First featured here a year ago, Jeroen Ottens’ beautiful Technic interpretation of Marco Van Overbeeke’s spectacular design concept had us all wishing the car was real. It still isn’t, but Jeroen has refined his creation adding these stunning new images to his ‘Il Toro Azzurro’ album. The name may have changed but the car is if anything even more gorgeous to look at, with Jeroen’s model including four-wheel steering, a V10 engine, working gearbox, and independent suspension. There’s more to see of both the original and new images at Jeroen’s ‘Il Torro Azzurro’ album on Flickr – click the link to take a look.
TLCB Elves are all making ‘NEE-NAW’ noises today, which isn’t annoying at all. The cause is this, ilya_laushkin‘s incredible MAZ-7313-AA60 8×8 airport fire truck. Catchily-named it isn’t, but masterfully-engineered it is, with eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, fully independent suspension (via twenty-six shock absorbers!), LED lighting, and bluetooth remote control courtesy of two SBricks. There’s much more of ilya’s amazing MAZ-7313 to see on Flickr, including some shots alongside the real thing. Click the link above to make the jump.
Porsche 911s are everywhere in the car scene, so it’s apt that it’s the car of choice for Lego builders too. Having published our first ‘Powered-Up’ creation utilising LEGO’s new bluetooth components yesterday – a classic Porsche 911 – here’s another ‘Powered-Up’ equipped model, a… er, classic Porsche 911.
Flukey similarities aside, it’s a mega build by previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Mahjqa, who has deployed LEGO’s new components to great effect in his ’80s ‘whale tail’ Porsche.
LED lights feature alongside the bluetooth-controlled drive and steering and there’s more to see of Mahjqa’s build at both his Flickr photostream and the Eurobricks forum.
LEGO have finally entered the bluetooth-controlled era with their new Control+ app and ‘Powered-Up’ sets, such as the 42109 Top Gear Rally Car revealed here last year.
Taking the new electrics from the 42109 set, Eurobricks’ apachaihapachai has re-fitted them in excellent classic Porsche 911, giving his model remote control drive and steering via bluetooth. Head to the Eurobricks forum via the link above to see all the images and join the discussion.
LEGO enormous 42078 Technic Mack Anthem set both impressed and infuriated us in equal measure when we reviewed it here last year. One of the set’s major plus points though is the huge quantity and variety of parts included, making it a superb acquisition for builders looking to expand their brick collection. Or build a C-Model…
This is mpj’s Volvo 8×4 crane truck C-Model (so called because the set already includes instructions for a rather nice B-Model), built entirely from the parts found within the 42078 Mack Anthem set – although with a few new stickers added.
Volvo Trucks own Mack Trucks (but not Volvo Cars weirdly) so there is a neat link between mpj’s model and the truck from the set. Like the original, mpj’s build features purely mechanical functions, with the outriggers, crane rotation, three-stage boom, and two-axle steering all controlled by hand.
The design also leaves around 1,000 of the 42078 set’s 2,500 parts unused, so there’s plenty left over to create all sorts of items for the Volvo’s flatbed.
There’s more to see of mpj’s excellent C-Model at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a link to instructions should you wish to turn your own Mack Anthem into a Volvo 8×4 crane truck for yourself. Take a look via the link above, and you can read our review of the original 42078 Technic set by clicking on the first link in the text.
Batman may have been a bit… camper back in the ’60s, but Adam West was considerably more violent, at least if this Technic recreation of the ’66 Batmobile is anything to go by. Created by previous bloggee James Tillson it features working steering, a flame afterburner, a rocket launcher, and a ‘chain slicer’; basically a giant circular saw that appears out of the front like something from Robot Wars. That’ll leave a mark…
LEGO’s cool-looking 42110 Technic Land Rover Defender set – revealed here last year – has been on sale a while now, and we think it looks pretty good. However we’re less sure about real Defender which is yet to go on sale, and seeing a prototype on the roads of the UK hasn’t helped the cause. We couldn’t afford one anyway though – despite the vast fame and riches we have accrued through this website* – so we guess it’s not aimed at us.
For those in our camp of not really knowing who the new land Rover Defender is aimed at, and maybe preferring something a little more authentic, Flickr’s Milan aka grohl might have the answer.
This marvellous looking ‘stadium truck’ complete with working suspension, four-wheel-drive, a three-speed sequential gearbox, steering, and a V8 engine has been built solely from the parts found within the 42110 Technic Land Rover Defender set, allowing you to make something with a little more off-road pedigree should the new Defender turn out to be just another posh SUV for well-healed city-dwellers.
Milan has produced video instructions for his 42110 ‘B-Model’ too, so if you own the Technic Land Rover Defender set and the real car turns out to be more ‘organic vanilla latte please’ than ‘dude, let’s abseil down this mountain’, you can turn your Defender into a stadium truck yourself.
There’s more to see of Milan’s 42110 B-Model on Flickr, where full details and the all-important link to instructions can also be found. Click the link above to take a look.
2019’s excellent and surprisingly moving film about the development of the Ford GT40 and the amazing men behind it was a joy to watch last year. Whilst the film did gloss over the fact that car isn’t really American at all, it did pay tribute to the unsung hero of its creation; Englishman Ken Miles, who was tragically killed during testing just a few short months after winning Le Mans.
The GT40 would go on to win the event multiple times and achieved success in numerous endurance races around the world during the 1960s. Built by previous bloggee James Tillson, this particular GT40 finished in second place at the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, and has been recreated superbly in both digital and Technic-brick forms.
James’ GT40 features all-wheel independent suspension, a working V8 engine hooked up to a four-speed gearbox, functioning steering, and an opening clamshell front and rear. There’s more to see of James’ build in both digital and real-brick forms on Flickr, plus you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking these words, where there are also instructions available.
This is the ‘Hoonitruck’, Ken Block’s ridiculously powerful all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo Ecoboost V6-engined classic Ford F-150 pick-up truck, and it’s glorious. You might now be expecting us to say ‘well, this one isn’t obviously, this is Lego…’ but we won’t, because this really is ridiculously powerful, all-wheel-drive, and comes with with a twin-turbo V6.
A pair of third-party BuWizz bluetooth batteries delivery up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own system, with each hooked up to its own Technic Buggy Motor, the most powerful motor that LEGO have ever produced.
The result is… well something that a Lego model shouldn’t really be capable of, and thankfully Lachlan has fitted fully independent suspension and all-wheel-drive to try to manage that power.
The model also features a complete (and superbly accurate) exterior wrap courtesy of fellow previous bloggee Jaap Technic, plus a wealth of chromed parts via Bubul, and – to pre-emptively answer the question we’re sure to be asked – Lachlan has a habit of making instructions for his creations available too, so keep an eye out for the arrival a link.
In the meantime there’s much more of Lachlan’s spectacular build to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, plus you can watch what all-wheel-drive and eight times the power can do via the video below…
A song about gender fluidity way ahead of its time, and also a seriously cool British race engineering firm that built pretty much everything from the 1960s all the way up to 2012, and whose remnants now form much of the Haas Formula 1 team. This was one of their later creations, the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1 endurance racer from 2008.
This spectacular Technic recreation of the mad Le Mans prototype comes from Leviathan / Nico Lego of Flickr, and it’s a properly brilliant Technic Supercar. With a working V12 engine, double clutch gearbox, in-board pushrod suspension, working steering, and superb swooping bodywork it’s a model that’s well worth a closer look. Around thirty high-quality images are available to view at Leviathan’s Aston Martin Lola LMP1 Flickr album – click the link above to make the jump.
This is a BRDM-2, which might sound like something from your Mom’s internet browser history, but is in fact an amphibious armoured car built by the USSR between 1962 and 1989, and which is still in production in Poland today. Powered by a 140bhp GAZ V8 the BRDM-2 is capable of around 60mph on roads and a heady 6mph on water, when the engine drives a water-jet.
Like the MiG-29 we featured here earlier in the week the BRDM-2 was exported extensively, and is now in use on both sides of some conflicts, most recently between Russia and Ukraine.
This marvellous Technic recreation of one the Soviet Union’s most interesting vehicles was discovered by one of our Elves on Eurorbricks. Built by newcomer Danifill it packs in all the working functions of the real BRDM-2, besides the ability to float.
Two Power Functions XL motors deliver power to the four-wheel-drive system whilst an L motor drives the steering. All wheels are suspended, there are LED lights front and rear, and turret rotation is motorised too, with a third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery delivering eight times the power of LEGO’s own system plus bluetooth remote control.
There’s more to see of Danifill’s brilliant BRDM-2 build at the Eurobricks forum where you can also find a link to a video of the model in action. Click the link above to head back to the USSR.
Some things are better left alone. Any forum on Mumsnet for example. The comments section of the Daily Mail website. Your Mom’s ‘Special Friends’ chest. However the LEGO Technic 8081 ‘Extreme Cruiser’ set is not one of them.
Reviewed here at The Lego Car Blog by reader Thirdwigg a few years ago, he noted that the 8081 set “taunts you to be creative. It screams at you to improve it; to make it better, and it gives you plenty of the space and a great structure to do so.” Which is handy because 8081 is… well, not particularly good.
Not so this version though. Taking his own advice, Thirdwigg as fully repurposed the decidedly average 8081 Extreme Cruiser set into this most excellent Land Rover Defender 110 style off-roader, complete with four-wheel-drive (which the original set didn’t have), a V8 engine (which the original set didn’t have either), working suspension and steering (which it did), and huge Fischertechnic tyres (which it definitely didn’t).
The result looks marvellous and there’s more to see of Thridwigg’s 8081-inspired 4×4 at both his Flickr photostream and the Eurobricks discussion forum (which, unlike Mumsnet, is forum which won’t leave you terrified for the future of humanity).
After years of blogging Star Wars creations we’re pretty good at understanding the franchise now. For example we know that this jolly Jedi is off to the beach aboard his hoverbike, where he’ll no doubt use his lite sword to cook up an awesome barbecue for his friends in the Trade Alliance. We have previous bloggee ianying616 to thank for allowing us to show off our immense Star Wars knowledge and there’s more to see of his Technic Jedi Hoverbike at his photostream – click the link above to check it out.
Remember when Instagram wasn’t just another arm of Facebook filled with ‘influencers’ pouting, adverts for cheaply made clothing, and ‘#no filter’ tags added to pictures that have clearly had a filter placed on them?
Yup, there was a time when the colossus of social media used to be a fairly rubbish app that simply turned pictures slightly brown. No, we have no idea why either, but it clearly worked, seeing as the company is now valued at over $100 billion. That’s Dr. Evil money.
That allows us to segway neatly onto this creation, which definitely has an old-school Instagram vibe about it. František Hajdekr is the builder behind this brown bike and there’s more to see of his model on Flickr. Click the link above to head back to your phone pictures sometime in 2011.
LEGO’s excellent Power Functions motors are found in a pretty much every Technic creation that this site features these days. There’s nothing wrong that of course, they add great play value and the Elves can use creations equipped with them to run one another over.
However we do still like good old-fashioned mechanical functions, and not just because it means we don’t have to clean TLCB Towers of squashed Elves.
This is Thirdwigg‘s Iveco skip truck, a neat mid-size Technic creation packed with working functions, all of which are powered by the human finger. Working steering, a piston engine under the tilting cab, rear stabilising legs, and a linear actuator operated skip hoist are all present, and you can see more on Flickr via the link above.
