Cyber Monday

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It’s Monday, and it’s cybery here at TLCB for some reason. Perhaps the title would’ve worked about three weeks ago…

On to the models! With much talk in the car world about converting classic cars to EV powertrains, we hope this is the next logical step.

Previous bloggee Sergio Batista has heavily modified the rather lovely 75895 Speed Champions Porsche 911 Turbo set to become something rather more… hoverable. What? – It’s a word!

Sergio’s ‘Porsche 911 2073’ means we only have 52 years to wait, when this TLCB Staffer will be the approximate age that you need to be to become president.

Join us in hope of the hovercar revolution at Sergio’s photostream – click here to float on over and take a closer look!

Today’s second cyberpunk creation also has its roots in an official LEGO set, this time from waaaay back in 1971, when Joe Biden was still cheating in law school and Donald Trump was dodging military service.

LEGO were being far more productive however, releasing the ace 605 Taxi set. All seventeen pieces of it.

Constructed from rather more is Jonathan Elliott‘s 605 Redux, a wonderful cyberpunk homage to the fifty-year-old original. Back in 1971 they probably thought that taxis would look like Jonathan’s in 2021, but instead we got the Prius. Which looks like a melted iron.

Oh well, we can dream of the shape of things to come at Jonathan’s photostream, and you can join us there hailing the taxi of the future via the link above.

I Feel the Need…

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The sad state of cinema at the moment means that the only films that currently get made are sequels, prequels, re-boots, or all three, as part of some ‘cinematic universe’ bollocks (we’re looking at you Marvel).

Cue next year’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ release, an unnecessary sequel arriving some three decades after the (magnificent) ’80s original. Still, at least it provides the opportunity for a repeat homo-erotic beach volleyball scene to an astoundingly suggestive soundtrack.

More interesting to TLCB than yet another movie reboot is this Maverick; the Can-Am Maverick RS, a wild off-road buggy built to take on the Dakar Rally.

Well, this one hasn’t been built to take on the Dakar Rally, being rather smaller. And constructed from Lego. But it is still more interesting.

Martin Vala is the builder behind it, and he’s recreated the Can-Am Maverick RS in wonderful detail, right down to the steering and suspension, which are brick-built from System pieces.

Authentic decals and stunning presentation complete the build, and there’s lots more to see of Martin’s Maverick at his ‘Maverick RS’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to feel the need for speed.

What’s in a Name?

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This is the Mitsubishi Pajero. Except in Spanish-speaking countries, where it’s definitely not.

Nor is it in TLCB’s home nation, where ‘Pajero’ isn’t an exceptionally rude word, but where ‘Shogun’ just sounds cooler.

Anyway, whatever it’s called, this Lego recreation of the ’90s Pajero/Shogun/Montero by regular bloggee SP_LINEUP is rather excellent, and there’s more of it to see at his photostream.

Click the link above to take a look. Unless you’re Spanish.

Technic 42130 BMW M 1000 RR | Set Preview

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After being less than impressed with the first group of 2022 Technic sets, we were hoping something special was yet to be uncovered. And it has been!

This is the brand new 42130 Technic BMW M 1000 RR, the largest motorcycle set LEGO have ever made, and perhaps the largest scale ever used for a vehicle too, at an enormous 1:5.

So, the awkward bit; 42130 will cost over $200.

Which is a lot. But then the real BMW M 1000 RR costs around $30,000, so that astronomical figure for a motorcycle is rather authentic.

What upwards of $200 gets you is 1,920 pieces, including some splendid new wheels, windshield and brake parts, ultra-realistic and suitably M-Sport coloured farings, working steering, front and rear suspension, a three-speed gearbox, and a four-cylinder piston engine.

Two display stands and a black ’18+’ box (plus that hefty price tag) mark the 42130 Technic BMW M 1000 RR set out as part of LEGO’s recently created ‘adult’ product line, and if you consider yourself one of those you can get your hands on it early next year.

Despite the price, we just might…

Want a Lift?

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Lifted trucks, a favoured vehicle for a subset of the American populous that we mock regularly on these pages, are resolutely awful.

Even though the suspension is raised, the lowest point of the chassis (usually a differential) is unchanged, thus ground clearance remains exactly the same. Only now the handling, fuel economy, and refinement are worse.

The Lego Car Blog Elves of course, having very small brains indeed, absolutely love lifted trucks.

This one comes from JLiu15, and – despite it being much too slow to run any Elves over – the Elf that found it seems rather pleased.

Remote control all-wheel-drive, three-mode steering (front wheels, four wheels, and crab), a V6 piston engine, and – most notably – ludicrously lifted suspension all feature, and there’s lots more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to take a look.

Hydropneumatic Hovertaxi

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The Citroen DS (AKA the coolest car ever made) was a technological marvel. Launched way back in the mid-’50s, the DS was fitted with a clutchless gearbox, front-wheel-drive, cornering headlights, disc brakes, power steering, and – most amazingly – fully height adjustable, self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension that gave it an unfathomably incredible ride. The only way to improve upon it would be to literally float.

Cue Sergio Batista, whose cyberpunk Citroen DS (in Portuguese taxi livery) literally floats. Wonderful detailing and a beautifully recognisable shape make Sergio’s cyberpunk Citroen hovercar one of the coolest small scale cars we’ve ever featured. But of course it is, it’s a Citroen DS. Head to Sergio’s photostream to hail a hydropneumatic hovertaxi.

Discotheque

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Before unnecessary off-centre number plates and fake vents, the Land Rover Discovery looked like this. Which is infinitely better than the new one. Recreating the iconic ‘Disco 3’ is Jonathan Elliott, who has miniaturised it perfectly in Speed Champions form. Despite the Disco 3’s squareness, it’s actually not an easy thing to build well from LEGO, but Jonathan has nailed it. See more at the link.

Brown Rat

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TLCB likes rat rods. They’re effectively recycling on wheels. This Lego Ford-based rat comes from TLCB favourite _Tyler, who was inspired by another, much larger, Lego creation that featured here back in 2018. Head to Flickr to take a look.

Clever Classic Coupe

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You don’t need a bajillion bricks to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. OK, sometimes you do, but in contrast with today’s other post, here’s proof that we do like the small stuff too!

This lovely 1940s Mercury-esque classic car comes from Versteinert of Flickr, who utilises some brilliant parts choices to up the detail despite the diminutive scale.

Ribbed tubes, grey-bananas, flex hoses, and pulley wheels all feature, and there’s more to see of Versteinert’s cleverly constructed classic coupe via the link above!

Building Big

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Really, really big.

The human in the above picture is Beat Felber, a Lego builder of gigantic proportions. His models we mean.

Surrounding Beat are ten spectacular fully remote controlled pieces of mining equipment, many of which have featured on these pages over the years, including the Komatsu D575A-3 Super Dozer, the Marathon LeTourneau L-1200 loader, the Marion 204-M Superfront cable-operated mining shovel, the Terex 33-19 Titan mining truck, and the astonishing Marion 5760 ‘The Mountaineer’ 2,750-ton mining shovel. 

Beat’s assembly is even larger and more impressive than your Dad’s collection of speciality magazines, and we suspect it makes Beat more than capable of tunnelling underneath his own house should he choose to.

Head to Beat’s photostream via the first link for a closer look at the jaw-dropping image above, and you can check out some of the individual models pictured within it via the links in this post or via the search function on this page.

My Other Car’s a Pick-Up

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LEGO have released a whole host of Porsche 911 sets in recent times, including the enormous 42056 Technic 911 GT3 RS, the 42096 Technic 911 RSR, the 10295 Creator 911 and the 75895 Speed Champions 911 Turbo 3.0.

But what if you own the 10290 Creator Classic Pick-Up set instead of any of the above, and you’d like to join the 911 club too? Ex-LEGO set designer Nathanael Kuipers has the answer!

This lovely early Porsche 911 is built only from the pieces found within the 10290 set, and – save for a few mis-coloured hinges – you’d never know there was a strict parts limitation.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see on Flickr by clicking here.

Smushed

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It’s been a while since the last Elven smushing event. This is partly because TLCB Elves are marginally wiser these days, after years of running one another over, but mostly it’s because they hadn’t found a suitable vehicle. They did today.

This Technic Baja truck comes from Teo LEGO Technic, and it was discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks.

Lightweight, with independent front and live axle rear suspension, return-to-centre steering, and – importantly – Buggy Motor propulsion with BuWizz power, Teo’s Baja truck is a fast, agile, and easily capable of bouncing over a moderate number of fleeing TLCB Elves.

Which is of course exactly what happened when the Elf that found it returned to TLCB Towers.

We now have to remember the optimum sequence of cleaning products for the removal Elf blood and vomit from the office carpet, so whilst we do that you can check out more of Teo’s truck at both the Eurobricks discussion forum and the extensive Brickshelf gallery. Click the links above to make the jump.

LEGO Technic 2022 | Set Previews! (Pt.1)

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It’s that time of year again! Yup, this year’s select group of Eleven ‘volunteers’ – fired over The LEGO Company’s perimeter wall by way of the office catapult – have started to return, and today we can share with you the first batch of their finds!

So here they are, the brand new for 2022 LEGO Technic sets (Part 1)…

42132 Chopper

We start at the smaller end of the Technic range with this, the rather lovely looking 42123 Chopper. Aimed at ages 7+ and with just 163 pieces, 42123 should make for an excellent pocket-money set, and we think it’s absolutely perfect.

In recent times many smaller Technic sets have been woefully lacking any Technicness whatsoever, but not 42123, which features steering, chain drive, and a miniature piston engine. It also looks great and there’s a B-Model too. Perhaps one of the best Technic starter sets in years.

42134 Monster Jam Megalodon

Aaaand cue the Pull-Backs, which have historically been utter garbage. However last years’ sets brought two Monster Jam licensed monster trucks to bedroom floors, and we thought they were rather good. They still had zero Technic functionality, but if you’re going to jump a Technic set over a book-based ramp it might as well be a monster truck.

Continuing the success of the 2021 Pull-Backs, LEGO are bringing another pair of Monster Jam trucks to the Technic line-up for 2022, the first being 42134 Megalodon. A good representation of the real truck, 42134 resembles a giant shark with wheels, and what’s not to like about that? 260 pieces, colourful stickers, a reasonable B-Model, and a pocket-money friendly price are all expected.

42135 El Toro Loco

El Toro Loco (the crazy bull) is 2022’s second Pull-Back, and whilst perhaps not quite as accurate to the real Monster Jam Truck as 42134, it still looks pretty good. And it’ll no doubt jump over a line of toy cars beautifully.

247 pieces, lots of stickerage, and a B-Model too make the continuing Monster Jam line of Pull-Backs the best of the genre by some margin. They may not be particularly Technicy, but you can’t fire any of the other LEGO sets into a group of unsuspecting Elves in quite the same way, and for that alone there’s merit.

42137 Formula E Porsche 99X Electric

Ah, this is awkward. After praising the Monster Jam monster trucks as the best Pull-Back sets, here’s er… another, better, Pull-Back set. Or is it?

The 42137 Formula E Porsche 99X is certainly a bigger, more complex set. With 422 pieces and aimed at ages 9+, the building experience will be more in-keeping with proper Technic sets, and it does looks fairly accurate – no doubt helped by the real-world racing sponsorship decals.

But should a 422-piece Technic set do nothing beyond being a Pull-Back? OK, there is a mechanism to release said motor once it’s been wound, but that’s it. No steering, no suspension, and – albeit realistically as this is a Formula E racer – no engine either.

What 42137 does offer is LEGO’s first attempt at augmented reality, in which the model can appear to be somewhere it’s not courtesy of an app.

Said app might be really cool in practice, but if the set using it has no other features, is it a Technic set at all? It’s a thumbs down from us.

42138 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

Wait, what? Another one? LEGO must be really pleased with their new augmented reality feature…

The final set in Part 1 of our 2022 Technic preview is yet another Pull-Back, and another Ford Mustang, following the Speed Champions and Creator sets from past years.

This time it’s the latest Shelby GT500 variant that gets reborn in LEGO form, and it does look rather epic, particularly in lime green with racing stripes (although the sticker rear lights are rather lazy).

What’s considerably less epic is the feature-count, which – like the 42137 Formula E Porsche 99X – is limited to one; a pull-back motor with a mechanical release.

The augmented reality app may well be awesome, but a near 550-piece Technic set with just one working feature seems very weak to us. Perhaps we’re just getting old.

So there you have it, Part 1 of the 2022 LEGO Technic line-up, a new augmented reality app, and all but one set being a Pull-Back. We’ll take that little chopper motorcycle…

Bah Humbug!

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Civilian Hummers are rubbish. Whether a lightly adapted military transport or a re-bodied Chevrolet Tahoe, they’re enjoyed principally by conspiracy-theorising, climate-change denying, ‘Freedom!’-shouting blancmanges. And TLCB Elves.

Hence why we have one here today, otherwise we’d have had an Elven riot to quash, and also – begrudgingly – it is absolutely brilliant.

Built by Michael217, this beautifully presented Hummer H1 features a Power Functions remote controlled 4×4 drivetrain and steering, all-wheel independent suspension, opening doors and hood, plus a highly detailed engine bay and interior, which is so realistic we half expected to see a gun rack and ‘MAGA’ flag.

An extensive gallery of images available to view at Michael’s ‘Hummer H1’ Bricksafe page, plus there’s more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Grab your ‘MAGA’ flag and storm the Capitol via the links above!

Racing Snake

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Early-’00s American cars are fat, badly built, inefficient, poor handling crap-boxes, and you’d have to be an idiot to like any of them.

This is an early-’00s Dodge Viper; a fat, badly built, inefficient, poor handling crap-box, and it’s one of our favourite cars ever.

Even more so in this configuration, the 2003 GTS-R endurance racer, as constructed to near-perfection in 1:14 scale by TLCB favourite SP_LINEUP.

SP has used over 1,300 pieces to recreate the iconic American racing car, including a beautifully detailed interior, engine bay, chassis bracing, brick-built drivetrain, and the spectacular GTS-R long-tail bodywork.

There’s more to see at SP’s photostream and you can make the jump to an early-’00s endurance race – and one of TLCB favourite cars ever (because we’re idiots) – via the link above.