Category Archives: Lego

Small Saab

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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.

To Greenland!

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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.

Taking Out the Trash

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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.

Timber!*

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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.

Beep-Boop-Bricks

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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.

Should’ve Got the Estate

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There is surely no better car than an ’80s Volvo estate for carrying a Christmas tree. Unfortunately for Flickr’s Sseven Bricks, this classic lump of Swedish medal is a sedan, and thus his tree has had to go on the roof. We’re not quite sure we’d have strapped it in the orientation he has, but who are we to argue. Dodge the low bridges to get home via the link above!

Some Animals Were More Equal Than Others

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We’re back! With, um… a trio of Fabuland animals torching their way through a dystopian wasteland. Because shut up, that’s why. Loïc Gilbert owns the mind behind the weirdness and you can enter via the link to Flickr above.

Santa’s Day Off

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When Santa’s not making and delivering presents, looking after reindeer, or monitoring children’s behaviour, we’re pretty sure he enjoys some downtime in a biker gang. The beard. The extravagant outfit. The drinking. He’s a perfect fit.

Flickr’s Yuan He clearly thinks so too, having built this characterful mechanised vignette featuring a motorbike-riding Santa, a sleigh trailer in tow, and a very relaxed looking Rudolph.

Yuan has attached a motor to bring Santa’s Day Off to life, and you can see the creation in action via the link to their photostream in the text above.

Peace on Earth

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This Christmas will mark the fourth since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour Ukraine. There have been at least 400,000 casualties since then, with Russia continuing to target residential areas (breaking international humanitarian law) and civilian energy infrastructure (also breaking international humanitarian law).

This means millions of Ukrainians are currently without heating in freezing winter conditions. Children. The elderly. Babies.

But there is hope, with various charities risking their own lives to bring heating and supplies to civilians suffering and freezing near the front line. You can find one such charity below, where you can donate to help provide wood-burning stoves that may keep a baby from freezing to death this Christmas.

Dnipro Hope Mission

The excellent models featured in today’s post come from Flickr’s Konstantin, being a Russian 2S43 ‘Malva’ self-propelled gun and 2S40 ‘Floks’ self-propelled mortar respectively. There’s more of these (and lots of other Russian military equipment) to see at their photostream, and you can head to a warehouse near the front line in the East of Ukraine via the link above.

Merry Liftmas

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This is a Sennebogen 608 telehandler, which is used to lift things and people to and from high places. And its maker Ralph Savelsberg has absolutely missed a Christmas trick by not building a Christmas tree for it to place a star atop. Still, despite the festive omission it is a brilliant build, and includes interchangeable attachments on the extending and elevating boom, deployable stabiliser legs, and some excellent replica decals. You can reach for more images at Ralph’s photostream, where you can take a look at it not placing a star atop a Christmas tree via the link above.

Wipeout!*

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It’s nearly 2026 and we still don’t have anti-gravity vehicles. Engineers; get with the programme already. Fortunately Sony’s ‘Wipeout’ has filled the void for three decades, providing wild anti-gravity racing to electronic beats.

Cue today’s build, this superb recreation of AG-Systems’ ‘Wipeout’ racer from the iconic video game, complete with a mini-figure scale cockpit and a fantastic replica livery.

Newcomer Andre Lackman (aka djdrey909) is its maker, and you can see further of images of his AG-Systems’ racer (and a few of its competitors) on Flickr, plus you can read more about the design and build process as well as access building instructions so you can go anti-gravity racing for yourself at Andre’s excellent website.

*Today’s title song. Of course.

Old Red

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Some cars are so cool that they transcend their real world existence to become something greater. Far greater. This one of those cars.

Owned by previous LEGO designer Craig Callum, whose hand was behind several of the new vehicle sets that have been revealed on these pages over the years, this battered and rusty Ford Model-A Coupe hot rod ‘Old Red’ has become an official Hot Wheels toy, which means that for hundreds, maybe thousands of kids, it’ll be the single best car in all the world.

Of course we’re not ‘The Hot Wheels Car Blog’, and thus today we’re featuring a recreation of Craig’s magnificent hot rod in Lego form, courtesy of regular bloggee _Tiler who has recreated ‘Old Red’ beautifully, complete with Craig at the wheel. There’s more to see at _Tiler’s photostream via the link above, and you can read more about the original car (and than man that owns it) by clicking this bonus link.

Friday Farming

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We’re off to the farm now, courtesy of Konstantin of Flickr and these splendid agricultural machines. The first (above) is an MTZ ‘Belarus’ tractor made in, um… Belarus, whilst below is a very modern looking tracked combine harvester pouring grain into a very un-modern ZIL 130 truck. All are brilliantly detailed for the scale and you can bring in the harvest via the link above.

Wait For It…

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These days, everything is turbocharged. Which normally means a tiny engine, often with three-cylinders, fitted under the hood of a homogenous crossover. Sigh. But turbos used to be cool. Albeit laggy.

This is the BMW 2002 Turbo, one of the first turbocharged production cars, and powered by a 2.0 litre engine fitted with a 0.55 bar twin-scroll KK&K turbocharger that boosted power to almost 170bhp. Well, it did once the turbo-lag was over, usually a few seconds after you asked for it.

Launched in 1973, the 2002 Turbo’s arrival coincided exactly with the oil crisis, which meant it wasn’t exactly a success. The technology it pioneered however, is now fitted to almost every new non-electrified car on sale, and with the lag left in the past.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 2002 Turbo comes from brickphisto of Flickr, who has recreated it beautifully in 8-wide form. The doors, trunk, and hood all open, under the last of which is a replica of the M10-turbo engine that powered it, and there’s more of the model to see at brickphisto’s photostream. Put your foot down and wait a few seconds via the link above.

The Lego Cow Blog

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This is, obviously, not a car. But for much of the world, it really is. And unlike a clapped-out hatchback, when it’s too old perform reliably it can become a delicious dinner. Flickr’s Andreas Lenander is the builder behind this fantastic rural transportation scene, and you can join the road to the market via the link above.