Summer Building Contest - Entries
Entry One is a a Technic Surface Explorer by Paul Evans. Paul writes,
"these images are instructions for building a small motorized Technic vehicle.
The seven gifs show the seven steps of construction. The motor drives only
one of the front wheels at a time, depending on the direction of the motor,
which allows you to steer the vehicle around by switching the motor direction
back and forth. This gets a lot of 'play value' out of one motor, and the
gearing mechanism that accomplishes the switching can be used for other things,
such as transmissions, where you want to be able to drive two different
drivetrains selectively. The model contains 61 parts, most of them Technic
parts."
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3,
Part 4,
Part 5,
Part 6,
Part 7
Entry Two is a a Customized version of the 8880 Supercar by Johan Fabry.
He has changed it into a roadster with a changed rear end and
roof line and with the engine moved forward. Johan's entry breaks one
of the contest rules since it is not completely original, but who cares,
it is a still a great model.
Front View,
Side View,
Top View
Johan's description of his 8880
modifications.
Entry Three is a Technic Robot Platform build by Jason Mantor.
Jason reports that this 4WDS robot platform
uses home made ball joints in the suspension and will soon be fitted with a
'286 motherboard for autonomous operation.
Robot Platform
Entry Four is a sports car designed and built by Morten Sparre Andersen
(msa@dgu1.dgu.min.dk). This is a tough looking car. Don't mess with it.
Front view ,
side view ,
this guy means trouble ,
top view ,
rear
view ,
hood up
Entry Five is a mid engined car designed and built by Jacob Sparre Andersen
(sparre@cats.nbi.dk). Something every family should own.
Side view
,
front view
,
a look in the trunk,
a mighty
engine,
eat my
dust!
Entry Six is a model of a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado built by
Robert Easterbrooks and photograhed by Linda Easterbrooks.
The model has the following functional features:
V-8 engine with radiator fan,
drive train connecting engine to rear wheels via rear differential,
fully functional steering wheel and linkages connected to front wheels,
working glove box (with map!!),
removable spare tire and jack in trunk,
removable fender skirts for rear tires,
doors, hood, and trunk open.
And the following decorative features:
turning window handles,
movable shift lever,
convertible top ('roof up' and 'roof down'),
dual exhaust.
instrumentation, climate control, and dual-cassette stereo am/fm radio
(with antenna),
gas and brake pedals,
defrost vents.
The size of the model is quite large; (L x W x H) in Lego dimensions (55.4 x 22 x 13.33),
in inches ( 17.5 x 6.875 x 5)
and in centimeters (44.5 x 17.5 x 12.5)
Side,
interior,
front,
hood,
rear,
trunk
Entry seven is a red race car built by Jacob Sparre Andersen and his seven
year old cousin Tobias. The Technic car features a pneumatic door and looks
great.
View 1
Entries eight, nine and ten are a series of three Model Team trailers built
by Paul Foster. Paul has also constructed a super modified version of the
5580 Highway Rig.
An Overview of the three entries:
All three of my entries are Model Team based trailers that go with my
favorite set, the Highway Rig (set #5580). All three of the trailers
still exist at this time, although they take up most all of my plates.
Each of the trailers will hook up the highway rig by using a Technic
peg near the front of the trailer that goes into the hole in a 4x4
turntable on the highway rig. Using this many plates of such long spans
ends up with a lot of flex and sag in the done model. I ended up using
lots of pieces to brace the frames. This was easy on the enclosed trailer
because nobody looks inside. On the flatbed trailers, this is why it
looks like there are pieces sort of randomly stuck on the undersides.
Entry Eight - Flatbed trailer:
A long trailer with triple axles. The axles each feature a suspension
modeled after the rear suspension on the 5580 semi truck on the rear
most two axles. The front axle was an experiment with a pair of long
beam anchored at one end and allowing it to swing. The tires are
the older, smaller hub tires ganged up three on a side per axle for a
total of 18 tires. The stand is made up of some left over pieces and
a pair of small wheel hubs with no tires.
Side View,
End View,
Front View
Entry Nine - Lowboy trailer:
My second attempt at a trailer. The suspension on this trailer is a
long beam on each side that pivots in the middle (like a teeter-totter)
and the wheels are just attached to the beam. on the back are a set of
ramps that fold down so that you can drive your load right on.
Side View,
End View,
With a Heavy Load
Entry Ten - Enclosed trailer (box trailer?):
My last attempt at a trailer. It started out in the red, white and blue
scheme of the 5580 semi, but I quickly ran out of white lx8 bricks so I
used two colors I had enough of. The suspension is an exact duplicate of
the 5580 suspension with the same type of wheels. The rear of the trailer
has a set of doors that open. There is also my approximation of a lift
unit that is sometimes on the back of trucks to lift things in and out
of the trailer. The trailer stand is a couple of lx2 hinge bricks and
some other parts.
Front View,
End View,
With a modified 5580
Entry eleven is a fancy black limo with a V-12 engine
built by the father and son team of
Morten Sparre Andersen and Jacob Sparre Andersen.
Front
right
,
v-12
engine
,
front
left
,
rear
right
,
rear
left with trunk open
,
top
,
trunk
Entry twelve is a Crane Car built by Markus Salchegger.
This crane car has many features: 6 ballon tires, a differential, a V-6 engine,
a steering mechanism, free rotation of the crane by 360 degrees, an inner and
outer swivel arm, raising and lowering the crane, extension and retraction
of the swivel arm. The cable winch is powered by a LEGO 9 Volt motor.
Side view,
Front view I ,
Rear view ,
Bottom view ,
Entry thirteen is a very nice and original Container Truck built by Jacob Sparre Andersen.
It is part of his "City X'ers" set of models. The entrie series is really cool!
Minimized,
Prepared for Extension,
With Single Short Container,
Compressed (double size container version),
Prepared for Extension (double size container version,
With double size container + Postal Service City X'er.
Entries fourteen and fifteen are a pair of trains submitted by James Jessiman.
Each entry is a set of computer drawings that show a complete train, each based
upon the parts found in a actual LEGO sets. James has thus produced alternate
models for the sets mentioned.
Entry fourteen uses the parts from set 7735.
Yellow Engine,
Flat car with cargo ,
Small tank car,
Red and yellow caboose.
Entry fifteen uses the parts from set 7727 and 7861.
Small Black Switch Engine,
Flat car with yellow tractor ,
Small gondola,
Red baggage car.
Entry sixteen is a train car submitted by Michael Dorneich. He states that the
car is modeled on the type he used to sleep on while bumming around Europe. He
used LegoPS by Stefan Gustavson to draw the car. The first view shows the
complete car, three other views show the "instructions" for building the car.
Since Michael had no "chair" or
9volt wheel elements he omitted them from the drawing. There are four chairs
per compartment so it should be pretty obvious where they should go.
Train Car,
instructions one,
instructions two,
instructions three.
Entry number seventeen is a Trojan horse entered by Susan Hoover.
Susan writes the following about her beautiful red horse.
"Technically, it predates the Castle
system by about 1400 years, give or take a century.
- The inside of the horse is hollow. There are two guys climbing down
the ladder from the hole in the belly.
- I tried to keep the armor and weapons authentic for the Trojan
period. Thus, only spears and broadswords, except for the one guy who
has figured out how to use a bow and arrow. Just pretend it's not
a longbow.
- The Greeks were a cheery lot, as you can see by the smiles on their
faces as they go off to war. Photo #1 is a closeup of the
underneath, where you can see the guys on the ladder. Photo #2 is a
quarter-frontal view. Photo #3 shows the right profile. Photo #4 shows the horse
from a mini-fig's-eye view."
Trojan Horse Pictures 1-4,
Trojan Horse Pictures 5-7
Entry eighteen is from Roy Gal. Roy has submitted a Fire Company Rescue Truck
and Trailer. On Roy's
homepage you can find a original fire house as well. Both the truck
and the fire house are pretty neat.
Rescue Truck and Trailer view 1,
view 2,
Entry nineteen is a 4-wheel drive tracked tractor designed and build by
Douglas Praire. The tractor is articulated, powered by a 4.5 volt battery, has
two sets of differentials, and a working 3-point hitch on the back. It is a
super working model!
Front view,
left view,
right view,
bottom view,
with controller
Entry twenty is Latent Energy Vehicle submitted by John Cromer. Or in technical
terms, it is a rubber band car. John writes, "it's kinda small and simple
compared to the other fancy entries but what the heck, I thought I'd submit it
anyway. I may have broken ther rules though; the rubber band is non-LEGO issue.
The LEGO rubber bands kept breaking! It's small because originally I attempted
to make it completely wind powered from the propeller. That went nowhere. Then
I added the worm-gear/24-tooth-gear/8-tooth-gear-on-the-axle drive and bigger
wheels. The prop now serves only to aid windun up the rubber band. With 48
turns of the prop, the vehicle goes about 100 LEGO units. Over 60 turns tends
to break the rubber band. Many improvements remain to be made, but I hope folks
enjoy it in it's first incarnation."
Front view,
rear view,
side view
Entry twenty one is sort of a multiple bonus entry by the Andersen gang. These
guys keep building things all the time!
Jacob Sparre Andersen has sent us more of his City X'ers models. They are all
very nice and make a very nice series.
The first example is a police car.
Front,
Rear.
And a bus (four passengers)
Front,
Open,
Rear.
A Delivery van
Front,
Rear.
A mail van
Front,
Rear,
Unloading.
And for travel out of the world: Mars X'er
Front from above,
Above
- with open door,
Above,
Front,
Front
right - with open door.
Morten Sparre Andersen sends a nice yellow car the Two times V4.
If you really need to move in the city traffic, then you need one engine per
axle:
Front
right,
Rear,
Head
on,
This is
how an engine should look.
And finally an old car by Jacob Sparre Andersen just to show his versatility.
He had all those rounded pieces lying around on the floor:
Front,
Left,
Rear right,
An
oil can is a must for such an old car.
Entry Twenty two is a Lego Shay Locomotive entered by Ron Kittle. Ron writes,
"this model is a Lego version of a Shay steam locomotive. A Shay is a
geared steamer with three vertical pistons on one side of the engine,
instead of a pair of horizontal cylinders near the front. These pistons
turn a drive shaft which powers the wheels using bevel gears. Shays were
primarily used in logging and mining operations, where conditions required
a lot of power but not high speed. Most importantly, Shays were very
tolerant of the poor track conditions usually found in these types of
installations. The terrain often dictated tight turns, which makes the Lego
track more realistic. :-)
The Lego Shay was created using the 9v train motor, and three of the new
style Technic cylinders. The pistons are turned by using a pickup wheel
that touches one of the powered wheels. This pickup wheel is geared
across the top of the motor case, over to the pistons on the other side of
the model. The following ascii drawing shows how the gearing works:
TOP VIEW KEY
======== ===
| |
_| _|
|| |_ |_ = Technic crankshaft
||__| _| _|
|| | | |
|| --- O[|]
| | [|] = 16 tooth gear
[|][|]O
--- = 16 tooth bevel gear
^ ^ ^
| | | |
A B C | = 16 tooth bevel gear
O = 8 tooth gear
REAR VIEW
========= ||
|| = pulley with O-ring "tire"
A B C ||
| | | ||
v v v _
|| _ _ /.\ = 16 tooth gear
||__|/.\/.\ _ \_/
|| |\_/\_/O/.\
|| +-----+ \_/ +-----+
| | | | = Train motor case
+-----+ +-----+
Real Shay 1
- This is a scanned photograph of an actual Shay used in a
logging operation. I'm including this because most
people have probably never seen a Shay.
View 1
- This is a side view of the Lego Shay. Unfortunately, the
image is not very sharp (I hope to take a better picture
later).
View 2
- This is a view of the bottom of the engine. You can see
the bottom of the crankshaft, and also some of the gears
that transfer power to the pistons.
View 3 -
This is a 3/4 view of the back of the engine, with the
cab removed. Here you get an excellent view of the gears
that turn the crankshaft. Also, notice the gray arch
in the cab area. You can barely see the red light that
is inside the arch. When the Lego Shay runs, the light
glows red, giving the appearance of a fire in the firebox.
Shay Movie 1
- I'm not sure how many people have mpeg viewers, but I've
included this file which shows the Lego Shay in operation.
You really have to see it run (with the crankshaft and
pistons pumping, and the red light glowing) to fully
appreciate this model. This is a video clip of an earlier
version of the Lego Shay, which did not have a tender or
firebox light."
Entry twenty three is an original space vehicle submitted by Nathan Duffy.
Nathan writes, " I'd like to think of this model as one of the "might-have-been"
_original_ Blacktron-era models. Though it's color scheme is a bit
different, I envisioned this model to be an all-purpose scout/pursuit
vehicle, capable of tackling all but the most harsh of terrains. For the
places the large vehicle cannot go, the right-hand cockpit detaches as a
short-range, flying recon vehicle. The large, open flatbed has anchor
points to secure another vehicle, perhaps one capable of water-borne
transport (as an example, the IP2002 sled is shown, though the design
isn't mine).All weaponry is of a purely defensive nature, of course, and
would never be used to terrorize innocent civilians. If they're guilty,
well... you get the idea... :)
As an aside, I always thought the original Blacktrons as the
best-of-the-best, elite-warriors-of-good for the galaxy. And besides,
they look cool..."
View 1,
view 2,
view 3,
view 4
Entry twenty four is a space vehicle, the "Red Rover", submitted
by Tim Rueger. Tim writes, "the vehicle base is symmetric from front-to-back and bends at the
center; this enables quick and easy maneuvering in tight quarters. The
arch sections allow the vehicle to climb over all but the largest
surface features (e.g., rocks). Most notable are the wheels. They have
been found to provide superior traction and stability in most known
extraterrestrial terrain conditions. The pilot section rotates 360 degrees; this enhances the vehicle's
close-quarters maneuvering capablities. The driver operates Red Rover
with a simple VR-style helmet and the archaic, but reliable,
"hand-waving" control interface. The seat rotates to maintain optimal
orientation with respect to the vehicle's instantaneous velocity vector.
The rear of the pilot section contains a sophisticated communications
array. It rotates to maintain contact with a communications relay in
synchronous orbit above the planet (not shown). The long quad-antenna
array has been demonstrated to have superior sideband rejection
characteristics for operation in extremely harsh multipath interference
conditions. The central region of the pilot section contains the main power
generator. Similar in configuration to the antenna array, the
quad-array of power reflectors enables the central reactor to operate at
maximum efficiency. The central point of the reactor, the pilot section pivot, and the base
hinge point are arranged collinearly along a vertical vector to assure
stability and safety in planetary explorations. [Modeler's notes: Red Rover's wheels are made from the caterpillar
tracks and gear wheels found the 780(US) Road Construction Set from the
1970s. Incidentally, the rules for the Red Rover game can be found at
http://www.corpcomm.net/~gnieboer/redrover.htm]
Side view,
top view,
front view
Entry twenty five is a small airplane from Tim Rueger. Constructed entirely of clear
pieces, Tim calls it the Lego "Stealth Bomber". He says, "no witty
explanation is available for this one - I just wanted to see what I
could make out of clear bricks for this contest. [Modeler's notes: The large front wheels come from the 6355 Derby
Trotter; the 1x8 bricks on the wings come from the 445 Police Units.]"
Side view,
top view,
front view
Entry twenty six is Blacktron train designed and built by Brian Ward.
The train consists of a engine and four cars. They use the original Blacktron
color scheme of black with a yellow stripe for trim. The engine is a sleek machine that
opens to reveal a futuristic engine. The back flips up to allow the spaceman
engineer to enter and exit. There are a couple hopper cars, one heavy duty. A
heavy machinery car carries a Blacktron excavator. Finally an energy transport
car brings up the rear. Several views are given including close ups of each
car.
Entire train,
mighty locomotive,
prime mover,
spaceman engineer,
first hopper car,
second hopper car,
heavy machinery car,
Blacktron excavator,
energy transport car
Entry twenty seven is a Technic crane submitted by Brian Ward. It is also part of the
Blacktron empire. It is treaded with a very nice mechanism. The base swivels,
the arm raises and lowers, the claw opens and closes and the cockpit opens. The
pneumatic control is well integrated into the model. Overall the model is an
excellent example of a functional Technic based model, but one quite compatible
with a space theme.
Right front view,
left side view,
cockpit,
picking up some cargo,
tread mechanism
Entry twenty eight is a Cadillac limousine designed and built by Peter Cook.
Peter used a picture of the old LEGO Hobby Model set 390 "1913 Cadillac" as
inspiration. Peter reports that he built the model five years ago, but he
lacked the wheels needed to finish it. He wishes to thank Michael Todd and
Jeff Crites for helping him obtain the necessary wheels to finish the model.
The model is red with a black top. In the last picture it is shown with a
smaller blue and white version (that Peter calls "Junior").
Main view,
side view,
rear view,
"Junior"
Entry number twenty nine is a tank with a Tri-Star Wheel Configuration
submitted by Cynde Callera.
Cynde writes, "
since this contest emphasizes wheels, I wanted to enter my
favorite wheel configuration - the Tri-Star Wheel Configuration.
It makes an OK amphibious vehicle (given that the chasis is
bouyant) and is great for robots that need to manuever stairs.
(See Tri-Star Wheel diagram)
If I had enough parts it would be best to have four sets of
wheels. I also left room and an interface for a motor, but I
don't own a motor (hey, LEGOs are expensive!=)) Since I don't
know what the RPMs are for a Lego 9V motor, I'm sure I'd have
to make adjustments (lots of experience with Capsela and gear
ratios.)
On a side note, I'm no feminist activist, but I was disappointed
that the Technic Team didn't have a female in it. I'd like to
think it was me driving my tank, so for now my tank will remain
driverless and gunnerless! "
Tri Star Wheel diagram,
view 1,
view 2,
view 3
Entry thirty is a set of vehicles submitted by James Jessiman.
Each entry is a set of computer drawings that show a model based
upon the parts found in a actual LEGO sets. James has thus produced alternate
models for the sets mentioned.
A car built from sets 5510,8620 and 8640
A truck tractor built from sets 5510 and 715
A truck built from set 715
A 4-wheel drive vehicle build from sets 5510 and 6378
A railroad flat car with a small truck as cargo
built from set 4537
Entry thirty one is a motorcycle submitted by David Karr. David writes,
"I created the motorcycle-with-sidecar in October 1994 just to see if I
could do anything interesting with the special motorcycle piece that
I'd acquired. Aside from minifigures and the one-piece motorcycle
itself, I tried to use mostly ``general-purpose'' pieces in this
model.
The motorcycle has a sport fairing with twin headlights and a top case
(behind the rider) in addition to the fully-faired sidecar. Both bike
and sidecar have rear lights.
For some reason I set this bike up with the sidecar on the left
(British-style) rather than on the right (e.g., US-style). I don't
know why."
Motorcycle
Entry thirty two is a locomotive submitted by David Karr. David
writes, "
I built a number of models of steam locomotives in the 1970's.
Recently I was able to retrieve the one example of these that had
never been broken up. I believe this model sat around on one shelf or
another fully assembled for at least 15 years. Aside from dirt and
yellowing of the white bricks (used very extensively in this model),
the bricks have shown little harm. There's one white 2x2 that shows
moderate warping, but it has very old styling, and I believe it's one
of my pre-ABS bricks from 1963. (The dirt you see in the images is
what was left after complete disassembly for cleaning, an overnight
soak in soap and water and a thorough scrubbing with toothbrush and
rags--the ``before'' photos, which I haven't shown, are much, much
worse. I used to attribute this to 15 years of exposure to New York
City air, but according to LEGO lore, it was more likely the years of
exposure to UV light while the train sat on an open shelf that did the
damage.)
The view from the left side shows the 2-4-2 wheel configuration (the
notation indicates a pair of small leading wheels, then two pairs of
drivers, and finally a pair of small trailing wheels--a classic
setup), and the smokestack, sandbox and steam dome along the top. In
this view, you can also see a nice profile of the old-style LEGO hook
for joining cars.
This locomotive was intended for my old 3-brick-high minifigures
(invented before LEGO produced minifigures as a special part), but as
you can see in the rear view, the new minifigures fit quite well in
the cab. (The opening at the minifig's feet is the firebox; I now have
the technology to put a door on that, but the images I've taken are of
the model as originally assembled.) Compare the front view.
Interestingly, the new minifigures can actually pass through the front
door of the cab, which my old minifigures could not, thereby
increasing the playability of this model.
The locomotive uses old train wheels (with flanges) for the leading
and trailing wheels, but for drivers I had to use wheels without
substantial flanges. The LEGO tracks have very tight curves, so the
wheels at each end of a 2-4-2 would drag the drivers off the track. To
counter this, I put the trailing truck on a long arm hinged between
the drivers, as seen in the bottom view of the locomotive."
Locomotive
Entry thirty three was built by Polly Karr.
Her father writes, " Polly constructed a flying car in early November, 1994,
at age 3.5.
It's built on a 4x7 car chassis with a white 1x8 brick for the
``wings.'' In my humble opinion this is one of the best uses I've
ever seen the 4x7 chassis-with-axles put to. (It's one of the
``specialized'' pieces that I tend to malign otherwise.)"
Flying car
Entry thirty four is a Off-Road Racing Buggy submitted by Tom Letsinger.
Tom writes, " this ia an original design built with part from two 8860
Auto Chassis sets and one 8848 Power Truck and some little space things.
It has 4 wheel independent suspension, and .75 inches of travel on the front and
1.5 inches of rear travel usin a trailing arm system. The drive shafts are
inside the trailing arms and connect to the differential just behind the
driver's seat. The two speed gearbox is under the seat with the shift lever
near the steering wheel. The V-6 engine has working pistons and fan.
Side view,
front view,
rear view,
bottom exploded view,
top exploded view
Entry thirty five is a space vehicle, the "Planetary Exploration Team"
submitted by Tom Letsinger.
Tom writes, "this is a large exploration vehicle with a driver and a computer
controller inside, and a fully ariculated defensive array on top. The trailer
carries three smaller vehicles; a fast scout on the bottom, a rough terrain
scout and a geological survey truck on the top".
Main view,
second view
Entry thirty six is a Space vehicle called the Sullustan Scavanger submitted by
Scott Schurich. Scott writes, “there are actually two craft, the larger craft is
called SS1 and the small recon craft is SS2. Their main purpose in life is mining
ore and minerals from the planet surface. SS1 has staggered wheels (12 of them)
to aid in rolling over tough terrain. Hills and holes present no problems
whatsoever! There are 2 large cargo holds (from 4030) for storing the mission's
haul. The cockpit holds 2 crew; one driver and one sensor/laser operator. The
driver has a cushy job, all he does is steer. The sensor/laser operator has all the
fun. The sensor is mounted on the nose of the craft and can pivot through 180
degrees. This sensor will pick up trace amounts of ore and mineral deposits. The
instrumentation gives location, direction and depth of these deposits. If the
goodies are too far down for the crane to reach or are buried in a pile of rock, the
twin side mount lasers come in handy. After exposing the ore/minerals the
heavy duty crane hauls it in the the cargo holds. The crane has 360 degrees of
rotation. If some ore is out of reach then SS2 will go fetch it. SS2 is a small 4
wheeled vehicle with a long flexible robot arm. This arm will reach high enough
to allow items to be dropped into the cargo holds of SS1. The operator of SS2
carries a sonic pick and a hand held laser axe for dislodging those stubborn
pieces. Here are 8 pictures of my entry. Please ignore the color scheme and the
Space Police cockpits, I built this out of extra parts.
Main view ,
cockpit ,
fetching a
specimen ,
everybody helping
out ,
crane operator ,
front view ,
side view ,
overhead view
Entry thirty seven is the Admiral's Land Yacht submitted by Mike Case.
Mike writes,
"the Admiral is the most inept pirate known to ever sail the seas of Lego. He has been captured more times than
any can remember. Since he doesn't hurt anyone and his antics are so entertaining, he is usually only held for a
couple of days before being allowed to "escape". His most recent folly is known as the Mudskipper. He reasoned
that the Imprial Fleet always expects him to attack by sea, so he had a ship built that was at home on land.
His loyal crew is made up of 2 brave, if somewhat dim, sailors and a parrot. The first sailor is known as DeadEye
Pete, scourge of the barnyard. He is the only pirate on record to have killed a cow with a cannon. Unfortunately,
he lost his bet since he could not actually hit the broad side of a barn. The other sailor is the Admiral's master
craftsman -- Mad Jack the Lucky. If it were not for his amazing luck, he would have never survived the wreck of
the Pufferfish, the world's first inflatable pirate ship."
View 1,
View 2,
View 4,
View 4,
Mad Jack and Polly,
the Admiral (with Pete on the left),
the Admiral and Pete
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