Jeroen Ottens

See below Thanks, that roof mechanism has given me quite a headache to get it sequenced and operated so smoothly. I am really stoked with the end-result TBH. The reason I am in this position is because of the post I made a couple of months ago about the Chinese IP thieves. One remark I got back was that we usually are not that clean with IP rules ourselves. So I thought, why not ask for permission? A bit naïve maybe, but I proposed to put a similar disclaimer on my site as I have for LEGO to the real car manufacturer. But their legal department made it very clear that I was not allowed to use their brand and names. So I'll abide to that and I will not confirm that you are right with guessing which cars were the inspiration . The short presentations have more to do with the time I currently have available to work on my LEGO business. Rebuilding a house is a bit more time consuming than I hoped for. I'll see if I have some more photos that I have lying around. The detachable bodywork was a wish I already had for a long time, so I am happy I finally had a model that offered the opportunity. I felt it helped in the designprocess as well, since it decoupled chassis developments from bodywork developments. The difference between the development version and this one is not that big. I mainly optimized the design for the use of the parts of the Chiron (The Chiron gives you 73% of the parts for Il Toro Azzuro and only 47% of the parts for the PF Tribute which wasn't optimized for that). I haven't checked how much of the parts of the Chiron are used if you'd build both cars... To all, thanks for the positive comments. That is appreciated.

Hi, It has been a while since I posted a completed model here. And today I have two models, both inspired by models from a well-known supercar manufacturer whose name I am not allowed to mention. First of all I have the long overdue blue supercar that I developed together with Marco van Overbeeke: I am pleased to say that this model is now finally finished. As mentioned before this model has the following features: Independent suspension on all wheels A V10 fake engine in the front 4 wheel drive A working steering wheel A 4 speed sequential gearbox, operated with flappy pedals next to the steeringwheel A D-N-R switch in the center console openable doors, hood and trunk 4 wheel steering The last feature is the most interesting one IMHO, because the steeringmode depends on the gear that you are in. In first gear the wheels steer in opposite direction, giving you the smallest cornering radius. When in fourth gear the wheels steer in the same direction, making switching lanes at high speed easier. And when in reverse only the front wheels steer. As a first for me, I also made the bodywork detachable from the chassis: You'll have to remove a few pins and then the whole bodywork can be taken off. The second car I'd like to show is a commissioned model. Again inspired by an existing supercar. I've called it the PF Tribute since it features a lot of PF elements (3 M-motors, 3 switches, 1 servomotor, 1 IR receiver, 1 IR remote, 1 batterybox and 2 extension wires). The design is quite heavy on system elements (especially the back is almost completely made with systembricks: I found this was the only way to capture the lines of the original car this was inspired on. As you can imagine this car is also packed with (motorized) features: Independent suspension on all wheels A V10 fake engine in the back A working steering wheel A 8-speed sequential gearbox, operated with electrical flappy pedals next to the steeringwheel A D-N-R switch in the center console Openable doors and hood Adjustable ride height on the front suspension (remote controlled) A convertible roof (remote controlled) The flappy pedals operate a switch for the servomotor that controls the gearselector. I wanted to see if such a setup was easier to design and use than a more convential manual setup. In the end it doesn't really matter much I think. It is a bit easier in design because you don't have to put the gear selector close to the steeringwheel. But the return-to-center mechanism on the switch requires a bit more force than I would have liked. Also I removed the 8->1 gear block that I usually put in my gearboxes because the servomotor will otherwise put a lot of strain on the gear selector mechanism. But the most interesting feature I think is the roof mechanism. It is remote controlled, using only one channel. I have made a short video to show how it works: https://youtu.be/oy2zIEsv410 I quite quickly had imagined a way to make the different components work in the right sequence, but it has taken a lot of design iterations to make it work smoothly and reliably. I am happy to say that this time the commission was non-exclusive, which gives me the right to make and sell instructions. So I made a commercial version of this model as well, with left hand drive, a white interior and all really rare dark blue parts are now black instead. Partslists for both models are available on Rebrickable. Here is the link to the partslist of Il Toro Azzuro and here is the link to the partslist of the PF Tribute. Leg godt, Jeroen

LDCad + LPub3D

Shouldn’t the lower attachmentpoint be one stud more outward?

Wow, that is a fantastic model. It looks like model team, but upon closer inspection it turns out nearly 100% technic. That is a massive feat of engineering! The stickers just add another layer of realism to the model. They really add to the presence of the model. Brilliant!

I'll be following this build with interest. From the pictures on Flickr I think I see you only use one side of the gear selector ring, right? It is an easy solution to have at all times maximum only one gear engaged, but have you thought of a gearbox design whereby you can actually use both sides of the gear selector ring? I've always thought it should be possible to do that with some sort of adder/subtractor mechanism between the front and back gears, but I never figured out how. It would save 5 cilinders, 5 switches and 5 servos I guess. Or did I misinterpret the photos and do you actually use both ends already?

This is shaping up to quite an interesting challenge. Using that many system parts at this scale will be a challenge for the suspension though. My advice would be to try to do as much as possible with Technic panels (and flexaxles). They are much lighter than brickbuild surfaces and curves. BTW I love that front suspension, I hope it is stiff enough, both in structure and in spring.

Yes they would, but if you combine this with the idea of making a 8 speed gearbox you can maybe use the other side to engage when this side is at the 'wrong' gear? I haven't tried to think it through, but there is something like half of the settings are not used on either side. BTW: A very original and smart idea to begin with!

Very interesting solution. You can reduce friction by adding small wheels to the front (bottom) and back (top and bottom) of each section. You'll have to puzzle a bit with the various wheels & tires that LEGO offers, but it is possible to find a combination that will put the edge of the wheel just a bit higher than the beam. Since the beams are not exactly one stud high, but a bit less, you can make the whole section run on wheels without the beams touching the beams above or below them. The wheel in the front has to guide the next smaller section, the ones in the back are for guiding the section itself. You mention that you want to double the sections in length. Without any sides on the sections you basically have the bending strength of only the beams in the top and bottom layer. With sides you get a much, much stiffer section. But who knows, maybe that is overkill anyways. I would recommend to test it though, bending stiffness goes with the third power of the length, so a double as long section will be 8 times less stiff... And allthough I love the use of panels for their stiffness, those pesky holes in them are 1 stud deep and therefor stick out just a few tenth of a millimeter. You have to take care how you slide your sections along those holes to prevent them getting stuck. Finally I can imagine that those new 7x11 frames could be put to good use here as the endpoints of some of the sections. They will provide a nice and stiff base for the rest of the section (and maybe you can use a 5x7 frame in the back as well? Keep up the good work.

It sounds really interesting, but I'd also like to see some pics. With a cross-section of 7x11 I wonder how you managed to get 6 sections inside. With normal 1 stud thick walls, you can only get 4 sections at best (with the last section being 1 stud wide). So I assume you have a different kind of wall structure?

Great model! I'm impressed that you managed to get an 8 speed in there. I'm intrigued by the pullrod suspension in the back. Care to elaborate on that? Have you considered using darker shades of red and/or yellow? I did consider building a F1 car in Red Bull livery as well and I thought the yellow is a bit too bright.

On the original car there seems to be very little angle on the stripe. I would go with the solution of adding a little rake to the car like you suggested as your last solution.

Interesting article, but they missed another obvious geometrical feature of the holes: Some holes are actually at the position of the pythogarian triangles with the square corner of the triangle in the center of the circle. They use the 6x8x10 triangle in two orientations. This gives the following coordinates that are all perfectly on the circle: (0,10) (6,8) (the hole next to the middle crosshole) (8,6) (the other hole next to the middle crosshole) (10,0) And then you can also mount the circle 45 degrees rotated (hence the crosshole in the center), which gives another 2 extra holes that fit in this rotated pythagoras triangle (the holes next to the outer crossholes to be precise) The middle crosshole is close to the (7,7) coordinate, but it is just off sqrt(2)/2*10 = 7.1 studs.

Fantastic job! It looks like a set LEGO would release themselves.

Incredible model with so many functions at this scale You've captured the lines very well given the scale. At some areas it looks a little cluttered, but again, that is mostly due to scale. I do concur with @Zerobricks that the engine powertrain looks a bit complicated, but that is really nitpicking. Great model

I couldn't have phrased it better myself. @Speedlabdan: you can contact me directly on my website if you want (you can't send me personal messages here on Eurobricks until you have made 10 posts)

It doesn't change the stiffness indeed, but it does increase the pre-tension of the spring. That way it will take more force before the spring starts to compress.

Wow That is packed with functions while maintaining the light look in that chassis. Very impressive how simple & clean everything looks.

This is all about geometry. If you want to have a stiffer suspension with the same travel on the wheels you'll have to make sure that the springs are compressed more with the same limited travel. One way to do that is by making the lever that connects to the springs longer, or make the lever that connects to 9L link with balljoints shorter. Your current setup has a 2L length (it's a 3L beam with crossholes, but center to center that is 2L long) lever towards the spring and a 2L length towards the links. That gives you a 1:1 ratio between movement of the 9L link and the spring. The spring can move 1.5 studs, so the link also can move 1.5 studs. If you would make the lever to the link only 1 stud long a 0.75 stud movement of the 9L link gives you a 1.5 stud travel of the spring. So you'd get a 2x stiffer suspension. Obviously you can also increase the length of the lever to the spring to get the same effect, but that will require a wider body. To get the same 2x stiffness your 3L beam will have to grow to a 5L beam, making the body 10L wide (or figure out a way to have these links crossing each other) In your setup the 9L link is almost horizontal. As a result the vertical movement of the wheel is translated only into a small horizontal movement of the link. So another way of improving the setup is by angling the link more upwards, than you also get a better ratio between the vertical movement of the wheel and the horizontal movement of the link. But I guess that was the kind of look you wanted to try to avoid. You can also make a more elaborate linkage system in the body of the car that amplifies the movement of the lever that would normally go the spring, but I wouldn't advice that, since it will introduce a lot of play in the system. I hope I explained it well

Wow That is a fabulous looking car! I love the headlights, the front airintakes at the sides, the smooth paneling, the red details in the suspension and the functionality. One question, in the HoG version, will the doors and clamshelf-tops be opened manually or electrically? The only thing I am not sure about is the red dash. But I guess that can be changed to white or something if wanted, right? Brilliant model!

I am bit late to the party, but what an astonishing build! I love the way the white panels flow along the side of the car from front to rear. It really is a work of art to get all those angles just right so that this flow is uninterupted. The doors look fantastic, you don't notice the gaps around them. All proper supercar functions are in and the chassis looks sturdy, but still elegant. Just wow. My only nitpick is the front lights. I know that in the real car these lights are also these big gaping holes, but for me that is distracting. I saw some versions where the splitter between the headlights themselves is made in the same colour as the bodywork instead of black to break up the hole. Have you tried that?

Rest in peace Ingmar. You were a top notch builder that gave us some beautiful inspiring models.

Very elegant solution! I’ve made a brickbuilt crankshaft in my Pagani Huayra, but I used 1x1 bricks with studs on the side with some 1x1 round tiles on top. That gives a bit more stroke, but also a more irregular movement. I think I like yours better.

The design looks amazing! Very cool. It is a shame it is not working. For what it's worth. Way back in the day when I was still working at TLC I also made a rollercoaster with a looping using the 7mm ribbed hoses. I used a massive amount of black 16L beams (this was still the studded era) to build a supporting structure (a bit like the wooden roller coasters). I even managed to empty the local warehouse of 16L beams . Anyway, the tower needed to be ~2 m high before I could get a cart looping in a 30-40 cm loop because of the friction of the ribbed hoses. I never experienced the issues you report, but as others have also pointed out, you have very few supporting legs in your structure. Adding more (sturdy) legs, preferably interconnected as well, will help a lot in making the whole structure more stiff. There is a surprising amount of force needed to run a cart through a looping. so not only the sideways bracing is needed, but also bracing in the direction of the track.

Wow, this is a worthy addition to the official set.