Category Archives: Lego

To the Tip!

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Christmas at TLCB Towers is over for another year, and thus the slightly depressed-looking Christmas tree in the corner of the office can finally be laid to rest. This usually means strapping it to the roof of the office’s Rover 200, driving to the tip, and lobbing it into a giant container of compostable waste.

Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott takes a much more fun approach to tree disposal though, with his Christmas tree dragged behind a Land Rover 109 tow-truck like a wake-boarder behind a power-boat. Or a soon to-be-executed 15th century criminal behind a horse.

The Land Rover is mighty good too, with the exquisite detailing including probably the best small-scale Land Rover tail-lights we’ve ever seen. There’s more of the model to see at Jonathan’s photostream, and you can take a look via the link above whilst we find out if a knackered Rover 200 is up to the job of towing a Christmas tree through the streets.

Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon!

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Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon! Yes, today we’re referencing a cartoon referencing a vintage sit-com to refer to a rocket that references a cartoon. No we don’t have to make sense. This marvellous whimsical Tintin-inspired rocket comes from Flickr’s Tobias Munzert, who has pictured it here landing on the lunar surface from the comic. Join Tobias (and Tintin) on Flickr via the link above.

Monsters of Rock

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Rock Raiders, the most phallically-symbolled of all LEGO’s themes, probably wasn’t one of their all-time greats. Something to do with finding energy crystals, as per about six other themes from the time, LEGO’s 1999 effort featured a rock monster, a turquoise-and-brown colour scheme, and a Playstation video game, before it quietly died a year later to be forgotten by everyone.

Except, that is, for Ghalad of Flickr, who has digitally reimagined an almost unfeasibly big Rock Raiders machine from over 13,000 virtual bricks.

Ghalad’s 6×6 mining behemoth features a huge rotating rock-cutting laser, gun turrets to ward off rock monsters, two enormous arm-mounted drills for munching through rock, and a towing crane for, er… something else that’s probably rock related.

It also takes the Thundercougarfalconbird approach to naming, being titled after two underground animals, and there’s more to see of Ghalad’s titanic Rock Raiders ‘Badger Mole’ at his photostream. Click the link above to rock out.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Squeee!

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LEGO’s ‘Classic Space Plush‘ is one of their more unusual – and adorable – ‘pieces’. However a real Classic Spaceman, no matter its cuteness, needs a vehicle with which to conduct Classic Spacey things. Cue Daniel Church, and his ‘Awwwstronauts’!

Built to Plushie scale, Daniel has created a fully RC lunar rover and segway to allow his Classic Space Plushies to go about their delightful cuddly space business. Both contain Powered-Up Motors hidden inside and there’s more to see at his ‘Awwwstronauts’ album on Flickr.

Cutely go where no spaceman has gone before via the link!

Now With Less Asbestos!

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Old-timey British car advertisments are hilarious. From the Triumph Herald “That almost never needs greasing!’ to the Sunbeam Alpine with eight consecutive exclamation marks in its strap-line, everything was tremendously exciting in 1959.

Cue Chris Elliott‘s ‘1959 British Family Saloon’, a homage to the cars (and car marketers) of 65 years ago. With echoes of Riley, Ford Anglia, and Sunbeam Rapier amongst many others, Chris’ creation could only be more late-’50s British if its description included the phrase “Keep your daily commutes punctual and stylish!”. Wait, it does? Well that’s a dandy way to describe the feeling that only motoring in the newest 1959 design can give!

Don your Motorway safety felt cap, check your Bowmonk dynometer, and fire up your Eltron ‘Car Kettle and Carfri‘* at Chris Elliot’s photostream via the link above!

*Yes that last link really was a device for boiling water and cooking bacon whilst driving to work. Golly the ’50s were terrific!

In Space, No One Can Hear Your Bewilderment

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Uh oh, sci-fi. Long standing readers of this decrepit back-alley of the internet will know that TLCB staff ‘could do better’ when it comes to appreciating, writing about, or even comprehending science-fiction creations. Well today is… er, no different actually – but the creations are cool, so on to them!

The first (pictured above) is Nick Trotta‘s exceptional ‘Astraea’ spacecraft, which combines more colours and craft building techniques into one build than should reasonably be allowed. The result is spectacular though, and there’s more to see of Nick’s superbly presented spacecraft at his ‘Astraea’ album above.

Today’s second sci-fi creation (pictured below) comes from previous bloggee Slick Brick, and takes the minimalistic monochrome approach to spacing, to great effect. Stunning presentation and clever construction can be found at Slick’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump to hyperspace, or something else that sounds spacey.

We’ll go find a car…

Beat It

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‘Sports’ cars today have about a thousand horsepower and weigh sixteen tons. Except when they’re EVs, and then it’s double that. Which is why we love the Honda Beat.

Built to Japan’s kei-car regulations in the early ’90s, the Beat had only 660cc, 63bhp, and weighed in at just 760kgs. Which means your Mom could double the kerb-weight just by getting in. Not that she’d fit.

This neat Speed Champions Beat was found by one of our Elves on Flickr, coming from Ilya Muratov who has captured the ’90s kei icon wonderfully. Jump in via the link to Ilya’s Flickr album above. If you fit.

*Today’s title song. Of course.

On Days Like These*

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Questi giorni quando vieni, il bel sole
On days like these when skies are blue and fields are green
I look around and think about what might have been
And then I hear sweet music float around my head
As I recall the many things we left unsaid
And it’s on days like these that I remember
Singing songs and drinking wine
While your eyes play games with mine

SCREECH, CRASH!

Oh yes, we’re a Lego blog. This fabulous Speed Champions scale Lamborghini Miura SV comes from Flickr’s barneius, and there’s more to see at his photostream. *And if you have no idea what the rest of this post is about, click here.

Beet This

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If you’re a rad So-Cal surfer dude, there is literally nothing cooler than a slammed Volkswagen Beetle with a roof-rack. This TLCB Writer is definitely not a rad So-Cal surfer dude, but despite his doughy Northern European composition, he still thinks this slammed Volkswagen Beetle with a roof-rack is pretty cool. Flickr’s RGB900 is the rad So-Cal surfer dude* behind it and there’s more to see via the link.

*Radical surfness not guaranteed.

Honey I Shrunk the 10298

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LEGO’s 10298 Vespa 125 set is wonderful in every way. Thus we love this miniaturised version by Flickr’s 1saac W., who has captured the iconic Italian scooter beautifully in brick-form. The set’s lovely blue colour is switched for cream, but if LEGO can do it themselves with their other Italian icon, cream is good enough for us! See more at 1saac’s photostream via the link!

Amerigo Vespucci

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This amazing creation is a near-perfect brick-built replica of the Amerigo Vespucci, a tall ship of the Italian Navy named after the 14th Century explorer of the same name. Surprisingly despite its late 18th century appearance the Amerigo Vespucci was actually built in 1930 as a training ship, and is still in use today based at the Italian port of La Spazia. This incredible recreation of the tall ship is the work of Luca Gaudenzi and it’s one of the most spectacular vessels this site has ever featured. Head over to Luca’s ‘Amerigo Vespucci’ album to begin your Italian Naval training.

Where’s Harry?

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Whilst 1960s America got the Ford Mustang, we got this; the 997cc Ford Anglia 105E. Like the Mustang though, the fourth generation Anglia was phenomenally successful, selling over a million units in an eight year production run. It was just – with a top speed of 73mph and 0-60mph in 27 seconds – a little slower than its American cousin.

One of those million-plus owners was of course Arthur Weasley from the Harry Potter series, who outfitted his light blue Anglia 105E with the ability for magical flight, and cued the creation of a thousand blue brick-built Anglias.

But not today, because regular bloggee 1saac W. has not built the Harry Potter Anglia, rather a normal non-magical one, and we’re all in favour of that.

That’s because unlike say, a DeLorean DMC-12, which was total garbage as a car and only survives thanks to some time-travelling movie modifications, the Anglia was an excellent and widely celebrated little British car long before its starring role in the movie scene where it crashed into the Buggering Birch.

Which means we love this humble white Ford Anglia 105E, devoid of wizards, enchanted flight, and a tree with a lust for violence, and there’s more to see at 1saac’s photostream, where Harry Potter is nowhere to be found.

Sting Ray

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Two words (‘Sting Ray’) and two windows mark out the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette C2 amongst half a century of Corvettes. The iconic split rear window lasted just one year, although the fantastic shape lasted until 1968, and this lovely Speed Champions recreation of (probably) the most beautiful American car ever made captures it wonderfully. Jonathan Elliott is the builder and there’s more to see here.

Honey I Shrunk the 8880!

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Like, really shrunk it. 1994’s 1,300 piece LEGO Technic 8880 Super Car is one of the all-time great sets, and therefore these days it’s worth about as much as Twitter. With all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering, all-wheel-suspension, pop-up head lights, a 4-speed gearbox and a V8 engine, it’s one of the most feature-packed LEGO sets ever produced. Suggested by a reader, this tiny homage to 8880 is, er… not. However -Brixe‘s ‘Micro Super Car’, at a fraction of the cost and using a fraction of the pieces, really does look like the iconic set. Only much, much smaller. Take a look at 8880 in miniature via the link above!

Sun & Moon

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The seventies were weird. Inflation trebled, gas prices skyrocketed, everyone was on strike, and vans were adorned with murals for some reason.

The first three items on the list are making an inglorious resurgence in 2022, so we’re expecting the return of mural-adorned vans is imminent too. Flickr’s 1saac W. is one step ahead with this pair of wonderfully ’70s Dodge Street vans, each adorned with a celestial mural.

Head back to the 1970s via the link above, or just stick around for a bit, as the decade appears to returning for all of us.