Rudivdk

Although I personally have a very large selection of parts at my disposal and almost always have 'the right part' at hand, I always want to build a core that is pure technical/functional. Achieving that with a limited selection of parts is something I can really appreciate, even more so than stunning looks without 'guts'. Guess it's a matter of taste...

These are the kind of finishing touches that make a difference: nice update, it 'flows' a lot better now . All in all you've put quite a lot of functions in there, it has become a good solid model!

How 'bout this: Done (I re-installed the mini-windshield from the initial single-seater version...): And some sparse interior fittings: @nico71 gave me a tip on YT for improving the engine. Although it didn't work out for me (too much friction and jamming of the crankshaft), I did upgrade the engine to a V8 and added some detail on it: With these last updates I consider Dart done. I will probably shoot some videos and edit a presentation vid for the contest. In the meantime I think Dart needs a big brother... meet 'Dirt': A full suspended rear wheel driven classic pick-up. It's roughly the same scale and should fit the contest if the 49,5 wheels (carried in the rear bed) are put on... Now who do you think should enter TC18...?

@Void_S, @zux you're right, I misread the panel type number for the quantity in the set... Silly me

Look at the unequal number of panel fairings #1/2 and #5/6 in black. Could it be that one of each is used to make the dashboard? Can't really think of anything else that would use just a single panel instead of a pair...

Oh wow, yet another beautiful car. You captured the lines very well

I like it! I would leave it as it is, with the one red headlight. It fits the 'different from the rest' personality of the build.The model has a typical 'oldschool technic' feel about it, makes me nostalgic somehow...

That's quite a challenge indeed . This will be very interesting to follow! Good luck with this journey

The blue details on the black/DBG body give a 'Jackson Storm' feel, I like it a lot (see Cars III movie for reference).

Same for me, so I can't be of much help here I think... I always make sure that every axle runs smooth though, and I (re)test and (re)allign everything after almost every building step. I do know however that some sets come with flawed tan 20tooth bevel gears, which are sligthly too large and therefore produce insane amounts of resistance (I had that issue on 42075, which only has a few gears in it's drivetrain, but it hardly moved no matter what I did). You'll only find out about these gears when building unfortunately, can't tell from just looking at them. If you have flawed ones, you can get replacements directly from TLG customer service. See also this thread:

Thanx! The roof was actually intended to take some of the sharp edges off of the design, e.g. make it look less futuristic. So I guess that worked Thank you! I do like those Technic figs and they fit this scale near perfectly. Unfortunately TLG does not design their cars with these guys in mind, they don't fit official models in this scale like 42093, 42098 and the older 42075 for example.

Thanks, do you happen to have a reference to other similar solutions? Are they here on EB as well? Would love to see them and compare. Anyway, after succeeding with the diff I went on and rebuilt the entire chassis (again ). I improved the steering a lot, I made it a two-seater car, and was able to fit a 2-speed gearbox between the seats. I changed the engine design to the same design used by @apachaihapachai in the F355 (disclaimer: I take NO credits whatsoever for that design!). It's top is almost 2 studs lower, it makes a world of difference to the appearance. Last but not least I added a removable hardtop roof to make it look a bit less like a pure circuit race car. The roof makes it now exactly 11 studs high, width is 15 studs and length is 37 studs. Only thing left to do is the dashboard/interior. New chassis: Bottom view of the rear axle and central 2-speed gearbox: Gear shifter mechanism for the gearbox. Yellow 3L tile in the bottom keeps the shift stick inside the ridge of the driving ring, so it never disengages. Shift stick is an old 5L antenna upside down through a balljoint with axle hole, clamped in between two studholes. Works like a charm and extremely compact! And the gearbox from the bottom + steering mechanism (to the right): Steering now uses one of these instead of Corvette-like linkage+pins solution. This gives much much better steering lock and implements a bit of Ackermann geometry in the extreme positions (due to slack in parts I guess, but nontheless it corners like a go-kart). Also it enables HOG which makes the car much more playable. And finally with all bodywork attached and hardtop roof installed. The guys are having a great time: Convertible: Please share your thoughts!

That's really impressive, very nice and accurate replica of the original! Well done!

This is shaping up nicely! It really looks like a VW Beetle, I'm not so sure if you should 'stig-o-sore' it, I fear it will not be an improvement to the fluid design it currently has...

Aahhh yes..., the great glass bubble has returned . Nice design, looks very cool with the canopy part!

It's a bit too small and covered up to exactly see how it all works, but I get the idea. I'd say: leave the axles as is and mock up an engine

Looks like a nice start, I'm curious to see where and how it will end up. About rear suspension: am I right in assuming it has enormous travel as it currently is? Are you gonna limit the travel somehow? Or is it supposed to be an 'urban EV' that can climb stairs etc

Do you have pics of your rear axle? Or do you not want to share it yet? Halfaxles sounds like an interesting setup, might outweigh a working engine from engineering perspective (since the engine will probably be a non-accurate mini-engine...) You could also mock-up an engine with some system bricks...

Looking at all the TC18 topics I see a lot of mechanical and aesthetical marvels emerging. I think this competition is raising the bar for Corvette scale (1:15-ish?) cars with a giant leap and making this now a serious Technic car category... I'm having great fun building and watching all other topics Thanks @Jim for this welcome break from our current isolated daily life!

Rear end shot is just... wow... So recognizable with just a few parts, great sculpting work! If you can clean up the sides and front in the same style this will be an absolute stunner!

Nice work sofar, great set of mechanics in there Seems this competition is bringing a lot of novelties to the Corvette scale!

Looks wicked! Nice detailing and tight shaping. But ground clearance is like 0...? Guess it is best suited for the race track then...

Nice shaping so far. Cool to see yet another approach to bodywork (next to technic panels and system bricks), hurray for diversity!

+1 Rear-placed engine was a distinct feature in these Tatra cars, and a novelty back in those days. Feels wrong if it were not to have that...

The idea of not having a diff in my rear axle would not let me rest... So I pondered, tried and finally I came up with this: A 15-wide full independent suspension with drive through floating differential. I'm not sure but I think it's a first in Technic? The black part is the enabler for this suspension since it fits inside the rim, thus giving the much needed 2studs extra width for the torque tube housing to hold the diff. But it is also the weak spot, as it wants to disengage from these under sideways loads, and it does not need a lot of force to do so... Still I think it is good enough to have a go with, so I'll try to incorporate this in my model instead of the current axle.