Rat Dude has built this tiny version of the classic 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer. It comes complete with a telescopic grab arm and little rover, just like the original. There’s also a very neat helicopter, featuring some ice-lolly NPU. Being a food item, it was instantly spotted by the TLCB Elves. Click the link at the start of the post and see if you can spot it too.
Milan Sekiz has seen a rover and he wants it painted it black. No colours anymore, apart from black, yellow and trans-red are in this series of builds. It also includes a bike, spaceships and a couple more items yet to come. If, like our Elves, you enjoy Transformers, then click on to Milan’s Photostream, where you can see one of those too.
Alternatively, click here for today’s British pop reference. We seem to be getting good at this. Has TLCB finally mastered sci-fi? Probably…
It’s a hard knock life being an Elf on The Lego Car Blog staff. You’ve spent a long day dodging stray dogs and seagulls, scouring the world for the finest automotive Lego models and return safely to the office. You sit, happily munching a well deserved Smartie, when one of your “colleagues” smashes into the editorial suite atop the latest Technic Power Functions monster machine. Smushery ensues until the Editor intervenes with Mr. Airhorn.
This 4kg 8×8 armoured vehicle from Sariel adds to the chaos by having a working crane, amongst a load of other motorised functions. There’s also a working gearbox, adjustable ride height, opening doors, propellers and lights. It’s modelled on the WZM Rosomak, as used by the army of Sariel’s native Poland. You can see more views on MOCpages, see what’s hidden under the bodywork on Sariel’s website or just marvel at the video below.
The penthouse offices of The Lego Car Blog were the scene of yet another riot this morning. The Elves who found this GAZ-66 truck by Kirill Simerzin were expecting to be rewarded with handfuls of green Smarties. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t spotted that this Russian 4×4 vehicle hasn’t actually been built in real bricks. Neither had we, until we read the description. This MOC has been built in the online Mecabricks app and then rendered to a very high standard indeed. Other builders are getting increasingly impressive results with the new Bluerender package. However, the Elves will still prefer models made from real bricks for the moment, otherwise the Smarties and meal tokens will be a bit thin on the ground.
It’s a cheap day at The Lego Car Blog editorial offices. Smarties are made in neither black nor white colours and so we were unable to reward the Elf who brought in RGB900‘s Police Off-Roader. This stylish, futuristic vehicle looks perfect for all terrains and riot control too. It’s one of a series of 5-wide trucks from this Taiwanese builder. We found a rather nice fire engine in RGB900’s Flickr Photostream, so it’s a red Smartie for us!
This year’s Febrovery kicks off with a vehicle from Shannon Sproule that harks back to the days of Victorian motoring, mixed with NASA and Classic Space aesthetics. What do you mean, “It’s still Ma.Ktober?”. We’ve got a chicken transporter, complete with its own wattle, by Angus McLane to post too. One of these days The Lego Car Blog staff will finally understand sci-fi…
Normal service will now be resumed.
The Elves love finding models of Mercedes-Benz’s ubiquitous Unimog. Firstly, the models are usually packed with working features. Damian Z.’s has a very nice Hiab crane mounted behind its cab. Secondly, the models are often built in orange, meaning that the lucky finder is rewarded with an orange Smartie, which are the best sort. Click on this link to Damian’s album on Flickr to see more details, including the neatly attached air intake pipe.
What could be more fun than a hoard of The Lego Car Blog Elves, balanced on top of a careering vehicle, powered by a large, metal spring? For just £17.99 for 148 pieces from our local toy shop, we decided to find out!
Opening the box revealed two bags of Lego parts and a pull-back motor plus four tyres packed loose. As usual, the tyres rolled off under the TLCB office champagne cooler and had to be retrieved by a skinny Elf. The sticker sheet was also packed loose, resulting in the usual slight crumples (come on Lego put them in a bag with some cardboard!). Lastly, came the 60 page instruction book, which thankfully no longer features the terrifying, screaming child on its back cover. Why was he so angry?
60 pages of instructions, might seem a bit over the top but remember that this model is at the “fun” end of the Technic range and aimed at builders from 7 to 14 years old. That said, some of the steps did seem a bit small, such as adding two decorative bushes to the wheel axles in the final step. If you are ever in need of a mental challenge, go and build one of the big Technic sets from the early 1980s and you’ll be thankful for Lego’s modern day approach to instructions.
Disappointingly, there is no “B” model for this set. You can buy the other “Pull-Back” model in this year’s range (42033) and combine the two sets. However, that was too much of an investment for us as we weren’t sure if this model would survive the Elves “testing” regime for long enough to be re-combined.
Having distracted all 271 Elves in the office by giving them a Smartie to fight over, we started the build. The model starts with the chassis, in short rapid steps. By step 8, the pull-back motor is already fitted. For us, the motor was the exciting, interesting bit. How powerful would it be? How long would it last? How many Elves could we smush? Just 40 more pages and we’d be there…
The build continues in, what is now, traditional Technic style, strongly embedding the motor in a frame. Disappointingly there is no gearing in this model. It’s great introduction to Technic for younger builders but perhaps some gearing would have added to the educational value and interest? Maybe the motor wasn’t up to it? Just 35 more pages to go…
The decorative “engine” of this model is a two cylinder “V”. It’s neatly made from a 57585, 3 Branch Cross Axle and a pair of wheel hubs. The stickers start to come in at this point too. Applying them looked quite fiddly. We prefer to leave our pieces clean and ready for re-use in MOCs, so fortunately we skipped that part. The instructions now moved on to make the bodywork. Lego leave adding to wheels until the end of the build. How fast would our quad bike zoom?
Page 27 has a fiddly, combined axle and peg connection, with three things to go in. It’s a bit tricky and builders at the younger end of the age range will probably need a hand here. Page 30 adds an axle to the pull-back motor and the front axle too. It turns out the at the steering handle bars are just decorative. Perhaps a simple, friction based, steering could have added to the fun by allowing the quad bike to go in straight lines or in curves? It seemed quite hard to wind the motor up. Perhaps it would be easier once the wheels were on?
A few more steps, adding familiar Technic parts and panels (there were no exciting new components hidden in this build for the collector). Then it was time to add the wheels! Even though this model is aimed at younger builders, this took three whole pages of the instructions, which seemed a little excessive. The finished article is a nicely chunky, good looking, strong toy. It easily survived being dropped 30cm onto a table, thanks to its balloon tyres.
We loaded 13 and ¾ Elves onto the quad bike in the style of the White Helmets and started to wind up its motor. After four sets of easy 30cm pull backs, which stored a lot of energy in the spring, a ratchet cut in to stop it being over-wound and broken. The model easily covered the 6 metres across the TLCB executive sun deck, spraying Elves as it went. Fortunately it is light and has a strong front bumper built into it. Parents might want to guard some of their more delicate furniture.
To sum up. Value for money: perhaps not for the parts but you can buy this model online for a couple of pounds cheaper than we bought it in a shop. The palette is just black, yellow and grey, so the parts will easily combine with parts from your other Technic sets in MOCs. There are also two pairs of useful wheels, unlike the 42033 set. The model looks good, even without the stickers and is strong, fun and fast to play with. This is the model’s best point: it’s a fun introduction to the Technic style of building and a great toy to play with once it’s built.
P.S. If you’re wondering what an Elf on a quad bike looks like, click this link.
The Homeworld strategy game burst onto the scene in late 1999. It soon gained a cult following, both for its game-play and its distinctive graphic design. Many of the ships were brightly patterned, reminiscent of designs from 1970s pulp book covers by the likes of Chris Foss and Peter Elson. The designs have inspired many Lego builders, most notably TLCB bloggee Pierre E Fieschi, who has built a variety of space and ground vehicles in this style.
Flickr’s curtydc has joined in the Homeworld inspired building with a micro-scale build of massive proportions. The Baserunner is a 6×6 truck, powered by two XL motors and steered using two M motors. Neatly tucked behind X-pod lids are 6 radio control car tyres. Although they’re not Lego, were very much appreciated by our Elves for their smushing potential. The rear of the vehicle features a hangar, with space for a fleet of micro-machines. You can see these in detail by clicking this link to curtydc’s Flickr Photostream.
