[TC7] Enforcers - Van Helising

[D3K]

UPDATE 13/8-2015:

I present to you my finished entry for the TC7 contest, the Van Heli-sing armored van/assault helicopter.

I will take you through the transformation process as I show pictures of the various stages of transformation.

At first it might look like an ordinary armored van (you know, the ones you see in all the Hollywood movies). Nothing fancy, it has a bull bar up front with some powerful lights, and it features a double bottom with angled armour panels (grey) to help deflect landmines and IEDs it might drive over.

And now the show starts:

First thing it does is to deploy a tricycle landing gear detup, similar to what you see on larger transport helicopters like the Sikorsky CH-53 etc. At the same time, the car's wheels are retracted and hidden inside the body of the van. Also, the long white axle poking out the front is supposed to be for aerial refueling (no function from that axle, except to give it a more helicopter-y look):

Next, a ramp opens in the rear, to fasilitate the deployment of the tail boom assembly:

As this is deployed, the roof can be opened as well

And the main rotor is deployed upwards and rearwards by about seven studs. Also inside the front roof hatches are two large missiles.

Both sides of the vehicle have doors that open towards the back, revealing crew served M134 Miniguns:

Inside you can see a red 2L axle peeking out. That is supposed to hold a sniper's rifle (that I of course forgot to fit for the photo). It can be used by hand, or it can take the place of one of the Miniguns:

The helicopter can also quickly be configured for a gunship role, by closing the doors and lowering and angling the guns forward:

The functions are a good mix of manual and mechanical solutions. A lot of worm gears have been used, and things work satisfactory, as you can see in the video

Here be a video of the whole transformation. Proper video, not stop motion .

Original post:

I've had an idea forthis contest for a long time, but only yesterday got around to put that idea down in some bricks!

So far I only have the size and a couple of functions nailed, but I hope to finish it in time for the deadline.

The above picture shows the model setup in "civilian".. It is duspposed to be a van of some sorts. Not many features except for steering, and perhaps some opening doors when I get around to start on the bodywork.

Next picture shows the model in "battle" mode:

As you can see the idea is to turn it into a helicopter. The shape of the thing is loosely inspired by an Sikorsky CH-53 (or at least that was what I had in my mind designing it), but of course at a much smaller scale.

The front wheels turn 90 degrees upward and smaller landing wheels are deployed on the underside (not visible on this pic). Making the front wheel mechanism was a real pain, as I really wanted them to have steering when in "civilian". Maybe half the total time building this yesterday was used to figure out a suitable solution there, and I ended up with the worm-drive system you can see in front of the wheels.

The rear wheels rotate down under and through 180 degrees, as more helicopter-like are being deployed where the car-wheels were. This was the first thing I designed, and decided the overall scale of the model. It uses a worm-drive system similar to the front wheels.

The tail boom extends some 18 studs out to the rear (through the yet-to-be-built rear doors) much the same way crane booms do. The rear part is then manually turned up 180 degrees and the tail rotor blades are manually deployed.

The main rotor is lifted up and aft roughly six studs (through the yet-to-be-built roof), and the rotor blades are automatically deployed onece you turn the power on due to centrifugal force.

Both main- and tail rotors are powered.

I plan to either have deployable stub wings with an assortment of missiles/rockets/guns on each side, or possibly openable doors with deployable crew operated miniguns or something on each side. Will have to wait and see what there's room for

Of course the body still remains, as well as some technical issues, but so far most things are working satisfactory.

As for the name, I was planning to use Van Damme, or possible Damned Van, but piterx beat me to it. However I am satisfied with the current Van Helising, as it is a double wordplay

Hope you like it, and hope to have some more work done by tonight

Edited August 13, 2015 by D3K

[Jeroen Ottens]

Good start!

Interesting to see how this will play out.

[D3K]

Been doing some more work on this today:

Obviously a lot of the outside has been worked with, but also some small tweaks to the mechanisms

Here with the wheels switched to helicopter mode and front (there will be a rear as well) roof hatch opened

I know it's not a looker

Building two so different models in one, and maintaining the mechanical aspect of things is proving a challenge. One of the main problems concerning the front, is all the room needed for the wheels to do their thing, and that leaves very little room for bracing and attaching stuff

Anyway, in case some of you were wondering about the front wheels (I noticed Paul Boratko had the same idea, sans the steering), here are a couple of renders to show the general idea:

And with the wheels pulled up:

[BusterHaus]

I don't know what's more impressive so far: the model or the building speed. Very good entry so far!

[Chade]

I love what you're trying to do with this model, and thanks for showing how the steering works, it's really good. I think the model will look fantastic when completed. What mechanism are you using to tuck the main rotor back into the van (if you don't mind me asking)?

Edited August 11, 2015 by Chade

[MacKaiwer]

"I know it's not a looker" No, no no... I think just quite opposite, it is and will be a looker when finished because it is shaping so nice, especially helicopter mode Keep up the good work and I sincerely hope and believe that you get it ready in time for contest

[D3K]

I have updated the original post in this topic with the finished model with many pictures and video, hope you like it!

[legolijntje]

Those guns look badass! :grin:

I like the model. It does "feel" like less quality than you usually make, but that's probably also because you made this one in a very short timeframe.

Quite nice nontheless

[KirTech LAB]

Amazing!!! All the mechanisms and guns are really awesome! :thumbup:

[syclone]

Wow ! You definitely surprised me to 300%!

I'm just amazed how you fit everything in such scale van

[BusterHaus]

I love the transformation on this Enforcer! So much happening, and so well hidden. Excellent!

[D3K]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you seem to like it!

Those guns look badass! :grin:

I like the model. It does "feel" like less quality than you usually make, but that's probably also because you made this one in a very short timeframe.

Quite nice nontheless

Thanks, and that is very true Everything was rushed yesterday to finish the model and have time to shoot the pics and make the video, as I don't have more time till the deadline on Sunday. Especially the entire rear of the body is pretty much just a patchwork of panels to cover things up, and the nose wheel mechanism definitely needs a redesign, as the model turned out quite a lot heavier than first envisioned, so it barely holds the nose up!

I now wish I started this earlier, as it would have been a lot of fun to go "all in" and perfect the model.. oh well, perhaps later

All in all, for three (or was it four?) days work, I'm pretty satisfied! Main goal was to make the functions work as intended, and fit it all in.

[MajklSpajkl]

3 to 4 days???? Are you even human??? ;-) You sure are quick and a very fine product you made, I especialy like the front axle solution.

[Maaboo the Witch]

This is brilliant! I'd love to see this as an actual set. LEGO Ideas, anyone?

Edited August 14, 2015 by Maaboo35

[MaxSupercars]

D3K,

really good work! I like how did you use the whole inner space for hiding of both propellers and tail... also hiding of wheels was very good made... ;)

Max...

[Erik Leppen]

I really like this one. For now, a serious contender for my vote. What I like so much is that the van really looks van-like and the helicopter also really looks helicopter-y. Reminds of 9396.

Also, it really does a lot of things, technically. Wheel units rotate, stuff slides out in all kinds of places, without it really affecting the looks of the original van.

My minor gripe is the windscreen. Would rather have seen a transparent one, rather than it being covered by black beams. It looks to be the same in both vehicles, so the black beams don't seem to be needed for anything. But I understand if you want to hide whatever's behind it.

An unexpected feature was how the main rotor seems to self-stabilize when driven. Nice!

[D3K]

3 to 4 days???? Are you even human??? ;-) You sure are quick and a very fine product you made, I especialy like the front axle solution.

Last I checked, I was still human Thanks! And the front axle solution was kinda tricky to get right, but there are compromises, like the steering angle isn't very good. Things could have been made easier and more compact if I opted to go without steering..

D3K,

really good work! I like how did you use the whole inner space for hiding of both propellers and tail... also hiding of wheels was very good made... ;)

Max...

Thanks! The inside is indeed pretty full, I'll try to remove the entire body and take a picture of it before complete disassembly

I really like this one. For now, a serious contender for my vote. What I like so much is that the van really looks van-like and the helicopter also really looks helicopter-y. Reminds of 9396.

Also, it really does a lot of things, technically. Wheel units rotate, stuff slides out in all kinds of places, without it really affecting the looks of the original van.

My minor gripe is the windscreen. Would rather have seen a transparent one, rather than it being covered by black beams. It looks to be the same in both vehicles, so the black beams don't seem to be needed for anything. But I understand if you want to hide whatever's behind it.

An unexpected feature was how the main rotor seems to self-stabilize when driven. Nice!

Thanks! I felt it was pretty important to have the van recognizable as a van, and the helicopter as a helicopter. That's why I chose a van, as the front and body can be (somewhat) similar to that of a cargo helicopter. Making it so was easier said than done though

The windscreen I'm not happy with either. I was meant to mention it in the topic, but simply forgot. Like most other things, it was a hasty solution, and could unboubtedly have been made a lot better However, the cab is full of gears and mechanisms, and even the front of the main rotor assembly, when in van-mode

I got the idea for the self-deploying rotor blades from a small PiccoZ RC helicopter I had a long time ago, that used the same concept, probably to prevent them from breaking when crashing.. there was a lot of crashing.. It takes a second or two for them to be properly deployed though, you can see the whole model is shaking pretty badly in the video before the blades are in their proper position! I wouldn't use this system on a real life helicopter!

[D3K]

I made a quick LDraw model of the internals, and did a couple of quick renders:

Steering

Front wheels retracting

Nose landing gear

Main rotor lift/deployment

Rear wheels retract/deploy rear landing gear

Tail boom extend/retract

Rotors power

EDIT:

10 gears to get to the steering rack.. new personal record i reckon

Edited August 16, 2015 by D3K

[Edwin Korstanje]

Great entry D3K :thumbup:

[Erik Leppen]

That steering :o Wonderful piece of engineering right there.

[Graydingo]

Impressive engineering all around! Love all the cranks. This moc does so much!