Two Tiny Tractors

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We often feature enormous, hugely complex models here at The Lego Car Blog. Whilst these are amazing accomplishments, they can feel a little unachievable for many Lego builders, particularly those with a parts to talent imbalance. But it’s definitely better to be that way round, as talent can almost always make up for a deficit in pieces.

These two tremendous micro-scale tractors by Flickr’s František Hajdekr are proof that you don’t need a million bricks and an unlimited budget to build something of blogworthy excellence. Each is constructed from just a handful of common parts, yet capture their subject matter perfectly with beautiful presentation too.

There’s more to see of František’s excellent-yet-simple creations at his photostream via the link above, and to get a few tips on how you can present your models as professionally as these two take a look at our photography tips here.

Julius Jr’s Journey

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We hadn’t heard of Julius and Clancy before, but a quick Google reveals the cartoon critters by Paul Frank are every bit as terrifying as Brickbaron‘s brick-built versions.

Horrific though they undoubtedly are, so are most children’s TV characters (we mean, just look at a Teletubbie), and their message is a sweet one, as evidenced by this catchy tune – which maybe a few politicians should watch. Plus cheaply animated kids cartoons are a lifesaver for parents the world over, however disturbing the protagonists may be.

Anyway, back to the creation; Julius and Clancy are in a tuk tuk for some reason, which Brickbaron has presented beautifully. Built using a range of excellent techniques there’s more to see of Julius and Clancy’s tuk tuk taxi ride on Flickr, where we’re sure a wholesome song can’t be too far off…

Turbo

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Is there anything more Turbo-y than a classic Porsche 911 Turbo? We’d say no, and not just because ‘Turbo-y’ isn’t a word.

This is SP_LINEUP’s 964-series 911 Turbo, and it is remarkably lifelike considering the scale. Opening doors and front-trunk are included, as is a detailed interior, and there’s more to see at SP’s photostream here.

Swiss Stork

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This is a Fieseler Fi-156 Storch, a short take-off and landing aircraft designed in Germany in the late 1930s. Oddly, despite Germany being a bit of a bad neighbour at the time, it was also built in the Soviet Union (before the German invasion) and France (during and after the German invasion).

One country not invaded was neutral Switzerland, which is where this Fi-156 Storch (or Stork in English) hails from, being used in the Alps for search and rescue.

Built by Flickr’s daviddstone, this brick-built recreation of the Swiss Stork captures the design brilliantly, including wing and landing-gear struts, skis for snow landings, and a lovely Swiss Cross tail-fin.

There’s more to see of daviddstone’s creation at his photostream – click the link above to fly over the Alps in the 1940s.

LEGO Technic 42118 & 42119 Monster Jam | Set Previews

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LEGO’s officially licensed vehicles continue with two more new-for-2021 sets! 42118 and 42119 join the Technic range as the pull-backs for 2021, and like the 42109 ‘Top Gear’ rally car, each is licensed to not a car brand, but to an entertainment company.

‘Monster Jam’ is a North American stadium institution, in which monster trucks freestyle around an arena filled with squashed cars, dirt ramps, and a whooping beer spilling crowd. Which sounds great. Because it is.

Two of the main protagonists are ‘Grave Digger’ and ‘Max-D’, which LEGO have chosen to recreate for their 7+ Technic sets.

It’s normally at this point when we’d deride the new pull-back sets for being total garbage, but this year we can’t. Because they’re awesome.

Each set contains around 250 pieces (although there’s no ramp this time – which surely these were made for – but you can build one of those at home), including excellent wheels and tyres, and a giant Jolly Roger/Angry Chief flag.

Expect 42188 and 42119 to cost under $20 when they reach stores next year, and for Monster Jam arenas built from books, cushions, toy cars, and other household objects to appear in homes everywhere. Good stuff.

Not All Ferraris are Red….

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This is a Ferrari 250 GTO, a car numbering less than 40 units and today worth roughly three squillion dollars. They are most famously red of course (as highlighted by the beautiful Model Team version we featured here earlier this week), however a handful of GTOs have strayed from the Ferrari corporate uniform over the years, one being Sir Stirling Moss‘s bespoke green car, and another being this; No. 112, painted – magnificently we think – in the colours of Sweden.

Now owned by a billionaire (what Ferrari 250 GTOs aren’t?), the unique 250 GTO was raced in Europe during the 1960s by Swedish racing driver Ulf Norinder, who competed very successfully in some the continent’s most prestigious events.

This incredible replica of that uniquely painted car comes from previous bloggee and Lego-building legend Jens M., who has recreated No.112 in astonishing detail. A lifelike engine resides under the opening hood, the trunk opens to reveal the fuel tank, and a realistic interior is accessible through the opening doors. Plus, most importantly of course, it’s blue with a big yellow stripe down the middle.

It’s one of the finest Lego cars we’ve featured this year, and there’s more to see of Jen’s stunning creation at his ‘Ferrari 250 GTO album‘ on Flickr. Click the link to make the jump to this one-of-a-kind classic racer, and you can see an equally brilliant brick-built 250 GTO in the more traditional red via the link in the text above if you missed it earlier in the week.

Buggy Blues

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It’s been a while since the last mass Elven smushing here at The Lego Car Blog Towers. The Elves are wising up to the dangers of being out in the open for too long, a suspiciously unguarded Smartie, or attending the scene of a recent smushing to point and laugh, all of which carry the risk of a remotely operated Lego creation bursting out and running you over.

Today though, none of the above mattered; because two Buggy motors, monster suspension, and a BuWizz bluetooth battery are enough to outrun even the wiliest of Elves.

JLiu15’s LEGO Studio is the builder behind this beautifully presented ‘Azure Racer XL’, and it’s one of the most capable Elf-squashing machines that we have ever seen. And one of the fastest. Good as LEGO’s own new remote controlled 42124 Off-Road Buggy set looks we doubt it will be anywhere near as quick as this.

The trail of flattened Elves in the halls of TLCB Towers is evidence of the Azure Racer’s pace, and there’s much more of the build to see at JLui15’s ‘Azure Racer XL’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to see all of the excellent imagery, whilst we reward a deliriously happy Elf with a meal token, and get a spatular to pry its squashed brethren out of the carpet.

Orange Juice

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Flickr’s Brick Flag has appeared here twice recently, with his excellent American 1960s ‘forward control’ vans, the Dodge A100 and Ford Econoline. We tend not to feature the same builder repeatedly in quick succession, but had we not today there would have been an Elven riot. Plus, – more importantly – we think this is bloody cool too.

The reason for the Elves’ excitement is obvious; Brick Flag‘s latest build is bright orange, features a racing stripe, wheelie-bar, ground-scraping stance, a huge rear wing, oh – and it has ‘some sort of turbo jet boat engine directly on its rear axle’, to quote the builder. This has also allowed for a bench seat to be fitted in place of the original two-seat set-up, which sounds safe.

Even Brick Flag admits this ‘makes no sense whatsoever’, but if you’re a TLCB Elf few things do, and that’s the way they like it. There’s more to see of Brick’s wildly modded ‘Pro Street’ ’60s Ford Econoline at his photostream – click the link above to fire up ‘some sort of turbo jet boat engine’ and become an orange blur.

Game of Bricks – Light Kit (42107 Ducati Panigale) | Review

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It’s nearly Christmas, when twinkly lights are everywhere! So why not add some to your Technic sets? Reader Francesco Frangioja has done just that…

…

When TLCB and Game of Bricks kindly offered me the chance to pick two light kits for 2020 vehicle sets, in addition to the LEGO Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger kit, which I chose because I’m a big fan of the Fast & Furious franchise, I also chose the LED kit for the LEGO Technic 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R. Being Italian and an engine enthusiast, the choice was practically forced!

The lighting kit comes in a cardboard box, black and premium quality, which has only the logo of the manufacturer on it. Because TLCB and Game of Bricks have sent me two different kits, there was an additional identification (handwritten) tag with the number of the set in which to install the light kit itself (left-bottom corner). 

Inside the box I found: 

  • Three numbered plastic bags with tiny LEDs stripes and the thin, very thin cables
  • Two un-numbered plastic bags with the battery box, one “hub” to connect the single part of the LED circuit and the USB connector to connect the LEDs “circuit” to the battery box
  • One booklet with the explanation of what each component is and its use/purpose

Also for this kit, as for the specific one for LEGO Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, the actual building instructions are on Game of Bricks’ website, consisting of a series of “photographic” steps showing where to place the individual “light points” and how to organise (where they have to pass) the various wiring. 

Now that I’ve become familiar with the Game of Bricks system and had ways to practice with the tiny connectors I was able to follow the steps for this set very easily. 

The fist task is to install the elements included in the plastic bag No.1, by inserting the LED elements behind the trans-clear round tile in the front headlights, simply by “squeezing” them between the tile and the underneath Technic pin. To install these lights, of course, you need to remove the front fairing, not before applying the first of the connection strips behind the handlebars.

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Design an Iconic Ferrari Poster! | Competition

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One of LEGO’s greatest strengths is their box art, which often depicts the set inside in a beautiful artistic recreation of a real-world setting (take a look at the boxes above to see what we mean). However LEGO chose to use minimalistic all-black packaging for their new 42125 Technic Ferrari 488 GTE set, eschewing the usual artwork for a classy, more adult-focussed design.

However, that’s not to say 42125 wouldn’t look great in front of a more dynamic background, and that’s where you can help!

LEGO Ideas are running a competition to design a poster for the new 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF CORSE set, with some awesome prizes (including a copy of the new set) up for grabs!

Winner’s Prizes

    • 42125 Technic Ferrari
    • 76895 Speed Champions Ferrari
    • 75890 Speed Champions Ferrari
    • 42124 Buggy Control
    • 2 x Prints of your poster (1 signed and one plain)
    • A Ferrari Goodie Bag

The assets required to create your poster are available for download at the LEGO Ideas website, where full competition details and entry requirements can also be found. Upload your poster design by 14th December to enter!

Click here to enter the Ferrari Poster Competition at LEGO Ideas!

$50 Million

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Fifty million. That’s the current value of the Ferrari 250 GTO. Which makes it slightly out of reach of us here at The Lego Car Blog, despite the immense riches brought in by the new ads. However Flickr’s Lennart Cort has a 250 GTO that’s rather more attainable, and it’s every bit as breathtakingly beautiful as the real thing.

Constructed in 1/15 scale, Lennart has captured the real GTO in stunning detail, with every curve, air intake and vent replicated wonderfully in brick form.

With LEGO dipping into the back-catalogues of several of their partner manufacturers we think Lennart’s incredible model would make a superb officially-licensed LEGO set, allowing ownership of a Ferrari 250 GTO for about $49,999,950 less than the real thing.

Take a closer look via the link above and ask Lennart to post this on LEGO Ideas!

Enter Sandman*

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We’re not really sure what’s going on here but we expect the cement mixer truck won’t be the same shape by the end. Built by hachiroku24, there’s more to see of ‘Spiderman vs. Sandman’ via the link, where building instructions can also be found!

*Today’s awesome title song.

LEGO Technic 42122 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon | Set Preview

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The 2021 LEGO Technic set previews continue here at The Lego Car Blog, with this; the brand new 42122 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon!

Adding another real-world manufacturer to the Technic line-up, 42122 will slot into the middle of the range, being aimed at ages 9+ and costing around £45/$50.

665 pieces make up the new Jeep Wrangler set, with many of these new, including the excellent looking tyres (of which there are five), and several new yellow panels.

We’re not sure these add up to the most convincing visual replica of Jeep’s iconic 4×4, but 42122 still looks ace, with a few stickers ensuring it’s Jeepy enough for fans. Of course Technic sets are about more than just aesthetic realism though, and that’s where we think 42122 might fall a bit short…

As far as we can tell, the new LEGO Technic 42122 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon includes no engine, and therefore we would expect there is no 4×4 drivetrain either, because what would it connect to? That means no differentials, no pistons (even miniature ones), and no driveshafts.

Steering and suspension are present, although the suspension looks to be of the un-sprung pendular type, which you can see in the image above (in which the wheels are fitted at a stage that is definitely not in line with the instructions!), the rear seats fold down, the doors and hood open, and there’s a winch up front.

We might be wrong in our assessment above of course, and 42122 may indeed have a 4×4 system linked to an engine, but if it doesn’t… is it really a Jeep Wrangler at all?

The stickers might say it is, but we’ll be looking for our Technic Jeep fix elsewhere.

Bone Crusher*

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Inspired by a Hot Wheels toy, and named after an obese rapper or one of the giants in the BFG, this is Tim Inman‘s ‘Bone Crusher’; a V8-powered hot rod pick-up with a giant skull on the front. And on the rear deck. And with bones for seats. The Elves, predictably, think it’s the greatest vehicle of all time, and you can see more of Tim’s creation on Flickr via the link.

*Today’s title song. ‘Cause we’re street.

Pink Bits

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If you’re new to this site and were expecting to see something else based on the title, sorry; here’s a Lego van instead. But it is built from pink bits.

Two shades of pink in fact, which recent previous bloggee Brick Flag has used in the creation of this rather excellent 1960s Dodge A100 van.

The Dodge A100’s story is a similar one to the Ford Econoline that appeared here earlier in the week, being designed to combat the influx of imported Volkswagen Type 2s. Like the Ford, the Dodge was available in pick-up and van body styles, featured a three speed gearbox (three!), and an inline 6-cylinder engine. A V8 was also available, although we have no idea why.

Brick Flag has taken the hot rod route with his superb A100 van, fitting his creation with lowrider suspension and a custom pink paint job, and there are further images available to view on Flickr. Click this link to see more pink bits.