Antonov AN-140

[Carsten Svendsen]

Turned out that the L motor was too weak and that the pumps were under pressure, by the pull of the tail. A swap to XL and some enhancements to the reinforcement solved this well:

All that is left now, is to attach the rear wings and controls, and aerodynamics of the wings and landing gear.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[Carsten Svendsen]

I want to make the nose wheel compartment realistic like in every other plane. I tested with a pneumatic setup before I actually built anything into the plane (would be a waste of time then).

While I'm at it, I will most likely redesign the way the current lid opens and closes, and put the cylinders closer to the action.

Explanations are in the video below

Here is a diagram of the above. The valve's orientation and the left/right determines where on my autovalve it is located.

"Main", "Valve 1" and "Valve 2" are all located on the autovalve.

"pos. 1" and "pos. 2" are linked to the wheel which means they move with it.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[Carsten Svendsen]

I have spent some time trying to build a realistic and working door mechanism for the nose wheel. In the process, I remodeled and reinforced the very front of the plane as I found it too unstable in some points.

Other minor improvements have been done too.

Starting from where I left off, I built the pneumatic mechanisms as a sketch before building any changes that probably wouldn't work first. For my 6- valve problem, I had to go back to my previous valve setup because I found it not possible to add another two valves to the already built-in autovalve with a worm gear.

It turned out that not any clutch gear could handle this function. It seems the older clutch gears have a lot more clutch power than the newer ones for some reason, so I guess I'm quite lucky on that point

The old clutch gears are the ones with a light gray middle instead of a dark grey

As I already mentioned, I've rebuilt the nose and added more doors to the nose wheel.

I planned on using flex cable 7L with ball sockets to control the doors as it seems it's the only way to make the doors open. To open, pressure has to be applied on the side of the hull, and so, I can't put a cylinder above the door, and using axles or beams to control them is not possible either due to space limitations.

I'm awaiting my flex cable order from BL.

Anyway, here are the current changes:

I haven't found a way to make the wheel go down yet.

I've been looking at Zblj's Dump truck linkage and I have just seen effermans Mining Truck linkage which also seems quite good.

The big problem here, is that the pins the nose wheel rotate about is located so low, and so, I find it difficult to find a way a single pneumatic cylinder can turn the wheel a little more than 90°

I've tried Zblj's link already, but I have yet to experiment with effermans solution. I never thought of putting the cylinder inside of the moving parts.

BTW, I removed the down gearing from the nose wheel because there was too much play in it and it wasn't exactly aligned with the servo all the time. I don't think it'll be a problem though

Also, my brickshelf folder with all pictures can be found here

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[DLuders]

@ Carsten Svendsen: Your Lego Technic airplane is magnificent! Is your door wheel mechanism meant to lift the entire front end of the aircraft upwards? Zblj's Dump Truck Linkage can handle up to 3 kg. In regards to the Lego Clutch Gears, Sariel noted that Jetro discovered there were actually three different types (scroll halfway down Sariel's Gears Tutorial webpage):

"From left to right, these are:

- version that came with the 8479 set, it has a light gray center and require more torque to slip

- version that is most commonly used, with dark gray center

- version from an unknown set(s), with smooth sides (no clutch power indications)"

[Carsten Svendsen]

I'm not sure what you mean by lifting the entire front of the plane. The door mechanism only opens the 4 doors you see on the pictures, and the wheel that has to be lowered consists of servo+spring+wheels.

I wonder why they made the clutch gears less efficient over the years?

[Carsten Svendsen]

Eventually, you might wanna check the first page of this thread for a reference on the front of the plane (the very tip/nose) to see the changes that has been done.

I dunno how many people are following, but I like comments - like a lot. But not the ones that say "ooh it's so nice", I'd rather want suggestions, ideas, other views on the model, critique and such, so that I'll be able to see and discover things way before I may find out my self, or improve on some functions and the like.

I know it's usually not nice to point out minor or major mistakes in other people models (I don't do it), but I'm asking you to do so. I can't make this thing awesome with only two eyes, so please....

Also, if you want a picture of something specific, just ask, my camera is only an arms length away

Edited February 17, 2013 by Carsten Svendsen

[captainmib]

Well, i would want to say "good looking moc" but here goes.

Can you make some pics of the entire structure so far? I think that all i have seen so far are detail shots...

Wing constructions and the attachment of them have my interest as well.

[DLuders]

@ Carsten Svendsen: Can you get a picture of you holding your Lego Antonov-140? It's hard to appreciate its size by just looking at it on a table....

[Carsten Svendsen]

Well, i would want to say "good looking moc" but here goes.

Can you make some pics of the entire structure so far? I think that all i have seen so far are detail shots...

Wing constructions and the attachment of them have my interest as well.

Well, I didn't say you couldn't say it's looking good, I was just asking for more input.

I can't really take a picture of the whole model yet since the wings aren't attached, the nose is still detached and none of the wings on the tail (including rudder) are installed.

For wing construction see the file I have uploaded along with this post (you need SR3D Builder or LD view to see it) if you can't get enough info from these screenies:

Note that this is an old file and so, it's not updated with my current changes.

The green are the connection points that hold the wings to the plane, and the red are carbon rods

@ Carsten Svendsen: Can you get a picture of you holding your Lego Antonov-140? It's hard to appreciate its size by just looking at it on a table....

Still, I can't get a picture of the whole plane, but you could get the body of it (and me):

I've also recieved my flex cables ordered from BL, but they smell so badly of smoke, that I think they need a week in vinegar first....

Wing connections.zip

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[DLuders]

@ Carsten Svendsen: Wow, that fuselage is BIG. Do you plan on displaying your completed model from a rope hanging from the ceiling? Soaking the wire Flex Cables in vinegar for a week may corrode them (since vinegar has a weak acid); perhaps you should get a bottle of Fabreze Air Freshener (or something similar) to get rid of the smoke smell, or place them in Baking Soda (which removes odors from refrigerators).

[Carsten Svendsen]

I don't know about the rope thing. I guess I could, but since most (if not all) displays are held in a really large hall with a lot of distance to the roof, it could turn out pretty badly if something goes wrong. Besides, who looks up at a LEGO event anyway?

I've made 3x stands for it instead. They're not elegant or anything but they'll get the job done. Perhaps someone could build something a little more cool?

I was exaggerating a bit when I said a week. They've been in vinegar for 4 hours now, I think I'll let them sit through the night and let it be that. After all, they're not liftarms but cables which are made of a weaker material.

Stand.zip

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[Mas Bambang]

Idea is crazy.

Concept also is crazy.

The size is more crazy........

But I like crazy things like that. Keep it up bro......

Idea is crazy.

Concept also is crazy.

The size is more crazy........

But I like crazy things like that. Keep it up bro......

Idea is crazy.

Concept also is crazy.

The size is more crazy........

But I like crazy things like that. Keep it up bro......

[Carsten Svendsen]

Idea is crazy.

Concept also is crazy.

The size is more crazy........

But I like crazy things like that. Keep it up bro......

LOL, true that

So, my stuff has been lying in vinegar for 24 hours and lost their smell which is awesome. What's not so awesome is that my mechanism doesn't work just as I had planned. I have to do a few tweaks to get it right, it probably won't be that difficult.

[Lost_In_Noise]

"(...)We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.(...)" JFK makes much sense in these circumstances also. Good luck with your project. It is fascinating to watch your progress.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Lost_In_Noise

[Carsten Svendsen]

Long time, no see!

So I've had a break since last because I needed some time to get the headaches to disappear caused by this plane.

Anyway, I've finally completed the nose wheel landing gear mechanisms, and those will be the final evolution of that part of the plane. No more changes.

It's no secret that I've had some problems with this part. The opening and closing of the wheel compartment gave me a slight hassle but not as much as the lowering and raising of the wheel it self.

As you can see in the next picture, I had to put some 5L Liftarms on the side in order to keep the mechanical arm controlling the flex cable in place. I also had to resort to big cylinders since the smaller ones were way too weak.

The front cylinder controls both of the front doors, and the middle and rear cylinders control the rear doors.

Then, I came to the front wheel. Ooooh what a hassle that was. First, I asked for help on the forums - nothing. Then, I had to come up with various solutions my self because apparantly, everyone here is too stupid to even try coming up with solutions.

I tried using various linkages where the pneumatic cylinder was placed under the pumps. Then I tried fiddling around with a scissor mechanism because it could expand and retract a lot with little space, but it was a no-go too. Then I tried placing the cylinders under the door cylinders but that didn't work either.

Finally, I came up with the solution you'll see on these next pictures.

After I had done that, I had to find a way to control the two valves needed in order for all this to work. That was a bit difficult but I came up with a rather ugly solution, but hey, it works. The green rubber bands aren't really needed, but I like to get my valves fully switched and use that last millimeter of space.

After I had made that it was time to integrate the new switches I made a model of previously. No need for a picture of that though. I also used the new 8-tooth gears all places needed so to keep it stable at all points. Some of the older 8-tooth gears had already bent some teeth here and there. But I also made the spring mechanism better so that it won't cause as much stress on the gears anymore.

I've made a demonstration video of the landing gear in action. If you don't know what the valves do, you forgot to watch my last video, or you just skipped through the explanations.

I've added a valve on the right; it's for the nose wheel it self.

I won't be assembling the front and the rest of the plane until I'm done with the tail. The reason for this, is that if I do it and I find out that I have to take the front off to rebuild something, I'll have a thousand hoses going in all directions and I really don't want to bother with them until the last part of the plane is finished.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[Someonenamedjon]

I like the smooth movements!

[Eigenbroetler]

soo, hows it going?

[Carsten Svendsen]

It's going no where. I haven't been working on it or anything else since my last post at all which is basically exactly 6 months ago. I've got other stuff in my head recently and need a nice break.

[skriblez]

I have read through the thread now and i am really looking forward to this thing being complete. Great work so far, can't wait till the day you are finished and fly it :)

[Karimix]

Hello. I'm new to this site, but I registered just to tell you that your Antonov plane is by far the most amazing Lego Technic construction I've ever seen.

Keep up the good work! And thanks for sharing, its fun to watch.

[Carsten Svendsen]

Thank you much for the nice words. The plane is obviously not done yet and I have kinda gone into a "Dark Age" since I lost my job back in February.

I do plan on finishing it but it won't be anytime soon.

[Shaw]

Fancy making a C130 Hercules eventually. Memories of working around the real thing ahh :-)

[Shaw]

Sorry, the 140 is looking very good too.

Did make me wonder today if an Antonov AN-124 could be made! It would be massive in this scale, but think about it all powered up.

The Kneeling front landing gear legs, fuselage nose cargo doors with the fold down ramp inside. The rear cargo doors with the fold down ramp inside plus believe it or not theres a gantry crane in the aircraft that can lift cargo inside and move it the entire lengh of the aircraft :-)

[Carsten Svendsen]

I've begun building again. I finished the front and the autovalve of the plane. Right now I'm working on the rear landing gear. You can expect to see some actual updates later next week.

I found that I made a mistake when I build the landing gear some time ago. Lots were offset by both half a hole and a whole hole various places. This caused some minor twisting and stretching. I needed to rebuild it anyway since there was no way for me to build the cover that closes with the wheel. This was because that there weren't enough space around the wheel it self.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Carsten Svendsen

[whale2]

It's nice that you are back to building.