The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau

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Naval officer, film maker, oceanographer, author, and Palme d’Or winner, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was surely one of the world’s last great adventurers.

And his legacy is one that is still felt every day in the marine biology and diving worlds, with Jacques accurately predicting that animals such a porpoises can echolocate, and inventing the first ever piece of SCUBA equipment – the Aqua-Lung – in the 1940s.

He is perhaps most famous for his oceanic mapping and discovery of numerous wrecks, with much of this work carried out on his American-built, wooden-hulled, ex-British World War 2 minesweeper the RV Calypso.

This stunning brick-built replica of Jacques’ iconic ship – which now languishes dismantled in Turkey – comes from previous bloggee Alex Jones aka Orion Pax, who has both constructed and presented it beautifully.

Measuring 50cm long Alex’s model is packed with details, and you can take a closer look at his recreation of one of the most important ships to ever sail via the link to his photostream above.

One Man Went to Hoe

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You don’t need a million LEGO bricks to be blogged. Because clever parts usage and imaginative presentation can go a very a long way, as proven by Bobofrutx and this splendid little backhoe. Pictured on some gnarly pavement, Bobo’s backhoe can raise its bucket, extend and rotate its rear arm, and deploy its stabilisers just like the real thing, and you can head to a road in need of repair via the link above.

Rolling a Six

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are very excited today…

This is the 1976 Tyrrell P34, Formula 1’s only racing-winning 6-wheeler, and – as things currently stand – the only 6-wheeler that will ever win a race as the fun-sponges at Formula 1 banned cars with more than four wheels a few years later. Because… honestly we have no idea.

This fabulous recreation of the Elf-liveried P34 comes from TLCB debutant bentobrick, who has constructed motorsport’s most recognisable design brilliantly in brick, including a working replica Cosworth DFV engine and four-wheel steering (as shown in the excellent render below).

There’s more of bentobrick’s superb 1976 Tyrrell P34 to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions is also available, and you can head to a Grand Prix in 1976 via the link above.

GT LM GTE #68

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This is a Ford GT LM GTE, which is – admittedly – not a good name. But it is one heck of a car, winning the GTE class at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016 exactly 50 years after Ford first took outright victory.

This spectacular Technic replica of that very car (the #68, driven by Joey Hand, Sebastien Bourdais and Dirk Muller) comes from Jeroen Koopman, and recreates the GT LM GTE brilliantly in Technic Supercar form.

Working steering, a V6 engine hooked up to a sequential 6-speed gearbox, advanced in-board suspension, opening butterfly doors, and removable bodywork all feature, with some superb photography of the engineering within joining the exterior shots on Flickr.

You can see that complete image gallery via the link above, plus you can find full build details, a video, and a link to building instructions at the Eurobricks forum here.

American Achievement

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It’s the day after that Alaskan summit, in which presidents Trump and Putin held, to quote Trump, a “10 out of 10” discussion, in which they “got along great”. Except it achieved nothing at all. Still, we suppose Trump and Putin do have much in common, so that’s nice.

But when America does put its mind to Europe, it can achieve great things. Cue the Cadillac V-Series.R, General Motors’ entrant into the burgeoning WEC Hypercar class, and now a race winner sitting third in the sizeable top-tier class of the championship. Which bodes well for Cadillac’s forthcoming entry to Formula 1.

Built on an Italian Dallara chassis and run by the British Jota Sport team, it also proves that America can benefit from European expertise. We hope that might be remembered in round two of the Ukrainian peace talks that perhaps should include Ukraine.

Oh yes, the car! This superb Speed Champions replica of the Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R comes from prolific Le Mans Hypercar builder SFH_Bricks, who has captured the racer and its golden Hertz livery beautifully. Building instructions are available and you can head to the heart of European racing in an Italian-British-American collaboration via the link above.

Jolly Green Giant

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This is a Sikorsky HH-53C Pave Low ‘Super Jolly Green Giant’ helicopter, here shown in search and rescue configuration and, um…. not green.

But it is excellent, having been recreated beautifully by Flickr’s bigwilly2492, with bespoke decals and an opening ramp adding to the realism. There’s more to see at 2492’s ‘HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant’ album and you take to the skies via the link above.

Big Catch

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An estimated 100 million sharks are killed by humans every single year. That’s three sharks a second. Three quarters of these are due to the shark fin trade for the Chinese market (who seem to be the world leaders in animal cruelty), where the fins are cut off the live shark and the rest discarded back into the ocean. And if that sounds horrible, it’s because it is.

The remainder are mostly accidental catches from fishing, but fishing can of course be done right. Cue NikiFilik‘s lovely cartoon-esque fishing boat vignette, with one of the most gorgeous brick-built hulls we’ve seen in ages – just look at that line of studs! Niki’s boat has caught one shark, and if it’s all being eaten we’re totally cool with that.

Fish responsibly at Niki’s photostream via the link above, or click here to learn more about how we can protect or oceans.

Dump Your Horse

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Revealed here earlier in the year, LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco brings the blue oval’s newest, but retro-est, 4×4 to bedroom floors everywhere. It also provides just under a thousand pieces for B-Model building, with previous bloggee damianPLE doing just that, by turning his Bronco into this excellent Technic off-road dump truck.

Like the set on which it’s based, Damian’s alternate includes working suspension, ‘HOG’ steering, and a V6 engine under an opening hood, whilst adding a manually operable tipper too. Building instructions are available and you can find all the images, plus that instructional link, at Bricksafe and Eurobricks respectively. Dump your horse via the links above!

The Horndog

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2025 is the year that Christian Horner finally departed Red Bull after managing the team through two decades, six World Championships, and a few compromising Whats App messages…

He is in fact the only Team Principal that Red Bull Racing have ever had, having led the team from its formation in 2005 right up until the pictures of his horndog he rather stupidly sent caught up with him.

The team continues on however, and their RB21 is still able to win races (at least in the hands of one of its drivers), despite the loss of another titan of the team, designer Adrian Newey (although his departure wasn’t due to sending inappropriate pictures of his wang to female staff).

Cue Y Akimeshi‘s excellent brick-built recreation of the Red Bull RB21, pictured within a street circuit vignette featuring some superb ‘Pirelli’ lettering. There’s more of the build to see on Flickr and you can send some compromising What App messages and undo a twenty year legacy via the link above.

One Eyed Willy

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Snigger. And for once it’s not us being childish! We have Steven Spielberg to thank for the silliness, and his 1980s cinematic masterpiece ‘The Goonies’, in which a group of children set off in search of lost treasure to save their homes from demolition.

Captained by One Eyed Willy, ‘The Inferno’ lay at the end of a booby-trapped labyrinth, floating inside a cavern, and filled with loot.

Inspired by the movie, Stefan Eeckman (aka sebeus) has constructed this stupendous homage to One Eyed Willy’s vessel, with galleries, gun ports, rigging, and a marvellous nougat-coloured hull.

There’s more to see of ‘The Inferno’ at Stefan’s Flickr album of the same name, and you can grab your treasure map, dodge the falling boulders, pit of spikes, and collapsing bone-organ floor in search of pirate treasure via the link above.

Got Milk?

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Keko007 does. Well, his excellent DAF XF 530 Superspace and Willig Sanz Tunker trailer could actually be transporting one of any number of liquids, but it looks pretty milky to us. Pour it on your cereal at Keko’s photostream via the link above, although TLCB cannot be held responsible if it turns out to be industrial cleaner.

Meandering the Medina

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Sometimes it’s all about the shot. Photographed by Erik Frobom and built by Michael Willhoit this fantastic image captures a delightfully overloaded classic truck under an archway in ‘Medina Al Musawrah’, an enormous multi-maker collaborative display constructed for the Brickfair VA show.

A huge array of vehicles and buildings comprise the complete build, including the beautiful scene below, and you can take wander through the streets of ‘Al Musawrah’ at Michael’s Flickr album via the link above.

Fantasy Ride

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This TLCB Writer does not ride a motorbike. Because he is banned from doing so by his wife. Fortunately however, he can live out his motorcycling fantasies in Lego form courtesy of previous bloggee Lipko, and this tremendous 1:5 scale Technic superbike.

With working steering, suspension, V4 engine, 3-speed sequential gearbox, and spring-loaded handles/levers, Lipko’s incredible creation functions as good at it looks, and you can take a closer look at this spectacular model at the Eurobricks forum via the link above. Even if your wife has banned you from the real thing.

Movie Swap

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LEGO are doing a fine turn in recreating movie cars. The 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine set captures possibly the most famous movie car of all time in brick form. The 42210 Technic ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)… um, does not. But what if you could turn it into that most iconic of film icons? Well now thanks to Dyens Creations you can!

Built entirely from the parts of 42210, Dyen’s DeLorean includes working gull wing doors, detailed time-travelling modifications, and the pivoting wheels from ‘Back to the Future’s third instalment to convert the model to flying mode.

It also cleverly hides 42210’s stickers so you don’t need to peel them off, and you can see more of Dyens’ delightful DeLorean – including a link to building instructions – at both Eurobricks and Flickr. Build your ‘Back to the Future’ B-Model via the links above!

Splat!

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It’s been remarkably peaceful of late here at TLCB Towers. Elves have been finding creations, earning meal tokens, and barely inflicting extreme violence on one another at all. Which of course had to end at some point.

Cue this mighty Technic dune buggy by gyenesvi, which thundered into the office today, a jubilant Elf at the controls, and immediately flattened as many of our mythical workers as it could. Which with planetary hubs, remote control all-wheel drive courtesy of four third-party BuWizz motors, and monster suspension, was quite a lot.

Fortunately gyensvi’s buggy also has flaw in that after a particularly hard landing the steering can pop-out, which meant proceedings were halted when the Elf at the controls did indeed lose the ability to steer and crashed it forcefully into a potted plant before running away cackling maniacally.

There is still considerable cleaning up to do though, so whilst we administer some elven first-aid/disposal you can check out gyenesvi’s buggy at the Eurobricks forum (where a video and full details – including its steering shortcoming – can be found) plus you can find the complete image gallery on Bricksafe here.