Loisirs Creations RC - Manx TT - 1/8

[silvertriple]

This is a new project, of a very different type... Let' be clear : I'm not sure where to put it exactly as it is very old school and vintage in spirit, but very recent in terms of release.

My friend at Loisirs Creations RC is an old guy, with a lot of experience in the RC. He is nostalgic of the late seventies and very early eighties, and he produced a nice and simple buggy... My brother had a very similar Micro Racing dune buggy when he was young. I got one for him, and I recently decided I'll go for one for myself as well...

It takes the form of a Meyers Manx TT at 1/8 scale. The bodyshell, tires and most of the injected parts are produced in house at Loisirs Creations RC. The whole buggy is very inspired from the plain old designs from many companies at the early stages of RC...

The front train relies on a thick plastic plate and a very simple arms with simple knuckles. The suspension relies on the tires and the flexibility of the plate...

The rear train use simple pull arms and a belt directly running on the rim. And a spring on each side for the suspension...

The tires feel nice, and while i'm not fully happy with the line as I find the front too low, I will have to work this out to make it better...

Bumper (which is sort of ABS bath tub) and seats to cover battery, RX and ESC are there to complete the kit. And there is a few accessories which should allow for a nice unguided build :-)

The target is to have this car ready sometime in August, for some vintage events in September (those guys are more 1/8 oriented than I usually do, so this will go nicely to run with them)...

[silvertriple]

This is a small project... But the car is big. Any 1/8 car is too big :-)
I took the car to parts. The front train is moved 10 mm at the front, to be in line with the arches, and I also changed the orientation of the front structure to make the front up. That will be better this way. I also trimmed the parts requiring trimming. More will be required for the bumper, but that can only be done once the full setup is ready.

First, I designed a support for the Sterring servo... It will take place behind the front main arm, and will allow to center the servo head (something which was not initially this way).

Next, I also designed a small tool to put the rod ends in place (my printer is very often used to print tools :-) )..

Then I had a thought about how to set the battery in place under the seats... This part will be used for both battery location and seats mount...

Next is about the rims. I don't like the bkack rims, and I don't like to glue tires on rims when it is possible to avoid that... This makes a case to design custom (and nicer rims) for this car... Which I did. It's a two part rim, which is designed to set the tire in place properly by fixing the ring on the front. I have set it myself to 5 Spoke, but, the file is parametric and I'll be able to make a few different versions...

I obviously reproduce the design for the front rim, adapted to the front tire...

Next topics : Dashboard, roll bar and lights (front, rear, and on the roll bar (maybe))...

[markbt73]

I love this! And it gives me all sorts of ideas...

[silvertriple]

Printed the rims... it looks nice...

Worked a bit to make a dashboard...

And used the AMS to print it...

Next is about the front lights... I want them to seat properly on the body... There is various ways to do this. I have a scanner so I decided to see if it could be of use here...
I scanned the bonnet, and then import the mesh in Fusion360. Then, I used mesh projection on plans...

That allow me to draw splines to define a surface body...

Then I used the surface to cu the created body, so it should fit the on the car body...

Then the rest is relying on booleans and some revolutions...

And we finally have a front led bucket. Optical piece will be printed in transluscent material...

The printer is currently busy to build some parts I designed for my wife . As soon as the current print is finished, I'll print those parts... Remain to do : rear led buckets...

[silvertriple]

There was some progress this afternoon...

The roll bar fits in place...

Obviously, this is not definitive mount : I must do paintjob first...

Front buckets are printed...

I designed rear led buckets as well...

Printed and on the car (not fixed yet : I will need to print a part to ensure holes are done right...

Lights are ready to mount. I just need to do the holes on the bodyshell...

I plan to do the holes, and paintjob will be done at some point within the week, then we can do the final build....

[silvertriple]

None of the driver figures I have are set to the right scale to fit this car... And that would be even more work to pull a driver for this car in CAD...
The car needs to be ready soon. I need to find a solution. I've asked my wife if she had an idea (she always have crazy and fun ideas)... And she proposed something...

It doesn't fit better than any of the ones, but it's fun, so it's adopted... I may have to create some goggles, as the head will be above the windscreen...

[silvertriple]

My wife said I need to give the driver a helmet
This is not going to be easy with ears of my driver... I tried to draw something in Fusion360... That should make it... 

[silvertriple]

The work is done :-)

I applied primer once back from the office today... Wet sanding to do, then another thin layer of white primer, then it will be time for color...

[silvertriple]

Slowly but surely, it starts to take shape...

I started to reassemble the car. The rear train and the motor (finally opted for a 540 Torque Tuned) are now in place. I've put a 15T pinion on the motor (had not much choice as that was the only one I could mount with the adaptator I have for the motor shaft...

The servo support require a slight revision to put the servo a bit higher. I've launched a print and will do some wiring for the leds tonight, as well as a replacement of a plug on the ESC.... I hope to be able to finish this car by Thursday (to give me an opportunity to wrap up another build by early September)...

[silvertriple]

Electronics is installed on a specific plate set on the floor of the bathtub... All nuts are placed within the plate for the case I have to change something on the setup on the field, and this will avoid to fight with nuts moving out of the tub...

I put the pilote in the car once the assembly was done to take some pics with lights on...

I still need to find a way to make a safety belt for the pilot, and a way to install the bumper, and a fake engine. I modified one I found on Printables (I did not have the time to design one mysefl), and I need to find a way to install it..

[silvertriple]

Yesterday, worked to make a TPU bumper. I was not happy with the bumper provided, and wanted somthing more reliable for the bumper. So I designed one.

Then came printing. I load the TPU and launch the print this morning. It's a fairly long print as TPU is slow. I was working from home, so I could have a look at lunch time...
TPU roll was almost empty, and 80% of the print.


I thought about it, there was no point to stop the print. I have a TPU roll on order, and it should arrive tomorrow. I let it go, that may be a very close call, I thought...

I went at my coffee break. Print was completed...


But that was very close to filament runout (a few millimeters : launching a print just to see got a filament run out 2 seconds after it started to extrude). What a synchronisation!!!

The Bumper is designed to it flexes and participate to the dampering of the front, it also gives a proper angle to the car by moving the front up slightly when the car is not running... I'll have to take some picture of the car in the new configuration, which I did not...

Next was to take care of the seats fastener. They acts as radio / accu box lid, and they needs a fastener. The overall idea was to use a screw with a roller. But now, I also need to set a safety belt for my driver... I thought about it like a 3 points safety belt, and that means I need to have something mounted on top of my roller to fasten the seat to set the said safety belt...
I designed 2 parts for thsi : one with 2 independant bodies designed for an in place print (0.2mm clearance between the bodies is enough as per my experience), and another one that will be fixed on top of it (for the safety belt loop). 

And that worked like a charm...

I will need to set the 2 other safety belt points, but that should be fairly easy with the existing screws already in the car (plan could be to use one of the roll bar, and one of the battery support...

[silvertriple]

The driver has now a safety belt! And the fake engine is in place...

I still need to review a very small detail on rear wheels, and then it will be time for the final decoration with red vynils to increase the "Hot Wheels" effect...

[silvertriple]

Everythings is now in order, and it is time to finish it, really...

A quick search on internet to search a jpg of a logo, a 2 minutes activity in Silhouette Studio, the cut, and then we start to transfer something on the bonnet :-). I had a Dune buggy in my mind, from when I was not even a teenager, and it was a Hotwheel. I can't remeber the scheme, I can't find it on internet, but even being different, it will remind me enough when I was young...

The blue and red goes well together...

The driver has a cool attitude, and the car is definitely looking like a magnified Hotwheels...

Last detail to deal with was to attach the protective goggles to the driver...

That was really a fun project... And this driver is cool and fun and goes very well with the Hotwheels car :-)
 

[silvertriple]

Some of the parts are now live on makerworld for this car: 
https://makerworld.com/en/models/778556

[Busdriver]

Pity all the pictures have gone from this thread. Would love to have seen your project 

[silvertriple]

On 2/26/2025 at 2:08 PM, Busdriver said:

Pity all the pictures have gone from this thread. Would love to have seen your project 

I noticed that the other day... I don't even know why they disappeared. It seems that some of the pictures/folders disappeared from my imgur, without any indication or warning explaining why... I'll try to find the way to repost them and update the thread...

In the meantime, you may find those on a publication on my facebook page