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I've finally decided to properly share my Kamov Ka-50 helicopter MOC. At this point, I have a prototype ready, all the proportion work is done, I still have a few external details to figure out (and some redesigning), and also a few internal mechanisms to properly fit in. This is a very dear project of mine. Also the most ambitious one, so far. Challenging both in terms of functions/mechanisms but also in terms of looks. This is probably my favorite attack helicopter, and I've been wanting to give it a proper translation into LEGO for at least 10 years. I've started researching stuff about it, but the first sketches I've done for this project happened back in 2020. Back then, Studio didn't have the option to import blueprints, so I was using colored beams for measuring (you'll see those in some of the renders) I've decided to try my best to complete this project mainly because I think it could be one of the coolest MOCs the community has to offer, I love designing LEGO Technic stuff, and I've also loved this helicopter ever since I was a kid. It will have 2 motorized functions (co-axial rotor, and landing gear) and 2 manual functions (machine gun controlled by a single joystick on the left side, and the tail rudder controlled by the cockpit stick - I still have to find the room for linking those two) Initially, I wanted to use 2 x Powered Up L motors, positioned exactly where the real engines are, but that was gonna be a really tight fit. The idea was having one motor for each function, so the landing gear would easily be controlled up/down just from the battery box switch, without any reverse switch gearing. But right now I'm thinking I should just use one single motor, permanently linked to the rotor (so switching on the battery would turn on the rotor) and then a different switch for lowering / raising the landing gear. I'm still debating this idea. I'm open to any suggestions you might have. I'm not very experienced with motors and how much weight they can pull, so I imagine I'll need quite a bit of testing here. I also think a lot of gearing down is needed. Also, 2 clutches, one for the rotor and one for the landing gear, so if for some reason, the landing gear is stopped in mid transition, the rotor is still going. But if the rotor is stopped, the whole thing stops. - But today I wanna show you the most interesting motorized function, which is the main landing gear (just the rear wheels for today). I'll be honest, designing this one took at least a year of testing and I imagine it feels as good as solving something like the ghost mode from the Sadair's Spear. It's a very cool and visually impactful function. Tested over and over again, 0 failures, there's proper clearance everywhere, there's a satisfying flow and alignment to how the panels are arranged, and it feels amazing seeing this thing work in real life. I didn't have access to any schematics properly showing the internals of the landing gear, so I had to guess where the hinge is positioned and what the angle is, to have the wheels folded at an angle like that, while having them sit straight when fully lowered. The landing gear mechanism is pretty straight forward, just a worm gear activating a liftarm linked to the wheel arm support. The arm itself has an angled hinge on top, designed using basic triangle geometry. The hinge then connects to an angled frame, using the same geometry (so, basically, the same angle). This basically negates the angle when the arm is fully lowered, and sits straight, so the wheels are staying straight as well. When retracted, though, the wheels sit at an angle, just like the real thing. The most challenging part was linking / syncing the bay doors to the wheels. Initially, I thought of a system that was pushing the door out using an axle, then the door closed using a rubber band that pulled it back in position once the axle retracted. It used a barrel that looked like this (below) And below you can see it mounted (in retracted/closed position) The beauty of it is that the rotation of that barrel opens the doors (at a 180 degree turn) and then closes them (at an almost full 360) but it also works in reverse, when you're raising the landing gear, performing the exact same motion for the door. It wasn't quite perfect, because the axle would rotate a bit at the beginning of the motion, so instead of pushing the door directly with a linear motion, it would somehow rotate towards it from the side. Sometimes it would fail to open it in time and the wheel would come down and hit the door. But then I realized I could use a 6L link instead of an axle. The problem was I needed a perpendicular link. Luckily, LEGO decided to release that exact link, with the 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle, which was a perfect fit and solved my problem. And I didn't need a rubber band for closing the door anymore. The two mechanisms, each using a worm gear, are then linked together and synced using gears. And here's an old photo from 2019, pretty much how it all started, even before I discovered Studio. You can also see an early attempt at the machine gun. On my next post, I will show the machine gun mechanism in detail, which is the second most interesting function. Stay tuned! I hope you're enjoying the presentation so far!