Welcome to the build-review of (IMO) one of the finest mid-scale MOC's this year: Madoca1977's Corvette C3 Stingray.
Madoca was so kind to provide photo-instructions of this MOC, which allowed me to make an MLCad-file and complete building instructions. The instructions can be downloaded here. Blakbird made some renders to complete this project.
Specifications:
Number of parts: 1187 (including the remote-controller)
Size (WxDxH): 21 x 49 x 14 studs
Propulsion: 2 x L-motor, rear-wheel-drive
Steering: 1 x Servo-motor
Power-source: 1 x 8878 rechargeable battery or 88000 AAA-batterybox
Lights: 4 x PF-LED's
Building process:
Building this MOC starts with making the rear-chassis, which has the drivetrain and suspension. The suspension-design is very interresting and unlike any suspension design I've ever seen. It uses Unimog ball-joints to create independent suspension while still having a very narrow chassis, while still mainaining the differential for the rear-wheel-drive.
Also, the space for the battery-box is prepared, allowing the batterybox to be perfectly centered.
Next is the front-chassis. Again the suspension design is quite original. It must have been quite a challenge for Madoca to fit the complete independent suspension system for a model this slim. The suspension travell is quite small. Both the left and right wheel share the same set of LBG 6,5L shock-absorbers. This section also has the Servo-motor for steering. It's was bit trucky to build because one of the axles in the steering system had to be rotated 45 degrees to achieve a perfect return-to-centre-steering. The steering lock is not the biggest which can be achieved with the servo-motor, but this is due to the use of 6571 small steering arm .
Next is attaching the L-motors to the front-chassis and joining the 2 chassis-sections for 1 complete chassis. The final construction feels sturdy and well-braced and well-supported. This chassis will survive heavy driving sessions !
Then we add all the remaining Power-Functions elements. Since this model has 4 sets of PF-lights, there are a lot of wires ! But there's enough space for every wire to be well hidden inside the chassis. All the lights are connected to 1 PF-switch.
The bodywork for the rear section is up next. This is the first preview of the sleek lines and curves of this MOC. Panels and liftarms are placed in angled posisions in very creative ways. The rear bonnet provides easy access to the battery-box, which can easily be removed for exchanging batteries.
After finishing the rear end, another surprise is coming up, which is my favorite feature of this model. There's a smart switching system, which connects the PF-switch to a lever in the dashboard and to the elevating-mechanism of the headlights. When operating this lever, the lights pop out and are switched on simultainiously, marvelous !!!
All that's left is to finish the bodywork. The more panels are added, the nices the model looks. And that's what makes it one of the nicest MOC's this year: the final model looks extremely good. I compared it to some photo's of the real car, and it's surprising to see how detailed the lines and curves of this car are reproduced using technic panels, liftarms and connectors. And it's especially remarkable, since it's only a MID-scale MOC. Kudos to Madoca for this exquisite design !
The only thing I didn't like so much is the colour of the seats. Since they're black, they are barely visible from the outside and don't stand out at all. It would like it more if they were DBG or LBG. But building them in DBG would require changing the design, since 1 of the parts used is not available in DBG.
Performance:
Allthough the model is relatively heavy for it's size, the driving-performance is very nice. It drives quite fast. And the final steering-lock is acceptable, taking into account the length of the car and the specific steering-parts used. The original model uses 2 24z white clutch-wheels in the drivetrain. I deceded to replace them with DBG 24z gears for a more direct response. I kept the white clutch-gears in the instructions.
One thing I liked less is that some details of the bodywork (especially the headlights) come off easily while driving. The bodywork is a bit fragile and cannot withstand accidental collisions very well.
There were a few tricky parts to build. Placing the PF-switch and routing all the cables to the correct position was quite a task.
Rare parts
There are only a few rare parts in this MOC. These are the 6571 steering arm small, the 6574 gear-rack 1x2 with 2 ball joints and the red 19L flex-axles, of which you need 4. And then there are 4 red connectors #4 and 6 red connectors #5
Some more pictures:
Pintures in full resolution can be found here
Edited by Jurgen Krooshoop
