RoscoPC's Lego Technic Racecar Stable

[Plastic Nurak]

A simple acrylic spray you can find in a do-it-yourself store.

Sacrilege !

[DLuders]

@ RoscoPC: I like the new cutaway views of the McLaren MP4-4 WIP on your Flickr photoset:

Edited May 8, 2011 by DLuders

[DLuders]

What RoscoPC didn't tell anybody is what happens to the drivers after the race (from Louskam):

They have to get in better physical condition!

[Plastic Nurak]

LOL, that's funny !

[Blakbird]

I've been looking more closely at RoscoPC's cars as I do some renders, and the more I look the more impressed I am. The first I rendered was his Brabham B46B fan car. I didn't really know anything about this car so I looked it up on Wikipedia. The first thing you appreciate when you look closely is what an accurate model it is. You could certainly call it "Model Team" in that it has every detail replicated, and everything is perfectly to scale. But then when you strip away the appearance, you find that underneath is a fantastic functional Technic creation. It has steering and suspension an a diff and an engine, but even better than that is the fact that every one of those features is set up exactly like the real car.

The front suspension at first appears conventional with upper and lower control arms, but then you find if you look closely that the shock absorber is not attached to either arm but to a link which is levered to the upper arm. This results in a different amount of shock stroke than suspension travel.

At the rear we see a muli-link suspension with anti-roll bars. We can also see the horizontally opposed (boxer style) 12 cylinder engine and the carefully created exhaust.

And finally, we can see what made this car famous which is the giant rear fan used "for cooling". Of course, in reality it was an aerodynamic device which sucked the car down onto the tarmac and greatly increased traction. It was banned after only one race.

It is a testament to RoscoPC scale model that if you do a Google image search for Brabham B46B, most of the returned images are of his model. Beyond that, at a small image size it is hard to tell which are photographs and which are the LEGO model.

You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account. Stay tuned for renders of some of his other cars.

[legolijntje]

Maybe you can make some instructions, or at least for the chassis

This is a great looking car, whit some good functions

Edited May 18, 2011 by legolijntje

[Plastic Nurak]

Luca, ItLUG Ambassador and ItLUG hero of the day .

Blakbird render is perfect (I saw the original so I can compare the two models).

[Blakbird]

Let's move on to the next of RoscoPC's F1 cars, the Brabham BT52 from 1983. This car is shaped totally differently than the last, with much more dependence on aerodynamics including the large rear wing. As we will see, the engine is also quite different. This car features a narrow body since ground effects were banned at the time. On the inside, you can see the suspension and the fact that this model is motorized with Power Functions. From the outside, you would have had no idea that those features were hiding inside which, in my opinion, makes it perfect. The IR receiver is perfectly integrated into the body, and the Lithium battery is totally hidden inside the chassis.

The front suspension is interesting. The shock absorbers are inboard of the rotation points of the control arms, so that means a link has to lever over to the shock upper support via a compression link. The steering is rack and pinion type, and is driven by a PF-M motor through a clutch gear. The driver's steering wheel is also driven.

At this time F1 engines were turbo charged four cylinders. In this case, the PF-XL motor actually drives the rear wheel through the crank shaft of the engine, so the engine really does transmit the torque. The rear suspension is like the front, with the shocks inboard of the control arms. In the case of this model, the upper and lower control arms are different lengths which means that the drive axle does not remain perfectly parallel to the ground throughout suspension travel.

Here is a rear view which shows the aerodynamic wing and the trusswork front suspension.

You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account. Stay tuned for renders of some of his other cars. I'll end with this revolving animation which shows the car from all angles. I love the look of this car, including the color scheme.

[P4trickvH]

Awesome renders again blakbird! Really makes the model come alive.

[RoscoPC]

Awesome renders again blakbird! Really makes the model come alive.

I can confirm that Blackbird renders are the closest thing to the real model I've ever seen

And his technical analysis is also very detailed and well explained: thanks for that!

I just want to recall a "missing" feature that I had to remove from the final motorized model of the BT52: a 2 speed gear shift I presented in this old post

[JunkstyleGio]

This makes it all come alive!

Great looks, AWE-SOME renders and out of this world buildingskills!

[Plastic Nurak]

I just want to recall a "missing" feature that I had to remove from the final motorized model of the BT52: a 2 speed gear shift I presented in this old post

Very realistic, because of the use of the flex system .

Good render, Blakbird !

[Blakbird]

It's time for the 3rd chapter in RoscoPC's F1 extravaganza. This time we'll be looking at the Ferrari 312T, circa 1975. This car was obviously designed with a lot of aerodynamic aids including a front and rear wing. When the body is hidden, you can see the front and rear suspension, the engine, the differential, the rack and pinion steering, and even the inlets for the front brake ram air cooling. I love the way a large number of flat panels were placed at unique angles to generate the illusion of compound curvature.

Let's take a closer look at the front suspension. The tan parts are the cooling inlets. You can see the rotors for the disc brakes (no calipers though). The shocks are anchored to the chassis at the lower end and levered around a fulcrum at the upper end. By connecting the shocks inboard of the rotation point of the upper control arm, the shocks can be removed from the airstream to lower drag. At the aft side of each arm you can see the simulated anti-sway bar. I say simulated because it does not actually attach to anything.

Now let's look at the engine and rear suspension. The engine is a horizontally opposed 12 cylinder with a transverse gearbox. Each cylinder has its own intake, and you can see the complex 3-into-1 exhaust headers (for a total of 4 tail pipes). The suspension at first appears to be standard double wishbone, but there is more too it. The swingarms on the front size help prevent longitudinal motion. The anti-sway bar in the back links the right and left sides which helps prevent the body from rolling to the side during heavy cornering. The shocks are particularly interesting because neither the upper nor the lower end is attached to the chassis. Instead, the shock forms a diagonal member of the suspension parallelogram. When the angles at the corners of the 4-bar change, the diagonal must change length. This allows the shock itself to have a short stroke even for a relatively long suspension travel.

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The rear view shows the wing, the brake light, and the exhaust.

A revolving animation is always a nice way to see the car from all angles.

You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account including one annotated picture suitable for a desktop image. Stay tuned for renders of all of his other cars. This car is so pretty it needed to be presented in a special way.

[DLuders]

Enzo Ferrari would say "Belissimo!" if he saw these renders of his 1975 car!

[Blakbird]

And now we'll move onto a series of Lotus cars, starting with the oldest. This is a Lotus 43 from 1966, the oldest car in the stable. The old design is obviously very different from the Ferrari we saw last. The body is narrow and slender which makes it have minimal drag but also minimal downforce. There is not even a rear wing. It is remarkably difficult to create a rounded body in LEGO, but the use of curved slopes works nicely, and you have to love the dark green. I also love the way the exhaust manifolds are exposed and so much of the suspension is visible even with the body on. With the body faded out, you can see the suspension and the huge H-16 engine.

The front suspension has lower control arms which pivot around a more inboard position than the upper arms. This allows the upper arms to lever around the pivot and compress the shocks which can be located inside the chassis and out of the airstream. The longitudinal sway supports are simulated but not actually attached to the chassis in this model. The gear rack is actually inverted and located in front of the shocks.

This car was the first to use the engine as a structural member. Instead of simply being mounted to the chassis, the engine actually is the aft chassis and the suspension is mounted directly to the block. It makes sense to use the significant structural strength of the rigid block for multiple purposes instead of duplicating it in the chassis. The rear suspension is fairly conventional, but with plenty of sway support. The four links forward of the control arms carry thrust and braking loads so the control arms don't bend. The sway bar in the back connects the left and right sides together to prevent roll during cornering. The transaxle is located behind the suspension.

This engine is an H-16 which is essentially two horizontally opposed 8 cylinder engines stacked on top of each other. Each have their own crankshaft and their own connection to the rear differential.

The rear view shows the transaxle and the 4 magnificent exhaust manifolds.

A revolving animation is always a nice way to see the car from all angles.

You can see a few more renders at my Brickshelf account.

[DLuders]

These are very nice renders! It's difficult to distinguish between the render and the photograph:

Edited June 23, 2011 by DLuders

[Musikfreak]

The Lotus is just beautiful in so many aspects. It is definitely my favorite among the cars. Awesome engine, awesome curvature and the yellow green is so nice. Kudos to the builder and thanks for the really nice render as well!

[grindinggears]

blakbird, you definitely have to start the MOCopedia!

There are so many MOCs that deserve to be presented in detail and your renders do a lot to my fascination for RoscoPC's models

[Burf2000]

They are beautiful! pure sex on wheels

[RoscoPC]

They are beautiful! pure sex on wheels

WOW, thanks: this is the definition I was looking for

[Blakbird]

They are beautiful! Pure sex on wheels.

In fact, forget the wheels!

[Cwetqo]

I've seen them all in person on itLUG exhibition in Cavallino, Venice and I was truly impresed.

There was also McLaren, which was mentioned just as WIP in first post ofthis theme (maybe not 100% finished, but close to it).

[Blakbird]

I've seen them all in person on itLUG exhibition in Cavallino, Venice and I was truly impresed.

There was also McLaren, which was mentioned just as WIP in first post ofthis theme (maybe not 100% finished, but close to it).

It is finished now! I wonder why there are no decals on it like the other car? Maybe they are still coming.

[RoscoPC]

It is finished now! I wonder why there are no decals on it like the other car? Maybe they are still coming.

I've applied the decals few days ago, cause I've completed the model just the day before the event with the missing parts I got from a fellow ItLUG member

Here you can see how it will look like at the upcoming event in LECCO (Italy):

[grohl]

Awesome.