Category Archives: Lego

Life on Mars*

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NASA’s ‘Perseverance‘ rover is currently relaying some truly magical images back to Earth from the surface of Mars, where it has been for over a month.

Perseverance’s mission is to look for the building blocks that support life, either in Mars’ distant past, or for a human colonisation future. Fast forward an undetermined number of years and – if BobDeQuatre is correct – Perseverance found what it was looking for.

This is the Mars Corporation ‘Poseidon Mobile Water Extractor’, which uses a powerful microwave generator and magnetic field to raise water to the surface to support the planet’s colony. Or something. To be honest we’re a bit hazy on the science, but that doesn’t matter when it looks this cool!

A detailed microwave/magnetron/robotic arm thingumy is carried between a pair of articulated and suspended bogies, whilst a crew of two control the water extraction from the cockpit up front.

There’s lots more to see of Bob’s impressive ‘Poseidon Mobile Water Extractor’ via his album on Flickr at the link above, plus you can see one of his (and Mars Corp.’s) other machines by clicking here.

*Today’s title song, naturally.

F1x2

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McLaren Automotive are continuing Britain’s long tradition of making cars that are excellent in almost every way, but which have the reliability Windows XP.

Back in the ’90s they outsourced this unreliability to BMW, but the results were still spectacular. The McLaren F1 was the fastest production car in the world, with a gold-lined engine bay and an amazing central driving position.

These two remarkably similar Speed Champions versions of the iconic ’90s supercar were independently found by two Elves today, sparking an inevitable Elf fight, and a dilemma for us in the office.

We’ve chosen to avoid conflict and publish both together, with the red car coming from Rolling Bricks, the grey one from Fabrice Larcheveque, and there’s more to see of each via the links.

Ditch Witch

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From a science fictiony machine about which we know absolutely nothing to real world machine about which we know absolutely nothing. Yay!

This is a Witch Ditch JT520 and we genuinely have no idea at all what it’s for. Luckily the trailer it’s on is being pulled by a Ford F-150 crew cab pick-up, so blogging points are redeemed!

The Ford F-150, twin-axle trailer, and the aforementioned mystery contraption are all the work of Damian Z (aka Theitmaier), each is wonderfully detailed, and there’s more to see of all three models on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look.

Bull Fight

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If you’re seven (or a TLCB Elf), then citrus-coloured Lamborghinis are the best thing ever. This post is for you!

Built by The G Brix of Flickr, these two awesome Speed Champions Lamborghini Murcielagos appeal to the seven year old in all of us (which isn’t hard to find in the psyche of the average TLCB writer).

Coming in standard (yellow) and SV (orange) flavours, G Brix’s models deploy some brilliant building techniques to successfully recreate the Murcielago’s distinctive hexagonal shapes, plus there are detailed engine bays under opening covers and each car can fit a pair of mini-figures side-by-side.

Pander to your inner seven year (or your actual seven year old if you are in fact seven) via The G Brix’s photostream.

That’s No Ordinary Rabbit!

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This is not a car. But it does have wheels. Although not in this picture. OK, we’re not doing well here, but as this model features a decal of a harmless little bunny on the back it means we can publish this link to a killer rabbit, and that’s a good enough reason for us.

Ted Andes is the builder behind this ‘Nousagi Reconnaissance Think Tank’, which features a gatling gun, chainsaw, and grappling hook, for all that ‘reconnaissance’ it’ll be doing…

There’s more of Ted’s mech to see at his photostream, including an image of it in wheeled-mode, close-ups of the cockpit, and the varied weaponry it’s armed with. Click the link above to head into the cave of Caerbannog…

Dutch Rudder

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‘Rolling coal‘ is for idiots. Aside from blasting a load of carcinogenic particulates into the air as some sort of moronic ‘anti-environment’ protest, plumes of black smoke actually signify wasted fuel, ergo less power. Which is why we don’t use steam engines any more.

That said, we do still like a good steam engine (which is possibly the saddest sentence in the English language), and so too does TLCB debutant Jebbo, who has built three unfathomably beautiful Dutch steam tugs from our favourite plastic bricks.

Each model is an exquisitely detailed replica of a real steam tug boat, of which two are apparently still running on coal.

Amazing attention to detail and ingenious building techniques are in abundance and there’s more to see of Jebbo’s ‘Furie’, ‘Hercules’, and ‘Noordzee’ steam tug boats at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to roll coal the right way.

Dog Vomit

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We like fast estate cars here at The Lego Car Blog – mostly because they’re not fast SUVs – and the latest Audi RS6 Avant is perhaps the best of them all.

With a turbocharged V8 producing nearly 600bhp, the RS6 can take your labrador to 60mph in just over three seconds, which is supercar fast. And supercars can’t fit a labrador in the boot at all.

This exceptionally clean Speed Champions style recreation of Audi’s fastest wagon is the work of regular bloggee SP_LINEUP and there’s more to see on Flickr. Click the link above to make a dog violently sick.

The Third Way

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Volkswagen’s Type 1 (Beetle) and Type 2 (Transporter) are recreated in Lego bricks on a daily basis. They have been turned into official LEGO sets, built in life-size, and are recognised the world over. But there is a third way…

The Type 3 (or ‘Squareback’) is nowhere near as popular as its Type 1 and 2 siblings, and many people – even VW fans – don’t know it existed at all. And that for us makes it all the cooler.

This brilliant Speed Champions recreation of a modified Type 3 comes from previous bloggee PleaseYesPlease, and if it were a real classic Volkswagen it’d be the one we’d want! There’s more to see at Please’s photostream, where a raft of excellent imagery is available.

Cubist

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We were going to title this post ‘Square Heads’, but upon Googling it we learned it’s an offensive term for German, Dutch or Scandinavian persons. That was close. The perils of being an international blog we suppose! Anyway, these micro-scale bikers do have square heads, but we’re going to say they’re American, so we’re alright. They come from Flickr’s jarekwally (who might need to Google his title too…), whose inventive parts usage doesn’t stop at riders’ heads, but continues to both the motorcycles and the road upon which they’re travelling. (Square) head to jarekwally‘s photostream for more!

Escape to Sea

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OK, this is clearly not a car, but this TLCB Writer is doing anything he can to avoid the Harry & Meghan Oprah Interview (aka ‘Posh Jerry Springer’), which is everywhere as he types this. And thus, here’s a boat.

It’s a rather lovely boat too, being an Intrepid 375 by previous bloggee Edwin Korstanje, and featuring a fiendishly complicated brick-built hull, a pair of Yamaha outboards, and some rather neat custom decals.

There’s more of Edwin’s creation to see at the Eurobricks forum, which has got to be more worthwhile than watching two of the world’s most privileged persons badmouthing their own family on international television. Join us in escaping to the sea via the link above.

Delightful Sedan

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We’re not sure what ‘DS’ stands for these days, as Stellantis (what?) seems be using the brand solely in an attempt to charge 50% more for some extra chrome attached to decidedly average Citroens.

‘Deeply Cynical’? Wait, that’s not an ‘S’. ‘Dollar Signs’ perhaps? ‘Devoid of Substance’? Whatever it is, it isn’t working.

However a long time ago Citroen did used to produce the world’s best luxury cars, leading the way with hugely advanced technology, styling, and comfort.

This is one such car, the magnificent 1950s-1960s DS19, a car with front-wheel drive, hydro-pneumatic self-levelling suspension (with variable ride-height), power steering, a clutch-less gearbox, and disc brakes. All in 1955.

This beautifully presented Speed Champions recreation of the DS19 comes from Jonathan Elliott of Flickr, who has replicated the iconic French design wonderfully, even tapering the bodywork from 7 to 6 studs wide along the model’s length.

Jump to ’50s French luxury via the link above, and for comparison you can find one of DS’s current offerings here, where you can mutter dejectedly at it. Because they’re Depressingly Sardonic. Ah, that’s it!

Oh Lord, Won’t You Buy Me…

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Three Mercedes-Benz?

Mercedes-Benz have made all sorts of vehicles. Cars, vans, trucks, and buses, plus engines for cars, vans, trucks and buses have all borne the three-painted star.

Flickr’s Moritz Zielger has built several items from Mercedes-Benz’s diverse back catalogue, and we have three to share with you today.

First (top) is a ’60s Mercedes-Benz W112 ‘Fintail’ in two-door coupe form, whilst above is a more modern Unimog off-road truck (complete with a working tipping bed), and below the classic 300SL Roadster.

Each has been built and presented beautifully and there’s more to see of all three Speed Champions Mercedes-Benz models (plus a few more) at Moritz’s photostream. Click here to take a look!

*Obligatory title song.

Red Racer

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The 2021 Formula 1 season is about to begin, in which some tiny sports car manufacturers (Aston Martin, Alpine, McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari) will fight over second place behind Mercedes-AMG.

Of course for three of the five teams above, it’s literally just the brand name stuck on the side of the car, which the team itself has nothing whatsoever to do with. Which might be part of the problem.

We’d go back to the more interesting (and sponsorship free) old days, where manufacturers built the cars they raced and the rules were lax enough to allow them to make what they were good at.

Regular bloggee Tim Henderson is enabling the time travel, and there’s more to see of his ‘Vintage Formula 1’ creation via the album of the same name by clicking here.

Hot Rov

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We are, as has been well documented here, completely useless at blogging sci-fi. However this sci-fi creation is also a hot rod! Which means that today we’re useless at blogging hot rods too. Thanks TFDesigns.

There’s more to see of TFDesigns (aka Frost)’s Neo-Classic Space ‘RoverRod’ on Flickr, where a wide range of other Febrovery creations can also be found. Click the link above to make the jump.

Small-Scale Sixties Sunday

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We had a three-way Elf fight here at TLCB Towers today, as a trio of intrepid internet investigators returned with three sixties classics. This inevitably led to a fight over whose was best, but as all three are being blogged they’re all winners, much a like a pre-school sports day.

The first of today’s small-scale replicas is 1968 Mercury Cougar, in a rather fetching turquoise. Regular bloggee Jonathan Elliott is the builder and there’s more to see at his photostream.

Our second sixties classic is rather more exotic, being the first miid-engined supercar and arguably Lamborghini’s finest hour, the magnificent Miura. Moritz Ziegler is the builder behind this excellent orange Speed Champions recreation and there’s more to see at the link.

The final car in today’s trio steps down from Speed Champions to Town scale, yet somehow manages to be even more detailed.

Built by 1saac W, this brilliant late ’50s to early ’60s Nash Metropolitan is a refinement of a previously blogged build, enhanced with some clever chrome stickerage and really rather clever roof design.

There’s more to see of 1saac’s updated Nash via the link above, plus you can see the appearance of the original, which includes the backstory of this unusual car, by clicking here.