The Best LEGO Sets Reviewed by TLCB

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The Lego Car Blog has many interesting pages away from the main page. Ok, that’s not true. The Lego Car Blog has some interesting pages away from the main page. One of them is the Review Library, which – according to the wizards over at Brick Insights – now contains 108 reviews. Some of which are even written by you guys.

Nearly three quarters of the reviews in the Review Library are scored (we probably forgot the rest), with the average score being 7.8/10, which probably makes sense as LEGO sets are usually rather good and we tend to review sets we like (although not always). Technic is the most popular theme, with sixty-six sets reviewed so far, and fifteen sets have received a score above 9/10 (or 5 stars) so far, versus sixteen sets with a score of below 6.

So, with over a hundred reviews now published, which LEGO sets have earned a much coveted perfect score here at The Lego Car Blog? Read on to find out! Continue reading →

Go-Kart Redux

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Constructed for a Eurobricks contest, this is dazzz99‘s homage to the vintage 8842 Technic Go-Kart set, re-engineered using modern studless pieces, and with some rather lovely details too, including a radiator, oil filler cap, and air-filter attached to the working single-cylinder piston engine.

It’s an engine that’s far more appropriate than that found on original set too, which pre-dated LEGO’s purpose-built cylinder and piston parts and instead used an enormous brick-built mechanism that would’ve been larger than the driver. And probably killed them.

There’s more to see of dazzz’s lovely 8842 redux on Flickr via the link above, plus you can check out the contest in which it’s entered, the original 1980s Technic set that inspired it, and our review of a multitude of LEGO Technic Go-Kart sets via the respective links in the text.

Transport of Champions

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If storing all your Speed Champions models is tricky, take a look at The G Brix‘s solution! A previous bloggee here at TLCB with his excellent Speed Champions scale cars, G Brix has now constructed this superb car transporter truck to carry them, complete with opening tool storage, working lifts and ramps, and – perhaps most importantly – a glorious two-colour racing stripe reminiscent of classic Town LEGO sets. Click the link above to take a look at G Brix’s brilliant Transport of Champions.

Rainbow Rescue

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This year literally everything become rainbow coloured for a bit. Utah’s Bell 407 search and rescue helicopter was ahead of the curve though, already sporting a fantastic rainbow colour scheme that might just be the most difficult paint job to recreate in Lego bricks ever devised.

That didn’t stop Eurobricks’ droomangroup though, who has replicated the Utah Bell medevac helicopter in Model Team form, somehow managing to recreate the rainbow livery in bricks with such precision it’s made our heads hurt.

There’s more to see of drooman’s monumentally clever model at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find an image of the real Utah Bell 407 search and rescue unit for comparison. Click the link above to follow the rainbow.

Why Do Skodas Have Heated Rear Windows?

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To keep your hands warm when you’re pushing!

Skoda might produce some rather good (if fantastically dull) cars today, but it hasn’t always been that way. Prior to Volkswagen’s ownership, Skoda were, um… let’s just say ‘not highly regarded’, causing the Czech brand to become the butt of a million mostly-bad jokes.

Part of that unwanted reputation was due to this car, the 105/Estelle, built from 1976 to 1990.

Designed for poor quality Eastern European roads, the 105 had its engine in the back for better traction, and because the Soviet Union refused to let Skoda built it in a more modern front-engined front-wheel-drive configuration, as it would have been better than all the crap made elsewhere in the bloc. Communism literally preferred to build a worse car than to allow the inequality created by progress.

Quality was also woeful, even if the design was actually OK, but at least that meant is was consistent with the other Soviet Union products of the time.

Today though, the rear-engined rear-wheel-drive layout makes the Skoda 105/Estelle something of a curiosity, with a reasonable following that it probably wouldn’t enjoy if it had been built as Skoda originally intended.

This excellent (and very orange) Model Team replica of the Skoda 105 comes from Legostalgie of Flickr, who has captured the car in its rear-engined rubbishness wonderfully in brick form. A detailed interior, opening doors, front trunk, and engine cover all feature, and there’s lots more to see at Legostalgie’s Skoda 105 album.

Click the link above to view all of the ace imagery, and to warm your hands on the rear window.

The Future’s Bright…

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…Yellow. At least according to F@bz.

F@bz’s ‘Yamaha FY2’ motorbike is an intriguing interpretation of the future of two-wheeled transport, with a design loaded with some properly inventive parts usage.

Technic, System, and Bionicley/RoboRidery pieces have been deployed to wonderful effect and there’s more to see of F@bz’s creation on Flickr via the link.

Another McLaren

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McLaren have launched so many near-identical models over the last few years that we’d forgotten about this one. Which is ridiculous, as the P1 was the brand’s flagship hybrid hypercar  from 2013 to 2015.

Powered by McLaren’s familiar 3.8 litre twin- turbo V8 plus a 180bhp electric motor, the P1 produced a huge >900bhp and could reach a limited top speed of 217mph. It could also drive as a pure EV for… 6 miles. Which is pretty pointless.

Still, better that than no miles right? Er… no, probably not. Which might be one of the reasons we forgot about it.

Still, previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks has remembered the P1, recreating it superbly complete with opening butterfly doors and a deployable rear spoiler.

There’s more to see at 3D’s photostream via the link, and you can check out LEGO’s rather larger version of a recent McLaren by clicking here. It might well be different McLaren model, but they all look the same to us…

Hellraiser

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Purple is an interesting colour. It’s the best sweet in a box of Quality Street (that reference might not translate very well), the hue of a popular children’s TV dinosaur that – frankly – should stop bloody singing and just eat the children, and – more nerdily – it means you’ve set the fastest sector in a motor race. Despite these associations however, purple is not a popular choice for cars.

In the late ’00s Dodge changed that somewhat, with the arrival of their reborn Challenger, that not only brought the iconic muscle car back, it returned the gloriously-named ‘Hellraisin Purple’ to forecourts after about forty years.

Recreating the reincarnated Challenger, and the only colour you should consider owning a Challenger in, is Michael217, who has constructed this ace fully RC Model Team version of Dodge’s 00’s muscle car.

Remote control drive and steering, front and rear suspension, opening doors, hood, trunk and sunroof, and a whole lot of purple bricks make this a model worth a closer look, and you can do just that at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe. Click the links to raise some hell.

*Today’s title song. Of course.

Low n’ Long

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Airport trucks always look kinda weird, what with their cabs being mounted ahead of the front wheels to enable them to pass underneath aircraft wings.

This DAF 3300 FTT with a ‘sleeping cab’ deploys the same design, in this case to enable it to take on very long loads indeed. Just like your Mom.

The dropped cab of Arian Janssens‘ creation allows the loooong boom of his mobile crane to sit above it, and there’s more to see of his low n’ long DAF, plus the trailer and tracked crane in tow, on Flickr via the link.

How Are the Ads?

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Nine months ago our benevolent overlords here at The Lego Car Blog ceased support for our ancient site structure. This meant, after years of procrastination writing ‘Your Mom’ jokes and Googling pictures of Rachel Weisz, that we had to actually do some work. And that doesn’t come naturally to us.

Somehow the site remained functioning as we transferred it to its new structure, and – for the first time in TLCB’s history – we also broadened the advertising spaces beyond WordPress’s own platform.

This means – unless you have some fancy ad-blocker – that there will probably be an ad to the right of this text. Perhaps one above it. And maybe even one in the middle too.

These ads will vary depending upon where you live, the sites you’ve visited, and your demographic, and seem to encompass everything from clickbait ‘news’ to luxury cars, via toys, clothing, houses, holidays, tv subscriptions, and tech.

Of course the increase in the number of ads shown here is generating a corresponding increase in revenue, and is something we’ve stressed about doing for some time.

We know we’re very lucky to have a platform like this to a) write ‘inane blather‘ (our favourite comment from a disgruntled reader so far), and b) that such a privilege should ideally be used for good. And ‘Your Mom’ jokes.

Thus the advertising revenue brought in by the colourful boxes dotted around this site is donated to those who need it more than we do, so we really are keen for them to stay. But only if that’s OK with you, our readers.

So nine months in, if the ads are an issue, please let us know. If not, and – better yet – if they actually warrant your click occasionally, we’ll keep them going and continue to share what this crumby little corner of the internet miraculously generates with those in greater need.

Thanks for your time

TLCB Team

B-Grade

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So often Technic’s B-Model, road graders like this Volvo G990 are the vehicles that give almost everything else we post a place to exist in the first place. So here to shine a light on their significance is Eric Trax, and this brilliant, er… 42114 B-Model…

OK, a B-Model this Volvo G990 may be, but it doesn’t feel compromised for it. Utilising around 90% of the parts from the 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler set, Eric’s alternate redeploys the Control+ motors, control unit and app to give his grader remote control drive, steering, a three-speed automatic gearbox, and to power the main blade’s elevation.

The model features a few mechanical functions too, including a working piston engine, manually controlled ripper, and a seven-position blade angle. Best of all, Eric has released instructions for his road grader so you can build it for yourself if you own the 42114 set, and there’s more of Eric’s Volvo G990 B-Model to see on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum. Click the links above to earn yourself a B Grade.

YouTube Video

Build-a-Fiat

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LEGO’s 10271 Creator Fiat 500 set is a fine addition to their officially licensed line up. Even if we don’t understand why it comes with an easel.

However being a Creator set, 10271 isn’t particularly technical. Cue TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has constructed a similarly-sized sixties Fiat 500 in Technic form with a whole heap more functionality. Although no easel.

Nico’s Fiat looks the part, with a combination of axles, lift arms and flex tubes recreating the 500’s famous shape, under which is a working rear-mounted two cylinder engine driven by the rear wheels, functioning steering, front and rear suspension, plus opening doors, front trunk and engine cover.

It’s a lovely build (that would make an excellent set too), and one that you can recreate for yourself at home as Nico has made building instructions available.

There’s more to see on Eurobricks, and at Nico’s excellent website, plus you can read his interview in the Master MOCers series here at The Lego Car Blog via the link in the next above.

YouTube Video

Smaller than Expected*

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This may look like a normal cab-over light duty truck, but it is in fact a kei car, Japan’s microcar class in which vehicles can measure no longer than 3.4m, no wider than 1.48m, and have an engine size no greater than 660cc.

It is, therefore, absolutely tiny. Plus, obviously, it’s a Lego model, so it’s even smaller than that…

This superb Technic kei-class truck is a Daihatsu Hijet S110P, and it comes from syclone of Eurobricks who has packed it with an unfathomably large amount of features.

Under the really rather good exterior is a full remote control drivetrain, complete with all-wheel-suspension, all-wheel-drive, servo steering (linked to the steering wheel too), opening and locking doors, dropping bed side walls, and even working headlights.

There’s loads more of syclone’s Daihatsu Hijet to see at the Eurobricks forum, including a video of the kei truck in action. Take a look via the link above!

*That’s what she said.

Longer than Expected*

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McLaren seem to have a new limited run special edition every week, which means this TLCB Writer has all but lost interest in them. However there is one limited run special edition McLaren that is worth noticing; the, 3-seater, 5 metre long hybrid Speedtail.

Powered by the same 4.0 litre as most other McLarens, the Speedtail also features a parallel ‘self charging’ Hybrid set-up, much like the far more humdrum Toyota hybrids tootling about cities in their millions. Except the Speedtail’s hybrid system delivers over 1,000bhp.

It also looks like nothing else on the road, in part thanks to its enormous length*, which is greater even than a Range Rover.

Capturing this remarkable car in 8-wide Speed Champions form is The G Brix of Flickr, who has done such an excellent job this could be an official LEGO set, with space for three mini-figures inside, and front wheel covers that remain fixed even as the wheels behind them spin, just like the real car.

There’s more to see of G’s McLaren Speedtail on Flickr, click the link above to make the jump.

*That’s what she said.

Printed Discs

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3D printing has changed the way things are made forever. Prototypes, one-offs, and recreations of long-lost parts can now be produced at a fraction of their previous cost thanks to computer-aided-design and little plastic granules.

Inevitably we’re now seeing 3D printed pieces appear in Lego creations too, including this one by regular bloggee Horcik Designs. Horcik’s cafe racer motorcycle uses a (very cool looking ) 3D printed front brake disc, which fits perfectly to the front wheel.

Steering, suspension, a piston engine, and a foot-peg operated two-speed transmission also feature, with these all built from standard LEGO pieces.

With LEGO themselves regularly creating new and bespoke pieces for official sets, we’re taking the stance that a model using a custom part doesn’t preclude it from appearing here.

You can see more of Horcik’s cafe racer at both Bricksafe and Eurobricks, the latter of which shows another of his creations that’s has gone (quite a long way) further down the 3D printing route…