Category Archives: Model Team

My Other Bird is a Horse

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Nothing says ‘America’ like voter fraud apparently*. A close second however, is the Ford F-150 pick-up, especially in Raptor specification and with stars-and-stripes FORD lettering across the front.

This fantastic recreation of America’s favourite uprated off-road pick-up comes from Master MOCer and vehicle-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber, who has created it entirely from the parts found within the official 10265 Ford Mustang set.

Despite the limitations of its parts-base, Firas’ F-150 Raptor not only looks superb, it features working steering, opening doors, a functioning sunroof, a dropping tailgate, and a detailed engine underneath the opening hood.

There’s much more to see of Firas’ 10265 B-Model at his ‘Ford F150 Raptor’ album on Flickr, where around twenty stunning images are available to view.

You can also find building instructions for the Raptor available at Firas’ excellent new website Bricks Garage, where instructions for over a dozen of Firas’ builds are available for download, including a range of set alternates. Find out more here!

*Yes we are taking the piss.

Becoming Bacon

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… Don’t worry, TLCB will remain resolutely unChristmassy until December, but if some of the residents close to TLCB Towers are anything to go by, it’s already December 23rd.

Cue a tenuous link to today’s creation, a DAF FAC 3600 ATI 8×2 Space Cab livestock transport by regular bloggee Arian Janssens, which is quite a mouthful. Although that’s fitting, because so too is what it would transport.

Designed to take pigs from a life on the farm too, er… the sausage factory – and to segway back to the start of this post – is there any purpose more noble than to become a tasty Christmas snack and hasten the onset of heart disease and high cholesterol in glutenous holiday partygoers?

Exactly. These pigs are the heroes we need, and there’s more to see of their magnificent final-journey’s chariot on Flickr via the link.

Probably Pixellated Porsche

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We’re not 100% sure that this superb Porsche 911 Carrera GTS by 3D supercarBricks is a virtual build, but that’s why it can appear here – it looks that good. Opening doors, a detailed interior, and some rather cunning SNOTery are all present, and there’s more to see of 3D’s probably digital Porka on Flickr via the link above.

Green Light*

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This astonishing creation is a Peterbilt 389 quint-axle dump truck, and it comes from Master MOCer Dennis Glaasker aka BricksonWheels after four months of painstaking work.

That work included custom chroming hundreds of parts, the recreation of the Cummins X15 engine, MAC dump body and Hendrickson pusher axles, and the fitment of 120 Brickstuff LEDs.

Those LEDs make the truck look even more special at night, and you can see the complete image gallery including nighttime shots at Dennis’ ‘Peterbilt 389 (1:13)‘ album on Flickr. Click the second link in the text above to make the jump, and the first to read how Dennis creates spectacular models like this.

*Today’s title song.

White House Extraction

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With the U.S Presidential Election recounts being rejected or – more amusingly – undertaken and still delivering the same result, rumour has it that a vehicle like this has been spotted on its way to the White House ready to extract America’s incumbent Commander in Chief.

Seeing as he spends most of his time either Tweeting or playing golf we’re not sure why he’s so bothered, as he can definitely continue to do those exciting pastimes once retired, but it seems that hoisting Trump out through the Oval Office roof might be the only way to remove him.

Much to our entertainment we can re-enact this upcoming squatter removal fantasy here in TLCB Towers, despite being thousands of miles from Washington DC, thanks to Dawid Szmandra and this fully remote controlled Liebherr LTM 1250-5.1 mobile crane.

No less than seven Power Functions motors are hidden inside Dawid’s model, providing a huge array of remotely controlled functionality. Along with working drive, all five axles can steer; turning both in unison or in opposite directions front to rear, allowing it to both ‘crab’ and steer conventionally, whilst the enormous crane boom can rotate, elevate, and extend.

Combined with a working winch this meant we could lower the hook into various Elves’ cage and pluck the unsuspecting inhabitants out through the top, in much the same manner as we hope the U.S authorities will do on January 20th. They probably won’t drive an enraged dangling Trump to the toilet and drop him in it though…

Whilst we dream of that unlikely eventuality via a tenuous Elven simile you can check out more of Dawid’s superb Liebherr LTM 1250-5.1 crane at his Flickr album and on YouTube, where a link to building instructions is available too.

Lead Sled

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The Elves are happy today. Not only has one of their number found a shiny red hot rod, but there’s a scantily clad girl too. Cue Elven giggling. We have Master MOCer and previous bloggee Redfern1950s to thank for our sniggering workforce of mythical little turds, and his ’50s Mercury-based ‘lead sled’ built in his trademark style.

Smooth curves (the car, not the girl) and chrome embellishments (again…) complete the look, and there’s more to see of Red’s Lead Sled at his vehicle-packed photostream. Click the link above to head to Flickr for a closer look, but no giggling!

The Future’s Bleak

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The future of motoring is bleak. Cars will make zero noise, they’ll steer and brake automatically by law, travelling above the speed limit will be impossible thanks to GPS limiters, and on top of all that – if the video game Cyberpunk 2077 is accurate – they’ll look like this. Boo.

Sheo‘s ‘Economy Class Car’ from the aforementioned video game captures this miserable future superbly, with opening doors, a detailed interior (complete with a surely superfluous steering wheel), and an exterior design somewhere between a Bond Bug and a skip.

Visit 2077 at Sheo’s photostream via the link above, whilst we find videos of noisy V8s and pretend the inevitable isn’t happening.

My Other Car’s a Fiat

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LEGO’s brilliant 10265 Ford Mustang set has been turned into all sorts of B-Models by the enterprising online community. So too has the equally marvellous 10271 Fiat 500 set, but this is the first time one set has been used to create the vehicle from the other!

This excellent 1960s Ford Mustang fastback comes from Flickr’s Gerald Cacas, and it’s been built only from the parts found within the 10271 Fiat 500 set. Like the official LEGO version Gerald’s model includes opening doors, trunk and hood, under which there’s the option of fitting a gloriously oversized hood-protruding engine. Combine that with it being both yellow and adorned with racing stripes and you have a car almost made for TLCB Elves.

There’s more of the creation to see of Gerald’s Ford Mustang 10271 Alternate Build album, where you can also enquire about building instructions should you wish to convert your own 10271 Fiat into Ford’s iconic ’60s pony car.

Now if only someone could build a Fiat 500 from the 10265 Ford Mustang set to complete the circularity…

My Other Car’s a Fiat

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Fiat’s original 500 was small, very cheap, and designed to mobilise the the masses, with over 3.5 million built during a production run that lasted two decades. The beauty of LEGO of course, is that you can turn anything into anything, as published author Peter Blackert (aka Lego911) has proven with his beautiful 1935 Auburn 851 ‘Boat-Tail’ Speedster.

Produced for the super wealthy for just one year and in tiny numbers, the Auburn 851 Speedster is about as far removed from the diminutive Italian peoples’ car as it’s possible to get. With a 4.5 litre straight-eight (and an optional supercharger), the Auburn Speedster’s engine was nine times larger than the Fiat 500’s with four times as many cylinders, and provided it with a top speed double that of the Fiat.

However Peter’s wonderful replica of the Auburn 851 Speedster has more in common with the little 500 than it may appear, as it uses only the recycled parts from the official 10271 Creator Fiat 500 set in its construction, even repurposing the Fiat’s canvas sunroof to form the Auburn’s convertible top.

It’s a superbly diverse alternate and there’s lots more to see of Peter’s brilliant Auburn Boat-Tail B-Model at his photostream. Click the link above to turn your Fiat into something altogether more dashing!

Hungarocamion Budapest

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This superb RABA 2800/3300 truck, effectively a re-badged DAF, comes from previous bloggee Arian Janssens, who says these were common sights on European roads in the 1980s. Recreated in beautiful detail, Arian has constructed a RABA 2800/3300 complete with a ‘curtain side’ load area and an additional drawbar trailer, for hauling even more Hungarian exports. There’s lots more to see at Arian’s ‘RABA’ album on Flickr; take a look via the link above.

Bobber

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The Elves, under strict instructions to bring back a car, have brought back a motorbike. Sigh. Still, it is a rather lovely motorbike, being an Indian Bobber as built by previous bloggee Peter Schmid. There’s a working engine, steering and suspension and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link.

Stacking Votes

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This is a Toyota Stacker, or ‘Forklift Truck’ as it’s known here at TLCB, and it’s been built rather brilliantly in Model Team form by recent previous bloggee Andre Pinto.

As the U.S Election hangs on the postal votes yet to be counted, the ballots inside the containers carried by this forklift are off to the counting centre, where they could well decide the outcome. Or they could be heading for a river if Donald Trump has anything to do with it, claiming first that postal Republican votes were dumped there, and now – ironically – that we should cease counting and dump the uncounted postal votes.

Whoever ends up in the White House we’re glad we’re far, far away here in TLCB Towers.

There’s more to see of Andre’s excellent Toyota Stacker at both Flickr and Eurobricks. Open the containers and start counting via the links above.

Bike Shop

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Andre Pinto is the builder behind many of the motorbikes that have appeared here over the years, and he’s now built a workshop to house them. Complete with an impressive array of superbly detailed tools and equipment, including a ramp, compressor, pallet truck, tyre fitter, and – that workshop essential – a girly calendar, there’s more to see on both Flickr and Eurobricks. Get your bike serviced via the links.

Mr. Big Stuff*

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This enormous green and cream spiky looking arrangement is a Krone BigX 770 with an EasyCollect 600-2, and it is – if you’re a TLCB Elf – not something that you want to see at all.

Built by Michal Skorupka (aka Eric Trax), the Krone BigX and EasyCollect 600-2 are equipped with no less than three SBrick bluetooth controllers and nine Power Functions motors, providing the model with spectacularly life-like functions, all of which can be controlled remotely via a phone or – in this case – a Playstation controller.

Which is marvellous if you want to cut down some Lego corn, but considerably less so if you’re an Elf asleep on the floor as it enters the Cage Room.

It’s been a while since the last act of remotely controlled violence here at TLCB Towers, so the Elves were gradually becoming more complacent. This of course gave the Elf that discovered this creation a golden opportunity, which it seized by driving the Krone through the Elven Cage Room with the whirling EasyCollect 600-2 easily collecting its sleeping colleagues.

With XL Motor all-wheel-drive and Servo rear axle steering, Eric’s model is almost purpose-built for mashing the maximum number of sleeping Elves. A wide path of destruction was enabled by the deployable harvesting arms, each powered by Medium Motor, with the harvesting mechanism itself driven by an L Motor powered PTO, and another Medium Motor able to raise and lower the whole attachment to the optimum Elf-mangling height.

The Elf at the controls fulfilled its self-appointed Grim Reaper role admirably, with the BigX and EasyCollect only halted due to an Elven body-part jam in the mechanism, following which it fled the scene giggling maniacally.

We now have a lot of clearing up to do, including Elven first aid that may or may not include a few trips to ‘Elf Hospital‘, so whilst we get the Pritt Stick out and attempt to match Elven body parts with their owners you can check out all the details of Michal’s stunning creation on both Flickr and Eurobricks, plus you can watch the Krone BigX 770 and EasyCollect 600-2 in action below.

YouTube Video

*Today’s excellent title song.

Collection of Letters

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We’ve said it before, but Mercedes-Benz’s naming structure is about as interesting and imaginative as a Brothers Brick article on piece sorting. Still, tremendously dull names aside, the cars are quite good, and the AMG GT S is no exception.

Fitted with the AMG 4.0 twin-turbo V8 that powers all sorts of Mercedes-Benz products (plus a few Aston Martins), the AMG GT S is a quick and refined way to cross a country, plus it’s the Formula 1 safety car which is cool. Lennart Cort is the builder behind this one and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link.