Porsche | Thirdwigg.com

Porsche 911RS

December 7, 2019 1 Comment

There is a part of me that finds LEGO 42098 a little gimmicky: buy this truck that fits 5 cars but comes with 1 so you you build or buy more to fill the truck. But, these wheel arches are so awesome that I am going to do just that.

Full gallery including instructions may found here.

fullsizeoutput_1734

After a rough first draft it was clear I was going to be able to steering and a Flat 6 into the car at a scale that would work for 42098, so most of the early work was on figuring out the shape of the car. I knew the car was going to be orange, and I wanted the little ducktail spoiler, so I modeled the car after the 964 version of the Porsche 911. The rear differential is placed two studs in front of the rear axle to allow for more room for the rear engine. I kept the normal LEGO engine parts rather than an axle engine like in 42098. The steering is simple in all in front of the driveline.

911RSDrive

The body work continued to take the most time. I used a great 911 MOC from Paave for many ideas including the seats and the front hood. Eventually, it all came together, after a lot of work on the doors, the roof, and the rear deck. The 911 is a beautiful car and getting all the details is so tricky. I almost feel bad for how critical I was of LEGO 42056. Almost…

fullsizeoutput_1733

One thing you will notice is my use of both the 43mm and the 49mm tires for the rear of the car. I go back and forth on which ones I like best. Also, there was no way is was going to use the skinny 43mm tires for the front. They look silly.

This little car worked great, and functioned as intended. The shaping was off a little particularly with the rear quarter panels, the roofline, and the front headlights. But the shape of the 911 is so iconic that get all the details that have been refine over 50ish years is tricky. Either way if fits on the back of 42098.

Happy building.

Filed under Cars Tagged with 2019, Cylinder, Differential, Driveline, Flat 6, Instructions, MOC, Porsche, steering

Porsche 714

August 1, 2016 3 Comments

My Entry for the LEGO Rebrick Porsche Contest.

This year, it seems like everything about LEGO Technic is about Porsche. LEGO created a 911, and started a contest for creating your own Porsche. Porsche is all everyone is building and talking about.

So I made one too. The Rebrick team posted a contest to design your dream Porsche, and thinking of the words of Mr. Porsche, “I couldn’t find the car I dreamt of, so I decided to build one myself,” I set to work. My dream Porsche lives in the spirit of the 914 and the 924: A compact, lightweight, mass-market, rear-wheel-drive sports car. It has a long hood, short overhangs, and a roofline that alludes to Porsches of today and yesterday.

I had six weeks to design a car. In a week I had the front and rear axle, and the transmission. The transmission is a similar unit to the one I had in the ATS. Six speed manual, with a single point shift lever. It keeps the gear changes quick with short throws. The rear axle is an independent suspension design, with short upper swingarms, and long lower swingarms. This changes the camber of the wheels as they move through the suspension travel, to keep a consistent contact patch around a corner. The limited slip differential is mounted longitudinally behind the axle. The front suspension is also independent with short upper and long lower swingers. The are mounted to a steering uckle that gives both Ackerman and caster geometry.

Because it was my dream car, I wanted a car that would be inexpensive, and teach me how to drive fast. A front engine, rear wheel drive is a less expensive car to design and build. Additionally, my car would have a Boxer 4 for lower cost, and an option for Boxer 6 for more performance. Since I can use some training to be a better fast driver, I though a roll cage would be necessary.

The remaining five weeks were spent working on the bodywork and the interior, which always takes more time than you think. I fit the cabin in around all the mechanical bits, and was able to add a glovebox and a manually adjustable tilt steering wheel. The seats are simple, but match the car interior well. I wanted to keep a couple of features that were iconic in my mind with Porsche cars: Round headlights, a full width thin taillight, a curvaceous roof, hunches over the rear wheels, and a taller greenhouse. After many drafts, I was able to get a design I was pleased with.

The car turned out how I wanted, and I felt it was a good contribution to the contest. The front of the car did not turn out how I envisioned it in my mind. The rear did not look as clean as I wanted. Mechanically the car works great. The suspension works perfectly, and the steering works flawlessly without hitting the wheel fenders. The transmission is great, and the limited slip differential continues to do the trick.

After all this talk about Porsches, I’ll take some off and build something different.

Happy Building.

Filed under Cars Tagged with 2016, Cylinder, Differential, Flat 4, Flat 6, Independent Suspension, Limited Slip, MOC, Porsche, steering, Supercar, suspension, technic, Worm Gear

Porsche 911 Cup Car

March 1, 2016 3 Comments

In a moment of online immaturity, I requested a topic for the 100th LUGNuts Challenge. I was tasked to build “any year Porsche 911, or a 2015 Jaguar F-Type.” It was to be completed during February 2016. I, of course, mistook the challenge as a requirement, and worked frantically to complete the MOC in 13 days.

The full gallery may be found on Flickr or Brickshelf.

Being the year of the Technic Porsche, I figured it was a good idea to try my hand at the 911. The 911 is an iconic car and it’s shaping is instantly identifiable. It seemed like a bad idea to try and recreate it. I spent the first week of the month planning the style, scale, and the features. I decided to model 935, 964, or 991 GT3. Each were rear wheel drive, and had a wide rear track with prominent rear fenders. I decided on a four speed transmission, steering, and full suspension all around. Throughout the build, I settled on a cup racing version of Model 964, in OCTAN colors of course.

I started building on Feb. 10th, and completed the placement of all the major components. By Feb. 15 I had a final chassis. I used a “dynalive” suspension on the rear connecting to a short/long arm suspension design. The differential is not fixed to the chassis, but move in a dynamic way between each side of the suspension. I have used this set up before, and it works well. Immedialty in front of the suspension is the transmission. Rather than having the common four speed tranmissions found in 8880 and many other MOC, this transmission has all the gears in a single plane. This add a couple of gears, but it allows for a lower car, which works great at this scale. The output shaft exits the transmission on the non-driver side, and goes up and over the rear suspension where it connects to the boxer 6 at the rear of the car. Finally, I added a simple double A-arm suspension on the front.

By the 16, I had an introduction to the body work, and the steering had been finalized. I added a drivers seat and worked on the roof , and a draft of the front hood was done on the 17th. On the 18th, I submitted for feedback to the internet a couple of designs for the front hood. I finalized the hood and the rear quarterpanels on the 19th. By the 20th the exterior details were done, and I stopped posting work in progress pictures. After a week of solid building, I took a couple days off and made a 12 part Bricklink order to cover the few white parts that were needed.

I then spent the next couple of days finalizing the interior details, including the dashboard, a full roll cage, and the engine details. The MOC was done by the 25th, which means I completed it in 15 days, faster than anything I have ever built.

The MOC worked well. The suspension was taught, and functioned well. The steering lock was a little limited, but it worked smoothly. The transmission was a little gummy in gear one, but two through four worked great. But did it look like a Porsche? Yes, but some parts bothered my eyes a little, such as the spoiler, fenders, and hood. Basically the shape is there; you can tell what car it is, but from some angles, you cannot tell it has flared fenders. The hood does not look as curvaceous as it should, and the spoiler looks like an add on. The colors looks good, but a little more great would be great. Overall, I was pleased with what I did in 15 days, but next time I will be a little more particular.

Until next time, happy building.