and those gigantic flying buttresses on the sides. The interior is sparse to reduce weight. The initial allocation sold for around $500,000 each, and Ford received more than 5,000 applications for 500 cars. Getting hold of a car is extremely difficult, and even those who are successful must wait for several years to receive their car. The recent incident of Ford announcing that they would sue John Cena for selling his car (supposedly for profit) and breaking the terms of the contract is a testament to how sought-after this car is. After several months of rather intermittent building, I've finally finished what turned out to be a prime example of how not to manage a project. Anyhow, at least the car is finished so I can get to work on building something I'll hopefully enjoy more... Initially, I planned for this to be a fast RC vehicle, using every single motor that I own. That meant three EV3 Large motors, a PF XL and a PF L for drive, an EV3 Medium for the gearbox and a PF M for the steering. However, as I chased the GT's distinctive styling, the car got heavier, more fragile and closer to the ground. In the end, the car would barely move in anything other than 1st gear, and it would scrape its bodywork on the ground. That's what happens when you change tack mid-way though a build. However, at least I think I can call this my best-looking car model to date. The car has a 4-speed sequential gearbox mounted behind the rear axle to save space and take advantage of the car's huge overhangs. There is no suspension to reduce complexity and because the model is a little too narrow for an independent driven axle to fit. All the motors in the drivetrain are hard-coupled together (yes, I know it's a little naughty, but the gear ratios are closely matched and the stresses put on them by this are probably dwarfed by the load caused by driving the car uphill). The steered axle is extremely simple with just a little return-to-center mechanism. This is in order to leave enough space for the PF battery box under the bonnet. There was just about enough room to have a convincing-looking cabin and seats, although it is considerably smaller (compared to the size of the whole car) than in real life. The rear wing is mounted on a scissor lift system to raise or lower it - there wasn't much space over the gearbox so I had to resort to using those ugly yellow beams. The doors are hinged about the A-pillars in order to give that characteristic motion, opening both upwards and outwards. An elastic band puts some tension on the mechanism and keeps the door either in the closed or in the open position. Styling-wise, the Ford GT is quite a challenging car, but at least it is more angular than curved. I did my best to focus on the characteristic features: the two big vents on the bonnet, the giant side vents and flying buttresses, the red circular brake lights and the carbon sill running along the length of the sides, part of which lifts up with the doors. I don't have that many pieces, so I had to do a few colour-mismatches, but I tried to keep to the grey theme. In the end, the car is easily-recogniseable as a GT, and that's what counts to me. Here is a video showing pictures of the car and a time-lapse of building. Unfortunately there's no driving footage (it would be pretty underwhelming anyway), but you can see the opening of the doors and raising of the rear wing. Music is composed by me as usual. My next build will be what this one failed to be: an incredibly fast RC car. This time, I'm going for minimal bodywork and no gearbox.