Monthly Archives: April 2014

Minor Marvel

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Lego Morris Minor

It’s been a week without any cars here at The Lego Car Blog, but the Elves sure have made amends today. This glorious 1960 Morris Minor 1000 is the work of friend of TLCB and one of our Master MOCer builders, the incredible Nick Barrett. Nick’s work has featured here countless times over the last two years, and today’s creation takes Lego vehicles to a new level of realism.

Months in the making, Nick’s latest creation is based upon a real 1960 Morris Minor 1000 nicknamed ‘Bluebell’ that he used to own in the 1990s. Under the unusually textured – and incredibly accurate – full-stud bodywork lies some truly inspirational Lego engineering. Working steering, suspension (live axel four link at the rear), opening (and locking) doors, bonnet and boot-lid, a working handbrake, adjustable seats, four speed gearbox and even motorised operational windscreen wipers all feature in a triumph of clever packaging.

Lego Morris Minor A-Series Engine

Underneath the beautifully curved bonnet sits a fully detailed Austin/Morris A-Series engine operated by a Power Functions motor that drives the rear wheels through the four speed gearbox. Featuring a working crank and pistons, camshaft, pushrods, rockers and valves it’s undoubtedly one of the greatest engines ever built from Lego. Nick has even made it easily removable so it can function as model and educational aid in its own right.

Lego Morris Minor 1000

Nick has included a wealth of photos and further information on this astonishing build at both his Flickr and MOCpages accounts. You can see all the images and join in the discussion by visiting either of the pages linked above, plus you can read what happened when we interviewed Nick earlier in the year for The Lego Car Blog’s Master MOCers Series by clicking here.

 

Hump Day Classic Space Special

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Lego Classic Space Gun

The Elves have been pretty useless at finding Lego cars this week. We’ve had planes, trucks and ships so we might as well complete the set and throw in some sci-fi too. Today’s two creations feature all the hallmarks of proper Classic Space creations; blue and grey colour combos, yellow ‘glass’, and a lax appreciation for physics.

First up (above) is Kristof A.’s ‘Pinpoint Sniping Vehicle’, which looks perfect for fending off marauding Blacktron robbers. See all the photos on Flickr here.

Our second creation comes from Classic Space stalwart David Alexander Smith, who’s ‘Superior Satellite Launcher’ looks the business for, er… launching satellites superiorly. You can see more on both MOCpages and Flickr.

Lego Classic Space Satellite Launcher

Yaarr!*

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Lego Ship

The Elves are putting on their best pirate voices today, after the discovery of this beautiful 14-gun brig ‘Pinnacle’ on Eurobricks. They sound a bit like the chipmunks with the flu but we’ll let it slide. Mr Townsend is the builder and we highly recommend taking a look through his Eurobricks discussion here, there’s a lot to see!

*In a pirate voice

Too Close For Missiles, I’m Switching To Guns

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Lego Top Gun F-14 Tomcat

Simultaneously the most homo-erotic* and brilliant film of all time, 1986’s Top Gun is the best airplane movie ever made. Starring Tom Cruise (before he got all annoying) and Anthony Edwards as Top Gun students Maverick and Goose, plus Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan, it was such a box office smash that the coked-up producers even remade it a few years later with the exact same plot and set it in NASCAR**.

This wonderful recreation of Maverick and Goose’s F-14 Tomcat (complete with Maverick and Goose themselves) is the work of TLCB regular and Lego building genius Ralph Savelsberg. With the best detailing you’re likely to see this year it’s well worth flying over to Flickr to see the full gallery. Join us there by clicking the link.

* The volleyball scene, “This gives me a hard-on”, “I want somebody’s butt, I want it now!”, the volleyball scene, the ‘Playing with the Boys’ soundtrack, and the volleyball scene.

** Days of Thunder

Winged Horse II

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Lego Pegaso Truck

Following yesterday’s Winged Horse we round off the weekend with another, this gorgeous classic Pegaso truck by Flickr’s Cabecin. Pegaso, named after the mythical Greek flying horse Pegasus, were a Spanish manufacturer of civilian and military trucks between the mid ’40s and mid ’90s. In 1990 the Pegaso company was bought by Iveco, who quietly closed the name down in 1994. Cabecin’s 1950s classic might be the only Pegaso truck to be built this year, and you can see more of it and his other works on Flickr via the link above.

Winged Horse

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Lego P51 Mustang

The Lego Car Blog becomes The Lego Plane Blog momentarily as we feature a Mustang without a Ford badge; an ace P-51D Mustang fighter by MOCpages’ Henrik Jensen. The P-51 was built for the Allies as high altitude fighter by North American Aviation and – once fitted with Rolls Royce’s Merlin engine – it became a formidable machine throughout the Second World War. Henrik’s mini-figure scale version is based upon a surviving P-51D now in private hands that saw service with the US Air Force, Swedish Air Force, and finally the Dominican Republic Airforce all the way until the 1980s. You can read more about the plane and see more images of Henrik’s model on MOCpages here.

Lego P-51D Mustang

Heavy Highway Hauler

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Hauler

This smooth looking rig was built by drdesignz on MOCpages. Its builder cites the 7347 “Highway Pickup” as an influence on his design, though the lowboy trailer is rather more stylish than the back of the Creator set. On top of looking good, the model has plenty of playable functions, which always excites the Elves. The trailer detaches, the digger is playable and the truck steers. As its builder notes, the steering works in the same way as the Model Team 5580 “Highway Rig”. The Elves were also excited because this MOC reminded them of when they helped us build the 31005 “Construction Hauler”, plus it features another digger with which they can smush their colleagues.

You can see more of the truck, trailer and digger by clicking the link to MOCpages or Cuusoo.

Hauler digger

Work of Fiction

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Lego Supercar

This model may not be a replica of real car, the steering may be faked and it may not feature any working functions at all. But just look at it! It’s the work of previous Featured TFOL and MOCpages builder Alexander Paschoaletto, and it’s beautiful. See all the photos of Alex’s stunning design here.

Lost Territory

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Lego Ford Territory

Another day, another Elf, and another Smartie and meal token awarded. Today’s lucky worker earned its dinner via Brickshelf, where digital specialist lego911 has recently uploaded a few brick-built creations. This one is a 2009 Ford Territory, a yawningly boring SUV built by Ford Australia.

Ford Australia, GM Australia (Holden) and now Toyota Australia have all recently announced they will no longer be building cars in the country. Sadly this is very bad news for the thousands of workers in the manufacturing plants, and the many more who work in the supply chain; our sympathies and best wishes go to all affected.

But on the brightside the Territory will be no more too. You can see more of this one and lego911’s other creations by clicking on the link above.

Huta Stalowa Wola!

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Lego Huta Stalowa Wola

No, we’ve not heard of it either, but this is a Huta Stalowa Wola. It might sound like a dance your grandparents did but it is in fact a chunky-looking front loader built between 1976 and 2000. TLCB regular Karwik is the builder, and you can see more of his wonderfully detailed machine via Flickr here.

6 Pack

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Lego Tyrrell P34B

The incredible car above might look like something from science fiction, but it really was a Formula 1 racing car. A winning Formula 1 racing car too. Designed in the mid ’70s, the Tyrrell P34 debuted in 1976 and survived until the 1978 season. It wasn’t the only six-wheel car either, with Williams, March and even Ferrari experimenting with six-wheel layouts, although Tyrrell were the only team to actually race a such a design.

Powered by the legendary Ford Cosworth DFV engine the P34 finished third overall in the 1976 World Championship and fifth the following year, after which it was replaced with more a conventional design – partly because developing tyres for the twin front axels was becoming a problem for the tyre manufacturer Goodyear.

This brilliant Lego recreation of one of the most iconic Formula 1 cars of all time is the work of Greg 998, whose work also featured here last month. Underneath the beautiful 1970s bodywork sits a replica Cosworth DFV engine, and of course the clever twin steering system found on the real car.

You can see more of the Tyrrell P34 and Greg’s other work by visiting MOCpages, and if you’d like to see the current Formula 1 teams having the freedom to design cars like this, write a letter to Mr. Ecclestone.  Who will immediately throw it in the bin and come up with a plan to award double points for the last race of the season, or something equally ridiculous. Wait, he already did that!?…

Take a Seat

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Lego Seat Altea

Our pals over at Eurobricks are running a competition, the winner of which will see their work built and showcased at Legoland Billund’s Miniland attraction! Entries must be a Seat* car produced in the last five years and be built to fit in with the Miniland environment. The entry above was discovered on Flickr and it looks like a strong contender for victory. Built by Marin Stipkovic it’s a Seat Altea XL Freetrack, a car that er… sort of flopped. Anyway, it looks nice in Lego form and you can see more of it at Marin’s photostream here.

*For the benefit of our non-European readers; Seat (pronounced ‘sey-at’) are a sort of Spanish Volkswagen. Only without the badge kudos or range of cars. Their new stuff is designed by an ex-Lamborghini designer though, so buying one is almost exactly like owning a Gallardo…

Rate My Set

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Lego Set Reviews

With Elves going hungry this weekend we’ve dipped into Archives to remind you that The Lego Car Blog features an extensive Review Library of over forty official LEGO, Technic and Model Team sets. We don’t just write about LEGO, we build it too. Hand-picked by the office anoraks the reviews include official sets from the latest Technic line as well as classic flagships from decades past that now change hands for mega-bucks on eBay.

So before you buy a set, see how it’s rated by the experts; simply visit the Set Review Library and click on your chosen set!

Sacre Bleu!

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Lego Citroen 2CV

Possibly the most stereotypically French scene ever created in Lego, Misterzumbi’s cornering Citroen 2CV is only missing a Gauloises cigarette in the hand of the driver and some parking dents on the bodywork. See more of the cheese eating surrender monkey and his voiture on Flickr.

Lego Citroen 2CV

Kitten

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Lego Cat Tractor

This tiny Technic Cat tractor was discovered on the creation-sharing image library Brickshelf. Despite its diminutive size this Cat is fully remote controlled, it’s even small enough for us to let the Elves have a go without fear of one of them getting smushed. Jorgeopesi is the builder and you can see the full gallery of his creation by clicking here.