Aurorasaurus

The motors are hard-coupled, so it effectively has diff locks full time. Thanks for the praise!

Just over a week ago, I started working on a Land Rover. I posted about it in the Generic WIP/POC topic. A few days later, I finished it. So, as I said in my original post, it's based on Gyenesvi's 42177 C model. I saw it and just had to make one, but I didn't have the G500, oh no! I started on just the bodywork, with the intent of building a complete chassis underneath once I was happy with the look. Some WIP photos: Once I was done with the body, I took a short lived journey into making a brushless chassis for it, which didn't work out at all. The only photo I have of that is the axle the brushless motor snapped... But! Never give up! I started on a Buwizz powered chassis, knowing I could make one easily. I went for the most basic setup there is for 4 motors; 2 for the rear 2 wheels, and 2 for the front 2 wheels. The model weighed >2.1kg by the time I was done with it, ~1kg of which was the body alone. So this model needed a total of 10 springs for the suspension. Then, because there's nothing worse than your doors opening while driving, I added springs to the doors and rear door to keep them closed too. All up, this model used 13 shock absorbers! This build was a lot of fun, but as you'll see in the video, it there's a reason I say "was"... Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I'm happy to answer any questions I can. More photos/higher resolution photos: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Aurorasaurus/land-rover-defender

@Milan Maybe these topics should be merged?

We're off topic now, but I'll say this much: I think I got my brushless setup for around the same price as a buwizz 3 unit, give or take a bit.

;) come to the dark side, we have more range than you have space to play with Hopefully buwizz 4 uses proper radio control.

Interesting to see different angles. From overhead, it looks like a brick, I really dont like that. The sides are too flat, not curved like I expected. Otherwise it looks fine, I guess.

As far as I'm aware, these motors are currently using a 3d printed housing. Perhaps this axle hole design was chosen to minimise the variance between prints due to humidity, ambient temp, etc. Though the axle hole (in your photo) looks injection moulded, I cant see any layer lines... As a temporary fix, place some sticky tape, preferably the transparent white kind thats useless for anything else, over the axle hole. Then put whatever axle you want in like normal and it should hold much better. Maybe you'll need two bits of tape if its especially loose. I use the same trick to get axles to stay in metal U joints, since those have no clutch power either.

What an impressive build! It feels like you're aiming to become a real LEGO designer. Brilliant presentation too, sharing so much information is very welcome and appreciated.

A while ago they were toying with the idea of making their media links only last for a week, I believe. Maybe that was just downloads for .zips and whatnot and not images though. The youtuber notexttospeech has heaps of videos about discord, you might be able to find it. But certainly, discord is owned by tencent - revenue, and profit, in the billions. It would be a real shock if it went anywhere.

TBH I think the G class is the better set. Less to go wrong, cooler tires, and a color that exists in other sets, unlike the defender. I really dont get the fuss with working gearboxes in technic. As a play feature, they (to me) suck. You push a button or twist a knob... and nothing happens. Distribution gearboxes in sets is a different case, but IMO engine speed gearboxes are just inflating the price and taking away from other playable features like adjustable suspension or a winch.

I really like this idea. Maybe it would lead to people designing their own unique bodies for it too, which could be fun. Another idea could be to offer the studio file for the chassis with the steps removed and sell the instructions on another site. Overall, an impressive model, you've done it again!

Why 41999 ahead of 9398? The lights and better body? Or something else?

@Oldfox You may use the brickcontroller 2 app and control your model with an Xbox/ps4/5 controller. I find this very convenient, and the app has very few bugs if any.

Great idea, thank you very much! My dad used to say: everything is a nail if you have a hammer! I'm glad you found a solution, and hope the rest of your brushless journey goes smoothly too.

Firstly, thanks for the kind words! My hubs havent had any issues yet, but I dont personally feel I thrashed this model very hard. The slack in the hubs is exactly the same as when I made them. There is a little bit, because the design is not perfect. About the acceleration, I actually have it set below the stock setting in my ESC because the original setting was just insane. I hadn't thought much about RC shocks, in theory the only problem is mounting them since they need to use screws instead of pins. I don't like the idea of screwing into the lego, dont want the screw to flop around in the pinhole either. If there were some shocks that took a screw that was <4.8mm in diameter but >4.6mm in diameter then I'd be happy to try them. Or maybe I could 3d print a little washer to not have the screw flop in the pinhole. Next time I need to go to the RC store I may see what they have, thanks for the idea. I'll be curious to see how you implement RC springs in your model. How big is it? If my memory serves me well, all your past models were very little, and RC shocks are large, right? Again, thank you for the encouragement and praise, and best wishes to you for your models, and better weather.

I've been making things with technic for maybe 7 years, and only started actually being "good" at it in the last year I'd say. So for one thing, it takes a lot of practice, trial and error over many models. You start to build a sort of sense for what should and should not work, like all things. Everyone's process for designing a MOC is different. For me, I think about my goal for the finished model. Do I want it to look good, drive well, be really strong, etc. Then, focus on the most important aspects for reaching your goal. For example, recently I wanted to build an offroader that looked good. So I started building a body, and fully completed the body before moving on to the chassis. But another build, I wanted to make something fast and strong. So I started with the front suspension, because that is usually the weak point in jumps and things. Then I made the rear axle, then the rest of the chassis. Then I thoroughly tested it, then made a lazy ish body because the goal wasn't for it to look good. Don't be afraid to take inspiration from, or outright copy other people's designs - no need to reinvent the wheel. Your models will probably be better if you use things that are already proven to work well. I know I struggle with bodywork, I don't enjoy it and I'm not gifted with it. If you have something like that, force yourself to practice until you're happy with your abilities. I used to struggle with suspension, so I spent years tinkering and not utilising the resources available to me. Build other people's MOC's and see how they do it. It's fascinating just how different two models really can be. Best of luck!

Looks really good to me!

Thank you! The space in the trunk looks good, I bet you could put a hamster in there ;) The speed in high gear is surprising as well, I think you made a good MOD. Maybe a photo of the front of the vehicle with the doors closed, from about the same angle as this photo. You can right click, or on browser hold, and open just the image in a new tab. Then you can copy the URL and paste it to embed. But this site has rules about image size, below 1000x1000 is the rule. If you upload your images to bricksafe, they have a handy option to open images in resized resolutions, which is perfect for eurobricks.

At least on my samsung phone, I can have two apps on the screen at the same time. Swipe up from the bottom to bring up the apps you have open, then hold press on the one you want to open over the other and drag it onto the the other app. It's a little weird but you'll get the hang of it. Regarding the model, it looks awesome! What motors are you using, and what are the gearbox ratios? A few more photos would be great.

The way I did it: Loosen the hex screw, then remove that little metal tab. Then use a 3d printed template (or something else, its not very important) to have a guide for where you want the shaft to come to. Then just put it in a vice and gently press the shaft until it goes to the length you want.

You should totally do it! I'd love to see how you tackle it.

As I mentioned a little bit ago, AWD is where I thought to take my brushless adventure next. So, here it is! Wheel hubs: I'm using custom wheel hubs, 3d printed from PLA and using a 15x21x4mm bearing. In the rear I have a simple design I'm sure I showed earlier here, with 2 degrees of negative camber. These ones have the bearings held in with glue. In the front I tried something else; the wheel hubs have no glue. The bearing is put inside the hub while it is printing, then the print continues and traps the bearing in. In theory, now the weak link is the 3d printed plastic. If/when the wheel hubs break, you can simply reprint them. Because there is no glue, the bearing will be easy to re-use. The front hubs have a high caster angle and 2 degrees of camber. STL files for the hubs: LEFT, RIGHT. Drivetrain: I'm using 2x metal differentials from ZENE. They make a funny noise but work flawlessly so far. Every part in the drivetrain that could melt has been replaced by parts with bearings in them. I'm using a 1400kv 10t a2212 brushless motor from aliexpress. I gear it down 12:36/1:3 for more torque, and then 16:16 to lower the drive axle for the front, just because of how I made the model. The metal differentials from ZENE apparently have a 1:1.6 ratio, so the overall ratio from the motor is around 1:5. This proves very effective at keeping the speed high while also providing enough torque to easily run on grass. For suspension, I have independent front suspension, and a rear 4 link live axle. The rear axle was very heavy, and very robust. It has angled drive elements in order to get more ground clearance in the rear. Here you can also see how I achieved caster angle at the front without tilting the suspension arms. Like all my models, this has problems. For this one, the front ground clearance simply isn't enough, and the springs come apart when you do jumps or whatever. I broke a few parts, but nothing major this time. To get the half red axle out of the metal diff, I used a small drill bit and then a screw, and then some pliers. Electronics: Hobbywing Quicrun 10bl60 ESC, Giantpower 1500mah 3s 60c LIPO, 1400kv 10t a2212 brushless motor, dumborc x6fg receiver and dumborc x6 transmitter, geekservo 360 2kg, generic battery buzzer from the RC store. More photos Feel free to ask any questions, but please bear in mind I have already disassembled this model.

Once again I'm complaining about performance... but this time it's definitely slower than before. Sometimes it will load just the text, I'm not sure how to call it. The text without the visuals or fonts or anything. I'm using Firefox, windows 11. However, on chrome, it loads significantly quicker. I guess this is what I get for using Firefox

You would hope so, it doesnt seem like a particularly difficult thing to design

I'm using firefox on android 14. Its the same on mobile data and on wifi, and now it seems faster. Perhaps it was just my network being slow at the time, which happens occasionally. Sorry for the confusion.