Monthly Archives: January 2022

The (Very) Cold War

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It’s freezing cold here at TLCB Towers, but it’s not as cold as Siberia. Not even close. Which is where this amazing ZIL-E167 was designed to operate, in one of the harshest environments on the planet.

An idea explored for the Soviet military during the 1960s, the E167 featured six wheel drive, no suspension (but balloon tyres), two 7.0 V8 engines, the ability to cross water, and a five ton payload. That all sounds rather good to us, but production never progressed beyond one working prototype due to transmission issues.

Built by TLCB Master MOCer Sariel, this (nearly) mini-figure scale recreation of the Soviet-Era arctic explorer encapsulates the weird but deeply cool vehicle wonderfully, with BuWizz remote control drive on all six wheels, steering on four of them, and an enhancement to the real truck in the form of working suspension.

There’s more of this amazing machine to see at Sariel’s ‘ZIL-E167’ album on Flickr, plus you can watch it in action in the cold via the video below.

YouTube Video

Paaaal-finger…

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We thought about butchering the Shirley Bassey ‘Goldfinger’ theme song for this post, but re-writing iconic song lyrics to fit a truck-mounted-crane-company seemed a bit of a stretch, even for us. And we’ve stretched pretty far before!

We’ll stick to the model then, a beautifully presented Mercedes-Benz Actros 4140 truck, complete with a fully foldable Palfinger crane fitted behind the cab.

Previous bloggee Damian Z. is the builder, and he’s used some fantastic techniques to replicate not only the truck and crane’s aesthetics, but their movements too. A full gallery of top-quality imagery is available to view how it’s been done, and you can head there via the link above.

Speed Champions 2022 | Set Previews

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The first month of 2022 is almost done, and our Elves have been sneaking! Sent on a mission to infiltrate The LEGO Company’s HQ, they have to sneak for fear of being eaten by a guard dog, but those that do manage to avoid the teeth of the German Shepherds return as heroes, held aloft by their peers to Elven chanting, and awarded a meal token by us TLCB staff.

You’d think they’d have figured out this is a wildly insufficient reward, but the office catapult ensures a regular flow of ‘volunteers’. Anyway, on to their finds – the brand new for 2022 LEGO Speed Champions sets. And they’re corkers!

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76906 – 1970 Ferarri 512 M

The first new set of 2022’s Speed Champions line-up is already one of our favourites ever, and we’ve only been looking at the box. The new 76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M is a glorious homage to the car that was… er, soundly beaten by Porsche at Le Mans. It did win the 12 Hours of Sebring though, and was regarded as equally fast as the conquering Porsche, just not as reliable.

LEGO’s Speed Champions version of the Ferrari 512 M looks magnificent, utilising a Star Wars canopy piece amongst some very cleverly printed parts to accurately capture the real car.

The historic livery means there’s no need for a smorgasbord of stickers, and LEGO have resisted the urge to include a pointless gantry or other trackside paraphernalia too, keeping the piece number, and – more importantly – price down to pocket money levels.

Expect 76906 to cost around $20 when it reaches stores later this year, and we absolutely love it.

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76907 – Lotus Evija

The second new set for 2022 jumps forward from 50 years ago to, well… the future actually, as the Evija isn’t even out yet. 76907 brings another legendary car maker to the Speed Champions line up, and – we hope – opens the door for some of the greatest classic racing cars ever made.

But before we start fantasising about classic Team Lotus F1 cars (although their tobacco sponsorship liveries might prove a bit tricky these days…), the first Speed Champions Lotus is their newest model, and is interestingly pictured on the box navigating the driveway of Goodwood House.

247 pieces, relatively light stickerage, and a good approximation of the new supercar make 76907 a solid if not especially memorable effort, but a welcome addition nonetheless. We’re exited for more Lotus sets to come.

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76908 – Lamborghini Countach

Yup, finally! The definitive 1970s-1980s supercar has made it into the LEGO Speed Champions range, and it’s every bit as good as the previous 76899 Lamborghini Urus isn’t…

LEGO have chosen a ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ spec Countach for 76908, which means a big wing, white bodywork, and a stronger ’80s vibe than parachute pants.

There are 262 pieces, including a mini-figure armed with a spanner (this is a classic Lamborghini after all), and some well chosen decals to enhance the model’s accuracy, without it being reliant upon them. A great effort, and well worth the expected $20 price when it arrives in March 2022.

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76909 – Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Mercedes-AMG Project One

The longest title of the 2022 line-up goes to 76909, thanks to it being the first double-vehicle set within the new Speed Champions range, and because modern F1 cars have every sub-brand possible squeezed into their names for depressing marketing purposes.

Silly name aside though, it does look rather good. The Mercedes-AMG-F1-ReallyLongName does a great job capturing the real deal, with even the tyres matching those used on the actual racing car. There are of course lots of stickers, but they’re more appropriate here as real-world sponsorship liveries are effectively giant stickers anyway.

LEGO’s 8-wide replica of the much-delayed Mercedes-AMG Project One looks fine, if nothing more, and would probably be the weakest set within the 2022 line-up if sold on its own.

564 pieces, two mini-figures, and an ‘interactive digital building guide’ are included, for an expected price of around $30/£35.

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76910 – Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro & Aston Martin Vantage

The final new Speed Champions set of 2022 is this, the 76910 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro & Aston Martin Vantage.

With double the cars and double the pieces, but not double the price ($30 is expected), 76910 looks to be a good value addition to the line-up from a price-per-piece perspective.

Which is handy, as despite the slightly older starting age indicating more complicated building techniques, we’re less than sold on the visuals of either the Valkyrie or Vantage, which seem heavily reliant on stickers to replicate their real-world counterparts. Which is cheating, obviously.

Still, we expect 76910 will race off the shelves. A pair of lime-green Aston Martins can’t not appeal to a nine-year-old!

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That’s the 2022 Speed Champions line-up, and it is – we think – mostly really good. The new sets will be on sale from March of this year, and should continue the roaring success of the franchise. More real-world classics please LEGO, they work beautifully! We’ll take that Ferrari 512 M…

One Part Three Speed

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LEGO’s increase to eight studs of width for their Speed Champions range has added a dose more realism to the real world vehicles represented in brick form. Key to this change was a new windshield piece, which is somehow perfect for all manner of completely different supercars.

Previous bloggee Fabrice Larcheveque has utilised this part superbly, creating a myriad of instantly recognisable Speed Champions supercars centred around a uniform cockpit brick. We have three of his builds here today, with a Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Countach, and Ferrari 512 BB from left to right.

Each captures its real world counterpart brilliantly, with clever sticker use – as per LEGO’s official Speed Champions sets – making them even more authentic.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see of these three ’80s supercars, plus many more besides, at Fabrice’s photostream. Take a look via the link.

Get Bent

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Ah the bendy bus. Commonly used at airports when those raised tubey tunnel things are too far away, and – until recently – found clogging up the streets of TLCB’s home capital.

However whilst the bendy bus works a treat on the wide open concrete of an airport (unless you’re the unfortunate sole stuck standing on the articulation point as it meanders back to Terminal 4), they absolutely do not work on the streets of a two-thousand year old city.

Many American cities though, are rather like airports, what with their wide open concrete, multitude of fast food outlets, and overly-zealous armed security. This makes the bendy bus a much more appropriate method of public transportation there than in London*.

Fortunately this bendy bus, a New Flyer Xcelsior XD60, is transporting commuters in the right place, as evidenced by the excellent ‘Newark Penn Station’ destination boards. And the American flag on the side.

Constructed by JLui15’s Studio, this brilliant brick-built bendy-bus not only looks spectacularly accurate inside and out, there’s a full remote control drivetrain hidden within it too.

Custom replica decals enhance the realism, as does the working articulation in the middle, and there’s loads more to see of JLui15’s incredible creation at their ‘Motorized New Flyer XD60 Articulated Bus’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to ride to Newark Station, New Jersey.

*On the flip side of course, the average American bus passenger would probably get wedged in the winding stairs of a Routemaster double-decker, so the inappropriateness goes both ways.

To the Bat Bus!

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What’s this? Is Batman giving up on vigilante crime-fighting in favour of all-natural-ethnically-sustainable-like-and-subscribe-#vanlife? Thankfully a ginormous gas-turbine-rocket-engine-propulsion-thingumy mounted in the bed of his ’60s Volkswagen Transporter suggests not.

Our hope is the Dark Knight is off to infiltrate the #vanlife community before beating the living crap out them. Not for being criminals, just for being douchbags. Whilst we luxuriate in that thought you can check out more of Batman’s new ride courtesy of 1saac W. of Flickr.

Batman’s going to give them not the beating that they deserve, but the one they need.

A Very Disney Holiday

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A Disney holiday is sure to be filled with wholesome activities, harmless japes, musical numbers, and mild antisemitism. Besides the last one you can count us in!

Suggested by a reader, Bas van Houwelingen‘s delightful creation could be straight from a Disney cartoon, with Mickey and Pluto on a caravan road trip courtesy of Goofy’s jalopy.

Bas has used some wonderfully chosen pieces to capture the cartoon high jinks, and you can join in the fun on Flickr at the link above, or alternatively click here to see how this holiday would unfold in real life. The Disney one would be better…

Mack and Cheese

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This beautiful creation is a Mack R Series, one of America’s most ubiquitous heavy duty trucks, introduced in the 1960s and built for almost forty years, they were even made under license in Iran.

R Series trucks came in a huge variety of cab and drive configurations, with this lovely Lego version depicting a simple 6×4 single cab hauling a container trailer.

It’s the work of previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd, who has captured the Mack’s subtle curves brilliantly using a wealth of ‘cheese slopes’, curved bricks and wedges.

Underneath the superbly replicated bodywork Vladimir has fitted a Power Functions remote control drivetrain, with motorised drive and steering, working suspension, and a mechanised fifth-wheel trailer hitch, whilst the trailer itself also includes suspension and working support legs.

Photographed and presented beautifully, there’s more to see of Vladimir’s wonderful Mack R Series on Flickr – click the link in the text above to take a look.

The Garbage Man Can!

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Is this post mostly an excuse to link to one of The Simpsons’ greatest ever songs? Yes. Yes it is.

But the model’s good too.

Eurobricks mihao has created this superbly engineered remote control garbage truck (or ‘bin lorry’ to us here at TLCB), complete with motorised drive and steering, a tilting cab, suspension, piston engine, tipping garbage compactor, and – most ingeniously – a side-mounted garbage can (‘wheelie bin’) arm that grabs, raises and tips said receptacle automatically.

Have we been using this to grab TLCB Elves and tip them upside-down for fun? Yes. Yes we have. Because the garbage man can! See more at Eurobricks via the link.

Travelling the Globe

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What better way to travel the globe than in an, er…. travelling globe! Suspended beneath the LEGO Ideas 21332 Globe set, Kristof has created a beautifully well-matched steampunk ship, complete with a variety of appropriately whimsical steampunk accompaniments. Take flight on Flickr via the link above!

Honey, I Shrunk the 10220

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LEGO’s fab 10220 Creator Volkswagen Camper set has – after eight years on sale – finally been replaced. One of the earliest officially-licensed Creator sets, 10220 will likely become one of LEGO’s all time greats, and Flickr’s 1saac W. has channeled the Lego icon into his own astonishing miniaturised Volkswagen T1 Westfalia, some two years in the making.

1saac’s model looks every bit as detailed as its giant inspiration, with techniques used within it that seem to defy physics. Yet it’s all Lego, and the genius of its assembly is matched only by the perfection of the presentation.

We genuinely can’t figure out how it’s all been done, and if you’d like to try to work out how 1ssac has seemingly shrunk 10220 head to his photostream via the link above.

El Camino

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Car-based pick-ups have been a strangely transient body style over the years. Currently popular in South America, previously popular but now dead in Australia, and returning once more after a long hiatus to the U.S.

This new crop of car-based pick-ups being marketed in the U.S includes the new Ford Maverick and the decidedly strange-looking Hyundai Santa Cruz, and it could mean there’s room for the famous of them all to make a comeback; the mighty Chevrolet El Camino SS.

Based on the Chevrolet Chevelle, the El Camino swapped the traditional sedan/station-wagon bodywork for a two-door cab with a pick-up bed, and it could be bought with Chevrolet’s most powerful engine of the time, a 13-second 1/4 mile 450bhp V8.

Despite this prodigious power, suspension and steering were still, well… it had them we suppose, and disc brakes were an optional extra. Handling was clearly not an El Camino strong-suite then, but if it could stop and go round corners quickly all your stuff would fly out of the bed, so perhaps Chevrolet were cleverer than we’re giving them credit for. Or it could be that American consumers only cared about big power and racing stripes…

This wonderful recreation of the definitive muscle-car-pick-up comes from Jakub Marcisz, who has replicated the 1970 El Camino SS brilliantly in brick-form. Jakub’s model includes (somewhat superfluous) working steering, the requisite big piston engine connected to the rear wheels, opening doors, hood and tailgate, and – most importantly of all – racing stripes.

There’s lots more to see at Jakub’s ‘Chevrolet El Camino SS’ album, and you can make the jump to ’70s racing-striped muscle-car-based-pick-up wonderfulness via the link above.

Fork This

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This a motorised forklift truck, it comes from previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd, and it is quite good at squashing Elves.

With a number of our smelly little workers distracted by something shiny, the Elven discoverer of this creation snuck up and dropped a box on them. Because it could.

Doubtless a victim of past smushings, it enjoyed being the perpetrator immensely, and is now happily eating an orange Smartie whilst we patch up the victims.

A pair of Power Functions motors raise and tilt the forklift boom (enabling a brick built box to tip smartly onto those underneath), whilst a further two motors drive and steer the truck itself, and there’s more to see at both Flickr, Eurobricks, and via the video below.

YouTube Video

 

Retro-Future

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The past was very futuristic. This is a CF-104 Starfighter, essentially a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter built under license by Canadair for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and exported to several NATO allies during the 1960s. And it’s very shiny indeed.

The Elves are rather transfixed by it, as – honestly speaking – are we. Perhaps we’re not so different…

There’s more to see of this artfully recreated replica of the ’60s supersonic fighter courtesy of Ryan Harris, and you can join us staring in wonder at his ‘CF-104 Starfighter’ album by clicking here.

Acceptable in the ’80s

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And the 2020s it seems, as the once fairly unfashionable Ferrari Testarossa is now a bonafide millionaires’ toy, worth much much more than the entire contents TLCB office car park.

This one comes from Technic-building legend Lachlan Cameron (aka LoxLego), whose Technic recreation of the ’80s supercar includes a full remote control drivetrain, LED lights, custom (and really rather accurate) wheels, working suspension, a flat-12 engine, pop-up headlights, and opening doors, front trunk and engine cover.

There’s much more of the build to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum and on Flickr, plus you can read Lachlan’s interview here at TLCB in the Master MOCers series by clicking here.

*Today’s title song.