Category Archives: Lego

America! F*ck Yeah!* (II)

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It’s an American double here at The Lego Car Blog! After today’s other post here’s one celebrating the best of what the USA has to offer; the C8 Corvette**. For most of its history the Corvette has been… er, Not Very Good, but the latest version is a properly good sports GT, with the ability to go around a corner and everything.

Pleased with this not insignificant step, Chevrolet were on the verge of taking on the big league of European sports cars, but their Corvette still lacked one key ingredient; its engine is in the wrong place.

Cue the brand new 2020 C8 Corvette, which – for the first time in the Corvette’s history (and pretty much America’s for that matter***) – has the engine in the middle. This could be a proper Porsche beater.

Following his brilliant Chevrolet Corvette C8 coupe featured here last year, Flickr’s Lasse Deleuran has now built the convertible version, and it looks fantastic! A beautifully replicated interior and a sort-of-working roof are our highlights, and there’s more to see of his 2020 Corvette C8 convertible at both the Eurobricks forum and his Flickr photostream – click the links to take a look!

*Today’s title song. Again.

**And the swivel chair of course.

***Before someone comments; the Ford GT40 was British. The Pontiac Fiero was American however, but it was crap.

America! F*ck Yeah!* (I)

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Today’s Lego creation is for those of you convinced that the robot apocalypse / zombie apocalypse / race war is definitely going to happen, but that it’s global warming that’s the hoax. You know who you are!

This Jeep Wrangler ‘Tactical’ has everything the conspiracy theorising nut job could wish for, including window protection, side-mounted gas cans, rock-sliders, many spotlights, and a very un-LEGO looking machine gun attached to a roof-mounted turret. That’ll show those climate protesters!

Built by Christian Cowgill there’s more to see at his photostream, including a standard-spec Wrangler for those of us not hoarding canned food and bottled water in the basement. Head to Flickr via the link above to prepare for the end times!

*Today’s title song. Of course.

Tragic Band*

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We’ve waited three days for our Elves to find something blog-worthy and then they bring back this…

‘This’ is Sheo.‘s ‘Tragic Band’, a collaborative build containing an Aeschylus, a Sophocles and a Euripides. With our vast knowledge of all things sci-fi we naturally know what each of these is and does, but we don’t want to write it here so as not to show up the other Lego sites.

It’s a stunning build though, with some exquisite attention to detail throughout each of the three sci-fi vehicles and to be found in the landscape too, and there’s more to see of Sheo.’s collaboration, including links to view each creation individually, via the hyperlink in the text above.

*There are a few bands we could use for today’s title song. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Badfinger are the obvious choices, but we’ll go with the tragically-lost Viola Beach.

More Robots in Disguise

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Alex Jones (aka Orion Pax)’s Transformers just keep coming! This has made the Elves very happy of course, as they now get to watch Transformers cartoons.

Following his previous appearances here at The Lego Car Blog in December and October of last year, Alex has constructed another swathe of transforming Autobot and Deception vehicles, from cranes and dump trucks to fighter jets and pick-ups. Each looks brilliant in both robot and vehicle modes, and can switch between the two by engineering so clever it makes our heads hurt.

We’re also re-featuring Alex’s amazing Optimus Prime build, as he’s now uploaded an image of the model in ‘roller base’ form, with more vehicles hidden inside!

You can see more of the awesome Optimus Prime build at Alex’s photostream, where you can also find the rest of his incredible Transformers back-catalogue. Click the link above to see more than meets the eye.

No School Like the Old School

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BMW’s M-cars have got ever more capable, and ever more silly. The latest M3 is phenomenal machine that is almost pointlessly over-powered. Still, it’s not an X6M so that’s worth celebrating.

Back in the 1980s BMW’s M-cars weren’t all about power though, as demonstrated by the first M3. The ‘E30’ series was only a four-cylinder and it only had around 200bhp, but it was small, light and agile, making about a billion times more fun than the current version. Which is why the values of E30 M3s have gone stratospheric.

Luckily SP_LINEUP has created a more attainable version, via his superb mildly modified 8-wide model, complete with opening doors and hood, and a roll cage inside the detailed interior. Head to Flickr via the link above to see more of SP’s brick-built recreation of the first – and best – M3 that BMW ever made.

Supercar of the ’70s

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If there’s one car that encapsulates supercars of the 1970s, it’s this one. The Lamborghini Countach was, well… basically un-drivable. No visibility, the widest tyres ever fitted to a production car, the world’s heaviest clutch, zero thought to driver ergonomics, and less power than a modern Mercedes-Benz A-Class…

And yet… look at it. Designed by Bertone in 1971 the Countach was produced from 1974 all the way until 1990, whereupon it was replaced by the Diablo, with some 1,800 units built over its sixteen year life. Later cars were ‘improved’ with the addition of wide arches, sills, and a mental rear wing (making the Countach as iconic in the ’80s as in the decade of its birth), but we prefer the early ones like this LP400.

Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott is the genius behind this 7-wide Speed Champions version, putting LEGO’s new canopy part to brilliant use here. In fact seeing as LEGO have a licence to make Lamborghini sets we think Jonathan’s LP400 would make an excellent addition to the official Speed Champions line-up from whence the canopy part came.

Head to Jonathan’s photostream via the link above if you like his Lamborghini as much as we do, where you can see more this model and his impressive back-catalogue of Speed Champions builds.

Atlantica

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Our favourite weird vehicle builder is back with another car straight from a ’70s sci-fi movie. This is Angka Utama‘s ‘Atlantica’ and just look at those seats! Built in 8-studs wide, with a lifting engine cover and a full width light bar (now the default feature on any new car), there’s more to see at his photostream. Click the link above to take a look.

Do Not Point at Ukrainian Airliner

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We round out today’s posts with a DAF truck towing a giant implement of death. Thanks Ralph Savelsberg. It is a brilliant model though, recently updated with a newly built terrain base upon which the Dutch military’s missile launcher is firing at… er, we have no idea. Have the Dutch ever fired at anything?

Which is unlike Iran of course, who last week fired upon an airliner full of their own citizens thanks to a twitchy trigger finger mistake. Iran’s accidental downing of flight PS752 takes the number of deaths following the murder of Qasem Soleimani by American drone from ten to almost two hundred, with another fifty killed during a stampede at his funeral.

Well this has all got a bit bleak. You can see more of Ralph’s superb Dutch Patriot Missile Launcher at his photostream via the link above, we’ll return soon with something a bit chirpier, and until then here’s that video of a woman in a Wookie mask.

Trained Eye

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Today’s creation probably goes a bit beyond what many of us think of when building with LEGO. Newcomer Britishbricks’ beautiful LNER Class P2 steam locomotive is almost entirely wrapped in custom vinyl, from the bespoke wheels to the smokebox, with many parts coloured or – look away purists – cut, in order to replicate the real locomotive as accurately as possible.

Whilst not to everyone’s tastes Bristishbricks’ creation shows what is possible in pursuit of perfection, and you can view an insight into how this model was made via his LNER Class P2 ‘Prince of Wales’ album on Flickr, which not only shows the finished locomotive that you see here but also the digital and pre-wrapped steps along the way.

Flying Dolphin

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The Lego Car Blog Elves have never met a dolphin, and thus they have little knowledge of what one looks like. The naming department of Eurocopter must only have had a loose idea too, because the clever aquatic mammals definitely don’t have rotors. Still, we suppose the barracuda doesn’t have wheels and that provided a cool car name for Plymouth.

The Eurocopter HH-65 does have a sort-of-dolphinish nose though, recreated here in superb detail by Robson M of Flickr. As well as the nose Robson has successfully replicated the Dolphin’s complex tail rotor, fitted a complete interior (with neat sliding door too), and has enhanced the accuracy with some excellent custom decals.

There’s more to see of Robson’s wonderfully realistic Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin at his photostream – click the link above to watch it do a backflip for some fish.

You Say Tomato, I Say Yamato

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This is a Toyota Quick Delivery Hybrid, as used by Japan’s ‘Yamato’ delivery company. Plus there are some monks for some reason*.

Built by TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg, the Quick Delivery (it does what it says on the tin we suppose!) is not our usual fodder, but it’s a most excellent build. Ralph’s trademark blend of superb techniques have allowed him to recreate the odd asymmetric Toyota brilliantly, including its sliding cab doors and a fully racked cargo area.

There’s more to see of Ralph’s Yamato-liveried Toyota Quick Delivery Hybrid on Flickr via the link above, you can hear today’s title song by clicking these words, and you can find out what that *asterisk is referring to by clicking here.

Bore-mula One

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Will the 2020 Formula 1 season be less dull than the last few that have proceeded it? We think it’s about as likely as Lewis Hamilton making it a year without using ‘#blessed’, but we can dream.

We have to admit that Formula 1 is – like quantum mechanics – mightily impressive, but like the aforementioned physical theory, impressiveness does not necessarily equal entertainment. Until Formula 1 relaxes the rules a bit and stops awarding Grand Prix’s to car parks in the desert with no grass roots motorsport whatsoever, we suspect its impressiveness will continue to go unnoticed by many.

Which is a shame, because the engineering behind the current cars is pretty spectacular. The best of the bunch is of course team Mercedes-AMG, and their ridiculously-named ‘Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+’. Which is a moniker that sort of sums the whole sport up really.

Anyway, this neat replica of Mercedes-AMG’s 2019 title-winning Formula 1 car comes from previous bloggee Noah L, who has recreated it beautifully in Lego form. There’s more to see at Noah’s photostream where a link to instructions can also be found; take a look via the link above, whilst we run an office sweepstake on how long it is before Lewis uses #blessed to caption a picture of him in his boxers.

‘Peacemaker’

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Is there a more ironically named aircraft than this? The Corvair B-36 ‘Peacemaker’ was introduced in 1948 as an intercontinental strategic nuclear bomber, originally conceived to bomb Germany from the U.S should Britain fall during the Second World War.

With the largest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built (a truly enormous 230ft), the B-36 could travel for 10,000 miles carrying a nearly 40,000kg payload and is still the largest mass-produced piston engined aircraft in history, a title it will likely always hold.

Those piston engines were often not sufficient however, and four turbojets were later added to help the giant bomber get airborne. They didn’t help enough though, and the arrival of the jet age meant the Peacemaker was phased out just ten years after its introduction, replaced by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress with all bar five of the nearly four-hundred aircraft built scrapped.

This amazing recreation of the short-lived yet still slightly terrifying nuclear-carrying monstrosity is the work of previous bloggee BigPlanes, whose magnificent Boeing 747 Air Force One appeared here last week. BigPlanes’ astonishing B-36D measures 6ft across, includes a complete mini-figure scale cockpit, and features functioning bomb bays, and there’s loads more to see at Big’s photostream via the link above.

One Man Went To Hoe

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This slice of yellow brilliance was discovered by one our Elves on Flickr today, and – whilst we know it’s early in the year – for a model of this size this is going to take some beating!

Damian Z aka Thietmaier of Flickr is the builder behind this utterly brilliant Caterpillar 432E backhoe, which not only looks about a billion times bigger than it really is, it kinda functions too.

A huge variety of ingenious building techniques have been deployed to enable the Caterpillar’s buckets to be as positionable as those fitted to the real thing, and you can see all of the images at Damian’s Caterpillar 432E album by clicking here whilst we congratulate ourselves on making it the entire way through a post about hoeing without mentioning your Mom.

Damn.

Godzilla’s Return

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Nissan have joined LEGO’s awesome Speed Champions line-up for 2020 with a set that’s a bit… stickery. The official 76896 Nissa GT-R NISMO set will no doubt fly off the shelves, seeing as seven-year-olds a) love the GT-R and b) love stickers, but we’re not sure that using decals for even basic shapes such as headlights is really the point of LEGO. Flickr’s Simon Przepiorka (now known by SP_LINEUP) agrees, and as such has created his own 1:24 scale R35 GT-R with bricks* rather than sticky pictures. Matching LEGO’s own 8-stud wide Speed Champions sets, Simon’s Lego Godzilla looks far more appealing than the one you can buy, and you can take a closer look at his photostream via the link above.

*Save for a red pin-stripe and the fact that the images look suspiciously digital…