[MINI] Stratosphere Fair Ride

[W3ird_N3rd]

Being only a recent AFOL, this is my first studless MOC. In fact, I have very little studless parts (just recently bought some) so halfway building this I found "woops, never have enough parts to get this done".

So in the end I just decided to make something as big as possible using as little parts as possible (47 not including rubber band, could be reduced to 41 without giving up anything using pole reverser handles instead of the angled connectors+2L axles), very minimalistic.

It's a simple stratosphere. Here is the list of functions:

• Just the one.
  

It's second function is the capability of disqualifying itself because of the use of a household rubber band.

[edit]

Second version. 76 parts! Could come down quite a bit by removing some POOP (Parts I made Out of Other Parts), but that would have to wait for the next BL order.

[/edit]

Early version with 47 parts:

If you wonder why the center liftarms are 1x13 instead of 1x15 or why the gondolas require a lot of imagination to be seen as such, I pretty much just ran out of suitable parts. It could easily be made much bigger using not too many parts, if one were to make this concept using the maximum of 200 parts this thing would be massive.

If you like it, feel free to copy the concept. I'm not sure I'll even make a much better one.

Edited June 20, 2014 by W3ird_N3rd

[Hrafn]

That's a nice little MOC! It's nice to see things other than cars and construction machinery (though I love those too).

No matter how many parts I have, I always find myself thinking I don't have enough - but this model points out how having to operate on a lean "parts budget" can really be a spur to creativity.

[Zerobricks]

Nice idea with the rubber band powering it. Maybe make it foldable?

[Rockbrick]

its great to see how the part limit is making people 'think outside the box'

[W3ird_N3rd]

Thanks everyone!

Zblj, by foldable you mean like being able to fold up the entire model, like a transformer?

[Lost_In_Noise]

Very nicely done, and with such few parts. The only improvement I can think of would be to use a pullback motor for that all-technical feel.

[Zerobricks]

Thanks everyone!

Zblj, by foldable you mean like being able to fold up the entire model, like a transformer?

I mean like they transport thouse machines on trailers.

[W3ird_N3rd]

Very nicely done, and with such few parts. The only improvement I can think of would be to use a pullback motor for that all-technical feel.

I might just try that. I'm not sure it'll work as expected, but it's worth trying. I sort of liked the simplicity of just using a rubber band, but a pullback would allow the model to even qualify.

I mean like they transport thouse machines on trailers.

Ah! I'm not entirely sure what that would look like, but I could imagine the way it would probably fold.

[Appie]

Cool idea for a MOC. Very creative and a funny mechanism. Since it is a fair ride and you have plenty parts left to use you could add a sign on top of it with lights and stuff from normal Lego and if needed for some technical pieces order a few on bricklink?

[W3ird_N3rd]

Very nicely done, and with such few parts. The only improvement I can think of would be to use a pullback motor for that all-technical feel.

It works better than I thought. At first I was stumped, the pullback motor doesn't work when it's standing upright. It doesn't work in every orientation! After fixing that, main problems are now that winding it up is not that easy (if you want it to go for more than 10 seconds) and at some point the crown gear starts skipping, it just can't take the torque (probably fixable by reinforcing things, but costs parts).It would be nice if there's a solution that allows winding it up without the gondolas going around. A wind-up engine would possibly be a better solution, I have one, but it's studded and I feel for that reason it doesn't fit as nicely in this model.

Cool idea for a MOC. Very creative and a funny mechanism. Since it is a fair ride and you have plenty parts left to use you could add a sign on top of it with lights and stuff from normal Lego and if needed for some technical pieces order a few on bricklink?

Bricklink yes, but I'll wait until I have a better idea of what other parts I want and how much so I can order all at once.Sign is a fun idea, maybe a sign that wiggles as the gondolas go round. The problem is mostly, what should the sign say or show? Writing any word in bricks just takes so many parts and I'd rather not print stickers.Anyway, time to show the second version. 76 parts! Could come down quite a bit by removing some POOP (Parts I made Out of Other Parts), but that would have to wait for the next BL order.

Edited June 20, 2014 by W3ird_N3rd

[Appie]

Second version looks alot cooler already, nice use of the pullback motor. While keeping the height you could perhaps make it so that it can snap in the middle so the minifigs could enter the buckets on the ground? Gives your model another function too Also perhaps an option to lock it at angles for a super crazy fair ride

[W3ird_N3rd]

That's a great idea! I'm a little worried about stability, but I'll just extend the base if necessary.

[anton1678]

I like it, though making seats for minifigures on the 'seats' would make it awesome, increasing the playability factor by 100%.

Although it is creative, Technic sets don't usually include fairground rides

If you have one of these

you could make it go up and down for the minifigs to get on it

Edited June 24, 2014 by anton1678

[PeterZeppelin]

MAybe you could comine stability with some details or decoration?

[rollermonkey]

See, now this is the direction my MOC'ing will take. There's some folks in the Town forum that like to make rides, but they don't have enough Technic knowhow to do them 'right'.