[MOC] RC Camper Van with SBrick - 4 Studs Wide

[SevenStuds]

So this was a quick, fun project. I gave myself the weekend to build the smallest RC car I could. My goal was 4 studs. This seemed reasonable since a battery box and SBrick are both 4 studs wide. With the width set in place, I quickly realized that making two connected parts would be the way to go so the model naturally became a camper van/RV with a trailer. The main car holds 2 micromotors and the trailer has 1 old-style battery box with the SBrick directly on top.

More photo's here.

Assembly photos are here.

PS: I must also thank Mbmc as some of his micro RC MOCs were a good inspiration for this project.

Edited August 8, 2016 by SevenStuds

[BrickCurve]

Nice one! I never realised it was possible to make a RV that small! I look forward to the disassembly photo.

[TheMindGarage]

Wow :O! Never knew anything close to 4 studs was possible! Once I challenged myself to make the narrowest possible RC car with full suspension (I used live-axle), a decent gearbox (mine was 6-speed) and a fully-enclosed body. It ended up at 11 studs wide, the limiting factor being the wheels (62.4mm by 20mm) and the electronics (MINDSTORMS EV3 brick).

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Totally cool! :wub:

I like how is small and how looks cute!

The steering system is the iceing on the cake

[2LegoOrNot2Lego...]

This is just awesome...and fun indeed...well done...!

[jono rocky]

Now that's impressive. Your gonna have to rename yourself from sevenstuds to fourstuds , but in all well done on achieving your goal and love the alien.

[dr_spock]

That's cute. Good work. Long live 4-wide.

[Space Police XVIII]

That is just adorable.

Trailer could really use a second axle, though.

[Kiwi_Builder]

That looks awesome! One note though, isn't the axle on the trailer too far forward? Normally it's in the middle of the trailer which makes it look 'proper' and makes it better balanced. Well done!

[Jurss]

Cool!

And I'm also wondering, why axle on trailer is so close to front?

[syclone]

So small, awesome!

[SevenStuds]

Thanks for all the comments everyone!

Trailer could really use a second axle, though.

One note though, isn't the axle on the trailer too far forward?

And I'm also wondering, why axle on trailer is so close to front?

So the axle story: the trailer axle started in the middle as expected. With a "normal" setup, the main car was not able to steer efficiently. Since it's rear wheel drive, when the car goes forward and pulls its own weight, it tends to take pressure off the front wheels ever so sightly. They always touch the ground, but there just isn't enough friction to make them turn the car well. I didn't want to build more bulk in front since the size was the main goal, and I also didn't want rear wheel steering. Since moving the trailer attachment point up or down one plate height did not work at all, I had to come up with a way to apply a tiny bit of pressure to the front to counter this "pull tilt" effect. Simply moving the axle forward did just that. It doesn't look good, but the weight balance now helps to keep sufficient pressure on the front.

They do crazy things on the moon