Lego model : car #8448

[tom120934]

I started a Lego model too. Using handbook from http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/theme/index.htm (see in Technic #3) Many thanks to andybuck for the idea and the link.

It appears that simple blocks & plates are easy. But for other pieces, pretty touchy stuff. Like many newcomers to Lego modeling I think, I use LDraw library for basic shapes & dimensions (for non blocks&plates parts). Every shape in it needs some serious work to be nice on screen (chanfering, mesh cleaning, etc. on a per-vertice basis)

As an example, in the two renders below, only "Brick" and "Pin" parts were reworked by my own fingers. I.e. red and lightgrey parts are out-of-the-box LDraw shapes.

Work in Blender (Yafray for rendering as usual) but importing shapes from LDraw using software I discovered yesterday, Leocad. A Linux version is available, it features Wavefront export (to reimport into Blender).

[darth carth]

nice start
if you need any pictures from the real one let me know, I got that one
good luck tough, it's not a simpel car

[clix101]

Looks like a great start, keep it up

[Xoliul]

You sir, are insane 8o

That thing took me an entire weekend to build irl, i can only imagine how hard it is 3D...

[darth carth]

I can get it build in around 4-5 hours tops, but building it in 3D would take me about 4-5 years tops lol

[NightEye]

Damn, you're first! I wanted to do this one too since a loooong time.. Never had the guts to do it though

If you need pics of the real one, just say so and I'll modify it according the book. Might take a few days before I have my camera back though..

Good luck, this is going to be sweet!!

[tom120934]

Thanks guys for your comments. I hope I will keep enough motivation to the end. I'm also wondering how simulate it (i.e. turning steering wheel results to turn the wheels).

I think the difficult part is modelling each piece, not building the whole model : I gave 1x1 block 1x1 dimensions in Blender units, so it can be snapped to grid to move it easily. Just zoom in a bit to see 0.1 unit in grid (Blender grid is adaptative) and you can snap 0.1 by 0.1 (useful for vertical positions, either for blocks or axes).

I'm now on page 12 (chassis is described from page 4 to 97 included). Some improvements on pieces : retracted blocks & plates on 6 sides (0.01 unit) to have a little border between pieces, reworked each piece as I did with first ones.

C&C welcomed

[clix101]

Looks awesome, i love these high-detailed lego cars

[darth carth]

could we might get some more lighter renders please it's hard to see anything, wires would also be cool

[NightEye]

Renders are fine IMO. Just a tad brownish

You're doing great sofar

[tom120934]

I'm glad my work enjoy you, guys. Many thanks for your words.

For darkish renders, I changed background to white and increased lights. You will see result tomorrow.

Here's a wire. I don't post a full wire, as it's completely useless. Better is a detailed view on some parts. The pic doesn't show it clearly, but each edge is chamfered to make parts more realistic.

[tom120934]

Here's a larger, lighter render.

Minor changes to previous image, some pieces lack smoothing at render time. Here's a correction.

[DJP]

awesome... i have one of those too. good luck and i hope you finish it!

[darth carth]

at that 2x1 block with one hole in it, at the middle where there are 3 pieces next to eachother, the small black piece that holds it together (connector I think) is mssing

[tom120934]

One good point to darth_carth, thank you very much. It's a proof my model is not mirrored but built according to the book

[hartleym]

I really enjoy watching these lego models get built...It looks like heaps of fun to do..maybe not as much fun as messing around with real lego though
Good work so far...keep it up.

[tom120934]

The hype continues here too

Page 15 done. Many thanks for all your kind words, it gives me strength to continue. Well, only 82 more pages to go

[NightEye]

Originally Posted by tom120934

Well, only 82 more pages to go

I hope you are aware of the fact that that's only the Chassis manual?

Looking nice man But those white bricks should be grey

[clix101]

Looks great, cant wait to see this finished