LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type | Set Preview

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Jaguar don’t actually make anything at the moment. Which means that if they and LEGO wish to continue their partnership they’ll need to look backwards. And look back they have, to – in the words of Enzo Ferrari – the most beautiful car ever made. This is the brand new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type!

Constructed from 1,673 pieces, 11381 attempts to recreate the E-Type Roadster’s spectacular curves in brick form and… well, it’s perhaps not the most beautiful LEGO set ever, despite the source material.

Like the previous 10262 Aston Martin DB5 set, 11381 proves that 1960s curves are tricky to create from bricks, but it is nevertheless instantly recognisable, and includes working steering, a folding roof, a detailed straight-6 engine under the forward hinged hood, opening doors, and an opening trunk complete with a toolbox (it is a classic Jaguar after all).

Aimed at ages 18+, the new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type is expected to cost $140 / £130 / €140, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it later this year.

Seeing Red

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It’s been some time since one of our Elves ran over its colleagues with a remote control creation. And that doesn’t change today, as despite being epically remote controlled, this magnificent Tatra trial truck is too slow to run down any Elves at all. Which enraged the Elf that found it. Still, a Red Smartie will perk it up, and we can take a look at this astonishing creation without having to clean the floors first.

It comes from TLCB Master MOCer Sariel, and it’s a Tatra 813 8×8 designed specifically for going very slowly over almost anything.

Eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, high/low gearbox, incredible suspension, and a working piston engine all feature, and you can see more of this mighty machine on Flickr and via the video below, where Sariel pulls some very heavy things (very slowly) across his floor.

YouTube Video

Insert Moderately Monied Male

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The early-‘00s Porsche 911 (997) is driven by exactly one sort of person. They may or may not wear sunglasses, a shirt or a blazer, be forty-six or sixty-four, but they will – without exception – be a Moderately Monied Male.

This means that none of TLCB Team have an early-‘00s Porsche 911 as we only fit half of the required characteristics, but if you’re more fiscally successful than we are you can get your hands on this one courtesy of Flickr’s ilyabuilder724, who has made building instructions for his excellent Speed Champions Porsche 911 Carrera S available. Take a look via the link!

M is for MAN

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Lots of companies are called Muller in Europe, but seeing as we only know what one of them does, we’re going to assume this lovely MAN TGX truck and trailer combo by Flickr’s Keko007 is full of those divided yoghurts that contain a compartment of fruit or chocolatey balls. Superb brickmanship abounds, particularly evident in the excellent Muller ‘M’ logo, and you can tip the little balls into the yoghurt via the link above.

Nyckelback

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Built for Sweden by the Dutch in 1627, the Kalmar Nyckel was a full-rigged warship that also served to transport Finnish and Swedish immigrants to America, making eight such transatlantic crossings. After being decommissioned by the Swedish Navy it returned to its makers, serving as a Dutch escort ship before eventually being sunk in the Anglo-Dutch War in 1652.

However the story of the tall ship didn’t end there, as in the ‘00s a painstakingly reconstructed replica brought the Kalmar Nyckel back to life, and it now serves to educate visitors about the journeys the early American settlers made from the European continent.

The replica we have here is rather smaller, but still wonderful to behold. Constructed by Flickr’s Kevin J. Walter, it captures the Kalmar Nyckel beautifully in miniature, and you can set sail from Sweden to America some 400 years ago via the link above.

Stranger Blazer

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Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ may have concluded, but its vehicular legacy continues, with the cars, trucks and vans from the show still inspiring builders.

One such builder is Eurobricks’ paave, who has recreated Hawkins’ police chief Jim Hopper’s 1985 Chevrolet Blazer, complete with a working V8, high/low gearbox, steering, and suspension.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to visit Hawkins one more time.

Pane in the Glass

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The Isuzu NPR is the plastic stackable chair of vehicles; entirely overlooked, and yet utterly indispensable. The most interesting thing about an NPR is not the truck itself, but what it’s carrying. And that’s the whole point.

Cue thirdwigg’s Isuzu NPR glass truck, notable in real life only because it carries glass. Working steering, an inline-4 engine, and a tilting cab feature, with more to see – including a link to building instructions – via the link.

Cor-Off-Roada

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As the world’s best selling car, the Toyota Corolla has been many things, but not often a 4×4 desert racer. Cue Randy Wilmenta, who has built his 1989 Corolla GT-S into an awesome all-wheel-drive off-roader, which Eurobricks’ 2GodBDGlory has faithfully recreated in Technic form.

With working all-wheel drive courtesy of two Power Functions L Motors (hooked up to both a transverse inline-4 piston engine and a remotely-operable 6+R gearbox), remote control steering, an electronic hand-brake, motorised clutch, pop-up headlights and differential lock, plus suspension, and opening doors, hood and trunk, 2God’s recreation of the unique Toyota packs in as much as its real-world counterpart.

3D-printed wheels and an excellent classic Toyota livery complete a superb build, and you can find out more about the model and the real off-road Corolla it replicates via the Eurobricks forum. Take a look via the link, where you can also watch a video of 2God’s brilliant build in action.

Lost (the plot)

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Hollywood loves a plane crash on an uninhabited island. ‘Cast Away’, ‘Lost’, ‘Send Help’, and of course the fantastic book that inspired all of them – ‘The Lord of the Flies’ – explore what happens when man is left alone. Well, except ‘Lost’, which instead explored the limits of audience patience after taking a good idea and then abandoning it in favour of whatever would elongate the series the most.

Anyway, Loïc Gilbert is also exploring island survivalism through his brilliant brick-built diorama. The remains of a wrecked airliner offer his mini-figures some shelter, and there’s much more to see at his photostream where you can explore morality, instinct, and order versus anarchy. Or whatever it was ‘Lost’ ended up being about.

Click the link above to join the survivors.

Think Pink

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We’re not really sure which gender each of TLCB Elves is. There seems to be a fairly constant number of them despite the regular accidents, so Elven procreation must occur, but we don’t want to think about it too much.

The colour of their finds is of no help either, because they all like pink. Which means Elves of every type were very excited by today’s creation, which is very pink indeed.

Previous bloggee K P is its creator and there’s more to see of his unusually hued vintage car on Flickr. Take a peek whilst we award a pink Smartie (they’re the best kind) to its discoverer.

LEGO Technic 42238 Ducati Desmo450 MX Factory | Set Preview

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It’s been so long since a group of our Elves were dispatched to The LEGO Company’s HQ to find the H2 2026 Technic sets we assumed any that hadn’t returned had been eaten by the guard dogs. But no! We have one more survivor, who arrived at TLCB Towers last night with this; the brand new LEGO Technic 42238 Ducati Desmo450 MX Factory!

A return to off-road motorcycles, 42238 brings Ducati’s first ever motocross bike to the 2026 Technic line-up, with 457 pieces, working steering, suspension, and a single-cylinder engine.

It looks great too, neatly replicating the Ducati’s red-and-gold colour scheme and including some good-looking be-stickered fairings.

Aimed at ages 10+, 42238 will be on sale from August for an expected $50 / £45 / €50 and looks to be a decent addition to LEGO’s officially-licensed bike catalogue.

Al-tow-native

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With over four-thousand pieces, the LEGO Technic 42082 Rough Terrain Crane is one of the largest sets ever released. Which means there are plenty of parts with which to create something new. Cue TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has constructed a number of alternates from the vast set, with his latest being this; a fantastic Mercedes-Benz Unimog tow-truck.

Utilising around 3,500 of 42082’s pieces, Nico’s phenomenal B-Model features no less than five motorised functions, plus four-wheel-drive, an inline-6 piston engine under a tilting cab, working steering and suspension, and opening doors, toolboxes and compartments.

Like the donor set, a single motor provides motion to a huge array of functions via a sophisticated gearbox, with Nico’s B-Model cleverly including reverse switches so the battery box can be switched on and left.

Working stabiliser legs, an articulated towing-platform, an elevating and extending crane boom, and a winch (which is ingenuously synchronised with the boom to maintain its hook level) are all operable through a series of levers, allowing Nico’s Unimog to function exactly like the real thing.

It’s an astonishing alternate and perhaps the very best B-Model build that this site has ever published, with full details, engineering diagrams, and a link to building instructions available at the Eurobricks forum. Find all of the above and convert your own 42082 Rough Terrain Crane set into this amazing alternate via the link, plus you can watch the model in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Two-Tone Truck

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TLCB’s Rover 200 is two-tone, but somehow beige-and-rust doesn’t look quite as good as Sseven Brick’s classic orange-and-white Ford F-250.

Cleverly constructed in 7-wide, the white portion of the bodywork has a depth of 2½ plates, and we’re not even sure that’s possible.

However he’s done it there’s more to see at Sseven’s photostream, and you can two-tone over via the link whilst we ponder if an orange rattle-can could transform the office Rover…

My Other Truck’s Garbage

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Do you own the LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX & EC230 Electric Excavator set, but wish it was a little more… garbage? Then we have the perfect alternative!

Constructed only from the parts found within 42175, previous bloggee paave’s garbage truck B-Model features a tilting cab, functioning steering, a  working piston engine, an operational discharge plate, an openable and locking tailgate, plus a pneumatically operable side-arm lift that can seemingly lift a bin from the other side of the street.

There’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – at the Eurobricks forum, plus you watch all those features in action below.

YouTube Video

Diagonally Bricking

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We like a brick-built livery here at The Lego Car Blog, as they – like their real-world counterparts – are able to turn something rather ordinary and ubiquitous (like a DAF 95 truck) into something rather more visually interesting.

Cue Flickr’s joopatkleppie, whose DAF 95 wears the ‘90s livery of haulage firm Jonker Veendam, and that means diagonal stripes…

Jooptakleppie has managed it though, and you can check this diagonally-striped DAF at his photostream via the link.