How is this done?

bkpr

Greetings.

I'm trying to LDD this micro Star Wars sandcrawler but I can't work out out how the wheels/tracks are built. I'm hoping someone with more experience can advise.

I can see there are 4 technic half-beams, and they look like they are held together by 4 T pieces. But LDD won't allow me to place 4 t-pieces that close together.



And then how do the tracks attach to the body? It's possible the body's just sitting on the tracks, but I hope I can attach it somehow.

And advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

legobigbloke

My best guess: It looks like the 4 "t-pieces" (pneumatic hose T's) are set so they point up not horizontal like you have, then I assume that the bottom of the crawler is a technic 6x2 plate with 5 holes in it. The T's then fit in the outer 4 holes.

legobigbloke

^ although looking again at the original model it seems to be a 1x2 + 4x2 plate set-up on the bottom, so that wouldn't work!

CapnRex101

LDD often does not allow you to move parts as close as they might be able to in reality, which would explain that element of the problem. Looking at the picture provided, I would guess that the body of the vehicle is simply resting on the tracks, however I think that legobigbloke's idea of using a plate with Technic holes in seems feasible, so that seems like your best bet to me.

bkpr

Looking more closely I'm thinking the tracks are unattached. The back ones look like they are slightly out of alignment and shifted forward ever so slightly.
The T-pieces could possibly be angled at about 30º so they sit on top of each other on an angle.

graphite

It's possible the T's aren't connected to the body of that crawler the 3rd part of the 2 T's per wheel pair could just be folded overlapping pointing towards each other and the body of the crawler just sitting on top of them.

legobigbloke

Could be one T down on each track to a brick with hole on the baseplate, and the other lying on top as you and Graphite suggest. Then the crawler body just sitting on top.

bkpr

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of :( I've contacted the original builder through Flickr with the hope he lets me in on the secret. In the meantime I'll be losing sleep for a way to make it work ;)

bkpr

I could substitute the Ts for pieces of 2L tube or 2L axels, I just need to figure a way to attach them to the body. If I rearrange the bottom pieces of the body: 2x2 - 1x2 - 2x2 plates, I'll have some holes perfectly centred above each set of tracks.



Is there such a thing as an upside down clip?

bkpr

Just thought of adding a technic 1x2 brick with 2 holes between the levers + axels/tubes in each set of tracks, then adding a 1x2 jumper on top to attach to the holes shown above. Unfortunately the height of the brick extends out below the bottom of the 1x2 levers so they won't be touching the ground. Which is a shame because in this setup each set of track could turn to simulate steering :)

CapnRex101

@bkpr - No upside down clips, your best bet might be to use a Technic plate like this one: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3709b (although looking at it now it does not come in brown).

Alternatively, you could pretty much scrap following the design of the other Sandcrawler and construct the entire model with the studs facing forwards which would allow for more flexibility in design and greebling, as well as letting you attach the tracks beneath using these pieces: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30237.

Good luck with it!

bkpr

That is a good idea. I can't imagine it'd be too difficult (I'm not an experienced builder). I'll give it a go when I have a bit more time.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Bustin

I would use the bar 1x3 with clip and stud.

Bustin

A second option that I am thinking but have not tried myself is using the mechanical battle droid arm. I was thinking it would fit up in the plate like the lever does when snorting two plates together.

bkpr

I couldn't let it go. Here's what I've come up with. I think it's pretty good :)




And to make the wheels look better, use some grey tube cut for the front and back wheels. Or even looking at it, maybe some angled Ts. LDD won't allow me to connect it 'cos the Ts stick up a little too much. Maybe in the real world they might just fit.

CCC

Out of interest, are you just (re)designing this on LDD or are you playing about with the bricks at the same time? I always find the latter easier (even if in the wrong colours).

BooTheMightyHamster

Is it possible he just used one of these on each wheel?

graphite

^ no. The pin connector on those is too big to fit in an axle hole that the wheel pieces used have. Plus it is obvious from the rounded edge and the hole in the tip that the pice used is the 'T' initially described.

bkpr

@CCC Doing it just in LDD. I don't have any sort of brick collection to play around with, unfortunately.

CCC

bkpr said:

@CCC Doing it just in LDD. I don't have any sort of brick collection to play around with, unfortunately.

OK. I wondered as I tried using LDD to design specific parts for MOCs and gave up as it was easier and quicker to just build them! Obviously using any colour to start with, then BL'ing for parts in the right colours once I had it worked out.

bkpr

Agreed (if my childhood memory serves me). I've come close to purchasing bulk lots of parts from the Ebizzle a couple of times as a play-around collection, but I didn't do it because I wasn't confident I wouldn't end up with a bunch of useless parts.