Category Archives: Lego

Ban the Booze

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It’s been a full century since the United States’ prohibition era, a time in which you could own a rifle but not drink a glass of wine. Still, if that sounds mad today, you can still own a rifle but you can’t eat a Kinder Egg.

Flickr’s Evancelt reimagines one of America’s weirdest decades with his marvellous array of 1920s mini-figures, but it’s the splendid vintage cars behind them that are of more interest to us.

There’s more to see at Evancelt’s photostream so grab a beer, Kinder Egg, rifle and head back to 1920s America via the link above.

American Achievement

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It’s the day after that Alaskan summit, in which presidents Trump and Putin held, to quote Trump, a “10 out of 10” discussion, in which they “got along great”. Except it achieved nothing at all. Still, we suppose Trump and Putin do have much in common, so that’s nice.

But when America does put its mind to Europe, it can achieve great things. Cue the Cadillac V-Series.R, General Motors’ entrant into the burgeoning WEC Hypercar class, and now a race winner sitting third in the sizeable top-tier class of the championship. Which bodes well for Cadillac’s forthcoming entry to Formula 1.

Built on an Italian Dallara chassis and run by the British Jota Sport team, it also proves that America can benefit from European expertise. We hope that might be remembered in round two of the Ukrainian peace talks that perhaps should include Ukraine.

Oh yes, the car! This superb Speed Champions replica of the Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R comes from prolific Le Mans Hypercar builder SFH_Bricks, who has captured the racer and its golden Hertz livery beautifully. Building instructions are available and you can head to the heart of European racing in an Italian-British-American collaboration via the link above.

Big Catch

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An estimated 100 million sharks are killed by humans every single year. That’s three sharks a second. Three quarters of these are due to the shark fin trade for the Chinese market (who seem to be the world leaders in animal cruelty), where the fins are cut off the live shark and the rest discarded back into the ocean. And if that sounds horrible, it’s because it is.

The remainder are mostly accidental catches from fishing, but fishing can of course be done right. Cue NikiFilik‘s lovely cartoon-esque fishing boat vignette, with one of the most gorgeous brick-built hulls we’ve seen in ages – just look at that line of studs! Niki’s boat has caught one shark, and if it’s all being eaten we’re totally cool with that.

Fish responsibly at Niki’s photostream via the link above, or click here to learn more about how we can protect or oceans.

The Horndog

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2025 is the year that Christian Horner finally departed Red Bull after managing the team through two decades, six World Championships, and a few compromising Whats App messages…

He is in fact the only Team Principal that Red Bull Racing have ever had, having led the team from its formation in 2005 right up until the pictures of his horndog he rather stupidly sent caught up with him.

The team continues on however, and their RB21 is still able to win races (at least in the hands of one of its drivers), despite the loss of another titan of the team, designer Adrian Newey (although his departure wasn’t due to sending inappropriate pictures of his wang to female staff).

Cue Y Akimeshi‘s excellent brick-built recreation of the Red Bull RB21, pictured within a street circuit vignette featuring some superb ‘Pirelli’ lettering. There’s more of the build to see on Flickr and you can send some compromising What App messages and undo a twenty year legacy via the link above.

Got Milk?

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Keko007 does. Well, his excellent DAF XF 530 Superspace and Willig Sanz Tunker trailer could actually be transporting one of any number of liquids, but it looks pretty milky to us. Pour it on your cereal at Keko’s photostream via the link above, although TLCB cannot be held responsible if it turns out to be industrial cleaner.

Splat!

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It’s been remarkably peaceful of late here at TLCB Towers. Elves have been finding creations, earning meal tokens, and barely inflicting extreme violence on one another at all. Which of course had to end at some point.

Cue this mighty Technic dune buggy by gyenesvi, which thundered into the office today, a jubilant Elf at the controls, and immediately flattened as many of our mythical workers as it could. Which with planetary hubs, remote control all-wheel drive courtesy of four third-party BuWizz motors, and monster suspension, was quite a lot.

Fortunately gyensvi’s buggy also has flaw in that after a particularly hard landing the steering can pop-out, which meant proceedings were halted when the Elf at the controls did indeed lose the ability to steer and crashed it forcefully into a potted plant before running away cackling maniacally.

There is still considerable cleaning up to do though, so whilst we administer some elven first-aid/disposal you can check out gyenesvi’s buggy at the Eurobricks forum (where a video and full details – including its steering shortcoming – can be found) plus you can find the complete image gallery on Bricksafe here.

Beep-Boop

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Yes we know we’re a car blog, but who doesn’t like whimsical beep-boop robots! This one is battling for the moon according to its maker, and you can see more of this primary-coloured contraption courtesy of Shannon Sproule via the link above!

This is the Self Preservation Society

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It’s 1969, career criminal Charlie Croker is out of prison, and he’s just learned that his friend has been murdered by the mafia whilst planning a $4 million gold heist. Charlie decides to continue the job left by his departed fellow thief, breaking back into prison to enlist the help of crime lord Mr. Bridger before heading to Italy with a convoy of fast cars, a converted coach, a minibus, a Land Rover, and three Mini Coopers.

What follows is the greatest movie car chase of them all, with the definitive cliff-hanger ending, and the vehicles from which Flickr’s FifthPixel has recreated brilliantly in brick!

His adapted Bedford VAL Harrington Legionnaire coach, Land Rover Series 2A Safari, and – the target of the whole operation – OM Furganato Sicurezza Bullion van beautifully encapsulate the period motors from the movie, plus he’s constructed the Ford Thames 400E minibus, Alfa Romeo Guilia police cars, and construction machinery used by the mafia to dispatch their foes too.

You can find FifthPixel’s entire ‘The Italian Job’ vehicular cast at their photostream; take a look via the link above plus you can click here for a few snippets from the film’s wonderful chase sequence.

MOCbashing

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Endlessly reusable, LEGO is all about taking something and turning it into something else. The Online Lego Community is filled with designs and techniques that can influence your own creations, with builder Austin Vail taking particular inspiration from TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg.

Using the ‘kitbashing’ approach (a method used by plastic modellers wherein they mix the components from multiple kits to create something new and unique), Austin has reverse-engineered several of Ralph’s builds (no “I need instructions” here!), before mixing various parts of them up to create something new, in this case a splendid gasser hot rod.

Portions of Ralph’s ZZ Top Eliminator, American Graffiti Deuce Coupe, and Volkswagen Beetle (the latter cleverly reversed so its front forms the rear) are all bashed together to create the whole, with the result paying both homage to its inspirer yet also being a distinctive creation in its own right.

There’s more to see of Austin’s gasser, including a description of how it was built, at his photostream. Take a look via the link above and maybe start MOCbashing for yourself!

Te-Ke

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The wonderful thing about the world is that it’s very big and its peoples like all sorts of different things. Which means that even the most niche of interests will exist somewhere.

Cue ‘Girls und Panzer’, a Japanese anime series in which high-school girls compete against one-another in World War II tanks. Because… um, well, the world is very big and its peoples like all sorts of different things.

Today’s creation captures a Type 97 ‘Te-ke’ tank from the anime series, having been faithfully recreated by Flickr’s Zat, and you can join in the tank-based school sports day at their photostream via the link.

A Virtual Triumph

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The Triumph 2000-series was, like so many British cars of the time, fantastic. Beautifully styled by Michelotti, powered by a range of smooth 6-cylinder engines, and with over 400,000 built in five countries, it was one of the finest mid-sized saloons of its era.

Which of course meant that British Leyland would go on screw it – and all of Triumph – up, as exemplified by the fact that its predecessor was a Standard and its successor a Rover. And if that makes no sense… you’re right, it doesn’t.

But let’s not get bogged down in the collapse of the British automotive industry, because back in the late-’60s and early-’70s it was still riding high, with the Triumph 2000-series a big part of that success.

This one is a 2500S estate, as superbly recreated in digital form by Lego Professional Peter Blackert (aka lego911). Alongside the excellent exterior the doors, tailgate and hood all open and there’s a detailed engine and interior too, with more to see of Peter’s virtual Triumph at his photostream. Take a look via the link whilst we fantasise about buying the real thing…

Gone Shoppin’

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What? This is a vehicle! Flickr’s Jonah Schultz makes his TLCB debut with one of the few vehicles that almost everyone reading this will have driven. And most probably crashed. Head to aisle seven via the link above and try to remember what you were sent there to get…

Every Day’s a School Day

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Of all the thousands vehicles that The Lego Car Blog has featured over the years, we’d bet this is the one that hits the most of you in the feels.

Created by Master MOCer and prolific vehicle builder Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist), this splendid mini-figure American school bus is so perfect we can practically hear the windows rattling and someone at the back getting wedgied.

There’s more of Ralph’s bus to see on Flickr and you can jump back to your childhood for a bumpy seatbelt-less ride to school via the link above!

In the Shadows

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Here around TLCB Towers the default vehicle of choice is a black-on-black SUV with a vanity plate. Because the British public have no imagination. But black-on-black can look awesome, as evidenced here by Flickr’s SFH_Bricks and this brilliant mid-’70s Porsche 911 Turbo, which is both constructed and presented in black. Photographing an all-black build can be a tricky exercise, but SFH has nailed it, placing his creation on a black background with clever highlighting, and you can join him in the shadows via the link above.

New Holland

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This is a New Holland T7.185, and it comes from previous bloggee Keko007 who has constructed it brilliantly from bricks. Blending Technic, System, and studs-not-on-top techniques, Keko’s New Holland is as detailed as models three times its size, with presentation to match the build quality too. It proves you don’t require a million pieces to create something wonderful (and blog-worthy), and you can head to Keko’s farm on Flickr to check it out via the link in the text above.