The ocean that separates TLCB from the majority of you reading this has been used several times in car naming. This is perhaps the most impressive car to wear the oceanic nameplate, the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Just four Atlantics were built, meaning each is worth roughly a trillion dollars, but fortunately thanks to a reader suggestion this one is rather more attainable. RGB900 is the builder and he’s captured the 1930s masterpiece beautifully in a tiny scale. Head to Flickr to see more.
Gosh scramblers are annoying. They’re ridden around TLCB Towers by obnoxious teenagers at full throttle to maximise their irritating noise all the time, and with a top speed of 48mph it means they take a week to disappear from earshot. BNEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Of course if we had a scrambler we’d ride it at full throttle to maximise its irritating noise all the time too, but that’s not the point. They’re bikes for knobs.
Much better is this, George Panteleon (aka ZetoVince)‘s superb Model Team replica of the Yamaha XT550, and not only is it much quieter than its infuriating real-world brethren, George has produced instructions so that you can create this ace motorcycle at home.
Click the link above to head to Flickr for the full gallery and to find that instructional link. BNEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!
And so too are the best things in building techniques. Step away from the prescribed use of LEGO bricks and a whole world of fantastic shapes opens up. Exploring this is Rubblemaker, whose Neo-Classic Space ‘Recon Bubblescout’ deploys some mind-bending illegal techniques in the pursuit of the desired form. Head to Flickr via the link above to view something illegal…
It’s the worst day of the year, when kindness, decency, and compassion are all forgotten for a discounted smart speaker. As has become customary here at The Lego Car Blog we won’t be taking in part in Black Friday, and if you feel like joining us dodging the hoards and saving your soul then there are some great alternatives below.
It’s Black Friday! Which means the entire office are off to Walmart to fight middle aged women for discounted electricals. Not really, we’re very much remaining here and very much buying nothing, because a) we’re in another COVID-19 lockdown, and b) most importantly, Black Friday can suck it.
Still, if you must venture out to storm your local Walmart, have we got the vehicle for you! This is Ivan Martynov‘s ‘PanzerVVagen Heavy Terrestrial Assault Vehicle’, and it’s the perfect transport for the annual shopocalypse. Martin’s even racked up some old lady kills which are displayed proudly on the side.
Take the PanzerVVagen to Walmart and add your own old lady stamp (Carol from across the street isn’t going to get that last half-price TV alive!) via the link above!
Your first car was your best car. Well, it was almost definitely your worst car, at least in TLCB’s home nation where astronomical insurance costs prevent new drivers from owning anything with an engine larger than a lawnmower, but it was still your first taste of freedom.
However step back around ten years from your first actual roadworthy* vehicle, and you may have owned something even more special. For some of you it might have been the gloriously lethal Radio Flyer Wagon, alternatively it could have been this, the marvellous Kettler Kettcar.
Produced from the 1960s right up until Kettler’s sad bankruptcy at the start of this year, the Kettcar was a superb design that taught handbrake turns to decades of children.
Along with that simple handbrake the Kettcar was also fitted with a rudimentary gearbox, enabling drive via the pedals or neutral for free-wheeling down big hills, where that handbrake would be hopelessly inadequate.
Recreating the pedal drive, handbrake, and gearbox is Clemens Schneider, whose brilliant Technic recreation of the Kettler Kettcar was suggested to us by a reader. In fact so accurate is Clemens’ Technic replica that it would probably drive just like the real thing if you were small enough to fit inside.
There’s more of the Kettcar to see at Clemens’ photostream – click the link above to pull the handbrake!
*Definition of roadworthiness is – in our case at least – loose.
It’s that time of year again, when the guard dogs at The LEGO Company’s HQ get the chance of an early Christmas treat in the form of Elf-based snacks. Fortunately our Elves are sneaky creatures with a zest for life, and thus some do make it back here to TLCB Towers with only a few bite marks. And the new LEGO Technic sets of course – otherwise they get catapulted back over the premier wall for another one-on-one with a German Shepherd.
No re-catapulting was required for today’s survivor though, as it returned with this; the brand new for 2021 LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse #51 set. Constructed from nearly 1,700 pieces 42125 is a hefty model, with all of the Technic Supercar perquisites you’d expect, including working steering, a V8 piston engine, and all-wheel independent suspension.
It’s also the first Technic set to replicate not just a real-world car, but a real-world racing version of a real-world car, with the #51 AF Corse 488 competing in the GTE World Endurance Championship including Le Mans, where it finished first in class in 2019 and second in 2020.
A wealth of stickers accurately recreate the AF Corse #51 livery (and the headlights…), and whilst the car does include a few System pieces for enhanced detail it does look a little more Technic-y than some other recent sets. Whether that’s a good thing or not will depend very much on your thoughts on what a Technic set should be.
Expect the new 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF CORSE set to cost around $170/£170 when it reaches stores in 2021, sitting at the top of the new LEGO Technic line-up and returning Ferrari (LEGO’s longest standing automotive partner) to the Technic range.
Does 42125 pave the way for the other Le Mans GTE racing cars to become official LEGO sets? With every recent GTE manufacturer (Porsche, Aston Martin, Ford, BMW, and Chevrolet) already in partnership with LEGO, we sure hope so!
According to builder Finn Roberts, Star Wars has pirates in it! If we’d have known that we might have paid more attention to it. No matter, we’re paying attention now, because Finn’s ‘pirate skiff’ build is a marvellous thing, complete with an armed Tatooine pirate crew, and a ‘kitebash’ speeder that presumably is about to get robbed of its space treasure. Which is like regular treasure, only in space. Join the piratical sci-fi antics at Finn’s photostream via the link!
Street Fighter is one of the highest grossing and most loved video game franchises of all time. It’s also one of the worst movies. Being neither a video game nor a movie, this ‘Street Fighter’ supercar by Flickr’s Steph Ouell nevertheless allows us to link to the incredible movie trailer, and it’s also a great build to boot, with the full suite of Technic Supercar functions. See more at the link. And definitely watch that trailer.
It’s a busy day here at TLCB, with several Elves vying for a meal token. The first lucky recipient returned to TLCB Towers with this, Tim Henderson‘s ‘Little Red Wagon’ mid-engined wheel-standing dragster. There’s not much room for stuff in the bed, and even if there was it would probably tip out anyway, but who cares when you can wheelie on the way to work. Head to Flickr via the link above for more!
Half of America believes the other half is lying, a deadly disease is confining us to our homes, and we’re at the tipping point of irreversible and catastrophic climate change (unless you’re in the half of America that thinks this is a lie). Sometimes we just want to give up and escape into the wilderness.
Flickr’s Thesuperkoala is aiding this fantasy today, courtesy of this thoroughly excellent off-road expedition truck, complete with everything needed to leave society behind. Koala’s creation is also fitted with superb working suspension and a full Power Functions remote control drivetrain, including steering, all-wheel-drive, and a high/low gearbox, enabling it to travel far off the beaten track.
It’s just what we need in 2020, and you can join us in imagining we’re a long way from everything at Thesuperkoala’s ‘4×4 Road and Expedition’ album on Flickr, where both this model and an equally good crane/flatbed version are available to view.
Gosh do we hate the BMW X3. Not a much as the X7, which numerically we hate just over twice as much, but still. However, our thoughts on BMW’s affront to ‘compact’ SUV styling are – like pretty much everything we write – moot, because the X3 has been a phenomenal success for the German brand.
Now seventeen years and three generations in, around two million X3s have been produced, and today we can add one more to that number, courtesy of Jeroen Ottens and the brilliant Technic recreation you can see here.
Powered by two L Motors with a Medium Motor delivering the steering, Jeroen’s X3 can be controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party SBrick, which has also been programmed to operate the LED head and tail lights (including indicators), and the Servo controlled drive-mode select, which can send all the power to the rear wheels, 25% front and 75% rear, or 50/50 all-wheel-drive via a centre differential.
It’s an ingenious piece of engineering and there’s more to see on both Flickr and at Jeroen’s website, where building instructions are also available. Click the links to check it out.
Nothing says ‘America’ like voter fraud apparently*. A close second however, is the Ford F-150 pick-up, especially in Raptor specification and with stars-and-stripes FORD lettering across the front.
This fantastic recreation of America’s favourite uprated off-road pick-up comes from Master MOCer and vehicle-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber, who has created it entirely from the parts found within the official 10265 Ford Mustang set.
Despite the limitations of its parts-base, Firas’ F-150 Raptor not only looks superb, it features working steering, opening doors, a functioning sunroof, a dropping tailgate, and a detailed engine underneath the opening hood.
There’s much more to see of Firas’ 10265 B-Model at his ‘Ford F150 Raptor’ album on Flickr, where around twenty stunning images are available to view.
You can also find building instructions for the Raptor available at Firas’ excellent new website Bricks Garage, where instructions for over a dozen of Firas’ builds are available for download, including a range of set alternates. Find out more here!
*Yes we are taking the piss.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… Don’t worry, TLCB will remain resolutely unChristmassy until December, but if some of the residents close to TLCB Towers are anything to go by, it’s already December 23rd.
Cue a tenuous link to today’s creation, a DAF FAC 3600 ATI 8×2 Space Cab livestock transport by regular bloggee Arian Janssens, which is quite a mouthful. Although that’s fitting, because so too is what it would transport.
Designed to take pigs from a life on the farm too, er… the sausage factory – and to segway back to the start of this post – is there any purpose more noble than to become a tasty Christmas snack and hasten the onset of heart disease and high cholesterol in glutenous holiday partygoers?
Exactly. These pigs are the heroes we need, and there’s more to see of their magnificent final-journey’s chariot on Flickr via the link.
Will any other 2021 Technic set be as good as the 42124 Control+ Off-Road Buggy? No, of course not.
Resembling both a real life off-road buggy and a Tamiya RC car, 42124 is a pink and blue wonder resplendent atop its new knobbly tyres, white rims, and excellent looking suspension. Even the ‘Xtreme’ stickers look good.
Brought back to TLCB Towers in the hands of one of the ‘specially selected’ TLCB Elves catapulted over The LEGO Company’s perimeter wall during our annual new set sneakathon, there has probably never been an official LEGO set more suited to our smelly little workers.
The Control+ app launched last year brings bluetooth remote control to 42124, allowing it to be controlled from a smartphone, Playstation controller, and many other bluetooth enabled devices, and alongside the aforementioned suspension it looks more than tough enough to shrug off inevitable crashes with household furniture/pets/family members.
In fact our only complaint is the interior’s a bit crap, but seeing as this is a Technic set that’s totally OK, as it’s supposed to be about working functions (cough, 42123 McLaren Senna, cough). Aimed at ages 10+ the new 42124 Off-Road Buggy will reach stores for 2021, and we – and the Elves – can’t wait.