Lego Miata Is Always The Answer

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv)
10/13/2020 at 00:39 • Filed to: Miata, Lego

After ~5 days of work, it is finally complete. I have finished recreating the NA Miata in Lego form! This is by far the most challenging car I’ve ever tried to build. I wondered why there don’t seem to be many Lego Miatas on the internet, and now I know why. This is quite possibly the curviest car ever made. But I found a way :)

Features on the model include opening doors, hood, and trunk, as well as working pop-up headlights (my favorite part of the build), a model of the engine under the hood, and a shifter mounted on a ball joint so you can pretend to shift gears.

It was very tricky to fit a lot of detail in the engine bay, but I tried to make sure all the most important details were represented.

The little droid arms below the steering wheel were my attempt to include pedals in the footwell, although they kinda just look like some sort of weird foot massaging/tickling machine... Other than that, the only thing I’m not happy with in the interior is that I wasn’t able to include the gauges. Too small :/

I know some Oppos will be bothered by the extremely low-profile tires, but Lego only makes three tires in this diameter, and the other two are chonky off-road tires. And while I like safari Miatas as much as the next guy, I decided to go with the sportier tires.

Although I’ve completed the model, I still have plans for it. I’m going to try and build it in another program called “LDraw” so that I can hopefully produce some nice renders of it. Then I’m going to post it on Lego Ideas so if it gains enough supporters, Lego might make an actual Miata set you can buy :)

DISCUSSION (23)

flatisflat > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 00:48

Then I’m going to post it on Lego Ideas so if it gains enough supporters, Lego might make an actual Miata set you can buy

Um, yes. And yes. And definitely yes. And make sure to notify us and remind everyone regularly to go and support it, because this MUST become a thing!

Kudos!

Jim Spanfeller > flatisflat
10/13/2020 at 00:54

Honestly, I’m surprised Lego hasn’t made a Miata set already, it seems like such an obvious choice. That was one of my motivations for doing this. A L ego Miata set needs to be a thing!

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 00:57

You have my vote (and moreover, as long as it comes through the Lego Ideas process mostly intact, my purchase!)

But I have a question: Why are the front turn signals sloping downward? Was there no way to achieve a similar slo pe in the other direction to match the tapered front end?

facw > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 00:58

No offense to your Mack truck, which is excellent, but I expect this one will get you way more supporters. Model itself looks great, wish the windshield was was a little less coarse, but I don’t think there’s anything you can do about that.

Jim Spanfeller > facw
10/13/2020 at 01:14

Thanks! There are some newer parts available now that might make the windshield a little better, but they’re not in LDD so I couldn’t use them. I might be able to improve this when I recreate the model in LDraw.

feather-throttle-not-hair > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 01:21

Very nice! Kinda makes me want to buy Brick Rigs and try and build it....

Shoop > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 01:21

Nice!

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/13/2020 at 01:29

Thank you! As for the turn signals, m y next best solution was this:

Kinja'd!!!

They don’t slope backwards anymore, but they don’ t really slope forwards either, and they also look too big and rectangular to me, whereas the other method gives them the right proportions and also looks rounder to me for some reason. I dunno. There’s not a whole lot I can do in that area because of the clearance needed for the pop-up headlights to work.

Jim Spanfeller > feather-throttle-not-hair
10/13/2020 at 01:49

TIL what Bri cks & Ri gs is...

KnowsAboutCars > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 02:55

That’s quite good for a 90's round design with bricks. Looks great.

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 03:16

Kinja'd!!!

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/13/2020 at 03:22

Nah, not really. Just looking for a way to soften that edge. There’s no “angle plate 1x2 / 1x2” I can find on pick-a-brick either. I’m sure you’ve got it pretty well optimized. Very nice job!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 10:25

Love the functional pop-ups!

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/13/2020 at 11:43

Hmm. That’s an interesting idea, I’ll have to try that. BRB.

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/13/2020 at 11:59

Here it is with your gold ingot light suggestion:

Kinja'd!!!

It actually looks pretty good! I t’s definitely an improvement over my original design. Only problem is that Lego doesn’t make transparent ingot pieces at the moment, so I’d have to use my original design if I were to build this in real life. But for virtual models, I’ll be using that ingot light technique. That was a great idea.

Jim Spanfeller > KnowsAboutCars
10/13/2020 at 12:21

Thanks!

Jim Spanfeller > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
10/13/2020 at 12:26

Thanks! It was tricky to make those work while leaving enough room for the shaping of the front end, but totally worth the effort. Can’t have an NA Miata without pop-up headlights!

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jim Spanfeller
10/13/2020 at 17:30

Great, I’m glad it worked out. I have high hopes for this. I did for the Caterham Seven as well, but the official Lego people really neutered that design for production. Did you use any sketchy techniques that they might want to take out? (Weakly linked pieces, interference in doors, etc.)

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/13/2020 at 20:43

Since the program this is built in was made by Lego, I can’t really use many sketchy techniques to begin with. The only things that would maybe be an issue are a couple out-of-production parts in the doors and the fact that opening the doors may stress the chassis slightly. I imagine these are things that Lego can figure out, though.

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jim Spanfeller
10/14/2020 at 18:52

Sorry to keep bugging, but what about a 1x2 rounded plate for the side mirrors? Are those available in clear? https://www.newelementary.com/2018/01/the-new-lego-1x2-rounded-plate.html

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/14/2020 at 21:18

I think they are available in clear, but not in the program I built this model in. I’ve actually spent most of my day trying to get a couple other programs to work together so I can make photorealistic renders of the Lego Miata, and one of those programs might contain the 1x2 rounded plate, but I’m not sure how to attach it at an angle in that program. It is already looking a lot better though:

Kinja'd!!!

Now I just need to figure out how to make the render program work...

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jim Spanfeller
10/15/2020 at 01:14

I mean for the side view mirrors, not the turn signals. The s ide view mirrors on a Miata are very rounded.

Jim Spanfeller > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
10/15/2020 at 02:09

I know what you meant, the side mirrors are also at an angle. They’re just angled on a different axis.