TSATS: Lifeguard's Personal Watercraft

[Lipko]

Here's my entry for the "To Sail the Technic Seas" contest.

It is a lifeguard's personal watercraft (jet-ski). The model focuses on the looks and realistic functions, it's not intended to swim or to move on the ground.

Features:

*driven by a medium motor

*realistic manual jet nozzle steering (with return to center mechanism) operated by the handle bar (with realistic motion)

*working, non-steerable propeller

*fake 4-cylinder engine

*a shroud that can be lowered over the steering nozzle to produce backwards thrust in real jet-skis (reverse). Operated manually from the driver's seat

*simulated throttle, operated from the handle bar

*battery box is operated easily from the driver's seat and can't be pushed in "reverse" direction.

*opening engine hatch with supporting rod

*almost everything is achieved by linkage mechanisms, which are affected only minimally by each other (for example throttle is not affected by the steering axle and vice versa)

*good looks

*battery box can be removed relatively easily

About the throttle:

It's just a simulation of it, so it's totally fake. If I had a rechargeable battery box, it could be totally realistic, since the linkage works just fine.

In this model, the revolution of the engine and propeller is controlled by simply changing the friction of one output axle of a differential, which causes the other output (the drive-train) to change its revolution because the differential is driven with a constant speed. The friction is changed by pushing radially a small wheel against another freely rotating wheel on the axle.

The "lifeguard" part of the entry's title is there because the color scheme I had to use due to my inventory.

Video and some more pictures here (see brickshelf or Flickr for even more):

old topic

[Lipko]

I made an LDD model of the watercraft

It was hard to rebuild the model, I didn't make instructions for it, and I only had a few photos of it (not much more than you can see in this thread). But I believe I could rebuild the thing, maybe there are some differences in the placement of some pins in the body. Surprisingly, there were only three minor points where there was an illegal construction: The exhaust pipes (the Palm-tree trunk part), the two bushes under the panels on the bottom-front of the vehicle (you can see the light-gray axle end in the first image). Plus putting studded plates in beams is illegal, so I had to replace those parts (on the bottom of the watercraft).

This is my first model in LDD, but I had only one issue: For some reason, the gear-rack part seems to be taller than 1 stud, so I couldn't put the double-pin-with-bushing part above it to guide the rack. The double-pin-with-bushing part is replaced with a purple bush.

LDD file

And some "renders":

[Sicil]

WOW! This's very cool and well developed model. I like it!

[jorgeopesi]

It is nice to see the MOCs´s mechanisms in that way, good job again.

[DLuders]

@ Lipko: Thanks for sharing your LDD .lxf file! You should consider submitting your excellent MOC to Rebrickable.com, where AFOLs who are not members of Eurobricks can see it!

[Carsten Svendsen]

Wow, that boat looks really great. I've never seen an actual boat in technic before but maybe that's just me.... Awesome work!

I like the LDD of internal mechanisms.

What are the 2x 24 tooth gears + knob wheel used for?

[Alasdair Ryan]

I am guessing that is just part of the fake engine.

[Lipko]

Wow, that boat looks really great. I've never seen an actual boat in technic before but maybe that's just me.... Awesome work!

I like the LDD of internal mechanisms.

What are the 2x 24 tooth gears + knob wheel used for?

That's just the fake jet propeller. I didn't have a propeller propeller part, and the LDD is of the submitted version with all its small mistakes (like some axes are sticking out). I'm thinking about improving the model a bit.