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!
Small, grey, and shaped like a ball, Michael Jasper‘s 5-wide Volkswagen Beetle looks a picture of simplicity. Not so inside, where some seriously cunning techniques have been used to turn LEGO’s resolutely right-angled pieces into the famous shape. The knife bumpers might not pass pedestrian crash legislation but otherwise Michael’s nailed it. See how he’s done it on Flickr.
Honda’s current range of drab uninspiring boxes shows just how far a manufacturer can fall from their height.
Back in the 1990s Honda were on top of the world, winning Formula 1 races, building exceptionally popular cars most of which had a fun version, and even pioneering Hybrid technology before – for reasons unknown – looking that gift horse in the mouth.
All of which makes Honda’s current range of cars look narcoleptic by comparison. We mean, just look at this one.
No car highlights how far Honda’s slide into dismal mediocrity has come from than this; the amazing Honda NSX.
Built to be an everyday supercar, the NSX wasn’t massively fast (although little was back in 1990), but it was joyously engineered, comfortably beating Ferrari, Lamborghini and others in terms of its technical accomplishment.
Despite this, badge snobbery was just as prevalent in the 1990s as it is today, and the NSX was largely overlooked in favour of the established (and worse) competition. Not so now, where NSXs (and all cars from Japan’s heyday) are in serious demand, perhaps helped by the fact that Honda now make absolutely nothing exciting whatsoever.
This means that Honda’s spectacular engineering masterpiece is now way out of reach of us here at The Lego Car Blog, despite the vast fame and riches that blogging Lego models brings.
Cue TLCB debutant Pingubricks, who has recreated Honda’s finest moment brilliantly in brick form. Pingu’s Model Team NSX captures the design of the real car wonderfully, and there are opening doors, trunk, engine cover, and even working pop-up head lights via a lever in the cabin too!
There’s more to see of Pingu’s spectacular Honda NSX at the Eurobricks forum, and you can join us there via the link in the text above.
Formula 1 hasn’t always been dulled by Mercedes-AMG’s utter dominance. Back in the early 2000s it was dulled by Scuderia Ferrari’s utter dominance, which peaked with this car; 2004’s imaginatively named F2004.
Winning fifteen of the season’s eighteen races, taking Ferrari to their sixth consecutive Constructor’s Championship, and Michael Schumacher to his fifth straight Driver’s Championship (and seventh overall), the F2004 was one of the most successful Formula 1 cars of all time, and the penultimate Ferrari of the V10 era.
This magnificent replica of Schumacher’s championship winning Scuderia Ferrari F2004 is the work of newcomer LN Teknik, who has recreated the real car beautifully in Technic form.
Working inboard pushrod suspension, functional steering, a removable engine cover and front and rear wings, plus – of course – a working V10 engine all feature, and there’s lots more to see at Flickr, Bricksafe, and the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found.
White LEGO bricks, like nerds, don’t particularly like strong sunlight.
The gradual yellowing of white pieces exposed to UV is subject to much debate within the nerdier corners online Lego community, from applying hydrogen peroxide to restore parts to their original hue, to – more nerdily – sealing bricks inside darkened rooms or even never taking them out of their box. Which is quite fantastically pointless.
Cue previous bloggee seb71, who has not only allowed his white pieces to yellow, he’s positively embraced their ageing.
Seb’s brilliant classic motorcycle deploys some properly yellowed Technic wheels, matching their sunlight-induced cream to a seventies-tastic brown and white aesthetic for a beautifully period-correct look.
There’s more of Seb’s well-tanned classic bike to see at his photostream, click the link above to take a look and then get out in the sun – it’s good for you and maybe even your LEGO bricks too.
We often link to music here at TLCB, but not today, because drill music – named after the power tool that is simply horrific to listen to – sucks.
Thus there’ll be no link to an appropriate drill track at the foot of this post, because you don’t need that in your life, but there will be a link to this; Eric Trax’s remarkable Pottinger Terrasem R3 seed drill.
Towed by a version of his previously featured fully remote controlled, SBrick-programmable New Holland TM140 tractor, the Terrasem R3 both looks and sounds like a sci-fi creation you’d expect to find on the Brothers Brick, but is in fact one of the many mechanised wonders that quite literally feed the world.
A Claas telehandler is pictured below filling the Pottinger with seed (snigger), and there lots more to see of it and the excellent tractor pulling it via Eric’s ‘Pottinger Terrasem R3 seed drill‘ album on Flickr (where you can also find a link to a video of it in action and another to building instructions) via the link above, or via Brickshelf here.
This pleasingly-coloured classic tow truck was found by one of our Elves on Flickr today, and the only thing detracting from its perfection is that it’s pictured here towing what looks like a Toyota AE86, an impossibility because – as we all know – Corollas never break down.
Otherwise TLCB regular de-marco has nailed it, and you can recreate his ‘Old Tow Truck’ for yourself as instructions are available. Head to de-marco’s photostream via the link above for more.
LEGO have produced several Porsche 911 sets, from Speed Champions to Technic, but there’s still room for fan-made models of the famous rear-engined sports car.
This is one of them, a beautifully built and photographed 911 Carrera by Flickr’s Dornbi, and unlike most 911 builds (including one of Dornbi’s own past creations), his latest Porsche sports no wings, stripes, or racing numbers, simply being a base naturally-aspirated narrow-body classic, and we think it’s all the better for it.
There’s more to see of Dornbi’s stunning classic 911 by clicking here, and if you can figure out today’s title a hundred TLCB Points to you!
Indiana Jones, er… we mean ‘Johnny Thunder’ is one of our favourite ever mini-figures. He’s one of 1saac W.‘s too, who has built this gorgeous riverside jungle scene for our plastic hero to explore as an entry into a mini-figure-based competition. Star of the show isn’t Johnny though, rather the fantastic tan Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 which he has used to take him into the jungle. A variety of animals are busy stealing Johnny’s equipment and there’s more to see of him and his FJ on Flickr via the link.
Some might think today’s title could refer to Russia’s creeping direction under its definitely fairly democratically elected President, but – fortunately for us as we don’t want to experience Novichok poisoning – it also relates perfectly to this; Sariel’s amazing fully remote controlled pneumatic and motorised Ural 375D 6×6 truck.
Sariel‘s latest astonishing creation is a spectacularly engineered replica of the mighty Soviet military truck, built entirely from Lego pieces, plus a few choice third-party-supplied enhancements.
The first of these is an SBrick bluetooth controller, which allows the four-motor 6×6 drive, steering, servo-powered 3-speed gearbox, three pneumatically locking differentials, and Brickstuff LED lights to all be controlled remotely via a mobile phone or other bluetooth device.
Sariel has further enhanced his model with RC4WD ‘Rock Crusher’ tyres, fitted to Lego rims and mounted to live axle suspension on axles 1 and 3, with pendular suspension on axle 2. A motorised rear winch, working V8 engine, opening doors and hood, and a canvas load cover complete the build, and make Sariel’s Ural one of the most realistic and technically accurate trucks of the year so far.
There’s a whole lot more of this incredible creation to see at the Eurobricks forum, plus the complete gallery of stunning imagery is available to view on Flickr, where there are even a few images that seem to depict a TLCB Elf in shot, but we might be imagining that.
You can also check out a video of the Ural 375D 6×6 in action below, in which the working functions, bare chassis, and a pug named Muffin can all be viewed.
YouTube Video
There were Elves everywhere.
This morning has been a stressful one here in TLCB Towers. Maybe we got complacent. Maybe we thought the Elves had wised up to the threat of remote control creations. Or maybe we’d simply forgotten this particular narrative, but whatever it was we were rudely and wholly reminded of the Elves’ propensity to smash one another to bits if given the opportunity.
The ‘opportunity’ arrived in the form of this, Michael217’s incredible Volkswagen Beetle monster truck ‘Bugzilla’, as featured in the video game ‘Wreckfest’.
All-wheel-drive via a Buggy Motor, Servo steering, enormous suspension above even more enormous wheels, and a slew of body-mounted spikes give Michael’s creation almost mythical Elf-squashing abilities, which were used to full effect by the one at the controls.
At least a dozen were flattened in the corridor with amusing cartoon tyre prints running down their lengths, a few were splatted against the skirting boards, and a handful were even impaled on ‘Bugzilla’ itself thanks to the spiky bricks mounted all over it.
Of course the Elf that found Michael’s creation was ecstatic about the whole event, which seeing as it’s likely a victim of multiple past smushings itself is probably understandable.
We have much cleaning up to do now, which probably includes a few trips to ‘Elf Hospital‘, so whilst we do that there’s loads more for you to see of Michael’s brilliant ‘Bugzilla’ build – which includes a V6 engine, opening doors and hood, and a detailed interior too – at the Eurobricks discussion forum, with the complete image gallery available on Bricksafe.
Click the links above to make the jump.