Thanks! Yeah I've been considering some dish pieces, or flat discs. I'll see what works.
I'm also waiting on parts to test the steering mechanism before finishing the front arms
I'm also waiting on parts to test the steering mechanism before finishing the front arms
This is so much better than the Viper I've been working on for the past few years.
This is so much better than the Viper I've been working on for the past few years.
Close enough
This is so much better than the Viper I've been working on for the past few years.
In Lego terms it would cost about £5, stuffs expensive!
@nickweb are those front arms going to be stiff enough?
What a brilliant thread! Well done OP.
That's the original Elite's Mamba upside down, you still got some work to do.This is so much better than the Viper I've been working on for the past few years.
Not as they currently are. I have ordered parts to test the steering and wheel assembly, once those arrive I will know if I can use it or not and then be able to strengthen the front arms with the current wheel assembly. Hopefully the parts will be with me soon!
This is so much better than the Viper I've been working on for the past few years.
Thats a fer de lance... mamba indeed.
Fer de lance
Update: 07/02/2020
The parts arrived for the steering assembly today! 54 parts in here...
So I got to assembling the assembly (see what I did there?) All went well...
Until I realised one side had virtually no support and compromised the whole steering mech. You can see on the right hand side the bad planning decision I had made when initially coming up with this design...
Not to fear however! back into LDD to have a fiddle...
So after re-designing this part of the assembly the wheels still have the same range of movement, and I had the parts to make this modification too...
This was a vital part of the process, and I'm glad I found an error here, it means I was able to fix it before going too far... now to go back and examine the whole structure before going any further.
The parts arrived for the steering assembly today! 54 parts in here...
So I got to assembling the assembly (see what I did there?) All went well...
Until I realised one side had virtually no support and compromised the whole steering mech. You can see on the right hand side the bad planning decision I had made when initially coming up with this design...
Not to fear however! back into LDD to have a fiddle...
So after re-designing this part of the assembly the wheels still have the same range of movement, and I had the parts to make this modification too...
This was a vital part of the process, and I'm glad I found an error here, it means I was able to fix it before going too far... now to go back and examine the whole structure before going any further.
Lego is dangerously addictive! I'm on my fifth refactor of my Asp Scout lego model and I'm glad I went 'real' to begin with as trying to get certain angles structurally sound is hard work virtually (for me).
Sometimes you really do just have to experiment with the parts to see if ideas work don't you!
This is my first model using Legos 'studless' parts and its been a bit of a learning curve as I've got to mix the two types (and deal with the minute differences that wreck a days work
). Hopefully I'll be finished in time for New Era....
Damn. If you keep this up I'm going to have to go into my loft and bring down the ten or so large boxes of Lego I have up there.
Nice! This reminded me that I did a series of six-wheel-drive solar-powered Lego mars rovers so I just went and dug up old pics for memory lane! The rovers were inspired by the NASA rovers and so it followed their general wheel layout, but now in hindsight I think your SRV-inspired wheel layout is a better approach. (My early models had six wheel steering which I moved away from in later models because of leverage / plastic-flex issues that would have been less problematic with eg an SRV-style wheel on each side of the steering axis instead of an offset steering axis. It was a problem because the solar panel I made was pretty heavy, so the steering worked fine on its own, but then carrying the extra weight was hard and awkward on offset joints). Here's an early one:
The rovers were inspired by the NASA rovers and so it followed their general wheel layout, but now in hindsight I think your SRV-inspired wheel layout is a better approach. (My early models had six wheel steering which I moved away from in later models because of leverage / plastic-flex issues that would have been less problematic with eg an SRV-style wheel on each side of the steering axis instead of an offset steering axis. It was a problem because the solar panel I made was pretty heavy, so the steering worked fine on its own, but then carrying the extra weight was hard and awkward on offset joints). Here's an early one:wow that's awesome! I assume from the program bricks it was programmable?Nice! This reminded me that I did a series of six-wheel-drive solar-powered Lego mars rovers so I just went and dug up old pics for memory lane!
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It’s also difficult when making plated angles to not get gaps. Look at the joining between the angles on the non-UCS old style Millennium Falcon. They finally managed to get round the issue with the newest non-UCS Falcon.
Update 08/02/2020
Great Success!! I figured out a new front arm structure, and personally I think it looks super!
LDD screenshot:
Bluerender:
The front arms are now strong enough, and look the part too. I'm half tempted to replace the middle and rear arms with a similar structure, but seeing as the majority of the weight will be on the middle and rear arms I think I better stay with the current setup
Great Success!! I figured out a new front arm structure, and personally I think it looks super!
LDD screenshot:
Bluerender:
The front arms are now strong enough, and look the part too. I'm half tempted to replace the middle and rear arms with a similar structure, but seeing as the majority of the weight will be on the middle and rear arms I think I better stay with the current setup
Those new front struts are much better. I'm wondering how much this is going to cost me when you post your final build?