Are cranes required in space? There’s no gravity… We’re a car blog so we won’t think about that too deeply and instead revel in the deep coolness of Ivan Martynov‘s ‘RS11200 Space Craft Type’. Lift something science-fictiony via the link above!
Wait, haven’t we featured this Hudson Hornet already? Well, yes…. but we’ve all been waiting for it to get stickers! Flickr’s SFH_Bricks has now done just that, turning his previously blogged Hudson into the NASCAR that made it so famous. More specifically SFH has created ‘Doc. Hudson’, the Disney Pixar ‘Cars’ movie character that paid homage to that most iconic of NASCAR racers. The beautifully replicated decals come courtesy of Brickstickershop, building instructions are available, and you can turn right to go left via the link above.
No we’re not talking about ‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement’ officers again, but rather this utterly splendid Volvo FH 8×4 truck, complete with a rear-mounted Fassi knuckleboom crane. Constructed by TLCB Master MOCer and regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, the model recreates a truck in use by British heavy haulage firm ‘Rawcliffe and Sons’, with accurate decals replicating the livery of its real-world counterpart. Brick-built outriggers and posable four-wheel steering also feature, and you can drag your knuckles over to Ralph’s photostream for more superb imagery via the link above.
LEGO’s Power Functions and Control+ components are excellent for bringing vehicles to life. Third-party BuWizz and SBrick go even further, with more power and programmable control, and hundreds of creations have appeared here over the years powered by their components. But the drawback with all of the above is, as with your Mom, size.
Too big for many models, it means remote control is reserved for only larger creations. But not today, because this dinky 7-wide Mercedes-Benz Actros 6×4 truck is fully remote controlled!
Powered by a Circuit Cube Hub hidden in the cab, there’s a tiny drive motor – just three studs long – and a servo to steer. What’s more, it’s maker Ts_ has included drive to all four wheels, as per the real truck.
Able to pull a sizeable three-axle trailer, there’s more of Ts_’s remote control Actros to see at the Eurobricks forum, including an image of how the third-party electronics fit within it. Click the link above to peek inside.
When America’s government need highly trained police officers to go into the most dangerous situations, they call for S.W.A.T, or ‘Special Weapons And Tactics’.
And when they need ill-trained thugs to shoot an unarmed nurse outnumbered 8:1 ten times, they call for ICE.
We’ll stick with the former today, firstly because we have this awesome Chevy P30 S.W.A.T van straight outta Gotham City, and secondly because if S.W.A.T are here we’re less likely to get shot by Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
This splendid brick-built version of the police units trained to do things properly comes from previous bloggee Sam Andreas, and you can join them on the streets of Gotham via the link above. Which has got to be safer than being on the actual streets of America when ICE are around…
Communism seemed to ban, amongst others things, inventive vehicle names, which all seemed to be a collection of numbers and letters. Which makes titling a post about one of them rather tricky, but no matter because the model is rather lovely.
It’s a UAZ 469B as built by PigletCiamek, and it’s also got a spicy back-story too, involving explorers and a rocket-launcher. Join the anonymously-named off-roader on an adventure in the desert via the link above.
We maintain that the scariest vehicle – other than a government-registered SUV in Minneapolis of course – is the Volkswagen Transporter camper, what with them being almost exclusively driven by top-knot wearing, ethnic peace crisp eating, alternative lifestyle evangelists. And now that we’ve successfully antagonised both the hard-right and hard-left in one sentence (there’s no bias here!), on to the model!
This neat Volkswagen ‘T3’ camper comes from Flickr’s HCKP13, who’s captured the ’80s bus brilliantly in brick form. There’s more of the model to see at HCKP13’s photostream, and you can head to a parking lot outside Starbucks to steal the free WiFi whilst bemoaning capitalism via the link above!
It’s not just Dennis the Menace and old-timey scallies in the park who were armed with catapults. Because this is an Arado Ar 196, a Second World War German reconnaissance floatplane, powered by a 1,000bhp BMW radial engine, and stationed on every German capital ship during the war – from which it was launched by catapult.
This splendid recreation of the Ar 196 – and the ship-mounted catapult from which they were propelled – is the work of Flickr’s Veynom, who has captured the floatplane brilliantly in brick form. Catapult yourself over to Veynom’s photostream to take a closer look via the link in the text above.
The ‘Fabulous’ Hudson Hornet wasn’t just an all-conquering stock car racer. You could buy one for the road too. Available with two doors or four, as coupe, sedan, hardtop or convertible, and powered by a five-litre inline-6 with twin-carburettors, the Hornet could produce over 200bhp with minimal modifications.
It also featured a clever ‘step-down’ design, where – even though it was built on a separate chassis – the floor-pan sat between the chassis rails, lowering the centre of gravity and enabling beautiful streamlined bodywork. Flickr’s SFH_Bricks has recreated the Hornet’s fabulous shape beautifully, and there’s more of his superb small-scale homage to the classic Hudson to see via the link above.
If Terry Pratchett can have a giant space turtle then we guess Tim Goddard can have a snail. This is – according to its aforementioned maker – a ‘Lunt Snail’ from the Cerulean Nebula, grown from the size of a fist and trained to haul loads across the galaxy via copious food-based encouragement. And who are we to argue with that? Oh yeah, a car blog. Ok, we’ll get back to cars shortly, but until then you can take a look in Tim’s shell via the link above.
Today Saab is solely an aerospace and defence company. And before 1949 it was too. But in the middle it also made cars. Some of them wonderful. And this is their first.
Launched in 1949, the Saab 92 featured a 25hp 764cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine based on a German DKW design (Sweden was closer to Germany’s Nazi regime than they’d probably like to admit), a three-speed gearbox, front-wheel-drive, an aerodynamic body pressed from a single piece of sheet metal, and paint left over from the company’s aeroplane division.
Over 20,000 92s were produced, with the car becoming something of a rally legend during its production run, and later evolving to feature a trunk (with an opening lid!) and paint options other than military-surplus.
This lovely (and rather cleverly constructed) Saab 92 comes from SvenJ., who has packed front and rear fenders, door handles and mirrors, and even a split windshield into the pretty 7-wide bodywork.
You can take a closer look at Sven’s Saab 92 at his photostream, click the link above to make the jump.
In more batshit crazy news this week, serial divorcee, bunkruptee, fake-tan enthusiast and convicted felon Donald Trump has indicated he might decide to invade sovereign territory of Denmark.
Yes, the nation of LEGO, bacon, and Hans Christian Andersen may well be pitched against their ally the United States by its orange-hued President. Despite the fact that the U.S already has an F-35 Lightning II equipped airbase in Greenland, and that Denmark is an F-35 customer.
Of course America operates more than just the F-35, with over two hundred F-15E Strike Eagles like this one still in service. The example here is of the 391st ‘Bold Tigers’, and is wearing its Afghanistan deployment livery where it fought an extreme religious autocracy responsible for numerous human rights abuses, rather than a small European nation responsible for delicious pastries.
Anyway, there’s more to see of this splendid F-15E Strike Eagle courtesy of TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) at his Flickr album of the same name. Click the link above to take a look, and perhaps invade a longstanding ally.
The big news this week is that of a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate being seized and tried by a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate.
The result is that New York City now hosts a Venezuelan President in court facing charges of drug trafficking and terrorism, after previously convicting – on 34 counts – the man that has brought him there.
Which brings us seamlessly to today’s creation, this splendid 1978 Autocar DK Trashmaster garbage truck, for decades the default vehicle for tidying NYC’s streets.
Constructed by previous bloggee Sseven Bricks, this excellent recreation of New York’s most recognisable garbage truck captures its appearance brilliantly, and includes a working trash compactor alongside some wonderful visual attention to detail.
Sseven’s Flickr photostream hosts full details and imagery of the build, and you can take the trash to the curb in NYC (or a president, whether Venezuelan or American) via the link in the text above.
It’s time to take down TLCB Towers’ Christmas tree, which gives us the chance to pretend to be lumberjacks! This means removing any remaining decorations that the Elves haven’t eaten, chopping it up, and chucking it in the garden waste bin that is usually otherwise only used to dispose of Elven casualties.
Proper lumberjacks however are far more skilled, and once their tree is expertly felled it’s transported from the forest on vehicles like this one; Keko007’s fantastic Volvo FH16 500 timber truck. Packed with detail, Keko’s creation includes a deployable folding grab crane and a drawbar trailer, with lots more to see at his ‘Volvo FH16 500 Timber Truck’ album on Flickr. Shout ‘Timber!’ via the link above.
*Today’s title song. Obviously.
In every second-hand toy store, pre-school, or forgotten box in the attic, a blocky beep-boop robot, batteries long-depleted, is waiting…
We’re all doomed when they finally rise against their human overlords, but until then we’ll enjoy this one by Flickr’s Shannon Sproule, who has channeled considerable retro-toy aesthetics into his brick-built homage.
There’s more to see at Shannon’s photostream and you can await the inevitable blocky robot uprising via the link above.