But we rather like boats. They fetch tasty things out of the sea, take us to exotic places, and bring us pretty much everything from where it’s made to where it needs to be.
This one is a research vessel, itself the noblest of purposes, Luis Pena is the builder, and there’s more to see on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look.
This is not the best Lego Porsche 911 model ever made. In fact, it’s not even the best Porsche 911 model made by this builder. However, what it is, is the best Porsche 911 model built from another Porsche 911 model. By miles.
LEGO’s ace official 10295 Porsche 911 set is a wonderful addition to the line-up, particularly as it features a classic version of Porsche’s iconic sports car. However what if you like your 911s a little newer?
TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber has the answer, constructing this 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S only from the parts found within the official LEGO 10295 classic 911 set.
Now the usual 911 joke here would be ‘well, all 911s look the same anyway’, but the proportions of the modern iteration (and any new car) are actually drastically different to those from 40 yers ago.
Firas’s B-Model somehow manages to convey these superbly, even if the outcome is a little squashed, and best of all he’s made building instructions available via his excellent Bricks Garage website so that you can swap your classic 911 for the latest model too.
There’s more to see of Firas’ 10295 911-alternate-911 by clicking these words, plus you can see an ex-LEGO set designer’s take on a 10295 B-Model by clicking here.
Whiiiir, crunch. Whiiiir, crunch. That’s not a good noise thought this TLCB Writer. A weary and well-worn trudge out of the office revealed the source, and more Elven carnage than we’ve experienced for some time.
Stampeding down the corridor was a troop of Elves, being chased by the most enormous, and enormously fast, truck that this writer had ever seen. Behind it, squashed thoroughly into the carpet, were those that had failed to keep up the pace, or – more likely – those that had been tripped by one of their colleagues.
With the driver apprehended we can take a look at this astonishing 1 metre long machine, which turns out to be a fully working replica of the enormous 160-ton Australian REXX mining truck.
It comes from previous bloggee Kirill Mazurov (aka Desert Eagle/desert752), and it is a phenomenal bit of kit.
No less than fifteen motors and four third-party BuWizz bluetooth batteries power the REXX, with five Buggy Motors delivering power to all ten fully-suspended wheels. That explains the almost implausible speed.
Three Servo Motors drive the steering, the vast tipping bed is powered by both an XL and L Motor, whilst five Medium Motors operate the cab’s motorised ladders, doors, and even the windscreen wipers.
It’s a truly astounding build and one that is definitely worth a closer look via Kirill’s ‘REXX Truck’ Flickr album, the Eurobricks discussion forum, and via the excellent video showing the model in action below.
Click the links above to make the jump, and you can check out the BuWizz bluetooth bricks that provide Kirill’s REXX with all that power by clicking here.
YouTube Video
It’s May the 4th, a day observed by countless nerds in celebration of a ’70s movie that began part way through for some reason. Star Wars devotees mark the occasion through quiet contemplation, internet forum bickering, and absolutely not taking to girls, because they’re scary. Which is the same as every other day, only this one involves a Star Wars-y pun.
TLCB, what with our formidable knowledge of popular culture and cinema history, are joining the Star Wars Day festivities with a quartet of Tie Fighters, which all probably feature in a movie or something.
Each has come spectacularly built and presented by Flickr’s Jerac, with (clockwise from top left); a TIE Fighter, Iden Versio’s TIE Fighter, a TIE Interceptor, and a Royal Guard TIE Interceptor, which we definitely knew ourselves and aren’t simply quoting the builder.
It means today The Lego Car Blog has more TIEs than a political convention, and thus we feel satisfied we have sufficiently acknowledged this great and noble day and can lay it to rest for another year, unless we forget about it in which case it might end up being longer.
Adherents to the Star Wars religion can see more of Jerac’s stunning brick-built TIE Fighters via the link above, where quite contemplation, internet forum bickering, and absolutely not talking to girls can all be undertaken too.
May the fourth be with you.
The Porsche 911 is not the only rear-engined rear-wheel-drive European car. In fact there were loads, including Volkswagens, Tatras, Skodas, the Smart ForTwo, and – of course – Fiats.
Following the phenomenally successful 500, Fiat followed up with another rear-engined, rear-driven design, the near five-million selling 126.
Much of the 126’s technology was based on the 1950’s 500, which – considering it was produced in Polski-Fiat 126p form until the year 2000 – is both an astonishing achievement and rather frightening.
It’s the Polski-Fiat version we’re featuring here today, a car that mobilised Poland, although only if you were prepared to wait years or had communistical connections. Recreated in a fetching ‘hearing-aid beige’ / ‘baby-sick yellow’, Legostalgie‘s Model Team replica of the 126p captures the real car wonderfully, with a near perfect exterior, detailed interior, plus opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, with a realistic two-cylinder engine underneath.
Legostalgie has presented his model beautifully, and there are more top-notch images available to view at his ‘Polski Fiat 126p’ album on Flickr – click on the link above for all the drawbacks of a 1970’s Porsche 911, but none of the thrills…
Over one in three Americans are obese, but TLCB’s home nation isn’t far behind, with 28% of the population being medically categorised as ‘chunkadunk’. Today though, we have two really small Brits, each being constructed in diminutive Speed Champions scale, yet still instantly recognisable as miniatures of their real-world brethren.
The first (above) is a tiny car in real life too, being a delightful recreation of the late-’50s Austin-Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite by RGB900. The real Spite measured just 3.5 metres in length, making it almost a third shorter than McLaren’s ridiculously-long 5.1 metre Speedtail.
Suggested by a reader, this neat Speed Champions version of one of McLaren’s million special editions is the work of newcomer User 5346 and there’s more of each small-scale Brit to see on Flickr. Take a look via the links above whilst we go and eat a donut or six.
No, we’re not referring to Star Wars dialogue – we’re a day early for that – rather this giant black tanker truck by previous bloggee Arian Janssens. It’s a DAF FT CF480 Space Cab, pulling a huge three-axle tanker trailer filled with more crap than an Anakin Skywalker monologue. Whoops, we’re a day early. Er, let’s say Trump’s Twitter account. Either way, it’s a whole lot of crap, and there’s more to see of Arian’s enormous slurry tanker on Flickr via the link.
This is the Ferrari F50 GT, a GT1 racer designed to compete in the Global GT Series of the mid-’90s against supercars such the McLaren F1 GTR, Jaguar XJ220 and Porsche 911 GT1.
However, Ferrari being Ferrari, they were unhappy that homologation specials like the 911 GT1 were allowed to race, and so threw their hands in the air, shouted something Italian, and stormed off to continue monopolising Formula 1’s TV revenue.
Thus only three F50 GTs were built, none of which raced, and these days they’re probably worth a gagillion of any currency you care to pick. Fortunately this one is rather more attainable, being a (stunning) 1:10 scale Technic ‘Supercar’ replica.
Created by Jeroen Ottens, this beautifully presented build features all of the Technic Supercar requirements, including all-wheel suspension, functioning steering, a working V12 engine and four-speed sequential gearbox, plus opening doors and front and rear clamshells.
It’s a jaw-dropping model and there’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where you can also find a link to building instructions so you can create Jeroen’s F50 GT for yourself. Just ensure you refuse to race it against a Porsche and shout a lot in Italian about things not being fair for the authentic Ferrari experience.
We don’t know what a French ghost looks like (it’d probably be smoking, with an attractive accent, and a penchant for striped jumpers), but we do know that if the Ghostbusters were French they’d probably drive this. Well, according to Tobias Munzert anyway.
This rather lovely Citroen DS is constructed solely from the pieces found within the official LEGO 10274 Ghostbusters Ecto-1 set, and it’s looks perfect for hunting down some gallic ghouls.
Building instructions are available and there’s more to see of this apparition-busting alternate at Tobias’ photostream. Click the link above to taaaake a loooook (in a ghost voice).
This wonderful vintage Route 66 scene was found by one of our Elves on Flickr, and it comes from the collaborative efforts of previous bloggee Dornbi and TLCB debutant Bricking Robo.
A gloriously evocative vignette, Dornbi and Robbo‘s build features a wealth of classic American metal, plus a brilliant motel, gas station, and auto shop, and there’s lots more to see at both builders’ photo streams via the links above.
Well, kinda. This lovely looking sports coupe is not actually a brick-built version of a real Porsche, but it contains so many Porschey cues we had to double check. It comes from Nathanael Kuipers, who has redeployed the parts from the official LEGO 10295 Porsche 911 set to create this superb alternate. Building instructions are available and there’s more of Nathanael’s 10295 B-Model to see at his photostream by clicking here.
Did we feature this model just so we could link to an amusing Futurama-based anecdote? Yes, yes we did, but ignore our stupidity, because this is a great build.
Suggested by a reader, previous bloggee mihao (aka lego_bee) has recreated Aston Martin’s wild track-only Vulcan in Technic form, outfitting his model with the complete array of ‘Technic Supercar’ functions, including a V8 engine, 3-speed gearbox, all-wheel suspension, working steering, and opening doors and hood.
There’s more of mihao’s Vulcan to see at Bricksafe and Eurobricks, where a video of the model’s features and link to building instructions can also be found. Live long and prosper.
Lego Speeder Bikes‘ excellent competition continues to deliver some wonderful builds. Why so excellent? Well anyone can builder a speeder bike; with only a few pieces and some imagination required, it’s a great leveller.
This is one of any number of recent entries we could have picked to feature here, and it comes from Scot Wilhelm who has applied both racing stickers (which is obviously a winning strategy here at TLCB), and a trippy Doctor Who background that gives the Elves headaches.
There’s more to see of Scott’s ‘Firebrand Repulsorbike’ on Flickr via the second link above, and you can check out the vast pool of entries in the Lego Speeder Bikes group by clicking on the first.
This is a 1950s Berliet T100, a French-built, V12-powered 6×6 truck, with a gross weight of over 100 tons, and it was the largest truck in the world.
Four T100s were built between 1957 and 1959, with three flatbeds (as depicted here) designed to take enormous pieces of equipment off-road to serve oil and gas exploration in Northern Africa, whilst the fourth was outfitted as a dump truck for use in a French uranium mine.
The trucks were powered by a 29.6 litre Cummins engine, supplemented by a smaller Panhard engine used to power the steering and as a generator, and delivered a power figure of between 600 and 700bhp. One T100 was even fitted with an experimental gas turbine for a while, before it reverted back to diesel power.
Nico71’s incredible Technic recreation of the Berliet T100 includes both of these engines, along with a fully working replica of the T100’s 6×6 drivetrain, with three L Motors (one for each axle), all-wheel suspension, and a Medium Motor powering a compressor that can pneumatically lock all three differentials.
A fifth motor drives the steering front axle, with a final M Motor powering a winch mounted at the back of the cab, able to drag equipment up the T100’s ramp for transportation.
All six motors can be operated via bluetooth thanks to a third party SBrick controller, providing Nico’s 1:20 scale 3kg model with an accurate scaled-down representation of the real Berliet T100’s off-road ability.
You can see Nico71’s amazing creation in action via the video below, and you can read full details about both the build and the history of the real 1950s Berliet T100 trucks at Nico’s excellent website, where a complete gallery of images and 550-page building instructions can also be found.
YouTube Video
We often mock Communist-era Eastern European cars for being slow, highly polluting, ageing designs built for far longer than they should have been. Because we’re so much better in the West…
So here’s a Communist-era Eastern European car that’s a slow, highly polluting, ageing design that’s been built for far longer than it should have been. And we absolutely love it.
No, we’re not consistent.
Anyway, this is the Lada Niva / VAZ-2121, a wonderful compact off-roader that was not only more advanced than the famous Western offerings of the time (cough Land Rover Defender cough), it’s still in production without becoming just another enormous luxury SUV (cough Land Rover Defender cough).
This lovely Model Team recreation of the Niva captures the real car brilliantly, with opening doors, hood and tailgate, a detailed interior and engine bay, plus some suitable over-landing accompaniments mounted on the roof.
Flickr’s Legostalgie is the builder and there’s more of this superb Soviet 4×4 to see at his ‘Lada Niva / VAZ-2121’ album – take a look via the link above!
