This Thunderbirds-looking thing is actually a GAZ 3351, a real all-terrain transport vehicle with its roots in the Soviet Union. Well, this one’s made of LEGO, but you could buy a real one if you wanted to.

Which is what we suspect the Elves, if they had any money or concept of money, would do – such was the joy (and carnage) amongst them when this powered into the office this morning.

Driven by an XL Motor inside each section and steered via a linear actuator powered articulated pivot, Sariel‘s GAZ 3351 can go almost anywhere, and over almost anything – TLCB Elves included.

The four tracks providing this go-anywhere, smush-anything ability are suspended via oscillating bogies, and are constructed from 560 individual rubber axle-joiners.

This gives the GAZ incredible traction, but the design wasn’t without its teething problems, which you can watch in Sariel’s excellent development and demonstration video below. There are more images to see of Sariel’s GAZ 3351 at his photostream too – click here to take a look.

YouTube Video: