Russia, and its puppet regime next door in Belarus, really know how to make a heavy duty off-road truck. It’s just a shame they’re currently using them for such evil.
Nevertheless, the Belarusian-made MAZ-537 8×8 military truck is a seriously impressive piece of equipment, and so too is gkurkowski‘s spectacular recently updated remote controlled Model Team version, which captures the real thing brilliantly.
A suite of Powered-Up components equip the model with an accurate 8×8 fully suspended drivetrain, along with a powered V12 piston engine underneath the detailed cab too.
An extensive gallery of images display the MAZ-537 on-location and in render, and you can take a closer look at this amazing machine on Brickshelf via the link above.
The British and French don’t often collaborate. In fact over much of their history it’s been quite the opposite, with the two countries regularly trying to blow one another up.
These days (and post-Brexit) there’s just a simmering dislike that only manifests itself in sport and stealing one another’s scallops, but despite this there have been some notable (and remarkable) collaborations between the two nations.
The longest under-sea tunnel in the world, the world’s first supersonic airliner, and Kristin Scott-Thomas are all worthy partnerships, and back in the 1930s Britain and France worked together on cars too.
This is the Bugatti Type 41 Park Ward, a luxurious grand limousine from the golden era of coach-building.
Park Ward, better known for re-bodying Rolls Royces, created this beautifully opulent vehicle upon Bugatti’s fourth Type 41 (Royale) chassis for Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, a department store heir, in 1933.
Still to this day one of the largest cars ever built, the car now resides in a museum in France, where it’s worth more than all the scallops in the English channel.
Fortunately Flickr’s 1corn has created one that – at 1:25 scale – is rather more attainable, and there’s more to see of his wonderful brick-built Bugatti Type 41 at his photostream; Click the link above to take the Channel Tunnel and fight over some marine molluscs.
We’re into the last week of BrickNerd and TLCB’s Festival of Mundanity competition. There have been over fifty entries so far, with two today bringing the hum-drum world of daily deliveries to the brick.
First up (above) is ABrickDreamer‘s Piaggio Ape, which might seem interesting to our American readers, but in rural Italy (or India) these scooter-based pick-up trucks are everywhere, hauling improbable loads with as little as 50cc.
In production since 1948, the latest Apes can be fitted with 200cc petrol or 400cc diesel engines (although 50cc versions are still on sale!), and continue to be a common sight performing the most mundane of tasks, usually with a wearing-looking moustachioed driver on board perpetually wishing he had an extra 200cc.
A common sight in much of the world too is today’s second contest entry, the Volkswagen Transporter. An no, it’s not a camper.
Still in use by the thousand in South America, most Volkswagen T2s are not cool campers, surf buses or hippy time machines, they’re just… vans. And outdated noisy ones at that.
This splendid brick-built Transporter is transporting eggs, and comes from PalBenglat, who has captured its unpretentious simplicity beautifully.
There’s more to see of Pal’s Volkswagen Transporter van and BrickDreamer’s Piaggio Ape at their respective photostreams via the links, and there’s still time to get your Festival of Mundanity entry in, and be in with a chance of winning an awesome BuWizz Pro bluetooth battery (which we’ll be reviewing here very soon) along with some other fantastic prizes!
It’s the action movie favourite! Escalating explosions, an elaborate Michael Bay camera pan, and the hero shouting an expletive can only mean one thing, the SWAT team are here!
This TLCB Writer doesn’t live in America, so he doesn’t actually know what SWAT are or what they do, besides arriving late and looking cool in action movies, but he’d happily use de-marco‘s ace SWAT van to recreate said scenes in miniature in TLCB office.
Instructions are available so you can be Michael Bay at home too (click here for a ‘how to’ inspiration guide), and you can find out more at de-marco’s photostream via the link above.
Aaand here it is. The blandest, most uninspiring, default vehicular category of the 2020s; the crossover SUV.
This is the Hyundai Venue, part of the Hyundai/Kia group SUV line-up that includes the Bayon, Kona, Tuscon, Sante Fe, Palisade, Niro, Sportage, Xceed, Soul, Stonic, Seltos, Sorento, Carnival, Telluride… and that’s before we even get to the electric ones.
Forget counting sheep, Korean crossovers work twice as well.
Here in TLCB’s home market small SUVs often include the jazziest of styling cues. Big wheels, contrast roofs, absurd LED lighting signatures – all in the hope of elevating a particular nameplate above the infinite sea of rival crossovers that are all also deploying big wheels, contrast roofs and absurd lighting signatures…
There is nothing more automotively bland, which makes the modern small crossover SUV the perfect choice for the current Festival of Mundanity competition.
Tim Inman is the creator of soporific Hyundai Venue pictured here, and a marvellous job he’s done too! A superbly detailed exterior, life-like interior, realistic engine, and four opening doors create an excellent brick-built version of one of the most insipid vehicles in existence, and we love it!
There’s more of the Venue to see at Tim’s photostream here, just don’t start counting the images whilst operating heavy machinery.
We’re looking for your builds of boring vehicles. No Lamborghinis, Ferraris or Porsches here! There have been over forty competition entries so far, including a white Toyota Corolla, a Geo Tracker, a Hertz rental car lot, and a (rather inspired) shopping trolley.
Not a car, but rather brilliant nonetheless, this glorious Grumman F-14A Tomcat was found by one of our Elves on Flickr. It comes from previous bloggee [Maks], and – unusually for a brick-built fighter jet – it’s mini-figure scale. Tremendous detail abounds though, which [Maks] has enhanced via some excellent custom decals, and there’s much more of the build to see at his ‘F14A Tomcat’ album via the link.
Is there any car more worthy of a Toad-of-Toad-Hall-style ‘Poop-Poop!’ exclamation than this one?
The 1928-’32 Mercedes-Benz SSK is the very definition of Gatsby-esque opulence, with this Speed Champions scale recreation by Flickr’s Pixeljunkie capturing its excess brilliantly.
Yellow bodywork, shiny bits, bonnet straps, and an over-sized Mercedes-Benz badge ensure the peasants can’t miss you, and there’s more to see at Pixel’s photostream via the link.
Boring. Dull. White Goods. All things levelled at the Toyota Corolla (including by us), and all true. Except when they’re not.
Whilst there have been millions of tedious white boxes produced with the ‘Corolla’ name, there have also been some that really aren’t tedious at all. The AE86, Championship-winning rally cars, and even the current twelfth generation Corolla, which is both more interesting technologically and to look at than a Golf, a Focus or an Astra.
So the Corolla is boring, except when it isn’t, and this one ‘isn’t’; the lovely 1970-’78 ‘E20’ Coupe.
The second generation of Corolla, the ‘E20’ was available in sedan, coupe, station wagon and van variants (plus as a Daihatsu), with engines between 1.2 and 1.6 litres, and became the second best-selling car globally.
Built by Dicky Laban, this neat Technic recreation of the ‘E20’ Corolla coupe is interesting too, being equipped with LEGO’s Powered-Up system for remote control drive and steering cleverly packaged inside.
We end the week with something rather special. Martin Vala has appeared here a few times with his incredible Dakar racers. This is apparently his final one, ‘The Last Dragon’, a phenomenal buggy concept deploying some of the finest Lego building techniques we have seen yet.
The spectacular exterior combines intricate Model Team and Technic, with butterfly doors opening to reveal an equally brilliant interior. The breathtaking detail continues to the brick-built V6 engine, accessible under a lifting engine cover, whilst underneath is a hybrid brick-built and functional Technic chassis and drivetrain, including working steering and suspension.
Martin has presented his build beautifully too, with fantastic lighting and editing making for some stunning imagery.
There’s loads more of Martin’s ‘Last Dragon’ to see at his Flickr album by clicking here, plus you can check out the other amazing Dakar racers that preceded it – both real-world and concept – along with the V6 engine in the middle of this one, at their individual Flickr albums via this link.
Ah Buick. Maker of boring cars for old people, and later re-badged Vauxhalls for old people, they’re about as interesting as a Brother’s Brick parts cataloguing evening.
Except in the late ’80s, when they went mad.
Working in partnership with McLaren, Buick took their soporific Regal sedan and turbocharged the 3.8 litre V6, with the resultant GNX producing almost 300bhp and a 0-60mph time of 4.6 seconds. In 1987!
Quite what they ate for breakfast that day we don’t know but we wish they’d eat it again.
Recreating the Buick ‘Grand National Experimental’ is Rolling Bricks, whose 8-wide Speed Champions scale model captures the aesthetic of the original brilliantly. There’s a detailed engine under the opening hood, room for two mini-figures, and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link.
The second generation Toyota MR2 wowed the world when it arrived in the early 1990s. There was simply nothing more exotic looking for even twice the price, earning it the status as a ‘Poor man’s Ferrari’.
We’d say a ‘Sensible man’s Ferrari’ too, as – being a Toyota – the MR2 was infinitely better built (and – dare we say it – better engineered) than anything coming from Maranello, and the turbocharged version was even pretty quick.
After a period of ‘banger’ status, SW20 MR2s are rapidly becoming sought-after classics, and Daniel Helms (aka danielsmocs) is the lucky owner of one in real life.
Capturing his car in Lego, Daniel has recreated the second generation MR2 in brick form, complete with working pop-up headlights via a switch in the cabin, opening doors, front trunk, engine cover and luggage compartment, sliding seats, and removable ‘glass’ roof panels.
This is it. The single coolest LEGO set ever made… it’s the brand new Creator Expert 10300 ‘Back to the Future’ Time Machine!
In partnership with Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures (but notably not the DeLorean Motor Company, probably because they went bankrupt before the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie was released, and most people don’t know the DeLorean was a real (and rubbish) car anyway…), LEGO have brought the most famous movie car of them all to life in brick form.
Constructed from nearly 1,900 pieces, 10300 measures 35cm long and features a mini-figure Doc Brown and Marty McFly, hoverboard, radioactive plutonium / a banana for flux-capacitor fuelling, and a light-up flux-capacitor too, putting LEGO’s new light-up part to much better use than on its debut on the 42127 The Batman Batmobile set.
And that’s not all, because 10300 allows builders to time travel between all three ‘Back to the Future’ movies, with a variety of accessories that capture the Time Machine’s various amendments and evolutions during the trilogy.
These include the hook used for lightening strike power in Part 1, the hover system (“Where we’re going we don’t need roads!”) enabling flight in Part II, and the more rustic western modifications that ensured Marty could get home in Part III, before the Time Machine met its destruction in front of a locomotive.
The ‘Back to the Future’ Time Machine set looks like an absolute triumph, and if you’re as excited as we are you can hit 88mph for yourself when 10300 reaches stores in April for around $170 / £140.
TLCB staff know to wear shoes in the office. No, the Elves don’t make that sort of mess, but their shenanigans do make barefoot walking of the halls hazardous. Today, this TLCB Writer forgot that rule.
A sensation of something both gloopy and slightly crunchy underfoot drew a sigh and a weary look down, upon which the Elf, smeared into the carpet, became apparent. Another sigh.
And another Elf too, as a second was in a similar predicament a few yards down the corridor.
Further again, and the strange sound of a motor whirring followed by repeated crunching could be faintly heard. A third sigh.
Rounding the corner and the source of the smushings revealed itself; a large unusual-looking tracked vehicle was stomping upon a flattened Elf with a stabilising foot, much to the glee of the Elf at the controls.
Said controls were quickly grabbed and we could determine the steps the Elf had taken to mete out violence on its colleagues.
Firstly, they were run over, thanks to the skid steer of the two suspended and motorised tracks, before – admittedly rather cleverly – the Elven psychopath at the controls compounded the misery of the victim by either stomping upon them with the vehicle’s stabilising legs or dropping a brick-built ‘diesel generator’ onto them via the fully motorised crane.
Which – Elven carnage aside – is seriously impressive. TLCB Master MOCer Nico71is the builder behind this curious (and stunningly engineered) creation, which is constructed only from the pieces found within the official LEGO Technic 42100 Liebherr R 9800 Excavator set.
All seven Powered-Up motors from the set have been redeployed to the purposes above; with remote control drive and steering, crane rotation and two-part elevation, four stabiliser legs, plus a motor spins a piston engine for added realism.
All of that can be controlled via the LEGO Powered-Up app, and if you’d like to convert your own 42100 Liebherr R 9800 set into an unusual Elf-smushing machine you can, as Nico has made building instructions available too.
There’s much more to see at Brickshelf, Nico’s excellent website or via the video below. Take a look whilst this TLCB Writer cleans the corridor carpet. And puts on some shoes.
Racing stripes and V8s are staple favourites here at The Lego Car Blog. Except within the current Festival of Mundanity competition of course. But this car isn’t mundane at all.
The Chevelle was Chevrolet’s mid-sized car in the ’60s and ’70s, built on GM’s ‘A-Body’ platform, and available with no less than eight V8 engines. And a pair of 6-cylinders, but we’re not interested in those.
Top of the tree was the SS, which had over 350bhp. And no steering, suspension or brakes, as was the fashion of American muscle cars of the time. Still, the racing stripes more than made up for that.
This excellent brick-built homage to the 1970s all-power-no-steering approach comes from previous bloggee Rolands Kirpis, and features opening doors, hood and trunk, a realistic V8 engine, and beautiful be-striped dark green bodywork. Which – considering how exceptionally rare dark green LEGO pieces are – must’ve been a proper faff. Apparently one part was $20 alone!
Further images are available and you can take a look via Rolands’ ‘Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970’ album here, where a link to instructions will also appear soon. Maybe don’t try build it in green though…
