Category Archives: Lego

Nights in White Sedan*

Exquisitely presented, this gorgeous 5-wide ’50s sedan comes from regular bloggee 1saac W., whose inspired parts choice and stunning photography show that you really don’t need a million pieces to build something utterly beautiful. Lipstick tail-lights, an ice-skate hood ornament, and wispy smoke c-pillars are just a few of the brilliant brick decisions that have created this fantastic classic, and there’s much more to see at 1saac’s photostream. Click the link above take a closer look.

*Today’s title song. Nearly.

Sécurité Civile

Despite a simmering disdain for one another, France and TLCB’s home nation are more alike than we’d both like to think.

Separated by just 21 miles of water, each has just undergone a snap election called by an incumbent leader (who has then lost), and both also saw a notable rise in what was once ‘the far right’ – but is now perhaps just ‘the right’, such is its popularity – thwarted by left-wing politics.

Of course that’s where the similarities end, as post-election the British ‘far right’ will have gone to the pub to drink and bemoan the archaic first-past-the-post voting system, whilst their French counterparts will no doubt be setting fire to buses for the rest of the week.

Cue this rather good Airbus EC 145 helicopter by TLCB newcomer Smilt Spartane, constructed in French ‘Sécurité Civile’ livery, and most often used for Search and Rescue and in combatting forest fires.

Smilt’s EC 145 includes a detailed interior, opening doors, and rotating rotors, and there’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – on Flickr. Click the link above to take off over a burning pile of car tyres somewhere in Paris, or here to see LEGO’s own rather larger version.

Not a Car

This is our 47th ‘Not a Car’ post. By which we mean it’s the 47th post titled ‘Not a Car’ – there are thousands more posts in the archives that do not, in fact, feature cars. Because we’re crap at sticking to our brief.

Which means this is also another post where we flounder about way out of our depth, but despite our ineptitude with anything that isn’t a car, even we can see this is a spectacular build, coming from Damien Labrousse and based on a brilliant piece of concept art.

Titled ‘Shark Fighter’, Damien’s concept aircraft features some phenomenal build techniques and photo editing, and there’s more to see of his fantastic creation at his photostream, including a link to the art that inspired it. It might not be a car, but it’s one the the most intriguing vehicle designs of the year so far.

Le Mans ’71

It might be Ferrari and Toyota at the top of endurance racing right now, but there’s one manufacturer that has dominated Le Mans more than any other; Porsche.

Winning the Le Mans 24 Hours on nineteen occasions, the first of Porsche’s victories came in 1970 thanks to this; the magnificent 917K.

Powered by a wild flat-12, the 917 debuted in 1969, where it was… rubbish. Dodgy aerodynamics (which were still largely experimental at the time) made the car terrifying to drive at high speed, but Porsche refined the car, chopping the tail off and later fitting it with two stabilising fins and a magnesium chassis.

The result was the most dominant one-two in Le Mans history, when in 1971 both 917Ks finished some thirty laps ahead of the third place Ferrari.

This spectacular Speed Champions recreation of the ’71 race winning car, complete with its iconic Martini Racing livery, comes from previous bloggee SFH_Bricks of Flickr, who has captured the 917K absolutely beautifully in brick form.

Building instructions are available and there are more stunning images to view at SFH’s photostream. Click the link above to take a look, and wait thirty laps for the Ferrari to catch up.

Battle of the Atlantic

This TLCB Writer can think of little more terrifying in the Second World War than being part of an Atlantic Convoy, traversing the frigid waters all the while knowing that death lurked beneath at any moment. Little more that is, other than being on the aforementioned submerged death itself.

Nazi Germany built around 1,100 U-Boats during World War 2, of which almost 800 – or 2/3 of the fleet – were sunk.

This superb diorama of one of those 1,100 ships, depicted here breaking the waves of a choppy Atlantic, is the work of Ralph Savelsberg, who has captured not just the U-Boat but also the ocean in which it operates in spectacular realism.

Built as part of a display for the Brickfair Virginia show, there’s more to see of Ralph’s beautifully presented model at his ‘U-Boot Diorama’ album, and you can head out onto the waters of World War 2 via the link above.

Just One More Thing…

The famous words of TV detective ‘Columbo’, uttered just before his inevitable cracking of the case. Produced throughout the ’70s, and then again in the late ’80s through 1990s, Columbo was (and still is) a stable of American television, and often cited as one of the greatest TV characters ever created.

Perfectly matched to the Los Angeles homicide detective’s shambling crumpled appearance was his car, an old Peugeot 403 convertible, which was never washed and – like Columbo – very often smoking.

Just 500 or so 403 convertibles were made, making Columbo’s choice a very rare vehicle (contrary to the sedan, station wagon and pick-up variants, which were produced in their hundreds of thousands), with two or three units used in the production of the TV show.

This lovely recreation of the Peugeot 403 convertible comes from previous bloggee SvenJ., and captures Columbo’s car beautifully in 1:32 brick form. Several images are available and you can find them all at Sven’s Flickr album; click the link above to crack the case. Just one more thing…

Porsche vs. Porsche

Le Mans is getting very exciting of late, with a raft of new works teams entering or re-entering the world’s most revered motor race. Lamborghini, BMW, Cadillac and Peugeot have all joined or are about to, plus – most famously – Ferrari, who took the outright win upon their return last year.

Back in the late-’70s however, the competition was rather more… one-dimensional. Porsche were the only works team competing for outright victory in 1979, and even though their 935 was already several years old, its 800bhp twin-turbo flat-6 and immense reliability meant it was so dominant that one by one all other manufacturers dropped out of endurance racing.

The result was that a third of all the entrants in the 1979 24 Heures du Mans were Porsches, and no other works manufacturers took part. Unsurprisingly, it was Porsche that took victory, competing mostly against their own cars raced by customer teams, with the Kremer Porsche 935 K3 of Klaus Ludwig, and Don & Bill Whittington crossing the line having covered the most distance after 24 hours, followed home by two other Porsche 935s and a 934.

This superb Speed Champions replica of that race-winning car comes from previous bloggee K MP of Flickr, who has recreated both the car and its livery in beautiful detail. Take a look via the link above, and get ready for a much more competitive 24 Heures du Mans than it was in 1979 in just a few days time!

Barrelling Along

Flickr’s David Roberts has appeared here numerous times over the years with his strangely-shaped spaceships, including those based upon a giant block of cheese, a chess board, and a cat’s anus amongst others.

Today he’s taken inspiration (probably) from the barreleye deep-sea fish, whose eyes look upwards through the transparent dome of its own head, to create this barrel-shaped primary-coloured interceptor.

Neither he nor us know what it’s intercepting, but you just got to look at a properly weird fish, so you’re welcome. Head to David’s photostream by clicking here to cast your eye over it.

8-Stud Huayra

LEGO are yet to release a Speed Champions Pagani Huayra, but if they do it’ll have to be quite a set to beat this one.

Constructed by Flickr’s Fabrice Larcheveque, this 8-wide homage to the wild Italian hypercar captures the real car brilliantly, including a detailed engine and interior, and with building instructions available you can recreate it for yourself too.

Head to Fabrice’s Flickr album to take a look.

(Neo-Classic) Spaceship!

Skibidi Toilet, The Brothers Brick secret handshake, the evangelical christian movement’s support of Donald Trump, and sci-fi are just some of the many things that TLCB Team don’t understand.

We do understand the skill required for building techniques as clever as those in evidence here though, with ingenious angles, a hybrid of Technic and System, and a beautifully retro colour palette. There’s more to see of previous bloggee Rubblemaker‘s neo-classic spaceship at his photostream via the link above, or alternatively you can Google ‘Skibidi Toilet’ to see if you can understand it…

Fall in the Forest

It’s nearly summer here in TLCB’s home nation, but somewhere in the world it’s autumn, which is all the excuse we need to publish this gorgeous autumnal scene from regular bloggee 1saac W.

1saac’s beautiful Volkswagen ‘T2’ split-screen is pictured camping in a fantastic fall forest, complete with trees as wonderfully crafted as the bus beneath them. Join the tranquility at 1saac’s photostream via the link above.

Incredibile

It’s been twenty years since Disney Pixar’s best ever movie premiered in cinemas. Pre-dating the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all but the first Spiderman film, and about 76 other subsequent superhero movies because Hollywood was too unimaginative to make anything else, ‘The Incredibles’ perfectly captured the zeitgeist.

Depicting a forgotten genre of superheroes, forced into hiding, and waiting for the world to need them once more, Pixar’s beautiful retro aesthetic paid homage to the comics books of the past, whilst simultaneously pushing the boundaries of digital animation.

Recreating Mr. Incredible’s ‘Incredibile’ from Pixar’s movie masterpiece, Flickr’s SFH_Bricks has reproduced the movie’s iconic car superbly in brick form, and you can create it for yourself as he’s also produced building instructions.

There’s more to see at SFH’s ‘Incredibile’ album, and you can jump back to the greatest heroes of the 2000’s via the link above.

Put the Sausage in the Hole

Yes, we’re trying to mess with search engines again. This is a Mercedes-Benz LK ‘Rundhauber’ (round bonnet) box truck, and its creator 1saac W. began the build by inserting a LEGO sausage into a 1×1 round-with-bar-attachment piece. His words.

Crude beginnings aside, the result is rather excellent, and there’s more to see of 1saac’s sausage-insertion construction at his photostream. Click the link above to put it in.

Space Swordfish

Uh oh, Sci-fi. This TLCB Writer genuinely knows more about oceanic fish than he does science fiction. Helpfully however, this splendid spacecraft by Flickr’s Red Spacecat is apparently a ‘Swordfish’ class frigate…. wait, that doesn’t help at all.

Still, it is really rather fantastically constructed, with details including a landing-pad for micro-scale ships, an array of cannons, and the coolest brick-built stripe we’ve seen in ages. Head out to sea space via the link above.

Did You Drive Your Car Tonight Mr. Belfort?

It’s the late-’80s, and the Lamborghini’s wild V12-engined Countach is some fifteen years old. Marcello Gandini’s superbly clean lines have been hidden beneath a mountain of plastic, the engine is up to 5.2 litres and equipped with four valves per cylinder, and – in the U.S – hideous mandatory low-speed impact bumpers have been glued on.

Precisely nothing has been done to make the car less terrible to drive over the last decade-and-a-half however, and thus the Countach remains very much not a car for the novice driver. Or one high on quaaludes trying to get home from the country club.

Cue perhaps the greatest movie scene of all time, and one Lamborghini Countach on which the low-speed impact bumpers weren’t quite enough.

Flickr’s ZetoVince is the owner of this fantastic Model Team replica, and there’s more to see of his wonderfully-presented creation at his photostream. Click the link above to try to make it the less-than-a-mile back home from the country club, without a scratch on yourself or the car…