Category Archives: Model Team

Oh My Gosh, It’s Oshkonoggin!

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We’re not sure if ‘Oshkonoggin’ cheese from the 1987 movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ is real, but gosh we hope it is.

SPOOKY MONKEY‘s ace Model Team trailer truck from the aforementioned comedy would be full the delicious hardened cow juice if it were (well, in brick form, which is probably less delicious), and there’s more to see of his homage to Steve Martin and the late John Candy’s chaotic road trip on Flickr.

Cut yourself a slice of classic movie cheese via the link above, whilst we raid TLCB fridge.

MAZter Builder

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Russia, and its puppet regime next door in Belarus, really know how to make a heavy duty off-road truck. It’s just a shame they’re currently using them for such evil.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian-made MAZ-537 8×8 military truck is a seriously impressive piece of equipment, and so too is gkurkowski‘s spectacular recently updated remote controlled Model Team version, which captures the real thing brilliantly.

A suite of Powered-Up components equip the model with an accurate 8×8 fully suspended drivetrain, along with a powered V12 piston engine underneath the detailed cab too.

An extensive gallery of images display the MAZ-537 on-location and in render, and you can take a closer look at this amazing machine on Brickshelf via the link above.

And finally, if you’d like to help the Ukrainians affected by the Russian MAZs like this one that have brought war to their home, please do take a look at the Disasters Emergency Committee, the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal and the UN Refugee Agency Appeal, where donations are desperately needed.

Anglo-French Relations

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The British and French don’t often collaborate. In fact over much of their history it’s been quite the opposite, with the two countries regularly trying to blow one another up.

These days (and post-Brexit) there’s just a simmering dislike that only manifests itself in sport and stealing one another’s scallops, but despite this there have been some notable (and remarkable) collaborations between the two nations.

The longest under-sea tunnel in the world, the world’s first supersonic airliner, and Kristin Scott-Thomas are all worthy partnerships, and back in the 1930s Britain and France worked together on cars too.

This is the Bugatti Type 41 Park Ward, a luxurious grand limousine from the golden era of coach-building.

Park Ward, better known for re-bodying Rolls Royces, created this beautifully opulent vehicle upon Bugatti’s fourth Type 41 (Royale) chassis for Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, a department store heir, in 1933.

Still to this day one of the largest cars ever built, the car now resides in a museum in France, where it’s worth more than all the scallops in the English channel.

Fortunately Flickr’s 1corn has created one that – at 1:25 scale – is rather more attainable, and there’s more to see of his wonderful brick-built Bugatti Type 41 at his photostream; Click the link above to take the Channel Tunnel and fight over some marine molluscs.

Nothing Happens at This Venue

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Aaand here it is. The blandest, most uninspiring, default vehicular category of the 2020s; the crossover SUV.

This is the Hyundai Venue, part of the Hyundai/Kia group SUV line-up that includes the Bayon, Kona, Tuscon, Sante Fe, Palisade, Niro, Sportage, Xceed, Soul, Stonic, Seltos, Sorento, Carnival, Telluride… and that’s before we even get to the electric ones.

Forget counting sheep, Korean crossovers work twice as well.

Here in TLCB’s home market small SUVs often include the jazziest of styling cues. Big wheels, contrast roofs, absurd LED lighting signatures – all in the hope of elevating a particular nameplate above the infinite sea of rival crossovers that are all also deploying big wheels, contrast roofs and absurd lighting signatures…

There is nothing more automotively bland, which makes the modern small crossover SUV the perfect choice for the current Festival of Mundanity competition.

Tim Inman is the creator of soporific Hyundai Venue pictured here, and a marvellous job he’s done too! A superbly detailed exterior, life-like interior, realistic engine, and four opening doors create an excellent brick-built version of one of the most insipid vehicles in existence, and we love it!

There’s more of the Venue to see at Tim’s photostream here, just don’t start counting the images whilst operating heavy machinery.

The Last Dragon

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We end the week with something rather special. Martin Vala has appeared here a few times with his incredible Dakar racers. This is apparently his final one, ‘The Last Dragon’, a phenomenal buggy concept deploying some of the finest Lego building techniques we have seen yet.

The spectacular exterior combines intricate Model Team and Technic, with butterfly doors opening to reveal an equally brilliant interior. The breathtaking detail continues to the brick-built V6 engine, accessible under a lifting engine cover, whilst underneath is a hybrid brick-built and functional Technic chassis and drivetrain, including working steering and suspension.

Martin has presented his build beautifully too, with fantastic lighting and editing making for some stunning imagery.

There’s loads more of Martin’s ‘Last Dragon’ to see at his Flickr album by clicking here, plus you can check out the other amazing Dakar racers that preceded it – both real-world and concept – along with the V6 engine in the middle of this one, at their individual Flickr albums via this link.

Poor Man’s Ferrari

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The second generation Toyota MR2 wowed the world when it arrived in the early 1990s. There was simply nothing more exotic looking for even twice the price, earning it the status as a ‘Poor man’s Ferrari’.

We’d say a ‘Sensible man’s Ferrari’ too, as – being a Toyota – the MR2 was infinitely better built (and – dare we say it – better engineered) than anything coming from Maranello, and the turbocharged version was even pretty quick.

After a period of ‘banger’ status, SW20 MR2s are rapidly becoming sought-after classics, and Daniel Helms (aka danielsmocs) is the lucky owner of one in real life.

Capturing his car in Lego, Daniel has recreated the second generation MR2 in brick form, complete with working pop-up headlights via a switch in the cabin, opening doors, front trunk, engine cover and luggage compartment, sliding seats, and removable ‘glass’ roof panels.

There’s much more of Daniel’s build to see at both his ‘Toyota MR2 (SW20)’ album on Flickr, and via the Eurobricks discussion forum. Join us and other poor men via the links!

It’s Not Easy Being Green

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Racing stripes and V8s are staple favourites here at The Lego Car Blog. Except within the current Festival of Mundanity competition of course. But this car isn’t mundane at all.

The Chevelle was Chevrolet’s mid-sized car in the ’60s and ’70s, built on GM’s ‘A-Body’ platform, and available with no less than eight V8 engines. And a pair of 6-cylinders, but we’re not interested in those.

Top of the tree was the SS, which had over 350bhp. And no steering, suspension or brakes, as was the fashion of American muscle cars of the time. Still, the racing stripes more than made up for that.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 1970s all-power-no-steering approach comes from previous bloggee Rolands Kirpis, and features opening doors, hood and trunk, a realistic V8 engine, and beautiful be-striped dark green bodywork. Which – considering how exceptionally rare dark green LEGO pieces are – must’ve been a proper faff. Apparently one part was $20 alone!

Further images are available and you can take a look via Rolands’ ‘Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970’ album here, where a link to instructions will also appear soon. Maybe don’t try build it in green though…

Fleetwood Brick

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Not entered into TLCB and BrickNerd’s Festival of Mundanity contest, but gosh would it do well it if it were, is Michael217’s magnificent Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.

The height of ’90s crappy Americana, the Fleetwood was a near six metre long, two ton barge propelled by a 5.7 litre V8 with less power than a Parish Council.

We love rubbish cars like this here at The Lego Car Blog, because… well, we’re poorly engineered, badly steered, and shoddily built too.

Despite both TLCB and the ’90s Cadillac Fleetwood sharing these characteristics, Michael217’s wonderful Model Team recreation certainly doesn’t. Both beautifully made and presented, Michael’s model captures the enormous boxy Brougham brilliantly, with a superbly realistic engine bay and interior too.

All four doors open, as do the trunk and hood, there’s independent suspension (which is likely considerably better than that used by the real thing), plus full remote control drive and steering courtesy of twin L Motors and a Servo.

It’s a glorious build and one that’s definitely worth a closer look; head to the Eurobricks discussion forum or Michael217’s ‘Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham’ album at Bricksafe for all the imagery.

Bored in ’64

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These days a cream station wagon would be a rather interesting vehicular sight, surrounded by a sea of grey SUVs. Back in ’60s America however, and they were the byword for boring.

Even the name of this one was uninspired. American car companies are usually quite good at exciting names, but – whilst this would eventually be called the ‘Nova’ – to begin with it was simply known as the ‘Chevy II’, which is almost Sovietly insipid.

Flickr’s Tim Inman is the builder behind this marvellous Model Team recreation of the Chevrolet Chevy II station wagon – which he’s created for the ongoing Festival of Mundanity competition – complete with a beautifully built interior and exterior, opening doors, raising hood, and a life-like engine. Which appropriately is not the optional V8. That would be too interesting.

It’s a fabulous build – although we’re not sure how many mundane points it will earn seeing as today a Chevrolet Chevy II station wagon would be a rather cool sight – and there are lots more images available to see at Tim’s photostream via the link above.

If you’d like to enter your own boring build there are still several weeks of the contest left to go, and some awesome prizes on offer for the winners, with Tim entering into both the Vehicle and Object categories. His object entry might just be the most default and uninspired item in the history of mankind too. Excellent!

Excellent Erection

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Unlike Vladimir Putin, Dawid Boczek has a most excellent erection.

This is his spectacular Liebherr LTM 1070 4.2 mobile crane, a 7,000 piece, nine motor masterpiece with a frankly huge boom. Unlike Vladimir Putin.

Those nine motors power everything from the remote control eight-wheel-drive and six-wheel-steering to the boom slewing, elevation, extension, winch and pneumatic outriggers, making it really very clever indeed. Unlike Vladimir Putin.

Dawid’s incredible creation also features a few mechanical functions too, including opening and lockable doors, and live axle suspension, meaning it’s both secure and stable when things get rough. Unlike Vladimir Putin.

There’s lots more of Dawid’s brilliantly-engineered build to see at both the Eurobricks forum and his ‘Liebherr LTM 1070’ album on Flickr – click the links above to get it up!

Also, Vladimir Putin has a tiny penis*.

*Facebook unpublished our Group on their platform without warning for stating in a blog post that we’ve received threats in the past when we’ve criticised Putin (we have), so screw ’em, we can say what we want now!

Accessibly Interesting

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Having just posted a hugely valuable exotic car built from another hugely valuable exotic car, you might be surprised to learn that at The Lego Car Blog, we rather prefer the ordinary. So much so we’re running a building competition in search of boring vehicles.

You see, it’s easy to make a squillion-dollar supercar that precisely eight people will buy, not drive, and park in a garage hoping it will one day be worth two-squillion dollars, but it’s much harder to make something hum-drum fun.

It’s even harder these days, when the only thing that sells are angry-looking crossover-SUVs with too much power and too little handling finesse, but back in the 1980s, a number of affordable, interesting, fun cars could be had from car manufacturers who today wouldn’t know fun if it ran them over.

Honda were one such company, who – at the peak of their engineering brilliance – created a small 2+2 front-wheel-drive coupe built from standard economy-car parts and powered by a dinky (but clever) 1.5 or 1.6 litre engine. And that was the ‘sports’ model, base versions had a 1.3!

The result was fabulous, and a car that was infinitely more fun to drive than a BMW X7M or whatever the hell they’re trying to pass off as as a ‘sports’ vehicle this week.

Flickr’s Mihail Rakovskiy has captured the humble CRX beautifully in Creator style, recreating its ’80s aesthetic brilliantly and including opening doors, tailgate and hood, a superb interior, and a realistic brick-built version of the little Honda 4-pot that powered it.

It’s a fantastic homage to a Honda’s proof that power and price are no match for cleverly engineered affordable fun, and there’s much more to see at Mihail’s ‘Honda CRX’ album via the link above.

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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Usually found on cars that are very much at the other end of the vehicular spectrum from the Stuttgart product they’re referencing, it’s certainly never a trade-up from the Porsche that wears the ‘My Other Car’s a Porsche’ bumper sticker. Except today that is.

Yes, this glorious Ford GT40 is constructed entirely from the pieces found within the LEGO 10295 Porsche 911 set, and whilst there aren’t many cars cooler than a ’70s Porsche 911 Turbo, the Ford GT40 is surely one of them.

Lego 10295 Ford GT40 B-Model

Built by TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber, this wonderful 10295 alternate includes as many functions as its donor set, including opening doors, hood and engine cover, plus working steering and a detailed interior too.

Best of all, if you own the 10295 set and fancy trading up to a GT40, Firas has created building instructions too.

There’s much more of Firas’ superb 10295 B-Model to see at his ‘Ford GT40 Mk1’ album on Flickr, and you can find instructions to build it yourself (plus many more alternate models besides) at Firas’ ace website by clicking here.

Big Red Truck

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Sometimes, and particularly if you’re a TLCB Elf, you just want to drive around in a big red truck. That’s what one of our smelly little workers is doing today, having found this beefy looking remote control truck courtesy of Berthil van Beek.

A suite of Powered-Up components equip the aforementioned ride with remote controlled steering, drive, fifth-wheel hitch and trailer legs. Not that there’s a trailer, which is probably a good thing as the Elf at the controls is crashing enough as it is.

There’s more to see on Flickr and you can do just via the link above.

Tranforma Porka

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Brilliant though the Porsche 911 is, it can be criticised for looking, well… almost exactly the same for the last six decades.

What lies underneath the repetitive exterior however, has evolved hugely over the years, with turbo-charging, all-wheel-drive, and soon even electrification packaged inside the iconic body shape.

And that’s sort of the point of the 911 we suppose; a myriad of different engines, drivetrains, and technologies united by a common exterior.

And that’s never been truer than with today’s creation; this epic G1 Transformers ‘Jazz’, a ginormous funky robot hidden completely within the official Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 set by the sheer force of Adrian Drake’s considerable building talent.

Using the 10295 set as a base, Adrian’s ‘Jazz’ Transformer unfurls out of it via a brain-busting manoeuvre of folds and hinges, all of which is unfathomable to the minds here at TLCB.

You can see if you can figure it out at Adrian’s photostream, where there’s more of his amazing creation to view; click these words to watch a Porsche 911 become a robot.

My Other Car’s a Pick-Up

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This quirky classic cabriolet is a Panhard Dyna Junior, a car about which we know absolutely nothing besides that it’s French. And therefore probably weird.

Built by previous bloggee monstermatou, this lovely ’50s two-seat convertible is constructed from the parts found within the LEGO 10290 Creator Expert Pickup Truck set, and like its donor set includes working steering, opening doors, hood and trunk.

There’s more of monstermatou’s excellent alternate to see at his photostream on Flickr; click the link above to head to ’50s France.