Big Lego® wheels with a tread which is a loose-fitting 'negative' of the Lego stud pattern, so as to give Lego vehicles a smooth ride when traversing Lego baseplates.-- hippo, Dec 06 2007 Tread crawler http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/x486Maybe this type of track would fit the bill? [Jinbish, Dec 06 2007] iStopMotion (Boinx software) http://www.boinx.co...topmotion/overview/ [hippo, Dec 07 2007] in time for christmas?-- po, Dec 06 2007 Nice [+]. You could also use them to attach lego bricks to the tyres to make something that can go down steps.-- marklar, Dec 06 2007 The road area of Lego base plates (if the baseplate has a road area) is already smooth, so as long as you don't do any off-roading, it's a smooth ride anyway... and with the described tires, you can only travel in strait lines in the x and y axes.
If the depressions are small enough for Lego pieces to attach to them, then it will be very difficult for the wheels to roll on the Lego surface.-- BJS, Dec 06 2007 Yes, this is aimed at off-roading (think of the green baseplates with studs all over, rather than the grey "urban" baseplates with road markings and smooth bits) and the anti-studs defintely have to be 'loose-fitting' so I'm afraid [marklar]'s variation won't work.-- hippo, Dec 06 2007 If it's off-roading then it's supposed to be bumpy.
Can't you just buy a car with better suspension?-- BJS, Dec 06 2007 No fair, I want to put legs on the wheels. And how am I supposed to complete my model of an auto shop with a big rotating tyre on the roof?-- marklar, Dec 06 2007 OK, I'd better explain exactly why I want a smooth ride across a Lego baseplate. I need to have a mini-DV video camera mounted on a Lego platform which can move smoothly across a Lego baseplate for tracking shots. The shot doesn't allow for the building of rails or a tiled surface.-- hippo, Dec 06 2007 The anti-studs might not provide the smooth ride if they are constantly pairing with the studs {later: as [BJS] notes}.
I suggest that you want a set of caterpillar tracks (for cogs or wheels) that are sufficiently long (linky).-- Jinbish, Dec 06 2007 If your wheels were thin enough they would ride smoothly between the studs. Should work on a diagonal as well.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 06 2007 Hmm... I wonder if there's something that could be done with a large sphere with lots of anti-studs on it...-- lostdog, Dec 06 2007 [hippo], I bet you could build something using superglue and numerous cut-up toothbrush heads. The bristles should adapt to the surface fairly nicely.-- lurch, Dec 06 2007 //mini-DV video camera .. Lego .. tracking shots// Sounds interesting, [hippo]. Stop-motion animation or real-time movie-making?-- neutrinos_shadow, Dec 06 2007 It's stop-motion: DV camera connected to my iMac, running iStopMotion (see link - this is a great bit of software), and iMovie. I'm doing a test film at the moment to get used to the technique. I'll see if I can post it somewhere when it's finished.-- hippo, Dec 07 2007 I thought it was designed to run over the little Manly Man LEGO men.
Bun.-- elhigh, Dec 07 2007 //If your wheels were thin enough//
I seem to remember a lego train, with wheels which rested on narrow edges. Maybe they would do the trick, provided that your vehicle is guaranteed to drive *very* straight.-- pertinax, Feb 08 2009 random, halfbakery