Sunbeam
After building a lot of models with Power Functions, it was time for a non-PF model. Ever since I built the Little Devil sportscar, I wanted to build a yellow supercar. I chose Chevrolette’s Corvette sportscars as inspiration. It’s not an exact replica of a specific Corvette, but I tried to give it that typical Corvette-look. It took some time to collect enough yellow parts (mainly panels, flex-axles and angled connectors) and the 8043 Excavator set added quite a number of usefull parts.
The functions of this model are:
- All-Wheel-Drive
- HOG-steering with working steering-wheel inside
- Independent suspension
- V8 engine
- 6-speed gearbox, no reverse
- Movable Chairs
- Openable doors, trunk and hatch
Drivetrain
The All-Wheel Drive system uses three differentials, one on each axle and one to connect the 2 axles. For the manual gearbox I wanted to do something else than the regular 5+1 gearbox (as found in eg the 8448 and 8466). I decided to make a 6-speed version of it. For that, the reverse-gear had to be sacrificed.
I wanted to include Hand-Of-God steering, to make steering the model convenient. The steering-drivetran was routed around the gearbox, connecting to the steering-control in the hatch.
Chassis
The chassis is made of a combination of studless beams with old-style studded technic bricks. This has 2 advantages: 1. It produces a very stiff chassis, which works well with the suspension. 2. It allows all the axles to be aligned very well, resulting in a smooth-running drivetrain.
Instructions
Complete step-by-step building instructions were created for this model. This time I used Lpub to compile all the Instruction-images and parts-list images. It saved a lot of time compared to using MS Word for this. Although Lpub isn’t as flexible, I intend to use it more often, for it allows me to make instructions faster, leaving more time for building. The building instructions can be found on the instructions-page.