Beef Me Up Scotty

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“Tired of losing members of her herd to aliens, Gladys finally took matters into her own hooves…”

Blake Foster‘s farm sure has some unusual goings on at the moment. This udderly glorious depiction of the long-rumoured bovine resistance moo-vement captures the madness, and Gladys sure looks like she’s had enough of the little greys. We just hope the herd doesn’t decide to use their new-found technology on us omnivores once they’ve dispatched the alien threat.

Join us nervously pondering whether to go vegan on Flickr via the link above.

Build-A-Beemer

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We’re not fan of BMW’s latest M-cars. Enormous grilles, enormous engines, and enormous bodywork… all things that aren’t really about driving enjoyment. Nor are many others it seems, as BMW’s compact first generation M3, with it’s small grille, small (4-cylinder) engine, and small bodywork is becoming incredibly valuable, as people look for M-cars from a simpler time.

This neat Speed Champions E30 series M3 comes from Flickr’s Rolling Bricks, and it captures the car’s boxy lines, flared arches, and square rear wing brilliantly. Rolling Bricks has made building instructions available too, so if you’d like to own a classic M3 you can create your very own at home.

Head to Rolling Bricks’ ‘BMW E30 M3’ album via the link above to view the complete gallery, and to find the all-important link to building instructions.

Constructive Air

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Large, potentially dangerous, and full of air. No, not the 2020 U.S Presidential Candidates, but this excellent Technic backhoe loader from Shimon Bogomolov. Unlike the aforementioned angry old men, Shimon’s impressive creation uses the air within it for constructive purposes, with a working pneumatic front bucket and rear excavating arm. Air pressure can be generated manually or via a motorised compressor, plus there are working pneumatic stabiliser legs, steering, all-wheel-drive, and a 4-cylinder piston engine too. A complete gallery of images is available to view at Shimon’s ‘Pneumatic Backhoe’ album on Flickr, plus you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking here.

We’re in Deep Ship…

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TLCB rarely partakes in the annual monthly bandwagons that occur across the online Lego Community. We’ll pretend it’s because we’re too cool, what with our executive washroom and sauna, endless groupies, and the fleet of exotic cars bought by the riches that blogging about Lego brings, rather than we have no idea what they’re about or what the rules are.

Today however we’re jumping on said bandwagon, seeing as a) it’s the last day of ‘SHIPtember’, and b) last night’s Presidential ‘Debate’ simultaneously makes us want to leave this planet immediately, and for a neat title summing up both this post and the state of American politics.

The first of today’s ‘SHIPs’ is ZCerberus’s astonishing ‘LL885 NC Repair Freighter’, a huge orange behemoth carrying out a useful and humble purpose, which is a nice contrast. Spectacular building techniques and incredible attention to detail make this a must click, and you can do just that here.

Today’s second ‘SHIP’ comes from previous bloggee Sunder_59, entitled the ‘DCV-08 “Barra” Construction Drone Carrier’. Designed to transport construction drones to orbiting building sites, Sunder’s creation features all the ‘SHIPtember’ buzzwords you’ll find used with abandon on smarter Lego blogs than this one, such as ‘Colour Blocking’, ‘Greebling’, and ‘Bricknipinia’. OK, we made that last one up. See more via the link!

Our third and final* ‘SHIP’ explores something that’s completely alien in American politics; working together for a greater purpose. Constructed from three separate ‘SHIPs’, the ‘TriPerron Nomad Explorer’ allows up to three individual planetary explorers to combine for longer interstellar travel, then splitting again when their destinations differ. All the ‘SHIPtember’ buzzwords that we don’t understand found in Sunder-59’s build above apply here, only in threes, and there’s more to see courtesy of Simon Liu on Flickr.

And so that ends our (somewhat limited) round-up of ‘SHIPtember’ 2020. You can take a look at each build via the links in the text above, which is where we’ll be, trying to find out if any of them can be built in full size so we can escape the impending doom* about to drag America into the gutter. We would say the U.S election can’t sink any lower, but there are still two debates to go.

*Bonus SHIP. If these penguins can escape after we trashed their home, perhaps we can too…

Cherokee

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’90s off-roaders are becoming rather cool these days. As almost every car is now an SUV/Crossover, with zero off-road ability and all looking pretty much the same, old-school body-on-frame 4x4s stand out rather nicely. Admittedly they’re still total crap to drive on the road, but that’s part of the charm.

Jeep’s XJ-series Cherokee was at the start of the school-run 4×4 craze that has led the automotive market to the dismal place it is today, but the ageing American SUV is actually a capable off-roader, particularly when fitted with a few choice modifications.

That’s what regular bloggee SP_LINEUP has done with his 8-wide ’90s Cherokee, equipping his with a suspension lift and wide arches for big tyres, a bull-bar with spotlights and a winch, a snorkel for wading, and rear mounted spare that would make the tailgate impossible to open.

It all looks most excellent and there’s more to see of SP’s modified Jeep Cherokee at his photostream – click the link above to go off-road.

Stick Shift

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Here’s a stick man on a stick bike. Stick with us because whilst we’re a car blog we bet for most of you reading this your first vehicle was a bicycle, and the first person you ever drew was of the stick variety. Which is good enough for us. Milan Sekiz is the artist and there’s more to see on Flickr. Click here to make it stick.

My Other Car’s a Corvette

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TLCB’s Coronavirus Lock-down B-Model Competition is complete, although a lock-down could be on the horizon again as COVID-19 cases surge around the world and deaths pass one million. Oof.

Dozens of brilliant B-Models were produced for the contest, and whilst the competition may be over, alternate building keeps going, as demonstrated here by TLCB Master MOCer Nico71.

Constructed only from the pieces found within the 42093 Technic Chevrolet Corvette set, Nico has created this cool-looking sand buggy, complete with working suspension, a transverse three-cylinder engine, and functioning steering.

Nico has also made instructions for his alternate available so that you can convert your own 42093 Corvette into a sand buggy at home, and you can see all the images and find a link to building instructions on Brickshelf by clicking here.

Not a Car

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But it is yellow. And excellent. This lovely ’80s ‘cafe racer’ motorcycle comes from previous bloggee tango-zero. There’s a detailed engine, rear suspension, and a beautifully replicated front telescopic fork with steering. See more on Brickshelf.

Wangan Midnight

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If there’s an unmodified R32 Skyline GT-R in existence, we’re yet to see it. And so to today’s creation, which has also cast OEM originality aside in order to create something rather more special. Which does mean it features a few non-LEGO parts, but seeing is the real car upon which it’s based features a few non-Nissan ones, we think it’s alright.

Built by Gray Gear of Eurobricks, this Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 recreates the car from the Wangan Midnight cartoon, including custom wheels, a replica straight six engine refitted with a single-shot turbo, and a few bodywork parts not officially produced by LEGO, seeing as they don’t come in black.

The model also features a working six-speed gearbox, all-wheel-drive, all-wheel independent suspension, functioning steering, plus opening doors, hood and trunk. There’s more to see for all of that at the Eurobricks forum via the link above, whilst we fall deeper into the Wangan Midnight YouTube rabbit hole.

Pick-Up Electric

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America really likes pick-up trucks. The best selling vehicles in the U.S. are the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Dodge Ram, followed by a pair of SUVs (the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V respectively). In fact only two vehicles in the top eight are cars. Tump is (rightly) called out on his total disregard for CO2 emissions legislation, but it’s not like he’s going against the wishes of the American people, who – based on their vehicular choices – must all be lumberjacks during the week and tow boats at the weekend.

Of course the electric revolution will reach pick-up trucks one day, and until then Ford at least have taken a small step in the right direction by replacing most of their old V8s with smaller, marginally less environmentally catastrophic, turbocharged units.

Back to electricity though, and pick-ups are perfect for electrification, having loads of chassis space for batteries, and supposedly often doing tasks that would benefit from electric motor torque, like lumberjacking and towing boats…

The electrification of Lego pick-ups is the opposite however, seeing as there is no covered body to hide the battery box, and both it and the motors have to be squeezed inside a cabin full of cabiny things. That hasn’t stopped mktechniccreations though, who has built this superbly accurate Model Team/Creator Ford F-150 that would be bloggable on looks alone, and yet – by witchcraft and magic – has equipped his model with a perfectly-concealed full remote control drive system with Power Functions motors and a BuWizz bluetooth battery.

It’s quite a feat of engineering and if you’d like to have a go yourself MK has released building instructions so you can learn how he’s done it! There’s more to see of this remarkably packaged Ford F-150 at both MK’s Bricksafe gallery and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can see images showing how the motors are fitted and find a link to building instructions – take a look via links!

Sunray

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We’re effectively children here at TLCB, thus we find bright colours very stimulating, particularly when they’re deployed in a manner such as this. David Roberts‘ ‘Sunray’ takes its cues from the classic video game ‘Wipeout’ and there’s more to see of his superbly liveried anti-gravity racer at his photostream – click the link above make the jump.

*Today’s excellent alternative title song.

The Boss

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The muscle car market has gone mad in recent years. Upwards of 700bhp is now available from stock, and whilst many modern muscles cars have now added revolutionary new technologies such as ‘steering’ and ‘suspension’, we suspect actually using all that power is a difficult thing to do. Resulting in happenings like this. And this. And this. And this.

Things were little different back in the late ’60s, when the first power race between muscle car makers began. This was one of Ford’s efforts from the time; the Mustang Boss 429. The ‘429’ moniker stood for the V8 engine’s cubic inch capacity, which translates to seven litres. Seven. Most European cars at the time made do with just over one.

Of course the Boss’s steering, braking and suspension were – in true muscle car tradition – woefully inadequate, meaning that morons-with-daddy’s-money in 1969 could plow their new car into a street light in much the same way as they do today, only without the event being captured on YouTube.

Today though, we’re joining the muscle car crashing fraternity too, thanks to Hogwartus, and this superb SBrick-powered remote control Technic Boss 429.

Driven by two L Motors, with a Medium Motor turning the steering and another controlling the four-speed sequential gearbox, Hogwartus’s creation is a riot to drive. That is until we spun it into a kitchen cabinet. We’ll blame the Mustang-accurate torsion bar rear suspension for that faux-par. The front suspension is independent though, and the model also includes opening and locking doors, hood and trunk, a replica 7-litre V8 engine (that turns via the drive motors), sliding seats, and LED headlights.

There’s more to see of Hogwartus’s stunning Technic ’69 Mustang Boss 429 at the Eurobricks forum by clicking here, plus via the truly excellent video below, which must be one of the few Mustang videos on YouTube that don’t end like this.

YouTube Video

Cab-Over-Banana

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Curvy, yellow, delicious, and contained within its own handy wrapper, the banana is a wonderful fruit. Equally curvy, nearly as yellow, and highly delicious (if you’re a TLCB Elf), Tauriel1‘s hot rodded cab-over got the Elves most excited. Until they found out it’s digital, meaning it can neither be ridden on or chewed.

Still, it does look absolutely marvellous, and if you’re wondering ‘why don’t TLCB publicise more digital builds?’, it because they rarely look like this.

Newcomer Tauriel1 has an array of digital creations in their photostream and you can view more of the ‘cab-over’ featured here alongside their other designs on Flickr. Click the link above to make like a banana and split.

Flight of Fancy

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This is not a car, and nor is it a real aircraft, instead coming from the video game ‘Ace Combat’. It’s also a bit nonsensical, being Japanese but named after a Welsh dragon, however… it looks so cool!

Built by Corvin Stichert of Flickr, this beautifully detailed mini-figure version of the fictional ‘X-02 Wyvern’ fighter captures the variable geometry design brilliantly, and there’s more to see at Corvin’s ‘X-02 Wyvern’ album. Click here to fly over to the complete gallery.

And to Our Future. No Matter Who it May Take Us up Against, or Where…

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It’s the early ’80s, perms are big, jackets are leather, and 200mph, self-driving, talking cars exist only in the imagination. And then NBC shoved C-3PO into the dashboard of a Pontiac Trans-Am. Perms remained big and jackets remained leather, but the 200mph, self-driving, talking car was now a reality, on screen at least.

The Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T) became the coolest car for every eight year old in ’80s America, and even though most of the technology it featured is now hilariously out-of-date (even Mrs. TLCB Writer’s compact hatchback can do more* today), it’s still one of the most famous and enduring TV cars of all time.

Capturing K.I.T.T superbly in mini-figure scale, László Torma has constructed a 6-wide version of the camp coupe complete with a mini-fig Michael Knight, and he’s made instructions available too so that you can build your very own. Head to Laszlo’s photostream via the link above to take “a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man that doesn’t exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the powerless, and the helpless in a world of criminals that operate above the law“. It doesn’t get any more ’80s than that!

*OK, it can’t do 200mph, despite the way Mrs. TLCB Writer drives it.