59 replies to this topic

[Ace-Garageguy]

STILL IN MOCKUP PHASE, so parts and fitment are rough.

 

Frame tidied up the rest of the way, with new tubular crossmembers. Grotty members in previous pix were fixtures.

 

 

Bits for guts. Individual wheel motors will be cut down from gluebomb wheels in the AMT '32 Ford / '40 Willys double kit. Front suspension (purple) and crossmember cut down from Revell StingRay3 kit. Rear suspension (black) reworked from Monogram 1/24 Cord front suspension. Banana arms are similar to Porsche 911 in function and layout. Battery packs from parts bin, represent Lithium-ion packs.

 

 

Banana arms on a new torsion bar tube. Brass tube to keep everything square while setting up.

 

 

Front and rear suspension, wheel-motors and batteries in place. There will be driveshafts running from the motors to each adjacent wheel, and inboard disc brakes. Though this thing would have re-generative electric brakes that convert the kinetic energy of the vehicle to electricity and recharge the batteries while braking, the lightweight hydraulic brakes are necessary to bring the car to a full stop and for emergency use should the electrical system fail.

 

 

Micro-turbines reworked from the AMT Amtronic, big alternator made up from stacked air filters, Corvair engine fan, etc.

 

 

Power unit assembled.

 

 

Installed in chassis at necessary angle to fit within bodywork.

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 25 January 2013 - 02:29 AM.

[crazyrichard]

whaaaa awsome

[Ace-Garageguy]

whaaaa awsome

Thank you very much sir !

 

How it works: When the turbines (one or both) are running, they turn a huge alternator that pumps electricity through a large rectifier which converts it from AC to DC, and then on to the vehicle's wheel-motors and into the storage batteries. Under normal operation, power coming from the alternator drives the vehicle down the road, and at cruising speeds (which require relatively little energy to maintain) one turbine can be shut down. When maximum acceleration is called for, power from the battery storage pack augments the power available from the alternator to give a burst of speed, for a few seconds. Massive acceleration is only available as long as the charge in the batteries lasts, but once high speed is achieved it takes less energy to sustain it, and the turbine / alternator power unit can maintain speed while recharging the battery packs (rapid-recharge, deep-cycle lithium-ion). The vehicle has a limited range on battery power alone and can be recharged from household current (plug-in-hybrid).

 

Under braking, the wheel-motors are electrically switched to become generators, and electricity generated is pumped back into the battery packs. Excess power (more than the batteries can absorb) is converted to heat by large resistors (dynamic braking), and normal hydraulic disc brakes are used to bring the vehicle to a stop (regenerative won't stop, only slow), for emergency backup, and for parking brakes.

 

 

 

[GerN]

Stunning!

[Dogfish_7]

This is great!

[Ira]

GREAT ENGINES BILL!!!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Once again gentlemeng, thanks for the kind words. The twin-turbine engine / drivetrain layout is pretty much lifted from the now-defunct Jaguar C-X75 project. It's a real, functioning system, not science-fiction.

 

JAGUAR C-X75:

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 26 January 2013 - 06:13 AM.

[crazyrichard]

just awsome , especially to combine it the way you are doing !!

[scalenut]

very nice 

[David G.]

You've been reading-up on Diesel locomotives! 

 

 

Excellent work and sound concepts!

 

David G.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Thanks guys. I'm having a lot of fun on this one.

You've been reading-up on Diesel locomotives! 

 

 

Excellent work and sound concepts!

 

David G.

Yeah, I built RR models a long time ago, hadn't seen anything on the Jag system for dumping excess current from the regenerative brakes, so it seemed logical to include the dynamic braking bit.

 

I've been involved off-and-on with alternative powertrain concepts and green technology for most of my life, too. I think one of the reasons the folks living on most of the planet have been so slow to implement rational energy-use solutions is that they're usually packaged as appealing to guilt, and BORING. Might get a little farther saving the world if it was perceived as being fun and sexy.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 26 January 2013 - 06:26 AM.

[Dragfreak]

Very cool Ace!!

[streetmachine11]

hey bill your work is outstanding! but now that you have got more involved then you originally planed, (like they all do) have you considered opening up the hood and trunk to show all that fantastic work??

looking forward to more!


jason

[Ace-Garageguy]

hey bill your work is outstanding! but now that you have got more involved then you originally planed, (like they all do) have you considered opening up the hood and trunk to show all that fantastic work??

looking forward to more!


jason

Thank you ! The hood and front fenders will flip forwards for access to the fore-guts, and I'll definitely be opening the tail for access / display there too. The Flintstone casting is extremely think, so I'll be making molds and copying the hood and deckild in very fine fiberglass, as I've used here, and discarding the hacked-off resin originals.

 

Mold...

 

 

Duplicate part layed-up...

 

 

Completed thin copy...

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 26 January 2013 - 09:59 AM.

[Karl LaFong]

Nikola Tesla would be proud!  cool concept.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Thank you sir. She's now in the boring, actual-work, take-it-all-apart-and-finish-everything, make-it-fit-right mode. Updates when something interesting happens.

 

Again, thanks to everyone for your interest up to this point.

[Tony T]

Very cool, Bill!

[Lownslow]

Thank you ! The hood and front fenders will flip forwards for access to the fore-guts, and I'll definitely be opening the tail for access / display there too. The Flintstone casting is extremely think, so I'll be making molds and copying the hood and deckild in very fine fiberglass, as I've used here, and discarding the hacked-off resin originals.

 

Mold...

 

 

Duplicate part layed-up...

 

 

Completed thin copy...

 

can you explain this process more im very interested

[DrKerry]

You do some unbelievably great work. This is an awesome project that I wouldn't think would look good together!!! Stunning concept!!!!

[streetmachine11]

Thank you ! The hood and front fenders will flip forwards for access to the fore-guts, and I'll definitely be opening the tail for access / display there too. The Flintstone casting is extremely think, so I'll be making molds and copying the hood and deckild in very fine fiberglass, as I've used here, and discarding the hacked-off resin originals.
 
Mold...
 

 
Duplicate part layed-up...
 

 
Completed thin copy...
 

hey bill that sounds fantastic! you sure have my attention cant wait for the next update

jason