1980SomethingSpaceGuy

Well I did it. And more... The family now: Two side projects: Rocket Boy's Pullback Roadster and Daddy's Sports Wagon. I had to... There's so much room on that truck! Cheers!

In the process of building Miss Butterfly's Hot Rod, I tinkered with pullback motors. I finally gave up on this for reasons, but it kinda remained somewhere in my mind. My son, who's playing with my 42098 a lot, could not fit his little hot rod on the truck, so it was taken apart and its dimensions adapted. That made the NXT panels available, but there's not many of them. As for Miss Butterfly's, I had to go the two-tone path. This time with 42036's medium blue. This helps give a kind of family looks... But as usual, the focus was on features: it has a pullback motor, 4 cylinders (2+2 synchronised) classic fake engine, Ackermann steering, HOG, and a strong structure: the thing can take a 1m fall without too much risk of any serious damage. Which is a must have when designing toys for kids under 3... Steering and pullback imply an additional feature. I didn't want to lock the steering, I though it'd be smarter to have it return to neutral on its own. A rubber band was used in that purpose. The thing works well and looks reasonably nice considering the very few parts left at hand. My son's happy with it, at least! Small video of the steering in action: And finally, for everyone who wonder why I prefer classic fake piston engines over mini fake cam-like engines, well this is why: Cheers!

Note: This is not a TC18 project! After I finished tweaking Miss Butterfly's Hot Rod, I thought of another challenge: packing PF functions into an RC car that would fit in the lower deck of 42098. This is what I came up with: With very limited parts at disposal, the idea was not to replicate an existing model or build something refined. The focus was, as it most of the time is for me, on features and structure. I then try to make the most of what I have at hand so that the thing looks nice. It is quite nicely packed, features Ackermann steering and live rear axle with differential. Those 2 L motors are more than enough to make the thing move! Cheers!

While I totally agree with you, and also with the safe max limit of 15 studs decided for this TC, the width of the truck is more 17 studs hard, so 16 studs actually fit. Only, it would make for a nice MOC, not a TC entry...

@Jim still allows collages in the stipulated 4 entry pics because he's being nice to people who think that they need to show more. But his point is full frame pictures look in fact better and should suffice. It's not stupid, it's tolerant. Attacking the rules like you're doing will only result in the them getting more strict and probably no more collages allowed. Is that what you want?

In fact, the flanks are almost nicer like that! And kids love openable doors, so it's a nice touch. [Edit:] Ok, the 7L looks better.

Agreed, I was going nowhere slow with my shot at pull back. Moreover, switching to more Technic gave me more to build, which is the part I enjoy the most. She's quite happy indeed! It started as a joke, but she loves to squeeze that horn and make funny noises, so I'll keep it.

You can't, of course. But I think most of the people here care about how it's built and thus want a clear shot of the chassis..

Thanks. Well I think I came first with a pull back motor prototype picture. But @agrof came shortly after with something so advanced he surely was on it beforehand: Very elegant design, by the way..

Great! @amorti's solution was valid though: you may offset the rack as well, I guess.

No. It would work perfectly with the current offset, just offset the dark azure 7L (and maybe use 9L) too.. And I've just seen that TLG used a very similar solution on 42098's car. So if it's good enough for them..

It was my birthday a few days ago and look what I got! I had to tweak the car a bit: the original headlights really aren't to my taste. I also switched the wheels to the spokes side. Doing so, I realized the motivation for this contest: this blue car really feels like an empty shell.. Also, I understood why its roof is (too) so low: that's about the max height allowed in the lower deck. Of course now that I finally have wheel arches (had none before) and a 3-stud differential, I could re-work the hot rod. But I think I'll leave it as is and start working on a new car: there's plenty of room left on that truck! Maybe RC and low enough to fit under..

Thank you!

Updated pictures! Cheers!

Good job! I think it's a lot cleaner now. I'm a big fan of the HOP idea!

Or maybe two, so that you can have chassis, belly and finished car in one picture! More seriously, I think it's perfectly fine, as long as the copy is a exact match..

You may try with 2 of those: A couple pieces in between and bevel gears. Would be self-structural and more elegant.

Aah, a Mini with a Hayabusa engine.. An old fantasy of mine!

You may use a chain from the steering axis below to build a working steering wheel. Of course it'd be horizontal, which is not perfect, but that should be easy to devise.

DBG is my favorite, but LBG matches the thin liftarm on top, which is nice.. White or any bright color would do the trick too, but then I'd add a touch of the same color somewhere else, maybe. Can't decide, sorry.. I feel the pain! But I'm sure you'll figure out and it'll be awesome, like the rest of the build!

I ordered a few white parts for the rear wing arches. Black was all I had, but they kinda disappeared in that color. I think it's better now. I also improved the front axle; the steering and suspension work flawlessly now. The downside is that I had to move it half a stud forward. [Edit:] I rolled that back. I figured another way to strengthen the front axle that does not force me to move it. Much better now. Anything I should fix or improve? Feedback is welcome. Cheers!

My bad. Now with better contrast I see. In fact, I misread and was expecting different color or shape. Spokes side, definitely.

You posted twice the same.. It's looking nice and clean now! Great job! I prefer the rear without the blinkers, but then it creates a discrepancy with the front..

A very nice project ! I was wondering how you could do without a computer in the loop (software engineer here too ) and I read that you don't, at the moment. Indeed, the Xbox controller cannot talk to the EV brick directly. Instead of a computer, I figured you may use a tablet or mobile phone : this would actually let you use it as a proper RC.. Anyway, good luck in this enterprise, looking forward to seeing progress!

I don't know if this meets your standards, but it works (the 16t is the transmission, steering axis is below) : I've used this in a very simple car MOC for my son. It has a bit of play and little amplitude, but is quite reliable and serves as a limiter.