Remote Control Trojan Horse

A couple of weeks ago I posted the miniature Trojan horse I made all those years ago.  Last year, I decided to upscale the original MOC by a factor of 4.  The end result after a few months work was 4kg of moving Trojan horse, consisting four XL motors, two M motors, two battery packs and three IR receivers.

Originally, the legs were driven by an M motor sitting on top of each leg with a reduction gear box in between, however​ reliability issues eventually resulted in direct driven XL motors being used.  At the 2017 Bricks for Woden School I discovered some further shortcomings in the strength of the legs, but luckily I was able to buy some 2 x 4 bricks at the show that worked a treat in reinforcing the structure.

The head is made up of a large number of slope and inverted slope bricks. There is an archer minifig that pops out of the top of the head, and the head itself has a door/mane that opens. The head is secured by a plate at the top, 8 pins at the front of the body and a securing axle to stop the head from falling off while the horse is moving. As the head is removable and the archer motor is contained within the body of the horse, two cogs are used to transfer torque allowing the head to be easily removed.

The undercarriage ramp is used to release attacking minifigs from inside the horse. The ramp is driven by a large actuator connected directly to an M motor and comes to rest on a boardwalk that doubles as reinforcement for the legs.  Additionally, the top and side of the horse open to reveal some more minifigs preparing for battle.

At the rear of the horse is a removable tail (with a minifig clinging on for dear life) that reveals two battery packs.  The first battery pack drives two IR receivers, the first connected to the archer and ramp, and the second connected to two XL motors.  The second battery pack drives the remaining IR receiver and two XL motors.

 

Miniature Trojan Horse

Back in 2010 I made a castle that re-purposed our dining table. As part of this castle I created a miniature Trojan horse inspired by a coffee table ornament at my grandparents house.  The miniature Trojan horse still gets a lot of use around the house, either as a remote control holder or plaything for Alisz to see how many minifigs she can stuff inside (her record is at least 11).

The back, top and mane of the horse open up to reveal minifigs ready to unleash on their unsuspecting victims.  The legs are made from eight 4 x 5 x 1 arches atop a 2 x 4 plate with pin to hold on the 8-spoke wheels.  The neck and underside of the head consist of inverted 45 degree slopes, and the face is made up of 45 degree slopes.  The mane is a hinged roof with a little extension (a 1 x 4 plate) to ensure the minifig inside cannot be seen.  Finally, the tail is a 1 x 6 brick held on by a 1 x 2 brick with pin.

Instructions on how you can build your own miniature Trojan horse are available from the store.

Folding Wings

Lego Folding Wings

Recently at the local LUG meeting I demonstrated my now almost complete ladybird.  One of the features that gained quite a lot of interest from the meeting was its fold out wings, so I thought I’d post about it.

The wings unfold and rotate the in a single action.  Each wing is mounted to a small Technic turntable and the drive shaft that controls the flipping movement passes through the turntable.

Outward movement is limited by an axle placed between the two wings, while the flip movement is limited by a 2L half beam connected to the flip drive shaft that stops it from rotating once the wing has flipped over.

Everything is driven by an M motor connected to a worm gear.  A 40 tooth gear and 24 tooth clutch gear are connected to each wing, with the clutch gear stopping the mechanism from destroying itself when the wings are fully deployed or retracted.

The wings are mounted using three 3L pins with stop bushes – two at the front and one at the back.

This is the second version of this build, with the first version having separate rotate and flip mechanisms, which required a lot of calibration and alignment to function correctly, in addition to taking up more space.

 

Instructions on how to build your own folding wings are available from the store.