[MOC/MOD] Mercedes W14 F1 & McLaren Solus GT Mod

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

After building the new Speed Champions McLaren F1 car I found that my upgraded W12 from the 2022 double pack wasn't really a good enough companion for it, so I've dismantled that model and rebuilt it into the W14 from the 2023 F1 season. The new car is built on the same chassis piece as the McLaren, allowing for the same lower driver position, and features new wings, floor, front axle, and engine, while retaining the best design features from the older model (i.e. the wing mirrors and sidepods). (The 1x2 slope on the nose will be replaced with the new non-grille version when I can get them from BrickLink. Note also that the design uses some BlueBrixx parts in a few places for stud reversal, which purists will need to replace with alternative parts.)

Instructions:  [LDraw]  [Studio]  [PDF]

As a bonus here's a reworking of the 2023 McLaren Solus GT I've recently updated to better capture the front end. Compared to the real car, the original set's front wheel arches extended too far forwards, leaving the cockpit section too central. This version corrects those proportions while also lowering the rear wing, giving the car a more accurate and aggressive profile.

Instructions:  [LDraw]  [Studio]  [PDF]

Edited November 6, 2024 by BrickMonkeyMOCs
Updated W14

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

[Delete]

Edited November 5, 2024 by BrickMonkeyMOCs

[dimka_ya]

Interesting modifications!
Thanks for the instructions!

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

On 5/14/2024 at 4:49 AM, dimka_ya said:

Interesting modifications!
Thanks for the instructions!

You're welcome. Thanks for posting.

[MR Swordfish]

That looks considerably better, very nice job! I love that Lego has been putting out more F1 in Speed Champions, but I'd honestly say you've outshone both the 2022 & 2024 official sets in the styling department. After buying those new sets, I'm thinking about trying to tackle some 2024 F1 models in this scale myself, as the cars have evolved so much since I last did it for the 2017 spec... along with the selection of Lego elements. Your work here is very inspiring

Edited June 15, 2024 by MR Swordfish

[Shiva]

Nice cars :)

How would a Mercedes W12 76909, rebuilt with new parts from LEGO McLaren F1 76919 be?

I'm considering buying 2x76919's, for that plan. 1 for McLaren. The 2nd as a base for Mercedes W12. Well, rather a Mercedes W14.

Edited June 15, 2024 by Shiva

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

19 hours ago, MR Swordfish said:

That looks considerably better, very nice job! I love that Lego has been putting out more F1 in Speed Champions, but I'd honestly say you've outshone both the 2022 & 2024 official sets in the styling department. After buying those new sets, I'm thinking about trying to tackle some 2024 F1 models in this scale myself, as the cars have evolved so much since I last did it for the 2017 spec... along with the selection of Lego elements. Your work here is very inspiring

Thank you. I really like the 2024 McLaren/Aston Martin F1 design, so I wouldn't claim to have improved on that. My goal was just to make a Mercedes F1 car that would look better alongside those two than the rather blocky official W12. Getting the new AMR23 also gave me a second spare black spoon, so I've now swapped the wing mirror ice skates to spoons. Feel free to post your 2017-spec F1 cars here if you like. I'd be interested in seeing them.

9 hours ago, Shiva said:

Nice cars :)

How would a Mercedes W12 76909, rebuilt with new parts from LEGO McLaren F1 76919 be?

I'm considering buying 2x76919's, for that plan. 1 for McLaren. The 2nd as a base for Mercedes W12. Well, rather a Mercedes W14.

Sounds like a good plan. You might need to do some print-removal though to make use of the nose and engine cover elements. Could also be a challenge working in teal highlights, unless you're going with custom stickers for that. Either way, I'd like to see how it turns out.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Your version of the Mc Laren Solus GT is definitely better than the one proposed by TLG!

[MR Swordfish]

2 hours ago, BrickMonkeyMOCs said:

Thank you. I really like the 2024 McLaren/Aston Martin F1 design, so I wouldn't claim to have improved on that. My goal was just to make a Mercedes F1 car that would look better alongside those two than the rather blocky official W12. Getting the new AMR23 also gave me a second spare black spoon, so I've now swapped the wing mirror ice skates to spoons. Feel free to post your 2017-spec F1 cars here if you like. I'd be interested in seeing them.

Yeah, to me those new McLaren & Aston models are the best "minifig scale" F1 cars Lego has released.

They have all that nice shaping & detail whilst being so rigidly built & holding a driver, which can typically be pretty constraining on the styling. I think the Speed Champions wheels look a bit small for the 2022+ regs, but they're impressive models overall. The spoon mirrors are hilariously good, though I did like your ice skates solution, too. I think your model just looks a bit more streamlined visually, which I really prefer. As you know, official sets are usually rigid enough to survive "play"... I'm usually fine sacrificing some of that for visuals, so long as the model can survive "normal handling". I think F1 cars just skew fragile & skeletal by nature

I did actually post my 2017 cars in early 2018 (link below), but I'm wanting to improve on them still, whilst depicting the 2022+ regulations instead. It's probably going to take an entirely new design from the ground up... lots of new pieces to work with as well, I haven't made any MOCs since 2018

 

Edited June 16, 2024 by MR Swordfish

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

8 minutes ago, MR Swordfish said:

Yeah, to me those new McLaren & Aston models are the best "minifig scale" F1 cars Lego has released.

They have all that nice shaping & detail whilst being so rigidly built & holding a driver, which can typically be pretty constraining on the styling. I think the wheels look a bit small for the 2022+ regs, but they're impressive models overall. The spoon mirrors are hilariously good, though I did like your ice skates solution, too. I think your model just looks a bit more streamlined visually, which I really prefer. As you know, official sets are usually rigid enough to survive "play"... I'm usually fine sacrificing some of that for visuals, so long as the model can survive "normal handling".

I did actually post my 2017 cars in early 2018 (link below), but I'm wanting to improve on them still, whilst depicting the 2022+ regulations instead. It's probably going to take an entirely new design from the ground up... lots of new pieces to work with as well, I haven't made any MOCs since 2018

I remember your MOCs now! They were very accurate, and I'll be interested to see what you can do now with a full minifigure included. If you've kept those older ones built you might also try swapping the wheels/tires out for the new SC slicks. I did the same with my older 6-wide F1 cars this year, as while they are a little small on these 8-wide cars they're perfect for a slightly smaller model.

[MR Swordfish]

18 minutes ago, BrickMonkeyMOCs said:

I remember your MOCs now! They were very accurate, and I'll be interested to see what you can do now with a full minifigure included. If you've kept those older ones built you might also try swapping the wheels/tires out for the new SC slicks. I did the same with my older 6-wide F1 cars this year, as while they are a little small on these 8-wide cars they're perfect for a slightly smaller model.

Thank you! Fitting a minifigure is currently "pending", I will basically start building to include one, but scrap it if a noteworthy visual compromise arises... which is usually what happens haha. Though I suspect these new designs will have enough vertical brick height that they could be tweaked to hold a figure instead, if desired. I just like prioritizing visuals to see whats possible, as this is less often done

One issue might be that my goal is to further slim the area where the nose connects to the cockpit, to get it looking fairly proportionate to real life. That's probably going to mess up either the minifig area or the model stability, so something may have to be let go. I also want wider rear wheels than front (which could be tackled a few ways, but they all have a downside) and better sidepod shaping from all angles. It seems difficult to build sidepods that slope downward towards the rear while also narrowing/curving from a top-down view, and now the situation is even more complex with how the front of the sidepods have an upward slant towards the cockpit. It's tough!

You did a wonderful job here though, like I said. Very inspiring. If you don't spot the post for my finished models I'll send them your way. And you're right, I should look at updating the wheels on the older MOCs, and see if it looks better

Edited June 16, 2024 by MR Swordfish

[Shiva]

15 hours ago, BrickMonkeyMOCs said:

Thank you. I really like the 2024 McLaren/Aston Martin F1 design, so I wouldn't claim to have improved on that. My goal was just to make a Mercedes F1 car that would look better alongside those two than the rather blocky official W12. Getting the new AMR23 also gave me a second spare black spoon, so I've now swapped the wing mirror ice skates to spoons. Feel free to post your 2017-spec F1 cars here if you like. I'd be interested in seeing them.

Sounds like a good plan. You might need to do some print-removal though to make use of the nose and engine cover elements. Could also be a challenge working in teal highlights, unless you're going with custom stickers for that. Either way, I'd like to see how it turns out.

I have never modded Speed Champions, yet. Nose and engine cover, shouldn't there be non printed versions of those? I have not checked bricklink.

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

4 hours ago, Shiva said:

I have never modded Speed Champions, yet. Nose and engine cover, shouldn't there be non printed versions of those? I have not checked bricklink.

The engine cover wedges (#3504/3505) come in black now from the G-Wagon, but the 1x6 nose slope (#4569) isn't yet available unprinted in black.

[Shiva]

Cheers :)

[Raymember]

I really like the modification of the F1 car better then the 1 from the 76909 set. I am already trying to make it original Lego parts since I don't have to BlueBrixx stud part.

Tried different connections but no succes so far.

Anyone else found an alternative way for that connection of the rear wing?

[Raymember]

On 6/17/2024 at 12:41 AM, BrickMonkeyMOCs said:

The engine cover wedges (#3504/3505) come in black now from the G-Wagon, but the 1x6 nose slope (#4569) isn't yet available unprinted in black.

An unprinted slope in black is available now with the instruction of set 42174 New Zealand yacht

Edited August 29, 2024 by Raymember

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

On 8/29/2024 at 5:08 PM, Raymember said:

An unprinted slope in black is available now with the instruction of set 42174 New Zealand yacht

Thanks for the heads up!

On 8/29/2024 at 4:48 PM, Raymember said:

Anyone else found an alternative way for that connection of the rear wing?

There's no perfect purist solution, but the best I can suggest is to build the rear wing all studs-up, connecting to an inverted 2x2 tile at the bottom (in place of 33909), then using different connections for the rear light and 1x1 diffuser panels (I'd replace the 1x1 bracket with a 1x2 jumper plate, and instead connect the rear light via another 1x2 jumper plate with a 1x2-1x2 up bracket from below the 1x4 plate, and then use 1x1 brackets in place of the 1x1 plates to connect the diffuser panels at 90deg).