Author Archives: thelegocarblogger

Tanker Truck Tribute

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Last month we had the tremendously sad job of reporting the news that previous bloggee and legendary truck builder Ingmar Spijkhoven had lost his fight with motor neurone disease. This debilitating disease has no cure, with most sufferers living no more than 5 years from diagnosis. For Ingmar and the thousands of other sufferers there is – at the moment – only one outcome.

Ingmar was unable to visit Lego events towards the end, so his fellow Dutch builders decided to build tribute models to him for the Legoworld 2019 show, an idea he apparently loved.

One such tribute was built by fellow truck builder Bricksonwheels, who took one of Imgmar’s superb trailer designs and added a wonderful Peterbilt 389 truck, chroming each model beautifully and equipping the truck with Power Functions motors and SBrick bluetooth remote control.

Ingmar sadly died a week before the model was completed, but it will be shown at Legoworld alongside the other tributes to him in a dedicated area.

You can see more of Bricksonwheels’ stunning tanker truck tribute to one of the Lego Community’s greatest builders by clicking here, and you can help to change the inevitable outcome of motor neurone disease diagnosis by donating to the research that is underway to find cure.

ALS Association | MND Association

Game of Bricks – Light Kit (42078 Mack Anthem) | Review

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The Lego Fan Community is a marvellous thing. Like all the best products, LEGO has the scope – and the adaptability – to allow for improvement, with bluetooth remote control, custom decals, and even bespoke mini-figures available through third party providers to help builders to personalise their own creations and official sets.

One area that LEGO themselves dabble in is LED lights, with a pair available through their Power Functions range. But what if you want more? Like, lots more?

That’s where Game of Bricks come in, a new start-up offering tailored lighting kits for existing LEGO sets. The guys at GoB contacted us to see if we’d like an early test of a one of their kits, and a box for the huge 42078 LEGO Technic Mack Anthem set duly arrived here at TLCB Towers. So how did it fair? Read on to find out!

Packaging & Product

First impressions were excellent, with the Game of Bricks Mack Anthem kit arriving in a secure and rather nice box, with a mass of wires and lights neatly packaged within it. Unpackaging it undoes much of that neatness unfortunately, as a lot of lights means a lot of wires, but more on that in a bit.

The wires themselves are extraordinarily thin, so much so we feared breaking them, but it turns out they’re remarkably robust, and their slim profile allows them to (mostly) fit between bricks without issue. Attached to these are the lights themselves, each glued inside a non-Lego brick that replaces the non-functional light pieces on the model. These non-LEGO replacements are a good match, although their clutch power is slightly variable, and each has a hole drilled through it to allow the ultra-thin wires to pass through.

Power comes from a battery box (or two in the case of our kit) that takes AAA batteries and plugs into the wires via a USB connection. This makes disconnecting the battery boxes to change them an easy process, plus you can plug your lights into a USB port should you wish. So far, so good.

And then we got to the instructions… Continue reading →

Mod My Horse

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It’s been a while since one of our the Elves found a ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ creation, but they’re now all happily watching it in their cage room giving us a few hours of peace.

Their reward comes courtesy of Flickr’s Kale Frost, who has recreated the double-decker Cadillac from the post-apocalyptic movie rather well in Lego form. He’s also done so by basing his design loosely (very loosely) on an existing set, uploading a video alongside his model that provides a few hints to how the process to turn a LEGO set into something else entirely can begin. As the No.1 question we receive here at TLCB is ‘How do I build this?…’ it could prove a useful watch for many readers.

Head to Kale’s photostream via the link above for more images, and if you’re yet to try building your own creations and are unsure of how to start, take a look at the video – it could be the beginnings a whole new building chapter…

Rocket Bunnied NSX

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When tuning companies take their hammers to supercars they usually get it very wrong (see here, here and here, and try not to be sick), but there is one exception; Rocket Bunny. Founded in Japan by Tops Racing Arts Kyoto, Rocket Bunny kits are produced in a humble little workshop, with careful attention to detail and a few of very ordinary cars parked outside – the very opposite of the flashy (and hideous) European tuners above. The results have become world-renowned, and there are few tuning brands cooler than Rocket Bunny anywhere right now.

This brilliant Lego recreation of a Rocket Bunnied Honda NSX comes from TLCB regular Simon Przepiorka, who has not only captured the brand’s signature look to near perfection, he’s made instructions available so that you can too. Head to Simon’s photostream via the link above for the full gallery and to find the all-important instructions link.

Basic Blacktron

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LEGO’s Classic Space themes have gotten increasingly kick-ass over the years as builders have become ever more ambitious (see here, here and here). Much as we love these elaborate and slightly terrifying builds, there’s something nice about seeing a classic theme built, well… classically.

Case in point; this Blacktron Scout is in all likelihood a pretty pointless machine (future mini-figures have conquered space but still need to drive around on the surface to find stuff?) providing no discernible use whatsoever, but it’s so harmlessly cool that we can’t help but like it. George and Anthony here are off on a journey across the planetary surface to look at rocks or something, whilst the on-board computer flashes lights and makes booping noises. It’s all so delightfully meaningless!

There’s more to see of this ‘Blacktron Scout’ courtesy of Krzysztof Cytaki of Flickr – click on the link to look at rocks or something whilst a computer flashes lights and makes booping noises.

Coast Guard ‘Copter

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This excellent Sikorsky HH-52 U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from Robson M, features custom decals, folding rotors, a sliding side door and a hoist for rescuing drowning swimmers / apprehending Mexicans. See more of Robson’s top notch build at his photostream via the link above.

Nissan Skyline R34 GTR | Picture Special

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Is there a car more over-hyped by annoying children than the Toyota Supra? No. But this comes close. It is of course the Nissan Skyline GTR R34, a car made more famous than it already was by a certain once-quite-good-but-now-fudging-terrible movie franchise.

The R34 Skyline launched in 1998, lasting just a few short years into the early 2000s before the GT-R evolved to became a standalone model and Skylines went back to being fairly boring sedans. Power came from a twin-turbo straight-6 making ‘276’ bhp, which was sent to all four wheels via an immensely clever all-wheel-drive system, allowing the GT-R to slay far more expensive machinery at the track and turning average drivers into good ones overnight.

This spectacular Model Team replica of the late-’90s legend comes from TLCB Master MOCer and all-round car building genius Firas Abu-Jaber, who has not only recreated the GT-R R34 perfectly in its stock form but has also added the prerequisite tuning accessories that seem to accompany it, from big wings and bigger turbos to bodykits and NO2 canisters (if you think that should say ‘NOS’ go back to school).

There’s a whole lot more of Firas’s incredible Nissan Skyline GT-R to see at his Flickr album by clicking here, where a link to yes, instructions, can also be found, and a certain blue version from a once-quite-good-but-now-fudging-terrible movie franchise is also due to appear…

Tired of Title Puns

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It’s been a bikey sort of day here at The Lego ‘Car’ Blog. Here’s today’s second two-wheeled creation, and not only is it not a car, it breaks one of our presentation criteria; “Pictures say a thousand words: So take yours well. Clean, contrasting backgrounds are easy to do and make a world of difference. Even the most impressive of creations will not feature on The Lego Car Blog unless the pictures are in focus, well lit and exclude any clutter from shot”. But rules were meant to be bent a bit, especially if the bending looks as good as this.

This beautiful ‘DDR Customs Scrambler’ comes from Flickr’s VR workshop who has chosen to use the soft focus from one of your Dad’s favourite movies, dim lighting, and the sidewall of a tyre as a backdrop to their model, and the results are… well, awesome. There’s more to see of VR workshop’s superbly presented motorcycle at their photostream – take a closer look via the link above.

Indian Summer

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This beautiful motorcycle is a JAWA 350, built by the historic bike company founded in Czechoslovakia in way back in 1929. After the Second World War JAWA became one of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturers of the time (even inventing the automatic centrifugal clutch that Honda copied for its world-conquering Cub), exporting their bikes to over 120 countries by the 1950s. India was one such country, where JAWA motorcycles quickly gaining a cult following the bike-loving country.

Gradually JAWA’s home markets shrank, but the brand lives on in India where it was bought by Mahindra and continues to produce its classic designs to this day. This gorgeous recreation of the marque’s most famous product comes from Flickr’s _spacehopper_ who has recreated the iconic motorcycle in wonderful detail, mixing both Technic and Model Team techniques to great effect. There’s lots more to see of _spacehopper_’s brilliant model at his JAWA 350 album on Flickr – click the link above to go for a ride.

Starship Trooper

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This is an Isuzu Trooper, a robust, reliable, bland, Japanese 4×4 from the 1990s. But it is a rather good Technic model and it also allows us to tenuously link to a movie trailer where everything blows up, so there’s that.

This neat Technic version of the Trooper comes from Kent Kashiwabara of Flickr, features working steering, suspension, and opening hood, tailgate and doors, and there’s more to see via the link above.

Bending Bricks

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The Elves are happy today. Firstly this huge remote control truck is orange, so it’s already off to a winning start, and secondly it can fit a gaggle of them in the back to ride around the office, and only a few got run over.

This unique machine comes from Waler of Brickshelf, who designed and built it for his engineering diploma thesis. Waler’s design allows his truck to articulate in the middle in two dimensions, both left/right and up/down. To accomplish this Waler’s truck includes a cleverly-constructed pivoting differential, kind of like a helicopter’s swash plate, that can deliver power whichever way the the two halves of the truck are pointing.

The truck is steered by two linear actuators that swing the chassis around a central pivot point which – as it can also pivot vertically – allows for insane articulation. All-wheel-drive, a remotely operable gearbox, all-wheel-suspension, and custom 3D-printed differentials complete the drivetrain, upon which a simple removable body is mounted.

There’s a whole lot more to see, including the clever central pivot design, custom diffs, and on-location photos showing the truck off-road, at Waler’s Brickshelf gallery. Click the link above to make the jump.

BuWizz Updated

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BuWizz

Regular readers here at The Lego Car Blog will have seen a few non-LEGO words appearing every so often in the descriptions of featured models. One of these is BuWizz, a third-party LEGO-compatible bluetooth control and battery that delivers a huge jump in power to LEGO’s Power Functions components and provides remote-control-by-mobile functionality.

We reviewed the BuWizz brick and came away impressed, particularly with the power increase (because who doesn’t want more power!?), but one area where the device could be considered lacking was its app, which was clear and easy to use but nowhere near as programmable as its chief rival SBrick.

BuWizz’s latest update aims to rectify that with the addition of a suite of new functionality including increased customisation, more profiles, advanced power control options, livestream camera support, and a new user interface.

If you already own a BuWizz brick you can download the new app via the last link above, and if you’re yet to try the product you can find out more via the first, where there is also currently 20% off in the BuWizz Summer Sale.

Debonair Redux

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This is the ‘Hartford Debonair’, and it is – as you can see here – rather lovely. It’s also a little familiar, having been published at TLCB in an earlier iteration last year. Like the model, the builder behind it has been reborn, as the latest victim of the Flickr Photo Snafu.

Prolific builder Senator Chinchilla, who has appeared here numerous times over the years, will see many of his images deleted by Flickr’s new scumbag owners and their newly enforced photo limit. This means that you may come across a link here at TLCB that no longer works, and also that the Senator has had to change rank. Captain Chinchilla is his new persona, and he begins his Flickr re-set with a revisit of his beautiful fictional ’50s classic.

Spectacular (and really rather clever) building techniques are evident in abundance and there’s more to see of Senator Chinchilla, er… we mean Captain Chinchilla’s brilliant build at his new photostream by clicking here.

Not a Car

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This is definitely, positively, not a car. In fact we don’t really know what it is (OK, a train, but beyond that…), but what we do know is it’s one of the best examples of LEGO presentation we’ve yet found. Brilliantly superimposed on a real-world background, Sergio Batista‘s rendered train includes a little dirt and grime, plus a lovely reflection effect where the light hits the top of the train carriages. There’s more to see of this image plus the others in Sergio’s collection on Flickr.

Wreckin’ War

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Breaking down in a war zone has gotta be pretty rubbish. Fortunately most militaries are prepared for such eventualities, deploying vehicles like this snappily named MK36NGE wrecker to recover their broken equipment. This cunningly created Lego version comes from Flickr’s joopatkleppie, who has included some excellent desert camouflage and recently expired Jeep to complete the scene. See more at the link above.